He says in every conversation that one has these days you can sense a feeling of anxiety. People are always moaning and groaning over mundane issues. When asked we are either feeling ok, unhappy about the breakfast egg eaten today as it was slightly brown then usual or in summers we kvetch about hot weather knowing that summers are always hot. In a potted summary he explained that in order to be happy, you have to train your brain to be happy. He discussed three steps to strive in positivity within ourselves.
1) Gratefulness
Since we are never satisfied with what we posses therefore after attaining the goals our needs move to the next level. So why is it that we are always in a state of discontentment. It is simply because of negative input every instance. But then again this is a problem and problems can be solved. It is to change our thought process. It is to inculcate the positive aspect of every issue. It is to see that glass half full. We can simply start the process of gratefulness when we get up in the morning. We should be thankful that since 150000 people die each day due to circumstances like diseases, old age, famine etc, we were not the chosen ones.
2) Acceptance
Acceptance being the second step towards positivity can also be registered in mind. Every circumstance that we come across is either a problem or a situation. I repeat problems can be solved and situations on the other hand are to be dealt with patience. Lets take an example of being stuck in a traffic jam. Now thats a situation. Situation means you cant help it, just bear it. But our minds are programmed to work the other way. We start complaining the government, we curse the driver ahead of us for not being efficient and so on assuming it will resolve the issue. We do not readily accept or be grateful for not being the person next to us on bike, or the pedestrians reaching for the overloaded bus. This inevitable state can however be utilized positively by calling a loved one, or listening to an audio book or inspirational talk.
3) Act of Kindness
This is the third and most effortless step towards positivity. Here we try to rejuvenate someones day by doing simple acts which maybe nothing for us but leave a stupendous impact on others.
- Praise your spouse
- Giveaway unwanted stuff to domestic helpers at home.
- Send food to your neighbor.
- Compliment someone is office.
- Help someone in need.
- Smile and hug your kids unexpectedly.
- Surprise your parents with a gift.
If we really want to keep our self motivated towards happiness then reading positive materials should be made a daily routine. I am linking Mush Panjwanis book as well as a book on happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky recommended by him.
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1) According to American Heart Association in 2013, about one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese, nearly triple the rate in 1963.
2) The Arab Health Blog on the other end in its article “Childhood Obesity: Much more than a UAE Government Agenda” states that “Kelly Scott, in her survey on Teachers’, Parents’ and Students’ Perceptions of Childhood Obesity in the Middle East focuses on the issue of childhood obesity. Based on her findings suggesting 30% obesity rates among UAE children between 6 and 16 years.”
Now thats becoming a universal affair. Those above mentioned statistics are worrisome and eye openers. Dont condemn anyone just look within. We have impaired our habits tremendously. Why not be conscious about our kids health and amend our habits first, to have indirect impact on them? The question arises how? I found the solution by liking 4 tips given by the First Lady Michelle Obama in an article “Michelle Obama gives weight loss advice” written by CNN’s Ashley Killough which are stated below. [Link to the article: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/04/michelle-obama-gives-weight-loss-advice/]
4 tips to handle the children weight:
1 Firstly, do not go for looks and appearances.
2. Secondly, “We should really talk to kids about how they feel, how they feel inside so that we are not just dealing with the physical manifestations of the challenge but we are really tapping into what is going on inside that head of that child,” she said. “And then we want to talk about ways to make it fun.” Stated by Michelle in that article.
3. Thirdly do not discuss the weight issue at home.
It is my perception that the more we recall about things the more conscous we get and sometimes things go further out of hands. If this issue is avoided in front of kids they wouldn’t feel bad about it. If kids are getting obese its we who are providing them will all the wrong options. Why not manage ourselves.
4 Lastly, Michelle was facing similar challenges when the kids were little so this is what they did. “We just started to make changes. And we made changes in a way that didn’t make them feel badly about themselves,” she said. “It didn’t even make them feel any ownership over it because truly kids that age can’t control what they eat.”
These steps are very much easy to understand and implement. Adding healthy foods in our meals, doing exercise and physical activity and refraining from TV and on the couch games should be focused first to initiate. Then most of all, always let your children know that you love them. Tell your kids how much you care about them and want to help. Let them acknowledge that you want to see them healthy and happy in their life.
Recommended Reading Books:
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When i first read this article “The 5:2 Diet part two: Turbo boost your weight loss on the feast and fast plan” on www.mirror.co.uk by Steve Myall, i was stimulated to research more on it. It was then when i came accross this British author Kate Harrison’s book “The 5:2 Diet Book: Feast for 5 Days a Week and Fast for 2 to Lose Weight, Boost Your Brain and Transform Your Health“. In this book Kate narrates how she had failed numerous diet attempts in the past and then how she got inspired by this diet through a TV program. When she couldn’t find any guidance to start, she derived ways to first implement on herself. When she lost 16 pounds in less then 4 mounths, she thought that was it and decided to write the book.
I fetched further and found these interesting details on Wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5:2_diet) “Dr. Michael J. Mosley, largely responsible for popularizing the diet after he featured in a BBC2 Horizon documentary Eat, Fast & Live Longer in August 2012, went on the diet for at least 6 weeks. He tested himself on the first Friday and discovered that he had lost 2 lb of body fat, his blood glucose levels had fallen dramatically, and his IGF-1 levels had halved. He lost 14 lbs and 25% of his body fat in 6 weeks on the diet, with improved cholesterol and blood sugar.[2] A 61 year-old retired physician (not Mosley), very sceptical of extreme dieting, said of the diet, “I’ve been trying it for five weeks now and I’ve lost about a pound a week. It’s a weird diet because it’s both really easy and really hard. On my fast days, I eat two very small meals, and I find it very hard sometimes not to give up and snack. But then, the rest of the week I can eat what I like – so I don’t feel guilty if I treat myself to a cake or have a biscuit. I think I’ll probably do this for the rest of my life”
Now let me list down 5 key features of this Feast and Fast (5:2) dieting strategy.
1) According to 5:2 Diet you can eat anything five days of the week and for 2 days restrict your calorie intake. For example monday and wednesday fasting and rest of the days feasting.
2) This diet promises a certain benefit if you restrict to 500 (for women) and 600 (for men) calories on fasting days and 2000 (for women) and 2500 (for men) calories on the feasting days.
3) This diet helps in improving the blood pressure, cholestrol, reduces risk of breast cancer, diebetes, heart disease and Alzheimers.
4) According to some research when you restrict your calorie intake dramatically for short periods then it does have some positive impacts in your body like encouraging to heal itself, minimising the damage caused by our lifestyles and there is growth of brian cells too.
5) Expected weight loss is 4 to 5 lbs a week.
Have these before starting your diet.
1) A Digital Weighing Scale
2) Calculated BMI:
BMI stands for Body Mass Index. This tells the amount of fat in your body. If your score is between 18.5 and 25 then you are normal, if your score is below 18.5 then you are under weight and if above 25 you over weight.
You can either calculate your BMI online from http://www.bmi-calculator.net/ or calculate manually from the given formula.
| English BMI Formula |
|---|
| BMI = ( Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches x Height in inches ) ) x 703 |
| Metric BMI Formula |
| BMI = ( Weight in Kilograms / ( Height in Meters x Height in Meters ) ) |
3) Calculated BMR:
BMR satands for Basal Metabolic Rate. Even if we are not doing anything there are some calories that our body will burn by default for its functioning. Like breathing, digesting, sensing, smelling, they all require energy which is acquired only after some calories are burn. Lets say my age is 31, my weight is 176 lbs and Height 5 feet and 8 inches. My calculated BMR or required calories for daily functioning would be 1594 calories. Now if i eat more then 1594 calories, means i will store all the extra calories taken and if i take less then 1594 calories then my body will burn some to maintain my daily body functions and if i keep on taking 1594 calories then i will neither lose weight nor put on weight.
Calculate your BMI online at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ ,
or manually
| English BMR Formula |
|---|
| Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years ) Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year ) |
| Metric BMR Formula |
| Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) – ( 4.7 x age in years ) Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) – ( 6.8 x age in years ) |
4) List of foods less then 50 calories.
You can make your own list by searching for 50 calories or less foods list on any search engine.
Wow now that was quite some motivation and information for me to give 5:2 a try. So how about you?
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I came accross this interesting dieting strategy in a post and thought of sharing. It was written by Shazia Khan on www.ny1.com, titled “Eating Schedule could affect one’s weight loss, study says“. This study was actually published in International Journal of Obesity. It was a 20 week study of 400 obese men and women in Spain which were divided into two groups.
The post classified the two groups as “One who ate their largest meal of the day before 3 [o’clock], the other group ate their largest meal after 3 [o’clock]. They found that the group who ate later had a slower rate of weight loss and a significantly lower amount of weight loss,” says LaBonte.”. Both these group were taking same diet, same calories, same sleep and same amount of physical activity.
Now not all diet plans suit everyone. On the other hand there are some diet plans like Weight Watchers, Atkins Diet, Bread Diet and so on which are used by many and instilled in their lives for complete life style transformation. They are doing well and maintaining it well. We all have to look for such a criteria that can be accomodated in our way of living. The above mentioned diet is not particularly stopping us from any food, just control the portion intake and adjust within the timings. Below mentioned are four points that i overall gathered from this particular diet.
Four key points of this diet strategy were:
1 Eat small portions every 3 to 4 hours.
2. Eat all your heavy meals before 3: o clock.
3 Do not skip breakfast (if you take heavy meals late in the evening you tend to either skip breakfast or eat less ). Our metabolism is in conservation mood when sleeping, therefore taking proper breakfast helps boost our metabolism which keeps us active the whole day.
4 Chose healthy food options.
In my case i cant eat heavy meals before three as most of my heavy meals are actually dinners and that too on weekends. I will try to implement 1 and 3 atleast by eating small portions of those heavy meals and having a breakfast with regularity. Now how to measure small portions? I have derived to count the number of bites i normally take, if i am having 30 spoons of food, then why not make it 25 for a month and reduce further the next month till i dont figure out the small portion that suits me and helps me in reducing more.
Let me give you an example, if my 1 spoon is 15 calories, and i reduce 5 spoons each from breakfast, lunch and dinner then i am taking 225 less calories in a day, which makes it 6750 less calories a month. 6750 calories become 81000 calories a year. When we divide 81000 a year by 7700 (number of calories in 1 kg) we get an approximate 10 kg reduction in 1 year.
This is just a minimal change that can bring stupendous results. Eating slowly and taking water sips in between assists us getting full in this reduced portion incase still hungry. Its better to make small changes rather then taking big steps. Budging even 1 percent a week would help us change more then 50 percent by the end of the year.
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Dryness
Itchiness
Eczema
Scratches and Bleeding
Sleepless nights
Cranky
Lack of interest in school
Lack of apetite
Lethargic
Thanks to my Maliha bhabhi, may Allah bless her always, who shared this stupendous totka. She adviced me to apply the olive oil diluted in few drops of water on my son’s skin, or apply just the olive oil on wet body after bath. i decided to be canny by applying just the olive oil and excluded the water. The result was apparent within a span of 2 to 3 days as the issues started fading away and his skin got softer. Its true that reviews related to olive oil have always been laudatory whether cooking, external application or internal cures and proven well in my case when tried.
The olive oil massage that healed my son’s affliction was mystic, but my faith was further revived when i read this:
Abu Na’im reported that Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) stated, “Eat the olive oil and apply it (locally), since there is cure for seventy diseases in it, [and] one of them is leprosy.”
Now whenever i ask my son for an olive oil application, he meekly responds “yes mama..”.
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