15 ways to max your metabolism

Original article is from here :

Even before you start exercising, you can use plenty of tricks to eliminate visceral fat, improve your flab-burning metabolic process, and start losing weight fast. 

Don't diet! The Men's Health Diet isn't about eating less, it's about eating more -- more nutrition-dense food -- to crowd out the empty calories and keep you full all day. That's important, because restricting food will kill your metabolism. It makes your body think, "I'm starving here!" And your body responds by slowing your metabolic rate in order to hold on to existing energy stores. What's worse, if the food shortage (meaning your crash diet) continues, you'll begin burning muscle tissue, which just gives your enemy, visceral fat, a greater advantage. Your metabolism drops even more, and fat goes on to claim even more territory.

Go to bed earlier A study in Finland looked at sets of identical twins and discovered that of each set of siblings, the twin who slept less and was under more stress had more visceral fat.


Eat more protein Your body needs protein to maintain lean muscle. In a 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "The Underappreciated Role of Muscle in Health and Disease," researchers argued that the present recommended daily allowance of protein, 0.36 grams per pound of body weight, was established using obsolete data and is woefully inadequate for an individual doing resistance training. Researchers now recommend an amount between 0.8 and 1 gram per pound of body weight. Add a serving, like 3 ounces of lean meat, 2 tablespoons of nuts, or 8 ounces of low-fat yogurt, to every meal and snack. Plus, research showed that protein can up post-meal calorie burn by as much as 35 percent.

Go organic when you can Canadian researchers reported that dieters with the most organochlorines (pollutants from pesticides, which are stored in fat cells) experienced a greater than normal dip in metabolism as they lost weight, perhaps because the toxins interfere with the energy-burning process. In other words, pesticides make it harder to lose pounds. Other research hints that pesticides can trigger weight gain. Of course, it's not always easy to find—or to afford—a whole bunch of organic produce. So you need to know when organic counts, and when it's not that important. Organic onions, avocados, grapefruit? Not necessary. But choose organic when buying celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale or collard greens, cherries, potatoes, and imported grapes; they tend to have the highest levels of pesticides. A simple rule of thumb: If you can eat the skin, go organic.

Get up, stand up Whether you sit or stand at work may play as big a role in your health and your waistline as your fitness routine. In one study researchers discovered that inactivity (4 hours or more) causes a near shutdown in an enzyme that controls fat and cholesterol metabolism. To keep this enzyme active and increase your fat burning, break up long periods of downtime by standing up—for example, while talking on the phone.


Drink cold water German researchers found that drinking 6 cups of cold water a day (that's 48 ounces) can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily—enough to shed 5 pounds in a year. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature. Though the extra calories you burn drinking a single glass don't amount to much, making it a habit can add up to pounds lost with essentially zero additional effort.

Eat the heat It turns out that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their mouth-searing quality, can also fire up your metabolism. Eating about 1 tablespoon of chopped red or green chilies boosts your body's production of heat and the activity of your sympathetic nervous system (responsible for our fight-or-flight response), according to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology. The result: a temporary metabolism spike of about 23 percent. Stock up on chilies to add to meals, and keep a jar of red pepper flakes on hand for topping pizzas, pastas, and stir-fries.

Rev up in the morning Eating breakfast jump-starts metabolism and keeps energy high all day. It's no accident that those who skip this meal are 4 1/2 times as likely to be obese. And the heartier your first meal is, the better. In one study published by the American Journal of Epidemiology, volunteers who got 22 to 55 percent of their total calories at breakfast gained only 1.7 pounds on average over 4 years. Those who ate zero to 11 percent of their calories in the morning gained nearly 3 pounds.

Drink coffee or tea Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so your daily java jolt can rev your metabolism 5 to 8 percent—about 98 to 174 calories a day. A cup of brewed tea can raise your metabolism by 12 percent, according to one Japanese study. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the boost.

Fight fat with fiber Fiber can rev your fat burn by as much as 30 percent. Studies find that those who eat the most fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about 25 g a day—the amount in about three servings each of fruits and vegetables.

Eat iron-rich foods Iron is essential for carrying the oxygen your muscles need to burn fat. Unless you restock your store, you run the risk of low energy and a sagging metabolism. Shellfish, lean meats, beans, fortified cereals, and spinach are excellent sources. (But it's not always a good idea to take a supplement. Too much iron has been linked to a greater risk of heart disease in men. Get this essential mineral in natural doses from real foods.)

Get more D Vitamin D is essential for preserving metabolism-revving muscle tissue. Unfortunately, researchers estimate that a measly 20 percent of Americans take in enough through their diet. Get 90 percent of your recommended daily value (400 IU) in a 3.5-ounce serving of salmon. Other good sources: tuna, fortified milk and cereals, and eggs.


Drink milk There's some evidence that calcium deficiency may slow metabolism. Research shows that consuming calcium in dairy foods such as fat-free milk and low-fat yogurt may also reduce fat absorption from other foods.

Eat watermelon The amino acid arginine, abundant in watermelon, might promote weight loss, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition. Researchers supplemented the diets of obese mice with arginine over 3 months and found that it decreased body-fat gains by a whopping 64 percent. Adding this amino acid to the diet enhanced the oxidation of fat and glucose and increased lean muscle, which burns more calories than fat does. Snack on watermelon and other arginine sources, such as seafood, nuts, and seeds, year-round.

Stay hydrated All of your body's chemical reactions, including your metabolism, depend on water. If you are dehydrated, you may be burning up to 2 percent fewer calories, according to researchers at the University of Utah who monitored the metabolic rates of 10 adults as they drank varying amounts of water per day. In the study, those who drank either eight or twelve 8-ounce glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than those who had four.

Me & my salary in Hannan's opinion

We were on our way home and I was trying to convince my dear husband for Ipad2. :P

Me :  Dear, You see,.. I dont really spend $$$ on myself.  Though I earned X thousands a month, I dont even buy things for myself..... hmmm..  (trying to get some sympathy)

Hannan was looking at me with disbelief.  @-@

Hannan : Mommy, you did buy a lot of wraps. All those baby carriers???  aren't those are yours???

Husband : Was laughing like he has been possessed with crazy ghost!

ARRGGHHHH. Mission failed. How come I forgot about that?  *shame on myself

Empty Hearts Fuel Bad Behaviour

Did you give your child a hug today just because…? Did you take the time to understand his need to go on the computer for another hour? Did you listen and look her in the eye when she was talking to you? Did you tell him that you still loved him when he told you that he failed his exams?

There is no such thing as bad children, only bad behaviour. Bad behaviour is behaviour that intentionally hurts other people and includes acts like hitting, fighting, teasing, telling tales, spreading rumours about someone, ignoring or excluding someone, calling names, biting and scratching (the last two popular among younger children!). They disrupt classroom time in schools and playtime everywhere, which adults often find troublesome.

Bad behaviour that is carried out repeatedly over time to gain physical and psychological advantage over someone else is called bullying. Some kids seem to be perpetual bullies. Other kids are natural targets for bullies.

When children behave badly we need to look beneath the surface and search for the cause of the bad behaviour. Often we will find there a tangle of inner turmoil that the child does not know how to articulate in words. Many children do not possess sufficient emotional vocabulary to express how they are feeling, especially if the feelings are not nice. Just like grown-ups, children get hurt, scared, angry, anxious, depressed or jealous. But unlike adults, children are often unable to express these feelings without getting told off, ignored or punished.

The sight of a crying child being hushed up and told, “good boys/girls don’t cry” is an all too common one in our shopping malls and public places.

With no outlet or respect for their emotions, children tend to either keep it all in, to slink into a corner and withdraw into themselves, or to get physically rowdy, sometimes to the extent of hurting someone else. The first type of kid tends to be the victims of bullies, while the second type may end up as bullies in the school compound and the playgrounds.

Children need to have their feelings reflected back to them. They need validation of what they feel, more so if it’s a ‘negative’ feeling. A parent might say, “I sense that you are feeling very angry that I have to go to work and leave you with the maid. It’s ok to feel this way.”

‘I hear you’ is powerful validation that children need to hear all the time. It keeps their emotional tanks filled.

They also need acceptance of their feelings—an understanding parent or teacher goes a long way towards making up the healthy mental landscape of a child. Finally, children may need some guidance on how to deal with it all. We have our own issues to resolve as parents. A lot of times when we take it out on our children, we are acting out what we learned and retained from our own childhoods. Our parents would have likely meted out harsher punishment when we misbehaved as children. As did their parents before them…

The solution to a child’s bad behaviour, therefore, really lies within us. If we are willing to do the very painful work of sorting out our own inner turmoil, we would then be able to take steps towards raising ‘well-behaved’ kids.Just as we would never dream of sending our kids off to school or out to play on an empty stomach, let’s also make sure that we do not send them out on an empty heart.

From : parenting-works.com

I outgrown my jeans? oh !!

While getting myself ready for office on weekend :

me : dear,  is it ok if I wear this?  (read tight jeans with T)
DH  :  Small! (with not so sweet face)
Hannan : That is not small, Mommy just outgrown it!  (with serious face and patted my thigh)

AHAHAHAHAHHAHA, i normally wear tight pants with muslimah t-shirt :P

Serawa durian yummeh

DH was asking me to make this serawa durian, he even bought 2 durians just for this.. hmm.. actually we, kelantanese not really know how to cook this, and I never tried before. Luckily I did see my MIL cooked this last time. Pretty easy though... but then my DH said mine is not as tasty as his mom's :P  of course not!  I cooked it with evaporated milk while she used coconut milk :P 

Here it is :

Pretty easy though...  

Put durian, coconut milk or evaporated milk, brown sugar/white sugar & pandan leaves. Errr.. a bit of salt for seasoning. Then stir slowly once in while in slow fire. :)   Can be eaten with bread ( DH favorite!) 

Back dated post?!!

I am so sorry!!~  it is not that I already forgotten that I have a blog to attend to, but I value my time more to :

Works & family rather than my own self. hahahah, valid reason tak?

Just sharing with you my parcels of the day!!  yee haa!!   Ops, jangan pengsan!  :P

 

5 Things You Didn't Know About Breast Milk

So sorry for not updating, but surely I have a lot to tell!! ha ha. It will back dated post soon...  or shall I say in the future? Sorry, was pretty busy with so many things lately. I'll let  you know what occupied my time in one of my post, Insya Allah.

While checking on my email this morning, I have this popped up from one of my prescription email. Do you girls know about this?  You've heard that breastfeeding is best nutritionally and a great way to bond with your baby. But there are some things about breast milk you might not know. Here are the facts.

1. It changes based on your baby's needs. Unlike formula, the milk you produce adapts its composition to suit your baby's nutritional requirements.
2. You can donate it to save lives. When babies are born prematurely, breast milk can greatly increase their chances for survival. However, not all mothers are able to produce or supply breast milk for their very low birth weight infants. A donation of your excess breast milk could have a significant impact on the lives of these infants and their families.
3. It may make your baby smarter. Studies have shown that breastfed babies have higher IQs than their bottle-fed counterparts. This small but statistically significant difference may be due in part to DHA, a brain-boosting fatty acid found in breast milk.
4. It helps make diapers less stinky. Granted, it's never going to smell like roses, but your baby's poop will smell a tad sweeter if he's breastfed. This is due in part to the fact that the fats in your milk separate more easily than in cow's milk.
5. It can help develop his taste buds. Breast milk takes on the taste of whatever you're eating. Thus, it expands your baby's palate at the start, boosting the odds he'll want to try new foods when the time comes to start solids.  

Number 5 is my favorite :P  how about you?

Upset with myself

You know... sometimes this kind of feeling just shut me in a dark room... restrict me from talking. oh tidak, sangat takde mood nak mengarang in english. How do I express this? There are some time in my life that i will blame myself for whatever happened in my life, and also my surroundings.

I've been noticing that my kids are pretty out of shape.. Hannan is getting thinner,.. Hani also. Yesterday we went to Putrajaya clinic to have Hafiyya's 1 year old check up. Guess what? she is underweight, and the graph turned to yellow. uhuhuhu, I feel sad. Sometimes I do feel like I am good for nothing. I am not a good person, not a good wife, a bad mother? sucker?!  maybe its time to re-examine myself.

Give me a break!~ as I feel down! down! down!  Give me sometime to compose myself and I'll be back!

The Danger of Negative Expectations

I am pretty upset for the past few days because of a few things... especially on how I deal with my kids when they do mistakes. Come across this while finding some info on how to tame myself  :P

from here

Maybe right after this I can try to control myself, control how I react to my kids, my husband, my surroundings..  

Allahummaj 'alni sobura, waj a'lni syakura..  Our Lord! Pour out on us patience, and cause us to die as Muslims.(7:126) 

by Greg Smalley, Psy.D.

 

As humans, many of us are prone to notice and remember when we make mistakes more so than when we do something positive. In the same way, as parents, it's easy to get trapped into focusing on our child's mistakes.

Instead of getting good reports, many kids are faced with the tradition of listening to their errors recounted by their parents. Certainly we mean well. After all, it's our job to train our children to understand the difference between right and wrong. I realize that in my haste to teach my girls responsibility, manners, how to share, and a host of other things, I sometimes error on the side of focusing on their faults. 

The problem is that whenever we focus on negative things or have negative beliefs about someone, we will find evidence to support our view. This is called confirmation bias. In other words, we try to confirm what we believe about someone (positive or negative). If we are constantly focused on our child's poor behavior, we will start to view him or her through a negative lens. We will begin to expect that kind of behavior. Sadly, when this happens people tend to live up to or down to our expectations. 

One of the greatest gifts you can give your children is to methodically notice what they do right on a daily basis. Marital researchers have discovered that when distressed couples began recording what the other mate did that was positive; the couple reported a substantial increase in their marital satisfaction. In the same way, make it a point to mentally record what your child does that is positive. I encourage you to share that with them before they go to bed. Imagine the positive effect on your children when the last word they hear that day is what they did right.

Red CD & red horse story

Hafiyya is riding red horse...

HFY : oh my! Let me down horse, I wanna get Mommy for some drinks! Ops... no.. no... my diapers is too heavy. Did I pee much?  is it time to change for a new diaper?

Horse : Yes, you did and now you stinky little monster, faster get changed!  *faint

(ada nampak ka itu kuda mau tumbang?)
Can you see that the horse is fainted?  * with big eyes open

NEW BLOG LAUNCH GIVEAWAY !

Hi all, this is gonna be the 1st ever give away I am joining. Though not so sure if it is still on. :P

Serious.. look! what she is offering:

 

Join here

Agree with me? this is YUMMEH! hihihi.  OKay lets talk about her new blog.


The purpose of this blog is to share her experience & selling Premium Beautiful. Have you ever heard of it?  :P  Oh please!! come on! OK, a confession here. I do have a set. LOL........ shhh...  review? It will be on another post!

My heart pecah

While driving to drop Hannan & Hani at kindy and rushing to work:

Hannan : Momy, tau tak... my heart pecah
Me : What??
Hannan : My heart pecah tu sakit hati laaa...

Me : Ha Ha Ha... ada plak mcm tu??  Why kids are soo adorable??  :))

Momy loves you very much Hannan... If you only knew...

Lactation Boosting Cookies Part 1

While blog hopping I found this:

http://blog.secretmothersclub.com/tag/lactation-cookies/

So I will just copy and paste it here.....

So here it is, the recipe for Lactation Boosting Cookies:

* 1 cup butter or marg
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal*
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them
* 1 cup or more chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast* (be generous)

Directions:
Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.
Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.
Serves: 6 dozen cookies
Preparation time: 15 minutes
*can be found at any local health food store.

*NOTE* IT MUST BE BREWERS YEAST, NO SUBSTITUTIONS.
It makes a hell of a lot of cookies, so freeze the dough to use later!

Wait for my outcome soon in  Lactation Boosting Cookies part 2

Little Caliphs Year End Party

Very funny day today.. :)

Momy dressed up early to attend this, as informed by teacher Faiza we need to be at the said venue  at 8.00 a.m. When we arrived there the teachers werent there yet. There were a few parents was waiting. Oh God, it was actually rehearsal in the morning session, so parents need not to be there. Mommy is over excited as always. So, mommy & baba went home and left Hannan to rehearse their stage presentation. Hannan will be singing ablution song with her friends. She has been practising this for weeks.

Ablution song by 5 yo presentation: 

And, here,.. see,.. she was so distracted when Momy stand in front of the stage to take this photo!!! and... see, how cute she is! :P well, like momy perasantan. heh heh heh (read you dont see this)

And the final event is..... 

Jeng Jeng Jeng!!

Can you guess? what number she got? hi hi hi... I dont wanna say it! but trust me Hannan, Momy & Baba really proud of you!  Mommy and Baba will always adore you and loves you. Muaaachhss!!  Mommy sayang Hannan. Always remember that, okay?  :)

WHY do we need sorting activities?

Our kid will benefit from having lots of experiences sorting, comparing and classifying objects before participating in patterning activities. This is also vital for their maths basics. I would say crucial for young child prepare for future classroom success too!

Hani really loves sorting activities. I never teach her... she just love to categorize things, sorting things and a well organized thing.  From my observation, she is a very organized person it seems (at 3 yo). No matter what she prefer it to be organized and neat...  see what she did.. categorized by color!

Momy needs to take part in her activity. So, this is the planning, need to get good time to do various type of sorting activities with her.

Sorting by Size

Take a couple of carrots or cheese sticks and cut then into segments of varying sizes. Encourage your preschooler to line up the various segments by size. Since carrots or cheese sticks are great for lining up either while lying down or standing up, you can make two sorting activities with the help of these nutritious snacks. Other materials to use are spaghetti, broken crayons, or celery stalks.

Sorting to Match

A precursor to the memory enhancing matching games, sorting activities for preschoolers that incorporate early matching are vital. Use a wide array of pasta sizes, shapes, and also colors. Empty all of the pastas into a big tub, shake it up, and show your toddler how to take out one particular kind of pasta shape. Next, ask the child to find others that match. Vary the sorting exercise by including shape as well as size and color matches.

Incorporating Sequence Recognition

One of the most advanced forms of sorting -- the recognition of sequences -- is a precursor for kindergarten mathematics. Use the carrots, cheese sticks, crayons, or pasta from the previous sorting activities; create an easy to recognize pattern, for example: one carrot piece, one pasta, one carrot piece, and so forth. Ask the preschooler to guess what comes next, and continue on the sequence sorting activity for a bit. As the child progresses in understanding the sequence sorting activities, you can make it as difficult and intricate as you like.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/early-childhood/articles/35724.aspx#ixzz1DjZ6oPp3

Look! Look! what is here?

Hi guys! Look! what has arrived? :)

Thanks to Shahraqib for helping me to buy this from UK. :)  I am very happy now  :P

Review to come !!!

Plane day :)

Today is independence day..  and luckily momy is off today!~ isn't that good? :)  actually nothing much to do today... as usual BBH is busy with his pokoks, me with cleaning & HFY..  of course. While doing cleaning momy found a box of unassemble aeroplanes.. I believed it was from BBH old days... so Momy took it out and gave it to Hannan. Hannan is sooo excited trying to assemble it. It is pretty hard because of the tiny2 parts. Then momy was trying to help until hooked up and ended up like Momy was the one lebey2 :P  (that was someone's saying :P)  and see... who was sooo busy helping Hannan  :P  or enjoying the game?

For you BaBaHa,

You might not be perfect, but you are great father, You're not die hardly romantic, but then you are caring and loving...  You're not good at cooking, but then you're good at buying,.. ahaahhaha.. I love you, B0nc!

Hannan’s thinking

Yesterday while picking up Hannan from her school we had a few chat. Was kinda long. Then I decided to go to Carrefour which is near to our house. I was telling her that I was about to call her grandpa (my dad of course!)

Me : I am thinking of calling Tuk Ayah. You know, he is my dad. Exactly like Baba is your Dad

Hannan : OoOOo… {with a smile on her face}

Me : My father is a very good man. He was never angry at me last time because I was a very good girl.

Hannan : Ye ke..  {like doubting what I said}

Me : Yeah lah, he is not like your Baba, he is angry at you if you dont behave, right?..  He even pinch if you are naughty. I think your Baba is not good lah, he is bad. Isn’t he?  (Provocative Mom is trying to see inside her girl’s head)

Hannan : {Kinda quiet while thinking…. }….

Me : Betul tak?… Betul kan…

Hannan : No.., I think you are bad, because sometimes if I am naughty, you scolded me and pinched me.

HA HA HA,… padan muka cantik mommy!  Kwang Kwang Kwang

Me : No Hannan, actually both of us loves you,.. that is why we scold you if you do wrong, so Hannan can be a very good girl, clever.. blah blah blah....  If you behave, we would never scold you, right?.. If momy tell you to stop fighting with your sister, you should, right?... 

Hannan : OK

Dalam hati : I should not ask at the first place! 

A Little Death In Dixie 

Lost my medela mini-e

I feel sad and blue. Why?..  Lost my beloved medela in office. :((  and now my sick mind is calculating $$ to buy a new electric pump. Sick. Seriously I hate this,.. I just hope that it is still somewhere waiting for me. I tried looking at home, but no no no... it is not there!

@-@ Looking at everywhere now :P