Tomatoes!

Bright red in color and round in shape, tomatoes are not only look appealing, but also very tasty to eat. Many people thought that it's in the veggie group, when it's actually a fruit.

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Besides its freshness, tomatoes are rich in antioxidants, which are effective in fighting those free radicals. The antioxidants in tomatoes fight them by adding an electron into the free radicals, neutralizing them and stop the chain reaction of the free radicals that disrupts the health. One of the antioxidants tomatoes is lycopene. Lycopene is an important antioxidants that can help prevent the formation of cancer cells, like prostate, rectal, stomach, and throat cancer.

Lycopene is a part of the "pigment family" called carotene. Carotene is a natural component in fruit and vegetable colors. For example, beta carotene is an orange pigment in carrots.

Our body does not produce lycopene, therefore it needs a supply of lycopene from the foods we consume. Tomatoes actually contain more lycopene than other fruits, such as carrots or watermelon.

Nutritional Content in 100 grams of Tomatoes

• 27 mg of phosphor
• 360 mg of potassium
• 0,6 mg of iron
• 11 mg of calcium
• 23 mg of vitamin C
• 0,06 mg of thiamine (vitamin B)
• 1 g of protein
• 1000 iu of vitamin A

Health Benefits from Tomatoes
Except its merit in preventing the formation of cancer cells, tomatoes also have 5 other important benefits for our health, and they are:
1. Prevent the Premature Aging
With its high content of antioxidants, tomatoes can prevent premature aging from free radicals. Tomatoes also contain citric acid, which can make our skin looks fresh and cleaner.

2. Lower the Blood Cholesterol
The nicotinic acid in tomatoes can help you lower the high blood cholesterol, therefore preventing any heart disease.

3. Maintain the Blood Sugar Level
Tomatoes also contain important mineral, chromium. Chromium is useful in maintaining the stability of the blood sugar. Therefore, tomatoes are good for diabetic people.

4. Lower the Effects of Smoking
Tomatoes are highly recommended for smokers. The chlorogenic acid and the coumaric acid in tomatoes help smokers fight carcinogens, the dangerous substance in cigarettes which can cause cancer.

5. Maintain the Bone Health
Besides chromium, tomatoes also contain other important minerals such as calcium and vitamin K. These two nutrition are important in repairing the broken bone tissues while preventing the osteoporosis.

Start consuming tomatoes today, and get ALL the health merits!

5 Things to Get Rid of for a Healthier Life

Health is our most important asset. It's only natural that we have to try to keep it and let go of the unhealthy habits. Some people might not notice that some of these habits are not supposed to be preserved. In this post, I will share some of the unhealthy habits that can really ruin our health.

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1. Smoking
Smoking is the main cause for lung cancer and other kinds of diseases. The best thing you can do is by stop doing it. But still, one does not simple stop smoking, especially when they've became addicted to nicotine. However, the simplest thing you can do to reduce your smoking habit is exercising, until you're used to not smoking any more.

2. Drinking
Binge drinking is clearly ruining your health, as fun as it might be. This habit can cause alcohol poisoning, brain damage, and can also damage the cardiovascular system. To prevent those dangerous side effects, you can also substitute your white wine with red wine, considering red wine have some health merits with the right amount.

3. Eating Junk Food
Those food really live up to their name: they're junk food, literally. It contains loads of saturated fat, which can clog your artery, not to mention obesity. If you want to order these foods, choose places that provide healthier food, adding some salad to make it healthier. Try to not eat it too often.

4. Stress
Coping with stress is not an easy thing. As humans, we have many causes of stress that sometimes complicates things. The right thing to do is managing it. Pick the right way and strategy that can help you cope with your stress. Some people do their hobby, but workout can be really helpful. Doing simple exercises, yoga, pilates, or meditation can help a lot.

5. Lack of Exercise
Need I say more? Working out clearly increase your health. Cardio training can improve your cardiovascular system, while weight training can strengthen your body. The most common problem has always been with laziness. Doing some workout regularly and making it your routine can really solve this problem.

Let's face it, all five habits above are generally known as bad habits. I don't even think my explanation is really needed, right?

5 Big No-Nos about Fruit-Consuming

We all know that there are many fruits that can fulfill our needs for vitamin. For example, fruits containing many vitamin C are kiwi, apple, orange, mango, cherry, strawberry, and so on. Fruits are also known as the source of antioxidants, such as tomatoes which contain lots of lycopene or mangoes which are rich in carotene. Therefore, fruits are essential in healthy living.

image credit to topnews.in

It's true, but some people are overconfident in some merits of fruit. Truth is, there are couple of things that one have to understand about consuming fruits. Here are the 5 restrictions about fruit-consuming:

1. Consume Fruit as Substitute for Vegetables
Fruits contain some organic acid and aromatic substance which can increase the appetite. Despite the fact, veggies contain more mineral substances than fruits. If you only consume fruits, thinking that it's enough to substitute the veggies, your daily nutritional need are not filled. You still need to consume about 500 grams of veggies everyday.

2. Consume Fruit as Substitute for Meals
A human body can survive with at least 50 kinds of nutrition, especially more than 65 grams of (good) fat that can maintain regeneration and organ recovery. Fruits contain more than 85% of water but less than 1% of protein. Therefore, it can't fulfill the daily need for amino and fatty acid. It's better if you don't consume fruit as substitute for your meal. You can, however, consume it as a snack. See this post for a healthy meal plan.

3. Consume too Much Fruits in Order to Lose Some Weight
Basically, fruits can't be considered as low-calorie foods. More than 80% of fruit contains fructose, kind of "fruit sugar" if I may say so. Even if fruits contain less calories than rice, people always consume more fruit than rice because it taste great and succulent. Therefore, if this happens, more calories will be consumed and  your dietary goals won't be achieved.

4. Blinded by Imported Fruits
Some people actually think that imported fruits contain better and more nutrition. This is not always true, because some fruit lose its freshness from long transport time.

5. Relying on Fruits as Sources for Vitamin
Some fruit don't contain as many vitamins as we thought it would be. But if you want to fulfill your needs for vitamin, it's not wise to just rely it on fruits. You also have to consume it from other kinds of food. You can also fulfill it by consuming multivitamin and multimineral supplements.

Yes, fruits are highly nutritional foods and are good to consume daily. However, it is also important to pay attention on how you consume it. Consume it wisely!

Choosing the Right Low-Fat Products

Obese people, or other people with high fat and high cholesterol usually have to reduce their fat consumption, and this warning usually make people consider about buying "low-fat" or "fat-free" products. However, be careful, because not all of those products are healthy products like they advertise it.

image credit to ahundredpoundslost.com

To keep the original taste in low-fat products, producers replace the fat content with huge amount of sugar. The results are, some "low-fat" products actually contain more calories than the "regular" products! Whereas, in a diet to lose some weight, carbohydrate consumption has to be reduced, especially simple/fast-absorbing carbs like sugar - which have high glycemic index (GI) - will be stored as fat anyway.

Besides that, some of those products also contain trans-fat, which not only increase the LDL (bad cholesterol) content, but also lower the HDL (good, protective cholesterol) content. Fact is, the increasing number of obesity in our society is one of the main factors of the proliferating low-fat products. The vigorous advertisements, especially the ones in TVs, make people think that consuming those low-fat products means they consume healthy foods.

Based on the facts above, you should carefully check the nutrition facts of the product that you're going to buy. Products with 1-2 grams of sugar is enough, but above that, it's too high for those of you who's been trying to lose weight.

For your diet, choose complex carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat bread, and oatmeal. Limit your fat consumption, and choose those that are good for you, like canola oil, olive oil, etc. If you want to lower your LDL consumption and increase the HDL, you also need fiber from veggies, fruits, beans, and also oatmeal. Remember to exercise regularly too!

High-Quality Sleeps for You!

In the previous post, I've stressed that it's important to have enough rest for your workout to get your results. However, some people still can't get the results even if they have enough sleep. It simply means their sleeping quality is not good enough. There are many tips and suggestions on how to improve your sleep quality, though.

image credit to nativeremedies.com

Here are some "good habits" for better quality of sleep:
1. Do some workout regularly. Have some time to workout everyday. Any simple exercise will do.
2. No caffeine after 7 PM.
3. One hour before you sleep, don't do any work or activity that needs you to think hard and concentrate.
4. Adjust your room temperature to be cooler.
5. Turn off the lamps in your room. Research indicates that even the dim light from digital alarm will disrupt the sleep. Nowadays there are a lot of glow-in-the-dark things, which also disrupt the sleep.
6. Tidy up your bed. A messy bed will definitely mess up with your sleep.

If you have trouble sleeping, try to do some of these tips:
1. Take a slow and deep breath as long as you can.
2. If you have many things in your mind (ex. planning your your vacation, making a shopping list, concerned about your medical diagnosis, etc.), write it down. This usually helps a lot.
3. Pamper yourself with body lotion. Besides the fact that it relaxes you, if you have trouble sleeping because it's too hot, body lotion will cool you down.
4. If your feet is cold, wear socks. Some people even wear this because it calms them down.
5. Relax. Do simple stretching if you need to.
6. Some people claim that warm milk contains melatonin and tryptophan, natural supplements that can help you sleep. However, a glass of milk does not contain enough of those substance to actually help you sleep. But still, it can be quite a relaxing drink.
7. Yawn.

If you have some trouble sleeping, just think of it as an extra time off your daily schedule. You can use that time to do some chores that you haven't done, like tidying up your books or something. The next morning, you'll feel glad because you feel like you achieve something even if you just started your day.

Try to apply those simple tips to have high-quality sleeps and get ready to face your day!

Make Your Weight Training Count!

Face it, nobody wants to spend hours in gym without some results. Fact is, you can do short workouts and make it count if you want to maximize your workout program.

Here are some tips for you who might have trained for some time, but wants better results in shorter amount of time of workout.

1. Limit your workout duration. Some people think that to have maximum results is to linger around and lift weights for a long time. Fact is, after 30 to 40 minutes, the benefits of your workout is not the same as when you start your workout in that day. It's better if you do high-intensity workout in shorter amount of time.

2. Prioritize your 'quality' instead of your 'quantity'. Doing 8 reps the right way is better than doing it wrong for 20 reps.

3. Lift your weight slowly. Weight-lifting is not a 'fast' sport anyway. According to researchers in Wayne Westcott, to lift one weight normally it needs about 1 minute. Doing the reps correctly is an important part in weight-lifting. You won't get any results when you do it wrong.

4. Breathe. The right breathing techniques can make your workout more effective. Focus in breathing out when you lift the weight and breathe in when you lower the weight.

5. Maintain a good posture. This is important to make sure that you are training your muscles instead of injuring yourself. When you sit down, sit in an upright position. Make sure your abs contracts when you're training. Pull your abs upwards and into your spine to stabilize your body. Maintain this position so that your shoulder is pulled back and your chest is contracted forward, even if you're sitting down or standing up.

image credit to chiefchiro.wordpress.com

6. Avoid working out continuously. Your muscles need some rest before another training. Make sure you have some day off in your training.

7. Train with your mind. When you lift some weight, make sure your mind doesn't wander off. You have to FOCUS to what you're doing because there's a close relation between your brain, your nerves, and your muscles. This means, no cellphones during your set. Just saying.

8. Do one set to failure, but that doesn't mean you have to failure your sets repeatedly. It's better if you do just 1 or 2 sets with heavier weight for maximum results.

9. Choose a cardio that you like. If you do workouts that you don't like, you won't enjoy it. Do some fun activities like running, walking, swimming, cycling, hiking, etc.

Many research indicates that when you can focus into your training, you'll get significant muscle enhancement. Therefore, don't read, talk, or text when you're in the middle of your workout and focus your mind to each set, so that every reps and sets will be more effective and you'll get your results faster.

Got Milk?

Having a smooth and healthy skin is every woman's dream. However, many people - men and women - have some trouble with their skin. This is why a lot of cosmetic products claim to fix those problem, making your skin smooth, shiny, and healthy. But do you know that drinking milk daily is effective to make your skin healthy and smooth?

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A lot of skin problems came from stress, unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, ultraviolet radiation, and other kinds of solution, making our skin dry, even cracked. Drinking milk daily is one of the many ways to keep your skin healthy.

Naturally, milk contains vitamin A and D, which smooths your skin. Besides that, other important mineral in milk such as iron, calcium, and copper also have some 'cosmetic' function for you, making your skin healthy and supple.

The protein, calcium, and iron in milk that we consume everyday will also slow down the aging process, while brightening it. This is why, for hundreds even thousands of years, milk is known as women's beauty secret for its benefits of making skin smooth, wrinkle-free, and brighter.

Milk also contains lactic acid, which have the role to moisten the skin naturally, while lifting the dead cells in your body, recovering it to make your skin prettier and healthier.

Therefore, if you want a smoother, brighter skin, start drinking milk daily!

Why You're Not Getting the Results from Your Workout

If you've been following my posts since the very beginning (and I hope you do), and yet still don't get the results, this is the post that will answer your question. Don't even think about supplements to get faster results  before you read this post first.

Before asking which supplements to use, we have to realize that there are many factors that involves in body-building efforts. Even stress can thin out your body. Here I will share few factors that you may have to reevaluate when you don't get the results from your workout or your training.

image credit to thelegalcommune.com

1. Rest
Have you have enough rest? How long do you sleep in a day? Of course, every person is different in terms of sleeping needs, but the standard sleeping time is 7 to 9 hours a day. When we sleep, our body produces growth hormones that can repair the broken cells. Besides the sleeps at night, you also have to pay attention to the resting time between each training. You won't build your chest muscles when you train it everyday. Give at least two or three days gap before you train it again in the next workout.

2. Train Hard for the Designated Muscles
Let's say you want to build your biceps, and you don't get the results. Reevaluate your training: was it "hard" enough? Some say that it was hard enough, but they do the same pattern with the same weight every time (and didn't do the overload principal). Add more weight over time because your muscles will get used to the same weight you're using every time, making your training pointless. It's like when we were in school in 1st to 6th grade, the lessons get harder everytime, right?

3. Variations
Use some variations in your training so that your muscles don't get bored. When you do the same training pattern every time, your body will adapt, and won't respond much to your training. Use different order when you train, different weights, different resting time between each set, and different sets to "surprise" your muscles and triggers them to adapt and develop.

4. Did you do cardio before your weight training?
What usually happens is people do cardio before their weight training. They thought that it was just a warm up. You do have to do a little cardio before you train for a warm up, but what people usually did is that they did it too hard, and sometimes, too long. You don't have to run in the treadmill for 30 minutes as a warm up. This will tire you in your weight training, and will significantly hamper your effort to build your body. Do your cardio after your weight training.

And that's the four basic things that you have to reevaluate when you reach a plateau (no progress) in your training. If you do them all right, then reevaluate your nutrition. Did you consume enough nutrition your body needs to build your body? It doesn't matter if you want to lose weight or want to gain some, your daily nutrition needs is important.

Run, Forrest, Run!

Want to run in full speed? Make sure your training is not in vain, by checking out these tips to maximize your performance in running or jogging.

image credit to fitnessgurusam.com

1. Choose the right shoes. Don't use old shoes or soccer shoes to run. Instead, use some running shoes and use it for 600 kilometers. Don't use the same shoes to run continuously, because the soles under the shoes will decay rapidly. Buy spare shoes to run and use them alternately.
2. I said this before and I'll say it again: rest is important. Don't force your body to run everyday. Make some intervals in your running days with resting days, so that your body have enough time to recover.
3. Breathe properly when you run. Long breaths are needed in running so that oxygen can fill all air cavities inside your lungs.
4. Have something to eat a few hours before you run. Choose foods that are slow-absorbed so that it will give you some energy for few hours ahead. Before you run, you can also drink supplements like Carbo Booster which can energize you without feeling too full.
5. Warm-up is important. Don't start to run as fast as you can when you just started. Start by warming up your legs by walking, then power-walk, start to jog, then run as fast as you can.
6. Remember to cool down to prevent cramps or any other injuries after your training.
7. Ready yourself mentally. Besides strong stamina, running needs strong mentality too. Focus yourself to your goal and fight to achieve those goals.

Ready to run?

Why Seafood is Good

There are many reasons as to why consuming seafood are good. Besides that it have a good taste when we process it into many variations of food, seafood are sources of high-quality proteins that are low in fat in cholesterol, and also act as sources for vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, and Omega 3 fatty acid which are good for your heart and blood veins.

image credit to ocean.nationalgeographic.com

Some of the seafood, such as clams, deep-sea fishes, and crabs are delicious and high in nutrition. Clams and crabs are high in vitamin B12 that supports the nerves and brain, and also minerals such as zinc, magnesium, and potassium. Meanwhile, deep-sea fishes such as salmon, tuna, or mackerel are the best sources for Omega 3 fatty acid, that can help you prevent heart diseases.

Omega 3 is known for good fatty acid that can help reduce the the risk of getting heart disease, stroke, and many kinds of cancers. Better yet, foods that are high in Omega 3 are related to positive-mood change. In other words, fishes can be functioned as a therapeutic cure for mild depression!

Fish and seafood are also good for pregnant women for their fetus' brain growth, and also reduces the risk of premature birth. Besides that, other nutrition in fish and seafood like protein and vitamin, all are good for our health.

It's clear that consuming fish and other kinds of seafood is so good, that the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends to eat fish at least twice a week. More importantly, if you have a heart disease, AHA recommends if you have a high-Omega 3 diet by eating fish every day. Therefore, by start consuming these sea delicacies in our everyday diet also plays a role for a healthy heart.

So, got fish?

12 Easy Steps to Lose Some Weight (Part 1)

Here's a post that you have to read carefully, because it will answer the questions that people ask relentlessly: what do I have to do to lose weight? What kind of sport do I have to do? What kind of diet that I should do? I've done my diet, but why do I get ulcers instead of losing some weight?

That was just some of the questions that I get from the people around me, or in some social medias where people complain about their weight or imperfect body parts. So here I'm going to give you the steps on what you have to do to lose some weight.

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1. Take notes on your body's initial status. Measure your waist, thighs, arms, and chest. Weigh your weight, and find out the fat percentage in your body. This sounds silly, but it's actually important to keep track of your progress, and to evaluate the mistakes.

2. Make a realistic goal in your first month, such as losing 2 to 3 kg. Don't expect to lose 10 to 15 kg in your first month of dieting. The more realistic your goal is, the more motivated you are when you achieve and reaching the next goals.

3. Start working out. Whatever the sport is, it's better than just sleeping at home. For those who really want to lose weight, start investing your time to achieve your goal. When you want to lose weigh, don't EVER say that you don't have the time to workout. It's like saying you want to buy a car, but you don't want to work to get it. You have to fight for it! How you manage your time is up to you, because different people have different priorities in their life.

What is the sport to lose some weight? Any sport will do! But if you really want to lose some weight, it's best to lift weights, and end your workout with cardio in a treadmill. I will post some more about this later. Whatever sport you want to do, DO IT SERIOUSLY. Don't just join a gym to sit around, playing with your phone, and lift some weight occasionally. Work your body out, and mean it!

4. Review your menu. This is the most important part. How many times do you eat in a day? Many people think it's best to eat less when they should've consume less calories. For example, when you usually eat 2500 calories a day, lessen it into 2000 calories. It's better than lessening it into 1000 calories. Calorie deficiency will make your body turn into "survival mode", and won't burn your fat.

How many calories you have to consume can be calculated using the BMR calculator. Our body lower its metabolism when we're trying to eat less than a day (i.e. from 3 times a day into twice a day). We'll get hungry at first, but after 1 or 2 weeks, we'll get used to it, and won't get hungry even if we only eat twice a day. Hunger disappearance is a sign that our body burns less calories. The longer we're getting used to it, our body will adapt, and it will be harder to lose some weight.

5. Eat 5 or 6 times a day. Normally people eat 3 times a day, when in fact, our body was designed to eat more than that. When we have breakfast at 7 AM and eat lunch at 1 PM, we'll get hungry at 10 AM. When you have lunch at 1 PM and eat dinner at 7 PM, at about 4 PM we'll get hungry. This "hunger" usually be filled with junk foods (high-calorie foods, but not very filling because they contain minimum nutrition, thus making us fat).

Fill these in-between meals with high-nutrition snacks, such as apples and skimmed milk, or almonds and apples. In total, you'd eat 6 times, with 3 meals and 3 snacks. This is a sure way to stabilize your metabolism and will surely burn your fat faster. When you want to lower your calorie consumption from 2500 into 2000, divide the 2000 calories into 6 meals. Once again, to lose some weight, you lessen the calories, not the eating frequency. You can see the meal plan here, for an example of eating 6 times a day.

I Heart Coffee? Think Again

Well I don't like coffee that much, actually. But my mum is a coffee drinker, and I know some people who actually survive on the coffee that they drink every morning. Anyway, before this post turn into some kind of rambling about some people in my life who loves coffee, then I should start by stating that people who drinks coffee in huge sum but doesn't have a healthy diet tend to suffer on heart arrhythmia (commonly known as heart disease).

image credit to coffee-cereal.com

Some Italian researchers surveyed their patients who recently diagnosed with heart arrhythmia to know their eating habits, including caffeine intake. Their eating pattern then compared with people who does not suffer on heart arrhythmia. They announced the results on annual meeting of European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona.

In that research, daily coffee consumption was divided into 4 categories: low (1 cup/day), average (2-3 cups/day), high (more than 3 cups/day), and no consumption at all. The patients are also categorized based on their adherence to Mediterranean diet, which is rich on whole-wheat, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, but low on red meats.

Based on this research, people who suffers on heart arrhythmia does not adhere to the Mediterranean diet, compare to those who does not suffer on heart arrhythmia. Patients suffering heart arrhythmia also consumes more red meats and high-fat milk.

What's interesting is that patients with arrhythmia consume more antioxidants from coffee than other foods such as fruits, vegetables, and wine, as the researchers said.

Die-hard coffee drinker also prone to heart arrhythmia than those who drink less coffee. In heart arrhythmia, both heart atrium vibrates in an abnormal manner, which caused heart palpitations (poundings), asphyxiate, fatigue, and higher risk of stroke.

In conclusion, it's better to balance out your coffee consumption with healthy foods and drinks. I'll definitely post about the goodness of coffee in the future :)

Yummy and Healthy Beverages

To achieve your ideal own ideal weight, it's really important to have some variations in your diet menu. Drink variations in your diet menu are as important as food variations. There are a lot of drink nowadays that are high in sugar, also artificial coloring and sweetener. Our body won't be in its best condition by consuming those drinks. So here I'm gonna post some of the healthy drinks that you can add into your diet menu :)

image credit to howtojuice.org

Orange Juice
The favorite drink that people usually add into their diet menu is orange juice. Orange juice got this natural flavor that people tend to like, and it's easy to prepare too. Besides its high content of healthy vitamin C and phyto-nutrition, eight ounce of orange juice had the same potassium content as it is in bananas. With its many vitamins and nutrition in it, orange juice has been believed to lower the blood pressure.

Apple Juice
Apple juice is a compulsory drink that you have to have in your diet menu. The right way to serve it is without sugar, because apples have enough sugar content to get the natural sweet taste. Fresh apple juice contains many useful vitamins and minerals. The malic acid in apples can be your additional energy when working out. The old saying of "an apple a day can keep the doctor away" is true, apparently, because there are already some research that indicates how apples can prevent heart diseases and lower the cholesterol.

Cranberry Juice
Another healthy drink is cranberry juice. The antioxidants from cranberry juice has been long known for its curing ability for urinary tract infections. The acidic taste from cranberry juice can prevent the growth of the germs causing the infections. A cranberry juice in your diet menu can keep you fit everyday.

Besides the three drinks, you can also combine it with other kinds of fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, carrots, and also tomatoes. With the three choices, you can be closer into the workout goal that you want to achieve :)

7 Fatal Mistakes in Dieting

If you've been following my blog posts since the very beginning, then you'll probably get some of the mistakes that people often do in their diet. This time, I'm gonna list the most common mistakes, that might seem to be ordinary, but can be fatal to your body.

1. Deliberately Starving Yourself
People generally think that eating too much food can make them gain weight, so to lose some, they will cut back on their eating. Sometimes they even hold back their hunger and not eating. The truth is, starving can decrease your metabolism, which - and I've said this so many times before - will slow down your fat-burning process.

This will also cut off your energy, and make you feel like you're not fit and limp. Starving also means that your stomach is empty and your blood sugar has wear off, while at the same time, your brain needs it. This is why most people get dizzy, or - if it gets worse - they faint. The same thing happens to people who only eats once or twice a day to lose some weight. You should eat five to six times a day (yes, you're reading it right), with three meals and three snacks in between so that your metabolism stays high. You can read the meal plan to lose weight here.

2. Skipping Breakfast
People usually just skip it for several reasons, either they have no time to do it, or not used to eating in the morning. The fact is, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After sleeping for about 8 hours without any nutrition, our body needs it on breakfasts and to get through the day with full energy. Skipping breakfast can make your body go catabolic, in which it gets the energy from our muscles.

3. Skipping Dinner
People do this under the assumption that they don't need to eat before they sleep. Well of course our body don't need many calories - especially carbohydrates - when we sleep. However, we need some proteins while we sleep, because at this time our body will produce growth hormone, and will automatically "fix" the broken cells within. It's better if you consume some protein about 2 to 3 hours before you sleep. Carbs only good as long as it's 4 hours before you sleep.

4. Not Eating after Sports or Workouts
People usually assume that eating after sports or workouts is a waste, because they burn so many calories already, right? What they don't know is that eating after workouts are the most important meal for our body to get the results! Imagine you're tearing down the wall in your room to repair it (working-out), and when you call a handyman to fix it, you don't prepare the bricks and the cement (not eating). If this goes on, your body will break down. It's highly recommended if you drink some protein and carbohydrate at least 15 minutes after a workout, and get some real food 1 hour after a workout to "repair" your body.

5. Not Drinking Enough Water
Fact is, not enough water can make your body hold back more water which can add additional weight into your body. It can also interfere with your metabolism and digesting system. Drink 2 to 3 litres of water daily.

6. Crash-Dieting
These kinds of diet are the ones that deliberately omitting one component to reach its goal, such as no-fat diet, no-carbs diet, or high-protein diet. This is not a balanced diet, and can be fatal to your body. The fact is, fat has got an important role in our body, which is to help the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. If we don't consume any fat at all, then our body will run short of these vitamins, and can lead to some serious diseases. Not eating carbohydrates at all is also dangerous because our body needs it as energy sources, as does our brain need it to think. The best diet is the balanced diet, not the ones that omits one kind of nutrition that our body needs.

7. Have a Cheat-Day
Some people on diet have a cheat day to eat freely, and this usually happens on Sundays. Having these cheat day, is as if you're rewarding yourself after you overcome the six days of dieting. Diet is actually a lifestyle, and having a cheat day will program your brain that the six days before are days of hell. If you gone through this pattern, you will get tired of dieting, and eventually stops dieting. See it as some kind of lifestyle, and not as a requirement.

Well that's a long post, isn't it? Have you done any of those things? If you do, then change it RIGHT NOW. Simple mistakes in dieting can lead to some serious disease, and that's definitely not what you want.

Get Some Workout!

Sports are one of the most effective ways to burn your excess fat. Besides that, one of the many advantages of doing sports are: preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc; improving your sleeping quality; strengthening the bones; improving your stamina and energy; and the most important thing is improving your metabolism so it can burn more fat.

Image credit to healthnutblogger.com

Lifting weights are one of the ways to improve your muscle mass.

Why?

Because muscles are one of the tissues that constantly burn calories, even when you sleep. Hence, muscle growth means slow but continuous fat-burning process without any efforts.

Yes, girls, you have to lift some weights too. You won't get all muscly like a guy, because girls, unlike boys, lack the testosterone - which is the hormone for muscle-growth - and won't have muscles as big as boys do. In fact, lifting weights will tighten up your muscles and get you in shape!

The right supplement can also help you get in shape. For example, fat-burning supplements can fasten up your metabolism, ease your appetite, and most importantly, help your body burn off the fat. Meanwhile, protein supplements can help you meet your daily protein requirements, as the multivitamin and multi-mineral supplements does in for your daily vitamin and mineral requirements.

Get in shape now by doing some workouts!

Why Diet Pills Don't Work: Learn About "The Switch"

image credit to saxzilla.com

As beings who always concerns more about what they eat and how it did to their body, women usually take the easy route to be thin.One of these route is by consuming diet pills to burn off the fat in their body. They try many kinds of products from numbers of brands, but their weight won't go down. In this post I will tell you why they don't work.

Imagine that your body is a machine, with a switch on it that only has two functions: STORE FAT and BURN FAT. When you're fat, it's clear that the switch is on the STORE FAT function, and the only way to get thin is to turn it into BURN FAT function.

It's fairly simple to switch your body function into BURN FAT. There are two things that you must do: diet, and workout.

In my previous post, I already told you about the right way to plan your diet, by eating more protein and less carbs. Unfortunately, most people - especially Indonesian and Malaysian - do the opposite. When they eat, usually they eat more rice than side dishes. This is wrong.

Once again, IT IS WRONG. Eat more proteins. Beef, chicken meat, or fish won't get you fat! What makes you fat are all the sauce and the dressings in the dish. You can anticipate it by not getting so much sauce in your plate.

Workout is basically doing some activities to work your body out (well, duh.). To fasten up the result, lift some weights. Women usually don't want to lift some weight, and I will definitely post about this later.

Back to the matter at hand, why don't diet pills work the way they suppose to?

You have to understand first that what those pills do are to 'help' and 'fasten' your effort to burn the fat in your body. Pay attention to the 'help' part. When the pills are helping you, it assumes that your switch is on the BURN FAT mode, which then will be fastened by those fat burner pills.

However, most people only want the instant results, consuming diet pills without minding 'the switch'. So make sure you understand about this before you consume the diet pills.

Same thing happens to those who does liposuction or some other things to lose the fat. These people are usually desperate enough to do those things. No offense, but this is the sad truth. They don't understand about 'the switch' in their body. When they got out of the slimming clinic, they're happy with the results, but in 3 to 4 months, they will gain weight, usually more than they originally weigh.

Still thinking about choosing the easy route? Think again.

Say NO to Hair Loss!

Image credit to hairlosspreventiontips.com

Face it, we all love our hair, no matter what people say about it. Everyone, especially males, are concerned about getting bald because of hair loss. That is why in this post I will give you some info about hair loss, and how to prevent it.

First things first, there are more than 100.000 strands of hair, and each grows in 2 to 6 years. However, our hair will fall out about 50 to 100 strands a day. Hair loss can happen to everyone, men and women. Bad hair loss can lead to baldness and confidence crisis.

One of the cause of hair loss is improper dieting, because it can lead to lack of nutrition and make your hair fall out. Like any other parts in your body, even hairs need enough nutrition to make it healthy.

Lack of good nutrition can slow down your hair growth, and also hair loss. One of the nutrition our hair needs is protein. 97 % of our hair consists of protein, which is why the lack of protein intake can cause the hair loss.

In the previous post, I already told you about the improper dieting. Not eating chicken, fish, or milk, and your hair starts to fall out, that's when you need some more protein.

You can also drink some high-protein milk. It's usually expensive, but the protein/carbs ratio are usually very good. It will give you more protein than the average milk do, with less carbs to consume. I will post about this later :)

3 Habits to Improve Your Health!

Many people think that their work is keeping them from being healthy. In reality, it doesn't matter how many work you have to finish, as long as you have the intention to be healthy, you will still try to achieve it.

I'm gonna give you three habits, that may be simple, but can improve your fitness!

1. Less sitting!
Research shows that sitting around too much will lead you to many dangerous diseases: obesity, cardiovascular diseases, even cancer. Dr. James Levine, a doctor in Rochester's Mayo Clinic said that the disease you get from sitting too long is the same as the side effects you get from smoking!

To keep you from those diseases, do simple exercises like squat, lunge, and other kinds of stretching in between your activities. You can also do some other activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevators, cycling to school or to work, even parking your vehicle a bit further so that you get more chances to walk.


2. Help Others!
This might sound silly and hard to believe, but it does keep you healthy! Research indicates that if you help others more often, it will prevent you from psychological disorder (such as depression). Generally, people who help others more often will focus more on problems of others instead of their own, thus make them feel better than the others.

This habit will also develop affection, which will keep you from getting angry, stressed, or even upped your blood pressure!


3. Don't Get Too Attached to Your Cellphone!

Image credit to plg-pllc.com

A study indicates that a person's stress level can increase from checking their cellphone or other gadgets to check on their messages too often. This habit can keep you from doing other more important things, screws up your mood, and stress you up.

To overcome this, give yourself one day rest from things that makes you get attached to your phone. Try socializing directly to your friends, because this can help you express your emotions freely. Turn off your phone, or activate the silent mode before you go to sleep.


Source
Dunia Fitnes, 2012. Biasakan Diri Melakukan 3 Hal Ini dan Anda Akan Lebih Sehat, [online]. In: http://duniafitnes.com/health/biasakan-diri-melakukan-3-hal-ini-dan-anda-akan-lebih-sehat.html

Eat More to Lose More. Y U No Understand??

Some people still find it hard to believe that by eating more than 2 or 3 times a day, it can help them lose weight. They still don't understand why by not eating only makes it harder for them to lose weight.

I'm gonna make it easier to understand. Imagine you're working, and you're earning more than you need. So you save it, in case of emergency. Suddenly, you got fired, and got no income.

My question is this: when you got no income, will you use your savings carefully, or start an extravagant life?

This is what I call a survival mode. You know what will happen when you got no income and no savings, right?

The same things happens within your body. When you don't eat, your body will not get the energy it needs, and to survive, it will slow the fat burning process so that it won't run out of "fuel".

When you don't eat frequently, you will not get hungry easily. This is when your body starts to slow down the fat-burning process.

So, if you want to lose weight, start eating more frequently, folks. Try it, and you'll see why ;)

Meal Plan to Lose Weight

In the last post, I posted that in to lose weight, we should eat more frequently. Less portions and more frequent will make your metabolism more active, thus it burns your fat.

Here's an example of an ideal meal plan to lose weight:

Breakfast (07.00)
1 Omelette or boiled egg
2 slices of whole-grain bread / 1 cup of oatmeal

Morning Snack (10.00)
1 apple / orange / pear

Lunch (13.00)
1 ounce of chicken breast / fish / beef
1 cup of brown rice
1 cup of vegetables

Afternoon Snack (16.00)
1 slice of whole-grain bread / 1/2 cup of oatmeal
1 slice of roasted fish / beef

Dinner (19.00)
1 ounce of chicken breast / fish / beef
1 cup of vegetables

Evening Snack / Before Sleeping (21.00)
High-Protein low fat and low sugar milk

I need to say that the menu above is an "ideal" menu. What you have to see from that menu is that you don't have to eat less fish, chicken, and beef. The protein in chicken, fish, and beef WILL NOT make you fat. What makes you fat is your over-consumption of sugar and carbs.

You have to consider that you also don't have to follow the time to eat. Those menu is just an example after all, and every person has different kind of activities :)

But the most important thing to remember is this: by eating more frequently, then your body will actively digest your food. This digesting process will activate your metabolism.


"Well I'm not hungry. Why do I have to eat?"

Not feeling hungry is the sign that your metabolism is slow, my friend. We have to change it, fasten it, so that you can burn more fat.