1. Soup or Salad Before Meals
Alright we are not talking about a complete soup or salad diet. I don't think I could ever do it, but a simple tip like eating a light soup or small salad before meals can lead to 10%-15% less calories being consumed in the meal. Why? Because a soup or salad can be very filling 2. Buy Pre-Cut Fruits and Vegetables I have good intentions when I buy fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. I THINK I'll eat them. But often times they end up going rotten from sitting in my fridge for so long. BUT when I buy pre-cut fruits & veggies I tend to snack on them more. Laziness? Not sure. But buying precut fruits & veggies will help you eat more. 3. Limit your Alcohol Consumption Alcohol is not only extremely fattening (7 calories per gram) but it also destroys your will power and damages your body's primary fat burning organ (your liver). Try to call it quits, and if you cannot do that try to limit the number of drinks you do have when you do drink. 4. Cut Out All Junk Foods Junk food can equal junk in the trunk. A study performed by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine studied the eating habits of 2,757 subjects with type 2 diabetes that were sampled and surveyed for their eating habits. Results showed that 93% over consumed calories, 85% had more saturated fat intake than the recommended amounts, and 92% had too much sodium intake. Such correlations show the dangerous health effects of junk foods. Researchers conducting a clinical trial on rats showed that high fatty food intake can even lead to a decrease in cognitive functions. Junk foods can contain as much as 610 calories (MacDonald's SuperSized Fries). With the average American teenager drinking an average 760 cans of soda, junk food consumption often leads to a diet heavily laden in extra sugar, fats, and calories. These calories can add up during the days, weeks, and months to a very unhealthy diet. Although it may require some self-control and discipline, just saying NO to junk food can and will lead to weight loss. It is very difficult in the beginning but you'll get used to it after a few weeks. 5. Never Eat Till Full Okinawans (Japanese Islanders), whose average BMI is 21.5, are known for their supreme health, fitness, and longevity. One of their secrets is the "hara hachi bu" or eating until you're 80% full. This doesn't mean you have to starve yourself. You can definitely eat. In fact, you should eat until you're satisfied. Just don’t eat until you're full or stuffed. This causes your stomach to expand and your body to become lethargic. The stomach is a versatile organ. It expands when we eat and shrinks when we're hungry. As a result, if you are always eating until you feel like throwing up, your stomach will expand beyond its normal capacity. This causes you to eat more to fill this expanded void of your stomach. By eating less, you're shrinking the total capacity of your stomach. This leads to a smaller appetite and weight loss.
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Well, it had to happen.
After adding each of Pixar’s last four films to my personal Hall of Fame, they finally put out a movie that will not be added to my collection. Now, before I go any further, let me assure you that this is NOT a negative review. It may only seem like that, given that once one encounters near-perfection, not once, not twice, but FOUR times straight, anything less will seem like a letdown. And Up is not a bad story, it’s actually quite good. Very good, even. It’s just not fantastic. Perhaps it’s the fact that the main characters just didn’t measure up. It’s tough for an elderly man and his rather rotund child sidekick to be as cool as a family of superheroes or a talking racecar, or as cute as a rat who wants to be a chef or a robot who falls in love. For that’s what Up is basically about. In the opening minutes, we meet the character of Carl Fredricksen, a bespectacled youth who wants to be an adventurer like his hero from the newsreels, Charles Muntz (even after said hero is discredited for producing the “fake” skeleton of a 12-foot-tall South American bird, and who vows to return one day with actual proof). He meets a girl named Ellie, who has a similar thirst for adventure. They marry, and though they are happy together, they never QUITE manage to have the explorer’s life they once craved. In the present, Ellie has just passed away and Carl (now in his 70’s and voiced by Edward Asner) is being forced to vacate his house and sent to a retirement home. Unwilling, he affixes thousands of balloons to his house, and floats it away to find adventure. Along for the ride is a precocious but unwelcome Wilderness Boy named Russell, who was on his porch during takeoff, seeking the last merit badge he needs (helping the elderly) to become a Senior Wilderness Adventurer… despite the fact that he’s never ACTUALLY been camping. A freak storm blows them to Carl’s desired destination in South America, where he meets his childhood hero (Christopher Plummer) - who is STILL tracking the enormous bird in order to save his reputation – and who has been living only with a brood of tracking dogs, who are able to talk thanks to devices on their collars. One of these dogs, a friendly (and simply adorable) outcast named Dug, is only too happy to help Carl and Russell. I won’t spoil any more of the film, because you should see it for yourselves. There are plenty of “awww” moments, and the story is uplifting enough (no pun intended). My main gripe is that there are simply one too many coincidences and/or plot contrivances present to keep the story from bogging down. (And I’m not talking about the notion that any number of balloons can lift a house… I can suspend disbelief for that. There are plenty of others, however, which I won’t go into.) All in all, it was enjoyable experience. It just wasn’t, for me, at the same level of exhilaration that I have experienced with nearly all of Pixar’s most recent offerings. 4 / 5 stars |
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