Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Myth: Eating after 8:00 p.m. Makes You Fat 
 Eating after a certain hour won't necessarily mean you'll pack on pounds, just as staying out after midnight won’t turn you into a pumpkin. This Cinderella-esque fat fairy tale continues to exist, but the bottom line is that your metabolism doesn't know what time it is, Batayneh says.
Skip the mad rush to consume as much food as you can before the clock strikes 8:00. "Calories are calories, no matter when you eat them, but what does matter is what and how much of it you eat. Late-night snacking gets a bad rap because often the foods that are consumed late at night are calorie-dense foods (chips, ice cream, pizza, and other junk food) and may be in excess calories to your daily caloric needs, which translates to weight gain."


Compliments of:

11 Nutrition Myths That Can Cause Weight Gain

Nutritionist Rania Batayneh, MPH sets the record straight to help you lose the weight.


Read the full article
here

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Coz we gotta have faith

"Faith hears the inaudible, sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible" - Anonymous

Julius, bet you wish you didn't sing that song now!


And so everyone's favourite ANCYL leader decides to give up politics and take up the life of a farmer in Limpopo.

Does he realise he can't bribe the weather?

New Zealand here I come!


Bay of Isles, New Zealand.
This is where I'll be in January celebrating one of my best friends, Amber's wedding.

Leave approved, I'm going!

And if this picture isn't enough to motivate me to work my ass off for the next three weeks to ensure that I have one and a half mags completed early, I don't know what is!

No wonder there is an obesity problem!

This is a picture of my absolutely delicious lunch - a grilled haloumi salad complete with avo, corn, nuts and brinjal. A kaleidoscope of flavours I must tell you!

I should also tell you that these are the leftovers from my supper last night. Notice the rather full plate? 
It also looked like a full plate last night - just a much larger one! So there were easily two portions in that ginourmous excuse for a plate.

It's no wonder there is an obesity problem!

So here I am complaining about how sneaky JB's Corner was to give me so much deliciousness (loving grilled haloumi - yum yum!!) because even too much avo and haloumi will be a bad thing. And I reckon I fared better than my dining partner who, after ordering the chicken shnitzel, was greeted with the most enormous mound of cheaps (at least 2 servings of large McDonalds' chips right there), 2 shnitzels, plus a gravy bought of mushroom sauce.

Luckily we both have the self control (and budgeting problems) to eat only half of our meals and save the rest for lunch today - but I'm sure it would be normal for someone else to guzzle down the whole plate.

And considering restaurants to discriminate (or accommodate) for ladies and men's portions, that there plate was what a regular man would call a decent portion!

South Africans are fat!

South Africans are the third fattest nation on earth. A survey done in 2010 by GlaxoSmithKline has found that 61% of the South African population are overweight or morbidly obese.
Government is taking action of course. Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has set targets to radically reduce non-communicable diseases (including CVD, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease) – the majority of which are caused by poor choices and behaviours. The target set for overweight/obesity is to reduce it by 10% by 2020. He also said at the conference that fast food companies would soon be forbidden from marketing their ‘unhealthy’ products on TV during children’s programmes. 
Well Dr Motsoaledi, I think you should also insist on restaurant's declaring the kilojoule count of each dish they serve on the menu. I realise it should be up to individuals to be discerning about what they choose off it but at least when a hungry patron is drooling at the thought of a bacon and blue cheese burger with extra cheese sauce plus fries.....by seeing that enormous number of calories about to be consumed, they might just choose something else > or at least skip the extra cheese sauce and opt for salad instead of fries!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Muzzled

iFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMamFREEDOMFREEDOMaFREEDOMFREEDOMjournalist.
FREEDOMtodayFREEDOMFREEDOMourFREEDOMfreedomFREEDOMFREEDOMwillFREEDOM
FREEDOMbeFREEDOMFREEDOMtakenFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMaway.
FREEDOMFREEDOMjustFREEDOMasFREEDOMFREEDOMthisFREEDOMbasicFREEDOMFREEDOM
FREEDOMdemocraticFREEDOMFREEDOMrightFREEDOMFREEDOMwillFREEDOMFREEDOM
FREEDOMbeFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMtakenFREEDOMawayFREEDOMFREEDOMfromFREEDOM
FREEDOMFREEDOMeveryFREEDOM;southFREEDOMFREEDOMafrican.
FREEDOMweFREEDOMFREEDOMhaveFREEDOMtheFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMrightFREEDOM
FREEDOMFREEDOMtoFREEDOMFREEDOMknow.FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOM
FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFRE
FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOM
FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOM
FREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMFREEDOMDEAD.  

Friday, November 11, 2011

Old people at gyms scare me

I'm sorry to sound so ageist - but old people at gyms really scare me.
Not because I'm freaked out by saggy skin and wrinkles, but I fear for their health.

This morning after a hectic kickboxing class, we were all stretching and the older gentleman next to me seemed to fall on his knees - and stayed on all fours panting for a while.

I looked at him in alarm - was he having a heartache, do I ask him if he's ok, is that just a sweaty brow from the numerous kicks, squats and punches we've been doing for the past hour or is that the sweaty brow before a heart attack?

Needless to say, I'm quite glad I didn't share my concern with him as he would have been mightily insulted - because he managed to arise and stagger to his water bottle and towel quite easily (all things considered) a few minutes later.

Another time, I was peddling away on a bike when a very aged gentleman took ownership of the one next to me. Despite his white-haired and droppy man boobed athleticism, I was seriously worried that he might keel over at any moment and literally spent the whole time keeping an eye on him (as the speed of my bike slowed from the misguided concentration).

I'm all for keeping yourself on your toes (maybe not literally due to possible ankle arthritis...can you get arthritis there?) for health reasons. Because besides the unexpected strokes, cancers and heart attacks (the last, I suppose is kinda a result of not doing enough of the health thing), that's what's going to keep us alive longest. But I think other gym members might prefer if you stick to less heart pumping activities like pilates and water aerobics.

Or at least - be sure to "consult your physician before starting any physical exercise programme" as every gym machine warns.

Ah...so that's what they're there for!