Part 3: Should you eat this or not?

This blog entry will be about what to eat and what you should avoid if you’re on a diet. Most people usually reduce the size of their meal, or skip meals. Ok, if you've read my previous blog, I mentioned that skipping meals or starving yourself is a no no! Anyways, I won't go over it again. 

First, you should know that we gain weight because we are consuming more calories than we burn. In other words, the excess energy from food is stored as fat. Therefore, this means we need to burn more than what we eat in order to lose weight and do an intensive workout. We also need the three macro-nutrients; carbohydrates, proteins and fat.

Carbohydrates

Having too much carbohydrate will make you gain weight, so many nutritionists and fitness trainer advice to cut down on carbs. But do not take it the wrong way and have very little amount of it or even totally cut out carbs- actually that’s impossible because everything has carbs in it but just in different portions.  Why? Well, have you heard of the Atkin diet? It’s a low carbohydrate diet. I don’t know too much about it but have read a few things about it and in my opinion that one is not very realistic. I would say it only works if you’re an extremely lazy person, that doesn’t exercise or move around a lot. I say this because carbs is a source of fuel for our body, and if you do some intensive workout or move a lot, you won’t have the energy to do so. No carbs no energy.

Have the following:

Replace white bread (refined) with wholemeal bread

Replace white rice (refined) with  brown rice/ wild rice

Replace refined pasta with wheat ones, you find them brownish.  

Basically, change everything to whole grain if you can.

Proteins

Protein will help your body burn fat, it helps repair damaged cells and build new cells.

When you do an intensive workout, you are actually damaging cells in your muscle. Ok, it may sound bad BUT it’s not as bad as it sounds. PROTEIN comes to the rescue! Protein repairs damaged cell and build new cells, so if you have more protein the quicker the cells will be repaired which means you’ll get toned quicker! Oh! Don’t be thinking ‘I’m not going to be doing hardcore exercise because I don’t want to be damaging my cells’. That’s a mistake because you’re damaging your cells every day from your daily routines; lifting shopping bags, running for bus, basically anything that requires more force and muscles (that’s almost everything). So up your proteins!

Have the following:

Have lean chicken and turkey breast- avoid red meat and processed meat e.g. sausages.( I love my hotdogs and bangers & Mash! A little won’t hurt sometimes. lol!!)

Have 2 eggs in the morning as part of the breakfast (If you have high cholesterol, avoid the yolk and just have the egg white. People aged 30+ should really avoid or cut down egg yolks)

Have whole grain products, fish, nuts, soy foods like tofu, vegetables and fruits.

By the way, do be careful with some food product. It says it’s has high protein but has HIGH saturated fat!

Fat

There are 2 types of fat; one is yucky fat(saturated) from those greasy chicken and chips and another is essential fats like Omega-3 from fish. 

Protects and supports your organs (good for the heart- prevent heart disease), keeps you warm and it is also important for the cell structure.  Fat and carbs together conserves protein.

Have the following:

Fish- Salmon and Mackerel are high Omega-3, if you don’t like fish take fish oil pills.

Nuts, avocado. 

What else?

Have more fibre, that's more vegetables and fruits. Helps wash your body system, get rid of waste.

Porridge/ oatmeal, weetabix and muesli are high in fibre and protein. Great for breakfast, also helps lower cholesterol. I remember my mum's friend (she's a beautician) said that porridge is good for your skin because porridge washes your body system which goes back to what I just mentioned. That means you look better when you eat healthy!

I better stop here, wrote another long blog lol. Next blog the WORKOUT!

Part 2: Many think starving is an express way of losing weight

Please note that the information in this blog are from reading numerous fitness magazines and other fitness sources and taught by fitness instructors. The diet and fitness methods that I mention work really well for me. Therefore, please do not feel offended if your knowledge varies or contradict my knowledge since many nutritionist and fitness instructors give different diet advise.


When you put on weight is because you eat too much and so many think by skipping meals (starving themselves) will help and speed up the process of losing weight.
I've got a friend that used to starve himself (don't know if he still do) until it was time for his dinner, and sometimes he would skip that too! He said he lost weight very quick that way. I thought he was crazy to have done that because I could never do that as I love food too much.

Yes it does work, but it is not healthy at all! It can cause some serious damage to your health and even permanent ones! Side effects include head ache, weakness, women having irregular period, damages to your muscles in your heart area (cardiac muscles) and brain. There may be only two organs that is affected (i'm sure other organs are affected) but the brain and the heart are major parts of our body and of course without them we won't be alive. Also, we all know it could lead to anorexic if you starve yourself for too long.  

Let me explain how starving causes damage to your health.

In my previous blog, I mentioned that skipping breakfast will affect your activity during the day. Not even that if you skip all other meals you would be even more tired because you have not absorbed any energy into your body. The body gets tired because our body have switched the metabolism down to save the remaining energy in order to survive. Due to lack of energy, our body will transform the sugar that is stored in our body into glucose to use as extra energy. Once that is used up, our body will move on to the protein in our muscles for survival (Hence, why you see those anorexics being extremely skinny and bony); using the protein to support out breathing, heart pumping and other basic activities. If our brain lacks sugar for a long period of time, it would cause permanent damages to the cerebrum- the larger and upper part of the brain. If you try to eat normal again to repair those damages to the brain, it won't help much because those damages are PERMANENT. So it's best NOT to starve yourself in the first place.

How can you loose weight without skipping meals?

In my previous blog, I said that it's not good to have a massive meal after starving yourself. In general you should eat until you're content NOT until you're full. Also, don't wait till your hungry to eat, you should try to have a set time for each meal.

So if you're on a diet, still have breakfast, lunch and dinner. But reduce the size of the meals. Also, split 3 meals into 5-6 SMALL meals a day, I know it doesn't sound like a diet plan sounds more like the opposite. But I did say SMALL meals. If you eat more often, your body won't feel hungry and so you won't have the urge to have a massive meal. See the example below:

9am Breakfast: Porridge* with a banana./ weetabix with tbs of honey (they really fill you up and are high in fibre)
11am Snack**: apple, banana, glass of water- the water will fill you up. ( a tip from my boyfriend)
12pm Lunch: Nando's (1/4 chicken with salad)
2-3pm Snack: a sandwich (wholemeal bread)
6pm Dinner: Something high in protein and fibre e.g. fish, vegetables.
8pm Snack: If you do get hungry have fruits and water.

The food are just suggestions but your meal schedule should be similar to that. Eat every 3 hours to stop yourself from being hungry.
Some nutritionist say that you shouldn't in between your 3 meals because you should give your body time to digest the food, burn the fat etc. To be honest, both method works but if you're the kind of person that gets hungry quick then its best to do the one I mentioned. I get hungry very often so I got to eat all the time lol!

* Recently, I've been making my own smoothie/cold porridge. I blend some oat (about half a cup), a banana, 5 strawberries, a little bit of milk (about half a glass), 3-4 tbs of natural yoghurt and 1 tbs of honey together. All that makes 2.5 cups of smoothie. I have all of it as breakfast and it really fills me up. If you want to do this, at first you would get hungry like in 30 mins but just ignore it because your body is probably used to taking solid food rather than liquid food. If you heat the mixture may last you longer because the mixture is thicker. I'm used to it now and it lasts me a good while unless I go gym.

** I love snacking on nuts sometimes. Almond, peanut, pistachio (they also contain healthy fat that you need for your body)

That's it for now, I've spoken about the schedule of your meals. So in my next blog I will talk about what you should eat and what you should avoid eating when you're on a diet.

Part 1: If you want to diet then EAT YOUR BREAKFAST!

This blog and next few blogs will be about dieting/fitness; which is something everyone is doing now for the summer.

Many people think by loosing weight you have to skip meal and many choose to skip breakfast. That is a no no no no! It really annoys me when someone skips breakfast or any meal especially when they say they are on a diet (for those who know me may say 'not everyone loves or think about food like you do' lol) Many don't know the importance of breakfast whether you're dieting or not.

Let's just talk about in general of not having breakfast.

Nutritionist say that our concentration and energy for the day all depends on the BREAKFAST! A third of the energy is produced from the BREAKFAST. For those who don't usually eat breakfast their sugar level will be low and therefore their performance at work and awareness/concentration during the day is not very good. A good balance of sugar level will make you feel charged up.

Also think about that you've been sleeping a whole night and so all those hours you basically starved yourself. This means your metabolism has slowed down and so if you don't eat the next morning to charge your metabolism back to full it will of course stay functioning slow.And so when it comes to lunch, your metabolism cannot catch up with the food your consuming (in other words not being able to burn the food quick enough), it will allow the fat to be formed in your body.

Moving on to how you will gain weight if you skip breakfast. When you don't eat in the morning you would become really hungry later on in the day, right? And so you will want to have BIG meal to feel satisfied. If you're at work, before going on lunch break you will probably be snacking on biscuits, chocolates, etc. All those are high in calories, therefore your weight will increase.

Back to the big meal. Since you starved yourself since breakfast (actually since the last meal you had before going bed), your body will absorb as much as it can from the food because it doesn't know when it will be starve again. Its like your body is making sure it has enough stock for later on when your hungry because you may not eat. It sounds like its a good thing that the body is doing that but read on.

All those sugar your body has consumed from that massive meal will stay in your blood. Your body needs a certain amount of sugar but when it stays in your blood it is treated as excess and so your body will transform it into fat. Gradually, you will gain weight and become fat!

Ok, some of you may know some people who don't eat breakfast but are still skinny. I know people who are like that too, I guess they are just naturally skinny lol. But just know its not good for the health anyway, like I said earlier the concentration and energy level are not as good compared to someone who does have breakfast.

So, if you want to go on a diet. Make sure if you have a good break fast! Its ok to have a big breakfast but not too much calories. Also when I say have breakfast, its not just having a toast but more than that. An ideal diet breakfast would be a meal high in fibre. Porridge and weetabix are my favourite! And add a fruit with your breakfast.

That's it for now, my next blog will be about your eating patterns!

How to wear your stilettos comfortably?

Stilettos are girls' best friend, us girls would spend lots and lots of money on a pair of stilettos and probably have a wardrobe of them. It looks sexy but it hurts our toes and feet by the end of the day right? A lot of the times you would see girls holding their stilettos in their hands and walking bare footed after coming out of the club. Sometimes you get heels that are suppose to be your size but somehow its loose at the back, annoying!  So what are the solutions to all those stilettos problems?

I was watching a video where Tyra Banks was giving tips on how to wear those stilettos comfortably and wanted to share it with you girls.

1. Get stilettos with PLATFORMS!

Pic from Office.co.uk

I knew about this one already, I think most people do too. Basically you should get a pair with at least 1" platform. Like the one on the left. If you saw a pair of stilettos that were 5" and it had 1.5" of platform that means the heel is only 3.5".  So meaning you are only walking in a 3.5" stiletto, sounds better right? For extra comfort you could put those cushion for the ball of foot but it wouldn't look very nice if it was a pair of sandals.

2. Scratch the bottom of your shoes.

Sometimes when you buy a new pair of stilettos is always slippery because the bottom of the shoe is smooth it doesn't have those lines for grip. But you have to wear them out to get grip on the bottom and when you first wear them you would walk funny because you're trying not to slip right? Get a pair of scissors, keeping them closed and scratch the bottom of those shoes.

3. Put hairspray inside your shoes

Your stilettos is slippery inside or a little too big for you so you go buy those gel cushion and those heel shields to stop your foot from losing the shoe or slipping. (The most embarassing thing is when your shoes slips off  and you buckle while you walk in a busy street!) But sometimes, you're too busy or too lazy to go to the shops just to buy those gel slip-ins for your shoes so another solution is use HAIRSPRAY! (If you don't have that either then maybe you need to make an effort and go to the shops and get them lol.) Spray the inside of your shoes, let it dry and slip your foot in!

4. Practice walking in heels

You love those 5" stilettos but you just can't walk in them what can you do? Start from the bottom and work your way up! If you've never walked in heels before start with 1", just practice and work your way up. Always keep your body and legs straight, it makes your posture look more attractive. If you keep your legs straight, your butt will be moving like a see-saw which is what you want! SEXYYY!!

How to get rid of ingrown hairs and razor bumps?

Whether you wax, shave or pluck, you can still get ingrown hairs and alot of men get razor bumps too. I know they are so annoying because they can be painful, unattractive and even can lead to skin infection. Whenever I see an ingrown hair, I am so tempted to squeeze that hair out and of course I do that in the end.

Most of you probably already know the way to get rid of them or prevent ingrown hair. To be honest when beautician say 'prevent', its actually impossible to prevent them. Or maybe it just me. Anyways, the most common way is to exfoliate every other day. Either with body scrub or scrubbing glove or other types of exfoliator.

Exfoliate the day before waxing/ shaving or even just before. If you wax do not exfoliate on the same day, give it 24 hours to rest. Because waxing gets rid off dead skin while it 'rips' your skin and so makes your skin sensitive after. Also don't forget to put moisturiser on after you've exfoliated- this will make your skin feel like baby skin.

Another way of getting rid or prevent those ingrown hairs and razor bumps is using this product called Tend Skin. (http://www.tendskin.com/)

It was recommended by the place where I get my waxing done. I've been using it for like 2 years now and it is very good however you have to be patience because it takes about 1 week to take affect on those bad ones. It reduces the appearances of unsightly razor bumps, ingrown hairs and redness from shaving, waxing and electrolysis. This product is good for both men and women. For men's faces, necks and women's legs, underarms, and bikini lines. This product also prevents skin infection because it kills the puss that you get with the ingrown hairs.

How to us this product
To remove ingrown hair and razor bumps:
Use morning and night until area is clear.

To prevent ingrown hair:
Use daily after hair removal

You can this product from the following places:

• The Tanning Shop- off oxford street, opposite House of Fraser ( my waxing place)
• http://www.beautyexpert.co.uk/gclid/CJCEyuHX2qYCFYEOfAodeTjW7A/shop-tend_skin
• Amazon.co.uk (probably the cheapest place to get it)
• http://www.tendskin.com/

There should be more places, just google it.

The Kardashian's New Bebe Collection is out!

As you all may know the animal print is like the new trend and a must have! Every girls should have at least one item that has the animal print. The Kardashians have released a few sneek peaks of their new Bebe collection and Kim has posted up an animal print dress which I have fallen in love straight away. (below)

Two other new trends are the long sleeves in a dress and accentuated shoulders which are featured in this dress. I also love the ruffle part of the dress in the stomach area, which defines the waist even more and that is something I love in a dress because it gives you more defined curves. Girls if you have curves, be proud of them and flaunt them! Another thing about this dress, is that you don't need to worry about accessories. It would be too much if you wore necklace or/and big dangling earrings because the animal print is already very eye catching. Maybe a pair of pearl earrings would be good and would make the whole outfit more glamorous. Also loving those platforms!!!

This is another sneek peak of the Bebe Collection posted by Kourtney. I like this dress but not as much as the animal print one. This one is fierce! I like how it has small section of laces above the chest and on the waist. I love the waist area most because that cutting of the lace makes your waist appear smaller which means more curves. The shoes are fierce too!

The third sneek peak above is nice but not my type of clothing. But what I do like about it are the accentuated shoulders and the shiny silver material.

My first appearance in Chinese media!!

In my previous blogs, I blogged about the China Image Film Festival. I was just googling it again and I found some website that had my picture in it.

Left: Me, Pinkie, Director, Actress Li Jia, Angela

One is on the Sina website (the picture above is taken from Sina); Sina is like one of the biggest search engine in China.

http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/ent/film/sinacn/20101007/07211885417.html

Found another Chinese website

http://www.chineseineurope.net/cms/2010/1028/601.html

They both got the same picture and I know not particularly a good picture of me either, lol. I'm still trying to find websites that have other photos of the night and even at the closing ceremony. I look so much better at the closing ceremony.