Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What is blood sugar?

Starch and refined sugars enter the bloodstream quickly, causing a sugar spike. Body produces insulin to drive that sugar from bloodsteam into cells. Over time, cells lose sensitivity to insulin leading to HIGH BLOOD SUGAR and HEART DISEASE.

RISKS FOR HIGH BLOOD SUGAR

* Waist measuring 35 or more inches for women or 40 plus for men

*Blood pressure of 130/85 or higher

*  Fasting (before meals) blood sugar more than 100mg/dl

* Blood triglyceride of 150mg/dl or greater

* HDL level <50mg/dl for women or <40 for men

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Team Players


Team Players

1.  think twice before asking for favors

2.  accept and give constructive criticism

3.  respect other people's space and time

4.  avoid personal questions

5.  pay attention

6.  accept and give praise

7.  listen

8.  apologise earnestly

9.  respect others opinions

10. think the best

11. refrain from idle complaints

12. are agreeable

13. don't shift blame and responsibility

14. assert yourself

15. don't speak ill

16.  respect even a subtle "no"

17. care for your guests



Stress

You may feel like there is nothing you can do about stress.  Family, business and career responsibilities won't stop from being demanding.  Bills keep coming.  Managing stress is taking charge of your emotions, thoughts, schedule, attitude and the way to deal with the problems. Some helpful tips:

Tip#1
Identify the source of stress.  Look closely at your habits, attitudes and excuses; eg is it your procrastination not the actual job demand that is stressful.

Tip#2
Avoid unnecessary stress by learning how to say "no".  Avoid people who stress you out.  Priotize your to-do list and daily tasks.  If you can take control of your environment, do so.

Tip#3
If you cant avoid stressful environment, alter it.  Express your feelings instead of bottling them up.  Be willing to compromise.  Be more assertive and manage your time better.

Tip#4
If you cant alter your environment, focus on the positive.  Adjust your standards and look at the big picture.

Tip#5
Accept the things that you can't change.  Don't try to control the uncontrollable.  When facing challenges, try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth.  Learn to forgive.  Free yourself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.

Tip#6
Make time for fun and relaxation.

Tip#7
Adopt a healty lifestyle.  Exercise regularly, eat healthy diet and get enough sleep.

How do you manage stress? Please share with us and have a stress free day.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Top Seven Tips to Being an Excellent Public Speaker

Every public speaker would like to be captivating,  have excellent speaking skills and be able to demand the audience attention to the end.  This mindset is good, however, may lead you to making quick decisions that  are not really worth it.  Public speaking is a skill that requires hard work and dedication. Please comment and add tips helpful to a  polished public speaker.

Tip#1 -   Keep it Simple
Speaking in a simple way helps to keep your audience pinged for a long time.

Tip#2 -  Speak with Conviction
Learn not to be boring when you speak.  Dont just give facts; speak from a place of passion and honesty.  Speak your soul not just your head.  Create a 'wow experience' for your audience.

Tip#3 - Do Your Research
People who constantly research stay ahead of the game.  The reason why you love to listen to a particular speaker is that they do thorough research to improve the subject contents.  Know your niche, know what your audience want, develop an insatiable curiosity for learning.  It will obviously show in your speaking and your audience will love it.

Tip#4 - Speak with Humor
Humor comes from being honest.  It is not faked at all.  Look at your topic and describe how it makes you feel, how it makes your audience feel and be descriptive.  You may unlock some humor you never thought you had.

Tip#5 - Create Headlines
If your headline is not attractive, it will cause your audience to switch off.  Capture the audience imagination using the headline.

Tip#6 - Be Generous with Other Peoples Contents
As you speak, refer to other peoples' articles that you read and liked.  The audience finds you kind this way.

Tip#7 - Connect with Influencers
Expose yourself to excellent pulic speakers.  Read their works. Listen as they talk.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

How To Keep Your Drive Alive

I thought of these ways to reach ultimate goals and to push through any  motivation plateau:

1.  Setting the bar too low. "I will do my best" sounds like vow.  This can actually suck out of you all the motivation as it is vague leading to procrastination. To step up your game, set clear attainable, challenging goals and give yourself a deadline.  Specific goals helps you to focus your attention and increase your effort.

2.  Concentrate on three to five goals at a time. The more goals you work at simultaneously, the sooner you burn out and loose focus.

3.  Willpower can be exhausted from overuse. Shy away from complicated decision making when your willpower is depleted.  To sustain willpower, clock in enough sleep, eat well and get physically active.

4.  Do things to please yourself first before attempting to please others.  However, have a friend or family member who can help you problem-solve when you struggle.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Weight Loss Challenges; blame the doctor


This has been my dinner for the last two days.  My doctor would be so impressed if this information got to his desk. Since my numbers at the weighing scale has taken an upright motion, he has addressed with me the same during my previous several visits to his office.  If  he got this information, he would pull my chart and mark patient education effective.  He would cancel my consultation with the dietitian. 

He has advised me that cutting back on carbohydrates would reduce my numbers on the scale.  Culturally, my food is mainly starchy.  On a typical morning, breakfast is usually 'ugali' leftovers from the previous night. 'Ugali' is prepared by putting water to boil, adding corn flour, stirring to a soft consistency but slightly thicker than porridge.  Ugali for breakfast is  accompanied by hot tea. The hot tea is well sweetened.  Lunch would be green bananas and potatoes shallow fried together.  Dinner would be ugali with some greens at the ration of 3:1; 3 being the former.  Most of the meals has at least two energy giving foods.  Food is not just the physical food; its cultural; part of ones identity.  Is the doctor advising me to move from my culture? my identity? Can he please key in my cultural foods preferences in regards to health and weight?  Until then, there goes my upward curve on the scale.

Shouldn't my doctor practice holistic health approach thus considering my psychological, physical, social and emotional needs.  Has he explored my emotional state that prompts me to put food in my mouth even when the stomach does not need it? He has dwelt more on my physical needs as my curve on the scale is spinning out of control.


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Hair, hair, hair!

Watched the movie Good Hair by Chris Rock? He is alarmed when his six year old daughter is crying because she did not have 'good hair'.  'Good hair' is defined as 'straight hair'. This has political, economical, cultural and social implications.  No wonder hair business is a billion dollar industry.  Women of all social and economic classes spend a lot of money, even going into debt and time on hair.  Hair beauty shops, barber shops and saloons are crowded for hair cuts, shaving, trimming, colour, treatment, straightening, braiding, washing and the list is endless. 

Hair can be a tool for legal identity.  DNA can be obtained from hair strands.  'Nappy Hair' is also black.  Women with nappy hair straighten their hair to fit in the picture the media has created of  beautiful or good hair.  They use wigs, weaves, colour and other expensive equipment to achieve 'good hair'

As much as hair produces warmth to the head, protects body parts like eyes and provides touch sense, it does have social implications.  White hair may indicate age; hairstyles may indicate age groups; balding may indicate old age especially in men.

Hair possesses powerful symbolic and evocative properties.  Hair can be cut as a form of punishment or to follow cultural or religious rules.  It can also indicate refusal to comply with one.

It is not therefore by chance that hair takes such an important place in our everyday language.