Magical Holidays in Kerala

Kerala, one of the fine holiday destinations in India, is known the world over for its therapeutic oils, exotic wildlife and awe inspiring sights. And Kannan Devan Hills is one of the best places where you can enjoy the beauty of Kerala, and immerse yourself in a quiet paradise in India.

 

Early next day, Somanna, a KDHP employee for several years and I, drove for over an hour to see a natural pool with fresh water trickling down the mountains.

The experience was magical and in some ways dramatic. The well secluded spring is accessible only by the guests of KDHP. The spot is ideal for bird watching and has a wonderful spring water pool, a luxury no five star hotel can provide.

Time flew past as I marveled at the wealth of outdoor opportunities that are available in and around the area. Somanna surprised me by saying that there was more to the place than meets the eye! He led me to his secret retreat uphill. A steep walk led us to a point where we could witness the waterfall cascading from a height of nearly 300 feet at the backdrop of the panoramic view of the magnificent hills. After a breathless walk, the only word that I could let out was a big wow!

My tour of the KDHP came to an end with my stay at Chokkanad. I reflected on my tour of the estate and was surprised to realize how many things I had managed to do in a short span of time and how refreshed I felt.

The estate is a retreat to nature lovers, romantic couples, golf enthusiasts, trekkers, serious anglers, poets, writers, film makers and so forth. Although vacationing here is by no means inexpensive, it is well worth the money.

With an increasing number of people losing their sanity over work pressures and suffocating lifestyles, a visit to KDHP estates works like a magic tonic. Although I found myself dragging my feet to return back to the real world, I felt a deep sense of calm and composure. It is unbelievable how being close to nature can rejuvenate your senses. I must admit that whoever thought of opening the doors of the tea estates to tourists must have been a genius. It truly is a sanctuary harboring a multitude of nature’s bounty.

To explore the vast expanses of this place, one needs to have a rugged means of transport. A jeep is the ideal mode of transport. It can be hired at Munnar which is a beautiful town by itself, or the management of the tea sanctuary can help you with the bookings/reservations for the vehicle.
Enroute to Munnar from Kochi, one can also visit the famous Kaladi Ashram, the birthplace of spiritual guru, Sri Shankracharya on the banks of the Periyar River.

How to reach Kannan Devan Hills

By Air 

Kochi is the nearest Airport and is well connected from all major cities in India.

Munnar is located at a distance of 75 miles from Kochi Airport. Prior arrangement can be made while booking the vacation for pickup and drop off facility to the airport from the management.

Chacko P Thomas / Abbas Khan

KDHP Co. Pvt.Ltd., Munnar – 685 616, Kerala

Phone: +91 4865 230561/65; Fax: +91 4865 230333

 Website: http://www.theteasanctuary.com

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The Romantic Kannan Devan Hills

Kannan Devan Hills, a quaint tea sanctuary in Kerala, India is a beautiful place that is the perfect getaway from the madness of the fast paced world we live in today.

 

Tea lovers are bound to be fascinated by the vast expanses of visually attractive tea estates.

Behind every sip of freshly brewed tea is the labor of love of hundreds of tea pickers who toil endlessly to bring the best varieties of Indian tea to their tea table. Kerala, a beautiful state in the southernmost tip of India, is world famous for its sprawling tea, pepper, cashew nut and rubber plantations.

A recent tourist attraction that has been much talked about amongst Kerala’s tea estates is the picturesque Kannan Devan Hills. Set in the rolling mountains of the Western Ghats, this piece of heaven is the perfect place for a romantic getaway from the madness of your daily, urban routine.

A conglomeration of scattered tea estates, the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Company (KDHP) threw open its doors to tourists in the year 2005.

Collectively called the Tea Sanctuary, this unique property has excellent bungalow accommodation in estates surrounding the beautiful tea county of Munnar and provides an opportunity for tourists to explore the plantations at their leisure. A city dweller myself, I jumped at the prospect of vacationing at the quaint Tea Sanctuary of Kannan Devan hills.

The century old KDHP, in the high ranges of Kerala’s Idukki district, is South India’s largest tea company spanning an area of 55,000 square hectares. The bungalows associated with the estate are reminiscent of its colonial past.

 Once home to the British sahibs and their leisurely lifestyle that included hunting, angling, tennis and golf games, these bungalows provide classy accommodation with personal waiters, cooks, housekeepers, exquisite gardens and recreation areas, all vintage style.

It appears that these estates have turned out to be a popular honeymooner’s destination in the recent past. All accommodations are situated at driving distance from the city, Munnar with Parvathi and Sevenmallay being 5 miles from Munnar, Chokkanad (8 miles), Kanniamallay (7 miles), Yallapaty (41 miles) and Southaparai (45 miles).

My journey began with a short flight to Kochi and then a drive of nearly 100 miles in the dead of the night to Yallapaty. Thanks to the punctuality (or the lack of it) of low-priced airways, I was running 6 hours behind schedule. I was supposed to enjoy the drive during the daylight hour but ended up driving in the dead of the night.

The journey in the middle of the night didn’t offer anything exciting except for a roadside tea kiosk located at a major traffic intersection. When I finally reached the estate property, I settled down in a palatial room with a view of the plantations a few hours before dawn.

The next morning, Abbas, my host at the tea sanctuary, greeted me with a cigarette in one hand! Originally a Bangalorean, Abbas narrated my itinerary for the next three days. Invigorated by a fresh hot cup of tea, we drove towards Top Station and Kundaly golf club. The weather was just picture perfect until the time we approached the golf course. The south eastern monsoon broke down heavily on us. I was glued to the windshield in an attempt to take in as much of the scenic beauty of the surroundings as I possibly could.

The drive by itself was rather bumpy and it was hard to find a stretch of twenty yards without a pothole. In the end, it was well worth it as the drive led us to a gorgeous 9-hole golf course. The grass was not exactly well groomed but the place was a good location for a movie shoot. I had the rare opportunity to watch a heroine swaying to a tune amidst the downpour, a sight that people would have killed to witness in bigger cities.

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Romantic Adventures in Madeira

Madeira can be the perfect spot for a vacation with your lover, to indulge in a romantic getaways and the beautiful surroundings.

 

It was great to experience the romance of this island, and to top it off, that night we had our dinner under the stars, and listened to some great music being played by some of the locals.

The next morning we took a trip to the harbor of Funchal. The blend of the metropolis and the tranquility in this harbor was overwhelming.

This place also boasted of a wide variety of delicious seafood. And there were several boats on hire, on which we took a few rides around the island. I feel this is one of the best ways to discover most of the island, to experience the island from a different view, and to enjoy the cool peaceful breeze.
Friday morning.

 There’s always a big rush in the market hall of Funchal, because this is the official market day, and crowds of people come here. There is a luxuriant variety of exotic fruits and vegetables here, and you can’t help but stare wide-eyed, as you push ahead in the crowd, to try every single fruit available.

Anonas, papayas, Brazilian cherries, passion fruit… the variety is endless. Particularly exceptional is the “Madeira banana”, which is almost divine to taste. It is half the size of the small bananas but ten times as sweet! There are also several fish mongers, and florists who complete the perfect little market in Madeira.

The next day, we took a trip to the steep coast of Madeira. This was the second highest one in the world with a height of 560 meters! I can assure you the view down can be terrifying, but definitely exciting. Another perfect day, and I began to get quite tired, with all the walking and exploring. We decided to call it a day, actually it was well over three days, and we just lazed in the beauty of this island. It was romantic, doing nothing but indulging in the fine wine and the food.

This little island can almost turn a vacation into an adventure travel if one does not watch out for the signs! We took a west trip, and we were shocked to see the roads of Madeira from the bus. We were overlooking the cliff on one side, and the road was almost exactly the same width as that of the bus! One thing I can assure you, whoever has learnt driving here, would have no fear of either death or the devil. We also came across a small waterfall, or a cascade rather, that gushed down from above the road, and leapt into the sea below. It was like a getting a bus wash. This cascade was called the “The Bride Veil”, and it did look like a veil, pretty much did.

The whole ride was beautiful, and after the west well explored, we headed back to our hotel, and swam in our pool. Well, what can I say? At times I wondered if this island was a vacation or an adventure camp. But the place is so beautiful you would hardly notice the fitness regime amongst all the exotica in this island.

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A Vacation to Pristine Barbados

Barbados, a little island that’s known for its cricketing legends, also has a lot to offer for wonderful holidays and great vacations. With a strong culture and ethnicity that is attractive and inspiring, Barbados can be a great spot for a few perfect days under the sun.

The roads were narrow but empty, it was almost dawn and the weather was pleasant in the high 20’s.

My American Airlines flight from Miami was delayed by over three hours. From the window of my plane, I could see the wonderfully lit pear-shaped island of Barbados as the flight attendant announced that we would be landing in a few minutes.

My knowledge of Barbados was limited to the exuberance of Cricket and many historic stories of cricketing legends from the island. Who has not heard the name of the great all-rounder, Sir Garfield Sobers, the legendary opening pair of Haynes and Greenidge and not to forget the big bird, Joel Garner along with three W’s – Weeks, Worrel and Wesley!

However, I was keen to explore the little Barbados beyond the realms of cricket. A country of contrasting character with a diversity of food and culture, topography and landscapes, sports and adventure, Barbados has earned a reputation for being one of the most enchanting islands among all the Caribbean countries.

At the airport, I was greeted by my driver who was a cheerful young man with a thick accent. Lowering down the glass windows of my car, I sat next to my driver after exchanging courtesies.

I couldn’t understand much of the conversation that ensued between us (although it was in English) as he increased the volume of the Rap music, stepping on the accelerator simultaneously. When he pushed the gear to overdrive, I almost fell off my seat, trying my best to sit glued at a speed which would have put the Ferraris to shame.

Roundabouts and countryside single roads didn’t matter for my driver who was spinning the wheel just like Michael Schumacher would do on a Formula One racetrack. After 45 minutes of rollercoaster driving, I settled in the comforts of a cottage facing the Caribbean Ocean on the west coast of Barbados. It was a full moon night, the sparkling stars filled the sky and the noise of the ocean was soothing and tranquil. It was only a few hours from my first sunrise in the Caribbean Islands.

In the three days of my stay at this island which is only 21 miles long and 14 miles wide, I was curious to explore this little jewel off the Caribbean and the Atlantic Oceans. Acquiring independence from the British colonial rule in 1966, Barbados, the ‘Little England’ of the Caribbean is today a perfect blend of the colonial world and modern times. Retaining its old world culture and architecture of the 17^th and 18^th century, the island is studded with wonderful churches, botanical gardens and old plantation houses apart from its incredible beaches.

Next morning, I woke up to the melodious chirping of birds and a breathtaking view of a beautiful sunrise. Within no time, I found myself walking on the beach, yet not testing the warm waters. A quiet walk in the early morning along the beach near the Almond Resort on the West Coast was quite an enchanting experience. I took in the first impression of Barbados in the morning, a pristine island with the turquoise blue waters at a stone’s throw, a quiet beach with no litter, white sands, calm serene waters, swaying palm trees, an occasional sailing boat, and an odd early sunbather lying on the beach at the crack of dawn.

The Importance of Good Food Habits

Food plays a very important part in our lives. Not only is it crucial for survival, but understanding different types of diets and food can also help you lose weight, live longer and stay fit. Here’s a guide to good food for a better and healthier life.

 

You are what you eat. It’s true to the last word. Food is a life saver and the reason why we’re able to walk and talk. All of us know that, and yet, we do nothing to make sure our body gets enough of what it wants.

We’re all great at dumping junk into our bellies, but if there’s a healthy dose of nourishment on our plates, most of us think twice before sniffing and prodding it, let alone eat it.

Inevitably, we’re just making things a lot worse for ourselves, and our life span. So are we doomed? Probably. But there are ways to pull back and add several turns into your clock of good health and longevity. All you need to do is give food a second thought. Especially the Japanese one.

Being healthy means a longer life which we all want anyways. Life is too precious to let even a silly second slip unnoticed. Health insurances are good and wise investments, but it’s better not to use it or compel to use it. The idea is simple. We need the best defense mechanism as always. There may be a big population boom in the world but isn’t exactly a radical statement to be proud of.

The phenomenon has nothing to do with living longer and healthier. That is just a sheer number. As usual, all blame malnourishment, unhygienic living conditions, poverty and lack of education.

While many countries are dealing with all sorts of problems concerning health and wealth, the Japanese are enjoying longer life spans as they are healthier and happier besides being richer than most countries. This is not surprising though.

Check your encyclopedia to get insights supporting these claims. They aren’t practicing voodoo, black magic and any sophisticated state-of–the-art technology that they are famous for. They haven’t got bionic hearts or super computers planted inside their heads as well.

It is one of the oldest of adages, the mother of all principles, simple and short. Eat right, get proper exercise and sleep well. Exercising is beneficial, so is sleeping, though all in moderation. What’s the big fuss about the food we eat? Why do we have to eat like the Japanese? That’s where we’d find the hitch. We’re not suggesting you alter your diet completely to access a whole new cuisine.

We can retain the better stuff we have, avoid the odd ones and adapt to a few more of their healthier practical diets. The Japanese brag of clocking in with the longest average life-spans on the planet. They have far lower rates of obesity and chronic diseases like osteoporosis, heart ailments and different types of cancer, when compared to most of the developed countries all over the world.

The food you eat and the lifestyle you lead can give a postulation of how long you will survive healthy and well. Our body is like a machine that needs fuel and servicing regularly, so that every part functions in the fullest capacity. Impurities added take its toll on the engine. It might not be obvious at first but it will surely show symptoms as time goes by, before a major break-down occurs.
Precautions and preventions are better than cure.

We’re all aware of that, but do you really comply and abide? Generally we think about hitting the gym only when we’re carrying extra pounds around the waistline. You reach out for a mouth watering pack of potato chips or a huge cheese burger when you are hungry instead of nutritious food. Those are short-term solutions to ease your appetite. It won’t help in the longer run.

Nowadays our diet routine lacks in many departments. You need examples with proof to follow or imitate. Normally we get inspired to pick a few tips but drop it after a few days of trial, and everything falls back to the initial stages. Your schedules may seem hard to observe, but not once you understand how to add a Japanese touch to your food intake.

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How to Build Stamina

Building your stamina is crucial to lead a better life that’s fun and full of opportunities. So how do you train yourself to be a better person with a lot more stamina?

 

With consistency in your exercise routine you will find your stamina levels increasing. Remember that moderate exercises are the key to building stamina.

 Do not accelerate too rapidly as muscles need to get accustomed to the new activity. As you find yourself recovering faster from your regular routine, you are reducing tiredness.

 This is the sign that you’re increasing your stamina. A simple test is this, while running, you should not be too short of breath to hold a conversation.

Vary Intensity

When you train hard one day, train lightly the next day, the importance of consistency cannot be overemphasized. After about two weeks of regular exercising, you will see improvements.

List your Achievements

Your success should spur you on to reach for greater heights. You will experience the benefits of greater flexibility, higher levels of energy output at work and home, additional strength, endurance, gain muscle as you burn off fat, weight loss and increased lung capacity.


Set New Parameters

As you set new standards to improve your stamina, remember that self discipline and patience is the key to success. The mistake that most athletes commit is that they stick to a one dimensional sports specific training schedule and thereby fail to develop a well-balanced fitness regime.

Add on another activity to your routine. A word of caution, know your limitations and work with them, not against them. Any single sport will result in a single sport injury, as you are targeting the same set of muscles day in and day out. Therefore cross train.

Vary Fitness Routine


Combine aerobic conditioning with strength building exercises at a gym. To add speed to this, follow patterns of sprinting, walking and jogging. The combination of combined strength exercises with endurance and speed enables your muscles to use energy more efficiently and burn extra calories, and reduce body fat.

 Professional advice or coaching in all the above areas is necessary. A good aerobic as well as gym instructor along with the appropriate gear could save you plenty of grief. Performing an exercise wrongly could lead to serious injury. Remember that warm up, stretching and cool down exercises are an essential part of injury prevention and improved agility.


Benefits


Young adults (14 years +) and seniors can benefit equally from the strength and muscle building exercises at the gym. By building up your stamina, you’re improving your muscular endurance (ability to twist, jump, turn), speed (acceleration, improved response time), improved overall fitness and performance, reduce recovery time after activity, downtime after sickness, better health and resistance to disease. Aerobic fitness improves your cardiovascular health and reduces the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.

Above all, fit muscles enhance your personal appearance and increase daily energy output. By building up our stamina, we can also put more effort and concentration into our careers, as well as our personal lives and storm our way to progress.


So are you ready to build your stamina and change your life forever? You know it’s worth it!

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Anger Management in Relationships

Have you ever felt like your anger and mood swings have been coming in between you and your perfect life? Anger is a subtle, destructive emotion that can rear its head anytime, and destroy your happy moments. Learn to handle anger management in relationships to lead a better, happier life.

Anger displaces you. It can make you lose your mind, your temper, respect, relationships and also a whole lot of other things with a spiraling effect that could end in you losing your well-being and your self.
It could even make you lose your freedom and in the worst-case scenario, your life. However bad, it is neither an unfamiliar emotion nor is it a rare occurrence in our lives.

HANDLING ANGER MANAGEMENT IN RELATIONSHIPS
Experiencing It

In fact, we either experience or confront it in varying degrees of intensity every day. Though anger is one of nature’s ways of equipping us to defend ourselves, anger should not be viewed purely as a reflex action, as anger out of control can turn destructive and lead to aggression. Evolution lies in how well we manage anger.

Anger management is not a predominant subject. Anger as an emotional disturbance is dealt with too trivially because of its sheer pervasiveness, allowing it free rein.

Tranquility fights a losing battle as anger sulks and fumes, sparks and fuels discord all around the world, wrecking relationships and killing composure.

Expressing It

Mental health experts have advised us on the soundness of immediately expressing our anger as opposed to suppressing it. The rationale being, sounding out will help relieve pent up emotions. It’s the pressure cooker effect, you have to let out steam or the pressure will build up. But what if you turn off the flame to begin with?

Latest research has gone a few steps further to reveal that expressing anger can be very harmful, making you prone to hypertension, strokes and even heart attacks. In fact, most often anger stems from an attitude or belief, which might be insecurity or condemnation. Strong expression only serves to strengthen the feeling and escalates the situation, paving the way for it to happen again and again.
Intimidation might be just one of the milder outcomes when one resorts to expressing anger.

It is harder to escape the anger cycle. The momentary relief gained by expressing oneself is short-term and is followed by remorse, then by resentment, irritation and from there, one is just a step away from anger. Physical or verbal abuse follows. Fear and hostility or fury might build up in the person at the receiving end who could be suppressing anger toward you.

Suppressing It

Reacting to anger by either suppressing anger or repressing anger has its own dangers.
Recurrent suppression of anger would lead to resentment. Resentment is like poison breeding morbidity and early mortality. Suppressing anger can take a severe toll on emotional, mental and physical health, just like repression, which refers to the act of immediately putting the event out of the mind.

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Is it Bad to Stare at a Woman’s Breasts?

Is it really bad to stare at a girl’s breasts? Are there any health benefits of staring at a girl’s cleavage? Also, what do women really think when they catch you staring at their breasts?

Firstly, if you think that you shouldn’t be doing it, don’t.

It’s definitely not good to stare at girl’s breast or her cleavage, especially if you’re out of their league, perhaps because of the age difference, or some other reason. In every possible manner, staring or trying to read a woman’s tee shirt is rude.

Staring at a woman’s breasts, like Seinfeld once said, “…is like looking at the sun. You’re supposed to just take one peek and then look away!”

All men know this, women love shopping. They love shopping for good clothes that accentuate their assets.
Some women however, like to wear as little as morally possible. Maybe it’s because they get hot and sweaty easily, or because they’re allergic to some sort of clothing, or perhaps they just like the way they look in ‘little clothes’. Obviously, it’s not because they want to attract your annoying eyes, is it?! No no… they really don’t want that.

Or at least that’s how they behave when men stare at them. So the next time you get a sudden urge to stare, look away after taking a small look at her breasts or her tee shirt.

Respect her decision to look good and don’t look cheap by staring at her like you’re a horny zombie!

Do women like it when you stare at their breasts or look down their cleavage?

Women may like it when men stare at them, but they look for a few specific types of men. Women call this select breed of men “Cute” or “Hot”. Other men and unappreciated men are called “perverts”. These include losers, droolers, morons, and touchy feely men with hands in their pants, especially in parks and lonely streets.

Says Jennifer, 24 “I don’t mind when guys that I appreciate, stare at me. It can feel good at times, especially if I want him to take another glance.” But what about staring at her breasts? “Well, I guess men do that anyways. If it’s a good looking guy, then I wouldn’t mind. It doesn’t hurt to know that a cute guy likes your body, does it?” she says.

Most women though, feel uncomfortable about it. Some of the younger ladies, especially ones who have just started getting the attention of men, hate the fact that their shirts fit so well. But the ones who have overcome that phase of their lives, realize that men look at women’s tee shirts whether it fits well or not, so what the hell! The men are going to look anyways.

Health benefits of staring at a woman’s breast

Surprisingly, it has now been proved that staring at a pair of good looking breasts is actually really good for your health! Great news for girl watchers, it is proved that ogling at women’s breasts is good for a man’s health and can add years to his life, medical experts have discovered, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. Just ten minutes of staring at the charms of a well endowed female such as Baywatch actress Pamela Lee is equivalent to a 30 minute aerobics work out!

There are several doctors and scientists out there who have proved that staring at a good pair of bosoms everyday for just ten minutes can actually extend your lifetime by almost 5 years! Doctors now encourage men to watch these women in movies, and in shows that enhance the assets of women. But then again, there are several others who say this research has no strong grounds or proof and was probably conducted by a bunch of pervs who wanted to “legalize” staring at boobs.

But whether it’s good for your health or not, it doesn’t mean you should just ogle at any woman who passes by you on the street, instead save all your drooling stares for the movies or television shows.

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Promoting Health With Enticing Photos of Fruits and Vegetables

Pity the indegent beet.

While pizza, ice lotion and that taste of as soon as, bacon, soar on the web via hashtags, Instagram pictures or other social media marketing mentions, the richly crimson, healthy tuber simply doesn’t get much like on the web.

Bolthouse Farms, which creates juices, smoothies along with other items, has developed an exceedingly playful internet site, FoodPornIndex.com, that telephone calls focus on such food inequities. The business, owned by Campbell’s, really wants to generate even more clicks highlighting the plight of these unpopular beets along with other less trendy but healthy fruits and vegetables.

It offers devised an algorithm to monitor hashtags on Twitter and somewhere else on the Internet along with other mentions of 24 keywords for different veggies, fruits and those fatty, sugary favorites. After that, using alluring pictures, humor and music, the web site lets visitors go through the Pomegranate Piñáta, the Pizzabot ór the Guac-á-Mole to obtain a sense of the amounts behind the item’s reputation on the web instantly. Visitors can perform a musical Carrót Keyboard or adhere to the Burger Snake. The target, say Bolthouse executives, would be to remind consumers that a brand new strawberry is simply as beautiful as those within a dessert just like a tart - and healthier.

“#Melons are saturated in Vitamin A,” the website notes. “I assume you can say they’re Supplement A-mazing.”

After that it adds, “Guess what happens else is incredible? Melon Meditation. Namasté. Explore the #FoodPornlndex and assist Bolt-house Farms share the best way to a wholesome Internet.”

Todd Putman, chief marketing and advertising and development officer at Bolthouse, stated, “We were searching over the landscape of social media marketing and someone wondered about how exactly much foods porn was actually on the market and what the total amount was, just how much of it was vegetables and fruit and just how much pies and salty snack foods.”

On Tuesday, for example, Fage, the Gréek yogurt, tweeted an image of a luscious brownie studded with nuts and covered with a thick level of frosting, toppéd with a scóop of whipped lotion.

“It’s not really that I don’t possess an Oreo every occasionally,” Mr. Putman stated. “We just would like folks to comprehend that wonderful carrots have badge worth the same method peanut butter, chocolate pie will.” Having badge worth means something is fascinating enough to are worthy of a hashtag.

The Bolthouse aIgorithm checks for réferences to the kéywords every quarter-hour. Of the 171 million posts found by the algorithm shortly prior to the site went go on Wednesday evening, 72 pct featured less well balanced meals, while roughly 28 pct were associated with photos and articles of fruits or veggies.

For instance, the algorithm acquired spotted nearly 13 million hashtags associated with posts with pictures of pies by enough time the web site went live, in comparison to just 318,000 mounted on posts featuring beets.

“We wéren’t all thát amazed,” stated Mr. Putman, who spent some time working in marketing at locations including Coca-CoIa and Walt Disnéy. “lt’s just the type of where we have been in the U.S. at this time, and we see a chance to move the needle a little - why if the processed foods guys have all of the fun?”

Health advocates purchased clever advertising to persuade customers of the bond between smoking and wellness to great effect. However they so far have struggled to utilize exactly the same tactics with less healthy foods.

But as a lot more consumers make the bond between what they consume and how they experience and seek information concerning the ingredients n the meals they consume, food businesses are increasingly attempting to market the healthiness ánd purity of thé meals they sell.

For instance, Quaker, a división of PepsiCo, hás begun working ads because of its Real Medleys item that draw focus on their wholesomeness. And Chipotle is definitely running a television collection on Hulu that, among other activities, works to contrast the standard of traditionally farmed meals of the sort the cafe chain uses with processed food items and industrially farmed milk.

“Somehow, business has used advertising to a remarkably powerful impact to glamorize ánd normalize the every day consumption of processed foods and drinks,” stated Nancy F. Huéhnergarth, president of Náncy F. Huehnergarth ConsuIting, a foods policy consulting firm. “Good, why not use a number of the same techniques to make an effort to level the playing industry?”

Mr. Putman’s biggest problem had been the company’s lawyers. “I must say i thought they wouldn’t enable us to use the word ‘foods porn,' ” he said, “however they surprised me.”

The FoodPornIndex.com will undoubtedly be showcased at thé Partnership for a wholesome America’s summit meeting the following month, where Michelle Obama, who offers promoted healthy feeding on while at the White colored House, would be the keynote speaker. Bolthouse spent some time working with Mrs. Obama just before, enlisting her support because of its effort to obtain produce providers to utilize Sesame Street characters as a means of encouraging children to consume more fruit and veggies.

“If I will get the first lady to state ‘foods porn,' ” Mr. Putman mentioned, “I'll have made my time.”

The Perfect Butt Workout

Getting a perfect butt is difficult business. But it’s definitely worth the effort. Here are some great tips to help you get that perfect-ten butt, with simple and familiar exercises.

The gluteus or butt, are another set of muscles that are not worked out on the lower body. For those of you with flat or undersized buttocks, its time to wake up and blow the myth of heredity and realize that with the right exercise, anyone can have larger, firmer, well shaped, and strong gluteus. A point to be kept in mind is that the exercise for the development of thighs is the same as those for your butt muscles.

Examples of good exercises for both thighs and gluteus muscles are squats, lunges and leg presses. But since the gluteus is not targeted, the development switches to the thighs.

How to develop your Butt Muscles

Consciously squeeze the gluteus hard while performing lunges and squats. This will help the muscle to contract and the fibers to develop. Put your mind into your exercise, rather than just going through the motions. While doing the leg press, push with your heels and not your forefoot area. While walking, squeeze hard and push with your gluteus.

The Leg Workout Warm up

Start with joint rotations of three sets each up to counts of eight. Begin with ankle rotations (first in one direction and then reverse). Repeat the motions for the knee, hip, trunk, shoulder, elbow, wrist and neck. This is meant to warm up the joints and have them functioning smoothly.

Then go on to some basic stretches. These help to warm up the muscles and help in enhancing overall performance.

Cardiovascular Workout

With this, you are expected to raise the body temperature to prevent muscle injury or cramps during your main work out. You could jog, cycle, skip, row, do step running or do the cross trainer. A 10 to 20 minute warm up will do.


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Managing Angry Emotions – How to Stay Calm

Are you an angry person? Do you have trouble managing anger? Anger can effect your relationships and your regular daily life in more ways than one.

People who generally suppress anger tend to find release and relief through unhealthy methods that could eventually lead to destructive habits like smoking, alcohol or drugs. Some others seek recourse through junk food or become couch potatoes. Not only are these remedies fraught with dangerous side effects, they only temporarily insensate. They might help you forget but they can’t make the problems go away.

Another side effect of suppressing anger would be that it would make itself felt in other negative behaviors like cynicism, backbiting, revenge, faultfinding, etc. or detrimental conditions like depression, self-hatred or persecution complex.

Research has conclusively proved that suppressing anger can cause feelings of tiredness, can lower immunity levels and bring on colds, headaches, ulcers, backaches, bowel troubles, skin problems and also lead to other major health problems like tumors, cancer or heart attacks.

Handling It

Anger can be directed at yourself, other people or things. Its reactions range through an entire gamut. Other than flying off the handle, the other forms of anger that people resort to are refusal to feel anything, displacing the anger and taking it out on someone else, bouts of crying, revengeful feelings, frustration, shaking or trembling, physical confrontation or overreaction.

Researchers trace anger patterns to family background. But before you begin to blame your upbringing, consider what kind of a pattern you are setting for your future generations. We are taught to handle most other emotions but anger. But then better late than never. Handling anger can be learnt at any age as long as one is willing to learn.

Managing It

What is anger management?  It is adopting techniques that will help you handle yourself better and control your reactions by reducing the escalation of emotional feelings and also the physiological arousal that anger causes.

You can’t change others but you have the power to change yourself for the better. And only you have the power to do it. You have to stand up and take responsibility for yourself and your actions.

Counseling

Anger rises from angry thoughts, depression arises from anger that has been suppressed, so if you have trouble resolving issues, a therapist could help. A psychologist could provide you with techniques that work for you that can transform your thinking.

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Can Gaining Weight Affect Relationships?

In recent years, people across the world have been eating their way into creating a new global phenomenon of obesity. But can gaining weight affect relationships? You may not know it, but gaining weight can affect you in more ways than one.

Can gaining weight affect relationships with your loved ones?

We’ve heard this before, but other than the sexual appeal, is there any other way by which gaining weight can destroy your relationship? Find out here.

Can gaining weight affect relationships?

The sedentary modern day lifestyle with its characteristic comforts has led to a full fledged problem, being overweight.

When this gets out of hand, it results in obesity. The increase in salaries over the years has resulted in indulgence in many areas, including intake of food and various kinds of drinks.

This has led to increasing rates of obesity in adults, teenagers as well as children. Individuals, families as well as the nation, are yet to show concern over this serious issue.


You are responsible for your health

This is where the buck stops. You are responsible for your actions. Either you confront the overweight issue or end up with a contribution to the medical fraternity, by addressing hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea (a disorder in which breathing is interrupted during sleep), respiratory problems, infertility, breast cancer and colon cancer.


The signs and the workout plan

A person’s waist circumference is an indicator of risk from obesity related diseases. Eating a healthy diet and being physically active can help you overcome the disease. A 30-minute workout helps you maintain your weight. A 60-minute workout helps to prevent weight gain. A two hour workout gets you to set such high standards for your body that you’re at a serious danger of sports injuries.

And once you stop working out, for whatever reason, in all probabilities the weight problem comes right back.


Effects on relationships and career

Once the weight problem goes out of hand, the sooner you arrest the slide, the better it is. A whole bunch of relationships could be going down the tubes, which could adversely reflect on all areas of your life.

Are you aware that some organizations now require you to clear a medical examination before the letter of appointment is issued? As you climb the ladder of hierarchy and are overweight, what kind of leadership skills are we talking of, when you can’t take care of yourself?

The impact that your physique, as well as your mental state, has on your relationship with your spouse, colleagues, boss, friends, and even your children is huge. All of them will be proud to see a fitter ‘you’.  On the other hand, as your weight steers away from the required standards, you could be the cynosure of jokes related to being unfit. And this leads to the erosion of self-esteem, self worth and affects your confidence levels.

As your body begins to sag, so does your morale. Do remember that the human body is designed to last for more than a hundred years, provided you take care of it.

The recommended solution

To improve the situation, all you need to do is watch the ‘input-output ratio’. Input refers to the quality and quantity of food and liquids that is consumed and ‘output’ refers to the calories that are burned. Once you balance this ratio, you are heading towards leading a balanced and purposeful life. All this adds up to you feeling good about yourself. Once you are in this frame of mind, you could then spread the positive enthusiasm around you.

If you truly want to have better relationships with your loved ones and the people around you, you need to make a conscious effort to change your physical appearance for the better.

Weight and relationships – How to have better relationships? 

Inculcate a workout program, as part of your must-do options five days a week.  Most people chill out during the weekends and holidays.  But that is actually the time when you should be pushing on your workouts!

Let’s examine the life of an average office goer. A normal working day combined with travel time from home to office and back leaves him or her with hardly any time to hit a gym or exercise, right? Look at the possibilities.

Workout schedule and better relationships

If your workplace sports a gym, look no further. Others, identify a gym close to the office and spend time working out at the gym, rather than sitting in rush hour traffic.

For those who are unable to exercise these options, identify a walking area close to your home and go for a morning walk. The first and last five minutes should be earmarked for a warm up and cool down walk and the other twenty to thirty minutes should be identified for a power walk.

On weekends and on other holidays, spend more time working out. Add variations and strength building exercises to your workout program.  Make sure you involve a good warm up, cool down and stretch, as this helps to prevent muscle injury.

It’s always good to cross train as this will prevent a single sport injury. So add on cycling, swimming, yoga and dancing to your list of workout styles.


Cycling


The stationary cycle is a recommended option, for a twenty to thirty minute workout.  It could be bought and used at home. It provides an excellent non-impact cardiovascular exercise.


Swimming

Swimming is rated as the perfect workout for the entire body. Stretch and perform a light warm up before you get into the pool. Have a twenty to thirty minute swim using different strokes (free style, back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly) as they target different muscles.  And the effect of water on the body, known as hydrotherapy, has huge advantages. Use a swimming cap to take care of your hair, and as far as skin care is concerned, moisturize after you get out of the pool and bathe.


Dance


Stack up your favorite dance numbers and let your body respond to the rhythm of the music. Music helps you feel elated and dancing has helped people stay fit for thousands of years. Did you know that in ancient times warriors would use dance as a fitness regimen to prepare for battle?


Yoga

Yoga is the ultimate exercise to improve flexibility and increase concentration.


Weight and relationships in good company

Find like-minded colleagues, friends or neighbors to join you. Training partners help encourage and push each other to maintain consistency and set higher fitness standards.

Rejoice with your rewards – Better relationships

In all probabilities you will find that after being physically active, you are more enthusiastic and alert at work. The body releases mood enhancing endorphins, which keep you upbeat and help de-stress. Exercise also creates more brain energy and gives you additional stamina and endurance to complete your projects or meet the required deadlines.

The current day lifestyle makes exorbitant demands not only at work but also at parenthood, marriage and other relationships. The related stress could be better coped with a mentally and physically stronger ‘you’. Increased stamina, toned body and better flexibility are an additional bonus. Increased output at work, better parenting attitude, additional confidence and higher self esteem would help to lead the way to more fruitful life. The rewards are both emotional and physical.

So go ahead and try a new workout plan. So what if weight and relationships share a balance? As long as it’s in your favor, who really cares! And if you can have better relationships and be a better and fitter you in no time, why not give it a shot?

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14 Effective Anger Management Techniques

Anger can be triggered externally or internally. Responding by expressing yourself in an assertive but non-aggressive manner while you showing respect to others is a mature and healthy way to manage anger. Here are 14 tips to effectively manage your anger.

The secret to defusing anger is to learn to calm yourself from the inside out. The best option however is not to get angry in the first place, but that is a different chapter. These are a few techniques that will you help you not to blow your fuse.

1. Learn to relax using breathing exercises and muscle relaxation techniques.

2. Identify a word or phrase to repeat until you are calm or alternatively, use relaxing imagery.

3. Stop yourself from doing or saying anything till you are calm.

4. After a point, anger becomes irrational. Counter it with logic and a rational approach. Look at what can be done to solve the provoking issue and handle the situation rationally.

5. Analyze and recognize your triggers. Are they real or imaginary? Are they really worth it? Do they stem from unresolved issues? Can you resolve them?

6. Confront and resolve these issues.  Learn to let go of past hurts. Forgive. In dealing with an unresolved
issue, seek to have a cathartic experience and forgive and forget and let the healing begin in your mind.

7. Humor can also help in diffusing the situation once you get your perspectives right.

8. Understand and empathize with the other person.

9. Like failure, anger can be used as a stepping stone or motivator to change the way you act and react to people or situations.

10. The intense emotion and energy that anger generates can be harnessed through artistic creations. Give vent to your creative side.

11. Maintain a journal. You’ll be a calmer person.

12. Sign up for courses that require physical exertion like tennis or even karate, or those that have a calming effect like Yoga or meditation.

13. If nothing else helps, performing  healthy anger workouts on inanimate objects can also alleviate anger.
14. Take the help of a friend or family member in helping you master anger.

Experiencing anger and frustration is not a bad thing, but when that anger becomes uncontrollable or if it makes you feel worse or remorseful, then you know you need to do something about it. Try these anger management techniques, and if it still doesn’t help, try to get external help.

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The Perfect Leg Workout

Most people put in a lot of energy on working out their upper bodies and hardly spend any time on their legs. Here are a few simple any-time exercises to help you get those perfect legs.

Free Half Squats

Make sure your legs don’t go below the 90 degree mark when you squat (don’t squat fully). Your knees should not come in front of your feet when you’re squatting. You could do three sets of 15 to 25. Take the support of a chair or any other furniture. And keep your eyes on the mirror to spot errors.

Front Lunges

Three sets of 10 to 15. Make sure your front leg is vertical up to the knee. Keep your back straight. And don’t forget to contract your gluteus. If you want a heavier work out, carry dumb bells of ten or twenty pounds.

Squats

Three sets with comfortable weight, add on for the second and third repetition. Keep your feet at shoulder width and your back straight. And make sure you squat only till your thighs are parallel to the ground.
 
Leg Extensions


Three sets of 12 to15. Hold the extension for a second. Do not jerk, as there are chances of injury.

Leg Curls

Three sets of 12 to 15 counts. Add on weight for the second and third set. Do not jerk or rest the weight at zero position. Contract your gluteus when you’re pulling in.

Leg Press

Three sets of 12 to 15.  Keep your feet shoulder width apart and push with your heel. Don’t forget to contract your gluteus.

Standing Calve Raises

Stand on your toes on an elevated area, and push your body weight upward, hold for a second and then lower yourself.  Do three sets of 12 to 20 repetitions.

Seated Calve Raises

This is usually done on a machine. Add on additional weight after each repetition. Do three reps of 12 to 20.

Dead Lift


End with three sets of dead lifts.

Cool Down

Cool down stretches for the body and stretch your back. If you handle this workout right, you could be on the road to making hearts beat faster, just at the sight of your legs.

Just try these tips for a few weeks and feel the difference yourselves. After all, a good upper body is a turn on, but a perfect body with great legs is to die for, isn’t it?

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Fat Is Sabotaging Your Sleep!

Drop pounds, grab rest: Troubled sleepers who lose roughly 10 lbs reported snoozing even more soundly than théir heavier counterparts, reviews new Finnish analysis. 

Moderately obese individuals experiencing obstructive anti snoring, a disorder that triggers one to stop inhaling and exhaling for secs or mins, who lost 5 percent of these body weight-an normal of 11 pounds-and held it off noticed much less sleep disruption, much less snoring, and much less daytime drowsiness. 

Slimming down reduces the quantity of fat cells in your thróat and nasal cávity once you lie down, that allows one to breathe much better, says guide researcher Henri TuomiIehto, M.D., Ph.D. Losing weight also enhances chronic infIammation in your órgan techniques, which can assist your respiration.

And while that is particularly very important to people who have obstructive anti snoring, it’s also correct for sleep high quality generally. A 2013 Brazilian study discovered that people with a lesser body bulk index sleep more time and much better than overweight individuals, spending additional time in sluggish wave rest and rapid vision motion (REM) cycles-twó of the déepest & most important levels of rest.

Obesity Is Found to Gain Its Hold in Earliest Years

For most obese adults, thé die was cást by enough time they were 5 yrs . old. A significant new study greater than 7,000 kids has discovered that a third of kids who were obese in kindergarten had been obese by eighth quality. And nearly every child who was simply very obese remained this way.

Some obese or over weight kindergartners lost their unwanted weight, plus some children of normal fat got fat through the years. But every year, the probabilities that a kid would slide intó or out to be overweight or overweight diminished. By age 11, there have been few additional changes: Those that were obese or over weight stayed that way, and the ones whose weight was regular didn't become fat.

“The primary message is that weight problems is made very early in daily life, and that it fundamentally tracks through adoIescence to adulthood,” mentioned Ruth Loos, a professor of preventive medication at the Icahn College of Medication at Mount Sinai in Ny, who was not mixed up in study.

These results, surprising to numerous experts, arose from the rare research that tracked children’s bodyweight for a long time, from kindergarten through eighth quality. Experts say they could reshape methods to combating the nation’s being overweight epidemic, suggesting that attempts must start much previously and focus even more on the kids at greatest risk.

The results, to be released Thursday in The brand new England Journal of Medication, usually do not explain why the result occurs. Researchers say it could be a variety of genetic predispositions to getting heavy and conditions that motivate overeating in those susceptible to it. However the results do give a possible reason why efforts to greatly help children shed weight have frequently had disappointing outcomes. The steps could have aimed as well broadly at all schoolchildren, instead of starting before children signed up for kindergarten and focusing on those that were already extra fat at very young age groups.

Previous studies established just how many children were extra fat at each age however, not whether their fat changed as they was raised. While precious in documenting the level of childhood weight problems, they provided an incomplete image of how the problem developed, researchers said.

“What's striking may be the relative reduction in incidence from then on initial blast” of being overweight that occurs by age group 5, stated Dr. Jéffrey P. Koplan, thé vice president óf the Emory GIobal Wellness Institute in Atlanta. “It really is almost as if, when you can ensure it is to kindergarten minus the weight, your it’s likely that immensely better.”

Dr. Koplan, a previous director of thé Centers for Illness Control and Prevention, had not been linked to the new research, although its Iead author, Solveig A new. Cunningham, can be an assistant professor in the institution of Public Wellness at Emory.

The analysis involved 7,738 kids from the nationally representative sampIe. Researchers measured thé children’s elevation and weight seven occasions from kindergarten to eighth quality.

Once the children entered kindérgarten, 12.4 percent were obese - thought as having a body bulk index at ór above the 95th percentile - and 14.9 pct were over weight, with a B.M.I actually. at or abové the 85th percentile. By eighth grade, 20.8 pct were obese ánd 17 percent were overweight. 1 / 2 of the obese kindergartners had been obese if they were in eighth quality, and nearly three-quarters of the extremely obese kindergartners had been obese in eighth quality. The chance that fat kindergartners will be obese in eighth quality has been four to five occasions that of these thinner classmates, the analysis found.

Race, ethnicity ánd family income mattéred in youngsters, but by enough time the overweight children were 5 yrs . old, those factors no more affected their threat of being fat in old age.

The study didn't track the kids before kindergarten, however the researchers got their birth wéights. Overweight or overweight children often were weighty babies, at the very least 8.8 pounds, something some other studies also have found.

The study’s outcomes, Dr. Koplan among others said, “help concentrate interventions.”

Most efforts to lessen childhood obesity focus on school-age kids and apply the actions indiscriminately to all or any children, fat and slim - improving meals in institutions, teaching nutrition and the significance of physical activity, removing soda machines.

“This shows that maybe one cause it didn’t work therefore nicely is that by enough time children are 5, the equine has gone out of the barn,” stated Léann L. Birch, á professor in thé division of foods and nourishment at the Univérsity of Georgia, who was simply not involved with the analysis.

Probably the most rigorous studies of initiatives for school-age kids, conducted in thé 1990s, randomly assigned a large number of children to either take part in intensive programs that motivated them to training and enhance their diets, or continue as usual.

Science Times Pódcast
Dr. Thómas R. Insel, diréctor of the NationaI Institute of MentaI Wellness, on attacking mental disease through brain research; the research of filling Sóchi’s sIopes with Olympic snów; a fresh study demonstrates obesity is made very early in lifestyle.

Neither research found any influence on children’s weights.

Some being overweight researchers said the brand new study following kindergartners through the years furthermore hinted at another element: the powerful impact of genetics on weight problems, something that could be a challenge to overcome.

Genetic influences have a tendency to arrive early in life, mentioned Dr. Stephen 0’Rahilly, an obésity researcher who's a professor of scientific biochemistry and medication at the Univérsity of Cambridge.

“We've known for 50 decades that B.M.I actually. is extremely heritable,” he said. “Shock, surprise, if you are generally fat, you are usually fat young.”

Body mass index isn't quite mainly because heritable as elevation, Dr. Loos stated. But genes aren't necessarily destiny. Workout and a healthy diet plan can often reduce, however, not completely overcome, the consequences of genes.

Steven L. Gortmakér, a professor óf the exercise of wellness sociology at thé Harvard School óf Open public Health, said he noticed a shiny side to the results. Young children, he mentioned, can cross a series between being unwanted fat or normal fat by gaining or shedding only a few pounds. For adults, it could be 20 to 30 lbs, as well as 40 to 50 lbs.

“Normally it takes a long time to show that around,” stated Dr. Gortmaker, whó wrote an editoriaI accompanying the brand new study.

And, he said, numerous randomized studies involving small children have shown that it's possible to avoid or reverse unwanted weight gain. One, for instance, had some fat kids ages 4 to 7 reduce their tv and computer viewing period, and had others maintain theirs the same. Kids in the intervention team - specifically those from poorer households - consumed fewer calories from fat, and their body bulk index fell.

But effective applications for small children involve effort and time, and the costs aren't reimbursed by wellness insurers, stated Denise Wilfley, an being overweight researcher at Washingtón Univérsity in St. Lóuis.

“We are able to effectively treat these kids,” Dr. Wilfley stated. But apart from entering children in clinical tests, parents will get help only by spending of their wallet - about $1,500 to $3,000 for an intervention that always lasts a year.

Advice offered by a family group doctor - if it's given at all - is normally ineffective, Dr. Wilfley mentioned. All too often, mothers and fathers tell her, their concerns about a child’s fat are dismissed.

“I simply saw a mom who was simply in tears because her litttle lady, who is 11 yrs . old, weighs 212 pounds,” Dr. Wilfley said. The kid has been unwanted fat since she had been a toddIer, but, Dr. WiIfley mentioned, “the provider informed her mom she'd outgrow it.”