Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health

Benefits of Walking

Cheese, the Healthy Saturated Fat...Huh?!

Here’s the thing. We’ve been conditioned to fear food with saturated (bad) fats because these mess with our cardiovascular systems.  Yet, the French seem to eat anything and everything (with epicurean style of course) and still manage to be ranked as a nation with relatively low obesity rates.

Figures from 2008 in the World Factbook of the CIA point to the fact that only 18.20% of the French population is obese.  It’s a far cry from Japan’s 5%; but, it is significantly lower than that of Australia’s.   26.80% of the Australian population is obese.  New Zealand trails slightly behind with a 26.30% prevalence. In the United States, 33% of the population is having obesity problems and clearly on the road (if not already there) to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, depression, and whatever curses obesity brings.

Now how do the food-obsessed French manage to keep their waistlines trim?  Indeed, it’s a French paradox.  The French diet is loaded with rich pastries, butter, fatty meats, red wine, and baguettes made from refined flour.  And loads of cheese.  France is a nation with the highest consumption of saturated fatty cheese.  So what’s their secret?  People believe it’s their whole eating lifestyle of portion control, leisurely pacing, and even the red wine habit (it’s the resveratrol in the wine).  Yes, these all may be right;  but, a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry says the answer to the puzzle could also be in the…..cheese!

What’s with Cheese?

The Danish study was conducted on 15 healthy men to determine how dairy food was metabolized and how much it contributed to cholesterol level.  These men were given three diets for two weeks.  All three diets involved the same amount of calories and fats, but one diet had more milk, the other, more cheese, and the third, was the control diet.

Faecal analyses and urinalysis revealed positive changes in gut flora when the subjects ate the prescribed diets with more cheese and milk in them; but, what stood out more was the cheese-heavy one.  Gut-friendly microbiota produced more butyrate, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid which lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels and also acts as a metabolic catalyst.  In addition, lowered TMAO levels were discovered.  TMAO is a gut-flora dependent metabolite that helps transport cholesterol to the arteries, leaving these to form plaque.  TMAO contributes to heart disease; so, lowered TMAO is a good thing, especially if it comes about from a cheese-rich diet, right?

A 12-week Perth research at the Curtin University of Technology corroborates that cheese and other dairy products are cardiovascularly beneficial.  Forty volunteers were asked to go on a weight loss diet but were made to increase their servings of cheese, yogurt, and low-fat milk from three to five.  At the end of the trial, subjects had significantly lowered their blood pressure and decreased their abdominal fat, thereby reducing their risks for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Other Benefits of Eating Cheese

If you love cheese, you should be practically beaming with this news.  Yes indeedy, we should eat cheese.  Aside from its cardiovascular and microbiotic benefits, cheese can do us a world of good by:

• Helping with weight control -- Food rich in proteins can help us keep us full longer as these takes longer to digest than carb-laden foods.  The protein in cheese can also help speed up metabolism.

• Keeping up our muscle tone and mass -- As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass and tone.  Coupled with weight-bearing exercises, the protein in cheese and other foods helps keep our muscles from degenerating.

• Helping maintain our bone density-- Calcium is important for maintaining our skeletal system.  Calcium is abundant in cheese.  To maintain strong bones through life, we need cheese and other calcium-rich food in our diet.

• Providing vitamins and minerals -- Cheese is nutrient dense and therefore makes perfect sense to include in our diets.  Aside from protein and calcium, it offers phosphorus, zinc, Vitamins A and B12.  Zinc and Vitamin A are great for keeping our immune system healthy while Vitamin B12 helps maintain nerve functions and red blood cell production.

• Being just plain wonderful! -- Having a bowl of macaroni doesn’t put a smile on your face; but, top it with lovely, melted cheese and macaroni transforms into a slice of heavenly comfort.  If cheese can make us happy, why not have some?

 Of course, the caveat still remains...enjoy, but in moderation.  The French don’t eat cheese like there is no tomorrow.  After all, cheese is a saturated fat and quite high in sodium.   Portion control is still very much a part of the French eating habit but cheese may be the secret to those French women’s trim figures.

Healthy Cheeses to Make Your Day

Cheese is one saturated fat to love.  It is healthiest if the milk used for its production is from grass fed cows, goats, and sheep.  Here are five of the healthiest you can try:

Feta cheese

Feta cheese is a brined, white curd type made in Greece from sheep or goat’s milk.  In the cheese world, feta has one of the lowest fat and calorie content.  A serving of 30 grams gives only 79 calories and 6.03 grams of fat, of which 4.23 grams are of the saturated kind.  It also provides 14% of the RDI (recommended daily intake) of calcium per 28 grams. Feta is fantastic on salads and sandwiches, too, if paired with roasted peppers and eggplant on pita. Yum!

Cottage Cheese

A staple in many bodybuilding diets, cottage cheese is a favourite because of its inherently low fat and low calorie content. One cup of the full fat variety contains 220 calories and 9.7 grams of fat while the low-fat version offers less at 194 calories and 5.5 grams fat.  You get about 25-27 grams of protein from this and a boost in your calcium and selenium intake.  Top fresh fruits with cottage cheese for a delicious, wholesome snack. What’s not to love?

Parmigiano Reggiano

Parmesan cheese packs a punch when grated over salads, pasta, and chicken dishes. Because it is made from naturally skim milk, it joins the low fat cheese category.

Among cheese purists, genuine Parmigiano Reggiano is a hard, grainy, aged cheese that is produced only from the Italian provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, and Mantova.  If a wheel of this cheese is not from any of these regions, it isn’t a true Parmigiano but a generic parmesan.
For those who can settle for less, the generic parmesan copies are still a great addition to your diet. One 28-gram serving offers 110 calories and 8 grams of fat. It is a good source of calcium and Vitamin B12 as well.

You can have your cheese and eat it too! Just eat as the French do (in slivers) and you don’t have to worry about the high sodium content. On this note, bon appétit!

Potato Nutritional Content

"Don't let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries. - Astrid Alauda"

Uses of Lavender Oil

Learn to Boost Your Confidence at Work

Let’s face it. Our work environment can be intimidating. We have bosses with certain standards and competitive colleagues who always seem to know what they are doing and where they are going. They probably do. These people somehow seem to be one step ahead, often exuding an intangible quality that says they’re cool and got things all figured out. That quality, that thing you can’t put a finger on, is... work confidence.

We were all not born with confidence. We entered the world in ignorance and naiveté; so on the heels of these, self-doubt. Our confidence (or lack of it) was gained through the years as a result of our experiences. In other words, we acquired it. Our level of self confidence varies according to where we are in life. We may feel at home partying with 100 people but completely out of our depth at a company pow-wow for new strategies and ideas. For this, we need to acquire a little more belief in our work selves.

Now unless you were hired through lottery or deception, you need to recognize that the company you now work for saw some value in your credentials. This is why you’re in and your competition at the job interview isn’t. So relax a little; but, take these confidence building steps as a personal priority project, once that may hoist you up the higher rungs of that corporate ladder.

You won’t build your confidence overnight or even over a week...well, unless you’ve got loads to begin with and you’re simply doing some tweaking. If you are like a lot of us with some major “I can’ts,” let’s learn to walk the confidence talk first before the going off on a run. Gain self-assurance by changing the little things until you are ready to take on greater risks and challenges.

Taking the Baby Steps

1. Kick a bad habit or begin a good one. What can be more of a great kick-starter than achieving a small victory over yourself? Developing good habits could be as small as consistently keeping a tidy workspace or as mundane as smiling a good morning to everyone you meet (despite being deprived of your morning caffeine fix). Conquering a bad habit even as small as breaking that daily soda craving can help you feel empowered. It’s a wonderful feeling to actually realize that you do have control and you do have choices. Know these and you are on your way to kicking up some major “can do” attitude.

2. Dress for success. Yep, it’s a cliché; nevertheless, true. Image is all...well, a huge chunk of our social relations. Just knowing you look good and presentable will make you feel more assured and positive about yourself. Notice that people gravitate to or have more respect for those who have taken the time to groom themselves and have placed some thought into their workaday look.

3. Cut the negative self-gab. Don’t beat yourself up all the time. You’ll just grind your self-esteem to the ground. Know you are bound to make mistakes. Instead, develop a mindset of a lab scientist...experiment, make a mistake, learn why it is a mistake, and approach the problem in a different way. Once you know the social and work ropes, you’ll be winging your way with your head held higher.

4. Be positive. Cut out the “I cant’s,” “maybes,” and “buts” from your thoughts and see where this leads you. As the iconic Nike slogan aptly says, “Just do it.”

5. Know your strengths. Be aware of what you are good at, and bolster these. If you can placate some irate customers, refine your skills so you can put a smile on their faces when they leave the store. It’s better to be highly skilled at something you are good or even promising at, rather than be content to stay at a mediocre level.

6. Update your skills or learn something new. If you think you need help with customer relations, time management, or website design, read or take a course on the subject. You can’t keep banging yourself against a wall you don’t know how to scale. You need to improve your skills in order to be more effective at work. Once you see some self improvement, watch that confidence meter rise.

Taking Longer Strides

When the baby confidence-building steps have given you a good bit of self positivity, you are prepared to lengthen your strides:

1. Find allies. Work is competitive and in a way, a survival run. Rare is the job where you can work by yourself without much social help. Cultivate good relationships with people who will have your back when you’re low or need to defend your actions. Sadly, some of your workmates can make work life difficult. The more friends you have though, the less afraid of circumstances you will be. Of course, this goes both ways. You must prove yourself a good ally as well.

2. Get professional feedback. This does not mean always positive feedback. You need to know how you are really doing and where you truly stand. Get the opinions of a trusted boss or colleagues whom you know will dish out the real score. Beware the sycophants or the hypocrites who will give you false information. Hence, the first advice: find allies.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It is better than failing at an assignment simply because you were afraid to clear things up. Besides, no one will shred you because you dared ask work-related questions. Asking questions may even signal your boss or supervisor to the fact that you are interested in doing your best because you take the time to clarify what is expected of you.

Running the Race

At this point, you may be ready to take on challenges and risks. Your confidence level should be high enough to take the victories and weather the pitfalls. You are ready to run…

1. Speak up. Putting yourself out there at a department meeting could be pretty intimidating; but, if you do believe you have something to contribute, be heard. You do run the risk of your idea being smirked on, but what if the majority see your light? If you consistently share your talents and good ideas, you won’t be a nobody for long.

2. Dare to differ. Sure, that tag line seems to be getting a lot of thumbs up; but, you think it’s tacky. You don’t have fake agreement to go with majority. Stand out by giving your own opinions. Just don’t come off as arrogant; instead, be constructive with criticism. If you have a better suggestion in mind, share it. Again, speak up. You might be surprised; there may be a lot who had the same opinion but just didn’t have the guts to say so.

3. Go the extra mile. Can you beat the deadline two days earlier? Do so. Can you suggest a process that could cut down on time? Even better. In line with updating your skills in the baby step phase, try to think or learn of ways of how to improve an idea, a process, or a product. Think out of the box. Yep, the company has probably been doing the same thing for five straight years; but, maybe little tweaks here and there could gain it some edge over competition. Companies need innovation. Contributing to that would definitely garner you a wagonload of professional respect.

4. Dwell not on the problem but on the solutions. Take the bull by the horns and find several ways out of that dilemma. You can hone your leadership skills (and work confidence) by being a problem solver.

There are lots more to do in running that confidence marathon. Confidence building is a matter of purging self-doubt and building up your own internal assurance. It is important to know that there is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence. Your self-possession can take a major beating if you let it morph into puffed-up pride in the long run. Remember, work means getting along with other people’s egos, too; so “do (or don’t do) unto others…..” and you’ll be more than fine.