MY WORLD OF TRUTH
Monday 30 October 2017
THIS IS WHY YOU ARE NOT LOOSING BELLY FAT
The reason belly fat is the most difficult to shift is because fat cells that are present around your lower abdomen are known as 'beta fat' cells, which are extremely hard to put of - something we would understand more in detail here.
Have you been exercising constantly and keeping a balanced diet, but you're still yet to see any results? Health This Moment has some suggestions about where you might have gone wrong:
1. You're not sleeping well enough
"From watching late night movies to having a late-night drink, there are so many ways you have unknowingly kept yourself awake at night.
Aside from you feeling tired and heavy the next day, not getting necessary 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night can affect weight loss.
When you're lacking in nap time, your body’s hormones is thrown way off balance which can affect your hunger levels the next day.
We all have two hormones that impact our appetite: ghrelin and leptin. When you don’t get enough sleep, your ghrelin levels (the hormone that makes us feel hungry) rise, and your leptin levels (the hormone that makes us feel full) drop.
This means that when you are awake, you tend to eat more but feel less satisfied. Try going to bed a earlier to avoid this imbalance and remember to remove any distractions that might stop you from nodding off.
2. You’re doing the wrong type of excercise
If you are only doing abdominal-focused excercises, like crunches, it won’t help you banish the belly bulge.
The fact is your body stores energy in the belly fat, so you need to take a whole-body approach to get rid of it.
HIIT training (high intensity interval training) is a great way to burn fat and get your heart rate up. Squats, burpees and treadmill sprints are all examples to try.
3. You’re taking way too much sugar
If your diet consists of lots of sports drinks, sugar-sweetened drinks like lucozade boost and flavoured waters, or sugary foods like chocolate and cakes, it will make your losing belly fat mission harder.
While whole fruits and vegetables are undeniably good for you, they can also sometimes cause weight gain if you eat too much, as they have high levels of natural sugars in them.
Low-fat food options might have high amounts of added sugar in there too, so make sure to check the food label.
Try cutting back on the amount of simple carbohydrates you eat, like pasta and bread, and substituting for healthier alternatives like whole grains.
It won’t be easy, but by dropping your overall carbohydrate intake (not eradicating carbs completely!) you will have the best chance of tackling your belly fat.
4. You're not eating enough protein
Protein is great for fat loss. It aids in building and preserving lean muscle tissue and can increase the amount of calories you burn.
It’s also a great source of energy that helps you feel fuller for longer periods, so you’re less tempted to snack. Good sources include tuna, eggs, and milk.
And if you’re finding it difficult to avoid snacks that are high in carbohydrates, try substituting them for those high in lean protein.
Remember also to consume the lean sources of protein because some sources can be high in saturated fat.
5. You’re feeling stressed or anxious
Feeling stressed can cause so much damage on our bodies. It causes your body to produce the steroid hormone cortisol, which will make you desire sugary foods that provide energy and pleasure fast.
Short-term bursts of cortisol are important to help us cope with immediate danger, but our body will also release this hormone if we’re feeling stressed or anxious.
When your cortisol levels are high for a long period of time, it can increase the amount of fat you hold in your belly.
6. You’re not tracking your progress
Thank goodness for technology, there are some great apps and wearable tech devices available that make it easier to follow your plan.
They can help you monitor your goals, your food intake and the calories burned during exercise. If this is not an option, write down a meal and exercise plan.
This will help you stick to your goals and remain focussed.
7. You’re doing too much
Your body needs a healthy balance of exercise and rest. Doing too much prevents the body from shifting excess fat.
Exercising without rest can affect your levels of the steroid hormone cortisol and cause an increase of stubborn fat stored in the belly.
Not allowing your body to recover can increase the risk of injury too, so make sure you add up rest days to your plan.
8. You don't have the right exercise balance
With all the different tips out there, it can be difficult to understand exactly which exercises work the best.
HIIT is great for fat burning and will get your heart rate up, but Health This Moment also recommend adding strength (resistance) exercises too.
Try lifting weights, using resistance bands or using the weight machines at the gym as these will increase your metabolism to help with weight loss, and increase your muscle strength.
It’s important to mix-up your whole-body workouts so you don’t get bored
Have you been exercising constantly and keeping a balanced diet, but you're still yet to see any results? Health This Moment has some suggestions about where you might have gone wrong:
1. You're not sleeping well enough
"From watching late night movies to having a late-night drink, there are so many ways you have unknowingly kept yourself awake at night.
Aside from you feeling tired and heavy the next day, not getting necessary 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night can affect weight loss.
When you're lacking in nap time, your body’s hormones is thrown way off balance which can affect your hunger levels the next day.
We all have two hormones that impact our appetite: ghrelin and leptin. When you don’t get enough sleep, your ghrelin levels (the hormone that makes us feel hungry) rise, and your leptin levels (the hormone that makes us feel full) drop.
This means that when you are awake, you tend to eat more but feel less satisfied. Try going to bed a earlier to avoid this imbalance and remember to remove any distractions that might stop you from nodding off.
2. You’re doing the wrong type of excercise
If you are only doing abdominal-focused excercises, like crunches, it won’t help you banish the belly bulge.
The fact is your body stores energy in the belly fat, so you need to take a whole-body approach to get rid of it.
HIIT training (high intensity interval training) is a great way to burn fat and get your heart rate up. Squats, burpees and treadmill sprints are all examples to try.
3. You’re taking way too much sugar
If your diet consists of lots of sports drinks, sugar-sweetened drinks like lucozade boost and flavoured waters, or sugary foods like chocolate and cakes, it will make your losing belly fat mission harder.
While whole fruits and vegetables are undeniably good for you, they can also sometimes cause weight gain if you eat too much, as they have high levels of natural sugars in them.
Low-fat food options might have high amounts of added sugar in there too, so make sure to check the food label.
Try cutting back on the amount of simple carbohydrates you eat, like pasta and bread, and substituting for healthier alternatives like whole grains.
It won’t be easy, but by dropping your overall carbohydrate intake (not eradicating carbs completely!) you will have the best chance of tackling your belly fat.
4. You're not eating enough protein
Protein is great for fat loss. It aids in building and preserving lean muscle tissue and can increase the amount of calories you burn.
It’s also a great source of energy that helps you feel fuller for longer periods, so you’re less tempted to snack. Good sources include tuna, eggs, and milk.
And if you’re finding it difficult to avoid snacks that are high in carbohydrates, try substituting them for those high in lean protein.
Remember also to consume the lean sources of protein because some sources can be high in saturated fat.
5. You’re feeling stressed or anxious
Feeling stressed can cause so much damage on our bodies. It causes your body to produce the steroid hormone cortisol, which will make you desire sugary foods that provide energy and pleasure fast.
Short-term bursts of cortisol are important to help us cope with immediate danger, but our body will also release this hormone if we’re feeling stressed or anxious.
When your cortisol levels are high for a long period of time, it can increase the amount of fat you hold in your belly.
6. You’re not tracking your progress
Thank goodness for technology, there are some great apps and wearable tech devices available that make it easier to follow your plan.
They can help you monitor your goals, your food intake and the calories burned during exercise. If this is not an option, write down a meal and exercise plan.
This will help you stick to your goals and remain focussed.
7. You’re doing too much
Your body needs a healthy balance of exercise and rest. Doing too much prevents the body from shifting excess fat.
Exercising without rest can affect your levels of the steroid hormone cortisol and cause an increase of stubborn fat stored in the belly.
Not allowing your body to recover can increase the risk of injury too, so make sure you add up rest days to your plan.
8. You don't have the right exercise balance
With all the different tips out there, it can be difficult to understand exactly which exercises work the best.
HIIT is great for fat burning and will get your heart rate up, but Health This Moment also recommend adding strength (resistance) exercises too.
Try lifting weights, using resistance bands or using the weight machines at the gym as these will increase your metabolism to help with weight loss, and increase your muscle strength.
It’s important to mix-up your whole-body workouts so you don’t get bored
HAVANA'S BEAUTIFUL HOMES
WHAT IF WOMEN WERE PHYSICALLY STRONGER THAN MEN
When Judith Gardiner’s father died in 1963, her mother, a lawyer, took over the couple’s joint patent law practice. In those days, very few women held such a position, but Gardiner’s mother had ways of asserting her authority. She raised her office desk so her 5ft-tall (150cm) frame would be slightly elevated above male visitors, and she always ensured that business lunch or dinner bills had been paid in advance from her account. “She figured out ways of doing a lot of the simple means of everyday male domination,” says Gardiner, a professor of English, gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago. “She could exert authority and competence in a situation that was not necessarily normal.”
What would have happened, though, if Gardiner’s mother suddenly didn’t have to pretend to be taller? What if the physical dynamics of gender were suddenly reversed – if women inexplicably became larger and stronger than men, without the aid of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution?
It is, of course, an unlikely event – but asking experts to speculate about this thought experiment can highlight how gender dynamics are transforming in other ways in the real world, as well as revealing the things many people take for granted about the relationship between the sexes.
In the natural world, it’s actually the norm that females are larger than males
It’s worth pointing out that, in most species on the planet – from insects to frogs to oysters – it’s actually the norm that females are larger than males, because they are tasked with carrying hundreds or thousands of eggs inside their bodies at once. The majority of terrestrial vertebrates, including humans, are the exception to this rule. Females grow to a certain extent and then switch to reproductive mode, investing in fat production rather than making muscle and bone. Males, meanwhile, put energy into traits that will best allow them to compete for those females – size and strength, in the case of humans.
While physical differences between the genders have been narrowing – women are catching up to men in some athletic endeavours, especially ultra-events – there are still basic differences, evolved over millennia. For one, men remain, on average, larger and stronger than women, possessing 26lbs (10kg) of skeletal muscle, 40% more upper-body strength and 33% more lower body strength.
Should women suddenly become stronger than men, they would have to become larger, because bigger bones are needed to support bigger muscles (let’s assume a Jessica Jones-type situation, in which a petite frame houses superhuman strength, would be biologically impossible).
Such changes would also necessarily be accompanied by an uptick in testosterone and other hormones. If society adhered solely to the laws of nature, then this would probably mean a shift from women to men as primary child caregivers. “We’d have a matriarchal society where females are in charge and males look after the kids,” says Daphne Fairbairn, an emeritus professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside. At the same time, she adds, it may become more difficult for women to reproduce: “If this change occurred through an increase in female testosterone, it would have an obvious negative consequence for the development of feminine reproductive functions.”
Stronger, larger men may also favour hierarchies and are prone to competitiveness
Greater strength may also bring psychological ramifications, of the sort that men already experience, regardless of whether they use their muscles on a day-to-day basis. For example, according to a study led by Michael Bang Petersen, a professor of political science at Aarhus University, men with greater upper-body strength were more likely than weaker men to favour political policies that benefit themselves. For example, strong wealthy men in the study tended to oppose redistributing money to those who are worse off. Petersen suggests that these men may still be shaped by ancestral behaviours, in which physically stronger individuals demanded a greater proportion of resources for themselves. Stronger, larger men may also favour hierarchies and are prone to competitiveness, argues Petersen.
We can at least partly thank natural selection for these traits. As Petersen says, “Men are not more violent because they’re stronger, but stronger because they’ve needed to be more violent over evolutionary history, which has shaped male psychology in all sorts of ways.”
While there is an ongoing debate about the extent to which nature versus nurture influences things like dominance and aggressiveness, it's not impossible that suddenly-stronger women would experience at least some enhancement of these traditionally male traits. Additionally, self-entitlement, proneness to anger and bargaining confidence in women tend to be linked to physical attractiveness, so strength may simply replace looks as the impetus behind those personality traits.
All of these changes might take a toll on some heterosexual relationships. Fairbairn argues that some women, who might currently feel the need to “dumb themselves down” to attract insecure men, may no longer need to. In some cases, this scenario is already playing out. Her 30-something daughter, for example, has been on disaster dates in which the man is clearly looking for an ego boost. But she is capable, active and has a doctoral degree, and “she refuses to pretend that she doesn’t do home renovations and regularly runs 50 miles (80km), just so a guy will think she’s sexy,” Fairbairn says.
Strength is one of the few ways that men, on average, exceed the abilities of women – but if that changed, it would in fact be a continuation of the way that male identity and 'traditional' masculinity is already being challenged in the real world. In the past 50 years, women have become more independent and, in many cases, have overtaken men in earnings, achievements and success. Technology is also muting gender differences, making historically male-dominated fields such as manufacturing and the military open to women, who can now rely on intellect and hand-eye coordination rather than upper body strength, for example, to build cars or engage in combat.
As a result, some men cling to their gender’s generally greater capacity for physical power as justification that “somehow, men are still more entitled to power,” argues Jackson Katz, an author, lecturer and president of MVP Strategies, a company that provides training and education on gender violence prevention. “As women have started competing with men in areas that men had historically excluded them from, some men have retreated into this world where physical size and strength matters even more, because it’s the one area where they continue to hold advantage over women.”
Katz argues that this might help to explain some of the popularity and growth of American football, boxing, MMA and other violent sports. “A man might not be able to understand or articulate this, but the thinking comes down to, ‘Yes, a woman may make more money than me, my boss might be a woman, my wife might have better job than me, but none of them can play football,’” Katz says. He notes, though, that obsession with gladiator-type masculinity tends to be a predominantly American phenomenon.
On the plus side, if women were stronger, they would immediately become less subject to male harassment and violence, and rape would go down “by orders of magnitude,” says Katz.
However, it might be wrong to assume that women’s superior strength would be benign. They are still capable of violence: 17-45% of lesbians report physical abuse at the hands of a female partner, for example, and in heterosexual couples – while women do suffer higher overall rates of victimisation – 19% of men say they have been assaulted by a partner at least once. So, while male-on-female domestic abuse would likely decrease, female-on-male cases would probably increase. “Men abuse women because they can – that’s the deal with being strong,” Fairbairn says. “I like women a lot, but I don’t think we’re perfect.”
How inequalities and gender-based discrimination in the workplace might be affected is less clear. It is true that masculine traits have long been associated with positions of power – think Margaret Thatcher training herself to speak with a deeper voice to sound more authoritative, for example, or the rise of the pantsuit among 1970s businesswomen as a means of seeking respect and acceptance from male colleagues. Should women no longer have to use fashion, body language and voice training to masculinise themselves – should they naturally tower over male colleagues – then gender-based discrimination, Fairbairn believes, would begin to disappear.
Gardiner doesn’t think it would be so straightforward, however. She points out that physical size and strength are not necessarily factors in sustaining inequalities. “Whites are not larger and stronger, on average, than people of colour,” she says. “Yet white supremacy has managed to hang on, without any obvious physical base.”
The arguments for why men should still dominate women in the workforce will simply shift, she continues, just as they have done for years, from claims that God ordained women to serve men, to insistence that women are too emotional to serve in positions of power. “These arguments are not based on fact, but on male supremacy,” Gardiner says. “Those in power will always struggle hard to stay in power, through whatever means they can.” In other words, even with their increased strength, women would still struggle to break through the glass ceiling of male-dominated fields.
Those in power will always struggle hard to stay in power, through whatever means they can
Some newly-strong women, in fact, may prefer to keep it that way as well. As Katz points out, some of feminism’s most vociferous opponents have been women. Rather than fight against the system, they may have found ways to work it to their advantage and to minimise sexist behaviour with justifications such as “That’s just locker room talk.”
The impacts of these opposing movements – some pro-equality, others against – is visible in modern-day politics. On the one hand, Katz says, in the US, “you’ve got a guy unapologetically evoking an era when women were ornamental, and who got elected partly by appealing to throwback masculinity.”
On the other, Petersen adds, as societies have grown more complex, democratic and peaceful, violence and aggression as tools for maintaining control have decreased. This has contributed to a growing number of female political leaders taking centre stage – Angela Merkel being the most prominent example.
So, while it’s pure fantasy to imagine that women may suddenly become physically stronger than men, some of the shifts that such a scenario would trigger are already underway. As Fairbairn says, “I’d rather women just run the world as we are now.”
Sunday 29 October 2017
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF BEING CHARISMATIC
What do Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs and Tony Blair have in common? Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, they all oozed charisma. Charismatic leaders can inspire followers to be more loyal and work harder. But are there different ways in which leaders can be charismatic?
While charmers are popular, charismatic people don’t have to be
While BBC Capital has previously examined how being charming can help influence people in the workplace, charisma involves a rather different set of skills. Researchers have shown that charisma involves communicating (whether verbally or in written text) using powerful metaphors and anecdotes, using expressions and body language that successfully convey emotions that back up your message while displaying confidence, among other traits.
Charm involves making eye contact with individuals and flashing them a smile, getting people to talk about themselves, asking personal questions and making empathic statements, whereas charismatic leaders don’t necessarily have to interact directly with the people they influence at all – they can do it from afar. So, while charmers are popular, charismatic people don’t have to be.
“You can be charismatic without being likeable,” says Olivia Fox Cabane, an executive coach and author of The Charisma Myth. She uses Steve Jobs as an example, someone who was deeply disliked by some of his employees but still considered to be incredibly charismatic.
Fox Cabane demarcates several types of charisma: difficult-to-acquire ‘star power’ charisma, exemplified by Marilyn Monroe, who loved performing for the camera; ‘focus’ charisma, which involves listening attentively; and ‘kindness’ charisma, displayed by the Dalai Lama, which can be learned.
The charisma effect
It turns out, there are a lot of quantifiable benefits to using charismatic behaviour.
For instance, when the values a leader stands for overlap with those of the people he or she is trying to influence, a ‘charismatic effect’ can occur. “People will identify with you more, they will want to be more like you, they will be more willing to follow you,” says John Antonakis, professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Lausanne.
Independent of how attractive you are, if you’re more charismatic in a short clip competing for venture capital funding, you’re more likely to get backed – John Antonakis
In one 2015 study, Antonakis and his colleague found that temporary workers at a fundraising campaign increased their output by 17% after watching a charismatic pre-recorded motivational speech versus a standard speech.
“Independent of how attractive you are, if you’re more charismatic in a short clip competing for venture capital funding, you’re more likely to get backed,” Antonakis says. “For people who give TED Talks, you’ll get more views and your talks will be considered more inspiring if you deliver the talk in a more charismatic manner.”
Charisma can even increase people’s willingness to cooperate. Antonakis did an experiment where participants were shown a video of an actor trying to persuade them in a charismatic way to cooperate in a game that mimics financial decisions. Players were more likely to contribute to the collective benefit rather than enjoy a ‘free ride’. “Charisma can help people by not only affecting their preferences but their beliefs about what they think other people will do,” Antonakis says.
Charismatic leaders show employees they have high ability by generating new ideas and integrity by taking personal risks for the good of the organisation
Why do these effects occur? Research suggests it comes down to trust. A study from 2016 found charismatic leaders were more likely to be trusted by their employees, who in turn were more willing to help colleagues, show concern about the future of the team or display commitment to the company beyond their contractual obligations in other ways.
Bjorn Michaelis, a professor of management and organisation at Kühne Logistics University in Germany and one of the authors of the study, says charismatic leaders show employees they have high ability by generating new ideas and integrity by taking personal risks for the good of the organisation. Think of CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, who famously makes a salary of $1 and Elon Musk, who has never accepted a salary from Tesla.
Can you train yourself to be more charismatic?
For those wanting to be more charismatic, there is evidence that it is not such a magical, or imperceptible quality as it might first seem.
Most of it stems from the way we use words and how points are conveyed. For example, in one set of studies, Antonakis trained middle managers at a German company and MBA students to be perceived as more charismatic by using what he calls charismatic leadership tactics.
Thatcher's speech was packed with metaphors, rhetorical questions, stories, contrasts, lists, and references to ambitious goals
These are made up of nine core verbal tactics including metaphors, stories and anecdotes, contrasts, lists and rhetorical questions. Speakers should demonstrate moral conviction, share the sentiments of the audience they are targeting, set high expectations for themselves, and communicate confidence. Managers trained to use these tactics were rated as more competent, more trusted and able to influence others. MBA students who analysed recordings of themselves giving speeches, with these tactics in mind, ultimately gave new speeches that were rated as more charismatic.
“Margaret Thatcher was unbelievably charismatic because of her rhetoric and use of these tactics,” Antonakis says. Analysis of a speech the UK Prime Minister delivered to the Conservative Party Conference in 1980, known as ‘The lady’s not for turning’, highlighted her extensive use of many of these verbal tricks. Her speech was packed with metaphors, rhetorical questions, stories, contrasts, lists, and references to ambitious goals.
In comparison to Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton came across as a tad cold [during her run for the Presidency]; she did not convey a warm and folksy sort of image like her husband did – John Antonakis
But it’s not just how you use words that is important. Body language, gestures, facial expressions and tone of voice contribute to emotional signalling too and should match the message you want to convey. “What you need to convey [is] the appropriate emotion to what you’re saying. You need to look credible so people will trust you, ” says Antonakis.
This is likely one of the factors that makes Hillary Clinton less charismatic than Bill, he adds. “In comparison to Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton came across as a tad cold [during her run for the Presidency]; she did not convey a warm and folksy sort of image like her husband did.” He adds that her gestures, facial expressions and tones didn’t emotionally reinforce her message, making her “sound scripted.”
Authority charisma is useful when the house is on fire and you need to get everyone out. While you don’t care much about how much people like you, you do care about being obeyed
Fox Cabane, who trains executives to be charismatic, especially when dealing with the public via speeches or interviews, says the strategy you use to increase the trait depends on what kind of charisma you want to exude.
“Authority charisma is useful when the house is on fire and you need to get everyone out,” says Fox Cabane. “While you don’t care much about how much people like you, you do care about being obeyed.”
She says the best way to improve authority charisma is to improve your self-confidence. She often sends clients to martial arts classes and emphasises the benefits of taking up physical space, pointing to Amy Cuddy’s research on power poses.
“Standing as if you are a big gorilla intimating a rival off the territory really does work,” she says.
Fox Cabane describes Steve Jobs as a quintessential example of someone who learned what she calls “visionary charisma” over the course of his career. She has analysed clips of his speeches over the years.
“In his first presentation in 1984, you can see he’s a nerd,” she says. “He’s depending on the product to sell itself. He displays no power nor presence, and certainly no warmth. “But what you see gradually through the early 2000s, is Jobs gaining the elements of charisma. He displays presence first – he looks at his audience and focuses on them rather than the product. He learns power second, gradually taking up more of the stage, and projecting his voice.”
There's another tried and tested way in which well-known figures will ultimately increase their charisma. Research suggests we often romanticise people after their death and perceive them to have been more charismatic. In a study from 2016, participants read a story about the career of an American scientist who created a vaccination for a specific bacterium. When the article emphasised that the scientist had died from a disease originating from the bacterium in question, people rated him as more connected to America, and more charismatic.
The study also looked at newspaper references to heads of state who died in office between 2000 and 2013, and found leaders were more likely to be regarded as charismatic post-mortem.
This last one may be an effective method, but we don’t recommend it.
Thursday 26 October 2017
EAT YOUR WAY TO A FABULOUS SKIN
If you want radiant skin, the old adage 'you are what you eat' has never been more true. Our nutritionist tips will help you nourish your skin from the inside out.
...is caused by inflammation and infection of the sebaceous glands of the skin. Sebaceous glands are stimulated by hormones (particularly androgens). To avoid acne, cut back on saturated and hydrogenated fats in margarines and processed foods. Also cut down on junk food as well as foods high in sugar, such as cakes and biscuits. Eat more raw vegetables, wholegrains, fresh fruit and fish. Try to include selenium-rich foods, such as Brazil nuts, cashew nuts, fresh tuna, sunflower seeds, walnuts and wholemeal bread.
