Laugh!

They say laughing is the best medicine. And it is true, as laughing stimulates certain hormones and boosts you immune system. Have you ever had that exhausted feeling after a good laugh? You know, the one where your side hurts, your eyes water, you can't catch your breath and your body's totally spent. It feels like you've just finished a two-hour session at the gym. Similar processes are happening in your body. Besides the physical benefits, laughing increases your personal satisfaction and improves your mood; doesn't it? Another thing is that your body or mind can't differentiate between a fake and a real laugh. So, even if you're just pretending to laugh or fake laughing about the unfunny joke of your friend, your're still improving your health. Isn't that great? That's why I love laughing. 



Nextly, what I find great about lauhters are that every one is different. You can't laugh the exact same way twice, it's impossible. The sound and power of laugh depends on the situation, on your daily condition and on how amusing you find the reason you are laughing about. On top of all, every person has its own unique laughter. I'm sure you noticed that you laugh differently than your friend, right? Logically, you like some laughter sounds more than others. But that's ok because you also learn to detect fake laughter. Let's take a look at some different types of laughter:

Chortle

The chortle is defined as a gleeful chuckle. The term is a mixture between chuckle and snort.

Guffaw

A guffaw is a loud, unrestrained burst of laughter; as a verb, it means "to laugh in a loud and boisterous manner." The word is of Scottish origin and is thought to be imitative of the sound of such laughter.

Titter

Far from a belly laugh or a hearty guffaw, a titter is a nervous or self-conscious laugh.The origin of this word is unclear, but etymologists point to the Swedish term tittra meaning "to giggle," as well as the word tittle meaning "to whisper" or, more specifically "to tell on or whisper gossip" as possible linguistic ancestors.

Giggle

A giggle is "a silly spasmodic laugh, especially with short, repeated gasps and titters, as from juvenile or ill-concealed amusement or nervous embarrassment.

All in one video:

 

Nowadays, communication via electronic devices is a major part of our daily lives. While simple writing doesn't seem to be enough anymore, people also try to express their emotions by using abbreviations or signs. Some add little smilies or emoticons to their messages, others stick to the classic 'haha'. Caution though, the 'lol'-times are gone people! I either add a simple :) or 'haha', but apparently there are many many more!

Remember: A day without a good laugh is a wasted day!
Julia


P.S. a good laugh never hurts :)

Sources:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044456?pg=2 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gq-bJwNKSw

So what?

I admire strong and bold women. Women, who know what they want and don't let anything or anybody come in their way. Women, who are not afraid to speak up for themselves and stand on their own two feet. Women that stand out. I've always wanted to be like them and stop being self-conscious about myself and my actions. But what does self-confidence depend on? Is it about education or how you were brought up? Or does it depend on achievements? Let's say I have finally reached my ultimate career goal and work in a position I have always dreamed of working - will I finally be happy with myself and the way I am because I have achieved a personal goal and therefore have a reason to be proud of myself? If yes, isn't it the same with losing weight? You're unhappy with your appearance, ashamed of yourself or just not that confident with who you are as a person. This, on a certain psychological level, hinders you from being entirely yourself. You're maybe aiming to lose weight, look differently, be a 'better' person; in short, be somebody else other than yourself. While we are all, throughout our life, trying to better ourselves, and change as a result of experiences and time that passes, this can't be compared to the obsession of constantly focusing on changing yourself because you're unhappy with your looks or character. I believe this is the reason why plastic surgery has become so popular and widely spread; 
not just for women. By changing or manipulating a certain area of their body, people hope to become that person they have always dreamed to be or look like an image they picture in their head about themselves. Will this change their inner confidence, though? Why is it that our self-assurance relies so much on our appearance? And how can we change that? The first years after birth are believed to be the most formative ones in life. Whatever happens in these years will influence your entire life. So, does your self-confidence today date back to events and care in your earliest years of life? Or are the experiences in the following years and puberty more influential? It is proven that eating disorders do result from early childhood occurrences, which erupt later on in lifein this disorder. Mostly, inner psychological issues are transferred to a dissatisfaction with the look of the body. This is one way an eating disorder can appear, but most certainly it always seeks a way to break out and express that something's not in balance inside this person. The focus of a person with an eating disorder is their outside. A considerable amount of disorders emerge through puberty as many teenagers start comparing themselves to others (their age), and start questioning their own beauty. Today, magazines, media, Internet, celebrities and many other factors convey the image of beauty. They define what is considered to be beautiful and what not. However, this does not reflect beauty in real life (outside the celebrity's world). I'm not blaming the media - well, to certain point, yes - but I'm blaming the issue of comparing people. I have said this before in an earlier post about cloning: I love the fact that everybody is unique. Everybody acts differently, looks differently and feels differently. That's why you should be proud of yourself, and always be yourself because everybody else is already taken.You are the only version of you on this entire planet, why would you want to change that to look or act like somebody else? You are you, and that's fantastic! Sometimes in life we have these 'so-what' moments: if somebody comes up to you and criticizes you, or something you did, just be like: 'so what? This is who I am, I did this 
and I'm not ashamed of it'.These 'so-what' moments will help us to accept ourselves. Stop worrying about pimples, little extra pounds, a messed up test or meeting - so the hell what? Earth still revolves around itself, and your life will go on, too. You have accomplished so much in your life so far, why do you let this little thing be such a big obstacle to overcome or make you feel bad about yourself? No matter what anybody says, never stop believing in yourself or your dreams!

Julia

Secret weight loss tips

Now. Summer is on its way and bikinis are waiting to be worn. Since they are enemies to most women, I started looking for some easy weight loss tips to help you/them feel more confident wearing bikinis. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of any last minute 20-pound weight loss tips. Train and work. That's the only way you'll get a bikini body that lasts longer than a week. I find it pathetic when women suck in their tummies at the beach. If you hadn't eaten that burger, you wouldn't have to walk around like a penguin with exaggerated posture. Just be confident about it. Anyway, I found some tips I haven't heard of before. So, I thought I just share them with you.

Exercise
To amp up your workout intensity, keep your core temperature down. Don't heat up the room - no hot yoga! The cooler you train, the harder you train. Drink cold water while you exercise or put a few drops of peppermint oil on your wrists before you start; it enhances your power. 







Tea time
Tea time is great for several reasons: it helps curb appetite, burn fat and boost your metabolism. A caffeinated tea or caffeinated product gives you extra energy for your workout to burn even more calories. Because you know, the more calories you burn, the more you can eat for dinner. ;)





Blue
Have you noticed that the main colors you find at fast food places are orange, yellow and red? These colors stimulate appetite. So, use blue: blue glasses, blue place mats, blue plates and have blue items in your dining room. The whole idea is that it helps you eat less; cooler foods decrease your urge to eat. 




Portion control 
Get yourself a muffin tin and make your quiches, muffins and tars in this tin. Don't waste time counting calories. This way, you know the approximate calories per serving; it's automatic portion control.






 
Spicy food
Spicy food not only boosts you metabolism, it also decreases your appetite. Just add pepper, pepperoni, garlic or cayenne powder to your meal. When they are extremely spicy, you naturally will eat less. So, heat it up!








Chopsticks
It takes 20 minutes for you to feel full. If you're hungry and eating fast, you have a tendency to let your eyes be bigger than your stomache. Eating with chopsticks or your non-dominant hand helps you to eat slower and notice when you're full.







If I spark you eating your meal with blue sunglasses and chopsticks out of a muffin tin this summer, I won't be surprised then. If you got interested in this tips and want more, just search for them on youtube. There are many 'experts' who can provide you with further information.
Julia



Source:
Slim for life by Jillian Michaels

Let me go to Prison, I want good food

Have you ever wondered what prison food actually tastes like? Since the average person has probably not spent much time in prison, we can only assume what kind of food is served. It’s not surprising that prison food is a highly debated topic, as American taxpayers are paying millions to feed its inmates. The main function of the food served in prison, as mandated by law,  is to be nutritious and affordable. While the food does not have to be of the highest quality, there does have to be enough of it for everyone. In fact, the biggest issue concerning food in prisons is portion control, an important factor in preventing conflicts since unequal portions can cause massive fights to break out.

In order to ensure no food or packaging material is transformed into weapons, food must be carefully checked before being served; no bones, aluminum foil or saran wrap are allowed. To ensure inmates cannot access these materials, food is either cooked in the prison’s kitchen or supplied by a special prison food company. Either way, the average cost per meal is about $2.25 per inmate per day. A typical breakfast consists of cereal, toast, jam, jelly, doughnuts, coffee, tea, and fruit. Lunch may be spaghetti with meatballs, salad with dressing, bread or rolls, brownies, cake and milk. The dinner menu consists of meat loaf with gravy, fried rice, collard greens, white bread and butter, jelly and milk.

Many people wonder though, why do we bother to make sure that prisoners receive such good care when there are low income families in America who struggle every day just to survive? Prisoners are people who have committed crimes and therefore do not deserve a five-star meal; they are locked up to be punished. Inmates on death row even have the privilege of choosing anything they want for their last meal. While food may comfort inmates, it certainly does not make taxpayers feel any better.

As some of my readers may know, I am a student at the University of Graz. This is an article I wrote for an online food magazine along with other colleagues. Have a look at the food magazine. 

If you have any tips on how I can improve my writing, please leave a comment below.
I really appreciate it!
Julia

World Clocks

Okay, we all know we need to reduce waste and act environmental friendlier. We should separate our garbage, not throw food, especially leftovers, away easily, and buy organic groceries. I have been taught to do so since kindergarten and I, more or less strictly, focus on fulfilling these tasks. But when I stumbled across the World Food Clock it really hit me. I take the world for granted - the environment, the food I am able to consum, being able to flush drinkable water down the toilet, drive a car or use a bus, travel and so on. Basically, everthing I ever saw or consumed. When I looked at these numbers on the screen, I got really angry. Humans believe to possess this world. They buy land and claim to own it, reform it, and abuse it to serve their needs. What egoists! (including me). I get it, yes, we need food, it has to be produced somewhere, the world's population is raising - but do we really need mass production or genetically modified crops and seeds, which harm our agricultural fields and contaminate water. Why do field workers have to die because of pesticides so that our fruits and vegetables in the stores are fresh longer and look like as if they are made of plastic. Why do we buy imported products when our farmers struggle to sell their products? Ok, I know I don't have an answer and I assume you probably don't have one either but it really aggrevates me. There has to be a balance between give and take. We can't just overfish our sea and then dispose our trash there. It doesn't work like that. Nature has been on this plant first and we just come and ruin this planet. But we all know, nature seeks revenge and will win, provided that we don't destroy ourselves with nuclear bombes first. The hurricans, earthquakes and storms are just little warnings. Alright, let's calm down a little. 
See for yourself and take a look at the World Food Clock.
 
 






 




I'm normally very sceptical with statistics and numbers and rarely trust them. You know, how easily they can be faked or manipulated.
This one, however, is provided with reliable sources. 

The World Food Clock itself is a great interactive infographic. It draws from four different reports — State of Food Insecurity in the World and Food Wastage Footprint by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Global Food Report from the Institution for Mechanical Engineers, and the Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme — and breaks down the numbers and statistics to give a second-by-second look at exactly how food much we produce, consume and even waste.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekquinox/world-food-clock-reveals-vulnerability-warming-climate-000204541.html

There are 'island' of plastic swimming in the sea. Smaller islands are about the size of Texas. 

 

 Amazing, considering the average age a human being lives, isn't it?
For full size see here

Got interested in these clocks? Well, me too. Want to know how many divorces there are in the US right now? How many cereal, vegetable or fruits there are produced in this very second? How many new babys are born today?

This is the fantastic World Clock:
World Clock by Poodwaddle.com

Last but definitely not least:

The hunger clock
 
I won't give you a whole lecture on how unfair it is that people even have to suffer from hunger when there is an systematic overproduction of food. I know, you know it. My favorite ones are those obese ones who complain at a store when their favorite cookies are out of stock. I mean, really?
Ok now, I always tend to be to general. So, let me ask you (and me) some questions:
How much money did you spend on food for your pet this year and how much money did you donate to children suffer from hunger? Do you support any global food aid programs or any food charity in your area? Maybe if everybody did, these numbers wouldn't be so terrible.

To be clear, this is not about first world problems like dieting, anorexia, to fulfilll the female ideal of beauty, dieting pills, the I-need-to-get-a-bikini-figure hype, the what-should-I-cook-today problem; this is about people dying from hunger.


I put the image here because I know some readers don't like to (and won't) open links.
Those numbers are not accurate, so I really suggest you have a look at the actual clock.

World Hunger
7,234,043,262	current total world population
891,105,111	undernourished people in the world right now
1,591,398,425	overweight people in the world right now
530,466,142	obese people in the world right now
22,120	people who died of hunger today
4,218,173	people who died of hunger this year
Economics
$ 344,213,949	money spent due to obesity related diseases in the USA today
$  85,055,404	spending on food purchased and then tossed by US households today
$ 3,954,905	spending on global food aid today
$ 25,713,119	amount that would allow to feed the hungry today
$ 136,737,401	spending on weight-loss programs and products in the USA today
$ 1,185,224	food aid budget spent on domestic processing and shipping today
$ 692,420	revenue for four large US agribusiness corporations derived from food aid programs today
$ 33,629,166	spending on pet food in Europe and USA today
Food
94,943	tons of food wasted in America today
19,781	tons of global food aid provided today
80%	percentage of harvested corn, grains, and soy beans fed to animals in Europe and North America
78%	percentage of malnourished children who live in countries with food surpluses
90%	percentage of hungriest nations on earth that are net exporters of food to rich nations (36 out of 40)

If some of my readers actually look at the clocks or think about this for second, this is all I want to achieve with this post; raise awareness.
Thank you,
Julia