ANOTHER EVENT INSPIRED TREAT

Hello people!

It’s good to be here again after a break that almost saw me to the tiring down of this blog.

During the break or what seemed like a long silence I contemplated bringing down a site that has taken me a while to build. Though our relationship has not been smooth nor the focus to this part of my life been consistent it is part of my new year's resolution not to give up. To look forward to a brighter future and motivate myself for a better future.

In this vein I have decided to jump straight in. and unlike a regular new year's resolution, I will not wait for the year 2014 before I start pushing fort on the dream of making this blog and not a new one with a fancier name or logo a hit!

Part of my goals for this blog in the coming year is to make it popular among peoples of all ages, gender, profession, cultures and race. My desire for this is because I have a goal to impact on people as much as I want them to impact on me knowledge, personal and referenced experiences and have good feedback on improved health situations.

Funny isn't it? I have decided to discuss my 2014 goal even before it begins

HEALTHY LIVING: EXERCISE

Balance is key to whatever we decide to do in life, a balanced way of life is organised to accommodate love, work, exercise, leisure...

 

It is important to find a way to balance both our diet and physical activities, balancing work from play and stressful activities.

 

When I speak with people on the need for exercise, I get a very wide range of response from I'm already thin why do I need to exercise,? to I do a lot of walking and jumping around on daily basis and that should count for exercise. Sigh!

 

The English dictionary defines exercise as: a physical activity intended to improve strength and fitness.

 

Now based on this definition, it means you can eat balanced meal every so often, Rest well and work properly without still been fit or improve on the strength you draw from these meals...

 

Exercise is not only about body building and losing colestrol. It is also about being in tip-top shape. Various exercise technique exist for various results. Either you are looking to work your tummy muscles, burn cholesterol or general toning of the body. Each form or series of exercises is useful to achieve certain level of body fitness.

The usual advice is you know your body and schedule, you know your weaknesses and how far you are willing to push. Activities done under duress or stress cannot be termed as 'exercise' because these forms of activities are adrenaline driven and not usually useful in getting the desired result.

Speaking with professional fitness experts would reveal that no set of exercise can be strictly used by two persons, it is usually modified to suit the personal health conditions, work/ life schedule, eating habits and affinity.

 

However, exercise is generally recommended to pump our adrenaline level (as against using adrenaline to push fort an activity). It is required to help improve blood circulation, keep us fit and alert, reduce cholesterol and tone our muscle (depending on your needs).

 

I have discovered that the most excuse given by working class city people is either the traffic combined with the distance of their place of work from their homes or the nature of their jobs. To this end I have decided to go on a personal research of what kind of exercise people who fall in this category could benefit from without completely disrupting their entire schedule or over burdening themselves with barrages of activities.

 

General muscle toning is mainly the first steps required to keep in tip-top shape. You can get up early to do some activities even by your bed side for about 15minutes just before you drop in the shower.

 

Exercises that help you get the most out of every workout move, meant to build lean muscle tone, fast include;

 

Split Squat

Stand with your legs staggered, your left foot about two feet In front of your right

 

(a). Bend your knees to lower your body until your left thigh is parallel and your shin is perpendicular to the floor

 

(b). Straighten your legs to return to start. Do five reps, then switch sides and repeat.

Incline Push up

Get into a push up position with your hands placed slightly wider than your shoulders on a box, stool, dressing table or bench,

(a). Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the surface

(b). Pause at the bottom, and then push yourself back to start. Do as many reps as possible until you can't maintain form or have to stop.

 Lat Pull-Down

For those who have a Lat pull down in their homes. Sit at the lat pull-down station and grab the bar with an overhang grip that's slightly wider than your shoulders (a). Without moving your torso, pull the bar down to your chest, pulling your elbows toward the floor and your rib cage, and squeezing your shoulder blades at the bottom of the move

(b). Pause, then return to start. Do five reps.

Triceps Dip

Sit on the edge of a bench or chair with your knees bent and your feet on the floor in front of you. Place your palms face down next to your thighs and, keep your arms straight, scoot forward until your hips and butt are in front of the seat

(a). Bend your elbows to lower your hips until your upper arms are parallel to the floor

(b). Push back to start. That's one rep. Do as many reps as possible until you have to pause or can't maintain form.

No one is left behind in these short steps that can be done before shower time. With only about 15minutes of work out that can be done even by your bed side you don't have an excuse not to get into shape.

 

What are you waiting for? Let's get to it together and start living more healthy while keeping in a top tip shape.

HEALTHY LIVING: THE JOURNEY OF A CURIOUS BEAUTY.

 

 

 

Living a healthy life is a multi facets activity, from eating a well balanced meal to regular exercise and taking proper rest, forging strong and pleasant relationships also form part of the facets to living a healthy life.

Healthy feeding; if anything else, Africa is abundantly blessed with various healthy and delicious foods. Dietians say a healthy dose of vegetables a day should be encouraged and infused into our daily diet. Eating raw vegetables has its own health and beauty benefit. Many types of vegetable have been known to reduce aging in women ( what I will routinely call the anti aging spell) yeah. Veggies like Tomatoes contain lycopene an antioxidant that combat free radicals.this veggie helps regenerate cells, they help prevent some cancers include lung cancer too. Garden egg is another vegetable anti aging and cancer fighting veggie the Nusain in this plant help achieve all these feats. Certain food like yogurt also help soften and smoothing out the skin surface. for breakfast it is advisable that you should take fruits in form of juices ( i am not referring to processed can or packed juices here) i am writing about freshly squeezed fruit juice, smoothies or consuming whole fruits. These fruit will help clean out the bowel and the entire body system. Taking this over a period you would realise how effective it is in detoxifying your body system. Eating raw vegetable first thing in the morning can also help cleanse the system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of us Africans have abused food and we have betrayed our traditions of eating like real Africans. Eating well is not the same as eating large, diet experts have advised that adult should consume less dairy products and red meat, they are also advised to eat more white meat ( chicken,  fish and lamb). Most adult don't follow this rules as often times than not we notice that the adults in the house do the least chores and eat the most of everything their body can't get rid of easily. The funny experiences I have had are usually during my lunch break at work when I enter some restaurant and see people order, some order as much as a plate full of red beef. This is usually believed to be a show of wealth when it is actually a show of death.

A balanced meal should include plenty vegetable, fruit and water. Many have complained about recurring head aches and have decided to place themselves eternally on pain killers when they could easily have cured this aches by drinking plenty water and taking proper rest.

Food in itself is not only the basic kind of medication human body can assimilate but also the most potent poison. Hence, it is imperative that we do take care of what, when, why and how we eat. Boiling or over boiling of vegetable is bad for consumption because the vegetables would lose substantial amount of it benefit to heat on the other hand not cooking our fish or meat properly can be equally dangerous to our health because it exposes us to warms and other parasitic organisms that may be living within their natural host which turn up in our pots as meat of prey.

Eating for good health and growth applies to both young and old as it is important to give our children tasty and balanced diet to aid their growth so is it important to eat healthy to slow down degeneration of our body too. Our children need us healthy and alive. Taking daily steps to live healthy lives in terms of eating balanced diet is a daily task and commitment.  Interestingly in a country like Nigeria people can still afford to eat fruit and vegetables in season.

Eating early and light dinners, not missing breakfast is key to staying in good health even for those who are trying to cut down on their weight, healthy eating is one of the first steps to keeping your body weight stable.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Beauty they say is only skin deep but eating healthy will actually help develop and bring out your inner beauty STAY AWAY FROM JUNK ITS NOT A TYPE OF FOOD ITS A DISEASE CAUSING AGENT..

Keep checking this blogspot as we continue our journey into becoming healthier, more beautiful and happier people.

One Sided Thoughts: LUST, FILANDERING AND LOVE; THE LIFE OF A POST NYSC LADY.

As Africans/ Nigerians we all have expectations both good and crazy. For young ladies who have completed the basic 9-3-4 education in Nigeria parents and family members would start looking round at every guy visiting you in light of prospective marriage. They become extra nice and friendly when these guys visit. The father who used to be very unwelcoming would share a joke or two to make the young man more comfortable and encourage a next visit. If she refuses to introduce him till he leaves questions will be raised as soon as she shots the door behind him.

This drama however, will be so subtle that as young ladies (under 30) we will only think they thought wrong this time but then we will know that it’s time we start serious consideration of the guys around us. Which is most suitable when measured against ours/ our family’s standard.

After mobilization to National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) Camp the camp presents us with so many young men and peers. Many eligible bachelors up for grabs (this situation always reminds me of the popular movie advert closing line ‘GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!). Both young and not so young ladies start putting up their best appearances in other to get the attention of these guys and maybe settle with one eventually. For those successful on camp yippee! It’s time for celebration and thinking of how and when to settle down. During this period we start devising so many means from sleeping with the guy to trying to force a pregnancy down his throat… all in a bid to get them settled. Some get lucky and some get luckier by luck I mean someone, anyone to take home to their parents. Luckier ones actually get a man with whom they can build a home; one they will find true love and true happiness.

Even after this stage there are still ladies left in their single states and like anaion(s) they become active in this environment (considering ‘age’ as a catalyst) they are willing to react with cation(s) hoping still some bachelors awaits discovery during the compulsory Community Development Service (CDS). We join all kinds of cliques (usually the ones with the most bois). It’s a period when many single ladies will prefer visiting or even staying over at the guys place doing chores in order to get his attention too. Also like every other stage some get luck while others get luckier.

Here comes the Passing Out Parade (POP) day! With wild partying and a one night stand that may cumulate into a forced/ involuntary married or co habitation or single parenthood.

NYSC is over! And there are still single ladies everywhere unleashed into the entire population scattered in different proportions among states or countries of the world. Some went for the national service with the ‘in a relationship’, ‘engaged’ or ‘married’ status, got wild and lost a good relationship for something they realized only when it was too late to be unworthy and unbefitting. For some others it was only about the flings with several bois and even others where in a deep season of heart breaks that they simply refused to come to terms with and move on.

Whatever happened, three sets of ladies pass out of the final parade. The religious, The desperate and The hardened hearted.

Ø  The Religious: these ladies where either too religious at school claiming to be holier than thou, more righteous than everyone around. They were too stern and unfriendly. Guys didn’t find them attractive preferring to avoid their judgmental and critical analysis of others. Getting to camp for their NYSC they tend to loosen up. They do all they ever condemned due to inexperience… their conscience get lost and forever doomed.

Ø  The Desperate: while they were having fun they missed themselves in the crowd, made some terrible mistakes that will haunt them for as long as they live. From a defective abortion that may have left their wombs damaged to an unwanted pregnancy whose father they are not even certain of. They want a man, anyone at this point to save them from societal shame anybody who would father the child of an unknown Daddy. The infant may end up the mother’s look alike if she’s lucky enough or he looks like he just fell from the sky not bearing the semblance of anyone around.

Ø  The Hardened Hearted: oh my! These ladies have been through a lot of ordeal either in severity or frequency. They may have been heartbroken, been through an abusive relationship (parental or spousal). Parents divorce can sometimes generate this emotional state in single ladies. Through it all they have grown a though skin and lost trust in the opposite sex. To them every masculine advance is perceived as wicked, untamed and criminal. To coat these pain and prejudice against the male sect they go by the label ‘feminist’ or ‘career women’. They have the strong desire to beat every male at his game; they are defiant, unnecessarily defensive and aggressive. Don’t mistake this they are very comfortable in the company of many men (old/young). They can be playful, flirtatious, but not very girly or naïve.

These sects of ladies where formed by societal expectations and bad experiences. The burden of the ‘need’ to be married and stay married irrespective of the state of the relationship is one pressure that makes a  thirty (30) year old lady give up on finding a happy life. Hence, men fear love outside of NYSC, they fear the mental attitude of women in their 30s they fear they may not discover their true character or be truly loved. They fear the career woman thinking she’s the vampire unleashed to suck men’s blood dry, they fear she may be out of control and out for a mission to destroy the male folk. They fear the religious, imagining a demonically oppressed image of a bleak past and a future that holds no hope for true happiness, freedom and love.

It takes a strong man, one determined and truly in love to find a woman amongst these ladies. It also takes a woman who is willing to forgive herself and leave the past behind to be able to move on, stay happy and find fulfillment with or without a man against societal pressures and odds.

Love is good, true love is better, but love which has overcome many obstacles is the best…

MUSINGS: A LEGACY THAT BENEFITS OUR GENERATION

We the Nigerian people have aired our views through various channels on the weaknesses and inadequacies of our government. Several surveys and studies have been carried out on and about the common Nigerian from surveys that show that we have the fifth (5) sexiest language on earth, through to those that state that most Nigerians live below poverty lines. We have been rated on sports, crimes and socio – economic profiles and all these more often than not contribute to the way we are perceived by the outside world.

Nigerian citizens have suffered many a setback on the heels of our diversion from an Agro Based economy to an economy which solely depends on the exportation of crude oil.

However, looking on the faces of many Nigerian youth or listening to a group of youth’s conversations what we tend to hear is the need to cause a revolution some believe in violent revolution others believe in a more subtle change while a few others have lost all hope for a better Nigeria. Whichever category we all fall into we all have an innate desire for a better, brighter and more promising future. We all want a better life to retire into and a better life for our children, but the question remains are we ready to have this future as a reality or do we want to remain in the ‘e go better’ dream we were born into?

Our generation has mostly suffered the bite of Nigeria’s economy. Most of us grew up hearing our parents talk about the good old days and how everything from jobs, to career opportunities to the easy of acquiring possessions to the presence of quality socio infrastructure were in abundance this most of us can only see with our mind’s eye.

Out of the bitterness of our realities we blame our parents for bringing us into a world that was unprepared, a shanty place were new born are welcomed with the cold realities of poverty and hunger, a place where dreams die before they are even born. We blame our government for all inadequacies from bad roads, inadequate water supply, poor housing, transport, poor salary structure, poor healthcare and so much more. We blame religious leaders for amassing wealth and teaching the gospel of prosperity, we blame our peers for misleading us and influencing us wrongly, we blame the west and world powers, we blame God for creating us a Nigerian. We blame! Blame!! Blame!!!

But what we have not explored has youths is our stake in the positive transformation of our beloved nation. We have refused to look inside of us and determine what or how we can make impact, on reaching positive changes in our society.

Many of us have attended various Tertiary institutions where the mediocrity of our generation becomes very obvious, while some girls believe that they cannot succeed except they satisfy the animal  urge in their lecturers some young men however, believe they must settle (bribe) lecturers in order to pass  this attitude has lowered the quality of education these sets of  youth have, hence making them unemployable after graduation they can neither get jobs based on merit even if there were any available, nor can they generate income through genuine and legal means because most have deadened their intelligence by believing bribery is the only way out.

When we eventually enter the employment market some still scale through and get well paid jobs through these shady means and we continue the tradition of bribery, corruption and laziness. Many of us take jobs we don’t want to work at. Many have become teachers of the next generation only to earn a salary. We do not attend classes or pass any form of knowledge to the generation coming after us how can we? When we had paid our way through school and made no effort to invest in educating ourselves. While some of us in public service are no better because bribe has become our major source of income. We complain that the pay is too small to cater for our responsibilities and this is the excuse we give to justify the need to continue to wallow in corrupt practises but to debunk this excuse all one needs to do is to see the amount of money been spent every weekend for birthdays, weddings and even burials of relatives who died a long time ago. The number of exotic cars on the streets and the number of shopping mall activities (a recent survey showed Nigerians as the second biggest shoppers in the United Kingdom). This entire scenario confirms that if we become modest we can still survive, work honestly and make a change that would change our future for good.

In order to change the present and make the future what we would like to be a part of is not a journey of one night. The road will not be easy, but we have to be willing.

To this I’ll quote my favourite secondary school teacher’s words ‘nothing good comes easy’ Change no matter how subtle or aggressive it may be we all need to change, change for good to create for the next generation the  reality we only dreamed of as youths.