LOOKING GOOD, FEELING GOOD: 2013

Sunday, 24 November 2013

OVERALL WELLNESS: HEALTHY EATING

Hi guys, welcome to Ohsobeaute!

In the previous 2 posts, Patrine and Abigail have covered emotional wellness, Edwin and Benedict have covered physical wellness by exercising. Thus, in this post Cenli and Shermaine is going to cover healthy eating.

Healthy eating is important because it gives the body the required nutrients to perform its functions. In addition, healthy eating also reduces our risk of getting certain illnesses and also reduces our chances of becoming obese.

In this post, we are going to share with you 1) 5 food which you think its healthy but aren't, 2) 3 healthy recipes for you!

So let's start eating right! :)

5 Foods you think its healthy - but aren't!

1) Granola

Granola has the reputation as being the optimal snack for healthy eaters as it appears to be filled with the whole-grain goodness of oats. However, Granola is not very healthy after all. Yes, it looks like goodness in a bowl because there are lots of “oats” but in the process of turning oats into granola, fat and sugar are added.

“Many are made with added chocolate, sugars, and "chicory root extract," which is mostly inulin, a sugar made from plants that is also a source of soluable fiber. Inulin, which is largely undigestible, adds both sugar and supplemental fiber to make granola look healthier than it is.”

Yup, that’s right! So granola lovers, get a grip on granola!

2) Vitamin-Enriched Water

A fair bit of people actually think that Vitamin-Enriched Water is healthy. Well, I mean… Vitamin-enriched waters put both the vitamin and water together, enhanced with additional ingredients to create better taste and that makes the healthiest drink ever, right? Sounds good in theory, but vitamin waters actually contain far more than their name suggests.
Yes, vitamin water provides you with the nutrients that you need, multivitamin enriched water usually contains 2.5 servings or more when you read the nutrition label but that also implies that you are consuming twice the amount of calories and sugar listed on the label! Have you realized that?

3) Spinach Wraps & Pasta

Spinach wraps and pastas definitely add a decorative flair to your meal, but that's about it. Spinach green tortillas and noodles actually sounds very healthy as it is made of spinach but did you know that the actual amount of spinach added is trivial compared with what you would get if you added your own spinach leaves in your dish?

This super green is added more for color than for nutrition. Spruce up your spinach! Add your own spinach leaves!

4) Diet Soda

Calorie-free isn't tantamount with healthy. The soda could be displacing much-needed water and calcium-rich milk. Some sodas could even put you at risk for bone loss. Research have shown that phosphoric acid, found in dark colas, may leach calcium from your bones, increasing your risk of osteoporosis. Ditch the soda!

5) Muffins

Most commercially sold muffins contain about 800 calories of pure sugar and fat.

They are also loaded with calories, unhealthy fats, refined flour and added sugars. Bran muffins can trick you into thinking they are healthy because the word "bran".

3 Healthy recipes for you!

1) Chicken Noodle Soup

Easy and quick recipe that you can totally consider. It definitely healthier than fast food and food court! Most importantly it suits our Asian taste!

Ingredients:

1) 2 teaspoons butter
2) 1 cup sliced
3) 1/2 cup chopped onion
4) 1 small potato, diced
5) 1 teaspoon of thyme
6) 1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
7) 4 cans of chicken broth
8) 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon
9) 4 ounces egg noodles
10) 2 cups of cooked chicken
11) parsley

Directions:
1) Melt butter in large pot.
2) Sauté the celery, carrot and onion for 2 minutes.
3) Add potato, thyme, poultry seasoning, chicken broth and bouilion.
4) Bring to a boil.
5) Add noodles and chicken and cook on low for 20 minutes.
6) Sprinkle with parsley.

Do you know that egg noodles has lesser fats than normal noodles?

As compared to normal rice noodles that are higher in carbs and sugar, egg noodles have low sugar, low sodium which is definitely a healthier choice for you!

Reference : http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-noodle-soup-20755

2) Healthy Bubble Milk Tea!

Craving for something sweet to drink besides sodas and bubble teas? yes this is totally possible!!!!! This recipe replaced the normal cream milk that most bubbletea stores used to give a healthier choice of drinking your favourite milktea!

Ingredients:

1) I tablespoon of matcha powder
2) 1 cup of almond milk
3) 1/2 cup of ice cubes
4) 10 drops of liquid stevia for sweetening
5) 1/4 cup of boba balls

AND SIMPLY JUST BLEND IT!

Did you know that almond milk is healthier??!?!?

Need to boost the magnesium, potassium or Vitamin E in your diet? Drink almond milk! Almonds are full of these essential nutrients. So, as you consume it, you are increasing the level of health in your diet.

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/recipe-index/healthy-bubble-milk-tea-boba-yes-its-possible#dRi8lHJUZcKjFj1H.99

3) Chunky Cinnamon Apple Muffins

That's right~ muffins can be healthy if you choose the right ingredients! choose wisely!

Ingredients:

1) 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2) 2 teaspoon baking soda
3) 2 egg whites
4) 1/2 cup honey
5) 1/4 cup safflower oil
6) 3/4 cup of milk of choice ( almond, soy, rice or cow (low fat))
7) 2 medium apple peeled and well chopped
8) 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Do you know that cinnamon reduces the risk of high cholesterol??!!?!

Lower Cholesterol Studies have shown that just 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower LDL cholesterol.

Directions:
Bake at 350F for 20 min or until you do the toothpick test and it comes out smooth. For more detailed instructions, click here.

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/recipe-index/healthy-desserts/chunky-cinnamon-apple-muffins-a-healthy-fall-treat#fQKQrCkpcOaSffGM.99

To conclude, you don't have to restrict your diet and curbing the cravings and forgoing your favourites.

Afterall, life is short and our group live by this motto:

Live to eat and eat to live,

but of course remember to maintain a balanced diet ok! :p

As this post is coming to an end,
the Ohsobeaute team just wanna say a big THANK YOU to you for your support. We hope that you've like the posts and found these posts helpful for you!

Lastly, we wish you guys all the best and hope that you will be able to live your life happy with greater confidence. Goodbye!

Once again...

Stay beautiful!

With love;
Ohsobeaute Team

Saturday, 23 November 2013

OVERALL WELLNESS: GYMMING

Hi LOVES,

As we can see from the first post, we focused on being happy.
Feeling happy itself is not enough as you need to be confident of yourself as well!
This will then lead to the overall wellness of your own being.

For this post, we will be teaching you on how to be confident by keeping yourself fit and healthy! So, in order to feel even more confident and happy, we, the ohsobeaute team, came to a conclusion that we should look fit and healthy.

This will inevitably lead you to feel confident of yourself and thus feeling happy :)

This was what Benedict felt or though of after going to gym for many occasions:

"When I first got into the muscle building scene I was overwhelmed by the amount of different training programs, bodybuilding supplements, diets, articles and information there was out there. There were so many conflicting diets and training programs available and I had no idea what I “should” be doing. The result of this was about 6 months in the gym with little gains and almost no motivation to workout anymore.

I was at a complete loss and about to throw in the towel and give up. Then a guy in the gym gave me a magazine and told me to read the article in there about body types. So I did and it opened my eyes up to the reason why I wasn’t making any gains in the gym."

So basically, the most important thing before you hit the gym is to know what kind of body shape do you actually have.

There are 3 types of body shape: Endomorph, Ectomorph and Mesomorph!

So.. What exactly are these different types of body shape? We will be explaining in details below!

Ectomorph

Ectomorph’s are typical skinny and tend to have a light build with small joints and lean muscle. Usually ectomorph’s have long thin limbs with stringy muscles. Shoulders tend to be thin with little width.

Typical traits of an ectomorph:

Small “delicate” frame and bone structure
Classic “hardgainer”
Flat chest
Small shoulders
Thin
Lean muscle mass
Finds it hard to gain weight
Fast metabolism

Ectomorphs may find it very hard to gain weight due to the fast metabolism which they have which burns up calories very quickly. Ecto’s need a huge amount of calories in order to gain weight. The workouts they carry out should be short and intense focusing on big muscle groups. Supplements are definitely recommended. Ectomorphs should eat before bed to prevent muscle catabolism during the night. Generally, ectomorphs can lose fat very easily which makes cutting back to lean muscle easier for them.

Mesomorph

A mesomorph has a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. Mesomorphs are the best body type for bodybuilding. They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong which is the perfect platform for building muscle.

Typical traits on a Mesomorph:

Athletic
Generally hard body
Well defined muscles
Rectangular shaped body
Strong
Gains muscle easily
Gains fat more easily than ectomorphs

The mesomorph body type responds the best to weight training. Gains are usually seen very quickly, especially for beginners. The downside to mesomorphs is they gain fat more easily than ectomorphs. This means they must watch their calorie intake. Usually a combination of weight training and cardio works best for mesomorphs.

Endomorph

The body type of endomorph is solid and generally soft. Endomorphs gain fat very easily and are usually of a shorter build with thick arms and legs. Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs. Endomorphs find they are naturally strong in leg exercises like the squat.

Typical traits of an Endomorph:

Soft and round body
Gains muscle and fat very easily
Is generally short
"Stocky" build
Round physique
Finds it hard to lose fat
Slow metabolism
Muscles not so well defined

When it comes to training endomorphs find it very easy to gain weight. Unfortunately, a large portion of this weight is fat not muscle. To keep fat gain to a minimum, endomorphs must constantly train cardio as well as weights. Supplements may not be needed as long as there is a high protein intake in their diet.

To read more about it, you can head down to this website to get more information.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html

After knowing about the body types, Benedict and Edwin went down to a gym nearby to WORKOUT. Haha as we can see, both of them are of the Ectomorph body shape. This means that they have to take in lots to supplement in order to build up!

Once both of them went into them gym, they headed straight towards the bench to do some chest exercise.

Ben started off with the chest press and he looks like he is doing well. However, he has made two mistakes which causes this training to be of little use. His arms are not fully trained due to lifting from bottom up and not from the side up. Another mistake is when he did not force his stomach out while lifting which will causes him to utilize his back to help him lift the weights up.

While Edwin, he started off with doing skullcrusher.

This exercise is to basically train your triceps and these are the steps required to do so:

Pick up a bar and insert weights into it depending on your preference. Lay on the bench so that the bar is above your body.
Take hold of the bar, raising your elbows so that the upper arm is perpendicular to the floor. With the elbow flexed, the bar should be above your head. This will be your starting position.
Extend through the elbow to straighten your arm, keeping your upper arm in place. Pause at the top of the motion, and return to the starting position.

Usually, people will do up to 4 sets with 8 reps each set.

This equipment used by Benedict here is to train his thighs. It can be done so by adding on weights at the both side of the equipment.

However, there are a few mistakes that you should avoid which he has done.

1. Lifting his head up

2. Hands are not placed on the handle bar

Benedict moved on to doing bicep curls using the bar with weights added on. As we can see, he is very serious and motivated to doing his sets of 20 reps.

Thing to take note:

Depending on the wideness and narrowness of your grip, you will train different parts of your body.

PS: After gymming, Edwin grow immensely strong and he was able to raise the machine (weighing 100kg) with only one hand!

That's all folks! :)

Tune in to our final post tomorrow

xxx

Stay beautiful!

With love;

Ohsobeaute Team

Friday, 22 November 2013

OVERALL WELLNESS: PSYCHOLOGICALLY 2

Hi dearies :)

So today we are going to touch on the second part of finding your little happiness in school.

Do not be too academically focus in school. YOU NEED TO GO BEYOND THAT!!
Join some activites in school that interest you :) At the same time, widen your social network circle and learn something different apart from studies :)

2. Join school activites

Patrine and Abigail both joined some activites in school and today they are going to share their school acitivies with you guys!! :)

Patrine's activites

Patrine participated in TPRAWKS 2012. From there, she learnt how to step out of her comfort zone and be confident of herself. :)

Through there, she made friends with her pack leaders and rawkers. It was a very fun experience for her:)

Patrine also signed up for Freshmen orientation 2013 during the starting of April this year. Before she went for FO, she actually went through 4 camps with her empire mates. Though all the camps, she learnt alot. She learnt how to be selfless and to have courage. She also learnt how to prioritise her time between school work and fun. If she never went for the interview to become a GL, she wouldn't have so much fun and laughter in her life at school;)

Besides the camps she attended, she also went for dinner and dance with her friends she met during camps in 2013 last sem:)

Abigail's activity

In her year 2, Abigail took up a role in Marketing Interest Group. She wanted to planned events for the cohort and widen her social network!! At the same time, she wanted to experience different things. Thus, she took up the challenge :)

She went on a 3 day 2 night CAMP LOOLA trip at Bintan with her new committee and throughout this whole trip, she has learnt several things.

Here are some photos of the Bintan trip:

Abigail and her MIG mates arrived early at the ferry terminal and had breakfast while waiting for the rest to come:)

CLIMBING THE COCONUT TREE was the first activity they did!! It was challenging climbing to the top. But with their cheers, Abigail eventually made it to the top after 45 minutes :)

HIGH ELEMENT was our next activity. It was terrifying jumping from the top.

Nevertheless, Abigail made it safely to the ground.

TREKKING TIME! :) The weather was good but the route was challenging. However, Abigail and her MIG mates helped each other along the way. Eventually, they made it to the top together!! :)

FLYING FOX AND ABIGAIL LOVE IT HAHAHA :)

They built the sandcastle together s well and decorated it with pretty seashells :)

There was also CAMPFIRE on their second night :) Games were played!

Abigail had learnt so much throughout this short trip. She made many new friends and realised that friends are an important emotional support to her. It made her life more meaningful and happier :)

To add on, Abigail and Patrine joined Proggers together for business school too! It was an opportunity for them to their minds off projects and assignments. Throughout the entire camp, they had a lot of fun throughout.

On a side note:

'7 simple facts' on why you should be happy!

1. Happy people on average have stronger immune systems, and there is some evidence that they live longer

2. Happy people are more creative, at least in the laboratory

3. Happy people are better citizens at work - they tend to help others more, skip work less, etc.

4. Happy people are more successful - they earn more income, have better marriages, get job interviews more, etc.

5. Happy people do better in social relationships. They are more sociable to begin with, and other people like them more. They seem to be more successful in leadership work positions.

6. Happy people are better able to cope with difficult situations.

7. Happy people like themselves and other people more, and others like them in return. They are also more helpful and altruistic, on average.

Different people have different ways of defining happiness.
So Patrine & Abigail have found their little happiness in school.
HAVE YOU FOUND YOURS? :)