Reachout Blogs: 2013

The More you Eat, the Sooner You Die

Don't over eat and don't encourage your family members and friends to over eat - unless you wish to shorten their healthy living and perhaps die younger!

"What's wrong with eating too full?"

"The more you eat, the sooner you die. The lesser you eat, the longer you live." This is what Dr Lee always says in his health talk. He also mentions, "Eating too full causes all sort of health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, etc."

Why eating too full is so harmful to your health? What can you do about it?

Mice experiment

To see how eating habit affects life span, a professor from University of Texas did an experiment on mice.

For the first group of 100 mice, he let them eat without any restriction, just like a buffet meal.

The second group was fed only 60% full. And the third group was given food without restriction too. But this time, he reduced protein content to half. After 2.5 years, guess how many mice were still alive out of 100?

* First group (eat without restriction) - only 13 mice was alive. Opsss...

* Second group (eat 60% full) - 97 mice was still alive. Only 3 mice died.

* Third group (eat without restriction with protein cut half) - 50 mice still alive.

What can we learn from these results?

Firstly, eating too full is really harmful to your body. Secondly, eat 60% full if you want to live longer and healthier. Thirdly, taking too much protein is harmful to your body too. We don't need so much protein after all.

Overworking body

Imagine having a small family car. Instead of using it for short travel between home and office, you use it for long distance travel between different cities every day. Instead of using it 1 hour a day, you use it for 10 hours a day. Instead of driving at 70 km/h, you always speed up to 170 km/h, hitting engine's red line.

Can you estimate your car life span? Do you expect having various problems with your car after a short time? Driving your car at high speed for a long time is like always eating too full. You force your body to always work at its red line.

Do you know digestion is the most demanding work for your body? Think about the organs involved such as your mouth, stomach, liver, pancreas, duodenum and intestine. Think about the length of digestive tract from your mouth to intestine.

By eating too full, your body zaps up much of your energy for digestion. Otherwise, this energy may be used for other purpose such as enhancing your immune system.

Do you realize you become very tired easily after a big meal? That is the sign of your body working hard to digest all the food you take in.

If you eat an extra bowl of noodle, your pancreas has to produce extra insulin hormone to process the extra carbohydrates you take.

Your liver, stomach and intestine also have to produce extra enzymes to digest and process specific nutrients from that bowl of noodle.

Therefore the more you eat, the harder your body has to work to process it. Of course, we must eat to survive. But we don't have to eat that much!

If you drive your car slowly and handle it gently, you can use it for along time. But if you always floor the accelerator and drive like a rally driver, you know the consequence on your car life span.

Side effect of eating

Your car engine burns fuel to move your car and bring you to anywhere you like to go. As a result, the engine produces exhaust smoke which is toxic. It must be dispersed out from your car.

Similarly, your body cell burns nutrient for energy to survive. In the process, it produces free radicals. Since free radical is toxic to yourbody, it has to be neutralized and expelled.

"Just metabolizing food especially fatty and carbohydrate-rich fare causes the body to produce free radicals, which attack cells and can promote the development of chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes and cancer," says Ronald L. Prior, Ph.D.

Of course, your body can control free radicals in small quantity. But the more you eat the more free radicals your body produces. Without adequate control, these free radicals easily attack your body cells and eventually cause all sort of diseases.

Good eating habits

After knowing the harmful effect of eating too full, what's your choice? Do you want to live longer, just like the second group mice in the experiment? Or do you want to risk ending your life earlier, just like the first group mice? If you wish to live longer, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Always eat until 70% full. Do not exceed 80% full. You may want to stop eating when you feel slightly full.

2. Avoid having buffet style meal which makes it harder to control how much you eat. Instead, prepare the food you want to eat in a plate. After finishing it, don't add anymore food.

3. Leaving the dining table earlier may prevent you from picking some extra food to eat.

4. It is always a good idea to prepare lesser food in the first place. Some people are afraid of having not enough food for everyone. Actually, lesser food is beneficial for everyone..

In a restaurant, order in small amount first. You can always add in some extra order if necessary. But if you can get by with the original smaller order, that's great.

Remember this: You have higher chance of overeating if you serve more food on the table.

You have better chance of not overeating if you serve less food.

5. Avoid stuffing your fridge with ice cream, chocolate or other dessert. You cannot eat what you do not have.

6. When someone prepares a big plate of food for you, look at it first. Ask yourself, "Do I want to stuff it all into my stomach?"

If your answer is no, just put aside some food to another empty plate first. After finishing your food, look back at the extra food on that new plate. Say to yourself, "Phew! Luckily I didn't stuff that portion into my stomach."

7. When you get too hungry before your meal time, just take some fruit instead of heavy meal. The tendency to overeat is very high for modern people.

source: unknown

Contributed by: <mjunaidtahir @ gmail.com>

Beggar and Servant Boy

There was a boy who used to be a servant for a rich family. They provided him accommodation, food and everyday some money for tea or snacks. This boy after finishing his morning works used to go to tea stall nearby and spend some time drinking tea, eating and talking to regular customers. One day he was out to tea stall as usual. There was one beggar newly arrived and stayed put near tea stall. This boy found some kind of attraction towards this beggar. May be sympathy? He bought a tea and some snacks for the beggar and sat near him talking. While leaving he gave beggar whatever money left with him.

This became a routine and continued for some time. On the other hand, beggar's regular collections started reducing because people now used to him. But he didn't want to move to other place for better income for the beggar felt somewhat attached to the servant boy. Sometimes all the beggar's collection for whole day was what the boy gave to him. The beggar didn't like to move out of their meeting place. One day the boy didn't appear as usual. Beggar got worried but thought he might have some work to finish. Next day also the boy was not seen.

Thus gone ten days. By now beggar concluded that the boy might have either gone to his native or found a new job. But beggar was more worried for the boy didn't inform him about these. So he finally decided to move to a better place next morning. That night, somebody disturbed beggar's sleep. When he woke up, he saw the boy sitting near to him and crying. Boy was looking tired. He was locked up inside the house where he worked as servant. He was not given food to eat and allowed to go out for the rich man suspected the boy to stole the necklace of his wife.

Later after ten days of torture, when they found necklace, they thrown him out of their house. It was not boy stole the necklace but the rich man's wife forgotten where she kept. Though mistake was of rich women, the boy was thrown out of house where he served sincerely for many years! Beggar listened to the story patiently. The boy was crying for he still couldn't understand why he was thrown out. Beggar was too matured to get emotional like the boy.

For him, these are common and already witnessed things. He advised the boy not to worry and he promised to take the boy with him next morning. Next day beggar took the boy with him and fed him stomachful. After finishing the breakfast, they left for a new place searching for a new experience. Later it's heard that, the boy found a new house to serve. The beggar fixed a place in near area to take care of the boy.

Morals of the story:

1. The boy didn't expect anything in return when given to beggar. All he had was sympathy towards the beggar.

2. Rich family treated boy very well for they want a good faithful servant. But when something went missing the faithful servant became the first suspect. For rich, it's easy to suspect and target poor.

3. When the rich man found his wife to be blamed for missing necklace, he didn't care to punish her or seek pardon from the boy. Instead he thrown the boy out of his house.

4. The boy was careless and spent all money he got for he was not matured to understand - the situations can't be same always. He thought his life will be same always.

5. Even while boy spent money, he spent it for a good cause which came to his rescue when he was in need. Even savings wouldn't have instantly helped as the beggar did.

6. Beggar was faithful for the hands that fed him. When got a chance he was happy to pay it back.

7. Life is a long journey. We don't know who will support us when in need. So treating everyone nicely is important saving for future.

8. Who to give and whom to give, who to connect with whom all decided by previous births. The boy was particularly attracted by this beggar shows some kind of past connection between them. So to fight or to embrace someone is what decided by us through our karma.

9. Also the people we meet, we love, we like, we hate, we fight, we depend are sort of steps towards our journey.

Contributed by: < mjunaidtahir @ gmail.com >

Source: unknown

Habit of Achievement

Old, destructive habits can feel very comfortable, at least for the moment. Over time, however, those negative habits can waste an enormous part of your life, or worse.

The good news is that you can build positive, empowering habits that will soon feel just as comfortable and familiar as the old negative ones. It takes effort and commitment, and a little discomfort, yet it is well worth all that.

Instead of habits that waste your time and burden your life, you can choose habits that push you steadily forward. Instead of slowly creating heartache and disappointment, you can be steadfastly creating success and achievement.

Time can be your enemy or your friend, depending on what you do with each little moment. Make the choice, and put forth the effort, to make each moment count for something positive and meaningful.

Choose a habit that brings you down and replace it with one that lifts you up. Make it your goal to make achievement your default mode.

Some of the most powerful things you do are the things you do by habit. So choose to direct all that power in a positive, life-enriching direction.

Source: Ralph Marston - The Daily Motivator

Contributed by: < mjunaidtahir @ gmail.com >

How to Build Trust to empower relations

By Junaid Tahir

During my recent training on Management, the course of discussion slightly moved to the subject of Building Trust. Our trainer (my mentor as well) draw our attention to some important aspects of building trust. Since the idea of writing this article was originated during the training so I dedicate this article to my teacher, Georgie Collis, as she sowed the seed in my brain to produce this article.

So, before we go in to the details on how to develop trust, let us understand what Trust is.

Trust is the permanent certainty and confident expectation from someone for something. Lack of trust might lead to shattered relations so Trust is the most critical ingredient for strong relationship; the relation which can either be between Husband-Wife, Boss-Employee, Father-Son, Brother-Sister, supplier-customer and so on.

Here are some recommended behaviours which you need to demonstrate in order to develop trust:

1- Being Responsible: ensure you are performing your day-to-day responsibilities and meeting the short-term and long term expectations by your dependants.

2- Listen: Listen, Listen, Listen. God has given you two ears and one tongue so you listen more and speak less. Effective Listening is a skill; develop this habit.

3- Being Truthful: Be honest and fair. Don't deceive someone. Remember the fact that building trust is tough but it takes seconds to have scratches-in-the-jewel which usually is very hard to recover.

4- Keeping Promise:your promise is your commitment with someone to do something, so don't break at any cost. In case you couldn't meet your promise, there is always a door for dialogue for re-consideration of things. In case of dialogues be fair, be truthful and be open. Confess the short comings on your end.

5- Consistent behaviour: the ever changing attitude is an indication of your non-predictive personality which is an anti-trust drive. So be consistent in what you speak and what you do.

6- Apologizing behaviour: Sorry is the best medicine in healing relationship complications. In fact, Sorry and Thanks are the two golden words which my Kindergarten going son has refreshed for me which he learnt from school. Use them often and you will see massive improvements in your daily life.

What are your suggestions to develop Trust?

Contributed by: < mjunaidtahir @ gmail.com>

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