Archive for the ‘Psychologist’ Category

How to Make Healthier Choices When Eating at Fast Food Restaurants

We all know that eating at fast food restaurants is terrible for our health. It makes us fat, lazy, bloated and sick. Just one cheeseburger will double your daily calorie requirement, and the salads, yogurts and diet sodas they sell are not really all that much healthier. They are the biggest reason for the obesity epidemic in America today, and there does not seem to be any way of making them disappear from our ever growing suburban landscapes.

If you are really serious about getting or staying in shape, fast food restaurants are not on your path to success. Sometimes, though, these restaurants may seem like the only option other than starvation. Long road trips, co-worker lunches, and other situations may force you into choosing between bad or worse. This can be devastating to anyone trying to lose weight or trying to change their bad eating habits to good.

Listed below are 7 tips that will help you make healthier choices if you are ever forced to eat fast food. It is inevitably going to happen in todays fast paced world. You might as well be prepared!

Fast Food Healthier Choice Tips #1: Get Less For Your Money

So-called value meals really only offer you extra calories, saturated fat, sugar, and other diet killers. The only way this could be beneficial is if you are saving up for bypass surgery. Getting twice as many fries for only 20 cents more is not a good deal. Fast food packs a lot of unhealthiness into a small package as it is, so super-sizing it is only adding fuel to the fire.

Think about it this way. Is 20 cents really worth eating an entire weeks worth of fat and calories in one sitting? Paying extra to ruin your health makes no sense. Ordering the small size may not be as cheap per pound of food, but it will save a fortune when working off pounds of fat later.

Fast Food Healthier Choice Tips #2: Discover Your Inner Child

Sadly, a reasonably sized portion for an adult is now only found on the children’s menu! Want to get healthy sides like fruit or carrots? Again, only on the childrens menu! It is great that kids are getting healthier options, but what about adults? We need good nutrition too! Don’t be ashamed to order the junior hamburger or even the kids’ meal. You are the only one who can control what you eat and how much of it.

Fast Food Healthier Choice Tips #3: No All Salads Are Created Equal

Just because it has lettuce does not mean it is healthy. A Big Mac has lettuce, and you know it would not be any healthier if it was called a Big Mac Salad. Don’t be fooled by clever naming tricks. Use common sense when selecting a salad, and make sure all the ingredients are vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins you recognize. Also, do not go through all that effort just to drown your healthy meal in a pool of fatty dressing! Ask for vinaigrette.

Fast Food Healthier Choice Tips #4: Have It Your Way

Most restaurants honor your requests if you ask them. Hold the mayo and high-corn-syrup ketchup, and ask for more pickles, tomatoes and lettuce. Substitute the breaded chicken breast for the grilled chicken breast. Ask for extra vegetables. Ask for wheat buns instead of white. And by all means, hold the cheese! Most of the time you can not savor the flavor when it is packed into a sandwich anyway.

Fast Food Healthier Choice Tips #5: You Are What You Drink

The most profitable menu items for restaurants are soft drinks. Costing almost nothing to make, they want you to get as big a size as possible and pay for it. What you’ll get is tons of sugar and chemicals. And maybe eventually, diabetes! Soda and diet soda will ruin your figure and your health. Order iced tea or water instead. If someone is holding a gun to your head and making you order a soda, get the small.

Of course the best advice I can give you is to make your own fast food at home in the form of a soy-based protein meal replacement. This is how I lost 70 pounds in 4 months and have kept it off for over 15 years. It usually takes me about 3 minutes to make, which is less time than it takes to wait in the drive-thru line at any McDonalds.

I rarely go to fast food restaurants anymore, but when I do I follow the tips listed above. Losing weight and keeping it off for good is about making healthy decisions about what you eat, no matter where you are eating.

Healthy Eating During Baby Pregnancy



You probably already know how important it is to eat a well-balanced diet, but it is even more important when you are pregnant. Keep in mind now you are eating for two. Whatever you eat, the baby eats as well. In fact the baby actually takes your nourishment so you must eat enough for both of you. The healthier you eat the better it is for the baby during pregnancy and you.

Never miss a meal while you are pregnant, especially breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and your baby has probably been waiting since he/she woke up in the middle of the night. You may learn that if you wait so long before eating you start to feel sick, this is your body telling you to eat. Do it!

Make sure you are getting enough of the food you need daily. It takes 4-6 servings of dairy produce a day for a healthy baby pregnancy, this can include some cheeses, milk, yogurt. This provides the baby with calcium which it’ll need to develop healthy growing bones. Adding extra calcium to your diet wouldn’t hurt you either, especially your teeth and bones.

Don’t forget about your fruit and vegetable servings. Lots of green is always a good choice, so are sweet potatoes. Not only will you be giving your body what it needs but you’ll start to have more energy. Try laying off the sweets for a week and replace them with healthier items and see how alive you feel.

Foods to Avoid

Not all foods are safe during your pregnancy, there are a few things you should avoid eating:

- Raw eggs

- Caffeine- soda, chocolate. If you find this difficult you can wean yourself off, but the less caffeine in your system the better it is for the baby.

- Certain fish- exotic, shark, swordfish, anything potentially high in mercury

- unpasteurized products- brie and other soft cheeses if unpasteurized.

- Undercooked meats- lunch meats. If you are buying a deli sandwich you can ask for them to heat the meat up a little.

If you are ever unsure of the foods you can eat, you can ask your doctor for a list of items to avoid during pregnancy. They’ll be more than happy to share this with you.

You may also learn that your stomach won’t handle certain foods that it would before. Some of those foods may include foods that contain grease, fast foods, meat, and certain foods that have a strong odor.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to cut out all the fun in your life, you can still treat yourself from time to time. Go out and get a frozen yogurt or a smoothie.

While you are making sure you get enough to eat throughout the day, that doesn’t mean neglecting your fluid intake. You’ll need lots of water and juices from here on out. The baby will thank you later. Who knows, you may discover that you really enjoy eating healthier meals and continue it even after the pregnancy.

Read my article about children games.

Tips On Improving Your Cellphone Battery Life



Cellphones, for all practical purposes, have become a necessity in the modern world. Not only are they used as a communication device, they are now increasingly seen as a personal computer system with functionalities that were previously associated with the bulky desktop. Powerful as they may be, modern cellphones are limited by the fact that they rely on the batteries which do not hold a large amount of charge. Thus, in this article we will examine ways in which cellphone users can extend their cellphone’s battery life.

Turn Off The Vibrate Feature

One of the best techniques to increasing the battery life of a cellphone is by turning off the vibration mode ringer option. This is one most energy draining feature found in today’s cellphone, the energy required for turning the tiny motor which causes the phone to vibrate is almost double to that required for the same phone to ring.

Turn Off Back Light

Most people generally use their cellphones in areas with sufficient background light, hence in these places there is no real need to have the back light on. However, if you do require to use the back light then its best to keep your back light time out to no more than 3 seconds.

Use Cellphone Just For Talking

If you want to conserve your battery then its best to use the cellphone for what it was initially intended for and nothing else. This means that you should avoid playing games, using the built in camera feature, listening to music, instant messaging or surfing the web. Battery use is directly related to cpu use, so the more tasks you do with your cellphone the faster your battery will drain.

Reduce Volume Level

Another way to increase your cellphones batteries is by lowering down the volume for the ring tone and by turning of unnecessary sounds such as the button pressing clicks and key tones.

Turn Off Your Cellphone When Necessary

It is pointless to keep your cellphones on in situations that you know you will not be able to get a signal at such as on a plane, subway or in a library. Scared of missing a call, don’t. Many cellphone providers already have a system in place that would avoid you from missing a call. In this system, if a caller is not able to reach you then they are automatically forwarded to your voice mailbox where they can leave a voice mail for you to review later on.

Take Care Of Your Cellphones Battery

Battery are not very resistant to temperature changes, hence its vital you store your cellphone batteries in a place that is at room temperature and away from direct sunlight. If possible try to fully charge your batteries nightly at minimal once every three days. Over time the terminals on the battery may become oxidized, depending on the severity you may just need to clean the terminals with alcohol or need throw the battery altogether.

Over time cellphone batteries do begin to lose their charge capacity. This is due the general wear and tear and is to be expected. On average you can expect a modern cellphone battery to last for a couple of years before needing replacement.