Merry Christmas Holiday fitness hacks

Holiday fitness hacks The festive season usually means diets and workouts are out the window, but to assuage your guilt, try these tips to moderate the eating and get a little exercise in.

 Chewing gum can actually help reduce food cravings and appetite, so pop some in after you’ve eaten enough at the party. — AFP

ONCE again, Christmas is here.

Your diet and workout may go out the window today, but never mind; it’s a day to find some merriment to light up your heart.

Even if you’re not celebrating Christmas, everyone can savour the holiday and hope that present troubles will pass.

As Malaysians, no doubt the first thing we want to do is get together and feast today – and this activity will probably continue until 2023 rings in.

Excessive eating is one of the main reasons for the additional weight gain, but it is also due to lack of physical activity and exercise.

After bingeing on good food and drinks, we feel guilty and sign up for gym memberships – a new year, a new start.

That’s what we’d like to believe anyway! But, instead of going downhill speedily, why not put your brakes on and glide steadily down the slope for a softer landing?

Try these useful tips to stay fit this holiday season.

Eat before heading out

There will be plenty of parties, dinners, lunches and gatherings, even if they are small ones.

So, eat something before leaving home so that you won’t be tempted to overeat there.

Some people prefer to skip their meals for the day to enjoy the festive spreads later, but that only means you will be enticed to eat more and thwart your digestion.

Foregoing meals actually leads to faster weight gain.

If you have a lot of invitations, eat smaller meals and chew food well.

Remember, the slower you eat, the faster you’ll feel full.

Fill up on salads and veggies

Chances are, if you are at a big party, there will be a variety of dishes to choose from.

Fill up at least half your plate with salads (minimise the dressing) and veggies (potatoes don’t count) as these choices contain very few calories and sugar.

Also, sit further away from the food, especially desserts, so that you have to get up and walk to get second or third helpings. Every little walking step counts!

It also helps prevent you from continuing to pick at a certain food just because it is in front of you.

Load up on water

Drink a lot of water to satiate your appetite and keep hydrated.

It will also prevent a possible hangover if you go overboard with the alcohol.

A dry mouth and a nagging headache are classic symptoms of dehydration.

As a rule of thumb, experts recommend drinking one full glass of water for every alcoholic beverage that you consume.

Bear in mind to drink moderately, and if you’re driving, definitely stick to non-alcoholic beverages.

If you do have one too many alcoholic beverages, have a glass of warm water with lemon or a green tea the next morning.

This will help to activate your system and begin any detoxification process needed.

Also, just prior to going out, have something like some yoghurt and a banana – the protein contained in them slows down stomach digestion, and the potassium will assist in balancing out any salty foods that might exacerbate dehydration.

Many Christmas treats and snacks are full of salt or sugar, which tends to throw your metabolism completely out of balance (including when it come to alcohol), so nibble instead of gobble.

Chew gum after meals

If you chew gum after tucking into your meal, that minty fresh taste and the action of chewing will help you avoid going back for more helpings, even if you’re still hungry.

A few small studies have shown that chewing gum can help reduce cravings and appetite, as well as shave calories.

Research conducted by the University of Rhode Island, United States, found that people who chewed gum every day consumed 68 fewer calories and did not bingeeat later.

Plus, gum chewers actually burned about 5% more calories than non-gum chewers.

Go ahead, chew gum when you have the urge to snack and right after your meals to prevent mindless munching.

However, note that chewing gum can also lead to swallowing air, which can cause bloating, so if you are prone to getting “wind” in your tummy, ignore this tip.

Get out of the house

Fret not if you don’t receive any invitations this year as many are struggling to make ends meet.

Allocate time for family and perhaps plan some outdoor activities that do not involve costs.

Maybe a hike in the forest, a picnic in the park, a frolic in the playground or a walk about town – if the weather permits.

All these will help burn calories while keeping the children entertained.

Squeeze in some strength training

Staying active and maintaining a semblance of an exercise routine may seem like an impossible task with a calendar full of holiday parties and family obligations. But it can be done.

Plan to exercise in the morning before starting your day, when there are minimal distractions.

To maintain the muscle mass that you’ve worked so hard to build, perform your strength-training exercises as you can burn just as many calories as a cardiovascular workout in a shorter span of time. No weights?

No problem, just use your own bodyweight – 20 minutes daily or every other day is enough during this period.

Here are some examples of exercises you can do:

> One-minute jumping jacks and/or marching on the spot with knees high (to warm up).

> Twenty parallel squats.

> Twenty walking lunges.

> A one-minute plank.

> Ten push-ups.

> Twenty bicycle crunches.

> Twenty tricep dips.

> Twenty duck squats (with legs separated and feet turned out).

Opting for meat dishes at the parties and buffets might even mean you will gain some extra muscle – definitely much better than gaining some extra fat!

So, stay healthy, indulge a little bit, keep your face masks on in crowded areas, and as Ella Fitzgerald would sing, Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

See you next year!

RevMathi urugappan is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance to express herself artistically and nourish her soul. For more information, email starhealth@thestar.com. my. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information. 

  The Star Malaysia 25 Dec 2022REVATHI MURUGAPPAN starhealth@thestar.com.my

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Beggars banned from French popular tourist hotspots

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Paris bans beggars from popular tourist hotspots

The Champs Elysées is one of three popular tourist and shopping areas in Paris decreed as no-go zones for beggars. Photograph: Alamy

The glittering Christmas window displays in Paris's luxury stores are often offset by a shivering person begging for coins nearby, huddled behind a cardboard sign saying "hungry".

French authorities have to decided to ban beggars from popular Christmas shopping streets and tourist hotspots over the Christmas period

Authorities in Paris have introduced a controversial ban on beggars in several parts of the French capital, in a move they say is aimed at protecting foreign visitors. Police have been ordered to arrest or fine 'aggressive beggars' in popular shopping locations and tourist hotspots.

The ban was first introduced on the Champs Elysée, intially from September until January, but has now been extended to next summer. Other no-go zones include the areas surrounding the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores, as well as the Louvre museum and Tuileries Gardens.

The ban is said to target beggars organised by Mafia gangs. Three hundred cases of illegal activity, including fraudulent money making petitions, have already been reported over the past three months on the Champs Elysée.

The move has faced criticism from the Paris' socialist mayor, Bertrand Delanoë. He says it is a 'PR stunt' designed to stigmatise part of the population. He added that fighting poverty with repression and fines at such a time when the government is failing its own obligations to house vulnerable young people and provide emergency accommodation, is shocking.



Paris bans beggars from most popular shopping and tourist hotspots

French authorities claim no-go zones aim to stop pestering of foreign visitors by 'delinquents' run by criminal gangs 

By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris - guardian.co.uk

With the French economy in crisis and the looming spectre of another recession, Paris's poor and homeless people are more present than ever in doorways and metro entrances. Campaigners have demanded action on the country's housing crisis. Instead President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a war on beggars, setting himself against Paris's popular mayor.

Sarkozy's interior minister and long-time right-hand man, Claude Guéant, has issued a series of decrees banning begging around Paris's most popular Christmas shopping and tourist spots. He says arresting and fining beggars is crucial to stop foreign visitors being pestered by begging "delinquents" run by organised mafia gangs.

The Champs Elysées was first on his list with a begging ban from September to January, which has been extended to next summer. Now two more Christmas begging no-go zones have been created: around the famous Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores, as well as the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens.

Critics call it the latest round in Sarkozy's campaign against Roma and Gypsies. Guéant claimed that the anti-begging decrees were part of a "merciless fight" against "Romanian criminality".

He said Romanian criminals accounted for one in six appearances in Paris courts and half of those arrested were minors. The anti-begging policy targets practices such as collecting money for bogus petitions, said to be carried out by Roma girls and teenagers.

Guéant has contracted 33 Romanian police officers to help the Paris force round up beggars on the Champs Elyssés. He said of the 300 cases of illegal activity recorded in three months on the Champs Elyseés, almost all were Romanian nationals, adding that organised crime networks were "particularly cruel".

But the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, France's most popular politician, called it a cheap "PR stunt" designed only to "stigmatise part of the population". He said: "Wanting to fight poverty by repression and fines is shocking at a time when the state isn't fulfilling its obligations in housing vulnerable young people or providing emergency accommodation."

He said Guéant was targeting some of the city's poshest areas while ignoring real problems in other neighbourhoods.

With four months until the presidential election, Sarkozy's party is prioritising security and crime in an effort to win back voters who have crossed to Marine Le Pen's extreme-right Front National.

Last year, Sarkozy caused international outrage when he linked immigration to crime and promised to expel Roma migrants and destroy illegal camps. The number of Roma in France has not changed since the destructions of the camps but NGOs warn they now live in greater poverty with a climate of fear and intimidation towards them.

Anti-begging decrees have long caused controversy in France, with one rightwing mayor outside Paris criticised in 2005 for a summer ban on homeless beggars because they "smelt offensive". Temporary anti-begging rules have been put in place in cities from Marseille to Boulogne, some challenged in court by human rights groups.

Guéant, recently dubbed "the voice of Le Pen" by the leftwing Libération, is also under fire for this latest promise to cut legal immigration to France, limiting the rights of non-EU graduates to stay in France after their studie

A Christmas wake-up call

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeTweet

PUTIK LADA By RAPHAEL KOK

Christmas is the time for us to redeem and reconcile our relationships with people that we care about. It’s a time for us to remember and rekindle the passions in life that we dream about.

IT all began in a little town called Bethlehem, where a baby was born in a manger. Over centuries, it has captured the joys of wintertime like listening to sleigh bells ringing, building snowmen in the meadow and roasting chestnuts on an open fire.

With or without snowfall, Santa Claus always comes to town whenever the season is upon us, in the malls and on the streets.

Today, Christmas is no longer just a religious or cultural festival celebrated in the West, but a global event transcending race, religions and cultures.



Much of its universal appeal lies in the values embodied in the spirit of Christmas. The highlight at any Christmas party, whether hosted by Christian families, schools, offices or friends, is the exchange of gifts.
Christmas is about goodwill to all and sharing between loved ones.

Of course, cynics would say that Christmas also epitomises the sin of greed, considering how much people spend on Christmas decorations, shopping and parties.

However, that says more about human nature, rather than Christmas itself. After all, how we celebrate Christmas is very much like how we celebrate life.

In life, just like during Christmas, we expect to be rewarded for the good things we have done. Life, just like Christmas, is about dreams and desires.

True, more often than not, they are materialistic in nature. True, we always want to have more than what we already have, and that there is no end to dreams and desires.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Instead, where we go wrong is not knowing what we truly want out of life. We instead want things that bring little value to our lives.

We crave for more clothes, cars, properties and sources of physical affection. We crave for the same things we already have in abundance, except in different designs, colours and sizes.

We are like kids crying out for toys, ice-cream and a playmate, with no time to think of the consequences.
However, there’s got to be more to life than chasing every temporary high.

Just like Lord Buddha centuries ago, Mark Zuckerberg exhorts us to eliminate desires. Not just any desire, but desires that don’t really matter to us to begin with, or any more.

Having desires is not greedy. Having false desires is.

Our fragile minds, wrecked by insecurities, are always vulnerable to being incepted by foreign ideas. We constantly worry about what others think of us, and what they tell us we should be like.



Not only are we weighed down by excess material and emotional baggage, but we are also forced to abandon our own innermost dreams and desires.

Only when you have eliminated your false desires, will you discover what you want, what you really want.

Basically, start doing the things you have always dreamt of doing but never did because you kept telling yourself “Not this weekend, there’s a sale”, “Not this month, peak period” and “Not this year, saving for a bigger car”.

And it doesn’t just stop there. If you fail to recognise the things that truly give you joy, chances are that you will fail to recognise the things that truly give joy to the rest of the world.

Getting a gift for someone is never easy. We can’t read minds.

Sure, you may ask them what they want, but that’s rather spoiling the whole idea of a gift or they may be too embarrassed to reveal their innermost dreams and desires to you anyway.

The true value of a gift is not how much it’s worth to the giver or anyone else, but to the recipient.

How much the person appreciates the gift is a measure of how much you actually know and care for the person.

As noble as our intentions may be, the act of giving itself is simply not enough. Yes, it’s the thought that counts. But with more thought put into a gift, the more value the gift has.

So make your gifts count, be it to your family, friends or lover.

Don’t just go for the safe gifts like chocolates, Hallmark greeting cards, mugs or even expensive jewellery.

Make an effort to think hard about what the person truly wants. It may be something the person never even thought about having.

Don’t just buy something off the shelf. Forget about the price tag.

Be original. Go the distance. Fly to the moon and back. Like writing a song for your girlfriend that she can tell everybody this is her song. Don’t just say “I Love You”, say “I Love Us”.

Sometimes, the greatest gift is simply changing the way we treat others. Like being more obedient to your Mum and Dad. Or stop yelling and giving unreasonable deadlines to your employees.

And instead of just giving away monetary handouts such as bonuses, subsidies or salary increases every year, governments should also give its people greater freedom to express themselves.

As a wise prophet once said, man does not live by bread alone.

People should also be entitled to ask questions like “Who is producing and selling this bread, was there an open tender exercise?” and “Why do I only get one loaf, and my neighbour gets two?” without fear of persecution.

Whoever we are, rich or poor, Christmas ultimately serves as a wake-up call for us to change our lives for the better.

It’s the time for us to redeem and reconcile our relationships with people that we care about. It’s a time for us to remember and rekindle the passions in life that we dream about.

There’s something magical about Christmas. It’s the magic that makes us believe in miracles, and make miracles happen. It’s the magic that makes us rediscover our freedom and power to dream.

So, although it’s been said many times, many ways – have yourself a merry little Christmas, for now and always.

The writer is a young lawyer. Putik Lada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society. For more information about the young lawyers, visit www.malaysianbar.org.my.

Start a Clean Slate New Year 2012 !

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So come the New Year, what is your resolution going to be?

 

THERE are traditionally four days in the year when this newspaper is not published. We call them press holidays.

Next Monday is the final press holiday for the year and so this is the final instalment of Monday Starters for 2011.

While men rely on the calendar to put some organisation and predictability into their lives, the truth of the matter is that events are not so easily demarcated.

In the natural flow of things, the 12-month calendar year has very little control over what actually happens.

The best-laid plans can go awry due to internal, external, natural and divine factors.

We can only live one day at a time, for we know not what tomorrow will bring.

To those who can cheerfully count down time at a public spot come Dec 31, there will be those in hospitals where the dates no longer matter, but every minute with loved ones is precious.

Do you know that you and I are blessed with the same 24 hours in a day? Work and sleep take up almost two-thirds of that, so what do you do with the remaining eight hours each day?



A wise man said that we should number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. It is good advice not only for those who actually have to number their days because of a critical illness (“I only got six months to live, so I am going to do every crazy thing possible”), but for everyone.

To number our days means we make every day count. We may be overwhelmed by work and other commitments, but it is always better to do the necessary things first so that we end each day with a clean slate. Saying thanks and sorry, for example, belongs to this category.

The last day of this calendar year will be special for me because my youngest son achieves his independence as he turns 21.

I have not figured out what present to get him but in the family tradition, he will register as a voter and make his vote count in the 13th general election.

My eldest son did the same when he turned 21 but has yet to vote because he was not of age for the March 2008 elections.

I believe it is important that we fully exercise our rights as citizens and be as socially-convicted and aware of the many public issues that affect us.

So come the New Year, what is your resolution going to be?

Will you show more faith, more hope and more love to the people around you? Will you make a difference and touch lives, be it in your workplace or your neighbourhood?

There is certainly room for revelry during the festive seasons, but maybe we should resolve to scale down our lifestyles and focus on what is good for the soul.

This is indeed the season for giving, but a more meaningful gift, and it’s free, would be to forgive.
May we reach out to those who have hurt us and those whom we may have hurt, and start the year afresh.

● Deputy executive editor Soo Ewe Jin wishes Christian readers a Blessed Christmas, and all readers a Wonderful New Year. He is especially happy to meet up with Sunny, a dear friend of his Papa, who shared fond memories of his father and reminds him that the real legacy of anyone is not in the things he leaves behind but in the many lives he touched.

It's a Dumb Scandal, But Taxing Christmas Trees Is Also Dumb

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Timothy B. Lee, Forbe Contributor

My Twitter feed is atwitter today over this post about the Obama administration’s proposal to assess a 15-cent tax on Christmas tree sales. The tax would go to a fund that the Christmas tree industry would use to run advertising promoting Christmas trees. After some negative publicity, the USDA says it’s delaying implementation of the tax.

Obviously, the “war on Christmas” spin some conservatives have been giving this story is ridiculous. As various folks have pointed out, this concept has been under discussion since the Bush administration, it’s supported by most Christmas tree growers, and I doubt President Obama had anything to do with it.

Still, I’ve been disappointed by the number of people on the left who have gone beyond rebutting idiotic partisan spin to actually defend the proposal on its merits. For example, several people have linked to this piece:

According to a statement issued by the group, there are at least 18 programs already in effect for other agricultural commodities under the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996.

“This program was requested by the industry in 2009 and has gone through two industrywide comment periods during which 565 comments were submitted from interested parties,” the National Christmas Tree Association said in a statement, adding that nearly 90 percent of the state and multi-state associations who commented on the program supported it.

“The program is designed to benefit the industry and will be funded by the growers at a rate of 15 cents per tree sold,” the release states. “The program is not expected to have any impact on the final price consumers pay for their Christmas tree.”

But some conservatives aren’t letting the facts get in the way of an awesome headline.

The “18 programs” referred to here are industries like milk, dairy, and eggs where taxes are levied to support generic ad campaigns like the dairy industry’s famous “Got Milk” spots. These campaigns are a waste of money, and I see no reason for the government to be levying the taxes to support them. Such campaigns are particularly unfair to niche producers who seek to differentiate their products from those of larger producers, but are nevertheless forced to pay for ads that promote milk (or beef, eggs, etc) as a generic commodity.

Nothing’s stopping the Christmas tree growers who support these ads from pooling their money and buying as many ads as they like. But why should a majority of growers be able to force the minority to contribute to ads they might not want or even agree with?

It’s also hard to take seriously the claim that these taxes won’t raise consumer prices. The economics here are pretty simple: when you tax a product on a per-item basis, producers usually pass the higher costs on to consumers. This is true whether the tax is formally assessed on consumers (as sales taxes are) or on businesses (like gas and cigarette taxes). Either way, the money ultimately comes out of consumers’ pockets. There’s no reason to think Christmas trees (or milk) are an exception to this general rule.

It’s hard to think of any other context where liberals cite industry support as a justification for an otherwise-indefensible government policy. Obviously, it’s worth pushing back on the idiotic “war on Christmas” spin, but the fact that Republicans are making fools of themselves doesn’t change the fact that Congress really ought to repeal the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996.

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