Apple Bazaar would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas 2010 and Happy New Year 2011!

Having trouble keeping the weight off or experiencing plunging energy levels? These symptoms could be attributed to a drop in your metabolism due to certain lifestyle factors.

Metabolism is the rate at which the body burns calories. Energy levels increase along with your metabolism as more body fat is being released for energy. Conversely, when metabolism and energy falls, your body will hold on to more body fat.

Here are some adjustments to your lifestyle that you can make to boost your metabolism!

Exercise Aerobically 5 Times a Week
Do this in the morning and it will help keep your metabolism elevated all day long! Primarily aerobic exercises are walking, jogging, rope skipping and cycling.

Train in The Zone for 20 to 60 Minutes Each Time
It’s not what you do but how hard you do it that counts! Training in the zone means exercising at 60% to 80% of your maximum heart rate. If you do not have a heart rate monitor, you know that you are training in the zone if you can speak up fairly clearly but would prefer not to.

Build Muscle
At least two to three times a week, add weight training or resistance exercise to your workout. Muscle burns more calories than fat, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even at rest!

Don’t Starve!
Going on a restrictive diet causes your body to hold on to fat and break down muscle for energy. The less muscles you have the lower your basal metabolic rate is going to be.

Drink Big!
Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Metabolism needs water to be effectively activated.

Have Smaller and More Frequent Meals
Eating can increase your metabolism! The key though, lies in what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat. Have your bigger meals early in the day and consume 5 smaller meals instead of having 3 big ones. Also, complex, high-fiber carbohydrates such as vegetables and cereals burn more calories than simple carbohydrates. Attempt to consume at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Avoid Food 2 to 3 Hours Before Bedtime
Dinner should be your lightest meal, and some experts recommend you don’t anything after 8 p.m. The food sitting in your stomach as you sleep will not be properly digested and it will be stored as fat instead.

Reduce or Eliminate Alcohol
Besides slowing down your metabolism, alcohol is a depressant- you are more likely to adopt a “heck care” attitude towards healthy eating and regular exercise. Besides, it will have a lingering effect on your ability to have an effective and intense workout for days!

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-12-your-metabolism

What pictures come to your mind when this question is asked? Common replies from participants in my workshops range from-washboard abs, the name of some fitness center chain or even the ability to finish a marathon.

What about you? What does being fit mean to you? This is an important question because how you define fitness is going to affect your ability to sustain your motivation to exercise regularly in the long run.

Does owning an expensive gym membership equate to being fit? Most people sign up for a 2-year membership but never use the facility for more than 3 months anyway. They end up paying for the overheads for the remaining 21 months! If your fitness goal is to achieve The Perfect Body, you are setting yourself up to fail! Ask any bodybuilder and they will tell you that the perfect body does not exist! There will always be something that needs to be fixed-You can have washboard abs but your biceps are not massive enough or your thighs are still too scrawny.

Do you need to finish a marathon to be considered fit? It’s been twelve years since I did my last marathon but I still consider myself to be fit. The only reason why I trained hard for two marathons during my NS days was to earn myself a long weekend for representing my Commando Unit. Fitness was the last thing on my mind!

Movement = Energy

The term Workout suggests that exercise is work or a chore to complete and to most people, it is! Wrong! Exercise is not work! It is about movement and movement helps unleash your body’s energy. After spending most of my years dabbling in various sport and fitness pursuits, I now realize that the biggest reward that I reap from regular exercise is Energy.

No matter how busy I am, I move for at least 30 minutes everyday, not because I feel that I must but because I know for sure that when I am moving, I will feel great. I am also certain that after moving, I will have more energy for the rest of the day. I feel relaxed and calm; my thoughts become clearer, solutions and ideas come to me easily. When I’m in this state, optimism engulfs me. I feel that anything and everything-is possible,

It’s a magical experience to be in this state and the best part is that it’s free! It costs you nothing to take a walk! You do not need an expensive gym membership, finish a marathon or washboard abs to feel energized and alive. You can feel this way as soon as you start moving!

So what are you waiting for? Start moving NOW!

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-8-what-fitness

“Do 4 sets of these exercises for between 8 to 12 reps if you want to put on size!” That’s the typical advice given by most fitness experts and for most of us, resistance training or weight training often means heaving the weights quickly up and down, simply focusing on the number of the reps.

Is this the most effective way of training? Are you getting consistent muscular gains using this method?
Coming across the advices seen in fitness magazines and personal trainers indicate the best repetition range for muscle gain (or hypertrophy) is 8 to 12. However they failed to take notice that in performing each rep, they need to pay close attention to “Time-under-tension” (T.U.T.).

So what is T.U.T.?

It refers to the amount of time per rep (or set, or exercise, or workout) that the muscle is under tension. For example, if an individual takes 3 seconds to perform 1 repetition of a bodyweight squat, it is said that the T.U.T. was 3 seconds. If someone performs 10 repetitions, then the workout T.U.T. was 30 seconds.

T.U.T. is usually written using numbers like this 2010. Using the bodyweight squat as an example, this would mean that you will take exactly 2 seconds to lower yourself. The next number will mean whether you pause at the bottom or not; 0 means no pause. The 3rd number represents the time needed to raise you back to the start position which is 1 second. The last number stands for the amount of time used to pause at the top of the movement.

So what is the recommended T.U.T.?

Charles Poliquin, a strength and conditioning coach, has come up with the following numbers as a guide to help us determine our T.U.T.
1) If you train for relative strength, T.U.T. should be under 20 seconds,
2) If you train for hypertrophy, TUT should be around 40-70 seconds

Therefore if hypertrophy is what you want then a full set should last between 40-70 seconds. Like any new toy, you will want to play with right away; you should incorporate this into your next workout in the very next session. Remember that if you want to identify its success or failure, you must show consistency in its usage.

Every few weeks or so, determine if your applied T.U.T. is working well for you. So no one is the same, what works for an individual may not work for another. I may need to stay within 40-second sets and you may need 70-second sets. Muscle growth is not about magic numbers or pills, but it is about hard work and determination.

I have used this for many years and have time and time again seen the results achieved. Therefore I hope you learn from it and very soon you will be on your way to fast muscle gain in no time.

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-16-tut

Whenever I feel burnt out, catching up on some sleep or taking a day off helps a little, but not very much. What really helps to renew myself physically, mentally and emotionally are exercise and being involved with activities that were fun or educational.

1. Exercise!
2. Improve your diet
3. Pick up a new skill
4. Meditate
5. Write in your journal
6. Have a deep conversation with a loved one
7. Clear out a bunch of little tasks that you’ve been putting off

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-15-habit-7-sharpen-saw

In my younger days, this festival simply meant lighting up lantern and had a good meal with the whole family (including my grandparents and my parents’ sibling).

The lanterns looked like the following pic, and we would be lighting up candle inside it, carrying it around.

A traditional Mid-Autumn Festival lantern

We would savour mooncakes and look at the pretty and bright full moon, said to be the fullest and roundest in the year.

Varieties of Mooncakes

As mooncakes are quite oily and filling, drinking hot tea after the feast ease out our palate and digestive system. It is a leisure indulgence.

Nowadays kids do not need to light up candles anymore. They have battery operated lanterns that come in shapes, like super heroes. A click on switch and the lantern will light up and even made shrill sounds.

modern day lantern

We used to have lotus paste with yolk or red bean filling only. These days there are mooncakes with various types such as flaky skin, snow skin and various flavor, such as ice cream mooncake, green tea with yolk, ginseng bird nest custard, and even durian pulp mooncakes.

Snowskin Bird Nest Custard Mooncake

As you may have guessed, Apple Bazaar staffs are quite a foodie.

Today we wish you all a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! If you have a family gathering, don’t forget to give the kids lanterns, light up the sparklers, have a bite on the luxurious mooncakes, admire the round bright moon. Most importantly, enjoy the time you spend together. It is precious.

Note: The wikipedia has interesting summary of the legend on Mid-Autumn Festival. And here is a site that describe the festival in many countries, including Japan and Vietnam.

A teacher friend of mine flinched as she was calculating how much she spends on fitness activities every month. She has a 2 year gym membership that she pays via an interest-free installment scheme and also spends $60 every weekend to get her wakeboarding fix. In all, she spends close to $200 per month and that does not include the transport and parking costs to get to the fitness facilities! With all the scary financial news out there, there is a very real possibility that such discretionary spending will soon catch up with you if it has not already…

Are there any inexpensive or even free alternatives to get fit while having fun too? Fortunately, the answer is yes! Other than jogging and walking, here are some ideas and activities will keep your hear rate going!

Trekking

The slopes of Bukit Timah Hill (The highest natural summit in Singapore) provide a challenging and fun alternative to the stationery stair climber in the gym! If you re unfamiliar with the hills, the easiest way to the summit is to get the free pamphlet from the Nature Reserve Visitor Center at the trailhead which has a simple topography map with colored routes.

Another great place to trek is at the Southern Ridges trail connecting Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill and Kent Ridge. My favorite part of the trail is climbing up the pre-war granite steps cut into the forest at Mount Faber. A close second would be to walk on the magnificent Henderson Waves and Alexandra Arch. The experience is refreshing and the scenery is simply breathtaking!

Fitness Bootcamp

If you fancy working out as a team, make new friends and enjoy a combo of fitness activities such as kickboxing, yoga, circuit-training and obstacle course, take part in one of these bootcamp sessions that are available at almost every major park on the island. The best part about these sessions is that there is no long term money committent. You only pay when you join the sessions. Hit www.fitnessbootcamp.sg for more info.

Rope Skipping

Inexpensive, effective and convenient! For those of you want to pick up new rope-skipping styles or to simply learn the basic bounce, there are free lessons being conducted at East Coast Park every Saturday. Check out www.skipping.sg for details.

Team Sports

Most of us have got a deflated soccer, rugby ball or a Frisbee stashed somewhere. Gather a few buddies for a kick-about or a game of Touch Rugby at the nearby fields. You get to catch up with your friends and get fit all at once!

Finally, avoid the trap of “recession pounds”, weight put on by eating less healthy food as a result of financial hardship and other unhealthy activities such as smoking. Instead take this opportunity to engage in sport and fitness, which are productive activities in managing stress.

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-13-recession-proof-fitness

On the first day of Hari Raya, Muslims will go for a special prayer in the morning and later in the afternoon is the visiting of relatives or friends. This is the day where we will ask forgiveness from each other especially from our parents. This is an important custom for muslims. Some families will wear the same colour costumes which gives them an identity that they are a family while some will wear different colours. However, the most important thing is spending time with family on Hari Raya. Usually, the Hari Raya festive is celebrated for one month, no only with family but also with friends.

The best part of raya? Of course it’s the food! Our most popular or rather must-have is the ketupat, rendang, sambal prawns and satay and not forgetting the ‘kuehs’ or cakes that those have baked during ramadhan. The must-have kueh is of course the kueh tart which is the pineapple tart. Honestly, my tummy is growling while typing this but that’s ok because i’m fasting. Below are some picture of the festive food.

This is the ketupat which is the rice dumpling

On the first day of Hari Raya, most families will visit their parents house where all the other relatives gather. We will then spend time with food and relatives there. It can be the whole day or maybe for a while depending on some families as they might have other houses to visit. First day is usually the family day. After that, we will visit our friends or other relatives’ houses.

So this is a short overview post on how Muslims in Singapore celebrate Hari Raya. And it’s tomorrow! Time flies really fast though. Anyways,

Apple Bazaar would like to wish all muslims out there

Selamat Hari Raya and Enjoy Your Holidays!

You’ve probably experienced this yourself…those times when you were overwhelmed by fatigue, all drained off energy, yet having to remain focused in order to finish some urgent work. Almost subconsciously,we most definitely will reach for caffine and/or some form of sugar to keep ourselves awake. Unfortuntely, this form of energy aka Sugar Dependency Cycle is not only inconsistent, it is also one sure way to put on excess weight in the long run.

Incidental Activities

Do we all have the ability to energize ourselves instantly? Of course we do! And the best part is that it’s free and it’s not going to cause us to put on any excess weight! To summon energy, all you need to do is MOVE! When we move, we feel, and its only when we feel that we become energized and enthusiastic! The key to having more energy lies simply in how much you move everyday. You might want to try walking down the stairs instead of the elevator or to simply keep walking when you are chatting on your handphone. Health educators refer to these movements as Incidental Activities.

Consistent Energy=Success!

If you think about it, how successful or happy we are is almost entirely tied to how much energy we consistently have. It does not matter how skillful or good you are at your job or how much you know about relationships, if you are tired and struggling all the time, you will not have the juice to be at your best at work or to have a passionate relationship.

So list down 10 Incidental Activities that you can fit into your daily routine and do it. Remember! More movement equates to more energy!

source: http://www.vitagefitness.com/content/fitness-minutes-14-instant-energy