To Diet or Not to Diet

If only I'd tell my stomach this when it starts to grumble or lust after that pounded yam and white soup. Sigh...

Good morning everyone, hope you had a gooood weekend? Mine was just the basic Saturday, workout, shopping, cooking. Then I took the lil' missy to a birthday party where I ate a lot of delicious cake. The boy's mother is a wonderful baker, so you can imagine the deliciousness that she brought out in the form of a cake. So, after all the cake and alcohol I made up my mind I'd eat veggies and fruits yesterday to cleanse my system and balance the junk out. Hmmmm... Na so!!

I tried o! In all honesty I tried to eat only veggies but mehnn, I just couldn't. See, I'm a foodie, a proud one at that. My taste buds love food, and I don't deny them of the pleasure of good food. My preference is local dishes, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food, but I just gotta eat. I see friends going on different kinds of diet to loose weight and I've tried some in the past before I respected myself and decided to stick to what works for me. 

The issue with weightloss is sustainability; which most of the crash diet programs do not make any provision for. Let's say I want to loose 20kg, I go on a crash diet for a month or less, I loose the 20kg, then I stop the diet and go back to my former lifestyle. What do you think will happen? I'd just pack the weight back on! That's what I've seen with a lot of people. They drink all sorts of teas and herbs; I even heard of one that's refined charcoal, all for weightloss. I personally feel some of those things might even have some side effects. 

After due consideration, I decided that what works for me is moderate eating and regular vigorous exercises. It's not easy to wake up early and run for 8-10km, but when I remember I can't eat only veggies, I quickly put on my running shoes and hit the road. My advise is, if you want to loose weight, you must make some lifestyle alterations; change your diet and exercise. There's no healthier shortcut to loosing weight. You can do any of these crash programs, but you must combine it with exercise if you want to sustain the results. Most of the diet plans I have read about all recommend exercise,which only goes to prove that you need more than crash diet to loose weight and maintain it. 

When you set out on the weightloss journey, do not expect to see drastic changes soon, afterall you didn't pack on the weight in one day/week/month. However, keep going and you'll definitely see amazing results. If you can't run, walk, or join a group if you need motivation. Whatever you do, get off the couch and exercise. You've nothing to loose, but a lot to gain. 

That's all from me today. Have a fabulous week and don't be a couch potato, hehehehe....

Hugs...

Raising Morally-Sound Children in a Morally-Decadent Society

Growing up, I remember one day I told fellow children that an old woman who lived in one of the flats in the same compound peed on her bed at night. I don't know why I said that, it wasn't like I saw her or saw the wet matress, pure mischief I guess. One of the children I gossiped to ran and told her what I said. See beating that day! Chai!! After her own beating, I was still scared because I knew she'd tell my parents and another round of flogging would follow. When my parents came back, she came upstairs and reported me to them, another round of flogging surely followed. 

Back then, it was understood that if a child misbehaved, the nearest adult should discipline the erring child and not wait for the parents alone. It kept children in line and once they saw an elder, they'd stop whatever bad thing they were doing. Therefore, it was easier to raise children back then as there were still some semblance of morals left in the society, and fewer distractions.

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I look around the society today, with all that is going on, and I conclude that it is difficult to raise a morally-sound child in today's world. Difficult, but not impossible. From the cartoons they watch, to the children and adults they interact with, they pick up a lot of crap! Most parents frown at a stranger, teacher or even relatives disciplining their children as they believe they're the only ones that should do it. That's why you'd see a child misbehaving and just waka pass, afterall he/she is not your child and the parents will not find your attempt to discipline the child helpful in any way. Children will even see an adult and continue what they were doing, knowing you're not their mother and won't touch them. Sometimes when you report an erring child to the parents they'd laugh over it; some would even criticise you for reporting the child. 

The responsibility is still on parents. We definitely don't have it easy as our parents and grandparents did, but we must make the best of what is available to us. A woman swore that her daughter could never be in the shoes of the ex Miss Anambra that was recently caught in the middle of the whole sex tape drama and blackmail; I replied that she shouldn't brag yet because I believe the poor girl's parents believe they did their best to raise a morally sound young girl. The saying 'train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows, he will not depart from it', is still applicable today. When a child is properly trained, peer pressure and life may shake him, try to veer him off the path, but because of that strong moral foundation, he/she will surely find his/her way back to the right path.

I also have done some things which I'm not proud of, but having been raised the way I was, it was impossible for me to derail completely. I can only hope to raise my child with the same sense of morality with which my parents raised me. Our generation and those before us were raised right; what is wrong in trying to raise our children the way we were raised, despite living in different times? I feel the best values to instil in a child are love and kindness; every other value can be subsumed under these two.

E no easy sha, but we just gotta try, don't we? 

Meanwhile, I really need to add some spice to my life, work on improving my social life abeg. I find myself joining workout groups, but that shouldn't be my sole idea of fun. Anyone with interesting ideas should hit me up ASAP!

Have a fun-filled weekend.

Hugs... 

Enough of the Barking...

These are indeed tough times for Nigerians living in Nigeria, I kid you not. There's no need to sugarcoat it so we'd look good in the eyes of foreigners; it is bad!! I was one of those who felt we should present our best side to foreigners in order to encourage them to invest in Nigeria, not scare them away.

The Hypocrisy of It All

bom Dia,

So I've decided to add Portuguese to the languages I wish to learn, just in case I meet Cristiano Ronaldo someday and we need to converse, you know? *wink wink.  Anyway, how was your weekend? Hope good. 

Many Are Called...

MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN

Hiya, how was your week? Hope it's been good in spite of whatever challenges you may be battling with at the moment. 

In this world, especially in Nigeria, we've seen people in various professions who have so badly derailed from the path that I doubt if they'd ever be able to find their way back to the right path. In my opinion, some professions should not be dabbled into if you do not have the passion for it.

Stockholm Syndrome

Stop it. Do not feel safe with him. The Stockholm Syndrome is not your friend - J.R. Ward

On August 23rd 1973, two armed robbers entered a bank in Stockholm, Sweden, terrorised the people and held 5 people  (4 women and a man) hostage for five days.  At the end of the 5-days hostage situation, the captives appeared sympathetic towards their captors, which was shocking to the Police officers, considering the fact that these people were tortured, abused and threatened for days.

After All is Said and Done, My Thoughts

I bet you guys have had fun with all that happened over the weekend in Nigeria and far away in Germany. We've laughed, ranted, snickered, and had fun with the memes that emanated from the fight between our President and his wife, yes, fight, because I believe that what we witnessed was just a reflection of the way things have deteriorated at the home front.

My Feminism Is Not Your Feminism

"... I felt such a resentment. I thought: Are books really that unimportant to you? Another thing I hated was that I read everywhere: Now people finally know her, thanks to Beyoncé, or: She must be very grateful. I found that disappointing."- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Unforeseen Incompatibilities?

We must have observed that during wedding receptions, the MC would ask the couple to cut the cake at the number of children they wish to procreate, and I had never seen a couple that made any mistake. They always cut the cake together at the count of a particular number, meaning they must have discussed the issue of the number of children they want to have. So you'd think it's not a big deal and every couple should have this locked down, right? I thought so too.

Patience is Rewarding

Hello everyone,

Hope y'all are doing great this bright Monday morning. Your families? Hope they're well, fed, and have roofs over their heads? Then just give praise to whichever God you believe in, and if you believe you got all that through your sheer power, more grease to your knees then. 

The Invasion of Reality Television

"See, I don't watch reality television anymore. I watched a little bit of it for awhile, but I found it turned my soul into a black sludge, and I just did not find it healthy or good for me at all, because I would watch it and be disgusted, disgusted."- Martha Plimpton .

Salute to the Teachers!

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn” - Benjamin Franklin

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Today is a day set aside by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to honour teachers all over the world for their daunting task of imparting knowledge into the young minds, guiding and moulding them as they discover their paths in life.

Truth Is Bitter

The truth may roar, but its roaring does not terrify the blameless. Guilty conscience needs neither a critic nor an accuser. Remember, the truth has no aiding crutches; once it is limping, its name is "a lie'. 
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes