FOOD CRAVINGS THAT WRECK YOUR DIET

BREAD
Craving a big, fluffy hunk of warm bread does not mean your body is deprived of grains. Food cravings have little to do with nutrients and plenty to do with the brain chemistry of pleasure and reward. Cravings may center on texture( creamy, crunchy) or taste( sweet, salty) but they all have something in common- overindulging can sabotage your diet.

ICE CREAM
People who get cravings tend to have higher BMIs- no surprise since fattening foods are often the object of desire. The combination of coll, creamy and sweet makes ice cream an irresistible treat- but a costly one in terms of calories. A typical serving of vanilla has 230 calories

POTATO CHIPS
It's the combination of salty and crunchy that give potato chips their allure. Depending on the flavor, a 1-ounce snack bag has at least 150 calories. Munch your way through a large 8-ounce bag and you're looking at 1,230 calories!

CHOCOLATE
Almost half of women crave chocolate on a regular basis. There have been many theories to explain why, ranging from magnesium deficiency to mood swings. But one thing is certain: Consuming a chocolate bar is a quick way to add a couple hundred extra calories to your day.

POPCORN
Sometimes a setting can trigger a craving, like the desire for popcorn at the movies. Memory pllays a big role in cravings- you've enjoyed popcorn at the movies before, so you expect to enjoy it again. Popcorn itself can be a healthy snack. But movie theaters tend to pop it in coconut oil with buttery sauce. The result: 400 to 1,200 calories per tub!

STREET & PARK FOOD
Watching a game or just strolling in the park is not the same without a hotdog or nachos or peanuts. Just seeing or smelling the concession stands can make it tough to resist. But consider these numbers:

8 ounces of cheesy nachos-900 calories
8-ounce bag of raw peanuts-800 calories
Hotdog on a stick-400 calories

DOUGHNUTS
If you're on a diet, doughnuts are like the forbidden fruit. That fact alone may be enough to trigger a craving.

Doughnuts are an American favorite- from jelly filled to bear claws and those that are pink frosted or sprinkled. They're a sweet treat that people love but feel bad about eating. Unfortunately, the nutritional information of doughnuts is enough to make anyone think twice before taking a second serving- and sometimes even a first.

Doughnuts are high in calories which may contribute to weight gain. A 2-ounce doughnut has 220 calories. Most doughnuts however are at least 3 ounces or larger. Dunkin Donuts' website states that one of it's chocolate-frosted cake donuts has 340 calories, while one of it's jelly-filled donuts has 260. One doughnut, although usually not enough to make a person feel full on its own, has as many calories as one regular-sized, hearty breakfast.

RED MEAT
Do you feel like a meal is not a meal unless it involves a big chunk of meat? The good news is you don't have to give up meat to achieve a healthy weight- just be choosy about your cuts. A typical flank steak has about 700 calories.

PIZZA
Pizza is America's favorite food. It does have some health benefits: A typical slice has 12 grams of protein and 2.5 grams of fiber. But pizza also has about 280 calories a slice - more if you add meat toppings.

PASTA
Pasta ranks among the top five favorite foods in many countries. The trouble is most people eat white pasta, which is made with refined flour. White pasta has only a fifth the fiber of whole grain pasta, which means it may take more to fill you up. Pasta sauces can be diet-killers too. A large bowl of fettuccine Alfredo has 800 to 1,200 calories.

FRENCH FRIES
This salty side dish is hard to turn down when ordering at a drive-thru. But a large order of fries can have as many calories as a burger-about 500 at a typical fast food restaurant.

NUTS
Whether in a bar or party or strolling in the park, it's easy to keep dipping your hand into the nut bowl, but all those handfuls add up. A cupful of roasted nuts packs more than 800 calories.

COFFEE
Coffee craving may go beyond your typical food craving, thanks to the addictive powers of caffeine. You may feel you can't full wake up without your morning dose. Fortunately, coffee has very few calories- until you load it up with cream and sugar syrups. Large flavored lattes and mochas can have more than 400 calories.

COOKIES
Taking cookies for snacks is a very bad habit because cookies is high in sugar and much more in calories.

PRACTICAL WAYS TO CONTROL YOUR CRAVINGS

Sometimes, going on a diet can really be hard. We are forced to stop eating the food that we love to eat so much. There's always a price for everything and that's the price we have to pay keeping our bodies fit and healthy and to attain that slim and trim figure that we so desire.

However, there are moments that just when we suppress our appetite for a certain favorite food the more that the desire grows and intensify. Ever found that your cravings got worse the harder you tried to ignore them? A study published in the journal Appetite suggested that many people crave the foods that they most attempt to resist. The more we crave to eat it. Food cravings has little to do with nutrients and plenty to do with brain chemistry of pleasure and reward. As a result, a battle is on to test your will. Should we fight the urge to eat, or to just give in to the craving. We emerge from this battle victorious sometimes, but with a pang of regret. Sometimes we give in to the craving and then wallow in guilt and self-loathing.

Personally, I don't think it to be that way. That should not be the case. Going on a diet should not be synonymous to deprivation, or even self-torture. Doing so we'll end us bingeing later and gaining more weight than what we thought we have already lost. Given this, how then can we fight the urge to eat the forbidden and keep to the diet plan?

Going on a diet requires more discipline of the mind than of the body. The mind should rule over the body. Our planned diet should not equate with deprivation in our mind, simply because it should not be that way. We can still eat whatever we want to eat whenever we want it. Rather than going cold turkey on your junk food addiction, having a little of what you fancy should help to reduce the temptation to binge on your favorite treats. You could try following the 80/20 rule; eating healthily 80 per cent of the time and being less strict for the other 20 per cent. There's one thing though that we have to remember, is for us to eat our food in portions and try to burn whatever excess calories that we have eaten. We can either spend extra time in the gym or added repetitions in our workouts. We  can also spend just more time walking. Any form of movements helps burn calories.

More often than not, eating a small portion of the food we crave is better than just suppressing. If we suppress our craving, we will just end up bingeing when we let go. Whereas when we eat just a small amount, the craving will be satisfied and we will not end up taking to much.

But there is a limit as to giving in to our cravings. Eating a small portion when done regularly many times of the day defeats the purpose of your diet plan because you will be unable to burn the excess calories. One best thing to do to avoid the craving is to get our mind as far away from it as possible. We should stash the booty where we cannot easily find it or so reach for it when the cravings come a-calling. To keep our mind off the craving, we should keep our self busy and do something else, like read or do chores or go out for a walk to kill time and get the craving out of our system. By the time we are done, the craving is most likely gone too.

However, sometimes we just need to sit down and analyze why we crave a certain food so much. Food is known to bring comfort to some people in the face of emotional distress; could it be that we just eat just to drive the pain away? Unfortunately, no matter how much food we eat, the source of our pain will not go away.

It's not wrong to crave for food. We should, however, learn to watch ourselves so we won't overdo it. That is all it takes to control the craving. But there are cases wherein craving is not just a simple as that.

If you experience regular, intense cravings for particular foods, it may be that you are suffering from a nutritional deficiency which your body is trying to address. It is believed that chocolate cravings can stem from a magnesium deficiency, while a lack of chromium in the diet can lead to sugar cravings. Maintaining healthy levels of zinc can also help to regulate your appetite. Make sure you are eating a wide variety of nutritious foods to address any deficiencies in your diet.
 

Whether your cravings stem from hunger, boredom or lack of motivation, heading out for a run or hitting the gym could help you not to give in. Exercise is not only a great distraction from your cravings, a study led by a researcher at Loughborough University has also found that aerobic exercise can help to suppress your appetite. Furthermore, getting active will help you to feel great about your body, and you wouldn't want to ruin all that hard work with a junk food binge now would you?

Just because you've decided to eat healthily, that doesn't mean you can never snack again. Rather than giving in to your junk food cravings, try experimenting with healthier alternatives, such as frozen yoghurt or sorbet instead of ice cream, seasoned popcorn rather than crisps and sweet potato wedges instead of fries.
 

If you're struggling to resist sugar cravings, try investing in a vanilla scented candle or air freshener for your home or wearing a vanilla scented perfume to curb cravings while on the go. A study at St George's hospital, south London, found that using vanilla-scented patches on the back of participants' hands significantly reduced their appetite for sweet foods and drinks. It is believed that this is because the smell of vanilla can help to suppress sweet cravings.

 

Research has found that eating carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes stimulates the production of the 'happy hormone' serotonin in the brain. This may explain why many of us crave these 'comfort' foods when we're feeling down. To cut your cravings, try to find healthier ways to give your serotonin levels a boost, such as meeting up with a friend, watching a comedy movie, taking part in an exercise session or smelling some uplifting essential oils such as neroli or lemon.

Just as many of us indulge in comfort eating when we're feeling down, stress can also be a powerful trigger for cravings. Research from the University of Cincinnati has shown that sodium in salt inhibits the body's stress hormones, meaning that cravings for salty foods could be your body's attempt to deal with stress. To overcome these cravings, try to avoid the things that cause you stress as much as you can and make relaxation a regular part of your routine. Find a healthier way to deal with stress when it occurs, such as working out, meditating or talking through your problems with a friend.

According to research results published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, your environment can be a powerful trigger for food cravings. Maybe you associate going to the cinema with eating popcorn, for example, or watching your favourite TV show makes you reach for a snack. To banish habit-formed cravings, try to avoid the environments that trigger them. Take up a hobby that reduces your TV time, or walk a different route to work so as not to pass by your favourite coffee shop. By avoiding certain places or activities, you can help to kill those cravings.

While it may sound counterproductive, if your cravings are really getting on top of you, breakfast could be the perfect time to indulge. Researchers from Tel Aviv University found that participants who ate a 600-calorie breakfast which included dessert lost an average of 40lbs more than those who had a smaller 300-calorie one. This is thought to be because the metabolism is more efficient in the morning, and also because giving into cravings first thing can help to banish them for the rest of the day.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that not getting enough sleep affects our appetite-regulating hormones, meaning that we feel hungrier the next day and are also more likely to crave calorie-rich, high-carbohydrate foods. Not only that, lack of sleep decreases willpower, meaning that you are less likely to resist those cravings. To help reduce your cravings, make sure you get a minimum of seven hours of sleep a night.

And oh, one more thing, this all seems like complete common sense to me, but researchers discovered by looking at brain scans that simply showing test subjects pictures of yummy foods engaged the same parts of the brain associated with appetite and pleasure. Just looking at a photo was enough to ignite cravings and spark appetite.

That part seemed obvious to me- that looking at yummy pictures can make you feel like you 1.) are suddenly hungry and 2.) are suddenly hungry for what you are looking at!

The more interesting part of the study was that these bodily reactions are similar to those found in cocaine addicts, when they were presented with pictures of needles or their drug of choice. The cocaine addicts' brain regions lit up in the same manner as the people looking at pictures of super yummy foods. That's a bit scary isn't it? More evidence that sugar and fat can become addictive, just like drugs. It's the same way as looking at adult pictures that sets your mood and appetite for sex.

So guys, avoid looking at yummy pictures to control your cravings. That's it ! Happy Diet!

EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO SIRI

 

 

 

How many of you have your phone lying next to you in bed at night? Or feel a form of anxiety or emptiness when your phone is not around or not working? Chances are you recognize this. You can argue whether this is a bad thing or not, and though many will probably have the realization with a sense of embarrassment,  the fact remains that most of us are in some way emotionally attached to our mobile phone.

There is a quite logical explanation for this. Over the years our phones grew from a useful communication tool to an entity that is an icon of who we are. With its contacts, messages, photos, high scores, likes and dislikes it is the embodiment of our social and emotional life. Imagine a situation where you accidently swapped your phone with somebody else’s. You would either be very curious to take a look inside this person’s life or you would feel awkward knowing that you can. Possibly both. Even more so, you would likely feel very uncomfortable knowing that this other person has this embodiment of your life in their hands. Not because it contains a list of phone numbers that could also be found in a phone book, but because it is such a personal part of your life that you might not even be comfortable sharing it with others. All these emotions prove that there is in fact something more going on than having a convenient tool to stay in touch with others.

With the iPhone 4S, Apple introduced Siri to the world, the intelligent voice recognition assistant. And though the technology might not be entirely new, as with other Apple introductions, it is the first time that this technology will be put to use by the masses. I don’t really want to get into the discussion on whether or not Siri will deliver on its expectations, but there’s a big chance that eventually this form of interaction with our phone will happen on a big scale. Especially now that Apple put its money on it. The technology will evolve and it won’t be long before you have comfortable conversations with your phone without choosing your words carefully to make it understand you. Interaction will go fluently and you’ll be able to personalize your assistant by choosing your own name for it and downloading custom voice packs.

What is that biggest infidelity cliché again? Right. The boss and his secretary. Let’s just say that when two people spend a lot of time together and know intimate details about each other, a certain bond develops. There is, hopefully, no sexual power play going on between you and your phone but you might get my point. Siri might become the one that you talk to most consistently throughout the day. The one that knows all your likes and dislikes, the one that knows your favorite restaurant, where you’ve been and where you are, the one that is always with you and the one that wishes you a good night every evening when you tell it to set your alarm. (And let’s not forget: it never argues with you and always has your best interest at heart). I’m very carefully referring to Siri as “it” here but in many reviews, podcasts and YouTube demos I have already heard many say: “she uses information from...” or “she seems to respond best by…”, etc.

 

 There is no denying that we tend to grow emotionally attached to our phones. And I for one am very interested to see what kind of influence the introduction of Siri will turn out to have on this matter. Will people start seeing their phone as a person? Because that is clearly the metaphor Apple is going for with Siri and her human voice and human way of answering (not: “-no results-” but: “I’m sorry, I couldn’t find any information on that.”). How often will the iPhone’s processor have to analyze sentences like “thank you” or “thanks for that”, a politeness that is completely irrelevant to say to a lifeless object but feels like the proper thing to say to a person who helped you out with something.
 
I am sure people graduated on the concept of emotional attachment to artificial intelligence, a topic that probably has been around ever since we started fantasizing about robots. The remarkable thing about last October 4th is though, that it marks the date when, for the first time in history, millions of people started using artificial intelligence in their everyday life. And for the first time we will find out how (or whether) the average human grows feelings for something that talks like a person but is in fact nothing more than an arrangement of plastic, metal and silicon.

 http://www.allcoolandnew.com/emotional_attachment_to_siri_editorial_.php

 What's SIRI?

Siri (pronounced /ˈsɪri/) is an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator which works as an application for Apple's iOS. The application uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Web services. Apple claims that the software adapts to the user's individual preferences over time and personalizes results, and performing tasks such as finding recommendations for nearby restaurants, or getting directions.

Siri was originally introduced as an iOS application available in the App Store by Siri, Inc., which was acquired by Apple on April 28, 2010.Siri, Inc. had announced that their software would be available for BlackBerry and for Android-powered phones, but all development efforts for non-Apple platforms were cancelled after the acquisition by Apple.

Siri, Inc. was founded in 2007 by Dag Kittlaus (CEO), Adam Cheyer  (VP Engineering),  and Tom Gruber (CTO/VP Design), together with Norman Winarsky from SRI International's venture group. On October 13, 2008, Siri announced it had raised an $8.5 million Series A financing round, led by Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures.^[8] In November 2009, Siri raised a $15.5 million Series B financing round from the same investors as in their previous round, but led by Hong-Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Dag Kittlaus left his position as CEO of Siri at Apple after the launch of the iPhone 4S.

Siri was launched first as an application available on Apple's App Store in the United States. It integrated with services such as OpenTable,Google Maps, MovieTickets and TaxiMagic. Using voice recognition technology from Nuance and their service partners, users could make reservations at specific restaurants, buy movie tickets or get a cab by dictating instructions in natural language to Siri. Siri was acquired by Apple on April 28, 2010, and the original application ceased to function on October 15, 2011.

 

On October 4, 2011, Apple introduced the iPhone 4S with their implementation of Siri. The new version of Siri is integrated into iOS, and offers conversational interaction with many applications, including reminders, weather, stocks, messaging, email, calendar, contacts, notes, music, clocks, web browser, Wolfram Alpha, and maps. Currently, Siri only supports English (American, Australian, British), German, French, and Japanese, and has limited functionality outside the United States.

After announcing that Siri is included with the iPhone 4S, Apple removed the existing Siri app (which ran on all iPhone models) from the App Store.

Independent developers claim that they have ported Siri into the other iOS devices. However, some news sites suggest that the videos posted by the developers as "proof" only show the user interface of the Siri software, and not the voice commands, implying that developers have not been able to port the application with full functionality. However, new reports from January 2012 suggest that independent developers have succeeded in porting Siri to earlier iPhone models, the iPod Touch and iPad. i4Siri.com, a United States based team, have demonstrated Siri working as intended on the iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and iPad, communicating without the Apple servers.

In later January 2012, independent developers successfully created and distributed a legal port of Siri to older devices via Cydia.The port, however, requires authorization keys from another iPhone 4S, which can exploited in the form of a proxy server, or by transferring the Siri authorization file from an iPhone 4S. Due to this requirement, developers have bypassed Apple's Siri server completely by creating their own backend using APIs from services such as Google and Wolfram Alpha.

In June 2012, at Apple's WWDC conference, Apple announced that Siri will be available on the 3rd generation iPad beginning in late 2012 with the release of iOS 6. Also in June 2012, at Apple's WWDC conference, Apple announced updates for Siri coming in iOS 6 (launching in fall 2012.) These new features include: opening apps, telling sports scores and other sports related information, checking movie times, finding restaurants and also ordering reservations. Siri can also tell the height of sports players in iOS 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri_(software)