Stay Healthy Even on Vacation

Traveling is one of life’s great joys. Many of us spend months dieting and upping our workout schedules to fit into new vacation clothes. Unfortunately, traveling can also make it challenging to keep up this good behavior while on the road. Here, Cole Millen, guest blogger, has compiled some easy tips on how to stay healthy while on vacation. Cole is an avid traveler and foodie who never forgets that life's best memories are made through real life apprehension of legitimate "experiences."

On the Plane

Plane travel can be uncomfortable and the food available on planes or in airports can be questionable at best. A great idea is to eat well before heading out so that you’re well fueled before your trip begins. Try packing healthy snacks like fruit and nuts, rather than waiting until your only option is a bag of greasy chips. If you do need to eat at the airport or on the plane, look for yogurt and other fresh options like salads and fish or chicken entrees. Take advantage of a layover to move around a bit. You’ll likely spend most of a travel day sitting in a cramped airplane seat, so take a walk around and explore the airport; many have temporary art installations and other interesting sights.

Finding a Healthy Destination

The most important aspect of a healthy vacation is where you are staying. It is pivotal to ensure that prior to your departure, you have chosen a hotel and area that allows you to maintain a healthy lifestyle while you are away. I have found that reading reviews of hotels, restaurants, and vacation areas to be the best way to find unbiased and truly honest information. In a recent trip of mine, through a little research, I was able to find a site that listed reviews for hotels and included all sorts of information regarding amenities, restaurants in and out of the hotel, and other services provided. The site even offers a travel guide overview for each specific city that you wish to travel to. If you are traveling to a new city you are often in the dark about restaurants, hotels, and things to do so a site like this can be extremely helpful.In my most recent experience it led to the finding of a hotel with a gluten free restaurant as well as a gym and spa within!

At the Hotel

Once you get to your hotel, prepare yourself for temptation. The mini-bar, of course, is the epitome of convenience. But beware! Those easy to reach snacks and drinks are both expensive and calorie-laden. Ask at the front desk where the nearest health food store or market is located and get some fresh fruit, granola, or easy to make oatmeal or instant soup that you can prepare by heating water in the coffee maker. If your hotel offers continental breakfast, take advantage of the fresh fruit and yogurt offerings to start your day off right with an energy-packed healthy alternative. Whole grain is a great alternative to nutrient-barren white bread, and eggs can help you get the protein you need without all the fat.

Where to Eat

While in your hotel room, check out the nearby restaurant options. Many phone books include sample menus for some restaurants so you can plan your meal ahead of time to avoid last-minute temptation. Also, investigate potential restaurants online before heading out. If they have a mascot, steer clear!

Do your best to avoid fried entrees, opting for broiled or baked instead. Creamy sauces, soups, and dressings can also pack on the pounds, so focus on red sauces, vegetable broths, and vinaigrettes. Take a pass on the breadbasket before dinner, as this is a filling yet typically unsatisfying starter.

Keeping active and selecting the healthiest food options while traveling will help you enjoy your vacation without breaking your diet!

Hair Like He Wore It

I am not a great fan of blogging contests. I find myself challenged, and on more than one occasion, my experience with blogging contests has been very discomforting. Hence, I have no clue what I was thinking when I clicked on the Indi tab for this one. As a matter of fact, I had quite forgotten I had clicked on it till I got a call asking whether I had received the gift pack. When I said no, the lady said okay and hung up. A few days later, I got a carton in the mail, with a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner.

I hurried back to Indi to see what it was all about. I realized soon that the ramp ready hairstyles were not something I was going to be able to come up with. I decided I would use the shampoo and conditioner and share the results instead. The shampoo-conditioner kit I got was a hairfall control variant, and that interested me. But first I needed to be taught how to use a conditioner. No, it is not like Araldite or M-Seal. You need to wash your hair with the shampoo, then apply the conditioner to the rinsed hair, read a chapter from whichever book is gracing your bathroom shelf, and then rinse again. That is for all of you who, like me, did not know this till now. I did this for a few days. I remembered to take a before picture so that you can see the difference.

13 Amazing Cucumber Things

The cucumber is India's gift to the world. This humble fruit (yes, like tomato and squash, cucumber is actually not a vegetable, but  fruit) has some amazing uses that I would never have known if it were not for this forwarded email. It shows up in a million places on the internet, so I do not know whom to credit, but I thought I would still share it with you guys.

 

 

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

Android Phones Below 5000 Rs

Here is a quick checklist for those who are wanting to buy one of the new lines of sub $100 (<5000 Rs) Android phones. While they may look attractive, you have to consider your needs and the features and power that these phones come with. Here are the top five things you want to keep in mind when you consider buying a Android phone in the sub 5000 Rs range.

1. These phones are an obvious compromise on features and processing power. You will be buying a mid-range phone, but that is not at all hard to learn to live with.
2. Most of these phones offer you a smaller screen size as well as compromise on display quality. Some of them even come with the older IR touch screens.
3. You will be getting a 600 MHz range processor. This, however, is more than adequate for most phone computing needs.
4. Cameras in the sub $100 Android phones segment are way behind what you will get on other camera phones. The other thing that you will need to keep in mind is that while they may boast of high megapixel number, the sensor might not be up to the job of creating quality photographs worthy of 3-5 megapixels.
5. Contracts are built into most of these phones, so be careful to read the fine print and evaluate the longer term cost of ownership. Want to root or jailbreak? Another post altogether!! For more details head over to the detailed post at Cellphone Beat.

Click here to read my full post on Cellphone Beat>>

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The Yoga of Ulysses

The magic of natural growth is that it often results in a more beautiful outcome than something bred in a petri dish of strategy and intent. I am amazed at how this blog has evolved from being a compendium of my posts across my other blogs into a blog that is focused on social, political, and professional development with a readership that is large and to a great extent unique from my other blogs. Much of this credit must go to Dr. Ramesh Grandhi, a popular writer (and artist!!) and frequent frier both here and at Subho's Jejune Diet. As many of you may have noticed, this blog has been updated entirely with his contributions over the last couple of months.

These recent posts on The Curious Hat has attracted much greater readership and interaction than any of the earlier posts. This has carried home to me the power of collaboration and blogging for peace and awareness. The parents of this brief post are my gratitude to Dr. Ramesh Grandhi and the agenbite of inwit for having been unable to contribute to this blog in the recent past.

Rafale Trumps the Typhoon: A Closer Look

Champagne corks are popping in Elysee Palace as Nicolas Sarkozy gets a welcome breather in his campaign for getting re-elected to the French Presidency. That India will have to sign a check for 54000 crores to help him along is what concerns me.

The Rafale has trumped the Eurofighter Typhoon, and if it is indeed the better fighter as our Defense sources say then there is nothing at all to be worried about. There is absolutely no gainsaying the fact that the Air Force should get the best MMRCAs we can buy. With the economic upswing over the last decade we can afford that easily.

What troubles Dr. Ramesh Grandhi, a revered and very popular guest at Subho's Jejune Diet and The Curious Hat, is that factors other than pure excellence of the craft ‘might’ have played a role.

Rape and Civil Society

The Ministry of Women and Child development has finally proposed an amendment to law in that the definition of rape be broadened in order to make the law more comprehensive and gender neutral. Dr. Ramesh Grandhi explores how civil society continues to sweep the real issues behind rape under the carpet.

Rape is a crime where more often than not the perpetrator goes scot free, if I were to hazard an educated guess I would say that even in these modern times rape victims prefer to suffer silently rather go through a media circus in trying to have the offender punished. The stigma attached to rape still exists and it is perhaps a sad comment on our society.

Rape of Europa - Painting by Rubens

It is slightly heartening to note that governments all of the world are waking up to this crime against humanity and making sure the definition of rape becomes even more inclusive, it is imperative that the definition should not allow wriggle room for the rapist. The 1998 International Criminal Tribunal defined Rape as “a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive”. This definition does seem to give enough latitude to prosecutors to bring down the force of law on rapists.

The US government recently announced that it was expanding its definition of rape to include men and also rapes of women other than by physical force. The Obama administration and especially Joe Biden, the Vice President, should be congratulated for this. I don’t really know whether the stats mentioned are true but according to them one in five women are rape victims, a fact that should make all human beings bow their heads in shame!