Stay Slim, Eat Right

More than working out three times a week, staying slim involves eating the right food. Everyone knows that it is really important to exercise to stay fit, but eating right is as important, too. You cannot exercise and continue eating the wrong kinds of food if you want to stay fit. Lifestyle changes should be made that will result in better health. Healthy eating means that you don’t just minimize your calorie intake but also eat the right kinds of food to maintain good cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

 

One of the problems people face these days is the time needed to prepare and eat healthy food. The fast paced lifestyle means that they cannot prepare their salad and instead just take out a burger. However, they do not realize that they can still choose to eat healthy while still maintaining their busy schedule.

Here are some tips to eat healthy and maintain your fit body:

• Eating right means consuming enough fruits and vegetables. For variety, you might choose to select from all the five vegetable groups: dark green, legumes, orange, leafy, and starchy vegetables.

• When buying poultry, meat, beans, or milk products, choose the lean part (for meat) and the low-fat or fat-free (for milk). This minimizes your fat intake.

• When on the go or when traveling, consume three cups of fat-free or low fat-milk or add their equivalent to your beverages such as sugar-free coffee or tea.

• Eat three or more ounces of whole grain products a day or its equivalent. Just remember that half the grains you eat should be whole.

• Keep your calories from saturated fat to less than 10% of the total calories and consume less than 300 mg per day of cholesterol. Try to keep your trans-fat consumption to as low as you can.

• Make sure to keep your total fat intake to between 20 and 35 % of your total calories.

• If you really have limited time, cook your food for several days and freeze it. This allows you to allocate less time for cooking your healthy meals.

• If you like to snack, try eating fruits instead of chocolate bars, and vegetables instead of chips.

No matter how busy your schedule might be, you should find time to eat the right food. Do this with regular exercise to stay fit and healthy.

Don Van Vliet, best known as 'Captain Beefheart', dies aged 69

 

Beefheart in 1974.

Image: "Jean-Luc".

 

US avant-garde musician and painter Don Van Vliet - better known by the stage name Captain Beefheart - died Friday aged 69. New York's Michael Werner Gallery confirmed the cause of death as complications with multiple sclerosis, a condition Van Vliet suffered from for many years.

Born in Glendale, California on January 15, 1941, the highly experimental musician created several unique and influential albums from 1967 through to 1982, backed by a frequently changing group of musicians known as The Magic Band. His most famous album, Trout Mask Replica (1969) melded free jazz, blues-rock, and avant-garde styles to create a critically acclaimed (albeit commercially unsuccessful) work. He retired from music in 1982 to focus on painting.

Whilst none of the albums released by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, including 1967 debut album Safe as Milk, were commercially successful, his work is regularly cited as highly influential. Groups such as The Sex Pistols, Jethro Tull, Hawkwind, and Roxy Music all mention Beefheart as influencing their music.

A childhood friend of Frank Zappa, Beefheart was christened Don Glen Viet, later changing this; and, adopting the stage name of Captain Beefheart at Zappa's suggestion. Of the dozen albums produced under various lineups of the Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica is placed at number 58 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Despite no formal training, it was under his own name and as a painter, that Van Vliet experienced his greatest commercial success. His first exhibition was in Liverpool, in 1972. In the wake of this he was advised that as a painter he would be unlikely to be taken seriously unless he abandoned his musical career.

He is survived by his wife of over 40 years, Jan Van Vliet.

Canadian-born actor Leslie Nielsen dies aged 84

Leslie Nielsen, a Canadian-born US actor, has died at the age of 84. Nielsen appeared in over 100 films in which he played several different roles ranging from romance and drama to comedy. The cause of death was announced as pneumonia. His death was announced by his agent, John S. Kelly. Nielsen was in Fort Lauderdale being treated for the illness at the time of his death.

Born February 11, 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Nielsen started his film career in the 1950s. He starred in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet in 1956 and went to on gain several other roles including the captain in The Poseidon Adventure in 1972. One of his biggest appearances was in the 1980s disaster-parody Airplane!. After that appearance he gained more of a reputation as a comic actor.

One of his most notable roles came in 1988 when he played Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad. He also appeared in the The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear in 1991 and The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult in 1994.

Nielsen was the younger brother of Erik Nielsen, who was deputy prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1986. Erik died in 2008. Leslie Nielsen is survived by his fourth wife Barbaree Earl, and his two daughters from his second marriage, Maura Nielsen Kaplan and Thea Nielsen Disney.

Poker's all about luck, says Swiss Supreme Court

he Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland has ruled that Texas hold 'em poker is a game of luck, rather than a game of skill. As a result, only casinos can host poker tournaments in Switzerland. Private games with friends, even where money is at stake, are still permitted under the ruling.

Poker tournaments had been growing in popularity in the country, with many events held in hotels and bars. Such venues do not have to pay the 50% tax on profits levied on licensed casinos, nor comply with regulations combating money laundering and gambling addiction. Poker is now categorised alongside roulette and slot machines, which as games of luck can only be played inside casinos. Mathematics, strategy, and bluffing were less important in determining the result than chance, said the judges, overturning a lower court ruling to the opposite effect, and disagreeing with the stance of the country's Federal Gaming Commission.

Before the ruling, it had been estimated by the Swiss Federation of Casinos that there were about 100 unlicensed poker tournaments every weekend. A Swiss poker website, SwissPokerTour.ch, has described the result as "a black day for all amateur poker players in Switzerland."