The secret diet

 

Recently I got linked up with some acting and modelling agencies and as most of us, I do have a flare for media. The passion for becoming famous and to be known across the globe – takes us places, it always excites me. Not only this but also the monitory rewards are reasonable well. 

So as I was saying, I have applied for some positions and luckily got some audition calls. I won’t say that I was fat but slightly over weight. Also, because of my thick jawline and high cheekbones I always seem to be carrying more weight then I actually weigh. So I decided to read about different diets and exercises. But one particular author; Timothy Ferris caught my attention. I am also reading one of his another masterpiece named; ‘The 4 hour work week’ which is the New York number one best sellers. He wrote another book on the similar pattern and named it; ‘The 4 week diet plan’. In this book he clearly stated everything which is pretty much everywhere. But there was one thing which just magnifies everything and not only that but gives a kick start for your own diet.

A lot of students, friends and family members have asked me to share this ‘secret diet’ with them. Well firstly there is no secrets and secondly, it is all about consistency and hard work. Yes Hard WORK! In the following paragraph I will describe my daily diet that I have followed in the past 3 weeks and lost almost 2 inches of my waist and couple of kilos off my fat belly and overall body.

Breakfast is based on two egg whites with a cup of coffee – no milk and very less sugar, 2 glasses of water (room temperature) The cold water increases your weight (for further reasons try google) Try not to have the egg yoke as it contains most of the fats.  

In lunch I just have water and coffee. Try to increase your water intake with 60% in a day. Because modern research explains that when you feel hungry and crave for food; 80% of this false alarm is for the water and not the food. But we tend to increase our food intake, which clearly shouldn’t be done. No food intake in lunch just water or coffee.

Dinners are normally based on boiled chicken breast pieces with very less vegetables. Try not to fry them or anything just boil it with some salt and black pepper.  I know it tastes weird and probably on the 2nd week you find it disgusting, but believe you me it will pay off like anything. I don’t take fruits or greens because normally fruits have fructose which is sugar. It adds a little extra on your tummy sides and makes you feel bloated. 

Try drinking water all the time. It will not only cope up with your appetite but also keep your skin healthy and you feel absolutely fresh. For all those, who cook and keep munching on something ‘little’ during the day, please refrain from doing so. Even a tiny bite of a sandwich or a pack of crisp will take you back to square one. Increase the use of lemon in your diet too. Like for instance, a lot of people take slightly warm water with some lemon into it. You can do that too. The citrus in lemon will start cutting the extra fats and carbs from your body.

You have to continue with this diet for about six days. And not to forget there is a 2 mile run everyday. Or for people who are too lazy they need to walk briskly for about 20 minutes a day. Keep increasing it everyday. Like I started with half a mile and with in a week I went up to 4 miles a day. Diet and exercise go hand in hand. If you do one bit, but forget the other, you won’t be able to see the desired results. 

Now the exciting part, on the seventh day (you continue the diet for 6 days), you have a day of freedom. For me, it is normally a Saturday night till Sunday night. In these 24 hours you are allowed to consume as much calories as you like. You can have 10 burgers, 15 pizzas and 2 litres of ice cream. But make sure this stays with in a time limit of 24 hours. Once 24th hour is over, you are back on your strict diet.

 

Please keep one thing in mind, I am not a dietitian nor a nutritionist or a Doctor. So these are some certain things that I am doing for my own self and it is working just about fine with me. But this doesn’t necessarily means it will work for you too. So if you feel dizzy or awkward, please try to consult your GP or Doctor immediately. I admit that yes, one day while running I almost fall down because of weakness. But our mind plays tricks! The more weak you FEEL the more weak you will actually become. So try to push your limits and boundaries and be brave. Watch movies and clips of different models/celebrities/fitness stars doing their workouts in the gym, this is the diet for your brains/mind and your psychology.

 

Before starting it, make sure you take your measurements so that you can see how much you have achieved. And Do TIME YOURSELF.

Good luck!! 

A lonely Saturday

Yes! As the title explains a lot. It is about midnight, and I’m all alone in my apartment, sipping away green tea with lemon (no I’m not ill neither I’m a fitness freak) and searching for random stuff. Nowadays, I am reading a book named ‘The 4 hour work week by Tim Ferris. What an absolute masterpiece it is! I mean literally the author has revealed some of the wildest secrets of success. The best part about the book is that you can put it into practice in no time. Unlike most of the other books, it takes a while  for the efforts to start reflecting on your own profile. Sometime it takes days, weeks or even months.

Anyway, I am not going to blog about the book or the review(not now at least). Nowadays, another important thing that goes through my mind is the fact that when and how soon can I be able to start my Phd proposal. I have been speaking to some brilliant people on twitter regarding Phd and they’ve all admitted to the fact that proposal is one of the toughest challenge. It isn’t an easy task to find your deep interests and passions and then to write about it. Not only write about it but also research and compile your findings up in the end.

Also, because I’m one of those souls that don’t get stuck to one particular task but are all over the place (certainly not a healthy thing, but it sure as hell is worth doing!) And bearing my nature in mind, I also am working on a small novel/book/novelette/novella whatever you can call it. Besides the novel and Phd I also have joined a team of extremely talented people and now working for a newly started magazine. Also shooting for a movie, yes a short British movie made by students. Its a university project of the final year students and they’re really putting their heart and soul into it. Also I’m taking a teaching course PTLLS. Other then all this, also thinking to take up a creative writing course from London school of Journalism. But as there is too much in my plate at the moment I guess it will be good to wait for a while.

Tomorrow is Sunday! Have to get a lot of work done! So I’m off to bed!

Good night to all the beautiful people!

A journey from Manchester to Edinburgh – Part 1

Having lived in the UK for the last 7 years, I have never had the chance to explore the divine and scenic beauty of Edinburgh, Scotland. I always made a plan but most of the time, those plans ended in smoke (the story of our lives isn’t it?), but this time I decided that no matter what happened I am not going to change my mind and will stick to the plan.

So I checked my pockets, emptied my piggy bank and packed up my stuff. I made sure that Lilly (my kitten) had enough supplies for a couple of days; the next task was to make sure the taxi arrived in time.

Those who are regular users of taxis will know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that if you want a cab to be on your doorstep by 1800, make sure you ask the cab station to send it at 1745. In my case, the cabbie got late and when I called to enquire about it, I received the response ‘He’s right at the corner, literally 30 seconds away’. This is again a very ‘cliché’ situation and ‘regulars’ are fully aware of it.

After hopping into the back of the cab, I checked my pockets for the ticket (as one does), and thank God I had it!! When I reached the station, I found the cab’s meter had been quite favourable to me (which isn’t the usual case), and after getting the luggage out of the cab, I walked in the station and started to look around for my platform.

The train arrived on time just like they do on the adverts between your favourite sitcoms and programmes and it was a pleasant journey, other than the fact that the person sitting next to me had some stomach troubles and she had to keep slipping off to the loo, which made me leave my seat after every fifteen minutes.

Eventually, a drop in temperature welcomed me warmly at the Haymarket station, Edinburgh. The taxi search wasn’t difficult compared to most of the cabbies in Europe; which made life so much easier. Luckily I didn’t have to wait for long, ‘Where vould yew lyke to go Sire?’ strong Scottish accent was appealing.

‘Inverleith terrace‘, I tried to response in strong ‘English’ manner’.

The hotel was very warm and cosy (worth the money I’d say). The room, however, was as small as a matchbox with a double bed squeezed in. Right after settling in I decided to look for some nice Scottish restaurants but couldn’t resist the craving for ‘daal roti’ or I’d say the Asian food. The receptionist ordered me a nice takeaway, and a walk with some cigarettes after a full day was enough to put me to bed.

The next morning, after having delicious vegetarian omelette with black coffee, I set out to explore the ecstatic beauty of Edinburgh. The first stop was ‘Botanic Gardens’; a place where you can find the most beautiful, unique and most extinct species of the plantsworld. It was absolutely stunning, the whole ambiance and the collection of plants was indeed a very refreshing view. After spending approximately an hour (since I’m not too much into plants), I decided to hop on the tour bus.

As soon as I got on the bus the driver immediately spotted the ‘tourist’ in me. ‘twailve pounds that will be fore thee toure buss’, I gave him the money but then I got instantly lucky! Not that I won the million pound drop live or something like that, but the ticket machinegot messed up and the driver told me to stay on the bus for FREE!! The feeling of saving the twelve quid is quiet overwhelming (especially when you’re struggling with your finances and are on a tight vacation budget)

The cold wind and some other tourists accompanied me on the beautiful and quiet informative tour of the city. Edinburgh castle, Royal Britannia Yacht, the Ocean terminal, the Royal Mile, the Parliament and the Holy rood palace were some of the places to be named. I decided to hop off the bus at the city centre. It was quiet busy as the weather was relatively sunny and obviously it was a weekend. The beautiful and majestic shopping malls were quiet appealing. These massive shopping plazas are designed with keeping human psychology in mind, as the way these malls have been designed – they will make you spend money on products you probably won’t even need much.

 

Continued to Part 2

A journey from Manchester to Edinburgh – Part 1

‘Edinburgh Dungeon’ caught my attention just like politicians tries to catch the attention of the voters. Since I’m quiet an adventurous soul (well that is what I like to think), I decided to buy the ticket to satisfy my inner ego. ‘Yes, I can see this’, its only fun’, ‘Nothing real is happening here’, these were some of the thoughts going through my mind, just like most of us do to calm our nerves down.

The moment came when it was my turn at the ticket counter, I knew it was going to be a really horrifying and dangerous experience and you know why I made such assumption? Because the ticket costs around £16.50 per person! Now this is some scary number for an hour journey in a dark dungeon with some live actors messing around and trying to portray horror, when really you know it is all fake!

The dungeon was an ‘okay’ experience since it was quiet obvious that it is the entire act. However, the two rides were quiet exciting, especially the ‘sudden drop’ from a certain height which was quiet overwhelming.

Right after the ‘horror’ experience of my life (yeah right), I decided to go to a rather informative place Our Dynamic Earth. It is a place with lots of information regarding the planet earth, astronauts, space and a classic 4D experiencing movie. I’d say it was quiet good, especially for the students and for those individuals who are quiet eager tolearn about earth and its existence.

By the time I got done with the Dynamics of our Earth (had a nostalgia of my Geography and History class from school days), I had some coffee with some snacks from the local café and decided to walk towards the back of the premises.

It was a beautiful, gigantic and majestic view of mountains. Families, couples, health and fitness conscious individuals running around in their track suits with their, different ages and different races of life were gathered there to enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of this ‘Volcanic Rock’.

Volcanic Rock is a series of mountain peaks (not too high) spread all over in a very breathtaking manner. On the top, the weather, clouds and the sun; in short, every element was putting a combined effort to make the rock look even more beautiful. As I sometimes say, it’s very hard to describe the level of beauty of any particular thing, because words just won’t do it justice.

There are stairs carved through the entire peak so that the adventurous souls (like me) can taste the excitement of these heights. I stayed there for a couple of hours and took lots of pictures as the place was fully equipped with scenic beauty.

I took the cab because I was too hungry and too tired to wait in the queue for the bus. In the hotel I ordered some delicious Italian room service with some diet coke. Funny isn’t it how people order meals that are full of fats and all of the other useless material, yet they do not forget to order the ‘diet’ version of the drink. I mean, the ‘diet’ term doesn’t mean that you are ‘losing weight’ or ‘dieting’- irony of life!

The night was pleasant till I decided to take the ‘Terror Tour of Edinburgh’. People from all over Britain tend to believe that Edinburgh is the most haunted city of all because of the historical events that have happened. Some of the more opportunists amongst the crowd decided to make some money out of it by formed small tourist companies and advertising some ‘scary’ spots throughout the city centre that are ‘supposed’ to be haunted.

Every night they have a tour guide taking you through these ‘scary’ places and telling you all kind of scary and spooky stories about the past. I’m not saying that it is all wrong or fake; the stories may be true and so does the events from the past but the way they portray it to the public is just too commercial. The tour guides wear a weird sort of outfit that will make it look like a ghost hunter or something of that sort, this accompanied by the voice pitch, the dim lights, the exhibition of the torture weapons that were used by the Scottish people to assassinate other people, makes it all quiet a chilling experience especially for those who are not as sceptical and believes in such things.

I am not saying that spirits or ‘djin’ don’t exist, they surely do, but going through the streets and finding some weird markings on your skin as if someone’s scratched you don’t really make sense. I have figured that the only reason why people were feeling dizzy, throwing up, passing out, pissing themselves literally is quite logical. The tour guide will take you to the underground chambers that are dark, they have a very limited supply of both oxygen and light, and because of the entire ambiance the brain starts to see things, resulting in the creation of an illusion of some kind. I also felt the pressure when I was in the underground chambers but I knew the reasons for it. Overall, it was a chilling experience.

The next morning, I checked out of the hotel after having my usual breakfast based on the omelette and some toast. The hotel receptionist rang me the cab that took me to the station and I took my train and returned back to ‘home sweet home’, where some junk mail and my kitten greeted me.

Then of course back to work the following day, knowing that instead of having an average weekend, I got to spend it in some of the most beautiful scenery the United Kingdom has to offer.

Exploitation of Education – Desi College Mafia

The title itself is quite self-explanatory. For people who don’t know, the word ‘desi’ depicts people originated from ‘Asian Subcontinent’. As a lecturer and a marketing head of a reputable college of the UK I come across several students on a daily basis. As my job description also includes counselling students, recruiting them from several parts of the world and also to monitor their progress and to make sure a decent amount of education should be provided at a standard fees; that’s where I get to see the dark side of this whole scenario.

Some years back when a student used to acquire a UK Student visa, and achieve higher education from here, his/her entire family feels proud, he/she becomes a role model and have a very high probability of having an excellent life. If we go back in time, it indeed was quiet a pleasant experience for a student to come to the UK for study purposes. People truly respect those who achieve this milestone. But looking at the current situation the whole picture has changed completely. And where it has became a source of becoming a millionaire for some but also destroyed the lives of thousands.

The problem starts when an individual shows interest in studying abroad and visit the local consultants of the city. Deprived economies always have fantasized about the developed and progressed economies. Different ‘Recruitment Consultants’ are sitting in these deprived countries like a hawk, looking out for their preys which mostly are poor students. They sell the dream of having an excellent life and present such a beautiful picture in front of student that he/she decides to move abroad without researching about the college or university. These ‘hunters’ immediately capture their prey(students) and hunt them down without giving them a chance to think twice. They portray that after only a year or two they not only have a secure future but also can help their entire family move abroad. As a consultant they are only concerned about their commissions. Most of them don’t have any idea about the requirements of the policies or the recruitment and consultation procedures. A lot of my students said that their consultants told them that after reaching the UK, it is up to them (students)to go to the college or not. Students were told that it is not an issue if you don’t attend the college. “You can have a full-time job where you can easily earn a handsome salary without having any issues from the college administration or even from the Government”. High consultation fees, college letter charges, visa fees charges, courier charges and the list goes on. Parents living in deprived areas with no awareness about the rules and regulations of the country’s educational policies get themselves victimised through such hunters. They end up selling everything for the tuition fees of their kids, with a hope that one day their son/daughter will have the life they couldn’t have. Emptying the saving accounts, selling lands and properties etc, in short anything to get their ‘child’ admission and visas for the UK.

These consultants, not only rip the students but also earn ridiculous commissions from the colleges. Upon asking, a student said, “I paid around Rs 1 million (approx £10,000) to the consultant for the visa documentation, fees for the college and the consultation fees. But when I arrived to the UK and went to see the college, an empty flat was there to welcome me and nothing else”. As we all are aware of the frauds and incidents happened in the past because of internet and the wrong information provided by such websites. There are thousands of such cases. If we keep digging deep we will find out that the real filth and commercial exploitation of education is by those who are from the similar background and knows exactly how to market their ‘product’ under the umbrella of ‘FOREIGN EDUCATION’ in such economies.

Obviously the question and the blame reflects back on the students. It surely is the students’ responsibility to find out exactly what they are getting themselves into. Most of such students cannot bear the high fees of the universities that is why they opt this method, which comes with a package of humiliation, stress, waste of time and resources and hopelessness. The owners and founders of colleges are progressing by leaps and bounds, keep increasing their bank balances through the hard earned cash of such students and their families.

This mafia not only recruit tutors and lecturers on a very low scale but also make sure that these tutors and other staff members from the similar parts of the world, in other words, deprived economies. Instead of focusing the progress of the students the staff meetings are based on recruitment of more and more students. As mentioned earlier, two decades back it was a source of pride for the entire family of such students who secure visa and get their education from British education system. But looking at the current scenario, even the corporations think twice before appointing a ‘UK return student’. Because of the internet it is fairly easy for these companies to find our the reality of such institutions; resulting the inclination of unemployment ratio.

Some of the students literally cried in front of me and told me that if they can’t be able to acquire their degree or certificates then they will either commit suicide or they will not see their families ever again. I personally request all of the readers to create awareness among themselves and look out for such ‘Mafia Colleges’ and report them to the local authorities. Currently the rules and regulations have been tightened by the UK Government, resulting closure of hundreds of such colleges. Because the rules are strict and in order to abide by them, these colleges have to spent lots of money which obviously they can’t or should I say they don’t want to. Consistent check and balance system should be implemented where every college should have a standard of education system, all tutors and lecturers should get a standard pay cheque. Not only that, but also the recruitment consultants should be checked thoroughly.

I hope that these mafia colleges should get shut down at the earliest because the level of misery and pain, the students have to go through because of them is not only a threat to the lives and moral but also to the educational system of the country.

Daily appetite

Just before I am going to hit the sack and lose myself completely in the world of ‘sleepland’, I thought to gather my remaining energy and write something. It starts to irritate me if I don’t write something creative for a day or two. The feeling of writing something creative is quiet intoxicating. It is as intoxicating as the last puff of cigarette or first sip of an old and classic whisky.

The habit of writing is taking a next level; a level of more intensity. But I guess this is where a person starts to realise its true potential, the true forte. Most of us don’t even realise their true potential most of their life but some of us do realise their own self.
I was thinking to write something related to the recent movies that I watched, one of them was ‘J Edgar’ starring Leonardo Dicaprio and other was ‘The Lady’ which was inspired by the great political figure from Burma named, Aung San Su kyi – it took me some days to memorise the name of the great lady.

J-Edgar truly reflects the idea of leadership, integrity, honesty and above all – taking initiatives and stand for your principle. Those of you, who are not familiar with the name (or haven’t even googled till now) he was the first Director for Federal Bureau of Investigation. Not only this, but the only one to serve with most presidents of the United States; Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight S Eisenhower, John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson and Richard Nixon.

The man’s life depicts the true meaning of leadership which can be seen clearly through the vision of the movie director, Clint Eastwood. Edgar didn’t take a fall at any point in time. He truly reflects the picture of a man who stands firm on his decision. Standing firm on the decision is one thing and moulding yourself according to the circumstances is another. In this movie the director showed that how a man started the entire department from the scratch and took it to a level, which is considered to be as one of the most vibrant and advanced investigative organisation of the world.

In my next post I will discuss the great leader Aung San Su Kyi and the movie ‘The Lady’, because right now, I HAVE TO hit the sack else my whole routine will be disturbed.

Thanks for reading and sharing.

Sex sells at the cost of….?

Lately I have noticed something on media that is quiet serious. Or should I say, will soon become very serious. Every channel I go through, no matter if it is a news channel, buy and sell or some kind of kids program – I always observe extra nudity in it. Most of the program I have witnessed lately have a strong influence of sexual content and that has been elaborated like anything. Showing extra skin, vulgar clothes and what not. Every single program is full of content that arouse negative sexual feelings in any sane human being.

People from media replies to such criticism in a very vague manner or should I say in a very traditional manner. They always hide it behind ‘professionalism’. Upon asking a couple of media directors, they replied, ‘Well people appreciate such stuff and like to watch it that is why we air it’. Whereas, I believe it is the other way round. By exploiting women and men as sexual objects these people are not only creating wrong desires but also putting a very wrong image of the WEST. As a lecturer and a public speaker I interact with hundreds of students every month. And somewhere deep down, these poor souls are here not only because of economical reasons but a reasonable majority of these men and women look towards the WEST in a very wrong manner. They think that just like most of the programmes and movies it will be much easier to acquire sexual pleasure in the WEST (though I am not claiming one cannot have it in EAST or anywhere else) They persuade their inner self and try to indulge themselves with shallow acts that eventually take them to the dark side of their own character.

I ask the media personalities to explain this to the viewers that why do they use women as sexual objects in particular? Why does a news reader has to show her body in a persuasive and inviting manner? Why does the host of the kids show in the morning has to reveal her skin so much? Why do they even design programmes that are solely based on sexual contents( I am not referring to the porn industry here). We all have heard that SEX SELLS, but does anyone ever know the real cost one has to pay for it? It is indeed a high time for all of us. If this trend can’t be stop at this point in time then I would say that the world indeed will end in 2012.

Not the poor but the E-LIGHT

As a typical Asian man I do tend to think from my heart most of the time. In the past few hours I’ve been watching a video clip by a local presenter of a local news channel of Pakistan. It makes me cringe and fumes ignites in my heart when I saw something real shallow on such a massive scale. Nowadays, anyone who can get a bit ‘nude’ and can show a bit of ‘decent vulgarity’ in their personalities can easily be a part of media.

Since it is about Pakistan, I again will emphasize on the fact that how important it is for all of us to get education. A lot of people get confuse with the term ‘Education’. Education doesn’t really mean achieving MBA, MA, Phd or some other kind of degree. It basically means how aware are you about right and wrong. Can you distinguish between the truth and false. Can you be able to move your way up the employment ladder not by what you have learned in the books but by what you have learned from life.

In this particular program, this presenter named Maya Khan clearly crossed all sorts of limits. Running after people who are ‘meeting’ in public places and asking them all sorts of irrelevant questions; not only is been condemned by the law but also by the religion. Instead of running after the poor people I believe that she should start to analyse her own-self. If you want to bring the change in the society then implement a similar law for everyone. It is simply not acceptable to have strict law for the poor. But anyone who can ‘afford’ to buy the law, can use it in its favour and also against anyone who can’t be able to buy it.

To create awareness doesn’t mean you can start violating people’s privacy. As I mentioned earlier if you need to change then be the change, lead by example. If you can’t be a role-model or people do not look up to you as one, then you have no right to start acting like one. If you have a clean past (which clearly isn’t the case in Maya Khan’s situation) then yes, probably you will be supported by some.

I hereby condemn the shameful act of vulgarity that has been done by the presenter Maya Khan, the director of the show, the content writer and the owner of the channel. They should all, apologies for what they have done.

‘You know who’

You taught me what love is, what beauty is, what life is, what smile is, what colours are, what rain is, what sunshine is, what I am today and tomorrow will be because of you! and ‘You know Who’ I am talking about. If you read it, you will understand it and if you are a random reader – well you can connect this to anyone who you ever loved in your life.

Decisions and lessons

Sitting in the coffee house, staring through the window, observing people passing by is indeed a view of its own kind. People from different races, nationalities, gender, style and what not; one cannot figure out as to what exactly is going through their minds, their lives, and their world. You probably witness a smiley face but what is behind that, will remain a mystery till that person vocalizes the thoughts.

It’s been a long time since I last came in a coffee shop, solely for writing purposes. I can’t possibly remember the last time I actually made a visit, other then my tuitions – off course.

People sometimes make mistakes, silly mistakes, mistakes that will give them serious lessons and made them pay high prices. I believe that life has a twisted mind of its own. We think that we control our lives, but as always; reality is crazier then fiction. It is always the other way round. It’s our life that actually drives us from one destination to the next one. As a teacher I come across different individuals; students. Students with tremendous potential, have thinking abilities and who truly are learning for a change (unlike me who just secured high degrees to have better job and haven’t got it till now) I believe that like every other teacher, life and circumstances are our teachers too. We probably will forget the lessons that has been taught by our parents or by our teachers but we surely wont be able to forget the lessons that has been taught by life itself.