Tuesday 29 December 2015

2 Minutes Diet Plan

Some people have desire to lose weight others want to gain. People who are extremely conscious of their health try to stick to one diet. Others stick to a diet and then try another one but seems like no diet is working for them and they are still gaining weight. If not gaining then definitely not loosing also. People who are celebrities, sports personnel, & those who totally stick to a diet plan and exercise routine have personal dietitian & personal trainer.
But you and me, we are busy. We don't have time to stick to one diet & properly plan it. If one specific item in the specific diet menu is missing, that means the whole plan is ruined and you are not on that diet plan any more. Here is a 2 minutes tip for a good dieting routine! 

See also Which Diet Can Keep You Healthy, Smart, & Trimmed? 

2 Minutes Dieting Plan
Here is a method, in which you don't have to go for specific shopping and worry about specific meal & separate menu. You can eat what is cooked in the home. Yeah! Just fit in with others in the home. You don't have to put extra time to buy your dieting list & don't have to put extra effort to cook your diet menu separately. Just follow the equation:


Easy Dieting = Water + Balanced diet - Junk Food

Water: Drink lots of water. The purpose is to drink water. It takes two minutes to fill a water bottle and keep it with you. It also takes two minutes to make detox water. Detox water is simply water with lemons, citrus fruits, cucumbers, ginger & mint. Remember the goal is to drink lots of water every day. Don't worry about buying specific fruits & veges for it. If you have lemon at home add it to water. Likewise when you have other detox fruits add those. Or simply water! No soft drinks. 

Balanced Diet: You don't need to go for a specific grocery. Your meals should include salad + greens + fruits. The two minutes tip is that you don't have to plan for a specific item, just grab whatever is available at the meal time, any veges any fruit any leafy green. If no salad is available on the table, grab a whole cucumber or carrot and eat it with your meal. Takes 2 minutes! When you add these to your platter, meal will automatically become less resulting in weight loss. 





Junk food: Keep the junks for occasions. Don't eat fries, burgers, cakes, pizza, every now & then. No soft drinks! Dine out as less as possible. If you totally skip junks, you will eat all someday. White or plain flour is unhealthy which is main ingredient of burgers, naans & pizzas. Use whole wheat or whole grain instead.
Junk    

The best thing is that you don't need to plan & prepare anything separately. You don't need to put extra time and effort. You can fit in to family meals! There is no hassle of counting calories & macronutrients. You won't go crazy measuring your inches every now & then. The 2 minutes dieting plan will work slowly, effectively, & long lastingly with no side effects as is the case with diet plans.


Eat everything but mindfully!

Sunday 27 December 2015

Which Diet Can Keep You Healthy, Smart, & Trimmed ?

There are various diet plans and diet menu. It's hard to determine that which diet plan will work best for you. Many people put a lot of time, money, & effort to find out that which type of diet plan best suits them. Then they stick to it for specified days. But once they stop practicing that diet plan, they can go unhealthy again. Because one can stick to few things for few days & resist delicious cravings for a limited time and after that everything goes wrong again.
How to find out which diet plan is best for you? Ask a dietitian or a nutritionist or a fitness trainer? Everyone can't do it or they don't have time to do it. Here are few diet plans discussed with their effects on the body that will help you determine that which diet is best suited for you.

Ketogenic Diet
This diet is high in fat. It allows eggs, green salad, cheese, cream, oil, some veges, some nuts, fish, chicken, & beef in a strict quantity & timings. It doesn't allow fruits, sweets, sugars, rice, bread, pasta, many veges like potatoes. Keeping a count of grams of fat, carbohydrates, proteins, & calories is important if one adopts this diet. A meal planner chart is a must.


Atkins Diet
You have to watch on grams of carbohydrates, % protein, and % fats. It allows few veges, red & white meats, oils, cream, & butter. It doesn't allow grains, bread & pasta, nuts, legumes, many veges, & dairy other than cream & butter.


Mediterranean Diet
This diet allows yogurt, fruits & veges, grains & oats, fish & chicken, cheese, eggs, nuts, brown rice, olive oil, legumes, nuts, rarely red meat. It doesn't allow white bread, crackers, sweets and sweet cakes, ice-cream, sugars, oil except extra virgin olive oil, & refined grains. A meal plan chart is needed but macronutrients i.e proteins, fats, carbs are not counted on regular basis.

Paleo Diet
Its a cavemen diet, go wild! This diet allows specific red & white meats, eggs, leafy greens, some veges, some fruits & nuts, natural oils, dairy is very limited. It doesn't allow grains, legumes, sugars, pasta, cereal, most dairy, & processed food.

Blood Type Diet
Fitness geeks even go one step further and they stick to the diet that are specific for their blood group. Strange! They eat the ideal food that react best with their type of blood. How can they get all those nutrients that they miss out?



Other Diets
There are various other types of diets like vegetarian diet, detox diet, high protein diet, low carb diet, green smoothie diet, etc.

Drawbacks of These Diets
You need to limit starch, sugars, grains, fruits and much more that you can miss out. These diets cause headaches, irritation, smelly breath, dizziness, weakness, constipation, sleeplessness & fatigue. Counting calories forever is a must or get deshaped. Constant worrying about yourself, your waist & inches that you are doing so much and there is no result!. No peace of mind. You can't stay happy during family meals. One can miss out many things and can keep extra cravings for all those things & one day loose control and eat it all!!!
You need to constantly count & maintain percentages, worry about your own special meal apart from family meal, and keep checking your weight & inches all the times. Plus, exercise is a must while following these diet plans other wise whole effort can ruin.  

Dieting Plans are Good for
The diet plans are good for artists, sports persons, media personnel, on screen people and those whose part of job is to stay healthy & to motivate people.  
But for layman, for you & me, for busy ones, and for less motivated people who don't have time, whose routine are tough, or those who simply want an easy way to stay healthy, 2 Minutes Diet Plan is the best & easy way out.




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Thursday 17 December 2015

2 HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS DOUGHS FOR ROTI (flat round bread)

When you knead the dough for roti (flat round bread), you use whole meal flour or plain flour. Right? Here are tips to make your dough highly nutritious with no extra effort.

Add gram flour (besan) to your roti dough

After putting dry flour into kneading pot, add some sifted gram flour to the dry flour. You can add 10-40% gram flour as compared to the amount of flour. It depends on your taste how much you want to add. Even a little amount of gram flour will add extra nutrition to your roti without extra effort. First mix the gram flour into the dry flour to make sure it has spread evenly. Then start pouring water and knead as per your own steps. Make roti with this and it will be nutritious and delicious! 

Tip: Adding few drops of fruit vinegar or synthetic vinegar makes the dough soft and keep the dough safe from bacteria.



Add semolina (sooji) to your roti dough

First you need to sift and dry roast semolina until it changes colour slightly. Don’t over roast it or you might loose the nutrition present in it. Leave it until it is at the room temperature.
After putting dry flour into kneading pot, add some roasted semolina to the dry flour. You can add 10-40% semolina as compared to the amount of flour. Mix the semolina into the dry flour to make sure it has spread evenly. Then start pouring water and knead as per your own steps. When the dough is kneaded well, you can use it as per your requirements. Enjoy a delicious roti or even paratha!

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Tuesday 15 December 2015

GARBAGE BURNING IN THE CITY

Yesterday I read an article that mention Pakistan is a state of Waste Disposal Mismanagement. I don’t know about whole Pakistan but as a Karachiite I agreed with this statement. In fact city lack basic infrastructure of waste disposable due to unplanned growth. One very alarming issue that is never focused in my city is garbage burning. One can find burning waste everywhere even in Clifton area as well .People take it very lightly and move forward or living in the same come condition. However what the whole city is inhaling is air with poison. It is not the rocket science to understand the repercussion of this way of disposing waste in living area. For the sake of very little amount of money employees of concerned authorities usually do these activity .They take out the petrol that is given by their company to transport the garbage to designated location , and burn the garbage rather than collecting or disposing to right location .They  make money by selling this petrol, so double profit for them.  This is a really hideous theft which is not impacting just on one person or family it is impacting on uncountable number of people. 


My son who is allergic I could deeply feel the pain he is suffering just because of this ridiculous action of few people. I wonder if there is any space in Karachi where my son could breathe fresh air. It must be ridiculous to blame our government for not doing any action because they are just busy in politics of stupidity. There is need to raised voice by every citizen and action by every citizen otherwise all Karachiite future will be suffering from lung cancer or other any disease.   

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Architect Shahneela Farhan for Facebook PF & Google PF

Monday 14 December 2015

DISADVANTAGES OF CELL PHONES

No doubt cell phones are blessings for those who want to use it positively.Every thing has its own positive and negative points, it depends on us how we use it.
I want to discuss the disadvantages of cell phones



HEALTH ISSUES:-

Cellular companies provides late night packages after mid night for the users.Every company is trying to provide the cheapest rates to the users,people take full advantage of this offer specially the students and the youngsters and they does not care for their health and sleep, and they waste their precious time for useless gossips.

People have the habit to set the alarm in their use cell phones and put it under  their pillows and near them during sleep.The research says that cell phones emit special kind of ways that can damage the brain.

LISTENING MUSIC:-



Nowadays  it’s a fashion of the youngsters  to listen the music through head phones while riding the bikes.Doing so they does not follow the basic traffic rules,this may cause serious accidents.

  
AVOID FACE TO FACE INTERACTION:-


People are using cell phones while doing any activity like shopping, eating, enjoying .They avoid face to face interaction. Human beings are the social creatures who need real life contaction. Family.Family time is totally ignored.This will create a problem for the society.


Every one is busy in their cell phones rather to discuss the family issues, problems and happiness ,

REDUCES SOCIAL REUNIONS:-
At past time people met with their families and friends directly at their homes and ask about their consonance, despite of the fact that they have no private  convenience at that time but now life is going very speedy , and have not enough time to meet with their relative and friends.They easily communicate with their cell phones.This reduces the get together and social re unions.

PRIVACY:-



People uses their cameras to take the selfies and make that event memorable.If that mobile get lost? Or stolen by some one .what u have been done?Is their any photo which you  not shown to any one?it is probably a quiet embarrassing situation.

use the cell phones in a limited way.

Written by Farheen Shahid for Facebook PF & Google PF 




MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

1.    Introduction


Mr. Aazar Ahmed was watching the final match of Pakistan v/s India and suddenly the video became blurring and out of sync with the audio, even the video has stopped but the audio (Commentary) is continued well but he was still watching the match with all the concentration. Thus the involvement of viewer is unpredictable; one cannot control other’s involvement.
Audio visual material provides the rich for teaching, learning training and entertainment. The use of audio/video material has been very common because it saves a lot of time and money in many situations. Videos can provide much complex information easily. Our research study is all about to evaluate user experience and involvement of viewer in audio/visual content. It’s not easy at all because the involvement is not a thing that can be measure by any device or measurement tool and one’s involvement is not controlled by anyone. For this we have prepared the questionnaires which contain some general questions and some are specifically related to that video content that is shown to the participants. We have prepared the questionnaires very carefully because involvement of viewer cannot be measure with only general questions therefore we have prepared specific questions for each video. Questionnaires are also used to check the memory and concentration level of viewer. Questions that are specifically related to the video check the memory of viewer after watching the content.

Questionnaires only evaluate the involvement of viewer  but when it’s come to evaluate the emotional state and expressions of viewer we have carried out this experiment by ourselves and note down the face expressions and body language of viewer  because the viewer will not have self-report his/her  emotional state.

We are going to prove the following predictions true with our research
·        • Involvement is highly influenced by Time Duration of video.
·        • Involvement is highly influenced by the language used in the content.
·        • Involvement is highly influenced by the interest level of viewer.

2.    Method

Our research is all about to find out the user experience and involvement of viewer in the content they are watching, and for this we used post-experiment evaluation means first we provide the content to viewers and then ask questions about the content.

First step of our research was that we first split the content of videos according to the viewer’s interest and made following fragments:




Now we have 20 males, 20 females, 20 children and 20 students as participants, then we further split above fragments for comparison



Then we provide videos, as 10 out of 20 males watch short duration video and the remaining 10 watch long duration video the same approach is used for all groups (Students, Children, and Females). Each viewer has asked to fill questionnaire after watching the video content. The emotional state and expressions have been noted down by ourselves since we did this as a lab-experiment and have used our own systems, laptops and mobile phones for this purpose.

2.1          Lecture video testing:


Video can effectively communicate complex information to student can be powerful expressive tool if used creatively. Therefore we divided the lecture video into two types; boring and interesting.
We have provided the videos to 20 under graduate computer science students who have some knowledge about latest technologies in which 10 out of 20 were being provided by first type of lecture i.e. typical lecture having slides and the remaining 10 were being provided by the second type of lecture i.e. interesting lecture having music and animation. At the end we compare the results of both videos.

2.1.1    Discussion and interview


During the discussion we asked some questions verbally to viewers and we came to know that the language can understand by student if he/she listen two three times and he/she can tolerate the long duration if he/she find something match to his/her interest level but if the lecture is boring student would not prefer to watch it.

Comments of viewers:
         •  It’s informative but not interesting therefore it could not seek my attention.
        • Music and animation in the video  did not make me bored
        • The accent of lecturer is not clear only slides text in understood

2.1.2    Result

Results on the basis of questionnaire, we compare the results of both types of lecture video




2.2.       Cartoon movies testing:


Videos and animation brought great effects on children not just for entertainment but also increased their knowledge as well. Basically our goal is to evaluate the user experience and to find out how much children involve in animated videos.
For this purpose we conduct a survey of primary school where we provide two types of cartoon movies i.e. English movie and Urdu movie to children of third and fourth standard. We first provide English movie to 10 students and then Urdu movie to 10 students turn by turn and get the responses on questionnaire. We also note down the emotional state and expressions of students.
The emotional state of all children changes as they all were so excited and they don’t know what’s going to happen next they were just enjoying the movie.

2.2.1    Discussion and interview


After watching videos we asked some questions verbally to students. Some students told us that they enjoyed watching video but could not answer the questions because they cannot get all the words used in English movie.

Comments of viewers:
·        Some children said that this was his/her favorite cartoon character
·        • Cannot answer the entire question because I cannot get all the sentences said by the character in English.

2.2.2    Result


Results on the basis of questionnaire, we compare the results of both types of animated videos



2.3   Training Videos testing:


Home training and cooking recipe videos has been used by women mostly. To target our group i.e. females we chose cooking recipe videos for testing.
For this purpose we provide two types of cooking recipe videos one in English language and other was in Urdu because we have to compare the results that which type of video is more understandable for women. We target mostly all the mothers and housewives who spend most of their time in cooking and are willing to learn more from videos. We provide Urdu video to 10 women and English video to remaining 10 as we mentioned before that we have total 20 females.

2.3.1    Discussion:


During testing most of the women interrupt in the middle that all the words spoken by trainer are not understandable in English videos. After that they told that they did not get all the ingredients written in English.

2.3.2    Result

Results on the basis of questionnaire, we compare the results of both types of cooking training videos



2.4    Sports-Related videos testing:


Sports-Related videos Seeks highest degree of attention of the people who are fond of sports (cricket, football, tennis). Even most of the males just forgot what’s happening in their surrounding while watching any video related to their favorite sport.

Now at last we reached to our final target group of users i.e. males. We provided two types of videos to 20 men in which 10 out 20 watch a short duration video which is about only (1:10) 1 minute 10 seconds and remaining 10 men watch a long duration video which is about 20 minutes. We did this because we were going to find the user experience that how the duration of video effects on user experience and involvement.
We have noted many different emotional states while evaluating the viewer’s expression i.e.
·         Serious
·         Happy
·         Excited
·         Angry
·         Laughing

2.4.1    Discussion and interview:


When we asked some questions verbally to viewers after watching video we came to know the viewers of short duration video enjoyed it more because there were only some highlights of the match.
On the other hand the viewers of long duration also enjoy watching this video but they got confuse when they were answering the questions asked in questionnaire because they could not remember all the content because the duration of video was too long.

2.4.2       Result

From the results of questionnaire we compare the results of both types of Sports videos



3.      Questionnaire:


3.1          General Questions

These are some general questions we have included in our questionnaires
                                                Questions
        Answers
1.       I have seen this video before

2.       It seeks all my attention

3.       I get frustrated after watching video

4.       Video is completely useless

5.       This video make me bored

6.       Lecture increased my knowledge


7.       This video taught me new ideas


8.       The accent of lecturer is not understandable


9.       This video is full of entertainment


10.   I was continuously laughing

11.   I loved all the cartoon characters


12.   I’ll love to see this again


13.   I fully enjoyed this

14.   I enjoyed the music in the video

15.   Cricket match attract you

16.   The time duration of this video is limited

17.   This video is more informative

18.   Will you enjoy match?

19.   I will try this cooking video at home

20.   Cooking ingredients are clear to you

21.   I just forget what's happening in my surroundings while watching this video

22.   Do you like the Animations used in the video


We also include some specific questions to evaluate user experience and involvement with the content.

3.2          Specific Questions


For example:
We asked some of the abbreviations used in lecture videos to find out what viewer learn from videos and he/she got everything he watched
We asked to viewers that who hits maximum sixes in sports videos to measure that how much he concentrated on video
We asked to the viewers of cooking training videos that which ingredient was used in what amount by trainer in the video.

4.      Conclusion


With regard to the previously stated hypotheses, we evaluate the results on the basis of questionnaires, as well verbal interviews directly to the viewers and made the final evaluation in the form of graph

The following graph shows how the duration of content effects on viewer and his/her experience.


The following graph shows how the language of content effects on viewer and his/her experience.


These graphs completely elaborate our whole study. By this research we evaluate the user experience like what were the perceptions of viewer related to the content, what were the emotional changes happens when they watching any content, and how much they connect with content of their own interest.

5.      References:


1.      Van den Ende, Nele, Jettie Hoonhout, and Lydia Meesters. "Measuring involvement with audio/video content." Proceedings of the 24th BCS Interaction Specialist Group Conference. British Computer Society, 2010.

2.      Matthes, Jörg, Anke Wonneberger, and Desirée Schmuck. "Consumers' green involvement and the persuasive effects of emotional versus functional ads." Journal of Business Research 67.9 (2014): 1885-1893.

3.      Spielmann, Nathalie. "How funny was that? Uncovering humor mechanisms." European Journal of Marketing 48.9/10 (2014): 1892-1910.

4.      Choi, Yung Kyun, Sung mi Lee, and Hairong Li. "Audio and Visual Distractions and Implicit Brand Memory: A Study of Video Game Players." Journal of Advertising 42.2-3 (2013): 219-227.


5.      Leadbeater, Wendy, et al. "Evaluating the use and impact of lecture recording in undergraduates: Evidence for distinct approaches by different groups of students." Computers & Education 61 (2013): 185-192.

6.      Szpunar, Karl K., Novall Y. Khan, and Daniel L. Schacter. "Interpolated memory tests reduce mind wandering and improve learning of online lectures." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.16 (2013): 6313-6317.

7.      Koller, Daphne, and Andrew Ng. "The Online Revolution: Learning without Limits." Presentation at Sloan-C 20th International Conference for Online Learning. 2013.


8.      Haase, Jeffrey. "MULTI-SENSORY REPRESENTATION HOW SOUND AND MOVING IMAGES ENHANCE USER EXPERIENCES AND EMOTION IN INTERIOR DESIGN." (2013).

9.      Gurvitch, Rachel, and Jackie Lund. "Animated Video Clips: Learning in the Current Generation." Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 85.5 (2014): 8-17.


10.  Kennedy, Andrew J. The effect of color on emotions in animated films. Diss. PURDUE UNIVERSITY, 2014.

11.  Alqahtani, Hanadi Hussein, and Naomi A. Schoenfeld. "Teaching Cooking Skills to Young Women with Mild Intellectual Disability: The Effectiveness of Internet Websites." Current Issues in Education 17.2 (2014).

12.  Condrasky, Margaret D., et al. "Cooks training for Faith, Activity, and Nutrition project with AME churches in SC." Evaluation and program planning 37 (2013): 43-49.

13.  Nasco, Suzanne Altobello, and Gordon C. Bruner. "Perceptions and recall of advertising content presented on mobile handled devices." Journal of Interactive Advertising 7.2 (2007): 51-62.

14.  Liu, Su-Houn, Hsiu-Li Liao, and Jean A. Pratt. "Impact of media richness and flow on e-learning technology acceptance." Computers & Education 52.3 (2009): 599-607.

15.  Zaichkowsky, Judith L. "Conceptualizing involvement." Journal of advertising 15.2 (1986): 4-34.


Written for Facebook PF & Google PF