It’s a remarkable fleet for a man who had no godfather in Hollywood in fact his mother was a factory worker and housewife, and Father a wages clerk who were both immigrants from England!!!

Jackson loved taking pictures, rather he was passionate about cameras and was gifted a super 8mm movie camera by a friend of his parents because she saw how much he enjoyed taking photos. That was it, 8 years old Peter instantly grabbed the thing to start recording his own movies, which he made with his friends.

Peter Jackson’s passion was fumed when he saw his favorite movie “King Kong” of 1933 when he was 9 years old, which according to him was his biggest inspiration in filmmaking. He said that he cried when King Kong fell off the Empire State Building!!!….Imagine, The most powerful man in Hollywood now, crying as a 9 year old child then^^^^^

Jackson had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects and make-up largely through his own trial and error. When he was 16 years old, Jackson left school and began working full time as a photo lithographer for a newspaper. For 7 years he worked there, Jackson lived at home with his parents so he could save as much money as possible to spend on filming equipment. After 2 years of work Jackson bought a 16mm camera, and began shooting short films… AND REST is History…And now if you look at him, he is The KING of Hollywood.

Interestingly King Kong was the movie that inspired him to be a director and finally when he made a remake in 2005, he Lost 32 kgs weight during the production. In a way this movie has changed his life twice…He said once “No film has captivated my imagination more than King Kong. I’m making movies today because I saw this film when I was 9 years old. It has been my sustained dream to reinterpret this classic story for a new age”.

While making of his movie “King Kong” he changed because he was tired of being overweight and unfit, he changed his diet from hamburgers to yoghurt and muesli, he punished himself with 21 hours a day work schedule on the King Kong set, along with help of weight loss experts who guided him in losing 32kgs in 6 months…No one could recognize him in parties because he looked so young after losing so much~!
He is 5’5’’ tall and weighs around 70 kilos down from 103 kilos, so his BMI now is 25 which is upper limit but healthy for his height.

His diet as told to the media back in 2005 -06 was as follows:

Breakfast:      1 bowl of live yogurt and muesli or oats with some nuts.

Snacks:          1 cup raw carrots or 1 small fruit

Lunch:            1 big bowl of clear soup

Snacks:          green tea or 1 plate salad

Dinner:           1 bowl Steamed vegetables with 100 grams roasted chicken and whole grain bread( like NidSun’s Slimmer Bread…Wish he got it from us)   or  1 serving of vegetable stir fry over brown rice.

Exercise:

He’s said that when he has time, he uses a home gym for strength training exercises, he doesn’t do cardio. Whenever possible he goes for a brisk walk for 20 to30 minutes and that’s it.

Eat Good Live Lite…)

Juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly color, sweet or sour or both, IN other words so… so yummy and SO healthy…That’s the miracle of berries because word yummy, hates the word healthy and vice verse…Berries are probably the only exception where OBAMA meets OSAMA…Have I lost my Mind, I should wright some better example for you… but at this moment, this is the only example my instinctive mind can think of, appropriate food of thought …I Guess!

The word berry brings a lot of colors in mind like red, black, purple…BBM…sorry my hand typed it by mistake!

But did you know that Berry colors are due to natural plant pigments known as polyphenols we know as flavonoids (and many other antioxidants) and this is the reason Berries are named “SUPER fruits” by scientists. So many labs have calculated oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) for berries compared to other fruits. As the full form of ORAC suggests Foods high in ORAC are powerful, disease-fighting antioxidant-rich, and protect against conditions such as heart disease and cancer as well. .Take an example of Raspberries which contain 3 times more ORAC than kiwis and 10 times more than tomatoes!!!…
Out of all the varieties of berries, blueberries have maximum amount of ORAC i.e. up to 7 times compared to steamed vegetables. At number 2 we have blackberries followed by yummy strawberries and at number 4 is Raspberries which has 1/2 the amount of antioxidants found in Blueberries.

Other Health Benefits of Berries other than being antioxidant are that they are rich in vitamin B complex, fiber and a great source of vitamin A and phytochemical lycopene (which protects eyesight), vitamin C, E and K. Not only are vitamins, but berries also rich in minerals like magnesium, potassium, copper, manganese which enhance your immunity.

With anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, especially blackberries help fight minor infections and chronic inflammations.

Cranberries make a healthy addition to your diet, no matter how you enjoy them—as juice, sauce, fresh or dried and now we doctors have started prescribing capsules of cranberry extract as an adjuvant to your diet supplements in some patients…no not in weight loss patients but the patients who have certain heart and kidney problems.
What to look for while buying berries:

Look for ripe, colorful and firm berries with no sign of mold or mushy spots. Berries can also be found in the frozen section of the grocery store. Once they thaw, they will not be as firm as freshly picked berries, but they are still delicious and good for you. AND friends please use refrigerator method to thaw your berries to keep them as fresh as possible:

Refrigerator Method of thawing Berries is:

Put the wrapped frozen berries in the refrigerator to thaw, with a tray beneath it to catch the drippings.  This method of slow thawing allows berries to reabsorb much of the moisture from the melting ice crystals so there’s less “drip out.”  Thawing in the refrigerator also conserves energy since the frozen food helps cool your refrigerator as it thaws. Remove any spoiled or moldy berries before putting them in the refrigerator and then place the unwashed berries in their original container or spread them out on a plate lined with a paper towel. Avoid keeping berries out at room temperature or exposing them to sunlight for very long, they will spoil quickly in these conditions.

Berries are blessed to bless your body, so ingest them and digest them- raw as fruit, add them in salads, in curd, make a smoothie… whatever you do but do remember to add this nature’s natural medicine in your menu.

Eat Good Live Healthy…:)

Now you have these things and you can see them in front of you. I want you to pick up each item one by one in your hands and feel the mass the volume of each of the item and recalibrate your brain to the size of cricket ball, golf ball, tennis ball, deck of cards, pen, CD and table spoon…And now with this new knowledge of thinks like how much space it takes and how that volume feels like and what your eves have registered the size of each item as, we will discuss portion size of various food groups and compare it to these items one by one

Let’s start with:

• Meat and meat products the portion size should be equal to 1 deck of cards per meal and no more.
• Breakfast cereals (oats, flakes, Muesli etc.)  Should be 3 table spoons/serving and no more
• Cheese should be of thumb size and if your thumb is bigger then normal then consider size of pen drive! as idle serving And no more
• Fat free curd should be of 1 cricket ball size per serving… not only curd but all milk based foods such as frozen yogurt, ice creams should be of Cricket ball size per serving.
• Roti size is so different in every house hold that it is important to standardize the size of roti…Are you with me on this… your roti or parantha serving size should be equal to a size of single Compact Disk,  even pizza and pancake should be, maximum up to size of a CD  per portion serving.
• What about Rice? Portion size of cooked boiled rice should be equal to tennis ball per serving …NO Not equal to a football…please. Even pasta in cooked form should not be more than equal to tennis ball/ serving.
• All Vegetables in cooked form should be equal to size of a cricket ball per serving although you can cheat with vegetables and double the portion size provided you have them  boiled or roasted.
• What about Dals? Portion of cooked pulses or beans without gravy should be equal to 1 tennis ball size/ serving but if dal is very watery like, hostels or college canteens used to serve when I was in college then have 2 portions!!!
• Quantity of Nuts per serving should be roughly of 1 golf ball size and no more
• Now we come on to fruits.  Fruits like apple, pear, and guava should be equal to size of tennis ball per serving.  Banana comes in different sizes so just stick to size of regular pen per serving in case of a banana. Fruit servings like apricot, peach, and plum should be equal to size of a golf ball. For other varieties of fruits like cherries, grapes, the serving size should be equivalent to size of a single tennis ball
• Any kind of butter, oil or fats not more than 1 leveled tablespoon per serving should be added to food…But if you are taking therapies don’t have this food group till therapies are On…And I know that you know the reason why?
• What about pudding? Well the portion size for puddings should not exceed size of tennis ball as they are calorie dense!
• Yummy cake should be size of deck of cards…1 deck that’s it! AND you know very well that cake is packed
• Although it shouldn’t even be on the list but still if you want to have it BURGER Right size burger should be no more than a size of deck of cards (barring the height)…LOL…  Just for example a popular brand smallest size burger has 300 cals…Imagine How fast the tire on your tummy grows with a burger!
• And in the end who can forget yummy PIZZA, 1 slice of pizza should not be bigger than a credit card…OK 1½ credit cards and no more per serving.

I know, I am sure I am missing a lot of food items but what I have mentioned above is pretty much 90% of what we eat…for the rest you can come for an appointment

Note:   Portion sizing mentioned above has been recommended for an average person with moderate physical activity to maintain a healthy body weight; It will vary in special conditions and for those who need weight loss. For your specific portion sizing you have to go to your nearest weight loss clinic, family Doctor or you need to come to us for counseling.

Eat healthy in right portions and you surely will have a happy healthy Life…:)

Yes my friend migraine headaches are common in winters and it is because extreme weather can trigger migraine so a temperature drop should be an alarm for an over sensitive person.

Oh YES before I take you deeper in your brain let me brief you what Migraine is: It is a condition that last from 3 hours to 3 days in which you may experience nausea and vomiting as well as sensitivity to light or sound or both. Migraine sufferers frequently report throbbing pain that worsens with normal activity.

I remember going to colder places for various games few years back obviously for medical backup and a lot of people used to have migraine attacks, especially people who came from wormer areas. Not only cold BUT Migraine can be triggered by change in atmospheric pressure, humidity, high winds and even excess heat can be a trigger for migraine.

Allow me to explain what happens inside you when you have this attack:  Migraine is caused by altered blood flow to the brain, but till date scientists don’t have a clue why few things like cold weather act as a trigger!!!!…mysteries of mind, waiting to be solved, someday …  But there is good news and the good news is that IF you know, cold weather is the trigger for your problem, then all you have to do is to protect yourself from it and you will be migraine free.

You already know to wrap up well in cold; especially your head…Keep it warm to avoid migraine. Some other remedies are as follows:

• Minimize your stress…LOL…easier said than done …and I know that it’s not Impossible either

• Maintain Body rhythms:      Go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day.

• Avoid dehydration:               dehydration acts as a catalyst in severity of migraine so please be hydrated to avoid migraine.

• Hunger:                                  It triggers migraine faster than lightning so if you are prone to bone crushing, bad feeling migraine please don’t be hungry for long have some snack in between main meals to avoid blood sugar undulations…I hope you can do it or at least Do not skip main meals.

• Stay away from stimulants: Limit caffeine consumption to less than two caffeine-containing beverages a day.

NOTE:            If you are getting migraine attacks more than once week please, go to your doctor for treatment and for detailed examination to know the root cause so that s/he can prescribe some preventive medicines.  Individualizing treatment is essential for optimal outcome and there are numerous measures that may help improve the life of migraine sufferers. The choice of these measures should take into account the individual aspects of each migraine sufferer. Step 1 is not letting Triggering factors to trigger migraine…Prevention is better than cure…J moreover there is no cure for migraine.

Eat Good Live lite without headache…:)

Welcome to life of Kate. She didn’t have a privileged upbringing; rather her family’s daily life was very hand to mouth. Because of this every day struggle in family she had to come out of her comfort zone, probably the reason she landed in a commercial for kids Sugar Puffs cereals. She started acting lessons around that tender time, which led her to formal training at a performing arts high school and rest as they say is ^^^^^^^.

So I am not amused that Ms. Winslet made a HISTORY by becoming the youngest actress ever to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Movies “Sense and Sensibility in 1995 when she was just 20 years old…At 20 most of us are in some College getting some studies and she was the master of her craft Now that’s Beautiful! And will you ever forget that ICONIC movie “Titanic” back in 1997 when she was just 22 the second time she was nominated.

She said in one interview After “Titanic’s” mega success “It would have been completely foolish for me to go and try and top that. I’m an English girl, I’ve always loved England, I’ve never felt the desire to leave it for any particular reason. And whilst I’m ambitious and care very much about what I do, I’m not competitive. I also don’t want to act every day of my life. … So it was important to me after Titanic to just remind myself of why it was that I was acting in the first place, which is of course because I love it”. And she concluded the interview by saying “Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go”.

Other than family background which she was lacking both financially and without a godfather in Hollywood she had another big obstacle…Obstacle of Being FAT. She confessed this in an interview that she was such a fat kid and reached 83 kilos at one point. She says “My sisters Anna and Beth would swap clothes but I couldn’t. I am the smallest at 5ft 6in and I’ve got my mum’s big feet and my dad’s round face.” In school she was being called and teased as “Blubber”!!! And later in her successful life she says  ”People would say to me, ‘You’ve got such a beautiful face”, in the way of, like, “Oh, isn’t it a shame that from the neck down you’re questionable.’”

Now she weighs around 57 kilos and a MOM and we know that she is 5’6’’ tall, so if we calculate her BMI it comes out to be 20 which is Ideal for her height. Now she is quite satisfied with her weight. She says: “As a young girl, I never felt attractive. I was fat and unhappy at times and that kind of thinking stays with you your entire life. There’s always going to be a part of me that worries about not looking as slim as other actresses” but she looks so good now Doesn’t she…LOL

According to media reports her diet for the day is as follows:

Breakfast:       1 oat cake which is a cup of organic porridge oats and water, flattened into a cake baked with cucumbers.

Lunch:            100 grams grilled chicken breast with steamed asparagus and zucchini

Snack:            1 cup peppermint tea with hand full of nuts

Dinner:           1 small baked potato with green salad and unsalted butter

She doesn’t binge now after becoming a mother, however she goes for a cheat day once a month.

Exercise:       

Kate doesn’t like to go to the gym so most of the workouts are at home.

She loves Pilates and does it additively for around ½ hour in a day. She also likes to do a plenty of swimming, and watersports with friend and family even her kids make her day full of energy burning stints.

Eat Good Live Lite…:)

I know it’s tempting to slash your calorie intake considerably in an effort to lose weight fast because you can’t wait your weight to go and it goes very quickly because in extreme diet you first start slimming as your body gets rid of water and stored glucose and NOT Fat!. In long term though, rapid weight loss without therapies means you’ll have to cut calories excessively – and ultimately, this will make your body even harder to reduce those extra kilos!… I’ll connect the dots

We encourage our patients to eat Good quality food. And we want you to eat as much as possible, as often as possible within your calorie limits Of Cause…LOL… while keeping the right balance of protein, carbs, and low fats (Take Low fats only if you are taking sessions with us because therapy is already dissolving stored fat for energy and metabolism, thus making external fat no required during therapy).

Just in case you forgot what I have mentioned in so many blogs before, Connecting those dots…YO YO dieting simply push the body into ‘starvation mode’ so that it becomes super-efficient at making the most of the calories it gets from food and drinks making your metabolic rate falls down dramatically.                                                                               How does your body respond to long Dieting?                          It does this by protecting fat stores, instead body starts using lean tissue or muscle to provide it with the extra calories!! This leads to a loss of a lot of muscles, which in turn lowers metabolism and as the time progresses, your body starts losing active tissue the condition we call “Lean Fat Body”! And to your nightmare…. weight loss slows down and then finally you stop losing weight despite of extreme dieting – not a good idea  if you want to see yourself slim and smart and want to lose a lot of weight consistently and permanently.

We at NidSun want you to be able to keep the weight off once you reach your target weight so that WHEN next time you come to us, we go to next level of further fat shedding and not start from scratch…back to square as they say. So we want, your weight loss be nice and slow and MOST importantly Permanent.

All the above explanation gives me a leverage to ask you…You tell me How Much weight you want to lose PERMANENTLY? And I’ll be Happy to guide you, in how much time you will do it…)

Eat Good  Live Healthy….:)

Yesterday Evening, a Non Resident weight loss patient who has come here for holidays and weight loss with us, from Toronto asked me this question.

Celery is a vegetable plant that belongs to carrot family. The biggest secret, why celery is popular in weight loss is because of calorie content, in fact 100 grams of celery has only about 17 to 18 calories!!! Now that’s peanuts Oh I mean a single peanut.

Celery is rich in Vitamins and minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, molybdenum, phosphorus, vitamin A, B complex, C, Folic acid and K which help in increasing your metabolism. It’s also rich in in soluble fiber so prevents constipation and increases intestinal mobility and reduces food absorption thus reducing calories BUT Hay; make sure to use the leaves along with stalks as leaves contain the most vitamin C, calcium and potassium. And just like most of the vegetables, celery should be kept in a refrigerator otherwise it wilts.

Blood pressure and celery:

Bad News first: Celery is rich in sodium, so Hypertensive patients should have celery but in limited quantity of less than 150grams per day per person and no more.

Now some GOOD news:       Celery also contains active compounds called phthalides, which can help relax the muscles around arteries and allow those vessels to dilate thus lowers blood pressure. Phthalides in celery are also known to reduce stress hormones, thus lowering blood pressure. Celery, being a very good source of potassium, calcium and magnesium makes it a great food to reduce blood pressure.

Take home message:          

In right quantity celery is an Angel for hypertensive patients and those who want solid bones. Excess is bad though! \

Your Immunity Supporter:

Celery helps reduce cold symptoms or severity of cold symptoms. It also prevents the free radical damage that triggers the inflammatory response by your body, and is therefore also associated with reduced severity of inflammatory conditions, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis in an overweight person.

So you shouldn’t be surprised about the fact that Celery has a long history of use as a medicine and as a healing food to knock of some weight.

Remember to Eat Good to Live Lite…:)

The Gurus of Fitness world […around the world] are divided in their opinions when it comes to best exercise time.  Some prominent scientific schools of thoughts are as follows:

• Group 1 says that exercising between 9am and 12 noon is the best because the level of stress hormone “cortisol” is maximum at this time making exercising effective.
• Group 2 says that it is optimal physiologically to exercise when your core body temperature is maximum in 24 hours, and according to our experiments core temperature is maximum between 4 PM to 6 PM at least in our patients. Experts of this group believe that when core temperature of your body is maximum, you are mentally alert so it’s the best time for exercise.
• Then are 3^rd group of Experts who believe that early morning is the best time to exercise as it jump starts your metabolism  and you burn calories throughout the day.

So, are you satisfied… or… confused….LOL

Let me simplify things for you…they all are right in some way or the other, BUT here is the one liner for all that  “Do your Exercise at the time, that suits you the best and gels with your daily chores… And If you can, Do it every day” …That’s what we suggest to the patients who want to do some exercise along with weight loss therapy sessions with us… and that my friend, actually works for everyone.

Eat Good Live Lite & BE Happy…:)

She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old …SHE was a notorious troubled child, and started smoking cigarettes at age 9!, drinking alcohol by the time she was 11, smoking marijuana at 12, and cocaine at 13. She was in a rehabilitation center at age 13…now that’s too much for a child you will think…But there is more… she was about to commit suicide at age 14 so she was back in rehab. At the age of 16, Barrymore was engaged and in just a few months, this engagement was called off. But fighting all odds and emerging as, such a refined actor…Only a super woman could do it…And I think she is…:)

She once described herself as “Not ambitious, arrogant, or cold. Lazy? No, I’m not lazy enough. Dominant—more so than people would think. I’m a total control freak and love to participate in the design of every single aspect of life; I enjoy work because I am a fanatic about it.”

Just like her life, Drew had a fluctuating body weight for years gaining and losing and then gaining back. Its only in 2004,she lost more than 8 kgs starting at 56 kilos and reaching 48 kilos never to gain it back. According to her she says “I was a full vegetarian, living on carbs,” Even now at age 36 she has maintained her lost weight.  Her height is 5’4’’ so according to calculations her BMI comes out to be 17.8 which is below healthy range but she looks young so I have nothing to argue on that.

However one Strange thing that I noticed with Drew is that, when she is stressed she eats less and healthy and she says that she is stressed most of the time like we all are so she eats healthy most of the time “Good Strategy”  …lol

Weekday’s menu for Drew Barrymore, according to the media is as follows:

Breakfast:       Organic Fruit mostly banana with peanut butter

Snacks:           Whole grain sandwich or she will have 1 spoon of sugar free jelly!!

Lunch:            100 to 150 grams Grilled Chicken ( she was a vegetarian for long time but now she has started non veg again) with vegetable salad

Dinner:            1 small bowl of boiled rice with roasted turkey or roasted fish along with boiled mixed vegetables.

She is allergic to garlic and coffee so she stays away from them. Her favourate time pass food is Kraft macaroni and cheese.

Exercise:

Drew’s favorite workout is running because for her it’s an outlet. She runs about 7 to 8 kilometers every alternate day…But I can do 100 meters running by the way…HA ha ha…I told you, she is a super woman. She also loves doing  yoga, Pilates, and other exercises. Drew enjoys taking long bike rides to trails. She also swims, plays golf, and dances. In the gym, she loves doing stair-stepper rather that’s the only cardio she does in gym.

Eat Good Live Lite And Be Happy…:)

Now the question she asked  was simple and common and I thought, I should share this with you as well, because I am sure this question might be buzzing somewhere in your mind as well!!

The answer to this question is Cardio of cause, “but what kind of cardio” she asked?

The best cardio exercise is the one you will do day in and day out, every day. Choose one exercise which you enjoy doing and don’t be afraid to mix up the exercises which we technically call Interval training. Example of that is, you could do the elliptical trainer for 15 minutes, then switch to on the treadmill for 15 minutes and finish off by doing stationary bike for another 15 minutes or reverse the pattern some day or do in any combination you want to do, I bet you will never get bored that way…

BUT why do different people give different ‘fundas’ for Cardio?

Let’s crack the cardio code:            A lot of people say that fat burning starts after 20 minutes of exercise as initially only carbohydrates are burned during exercise and another set of wise people say that body is no start stop factory where raw material for burning is timely fed and they say that fat burning start instantly…What the hell is going on!####

World is divided into 2+1 groups when it comes to type or intensity of cardio!!!

1.    High Intensity Cardio group of people:           This category of fitness experts say that to burn maximum fat you should go all out exercise for short duration of 15 to 25 minutes so that you can shock your metabolic rate to overdrive. Example: Sprints, spinning, explosive step aerobics, zoomba, skipping etc.

2.    Low intensity Cardio Group of people:           This category of fitness experts say that if you want to burn fat you should do long duration of exercise for at least 40 minutes and above with a reduced pace so that you will burn fat and not carbohydrates and you will prevent joint injuries. Examples; Brisk walking, jogging, swimming etc.

3.    Best of Both world groups of people:             These are people like you and me, who are smart enough to know what suits our body and gives best results. These are the people who are open to both school of thoughts and work out their own plans. Example of that as I said earlier is Interval training

Choose your exercise because all of them are effective…Question is… “Is it effective on MY body?” …Answer lies within you.

Anyhow, we made a special plan for our celebrity patient because she had a mild ankle sprain and she liked it.

Note: If you have any medical condition or joint problems please ask your Family Doctor or A Sports Medicine Doctor before starting any exercise…even a harmless exercise like waking can be dangerous in some cardiac patients, so please consult your doctor before starting and you will surely lose some weight.

Eat Good Live Happy…:)