The Pros and Cons of Working in a Call Center in the Philippines

My purpose of writing this article is for people who are planning to get into the Call Center Industry and as well for people who are currently in the Industry to mainly re-evaluate their career in this field.

TIPS ON DIETING FOR A CALL CENTER AGENT

Most Pinoy agents are fat, obese, or unhealthy, and this is expected from a job where you sit 8 hours a day in front of the computer. To keep awake and the mind active during those wee hours of the night, one needs to eat sweets and drink coffee. Most work shifts also change, so your dinner time today can become your breakfast time by next month - this confuses your body and you end up craving for food when its time to go to sleep.

10 Health Tips for Call Center Agents

I have always thought of the ‘call center diet’ as cigarette, coffee and lots of junk foods. Well, I can say that also to almost everyone who works on deadlines all day or night in front of a computer, inside an office or a home office like virtual assistants, graphic artists, writers and bloggers.

Why it's Hard to Lose Weight and What to Do About It

If you struggle with weight loss, as most of us do, you've figured out just how hard it is to lose weight. The question is, why is it so hard and is there anything you can do about it? There's no shortcut to weight loss, but you can make the process easier with a few simple changes.

12 Effective Ways to Lose Weight without Dieting

Why do you need to lose weight fast when you will get it back after a few days or weeks? It is still recommended to lose weight slowly to shed those extra pounds permanently. Dieting is not necessary to achieve this goal; all you need are a few changes in your habits and way of life plus a little self control.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

MSG (Vetsin): A Silent Killer

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a popular flavor enhancer which is often added to Chinese food. However, newest studies suggest that it is also involved in numerous foods we eat on a daily basis!


Apparently, MSG and its detrimental effects are difficult or impossible to be prevented. This chemical flavor enhancer has been related to a numerous health conditions, like obesity, fibromyalgia, fatty liver, metabolic syndrome, neurological and brain damage, as well as high insulin and blood sugar levels.

This flavor enhancer is one of the most harmful ones on the market, and it is added to crackers, meats, baby foods, canned soups, salad dressings, infant formula, and children’s school lunch.

Hence, MSG does not simply season your dishes like salt and pepper, but it enhances the flavor, meaning that when added, it will hide the true properties of frozen dinners and processed meats, and will provide a tastier and fresher flavor, with a better smell.

Therefore, its effects are more than welcome for big box food corporations which are interested in their financial profit only, but it seems that MSG is significantly endangering your well-being.

Namely, MSG does not have a flavor in itself, but it tricks the senses into believing that the taste of the food is better and that it involves proteins.

Umami is a little known fifth taste which identifies the savory flavor of glutamate in bacon, and, in its synthetical form, in MSG. Hence, its addictive properties are a result of the fact that it leads the brain into thinking that it consumes something as savory as bacon.


Interestingly, the greatest MSG producer in the world, Ajinomoto, is a drug manufacturer at the same time. Moreover, MSG became popular in the U.S. after World War II, when the American military found that Japanese rations were much more delicious than their own versions.

The U.S. FDA stated that MSG was “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) in 1959, and it remained labeled thus, similarly to numerous other ingredients that are banned in other parts of the world.

After 10 years of its introduction into the American food supply, the medical literature entered a new condition named “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”, which included all the symptoms and side-effects after the consumption of MSG, ranging from numbness to heart palpitations.

Nowadays, this syndrome has been renamed into “MSG Symptom Complex,”, and the FDA regards it as a “short-term reaction” to MSG. However, regardless of all this,  it is still generally “recognized as safe” by the FDA.

The brain damage caused by MSG can be of various degrees and has been explained by Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” Namely, he states that MSG actually stimulates and worsens learning disabilities, leads to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and other health issues.

Apparently, one of the issues concerning MGS is that it is about 78% free glutamic acid, which is the  same neurotransmitter used by the eyes, pancreas, brain, nervous system, and more, in order to introduce processes in your body.  This has been confirmed by the FDA as well:

“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.


Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”

Dr. Blaylock suggests that many glutamate receptors have been discovered both within the electrical conduction system of the heart and the heart muscle itself, which may be the explanation of sudden deaths of young athletes and should warn all consumers of MSG.

Dr. Baylock adds:

“When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”

Even though they regard it as a likely safe, the FDA lists the following side-effects of MSG:

    Headache
    Weakness
    Tingling
    Accelerated heartbeat
    Difficulty breathing or chest pain
    Facial tightness or pressure
    Nausea
    Numbness
    Drowsiness
    Burning sensation

Moreover, even though food manufacturers are aware of the fact that consumers would avoid MSG, they have not discarded it from their products, but they have found ways to hide it, in order to mislead you and in order to prevent its recognition.


These food manufacturers were demanded by the FDA to list the ingredient “monosodium glutamate” on the labels of their products, but even though free glutamic acid is its main ingredient, that are not obliged to state that in labels.

Apparently, there are more than 40 labeled ingredients that involve glutamic acid, and you are not aware of it.

These are some of the hidden names of MSG:

    Glutamate (E 620)
    Calcium Glutamate (E 623)
    Sodium Caseinate
    Yeast Nutrient
    Autolyzed Yeast
    Monoammonium Glutamate (E 624)
    Yeast Extract
    Soy Protein Isolate
    Textured Protein
    Ajinomoto
    Monopotassium Glutamate (E 622)
    Natrium Glutamate
    Monosodium Glutamate (E 621)
    Anything hydrolyzed
    Magnesium Glutamate (E 625)
    Gelatin
    Yeast Food
    Any hydrolyzed protein
    Calcium Caseinate
    Vetsin
    Whey Protein Isolate
    Anything: protein
    Furthermore, the following ingredients include or produce processed free glutamic acid:
    Maltodextrin
    Stock
    Carrageenan (E 407)
    Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
    Soy sauce
    Pectin (E 440)
    Anything enzyme modified
    Any flavors or flavoring
    Protease
    Anything ultra-pasteurized
    Barley malt
    Bouillon and broth
    Malt extract
    Anything containing enzymes
    Seasonings
    Soy sauce extract
     Anything protein fortified

Therefore, in order to protect your own health, and the health of your family, you should try and consume organic foods only and purchase organic foods on your local market, or if possible, grow your own in a small garden at home! However, remember to save some seeds for the next year!



(source: http://www.healthmagazine365.com/hidden-in-you-health-food-disguised-by-new-names-how-to-identify-msg-on-the-ingredients-label/)

Monday, March 14, 2016

The Health Dangers Of Drinking Iced Water

When eating out, I always ask my server for water with no ice and they often look at me like I am crazy. But I am not, and below I explain why.



First, take a minute to close your eyes and imagine the following:

It is spring and you are standing on a wooden dock that extends into a high mountain lake. While the temperature in the air is fairly warm, the top layer of the lake has only recently melted and you can tell by the color of the crystal clear blue water that it is anything but warm. You close your eyes and dive in.

What does your body do? What does your skin do? Are you relaxed and open, or tight and constricted?

 “You probably know that warm water opens your pores and makes your skin feel looser, while cold water closes your pores and constricts your skin. Guess what? Drinking cold water does the same thing to your digestive tract!”
Prolonged Exposure to Cold Water

What Happens When You Drink Cold Water

– When you drink cold beverages your blood vessels shrink, your digestion becomes restricted and hydration is hindered.

– Instead of working to digest the food and absorb the nutrients to create energy, your body is expending energy to regulate your temperature. This can lead to water loss.

– Drinking cold water after a meal creates excess mucus in your body, which can lead to a decrease in immune system function, making it easier to catch colds and illnesses.

– If you eat food while drinking cold beverages or immediately after, the water temperature solidifies fats from the foods we’ve just eaten and the body in turn finds it hard to digest the unwanted fats from our bodies.

Some people say that drinking ice water is beneficial because it burns more calories. I argue that we do not want to make our digestive system have to work harder; we want to makes things as easy on it as we can. There are many other ways to burn calories!



Benefits to Drinking Warm Water

Here are some benefits to drinking water that is room temperature or warmer:

– Faster + increased hydration

– Natural digestive enzymes are stimulated and therefore your digestion is enhanced

– Food breaks down more easily

– Your bowels move better (warm water with lemon in the morning is great for this!)

– It purifies your blood and increases your bodies natural detoxification processes via your skin, kidneys and lymphatic system

Once you get into the habit of drinking water at room temperature or warm, you will notice a dramatic improvement in your digestion and the way your body feels while eating and after the meal. Some people have also reported reduction in sugar cravings.




How to Get Rid of Cockroaches


(reposted, sorry for the grammar)


Cockroaches are a problem that does not go away by itself. Cockroaches are our uninvited and unwelcome guests.


Therefore, anyone with a cockroach in his home, wants to get rid of them. There are a lot of products to fight this menace, but most of them have certain drawbacks: cockroaches disappear, but for a short time, an unpleasant odor remains in the house, the chemical products are also dangerous to the health of humans and animals.

There is one proven way to get rid of them, which will not return and embittered your life.

Recipe:

Take 1 raw egg yolk, pour in it 50 g (1.7 oz) of boric acid powder (borax or boric powder). Stir until you get a thick mixture. From this mixture make a small balls. Wait until dry (about an hour) and distribute them all over the house in visible places and corners. Give special attention to the kitchen and bathroom. Do not forget that the place should be visible, not from your point of view, but from the point of view of cockroaches, areas like shelves, closets, kitchen cabinets.


Cockroaches will not feel the masked ball with boric acid , but be sure they will come out of curiosity. Will touch with their mustache, and will be doomed. Will not be able to warn others, and not just because their communication did not reach the high level of development, but because the cockroach will be neutralized from the effect of this boric acid ball.

Thus, more and more new and healthy cockroaches will approach the balls. Furthermore, such a cockroach is able to infect a healthy counterpart in touch with him.

At first you will think that cockroaches do not care about your tricks, how to calm down after moving your balls and do not feel any discomfort. But after 3-4 weeks every day you will cleaning enormous amount of dead cockroaches (of course if you have had a lot). After that cockroaches disappear!

If after 6 months the females (or only one) were able to lay eggs and hatched a new generation, repeat the same method.

These balls are harmless to humans and pets, so they can be safely placed in the house or apartment with small children, dogs or cats around.

Boric acid is not toxic, is used for disinfection. If you can’t find boric acid powder, use a 3% solution of boric acid, which is sold in every pharmacy at an affordable price. Mix one raw egg yolk with 100 ml boric acid and add a little flour. The effect will be the same.




(source: http://www.finelivingadvice.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches-forever-checked-acts-100/)

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Ovarian Cancer Case Linked to Johnson and Johnson Baby Powder

Wow! This is just really shocking! Something as innocent as a baby powder is now linked to cancer! They are just dry applications to our skin, not even taken internally! How much more the lotions, soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, etc?


Do you remember liberally applying this to your baby brothers and sisters with this powder? Even to toddlers when they are sweating after playing right?!

Here is an article from CBS and NBC News ordering J&J to pay damages to the family of an ovarian cancer victim:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-72-million-over-cancer-death/

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/court-orders-johnson-johnson-payoff-talcum-powder-ovarian-cancer-case-n524456

The victim was using "the iconic talcum powder as a bathroom staple for decades". The victim's son said that applying the baby powder "just became second nature, like brushing your teeth. It's a household name."

As per the CBS article, "In May 2009, a coalition of groups called the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics began pushing Johnson & Johnson to eliminate questionable ingredients from its baby and adult personal care products. After three years of petitions, negative publicity and a boycott threat, the company agreed in 2012 to eliminate the ingredients 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, both considered probable human carcinogens, from all products by 2015."

It was also said that "Johnson & Johnson 'knew as far back as the 1980s of the risk,' and yet resorted to 'lying to the public, lying to the regulatory agencies.' "

Monday, February 22, 2016

How Exercise Makes You Smarter, Happier, and Less Stressed

I confess, I am definitely a sedentary, a "taong bahay" person. I'm happy at home, even when my wife and daughter is at my home province.  My hobby is playing computer games and watching movies at home.

I know I need to exercise, not just to slim down, but also for my health. I do walk a bit, as well as ride my bike to work, but I know its not enough. I barely even perspire. Why is it so hard for most of us to exercise?


"We need to move," says Ratey of our evolutionary baggage, early in the talk. "It's only 10,000 years ago that we were hunter-gatherers and we moved anywhere from 10 to 14 miles a day."

That's the bottom line for physical fitness, but science is beginning to show that it's equally true for our mental health. Ratey lays out an incredible amount of research showing the amazing things exercise does for our mood and cognitive function, as well as exactly how these positive effects work.

Smarter.


These days, test-obsessed schools are often swapping gym for academics. Bad idea, insists Ratey. Why? Not just because sitting around makes kids fat and unhealthy. "The more fit you are, the better student you are," he explains.

There are tons of studies to back this up, including one looking at 2.6 million kids in Texas, which found a strong correlation between fitness levels and grades. That's regardless of demographic factors like race, gender, or parents' income.
 

But the real clincher, according to Ratey, is a Swedish study that looked at 1.2 million boys, who were evaluated at 15 for fitness and IQ, and then tested again when they began compulsory military service at 18. The results: if they got fitter, they also got smarter. That was even true of identical twins. If one exercised but the other didn't, the one that moved showed a cognitive benefit that the one who sat around didn't. This was clearly down to the exercise and not anything inborn. "We know exercise improves our ability to think," concludes Ratey.

Looking for motivation to move today? Even just standing up starts positive processes in the body and brain. "We know from studies, when we stand our brains are a little bit better, maybe 7 percent better than when we're sitting," Ratey says. Regular exercise is best, but just standing up is a good start.

Happier.

Exercise just doesn't fire up our brains, making us smarter. It also changes the chemistry inside our skulls, making us happier. In fact, according to one study out of Duke, exercise works just as well at treating depression as the common anti-depressant Zoloft.


"Exercise does the same kind of thing that many of our medicines do. A bout of exercise is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin," explains Ratey, noting that, like drugs such as Zoloft, exercise increases the amount of neurotransmitters in our brains.

Less stressed.

That's not the only way exercise physically affects our brains, impacting our mental health. It also speeds the incredible process of neurogenesis, actually helping us grow new brain cells. Meditation, learning, and laughing all increase the amount of new cells being born, but exercise is best, Ratey says.

These new cells tend to damp down our stress response. "The fitter you are, the more stress it takes to get you stressed," reports Ratey. And other physical processes combine to help make exercise a fabulous stress buster. Apparently, working out also spurs the release of something called ANP, for instance, which helps damp down panic.

Listening to Ratey, it's easy to be convinced that you really should exercise more -- not just for your body, but also for your brain. But what if you worry these research results aren't for you -- that you're too old or unfit to start an exercise program now?

Tough luck, responds Ratey, pointing to Mr. Singh, a marathoner who started running at the ripe age of 89 and continued past his 100th birthday. "Evolution has built in our ability to change at any time if we go for it," declares Ratey. "There's really no excuse."

Want many more details? Then watch the complete talk below.


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Eliminate Your Stress Simply by Burning the Leaves of This Herb!

Hello fellow Call Center agents! Today I stumbled upon an article that can help us fight anxiety and stress from our hectic shift. What is surprising is that the ingredient is very accessible to everyone, especially those who love to cook and eat adobo! It is none other than bay leaf, or in tagalog, dahon ng laurel!


Here's the article, enjoy!

Eliminate Your Stress Simply by Burning the Leaves of This Herb!

Modern people have accepted the fact that their lives are filled with anxiety, tension and stress. However, their bodies have not accepted this situation and this is why there are so many cases of so-called “modern diseases”.

But, there is no room for panic. There is a good and simple solution for this issue. It turns out that only one herb can help you eliminate these problems. Thanks to this herb you will eliminate your stress and get rid of anxiety.

Prepare for the ultimate rest.

In case you believe that we are talking about marijuana, you are wrong. The solution comes in the form of bay leaf.


That’s right – the inexpensive and easily accessible bay leaf. It has the ability to kill anxiety in a matter of minutes.

According to a famous Russian scientist, Gennady Malakhov, the fragrance of bay leaves provides positive effects in people dealing with anxiety and everyday stress.

The bay laurel tree grows naturally around the Mediterranean Sea and it has now caught the attention of the public.

Most people use it when they are preparing meals, but some of them are used as part of different natural treatments.

How To Eliminate Your Stress

Simply, take one dry bay leaf, one ashtray and burn the lead over it. Make sure that everything is secure before you start with the procedure and once the leaf starts burning don’t stand over it. You can even leave the room and return after ten minutes. When you return you will notice a calming scent and pleasant atmosphere.

Thanks to the fire, these leaves release a set of special compounds that trigger positive energy circulation. Sit in the room, enjoy the beautiful scent and witness the effectiveness of these leaves.

Remember to breathe deeply in order to eliminate your stress completely.

Additional Benefits Of Bay Leaves

Aside from helping us to relax at home, bay leaves are also good for our health.




(source: http://www.healthandlovepage.com/eliminate-your-stress/)

Sunday, February 14, 2016

White Food Are Cancerous

The "whiter" the food, the more cancerous it is...



You probably didn’t know how dangerous and harmful these 5 “poisons” can be, and this is why you consumed them every day. But, now we are going to tell you and you won’t have any excuses. White rice, refined salt, pasteurized cow’s milk, refined sugar and white flour are the five white poisons, because they contain very few nutrients, protein and vitamins. If you consume these 5 products every day, you will increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes and other common diseases. Did you know that people who eat white rice 5 times a week, have up to 17% increased risk of getting diabetes? This is just one example of how dangerous and harmful these products can be. You need to know them better, before you eat them every day.

Avoid these 5 white poisons

Refined Flour

The white flour is almost pure starch and it contains just a small amount of the nutrients of the original grain. Additional chemical treatments result in grain formation of a product called alloxan used in the industry for producing medical research diabetes in healthy mice. The alloxan diabetes cause by turning massive amounts of free radicals in the pancreatic beta cells, destroying them.

Pasteurized Cow Milk

Well, the pasteurization process might help give milk a longer shelf-life, but the costs of doing so is high. The stripping process removes valuable enzymes, vitamins A, C, B6, and B12. And at the same time, allowing for the transfer of hormones and antibiotics into the milk.The pasteurization process also kills off beneficial bacteria that can be found in raw milk, like lactobacillus acidophilus. The pasteurization process also destroys 20 percent of the iodine present in raw milk, causes constipation and generally takes from the milk its most vital qualities.

Refined Sugar

The white sugar can’t be considered as a food, but as a pure chemical substance, which is extracted from plant sources such as sugar cane or beet. Then, its juice is extracted in this process, whichcompletely removes all fiber-forming proteins and 90% of the healthy nutrients.

To remove the liquid (containing sugar), they add lime, which creates an alkaline reaction that kills almost all vitamins. Then they add carbon dioxide to accelerate the lime process. Then this sugary liquid passes through tubes that remove all the impurities. Then comes another treatment with calcium sulfate and sulfuric acid bleaching, which leaves the “sugar” product almost white.


The refined sugar has no proteins, vitamins, minerals, it has no enzymes, no micro elements, it has no fiber, no fat and not of no benefit in human food. This sugar provides just energy and nothing more.

Refined Salt

The salt we all use is basically sodium chloride. This product increases the risk of some cardiovascular problems. Refined salt has its share of harmful side effects to those who consume it regularly too. While table salt has iodine, which is necessary for your good health, the many processed or junk foods that contain salt do not have the added iodine.

Fluoride is another additive included in the salt refining process that can be bad for you when you consume too much. If you consume too much salt, you can end up with high blood pressure problems.

Refined Rice

The white rice can significantly increasethe glucose levels in your blood stream, which is a risk for diabetes.


The white rice processingincludes a refining process which removes the outer layer and germ. And basically what remains is the endosperm, which consists mainly of starch.

We really hope that you will stop eating these five food “poisons” and you will add much healthier food to your diet (fruits, vegetables, whole grain foods, etc.), and we also hope that you find this article helpful. And don’t forget – sharing is caring.




(source: http://www.naturalhealingmagazine.com/stop-using-these-5-white-poisons/)