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Why Yogurt is Best for You

Why Yogurt is Best for You

originally posted at www.fruitsandyogurtcreations.com

1. Yogurt contains billions of probiotic (good) 

   bacteria that restores balance in your gut 

   which can help in your digestion as well as 

   keep your regular bowel movement.

2. Regular plain yogurt is best for people who wants to lose weight.

“Eat 18 ounces (about 500 grams) a day and you can drop a jeans size. People who ate that much -- in conjunction with cutting their total calories -- lost 22 percent more weight and 81 percent more belly fat than dieters who skipped the snack, according to research from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They also retained one-third more calorie-torching lean muscle mass, which can help you maintain weight loss. "Fat around your waist produces the hormone cortisol, which tells your body to accumulate even more belly flab," says nutrition professor and lead study author Michael Zemel, PhD. When you eat yogurt, the calcium signals your fat cells to pump out less cortisol, making it easier for you to drop pounds, while the amino acids help burn fat.”¹

3. Plain yogurt, if applied to the face with olive

    oil and honey, and left on for 20 – 30      

    minutes, and rinsed after, is a best 

    exfoliant. It removes layers of the skin which

    can clear up discolorations and blemishes 

    and reduce fine wrinkles.

Geli Foods Plain Yogurt contains billions of probiotics and is available at a very affordable price!

Geli Foods Now Supplying Seda's Fermented Milk Requirements

Watch Oscars Academy Awards Night 2013

The stage is set, red carpet has been rolled out. It's the 85th Oscars Academy Awards Night!

Click HERE to Watch it Live!

To guide you of who's nominated, here is the list from Hollywoodlife.com:

Best Actor In A Leading Role:

Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Denzel Washington in Flight

Best Actor In A Supporting Role:

Alan Arkin in Argo
Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Best Actress In A Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts in The Impossible

Best Actress In A Supporting Role:

Amy Adams in The Master
Sally Field in Lincoln
Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook

Best Picture: 

Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Animated Feature Film:

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography:

Anna Karenina Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained Robert Richardson
Life of Pi Claudio Miranda
Lincoln Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design: 

Anna Karenina Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables Paco Delgado
Lincoln Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman Colleen Atwood

Best Director:

Amour Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi Ang Lee
Lincoln Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook David O. Russell

Best Documentary Feature:

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
“How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing:

Argo William Goldenberg
Life of Pi Tim Squyres
Lincoln Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film:

Amour Austria
Kon-Tiki Norway
No Chile
A Royal Affair Denmark
War Witch Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Hitchcock Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane

Les Misérables Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score: 

Anna Karenina Dario Marianelli
Argo Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi Mychael Danna
Lincoln John Williams
Skyfall Thomas Newman

Best Original Song:

“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph

“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted – Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane

“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi – Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri

“Skyfall” from Skyfall – Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth

“Suddenly” from Les Misérables – Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design:

Anna Karenina
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright

Les Misérables
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson

Life of Pi
Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

Lincoln
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short Film:

Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Best Live Action Short Film

Asad 
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry

Best Sound Editing: 

Argo Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing:

Argo
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia

Les Misérables
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes

Life of Pi
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin

Lincoln
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins

Skyfall
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Argo Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi Screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original Screenplay:

Amour Written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained Written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight Written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty Written by Mark Boal

Unsatisfied with Coke in PET Bottles!

On February 10, 2013, Barangay Iponan in Cagayan de Oro celebrated the feast of San Guillermo (St. William the Hermit). It was also the birthday of Ethan, our eldest son. As our tradition, we celebrated it with a dinner with family and relatives.

A day before that, I bought 3 - 1.5 liters Coke (in PET bottles) in one of their mobile stall (plastic table with a big red umbrella) beside Westfield Subdivision at 3 for 130 pesos with a free coke glass. I thought Coke people were selling it at a discounted price as part of their promotional activities considering it was “fiesta” here. Regular price at stores near our place sells it at 45 pesos.

Happy with the bargain, I was ecstatic to tell to my wife with what I had bought. To my dismay, when I opened it to serve it to my guests, ONLY ONE was GOOD with enough carbonation and the rest had stale taste.

I felt being robbed by coke. If I had bought it in a regular store, I could have returned it and perhaps asked for a replacement but since I got it in their promo stall, they were already gone the next day.

So what did I learn from this experience?

I could have squeezed the bottle first. If it is too springy,  carbon dioxide must have already escaped from the PET bottle making it stale. I should have looked at the expiry date first because the two that got wasted were due to expire on February 26, 2013. They must have bargained it because it was nearing its best before date. And lastly, I should have stocked to the usual coke in glass bottles. It tasted better than in their PET counterpart, plus, I am helping save the environment by reducing plastic wastes.

Donaire vs Arce

www.hboboxinglive.us

Ring is set for another battle of Filipino and Mexican boxers as Nonito “The Flash” Donaire defends his World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight title and the WBC diamond belt to Jorge “Travieso” Arce on December 15, 2012 at the Toyota Center, the Home of the Houston Rockets , in Houston, Texas.

Donaire (29), a 4-division world champion with a record of 30-1, 19 by KOs, is one of the busiest boxer as this fight will be his fourth this year and winning all of his previous 3 fights. Meanwhile, the challenger, Arce (32) is a veteran fighter with 61-6-2, 46 by KOs.

At weigh-in, Donaire weighed 121 ½ pounds while Arce hit the limit of 122 pounds. At a press conference, both fighters extended their respect for each other and promised a great fight as both of them trained well in their respective camps.

Many boxing fans dubbed the Donaire – Arce fight as another battle and rivalry of Filipino and Mexican boxers as the Pacquaio – Marquez 4 was still fresh from their minds where Filipino champion Manny Pacquaio was knocked out in the 6^th rounds by his fierce rival Juan Manuel Marquez. In one of the interviews with Donaire, he mentioned that he is not fighting for revenge on the loss of Pacquaio. Revenge will cloud his focus on the fight. He will be on the ring to defend his title and pour his attention in his strategies and deliver a good fight.

The fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, starting at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT(December 16, 11:30 AM, Philippine Time). The telecast will also include the exclusive replay of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4, the fourth chapter of their epic rivalry and a favorite to win Fight of the Year. 

Packing Calories

With Christmas just around the corner, people are now planning for their Christmas party and Noche Buena. We usually prepare for a sumptuous dinner to be shared with the family at exactly 12 midnight or after the midnight mass. It is in these times that we always neglect our diet and gobble foods high in cholesterol, salt and sugar. It is during this holiday season that we let our bodies pack some more fats and add more weight.

But before picking up our spoon and fork and drool on those crispy lechon (roasted pig), succulent ham, soft and flavorful humba (braised pork belly), hot and oily bulalo (beef marrow stew),  creamy mango float and other noche buena regulars, let us be aware that:

1.   Every bit of those food that you put in your mouth will be absorbed by your body and every gram of it has its equivalent (1 gram of fat = 9 calories; 1 gram of protein = 4 calories; 1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories; 1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories).

2.   On a daily 2,000-calorie balanced diet, you need to consume 50 g of protein, 300 g of carbohydrates, 65 g of fat (20 g of saturated fat, 300 mg of cholesterol) and 25 g of fiber.

3.   Therefore, eating a plate full of slices of lechon and ham, humba, pasta, desserts in one meal can be packed with fattening calories, harmful cholesterol, and deadly salt and sugars.

To give you an idea what I am talking about, here is an example of a typical Christmas or Noche Buena plate with computed calorie and cholesterol count.

1.    1 – serving Rice (1 cup) = 242 cal; 0 mg cholesterol

2.    2 – serving Lechon (200 g) = 484 cal; 190 mg cholesterol

3.    1 – serving Smoked Ham (100 g) = 122 cal; 22 mg cholesterol

4.    ½ – serving Humba (50 g) = 86 cal; 14 mg cholesterol

5.    ½ - serving Chopsuey (1/2 cup) = 50 cal; 0 cholesterol

6.    1 – slice Mango Float = 280 cal; 12 mg cholesterol

7.    1 – bottle Beer (330 mL) = 139 cal; 0 cholesterol

To sum up, you had 1,043 calories and 238 mg cholesterol in one EXTRA midnight meal! This is half of your daily calorie requirements and 80% of your cholesterol intake. No wonder it is in this holiday season that a lot of people gained weight and got heart problems.

With the extra calories you had, you need 2 hours of high impact aerobics or 2 hours of non-stop jogging or 5 hours of walking to burn out the excess calories.

It is important that we should watch out our food intake by choosing the right food and eating in moderation those that are high in fat and cholesterol and be prepared to go to the gym to sweat out and burn out those calories.

The shocking loss of PACMAN

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez  rivalry ended with a big bang. With Pacquaio falling flatly on the canvass in the final seconds of the 6^th round, Filipinos were shocked to see that their boxing hero succumbed to the right hook of Marquez. The hysteria of Jinky Pacquiao at the ringside as her husband planked for a few seconds added more drama to the action-packed fight.

We somehow anticipated that not all the time our hero will win his fights, but should not end this way! This horrible loss will taint Pacquiao’s great record as an 8-division world champion. It only showed that heydays had an end and not all endings are pleasant.

Looking at the fight, both fighters showed their greatest performance ever in their respective careers. Rounds 1 and 2 exchanges were equal as they tried to measure one’s strength and tactics. When Pacquiao was downed in the third round, he obviously got more aggressive that he had also floored Marquez in the fifth round and battered Marquez that his face was badly swollen with blood dripping to the canvass. In the middle of the sixth round, Pacquiao was clearly on the advantage and even pushed to finish it but the right hook of Marquez stunned him as he fell to the canvass face first and never recovered.

Many observations and blaming had come out after the fight. Many said that Pacquiao’s conversion in his religion contributed to his loss. In all of his previous fights, his rosary was always visible and he only took it off just before the bell rings at the fight. His being a politician was also blamed as it misplaced his attention and focus on his boxing career. Others said he did not train well  because he had other commitments to attend to.

Dwelling to those tirades is an insult to Marquez capability as a fighter, boxing tactician and counter-puncher. Marquez is not a lowly boxer that defeated our champion. Remember, he is also a world champion that was beaten and won by a hair by Pacquiao in judge’s decision. Marquez had also trained hard for this fight and this win is his redemption.

As I see it, both fighters were great, prepared to fight and determined to win and it was just a matter of who will hit the devastating blow first. And this time, it was Juan Manuel Marquez  who  got the right side of the coin and the nod from Lady Luck.

Watch Paquiao vs Marquez here!

This is it! How will this end?

We Watched the Pacquiao vs Marquez Fight for the fourth time!

Pacquiao got knocked out in the 6th rounds.

We enjoyed it. I hope this will be Manny's last fight. Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez showed to the world that he is WBO greatest fighter of the decade!

How will this end?

December 8, 2012, PH time - The rivalry between two best pound-for-pound boxers in the world on who is the greatest fighter will once again be decided in the ring in just a few hours from now (December 8 at 9:00 PM ET/December 9, 10:00 AM, Philippine Time)  where Filipino champ and Sarangani representative Manny Pacquiao will face Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time in a welterweight division at MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada.

This non-title fight will finish, once and for all, speculations on who is better fighter between the two. With Pacquiao winning his last two fights with Marquez and a draw in their first encounter, Marquez camp and many boxing aficionados are still not convinced that they were outpunched by Pacquiao and claimed that Marquez should have won it.

The two fighters first met in May 8, 2004 and ended with a draw. Pacquiao won in a split decision on their second bout on March 15, 2008 and a majority decision on their third bout last November 12, 2011.

This time, boxing fans all over the world will once again witness two future boxing hall of famers face each other for the fourth time to end this long-running feud. It should be decided by a knock-out and not on the scorecard of the judges. An impressive win that could convince everybody should seal the fate of the winner as the WBO Fighter of the decade and seal the mouth of the loser.

Many boxing analysts are putting their money to Marquez for his effort. He was training hard and even back to chopping woods to build up his stamina and strength, though, I am not sure if he is drinking again his urine. As for Pacquiao, they say that he had done so many things and lost focus on his boxing career. He had become a politician and a too much exposed celebrity.

Whatever the outcome of the fight tomorrow, one thing I am sure how will this end, Mommy Dionisia will get a new Hermes bag!

As Super Typhoon Approaches

Cagayan de Oro City, December 3, 2012 (10.30 am) - On December 16, 2011, typhoon Sendong hit the northern part of Mindanao devastating Iligan and Cagayan de Oro City causing a massive landslides and flash floods that killed more than a thousand of people. Intense rain for several hours resulted to flash floods that swept barangays near Cagayan de Oro River and Mandulog River in Iligan City at midnight where people were asleep after resting early brought by cold rainy night and untimely brown out earlier that day.

Photo taken as water subsides after 3 hours of flash flood.

Our home was not sparred by the flood. It came in the morning as I was awakened by Emily after the wall of our subdivision was breached and ravaging murky water was filling up the streets. Flood water had submerged our home up to waist-deep leaving some of our home appliances, clothes, and furniture drenched in mud.

Our share of Sendong

Cagayan de Oro City was left without potable water for a month after local water utility facilities were destroyed. Power was only restored after 3 days and dust subsided after months of cleaning.

 Typhoon Sendong sustained winds were at 90 kilometers per hour (kph) or 55 miles per hour and it unleashed more than 200mm (7.9 in) of rain causing the watershed and rivers to overflow. It was the worst storm that hit Philippines in 12 years. Because of the enormous damage and high death toll brought by Sendong, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) had retired the name Sendong in its typhoon naming list.

Today, less than a year after, another storm is brewing in the Pacific Ocean and slowly creeping the same path as typhoon Sendong, this time, it is named Pablo (international code name Bhopa). PAGASA forecasted that typhoon Pablo has maximum sustained winds of 175 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 210 kph and will landfall tomorrow morning. As signal no. 2 was raised in my home province, Surigao del Sur, we are now preparing our contingency plan and had done packing our important documents. We had already charged our cellphones and radio and constantly monitoring typhoon updates from PAGASA though its website www.noah.dost.gov.ph. Real time information such as satellite images, typhoon track, rainfall and other data are provided by the website. Unfortunately, their Hinatuan Doppler Radar is currently under maintenance servicing thus it cannot provide rain intensity images but weather stations scattered all over Mindanao could compensate such setback.

Track of Sendong on December 15 - 19, 2011

Forecast track of Typhoon Pablo

We already accepted the fact that it will hit us; it is just a matter of how hard it will hit us. We are not afraid of the strong winds but of the rain the typhoon will bring. Cagayan de Oro and Iponan rivers are still clogged up by siltation caused by illegal mining. We are used to typhoon in Surigao del Sur. It is a regular thing for us, and accepted as an act of nature. What scare us are the flash floods. It is a consequence from the acts of man driven by greed, stupidity and foolishness.

Fettuccini in Creamy Mushroom Sauce

It has been a while since I wrote my last recipe. It does not mean that I stopped cooking. I got busy with my yogurt business, the research and development part is such a monotonous work until you get the right formulation.

I learned this recipe from my nanay (mother) after I got bored with the usual Italian spaghetti. I do not like the sweet, Filipino-style spaghetti. It is like eating a dessert in the middle of the main course, though kids love it much.

My fettuccini in cream and mushroom is easy to prepare. Instead of making the cream and mushroom sauce, I used Campbell’s condensed cream of mushroom. It saves time making the white sauce,  I just supersized it by adding more mushroom, evaporated milk and butter.

Ingredients:

½ kg fettuccini

½ kg ground pork

½ stick butter

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 bulb medium-sized onion (minced)

3 cups Campbells condensed cream of mushroom

1 cup pre-cooked sliced mushroom

2 cups water

1 cup grated cheese

1 ½ evaporated milk

Ground pepper and salt to taste

Procedure:

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside. In a saucepan, melt butter in low flame. Sauté minced garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add ground pork, season with salt and pepper. Cook until ground pork is done.  Pour in the sliced mushroom, condensed cream of mushroom and water. Mix well to soften the condensed cream of mushroom. Bring it to boil, and then add evaporated milk and grated cheese. Simmer for 2 minutes. Mix the sauce with the pasta buy folding it gently until pasta is covered with the sauce. Let it stand for 2 minutes and transfer to a serving bowl.

Before I gained weight, I usually put 1 full stick of butter in the sauce topped and served with lightly-fried bacon but I stayed with this recipe so I can still enjoy more of it!