Addiction

The two most common addictions known are smoking and drug-taking.

And there are also the not-so-health-risking ones like the internet (which all of us can't live without) and gambling.

But how the ones we love?!



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Chocolates!!!

Are you starting to worry about having to say 'goodbye' to our FAVOURITE food?







Well...

Here is a report from which I stumbled upon 2 weeks ago:

Can't quit chocolate? Don't fret, it's no addiction
September 11, 2007 08:23:35 AM PST
Resistance is futile. The more we try to fight off a craving for chocolate, the more our desire for it grows, a British researcher said on Tuesday.
But chocoholics can take heart that such sweets are not addictive despite the fact many people consider themselves as having no control over their urges to eat the sweets, said Peter Rogers, a psychologist at the University of Bristol.
“Food behavior can look like addictive behavior in extreme situations but chocolate does not fit these criteria,” Rogers told a meeting sponsored by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Many people point to certain compounds found in chocolate -- such as phenyl ethylamine -- that produce a buzz when they reach the brain as evidence chocolate is addictive, Rogers said.
But many of these compounds also exist in higher concentrations in other foods with less appeal, such as avocados or cheese, and do not cause addiction despite what many chocoholics believe, he said.
Instead, a social attitude that chocolate is “naughty” but “nice”; may actually drive people to see chocolate as a forbidden pleasure and desire it even more, Rogers said.
“In other words, chocolate is a highly desirable food, but which according to social norms should be eaten with restraint,” he said. “However, attempting to resist the desire to eat chocolate only causes thoughts about chocolate to become more prominent, consequently heightening the desire.”
Other studies have suggested that dark chocolate contains more of the beneficial compounds linked with heart health, though experts note that the high sugar and fat content of most chocolate candy might cancel out some of the benefits.
But even health benefits do not make dark chocolate as popular as milk chocolate and chocolate covered confectionary, Rogers said further research has shown.
And the fact these favored choices contain lower amounts of the so-called psychoactive compounds found in dark chocolate provides more evidence chocolate is not addictive, he said.
“It is therefore far more plausible to suggest that a liking for chocolate, and its effects on mood, are due mainly to its principal constituents, sugar and fat, and their related or sensory and nutritional effects,” he said in a statement.

Chocolate is NO addiction.

Short and sweet.




Caution: Don't eat chocolate in excess for fear of growing sideways.

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New Blog

Hi everyone! :)

I’ve decided to start a WHOLE new blog with a whole new look and a whole new style of writing. My new style of writing will actually be writing proper English and spelling every word out in full, instead of putting my own short-forms in the blog entries. (Don’t come and start complaining about me writing in such a formal way, alright.)


I’ve finally come to the last day of work! For the past 3 weeks, I’ve been working at Marina House, making phone calls to Taiwan every single day. It’s because yesterday was the day that my company was holding an event in Taipei. I don’t think it’s going to turn out VERY well though, because Friday 21 Sep 2007 isn’t a particularly such a good date AND day to choose to hold an event. From what I’ve gathered from the HUNDREDS of phone calls which I have made, here are some things that I learnt:

1. In Taiwan, they have a four-day-holiday in-lieu with the Mid-Autumn Festival. (That’s just so cool, right? For us here in S’pore, even if it’s Chinese New Year, we only have 2 days off -.-) So it means that employees will have to work extra hard to complete all their 4-days-work before Zhong Qiu Jie.
2. For those in the shipping industry, Mondays and Fridays are the 2 busiest days of the week. That’s when the ships will leave and enter the ports, so they will have to oversee those ships going off and coming in.
3. During 2 instances, 2 ‘nice’ ladies from 2 different companies chatted on the phone with me for nearly half an hour. One of them told me that the best day to hold an event is Wednesday, and the timing should be from 1.30 to 3.30 too.

If my director happens to read this (chances are VERY low), he’ll have a better idea of why the event didn’t turn out to be as successful as he hoped it would be. Don’t blame me. It’s not that I didn’t do a good job of making those phone calls. It still depends on the companies’ Managing Directors whether they want to go and attend the event or to even send someone to represent them. On the day when he left S’pore for Taiwan with another director, I even contemplated whether I should return to the office this coming Monday to catch up with him during a quick lunch. (He suggested the ‘quick-lunch’ idea, I didn’t.) Silly me. Now I’ve got an extra reason NOT to go back to office to “visit”. Even if I won’t be going back to the office, I’ll still be returning to that area, because there’s a shop there that sells many nice handbags (at affordable prices too!) If any of you want to get some new handbags, just tag along with me on Monday! :)

Retail therapy is simply so a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Within this week, I’ve already bought SIX pieces of clothings (online and offline). I’ll share them here with you:

Brown Striped Dress/Top, $18 $14.40:


Two-piece Navy Short Jacket, $14.90:


Terry Cloth Sweater, $9.90:


Polly Dolly Two-piece Top, $28.50:


Zipper Jacket, $27:


Patchwork Dress, $32 $18


(I bought the last 3 pieces from Paper Girls Shop.)

That means in total, I’ve spent… over a hundred moolahs, just solely on clothes! I think I might have overdone it. But hey, coming to think of it… it’s my birthday this week! So I should be forgiven for overspending, RIGHT? And it’s been such a LONG time since the last time I have spent so much money! (Hmm, but I still feel a LITTLE guilty though.) Hopefully when the postman arrive at the door with the rest of the pieces, my mum won’t be at home to witness me opening the packages.

Coming back to today, I’ll just like to share something with you guys here:


Section 1: How You Approach Life and How You Appear To Others
Cautious, prudent, and rather self-contained, you are a person who approaches life realistically and who is not inclined to take foolish chances or get carried away by the overly optimistic or idealistic schemes of starry-eyed dreamers. (Erm, I am quite a dreamer ok.) In fact, you frequently have a jaundiced view of such things. You are rather worldly-wise at a fairly young age, even something of a cynic. Often the world doesn't seem like a safe, friendly place to you, and you tend to approach life in a guarded, conservative manner. You are generally calculating and careful (I have to admit, but not in a bad sort of way), and are rarely spontaneous, fluid, open, and childlike. (You must be joking. I’m ALWAYS spontaneous and yada yada ok.)

Section 2: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
At heart you are modest and humble, and you rarely strive to be in the limelight or in a position of power. You have a sharp analytical mind, a keen eye for detail, and you prefer to observe, dissect, and study life from a distance. (Hey, this is quite true.) Conscientious and conservative, you can be relied upon to be careful, efficient, and thorough in your work and you take pride in doing a job well. What you may lack in self-confidence you often make up for in skill - developing expertise, technical knowledge, and competency in some specialized area. You are adept at using your hands to create or fix things, and meticulous attention to detail and careful craftsmanship are your forte. Some would say you are a little TOO meticulous, for you can be extremely critical and petty if everything is not done exactly as you think it should be (I can be like that at times, but I don’t normally show it on the outside), and you worry about things that other people consider trivial and unimportant. You like to organize, categorize, and arrange everything into a logical system, and you are often distinctly uncomfortable when something does not fit into a neat category. Disorganization vexes you. (FIY, my messy room don’t vex me a single bit, but I would really like to sit down and seriously spend some time to tidy up my room and put things in order.) You probably wish that you were not such a perfectionist (Always remember that Virgos ARE perfectionists, because horoscope has always been telling us this, from SO many donkey years ago till today), for besides being a stickler for details, you can be mercilessly self-critical as well. Whether in your environment or in yourself, you tend to focus on the flaws, with a desire to improve, refine, and perfect. You are strictly factual, truthful, and scrupulously honest in your self-estimation, and you often do not give yourself enough praise or credit.

Happy B'day to myself! (:

And yes, something just came back to my mind: Anyone going for the leadership camp in October?