You probably know that Valentines is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas… yet… what if you’re looking for a ‘last minute love note’ or… idea to spark a lovely Valentines evening?

Well, this blog post is just for you because you get 6 ideas to achieve that.

Here’s how it started…

3 hours ago I walk into a florist that looked Pure Red.

Red wallpaper, staff dressed in red and it’s full of red roses and hear shaped chocolates. As I walk out my cousin turns and says, “Hey, you got any nice love notes I could SMS on Valentines?”

That’s when I thought it’s worth posting a ‘last minute’ Valentines special.

This serves two purposes:

Firstly, if you’re stuck and trying to find a quick way to show your love and affection… then now you’ve got easy access to 6 tools that hand you… shortcuts to making the most out of valentines.

Secondly, it’s a chance to let Valentine’s day be the spark… a fresh start… a reason to transform your love life. Work love into your life. The way you love your partner, your family (and hey… they way you love yourself).

So here’s your six Valentines Tools:

1. Your “50 Romantic Indulgences” Report:

   Think of it as your collection of romantic ideas to rekindle the passion in your relationship (or spice up your dates) and transform your love life.Now I don’t necessarily recommend every page of this report, yet you’re sure to find a handful of techniques and tips (out of those 50 ideas) that’ll ignite your love life.

   Here’s just one example from page 10:

   “Buy a pad of colored or fluorescent Post-it® notes about 3” x 3” in size.

   Write several love messages to him - one message on each Post-it® note.

   Stick them on various pages of his favorite book - especially the one he’s reading right now. As he turns the pages he’ll come across your love notes.”

   You can download your free copy here.

   

2. 7 Valentine’s Wall Papers:

   Get first 4 desktop wall papers by clicking here… next 3 wall papers by clicking here.

3. Love SMS:

   if you’re into texting and out of words to say to your special someone you’ll love this.There’s countless SMS samples to choose from, such as:

   “Tears can sometimes be more special than smiles…
   For smiles can be given to any one…
   But tears are only shed for people we love!
   Happy Valentine’s Day!!”

   Or this one…

   “I searched through books & leafed through cards,
   For words that wud convey, what I had in my heart,
   But when I sat down to write, all I can write was….
   I Love You!”

   To get more of these, go here and scroll down a bit to see all samples.

   And here’s a second one

   Here’s two that I like:

   “Each of us are angles
   with only one wing;
   and we can only fly by embracing
   one another.
   you want to become angle?
   Come and I will give my wing.
   Love U.So much.”

   “What is love?
   Love is when someone breaks your heart
   and the most amazing thing is that
   u still love the person with each broken piece.”

   You can get more of these here.
   

4. Over 126 Love Cards:

   Here’s your shortcut to send your special one a love card… you’ll find plenty here, click the one you like… scroll down and enter his email and a quick love note. (There’s over 15 pages filled with nothing but love cards.)

   

5. Same as last one, these are “I Love You Because” love notes and there’s 25 you can print.Simply select one, click the image and there’s a “Print It” below the image.
6. Make Your Heart-Shaped Love Notes:

   Here’s a creative technique that turns your colored paper into hearts (then you can use these to write your love notes).

Wishing You A Happy Valentine’s Day,

M. Jamal

What do Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart, supermodel Kate Moss, and Nicole Richie have in common?

They all have super-slim bodies that are virtually unattainable – and the unfortunate thing is, television and other media have become so pervasive that women all over the world desire to attain these physiques at all costs.

This portrayal of the “ideal body shape” in celebrities applies an unpleasant cultural pressure for women of all ages to be thin.

Even the more mature stars of the hit TV series “Desperate Housewives” feel the demands, because they know that in La-La Land, ‘looks’ are everything.

Pressure starts from childhood

Women who were on the “chubby” side during their growing-up years know the pain of enduring teasing and being called unfriendly names by their playmates.

In school, girls compete for the attention of young men who predictably avoid overweight girls. They search for social acceptance and often end up relentlessly aiming for a hard-to-achieve body weight, often harming themselves in the process.

In a study conducted by Hargreaves and Tiggemann, it was found that media affects the people around girls (i.e., men and boys) in the way they hold unrealistic expectations for an ideal partner.

When asked about the characteristics they looked for in girls, the item, “slim figure” surprisingly ranked higher than “intelligence.”

Aggravating the situation is the over-zealousness of some sectors to fight obesity.

Their good intentions may actually backfire when overweight children are singled out, subjecting them to measures such as controlled diets and strenuous exercises.

This can lead to stigmatization and may pressure kids into trying out extreme diets.

This, apart from the direct effect media has on women, continues to destroy the self-esteem of women who don’t – and can never have – the unbelievably frail physiques that these celebs have.

Where in the 17th century, famous painters such as Peter Paul Rubens glorified curvy and well-endowed women, today, the ideal size has been whittled down to Size Zero – that is, one with a waistline of 23 inches, which is similar to that of an 8-year-old girl’s.

A Size Zero is nearly impossible to achieve today unless one goes on a strict diet or has had some sort of operation.

In the 19th century, ladies had to wear uncomfortable corsets to simulate hourglass figures.

In the 1920s, women starved themselves and even bound their breasts to attain the ideal body shape at the time.

And perhaps one of the more controversial weight-loss methods by celebrities was that of opera singer Maria Callas allegedly ingesting a tapeworm to lose almost 80 pounds during the years of 1953-54.

Rather than be criticized for the sudden drop in body size, she was even hailed by the likes of opera conductor Nicola Rescigno and Sir Rudolf Bing, GM of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, who remarked that Callas was an “astonishing, svelte, striking woman” after the weight loss.

Waifish is again what’s “in” this 21st century, and many parents are concerned.

Even Barbie has become slimmer since she came out in the market in 1959!

Solution to the problem

Of course, we all know that there are health problems linked to obesity – risks of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer.

But crash dieting also leads to severe health problems, and is without doubt not the answer to weight problems.

To keep women from desperately emulating reed-thin celebrities, the images and messages that the media portrays about the ideal figure have to be changed.

Media should use an extensive variety of models of various sizes, shapes, heights, and looks. This approach would enable viewers to visualize a broad range of acceptable body shapes.

Some countries have already acted on the alarming cases of anorexia in models.

Organizers of Madrid’s Fashion Week did not hesitate banning girls who were underweight, while designers in Italy required their models to submit medical evidence that they did not suffer from eating disorders.

But supermodel Gisele Bundchen is firm on stating that media is not entirely to be blamed for women’s obsession on slimming.

She claims that because of her strong family base, she never experienced eating disorders such as anorexia (excessive dieting) or bulimia (self-induced vomiting after binging). Indeed, family members should play a role in boosting the confidence of girls as they are growing up by providing them with the needed love and support.

M. Jamal

I’m about to hand you a special report that’ll set the ground rules for your workouts.

You’ve probably heard some of these before, but are you doing them?

What I mean is… you can use this as a basic check list every time you workout (these tips can even inspire you to come up with new ways to modify or improve your current training routine).

This report is courtesy of ‘Wameed’ and it goes into tips such as:

• How to have all the benefits of a gym without buying a single machine.
• Why it might take you a while to get a hang of this simple training concept and how to tweak it to target the right muscle groups.
• Plus, this type of training may be just right for people on the go. After all, you can’t pack a pair of dumbbells in your suitcase and you won’t need to scout for gyms when you’re out of town. (One thing: you’ll need to understand the limitation to this type of workout and how to work around it).
• 5 rules to setup a home gym on a budget. (hint: how to get your money’s worth and when to consider a refurbished piece of equipment. Plus: how NOT to miss the ‘progress’ factor in your home gym).
• 5 tips to ensure you ‘buy wisely’ and avoid common home gym blunders: 3 safety features to look for,  3 more ‘adapt to your workout’ features NOT to skip, why spend some time on the machine you’d like to buy, another thing to look for in refurbished units.
• Which 4 home gym gadgets give you the best value for money – skip this and setting up a full home gym can easily cost you thousands.
• 3 ways to easily get a dumbbell set without the expense.
• One of the most versatile workout tools you can buy for cheap and how to make sure it’s the right size for you.
• The one reason your diet starts to lose steam and your progress stalls – explained in simple terms. Plus what to do when this happens to swing things into you favor (this may seem unusual, it even runs against what you naturally wish to do, yet it works). You get 6 ways to implement this technique.
• Trying to get slim? Can’t stop checking your weight? Here’s why you shouldn’t panic when the scales won’t budge.
• 5 ways to keep your diet on track. (hint: do this to avoid breaking your own rules – it won’t be so easy to quit this time… plus, a simple way around having to give up comfort foods entirely.)
• …And much more.

You can download the report by clicking here.

Grab your copy today. Check it out and let me know what you think.

M. Jamal

P.S. You’ve probably noticed I’ve been quiet most of December. Turns out my trusty laptop needed an upgrade.

Well, to be honest it burnt out and I had to get a replacement and get back up to speed. Anyways, I hope you gave yourself a break in December… distressed, enjoyed the holidays and now you’re filled with new found motivation for 2009 (oh, the years seem to fly by so quick. Don’t you think? Make the most out of 2009)

We can’t really get an exact definition of a fad diet, because “fads” generally refer to things that are fleeting.

Some of the diets discussed below, however, call for a long-term observance for them to be effective at maintaining a desirable weight, but they have come to be called fad diets because of the hysteria they provoked on their introduction.

>> The Atkins Diet:

Dr. Robert C. Atkins’ 1998 book, Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, and the 1992 version, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, have sold more than 10 million copies.

This plan is based on the principle that a low-carb diet switches the body’s metabolism from one that burns glucose to one that burns stored body fat, which we all want to eliminate.

This also buries the ages-old belief that saturated fat is the source of all weight problems.

Dr. Atkins claimed that only trans fats, such as those from hydrogenated oils, are to be avoided.

Furthermore, in this diet, you can have your fill of meats and cheeses, as they don’t have the prohibited carbs.

No-nos are grains, cereals, fruit, rice, pasta, potatoes, candy, sugars and alcohol.

Detractors say that this diet makes one feel lethargic, but Atkins rebuts that fatigue may occur only during the first few days of the program when your body is still adapting to the shift in metabolic pathways used.

>> The Low-Fat Diet:

Popularized in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, this umbrella name is comprised of several diets, some of which are low fat (where 20-30% of calories come from fats), and some are very low fat (where 0-19% of calories come from fats).

Very low fat diets are:

• Scarsdale – came out in the ‘70s; it has a peculiar nutrient ratio of 22.5% fat, 34.5% carbohydrate, and 43% protein. The target weight loss is 20 pounds in just 2 weeks!
• F-Plan – became a fad in the ‘80s; a high-fiber diet
• Hip and Thigh Diet – popularized in the ‘90s, particularly in the U.K.; forbids all oils, nuts and seeds, butter, and dairy (except skim milk, low-fat cottage cheese, and low-fat yogurt). It didn’t take off because we now know that spot reduction is a myth
• Pritikin Diet – a high-carb diet which involves considering the overall calorie content of a meal
• Ornish Diet – banned foods are refined carbs, nuts, oils, seeds, avocados, and all fats; not recommended as restricting nuts, seeds, and oils deprives the body of essential fatty acids (EFAs) like Omega-3

>> The South Beach Diet:

Oprah Winfrey, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Kim Cattrall, Nicole Kidman, and many other celebrities swear by it.

Originally developed by Dr. Agatston for heart patients who needed to lose weight, the South Beach Diet has three phases…

with the first producing a drastic weight loss in 2 weeks via the avoidance of carbohydrates.

This is followed by a second phase where some of the restricted foods are reintroduced, albeit sparingly.

The last phase involves maintaining a lifestyle of eating only healthy foods.

The downside is that the foods suggested in this diet cost more than highly processed foods, so it doesn’t appeal to everyone’s budgets.

>> The Cabbage Soup Diet:

Its star is a simple recipe for cabbage soup, which you are free to have your fill of all throughout the diet.

This program is designed to go on for 7 days, with some days allowing beef and rice and others restricting it or asking you to limit yourself to only one kind of fruit in a day.

It’s friendly on the budget, but the soup can be rather tiring to eat, because you get to sip it three times a day for 7 days.

Detractors say that this diet is just a step away from starving yourself, but it has been pretty successful for many.

You also can’t get the RDA you need when your diet revolves around a single main ingredient and just a little of the other food groups. Another undesirable effect of the cabbage soup diet, by the way, is gas.

>> The Zone Diet:

This plan is all about meal ratios: 30% fats, 30% protein, and 40% carbs.

It has a lot of forbidden foods, and has often been criticized for having extremely low caloric recommendations.

There are several other diets which are less popular and did not last as long.

Some gave results that were too negligible while others were too risky to follow.

Nutritionists, dietitians, physicians, and even fitness instructors are always on the lookout for the perfect slimming diet that won’t fatigue us, won’t deprive us of nutrients, and that would show impressive results in a few days.

What’s your pick?

Have you been on any of these and got the results you so desired?

M. Jamal