So, you've been on that diet for a good two months or so now, and you might find your willpower slipping little by little. Oh, how tempting that pack of fries must look, gazing at you from a stranger's tray, tempting, taunting, mocking you. To make sure you don't fall prey to despair and temptation, here's our number one solution for your painful pangs of hunger! It's quite simple really, and that's to give yourself a cheat day!

You're probably familiar with what cheat days are, but if you aren't, allow us to fill you in on the juicy details. Cheat days are basically days where you cheat on your diet, be it with a seductive slice of steak or a saucy serving of sundae. After all we all need to get away from the monotomy and gratingness of our diets. In fact, health experts say that having cheat day can actually HELP you lose more weight.

When we go on diets, the thing most of us will cut out first and foremost are carbohydrates, which is our body's main source of energy. Keeping our carb intake low helps increase energy defecit and helps control our insulin levels, which is a hormone that stimulates hunger and fat storage. However, a side effect to low carbohydrate diets is that in order to adapt to this newfound lack of calories that we are creating for ourselves, the body will slow down its metabolism and burn fewer calories. A cheat day can help interrupt this and keep your metabolism at regular levels.

So, how often should you be having this cheat day? Once a week is usually a good place to start, if you're in relatively average health. As you get fitter, you can allow yourself more days off but make sure you don't go overboard and throw all your hard work out the window. Realistically, one meal out of many in a week shouldn't have too big an impact on your diet as a whole, so don't hold back too much either.

Well, that's it for this week, So what are you waiting for? Go on and have your secret scrumptious affair, we promise we won't tell on you...

Additionally, female-oriented skincare range have more whitening, brightening, lightening and anti-discoloration varieties than a unisex or male-oriented product range.

While “light” dressings save on calories and fat, they often more than make up for in sodium and sugar. While they may appear to be healthy alternatives, the sodium level is worth paying attention to. From what I know, “light” and “fat-free” dressings are often the most common places to find high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient which I would personally deem as a very unhealthy.

Nuts are a bit of a conundrum for a health food. For one thing most health foods don't have high fat contents, they also don't potentially kill you should you have an allergy to them. However, nuts remain one of nature's best sources of vitamins, minerals and nutrition. Even the fat content in nuts tend to be of the heart healthy variety, so don't feel guilty, just chow down!

Starting off out lists of nuts today are Almonds, a very commonly eaten nut native to the Middle East and South Asia. It has a very high calcium content, making it a great substitute for dairy products for those who are lactose intolerant. They are also rich in Vitamin E, which helps improve your skin complexion.

Next up, a favorite salty snack of many, are Cashews. It's easy to go through an entire can of these little treasures if you aren't careful, so make sure you're prepared! Cashews are loaded with Protein, Iron and Zinc and magnesium, which makes them a good meat substitute for you vegetarians out there. Eat them as they are, or chop them up and place them on cakes or other sweet things for maximum enjoyment.


Chestnuts have one of the lowest calorie and fat contents of the bunch and have a lot of fiber content, makind them a great diet food. They're also good sources of Vitamin C (in their raw form) and Vitamin B too.

Here we have my personal favorite of the nut family, Hazelnuts. These sweet little delights have a very distinct taste to them, and are great in deserts and when paired with chocolate. They contain homocystein, which helps with heart diseases and Parkinsons.

Last but not least, we have Pecans. A very creamy and filling nut, they help lower cholesterol levels by way of plant sterols. They're also rich in antioxidants and oleic acid, which are found in avocados, another health food we talked about a few weeks back. Not only that, but they also contains Vitamin B3, which is great if you need an energy boost in the middle of the day, as it helps us access the energy within the foods we consume.

That's about it for this week, there are still many varieties of nuts out there not mentioned here, so make sure you go out and find out more! It's always a piece of cake ot just pop on over to a grocery store and pick up a bag, so don't waste time!

Four months on working on ALIVE magazine and I'm proud to say that we're in the midst of putting the final pieces of our magazine together. We have come up with stories that will advice, motivate and educate you. With everything from hair care tips to breakfast ideas, this issue of ALIVE will leave you on the right track to a happier and healthier life.

In this issue, we are featuring two Team Singapore Athletes that participated in the 2015 SEA Games.   They spoke about keeping fit, balancing work, school and training sessions and even spilled a few beauty secrets!

We have been working hard to make sure this magazine is perfect for each and every one of you, we can't for you to get your hands on it!

Azra Rauff,  Editor.

With all the talk about newfangled fitness schemes, strict diets and organized sports, I think it's important we revisit the basics every now and then. Running or brisk walking, is a great example of a mindnumbingly simple yet effective excercise to stay in proper shape. There's not much to explain here really, you pick a direction, you start moving your feet and you go in that direction until you're too tired. Sure, you could go into things like proper shoes and distance measuring and break placement, but that's all really arbitrary stuff, all you need to do is to keep your body moving.

If you aren't already in shape and are trying to get healthier, this is a good place to start training. Not only does brisk walking help increase stamina which only helps as you delve into more strenuous work-outs, but it is also an extremely simple and efficient way of burning calories. A half hour walk at standard walking pace (about 5 KM/H) burns 99 calories, speed that up to a faster pace and you burn about a 150. Not only is walking fuss-free, simple, and virtually costless, but it's effective too! Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it?

Among the other benefits brisk walking provides is that it makes you happier, no really it does. Studies have shown regular, moderate-intensity exercise (such as brisk walking) to be as effective as antidepressants in cases of mild to moderate depression. The endorphines, which are basically natural painkillers your body produces, your body releases as you walk have a part in this, leading to a phenomenon known as runner's high. This gives the body a sense of euphoria and helps to reduce stress and anxiety.

Hopefully that little spiel of mine has got you motivated. So stop sitting on your butt! You don't need some fancy schmancy preparatory plan, just get on out there and get moving!