Femtalks Blog

What do we all consider to be a healthy eating?
Most of us would definitely give the typical SAD (standard American diet) answer which is to avoid fatty and greasy foods and consume more greens, lots of fruits with some lean meats.

So why America – the 5th lowest smoking rate among developed country and the lowest fat consumption per capita – suffers the highest obesity rate in the world and more over, heart attack listed as the number one hospital death cause in the country? Part of the hidden truth is because of what we’ve been told all along from the American dietary and nutritional guidelines has been skewed. Here’s the info-graphics that clearly explained why we get fat.

If you want in-depth information there is this article entitled “Enjoy Saturated Fats, They’re Good for You!” by by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD a cardiac surgeon and a professor.

Infographics source: massive health the maker of “The Eatery” iPhone App that helps you keep in track of your carbo consumption, pretty helpful app.

And if you’d like to start adapting to low carb high fat diet this Swedish Diet Blog is quite helpful for recipes and what to cook tips.

I simply love Swift’s look for her fragrance ad. She is stunningly gorgeous in the Christian Siriano‘s gown made for the Spring Summer 2011 collection. Love the whole dreamy and fairy tale concept behind it.

Her make-up is also a steal =)

It’s even more stunning to see the gown in motion, here’s her ad video from youtube:

Below is the one comic that explained how screwed education in America really is. We all know education is very important and indeed is a basic human right. In America when one has a student loan, he or she can’t get a way from it different from any other type of debt. We often believe people have equal access for a higher education in America, the truth is with price tag so high per course’s unit most Americans can’t afford higher education, they ended up really behind (in debt) just when they’re about to start their lives.

Becoming a first time mom that has to do constant direct nursing, because my baby won’t tolerate bottle feeding at all is quite a disenchant for a lingerie lover such myself. During my last trimester of pregnancy I hunted many nursing bras but of course haven’t been a mom yet I have no clue what to look for in a nursing bra. I grunted in dismay because everywhere I look for nursing bras I found dull design and sadly but true most bras just don’t feel comfortable when I tried on. I just thought I’d share what I stumble so far on what works and what don’t on nursing bras.

As mentioned before I am a big fan of lingerie. So getting used to beautiful collections such as Victoria’s Secret, Chantelle, La Perla, Malizia by La Perla, Simone Perele, and more… it’s quite a difficult task to find elegant nursing bras with expectation of such sophisticated design encompassing great material such as the ever so soft and beautiful Chantilly lace. Yes my first hunt is for style not for comfort so here are couple of nursing bras having the style and great design: HotMilk Mama, PANACHE, and Cake Lingerie. I like them because they come with great support and no underwire.

Shown above is HotMilk mama.

Above is PANACHE and below is Cake Lingerie

Although these nursing bras are stylish and fashionable, the comfort level and practicality of these bras simply not at the top notch level. Of course this is based on my own experience because I am in constant nursing situation and nursing isn’t neat, period. If baby won’t latch it’s a mess, if there’s let down it’s another mess, so I ended up having to wash nursing bras all the time and hand wash isn’t an option because like most mom, I am so exhausted and tired with taking care of the baby so I opted for a more functional and easy to use type of nursing bra which is the sleep nursing bra with no clip. If I have to wear clip style nursing bra I’d opt for Bravado! Bravado! offers great support and comfort but its clip style to me means extra time and just extra hassle.

pictured above is Bravado!

Despite its fashionless look, sleep nursing bra is my most favorite nursing bra style. These bras are comfortable, fast to handle for on and off nursing and easy to maintain. I like Motherhood Maternity Sleep bra and Majamas sleep bra.

above is majamas nursing sleep bra and below is motherhood maternity wrap nursing sleep bra

The Majamas is made out of elastic material while the Motherhood maternity is made of 100% cotton.
At the end comfort and functionality has won me over design, because believe it or not motherhood is tough for a first timer. Having these sleep style bra is very convenient and to me is very user friendly. I’ll post another topic on how to nurse both in private and in public and why this no clip style bra is on my top preference.

1. Spaghetti Scrubber

Ever since I do my own kefir yogurt making and learn not to wash the container or any tools for kefir yogurt making with soap or detergent because these good bacteria can’t stand the soap residue then I opt for a nylon scrubber. However I have difficulties finding this nylon scrubber recently in my local area, so I went online and found out about this great friendly spaghetti scrubber which is made from corn cobs and peach pits.

They made a good companion for doing scrubbing for your kitchen dishes or even other type of cleaning naturally and with less detergent since a small amount goes a long way inside this curly shaped material.It’s also very easy to dry making it mold resistant. If you want the gentle scrub go for the pink ones and if you want the more aggressive then get the yellow ones. for more info visit: Goodbye Detergent! To buy you can visit uncommongoods.com or theafternoon.com.

2. Scruba Gloves

I always wash my veggies even if it is a pre-washed packed salad greens. Sometimes when it comes to things like potatoes, carrots, radishes and other veggies that grows under the ground I found it hard to get rid of the dirt until I peel their skin off. I just learnt that peeling the skin off indeed rip off the vitamin I’ll get from these veggies so it’s better not to peel them off but wash them completely clean. I found out that scrub’a gloves designed by Danish designer will enable me to wash off all the dirt a lot quicker with less amount of water consume. To learn more you can visit their site at fabrikators. Scrub’a gloves also comes in adult and kid sizes.

3. Drosselmeyer Nutcracker

If Nuts cracking become a burdensome and messy chore then I hope drosselmeyer nutcracker able to help you solve that problem.

Drosselmeyer is the first handheld nutcracker to have a double lever action and a container to collect the shells. This award-winning design is widely regarded as the best and most powerful nutcracker on the market. It’s a quick, clean, and easy way to crack nuts. source.

Designed by Swedish design firm this sleek nutcracker has gained popularity as a must own kitchen gadget.

Currently most people use Google, Bing or other search engine mostly to merely search for something. Most will either choose to get information back in plain text view search result or image thumbnail search result. Either of these results will display a link that will lead to user to discover more information whether it is in text or in image form.

When you need a search that return just the data you want instead of endless links then Wolfram|Alpha a computational knowledge engine might be just the other option. Basically the search engine generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. If you are seeking for more reliable result from closed collective data set then Wolfram might certainly suit your need.

The Wolfram|Alpha search basically stated that “It can only know things that are known and somehow public, it only deals with facts, not opinions. It limits the computation time for each query.” and most of its data come from systematic primary sources. to learn more go to Wolfram|Alpha FAQ page.

Wolfram|Alpha is known for its mathematical computation so students these days are pretty lucky they can type any mathematical question and get their answers at an instant. Wolfram|Alpha is also available for major phone platforms such as iPhone, Android, iPad and ebooks – now I wonder how student cheat during their test using these modern technology. I hope teachers will put all their gadget away before entering test room. I tried to play around with this search engine and here some screens I captured.

Flip Flop is the most popular footwear in many developing countries due to their low production cost. In developed countries flip flop is more of a of seasonal footwear popular during the summer time. This popular foot wear have evolved from a simple rubber thin sole type to a more elaborate with fashion beeds and embellishment to make it looks appealing.

However the fact behind flip flop is not clearly visible until some years back, in 2008, where researchers from Auburn University found that wearing thong-style flip-flops can result in sore feet, ankles and legs. Here is a quote on flip flop wearing that rise safety concern:

Flip-flops do not provide ankle support, and can cause many foot-related problems. Some flip-flops have a spongy sole, so when the foot hits the ground, it rolls inward and the sponge allows it to roll even more than usual. This is known as overpronation and causes many problems in the foot. Each time a foot hits the ground, the arch is supposed to be locked to absorb shock. But during overpronation, the arch opens and releases this locking mechanism, leading to problems such as pain in the heel, the arch, the toes and in the forefoot. Overpronation of the foot also results in flat feet, especially if flip-flops are worn throughout childhood and adolescence when the muscles, bones, and tendons of the feet are growing and developing. Exacerbating this, some flip-flops force a person to overuse the tendons in the foot, which can cause tendinitis.

I personally love flip flop especially for summer or if you happen to live in hot climate country then it’s a perfect everyday foot wear not just for summer because flip flop foot wear let your feet breath and enjoy the hot air breeze – just a wonderful feeling overall! Just be careful when choosing the flip flop some are very cheaply made and only come with a very thin sole which not only will cause foot pain in a long term wear but also offer almost no protection because your feet is so close to the ground, imagine when you have a puddle of water on your way or stepping into small rough stone which can feel pretty bumpy at the ball of your feet.
I recently walk around to find myself a good pair of flip flop for comfort wear and I found this brand called FitFlop from UK and by far it is my favorite brand for flip flop since it produces great sole for it. Even better news for women – it is a high rise flip flop or you may want to refer to it like a platform flip flop. Just a little rise to our height is always a good thing but the good news is this is not a damaging rise like you’d find in most high heel shoes. Indeed Fit Flop is very comfortable to wear, although not so fashionable! The above picture show a FitFlop sole structure and below show FitFlop diagram chart to highlight its benefit. source.

If you are interested to purchase FitFlop the site listed some online retailers. Great things that this brand also sell boots and shoes other than flip flops.

Lebua is one of Bangkok’s top luxury hotels. What amazed me is the stunning architecture of the building encompassing a thirty meter tall golden rooftop dome and new-classical balconies. The building combined condominiums, serviced apartments, offices and retail units into one becoming South East Asia’s largest building with three hundred thousand meter square. Among many some of this building’s great features include a forty story high inside atrium, a glass sky bridge suspended mid air on its top most level to offer one of a kind panoramic view of the city, world’s highest alfresco restaurant called Sirocco on LeBula’s highest floor (64th floor), and an open air sky bar.

LeBua Open Sky Bar

world’s highest alfresco restaurant, Sirocco located at 64th floor of LeBua

Asian-style seafood restaurant, Breeze located on the 51st and 52nd floors of LeBua

LeBua glass Sky Bridge

If you would like a taste of the high life in Bangkok try to book your self a room at LeBua State Towerl hotel. Prices start from $100 -200 USD/night.

Karim Rashid in Objectify stated if we toss away our cell phone every couple of year why not make a cell phone from a card board? In a way he challenges product designers to design for the whole cycle not just until that product complete its production stage but also to consider how to deal with the waste after user has done using the object.

These day we have so much waste and USA is a major exporter of landfill to develop countries. Our garbage landed massively in other part of the world creating pollution and massive damage while our European counterparts deal with their garbage and recycle it in within their country territory and not allowing exporting their landfill outside Europe.

Interestingly enough plastic is quite a toxic waste but we usually use our daily plastic cups in parties and gathering without even thinking what have we caused. A New York based design firm called The Way We See The World recently tried to get $10,000 to prototype and model their biodegradable edible cups product from the fund-raising site.

The cup known as Jelloware basically are made of agar, a gelatinous substance. Don’t worry if you are a vegetarian because the cup is a vegan food. The fun fact about the cup not only you can sip water but you can also eat your cup, don’t worry if you can’t finish it since it’s biodegradable just toss it away! This agar agar cup comes in various shape with different flavors, such as lemon-basil, ginger-mint, or rosemary-beet, to compliment a corresponding drink.

iPhone and iPad is the hype of the season, it makes the biggest sale for this Christmas season on eBay. Yes, there are other popular gadgets like kindle which is Amazon’s biggest sale this Christmas. However almost everyone admit they’re some what iPhoneatic!

Look at the design of this piece of furniture – it’s so iPad inspired.

Accidentally the rounded corner rectangles have been quite popular shape lately.
What next a rounded corner fashion wear? bags or shoes perhaps? I really wonder how that’d look like.

see more pictures.