Man and Woman’s best friend: The benefits of owning a dog

Recently a few friends of mine posted eulogies about their dogs online. I have two dogs, a beagle and a boxer. The thought of losing them pulled on my heart strings. After reading my friends posts I cried. Thinking about how I am going to handle when the time comes for my dogs. 

If you don't own a dog, then I understand if this sounds silly to you. But research has actually shown, that owning dogs not only contributes to your psychological health, but your physical health as well (Feng et al, 2014; Levine et al, 2013). People who own dogs are more physically active and this decreases the risk of hearth disease. Of course this is because when you get home from work and stare at those big puppy eyes, you can’t say no to taking your dogs for a walk. 

In another study conducted by Feng et al (2014), it was found that people who own dogs also reported fewer incidents of depressive episodes. This is linked to the several benefits of physical activity. But it is also linked to the soothing effects that dogs have on your heartbeat. In turn this helps relieve stress and promotes overall wellness. 

After seeing all these benefits, you can only imagine, that when a dog owner loses their pet, it is devastating. Although it is not enough to increase their rates of depression, studies have found that losing a dog includes the same bereavement processes as losing a loved one (Sable, 2013). This is why I really feel for my friends that have recently lost their dogs. 

So next time you hear a friend say that their dog died. Make sure to give them a big hug. Because losing a dog is like losing a member of the family. 

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Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References 

Feng, Z., Dibben, C., Witham, M. D., Donnan, P. T., Vadiveloo, T., Sniehotta, F., ... & McMurdo, M. E. (2014). Dog ownership and physical activity in later life: A cross-sectional observational study. Preventive medicine, 66, 101-106.

Levine, G. N., Allen, K., Braun, L. T., Christian, H. E., Friedmann, E., Taubert, K. A., ... & Lange, R. A. (2013). Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation, 127(23), 2353-2363.

Sable, P. (2013). The pet connection: an attachment perspective. Clinical Social Work Journal, 41(1), 93-99.

Boomerang kids: How a changing economy prolonged adolescence

The baby boomer generation experienced something that has grown to be lost. Inflation didn't hit it's peak and they were able to move out at the age of 18 without breaking the bank. 

What was the biggest difference between then and now ?

They would like you to believe that they worked harder. In their defense most likely they did do more manual labor. But with the changing of technology leading to more information based fields, there was a change in the direction of the market. Unfortunately at the same time globalization pushed for jobs to go overseas (Kaplan, 2012). 

What is a non-baby boomer to do?

They did all the right things. They took a loan out to pay for their tuition. They paid twice as much for school then the generation before. They studied business and other "hard science" majors to succeed. Only to to be offered the same jobs the previous generation were given without a college degree (Myktf & Macrtney, 2011). So they gave up and moved back home. 

They are entitled!

Those entitled brats moved back home and now they want it all. They just sit around collecting welfare while the baby boomers pay the bills.

But is that what is really going on? 

According to South & Lei (2015) the recession effected the economy the same way black Friday did during the great depression. However, thanks (or no thanks) to the credit system, this generation was spared by going into life long debt. Debt into having to pay off their higher education that costed more and they could not escape the fees through bankruptcy. 

So why all the fuss?

I think it's interesting that during the political primaries every Joe Shmoe is suddenly a political scientist, social analyst, activist and advocate of social justice. It's funny because they are eating up all of the lies fed to them, by all of the politicians running for office, using the statistics(collected by social researchers) to get you to vote for them. But after the election is over all the sheeple go back to their cubicles and forget about everything that led to that point. Hoping their candidate will change things. 

So what's next?

Only time will tell. But there is a lot more going on and with the internet you have no excuse to look on google scholar (not wikipedia) to find some credible research if you are really interested in social issues. Unless you're just angry and looking to vent. Then by all means carry on. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

References 

Kaplan, G. (2012). Moving back home: Insurance against labor market risk. Journal of Political Economy, 120(3), 446-512.

Mykyta, L., & Macartney, S. (2011). The effects of recession on household composition:“doubling up” and economic well-being. US Census Bureau. Social, Economic and Household Statistics Division Working Paper, 4.

South, S. J., & Lei, L. (2015). Failures-to-launch and boomerang kids: Contemporary determinants of leaving and returning to the parental home. Social Forces, 94(2), 863-890

Fuck the poor: How privatization has affected public services in America

Do you remember those hot lunches from the school cafeteria? You know the ones that were cooked at school and served by the cafeteria lady. Wait you don't remember? 

Then you're probably a millennial from a poor neighborhood. 

Since the amount of money available to a public school is directly tied to the property value of the surrounding area. Poor neighborhoods have less in terms of healthy food and educational programs (Vandeer, 2004).

Ever since the privatization of education. School lunches became big business and who ever could provide the cheapest food got the bid(Boyles, 2004). 

Notice it was the cheapest not the healthiest.

As an English teacher in Japan. I noticed that the school lunches are home made meals prepared by the teachers, in the school cafeteria. The meals have fresh fruits and vegetables. 

When I compare this to the frozen pizza and tater tots served in Americas cafeterias, it made me feel ashamed. 

It's because all the money is wasted on worthless bums like prisoners! 

Remember prisons are no longer publicly run. They are private industries supported by our tax dollars(Hartman & Doty, 2015). So when you see prisoners getting better lunches than children.This means that the prison is getting better contracts for prisoners, than the public school system is getting for your kids. 

Apparently we would rather feed them well, after they fucked up their lives, than before. 

So before you start hating on poor people. Think about this...

There is a common misconception in equality discourse about the gap between the rich and the poor. If you are not making more than 6 figures you are only one lay off away from being on government assistance. 

So why are you so upset about impoverished people getting help?

By the time you finished reading this article some billionaire just made what you make in a year. 

But you'll defend trickle down economics.

Is it trickling enough for you to survive? 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology) 

References 

Boyles, D. R. (Ed.). (2004). Schools or markets?: Commercialism, privatization, and school-business partnerships. Routledge.

Hartman, S. W., & Doty, R. L. (2015). THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES. Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies.

Vander Schee, C. (2004). The privatization of food services in schools: Undermining children’s health, social equity, and democratic education. Schools or markets, 1-30.

Attraction: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

Scientists have been trying to answer this question for some time. Some social scientists argue that beauty is socially constructed (Byars, 2015). However, beyond what the media sells as beautiful, there are biological underpinnings to what attract woman and men.

Although the media portrays woman that are unreasonably skinny as beautiful, Oda (2015), found that symmetry, is more important than size, when it comes to attractiveness. To test this the researchers used photo shop on woman of different body types to change the symmetry of their face. They asked both woman and men what they thought of the pictures of woman in the study. The participants commented that the faces that were not symmetric were found to be unattractive. The opposite was also true and the sizes of the woman were not as much of a predictor of beauty, when compared to symmetry.

For some time pheromones have been sought after to create a love potion. Some studies have found that pheromones levels can effect how woman behave while ovulating (Martin, 2015). What was interesting was that the woman in some studies found masculine looking men (broad shoulders, facial hair, muscular) more attractive when ovulating.  However, when not ovulating, men that had more feminine features (less muscle mass, no facial hair) were reported to be suitable partners (Pillsworht & Haselton, 2006).  When asked, the woman reported that the feminine men seemed more sensitive and more likely to stay in a long-term relationship. In contrast the masculine looking men were reported be most likely to cheat and be unfaithful.

These studies go to show that although the media plays a role in socially constructing beauty, biology can override this at anytime.

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Oda, M. (2015, October). Effects of Eye Size and Symmetry on Evaluating Appearances of Faces. In Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2015 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 1493-1498). IEEE.

Martín-Sánchez, A., McLean, L., Beynon, R. J., Hurst, J. L., Ayala, G., Lanuza, E., & Martínez-Garcia, F. (2015). From sexual attraction to maternal aggression: when pheromones change their behavioural significance. Hormones and behavior, 68, 65-76.

Byars, J. (2015). Big Differences on the Small Screen: Race, Class, Gender, Feminine Beauty. Women Making Meaning: New Feminist Directions in Communication, 10, 191.

Pillsworth, E. G., & Haselton, M. G. (2006). Male sexual attractiveness predicts differential ovulatory shifts in female extra-pair attraction and male mate retention. Evolution and human behavior, 27(4), 247-258.

Diaz and McGregor: Do vegans really have superpowers?

Vegans have been accused of being judgmental and almost religious when it comes to their values and diets. Recently UFC fighter Nick Diaz submitted feather weight Champion Conor McGregor in an exhibition cage fight. Now Vegans are using this as an example of the strength that a vegan diet can have(Lampert, 2016). 

There's only one problem. Diaz is not a vegan! 

Diaz has been found eating fish,which is meat and against the vegan diet (McKeever, 2016). Vegans claim that eating a diet that is completely free of all animals is the only way to truly get your Vegan Super Powers! This means no meat or animal products like milk. 

Diaz is in danger of having his vegan licence revoked! 

But in defense of Diaz he does try his best to follow a Vegan diet when he can (McKeever, 2016). But it goes to show that he still needs the protein that only meat can provide. 

Now this isn't meant to knock vegans or vegetarians in any way. It just seems like there are many people who are following a pecpetarian diet who would like to be on the vegan bandwagon. 

The fight itself was a great one! McGregor fought without cutting weight and Diaz did a pretty big weight cut to meet him in the cage. But being almost Vegan was not the reason he won. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Sifu Angelo Ferrer
Kajukenbo
(2nd Degree Black Belt) 

References

Lampert E. (2016, March 8).Vegans aren't better athletes but it Diaz proves they can be just as good. Retrieved from Ecorazzi

McKeever L. (2016, March 10). Nick Diaz mocks Joe Rogan and Conor McGregor with vegan jokes after UFC 196. Retrieved from Bloody Elbow

They're a Socialist: The difference between socialism and communism

I think many Americans have a hard time understanding other government systems outside of capitalism. But who can blame them. After all as an American I didn't fully understand that Karl Marx did not truly impose communism on anyone, until I studied Sociology in college. 

That means if you never took the time to read the Manifesto of the Communist party, you probably don't really know what Marx and Engels(1906) proposed for their idea of Utopia, where everyone was equal and wealth was distributed evenly. Unfortunately Marx didn't take into account that in order for a Utopia to exist you need to eliminate greed. Which is arguably impossible.

That being said there is no true communist society. At least not the one Marx and Engels proposed in their work. 

However governments such as North Korea, Russia and China have made adapted versions of communism.These are the ones that scare us Americans the most. 

The other idea that scares Americans is socialism. You hear it any time a politician talks about affordable health care and education. That's a Socialist! How dare they impose on capitalism!

But when John Adams created the idea of a free market there were no billion dollar corporations controlling politics(Hardens, 1968).His idea of the invisible hand was meant to be used with the small business model. Mom and pop shops if you will. In fact Wall Street wasn't even around until 1817, 16 years after Adams life. 

Socialism is based on the idea of democratic collective ownership of assets. Meaning the people elect officials to distribute the wealth to public services to keep public cost low. Also they can regulate how much is charged for nessasaties, like doctors fees or health insurance. But it should be noted that there is no umbrella definition for Socialism ( Peter et al, 2006). 

Japan is a socialist country. But America has no issues with doing business with them. China is a communist country and we all know how that's going. 

So before you shut your ears and throw terms out there. Make sure you fully understand the definitions and where they came from.

You don't want to be the boy who cried socialism or communism! 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology) 

References 

Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. science, 162(3859), 1243-1248.

Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1906). Manifesto of the communist party. CH Kerr.

Peter Lamb, J. C. Docherty(2006). Historical dictionary of socialism. Oxford, England, UK: Scarecrow Press.

Sex: How long should it take?

Before we start we need to consider that different genders climax at different rates. There are a lot of biological mechanisms going off here so look at this anecdotally at best.

There are a lot of articles out there about this. When it comes to sex it seems like every tabloid magazine has an expert writing about how to please your partner. But I'm hoping these research studies can clear some sexual myths up.

Some reports have shown that some woman take an average of 20 minutes to orgasm (Hite, 2004). However, things get complicated with men taking an average of 10 minutes (and that's being generous). 

Now individual differences vary. Technically both sexes can have an orgasm within 30 seconds. But women have the advantage of being able to have multiple orgasms in a shorter time frame than men (Heart, 2013).

Now things don't change much even in regards to sexual orientation. In a study conducted by Mark et al (2015) all of the participants ( Lgbtq and heterosexual) reported that having an emotional connection was correlated to sexual satisfaction.

So the average times don't matter as much as your connection to your partner. This goes to show that communication is an important element to both of you being happy in bed.

After all how can you form an emotional connection, if you don't communicate your sexual and emotional needs to each other? 

This is more important than average times of orgasm because it doesn't matter when it happens.As long as it happens for both if you.

As always if you're having problems with this consult with your doctor first. Biological issues are much faster to deal with than psychological ones. 

But if it is psychological, there are plenty of therapists trained in helping couples with these issues. 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology) 

References

Hite, S. (2004). The Hite report: A nationwide study of female sexuality. Seven Stories Press.

Heart, M. (2013). The Ultimate Guide to Orgasm for Women: How to Become Orgasmic for a Lifetime. Cleis Press.

Mark, K. P., Garcia, J. R., & Fisher, H. E. (2015). Perceived emotional and sexual satisfaction across sexual relationship contexts: Gender and sexual orientation differences and similarities. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 24(2), 120-130.

PED's and Sports: Is drug testing going to far?

No one wants to see their heroes fall from grace.  But with the intensity of competition growing so is performance enhancing drug use (PED).

Recently the world of tennis was shocked to find out that. Maria Sharapova    admitted to using PED's for the last 10 years (Kelland, 2016) Sharapova stated that she was taking Meldonium for a heart condition and has already lost her endorsements because if it.  The medication she was given by her doctor was banned in some countries but not in Russia.

What are PED's?

PED's are an umbrella term that the world anti-doping agency (WADA) uses to describe any substance they believe will enhance an athletes performance. But the problem is that some of these substances are used for legitimate health conditions. The other issue is the publics image of a PED, is an athlete sticking a steroid needle somewhere it doesn't belong.  This is far from what many athletes are being pegged for.

Former UFC Middle Weight Champion Anderson Silva also had a similar situation.  He was given a prescription medication for a leg injury he sustained after breaking his leg in a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight. Later after recovering, the medication brought the Nevada athletic commission down on him as well.  By the time the mess was cleared up (maybe in time similar to Sharapova) his image was tarnished, and he lost a large amount money.

Are these anti-doping agencies going to far?

Some would say so. There’s money to be made and worse of all when the government gets involved, it comes out of taxpayer’s pockets. That means every time you see an athlete in the U.S. get nailed for PED use, you as a taxpayer are paying for their drug testing and litigation (Stevens, 2014).

  In Sharapova’s case she has a legitimate heart condition. It also important to note that cases like Sharpova are not uncommon. So each time this occurs in the U.S.  it not only wastes money, but it also doesn’t actually pan out to catchingathletes using PED’s.

Cheating is wrong, but should an athlete lose everything over a technicality?

Also should this be coming out of your tax dollars?

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology)

References

Kelland K. ( 2016, March 9). Experts perplexed over why Sharapova was taking banned heart drug. Retrieved from Routers.

Stevens S. (2014, May 2). Are athletes using your tax dollars to juice?Retrieved from The Daily Beast. 

Americas Gun Problem: Would stricter gun control laws fix it?

Before we start let's make it clear that America has always had guns. This sets it a part from the Old World Countries that were established before guns were invented. So beyond arguments about gun control and countries where banning guns work. We need to keep in mind that the U.S. gained its independence from Birtain, because of laxed gun control laws in settlers, on Britain's part.

That being said the gun problem is a people problem.  America is #11 in violent crime and #14 in education, when compared to all of the developed and underdeveloped countries (Latzer, 2016;Skolnik, 2016). That means on average we know less and kill more. We can argue that other countries hide their statistics, but we also have issues with the data collected from self-report surveys.

What makes our crime more deadly are guns. Guns are used in 68% of homicides (Latzer, 2016). In 2012 alone the ATF recorded that over 190,000 guns were reported lost or stolen (Minitr, 2014). A recent YouTube video showed how a gun store was broken in to and over 50 guns were robed in under 2 minutes (Boyd, 2016).

Replicate this crime across the Nation and you get an idea if how many illegal guns are out there.

Why are Americans so violent?

This is something criminology has been trying to solve and can't find an answer to. But guns don't help with the rates bad guys can kill.

It's not the gun it's the people!

Most of the mass shootings are related to mental illness.  So you have to ask yourself.

How did these mentally ill individuals get a hold of a gun?

Well just because someone is mentally ill doesn't mean they are not smart. Hitler was mentally ill but that didn't stop him from leading an entire nation to genocide. The point being that simply identifying those with a mental illness, is a problem in itself. People with a serious mental illness can easily get around some gun control laws.

What about countries that don't have guns?

I live in Japan and yes it works.  They also have some of the lowest rates of violent crime (Latzer, 2016). I can walk down the street at night in the city and not have to worry about much. Compared to my hometown of Escondido, CA. Japan is like a Utopia.  But this was only possible because Japan banned guns from the beginning and the only people with guns are hunters (shot guns only) and the government (law enforcement and military).

So what can America do?

Nothing.  Guns are a part of American culture. At this point, even if the government banned guns, it would lead to the bloodshed Japan faced when disbanding the Samurai (Rader, 2001). Even if they succeed, there are just too many guns already in circulation. It would be better to focus on mental health programs, to avoid unneeded gun violence. But as far as gun control laws fixing the issue, it seems like a pipe dream.

P.S. I like guns but I am okay with not owning one.

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology)

References

Boyd, J. (2016). Massive Houston Gun Store Robbery Caught on Surveillance Camera. Retrieved from Houston Chronical.

Latzer, B. (2016). The Rise and Fall of Violent Crime in America. Encounter Books.

Minitor F. (2014). Inside the Black Market for Guns. Retrieved from Forbes Magazine.

Rader Jr, L. M. (2001). Salvationist Samurai: Gunpei Yamamuro and the Rise of the Salvation Army in Japan. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 25(1), 43-43.

Skolnik, M. (2016). What does the decline in the international ranking of the United States in educational attainment mean for community colleges?. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1-17.

Amadao Diallo: Update on the shooting and his family

It has been 17 years since the NYPD shot and killed Amadao Diallo in one of the most unnoticed cases of racial profiling in 1999(Marzulli & Olmeda 2015). At that time, I did a presentation on the shooting and how racial profiling was still an issue. I was an undergrad and my English professor told me that if I didn't impress him I was going to fail his 101 class.

After the presentation I was severely interrogated by the majority white audience and applauded by the few people of color in the class. I made it through the Q&A and made it clear, that I had nothing against law enforcement and I had nothing against white folk. I was just surprised, that an unarmed person of color, was shot 41 times and no one seemed to know or care that it occurred. I passed the English class and it began my investigation on race and media in the U.S. The rest is history.

17 years later I came across and article about a young man who changed his life after being given a laptop. This young man from Harlem, who was also a person of color, was given the opportunity to join an intercity youth program. This program helped young people learn about technology and computer science. The article went on to talk about how thanks to the program, this young man will be moving on college and may even get into Stanford University. This young mans name is Mamadao Diallo (Obrien, 2016).

I recognized the last name. In a quick side note it was mentioned that Amadao was his cousin and how after the shooting, Mamadao was sent to live with relatives in New Guinea. Eventually Mamadao came back to the U.S. and is now doing well. He is the first of his 9 siblings to go to college and his first language is Pular.

It was really good to hear something great about the otherwise tragic story. The only thing that can be said is one thought that goes through my mind every day:

Some people say that they are sick of hearing about racism, believe me as a person of color, I think I can speak for many of us, when I say, that we are sick of experiencing it.

Social Gelo with Angelo

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References

Obrien S. (2016, March 4 ). How a free computer changed this Harlem teen’s life.  CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com

Marzulli J. & Olmeda R. (2015, Feb 3). Unarmed Amadao Diallo is killed by four police officers who shot him 41 times in 1999. Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.dailynew.com

Make a Bento: The benefits of packing your own lunch

There are times that you are on the go and that's when McDonalds becomes your go to. But I say STOP!!! There are plenty of ways to eat healthy without taking too much time. Have you considered a Bento? 

A Bento in Japan is a small lunch in a beautiful lunch box. But my Bento's are far from beautiful and usually contain left overs from a healthy meal I ate the previous day. I add the left overs some Salad and Shazam! A nice healthy lunch that saves me money and calories. 

So next time your on the go! Think about saving some of your healthy left overs and eating them in a Bento! This is an awesome way to stay healthy and eat right!

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology) 

Allison Rap: An attack on Feminism or an issue with Child Pornography?

Recently a group of men calling themselves menimists have rallied together to take down feminism. The latest person they have gone after is Nintendo representative Allison Rapp. Who was accused of defending pedophilia in a thesis she wrote on Japanese culture and fictional child pornography.

Allison Rapp claims to be a radical feminist. Looking over the thesis she wrote and her Twitter comments, she argues that fictional child pornography should not be something that the U.N. regulates. 

There is a subculture in Japan known as Loli-cons. Which is a subculture of Japanese people that enjoy reading fictional child pornography depicted in Manga (comic books) and Animation. 

But again this is something that is not culturally accepted by everyone. I can also argue that there is a subculture in America that enjoys S&M (just look at the sales of 50 Shades of Grey). But this doesn't mean that the public accepts this subculture as part of the norm.

In fact Japanese society is notoriously conservative (They make American Conservatives look like liberals). Yes it's true, they have their risqué Animation and Manga. But the general public has scrutinized even these for some time now. The Japanese artists have had to use freedom of speech laws, to keep their material from being pulled off the shelf. Even then, most of it is kept next to the pornography sections at convenience stores. 

Now just like we can't generalize all Japanese people of being okay with pedophilia, we can't generalize all feminists as being supportive of Allison Rapp and her individual ideology behind fictional child pornography. Not to mention much of the material I saw that was questionable were a few Twitter comments that Menimists put on their blog articles. The problem with Twitter comments, is that they only allow 140 characters per comment, and they can easily be read out of context.

But looking at it for face value, it does seem like Allison Rapp is okay with fictional child pornography. Which from a psychology stand point encourages Sexual Child Abuse (Horn et al, 2015, Seto et al, 2015). Not to mention from a feminist standpoint, is sexually objectifying women and in this case little girls. Showing that from each field it is not approved of. 

There are many conservatives that fear a Mad Max world of liberalism. People like Allison Rapp don't help calm their fears. But just because someone claims to belong to a group doesn't mean the entire group thinks the way they do. 

Take away Points:

1- Japanese people do not approve of pedophilia 

2 -Feminists do not approve of pedophilia 

3- Don't make rash generalizations about groups based on individual ideology! 

Social Gelo with Angelo
Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

References 

Horn, J. V., Eisenberg, M., Nicholls, C. M., Mulder, J., Webster, S., Paskell, C., ... & Jago, N. (2015). Stop It Now! A Pilot Study Into the Limits and Benefits of a Free Helpline Preventing Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of child sexual abuse, 24(8), 853-872.

Seto, M. C., Hermann, C. A., Kjellgren, C., Priebe, G., Svedin, C. G., & Långström, N. (2015). Viewing child pornography: Prevalence and correlates in a representative community sample of young Swedish men. Archives of sexual behavior, 44(1), 67-79.

The Reflecting Mirror: How you see people is how they see you

It can get really easy to let the negativity of the world around you change how you see people. It also seems that there are a million things that divide us and the people we interact with on a daily basis.

How do you interact with people? 

If you walk in to a room full of strangers and assume they will hate you, then this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Now compare that to walking into the same room and having the time of your life, because you're not going to let anyone change how you feel. 

If you feel good you will attract good people. If you feel bad you'll attract the same energy that sustains that. This is why it's important to be in tune with how you feel. 

Now it's impossible to feel good all the time. But if you're in tune with how you feel you can prepare yourself for what you will encounter in your day, be it good or bad. 

I often think about how groups of people who had it way worse than me stayed happy through out the worse circumstances. They truly walked into rooms full of people who hated them and turned it around. 

How can I achieve that kind of strength? 

A goal is just something to aim at 

-Bruce Lee 

Much love

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer (M.S. Psychology)

Eating right: Why fad diets don't work

I heard someone saying the other day that they were trying out a new diet. No carbs, only protein and eat what people were originally designed to eat. Then they went on some rant about a recent study showing how effective it is. The only problem was they couldn't stick to the diet. 

With obesity rates rising many people worry about their diets. So to lose a couple of pounds they try some fad diet. But once they finish the diet they go back to eating fast food. 

The restaurant industry uses more salt and sugar which activates the pleasure center of your brain. This is the same center for sex and drugs (and some would throw in rock and roll). The reason why people bounce off their fad diet and end up back at McDonald's is because of being addicted to an unhealthy diet.

Having a hard time sticking to it?

Fad diets are too extreme. Instead try something simple. Viewing eating unhealthy as an addiction, don't quit cold turkey. Rather cut it off slow. Start eating and cooking at home. They can be prepared foods you buy from the supermarket. I found your local meat department has some awesome seasoned meat that is actually cheaper than going out to eat. You can save money and be healthy. 

Don't beat yourself up if you slip!

If you eat healthy and throw in 30 minutes of cardio and slip up. No worries just get back to it the next day. 

Eating healthy doesn't mean losing weight. Ask your doctor what your blood sugar levels are and cholesterol. This is a true indicator of health, not your looks.

Good luck and remember fad diets don't work but living healthy does!

Bon Appetite! 

Social Gelo with Angelo 

Angelo Ferrer ( M.S. Psychology)