Must read: Self-help book recommendation
For centuries, we've depended on self-help books to become wiser and pass on some wisdom to the next generation. But if it is hard for...
This Is Us Was always meant to end that way, says creator Dan Fogelman
Prior to the finale, many of the Big Three’s happy endings were already sealed. Justin Hartley’s Kevin has reconciled with Sophie(Alexandra Breckenridge) and is devoting himself to the nonprofit he began in his father’s memory. Chrissy Metz’s Kate has found new love after divorcing Toby(Chris Sullivan) and is opening up music schools for the visually impaired. It is Randall’s fate that remains coyly open-ended.In addition to becoming a grandfather to Deja and Malik’s son (who will be named in honor of William), Senator Randall has his sights set on a trip to Iowa…at the request of the DNC, we might add. “People don’t like their presidents all weepy and stuff,” Kevin jokes at one point. But viewers never learn if Randall does, in fact, become POTUS. “We all felt that if we had hypothetically flashed forward to Randall sitting in the White House, that wasn’t what the show is, and it would’ve broken a little bit,” Fogelman told V.F.Still, the creator admitted to having fun with the possibility, comparing Randall’s teased political journey to The Sopranos’ fade-to-black series finale. “In my mind, I know what happens to Randall and his family, but it’s meant to not be answered and to just leave a hint of promise,” Fogelman said. “I think it’s up to the audience to decide what they think happens next with Randall. Did we watch an origin story without realizing we were watching one of a future leader of the free world?”Throughout writing the show’s six seasons on NBC, Fogelman has copped to borrowing from his own life. “I should say that my dad, who’s a big Jewish guy from Brooklyn, is convinced that Jack is him,” Fogelman said of the beloved This Is Us patriarch. “So I will let my dad take that one to the grave.”The parallels are even more obvious when it comes to Fogelman’s late mother. In the finale, Randall—a man born to wax poetic—struggles with how to capture Rebecca’s life in one last speech, one that the audience never hears. “I stayed up all night like a lunatic—and, frankly, like a martyr—trying to write my mother, who I adored, the perfect eulogy,” Fogelman remembered. “And my experience of the day—and, frankly, the week or two after—was as I described it in the script. I just kind of floated through space and time and didn’t hear anything. I worked so hard on that eulogy and I don’t remember a single word I said, and I didn’t remember saying it.”
In Apple TV+ drama Pachinko, the costumes symbolise a changing Korean identity
Chae masterfully uses dress as a tool to support the changing narrative throughout the show. As a grandmother living in Osaka, Sunja is seen wearing brown knit sweaters over white button-down shirts, midi dresses with soft ruffles at the hem and even baggy sweatshirts, all suggesting signs of relative affluence, modernity and westernisation. Also, the contrast between Sunja’s agile and astute personality and her sister in law Kyunghee’s more privileged and sophisticated lifestyle is emphasised through visual representation. Newly married and pregnant, Sunja is seen in blue and brown hanboks with braided hair and often a traditional jacket. In contrast, Kyunghee wears her hair down and dons floral patterned dresses, trench coats and body hugging skirts that gently graze her calves.I was also struck by how the costumes of the male and female characters were in conversation with each other. “Since men were the primary breadwinners, they had more social mobility. They travelled between countries for work and so their style was Westernised a lot quicker,” says Chae, explaining why many of the male leads including Isak, Solomon and Hansu were styled in suits. On the other hand, women were restricted to their homes and depended on their partners for financial sustenance, as a result only upper class Korean women wore Western clothing in the early 1910s.While Pachinko is Chae’s first American project, she has built an extensive repertoire of Korean dramas over two and a half decades as a costume designer, including the globally renowned political thriller series Kingdom. Even as a child, Chae was drawn to fashion; she would spend her days playing dress-up in her mother’s winter coats and often stitched clothes for her dolls using leftover fabric. Still, she reveals that Pachinko quickly became one of the most special projects she has worked on. “When I read the book, I immediately fell in love with the story and knew I would be perfect to bring the characters’ costumes to life. More than anything, it narrates a very important segment of Korean history and I was excited to be a part of that,” she reveals.Also Read: 10 of the most stylish K-drama characters that you need to take fashion cues from while watching Netflix7 K-pop stars shaping fashion in 2020
How to Spice Up Your Diet Without Breaking It
Oftentimes, one of the most difficult things about sticking with a diet is staving off boredoms. Most diets designed to help you drop pounds or lose fat restrict processed, sugary foods and consist primarily of low-calorie foods that are rich in nutrients but aren’t always the most fun mealtime option. When you build a diet that you get tired of after a few days or weeks, you probably won’t stick with it for very long.
Making sure that you don’t get bored with the foods you eat every day is an essential part of developing a healthy, sustainable diet that doesn’t make you want to give up. You don’t have to choose between sticking with your diet and enjoying the foods you eat. Eating a healthy, balanced diet doesn’t have to bore you to tears. If you make an effort to keep your diet interesting and yummy, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stick with your healthy lifestyle long-term and make more progress toward your ultimate fitness goals.
1. Go Out More
Going out to eat more often is rarely a suggestion thrown at those who are trying to maintain a healthy diet. However, exploring healthy options at restaurants is a great way to put fun back into healthy eating. Check out places that are known for their healthy plates. Many restaurants have capitalized on the popularity of clean eating by adding flavorful meals that are low in calories, fat, and sugar to their menus.
Beware of giant restaurant portions. Most restaurants, even those that advertise healthy options, serve you way too much food on one plate. Always pay close attention to your body and stop eating when you start feeling full. If you have trouble listening to your body, divide your meal in half when it first arrives and set one half aside. After you eat half of your food, you’ll be forced to stop and reassess your hunger before reaching for the rest of your meal.
2. Use Substitutes
You can make diet-friendly versions of your favorite foods using healthier substitutes for standard ingredients. This way, you can still indulge in the meals you love to eat without completely breaking your diet.
Look into sugar substitutes if you’re missing homemade baked goods. Applesauce, maple syrup, honey, and coconut sugar can all be used in place of over-processed, refined white sugar in many recipes. When making substitutions in recipes, always do your research to figure out how much of the substitute you should add. Most ingredients and their substitutes are not perfectly interchangeable.
3. Get Into Meal Prep
There are tons of diet-friendly recipes out there that are exciting and filled with nutrients. Many of them just take a little more time and effort to prepare than a plain grilled chicken breast or a simple salad. Oftentimes, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to cook up meals that are more flavorful but more complex.
Meal prepping can help you keep your diet interesting without taking too much time out of your busy schedule. If you can carve out a couple of hours one day a week, you can prep a weeks’ worth of meals so you won’t have to choose between eating a boring lunch and being late to work. Separate the meals you prep into portions and store them in the fridge or freezer in individual containers. This way, you can easily take the food to work with you or just warm it up and eat it at home within minutes.
4. Keep Up With the Seasons
Nature provides you with a new variety of healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables on a seasonal basis. It’s hard to get bored of the fruits and veggies you can eat when different types become available every few months. Find a local farmer’s market near you and have fun exploring your produce choices there as they change with the seasons.
You can also freeze some of your favorite fruits or vegetables when they’re about to go out of season. Blend these frozen treats into a smoothie if you get bored of the produce selection in the market and find yourself longing for the fruits and veggies of seasons past.
5. Balance Wisely
Over-restrictive diets are almost never a good idea. Diets that don’t allow you to eat certain foods at all are not sustainable and get very boring very quickly. Focus on maintaining balance in your diet rather than cutting out food groups altogether.
When you’re feeling tired of eating the same bland, healthy foods over and over again, make a meal that includes a food you really love, like pasta or red meat. Keep your portion of not-so-healthy food small and supplement it with a larger amount of low-calorie, nutrient-rich sides like veggies or lentils. This way, you keep your meal interesting and delicious without sacrificing nutrition or gorging on empty calories.
6. Get Creative
There are many ways to make healthy diet staples more interesting and more fun to eat. Sources of lean protein like fish, lean meats like chicken, vegetables, and eggs all serve as healthy foundations which you can manipulate and add other ingredients to in order to make them less bland.
Try eating eggs every morning for a week, but cook them differently each day. Try out different spice blend recipes and sprinkle them over chicken or fish. Find or create natural salad dressing recipes low in sugar and calories and experiment with pairing them with a variety of salads and vegetables.
7. Look at Labels
You can find low-calorie, low-fat, and reduced sugar versions of many foods that are normally high in unhealthy ingredients. You can buy healthier versions of anything from cheese to bread to ice cream.
Beware of foods that are advertised as low-fat, low-calorie, or reduced sugar but also contain a bunch of unfamiliar chemicals. Steer clear of these artificial chemical-laden foods and opt for food products with more recognizable ingredients instead.
Healthy diets and boring food don’t have to be synonymous. With a little bit of creativity, you can devise a diet that’s both nutritious and delicious to keep yourself on track toward your health goals without getting bored or discouraged.
8 queer documentaries that emphasize the significance of LGBT Background Month streaming on Netflix, YouTube and Vimeo
Even though it’s 2021 and a universe of pop culture material is readily available at our fingertips to learn about the spectrum of sexuality and gender identities, it’s always a good idea to remove yourself from the realm of “palatable queer content” and traverse the arduous journeys made by the LGBTQ+ community through these award-winning documentaries. From chronicling the struggles faced by the community over the years to claim basic human rights, to moving stories of love and relationships, these documentary films are perfect to watch if you want to understand the simple power of love and how it transcends gender and societal constructs. Here we pick eight documentaries that delve into queer history and present an honest picture of the hurdles faced by the community, even in this day and age.State of Pride (2019)Raymond Braun started his YouTube channel to promote LGBTQ visibility online before partnering up with Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman for this documentary. In the movie, Braun travels across different states in America to talk to queer people about what Pride Month means to them and explores the history of the LGBT rights movement in the country.Streaming on YouTubePurple Skies (2014)This movie, directed by Sridhar Rangayan, was the first documentary on LGBTQ issues to broadcast on national television in India. It features interviews shot between 2008, a year before the Delhi High Court’s historic ruling decriminalised same-sex relationships, and 2013, right after the Supreme Court overturned the decision. Through the movie, Rangayan explores what it means to be lesbian, bisexual or trans in the country and the struggles that the queer community has to go through every single day.
How do a wrong diet wreck your own sleep?
There could be many reasons behind those sleepless nights and groggy mornings. Besides extra screen time and stress, your diet too plays an important role in your night routine. “Inadequate diet may be associated with poor sleep quality. Studies show that a higher intake of processed food was associated with poor sleep quality, whereas a high intake of fish and vegetables was associated with good sleep quality. Our macronutrient intake also affects the sleep outcomes which was studied in non-shift workers showing that low protein intake (19% of energy from protein) was associated with difficulty maintaining sleep (Tanaka et al),” reveals celebrity nutritionist Ryan Fernando of QUA Nutrition. It is important to eat timely meals and keep a gap of at least 2-3 hours between the last meal and bedtime so that it does not interfere with your sleep. Increased caloric intake during the day is linked to daytime sleepiness. This may result in longer naps during the day thus affecting the night sleep cycle, explains Fernando. The glycemic index of the meal plays an important role in determining sleep onset.In one study, healthy men experienced a shortened sleep onset latency (slept faster) when they were provided with a high glycemic index (GI) meal that was consumed four hours before bedtime, compared with the consumption of a low GI meal, or a high GI meal one hour before bedtime.There is a concept called chrononutrition which combines the health, behaviour, and chronobiology to understand the optimum timing of food intake for health and wellbeing. Practicing regular meal timings tends to align with the circadian clock and prevents the development of metabolic conditions. On the contrary, eating at a time that contradicts our circadian system, such as late night snacking, can disturb rhythms in clock tissues, such as the liver, and misalign metabolic processes, such as glucose homeostasis, gastrointestinal motility, and digestive processes. Does a high carb diet affect your sleep?A low carb diet and high carb diet both have effects on sleep outcomes. Carbohydrate manipulation primarily affects REM and non-REM sleep. “This association is mediated by the quality of carbohydrate rather than its quantity of consumption. Poor sleepers with the highest carbohydrate intake consumed more processed, sugar-sweetened beverages and gluten rich foods as compared to good sleepers with a similar high carbohydrate intake,” says Fernando. Research proposes that the effect of a high carbohydrate diet on changes in sleep stages is related to increased serotonin synthesis. Thus it is important to consume balanced meals with good protein intake to support good sleep quality. How do nutritional deficiencies impact your sleep? Micronutrients intake also affects sleep patterns. “Deficiency of vitamin B1, folate, magnesium, iron, zinc, and selenium is linked with shorter sleep duration. Difficulty falling asleep may be due to lack of micronutrients like vitamin D, alpha-carotene, selenium, and calcium. Scientific trials have shown that nightly intake of nutrients like melatonin, magnesium, or zinc improves sleep quality,” shares Fernando. He adds that consumption of alcohol negatively affects sleep latency and disrupts the normal REM/NREM cycle due to its ability to influence levels of serotonin and norepinephrine. What to eat for good sleep?Fernando says improvements in sleep outcomes are seen after consumption of tryptophan-rich foods, an amino acid present in foods such as milk. Lower tryptophan levels have shown to reduce sleep quality. “Tryptophan competes with other large amino acids to cross the blood brain barrier, where it is converted to serotonin, the precursor to melatonin which is a sleep-promoting hormone,” he says and shares a list of good sleep foods. Almond: Contains active components like melatonin and magnesium and consuming a handful of almonds before sleeping is ideal for a good night’s sleep.Walnut: They are rich in melatonin and about 7-10 walnut halves before bedtime can contribute to early onset of sleep.Kiwi: Contains precursor serotonin and consuming 2 kiwis one hour before bed is said to improve sleep quality.Milk: Contains sleep inducing agent tryptophan, so having a cup of warm milk before bed is associated with longer sleep duration.Chamomile tea: This magic tea has an active component apigenin which when consumed in the form of 1 cup before bed results in good sleep quality and duration.Also read:6 traditional diet rules that could actually be bad for your health7 food and produce businesses that will help you achieve your health goals9 energy-boosting foods and drinks to try when you’re feeling tired and sluggish
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Madhuri Dixit Nene, Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, Raveena Tandon and more to star in new Indian shows and movies on Netflix
The dramatic ‘tu-dum’ that sounds each time you hit play on Netflix has gained near-icon status. The streaming giant always has something new to offer viewers, with the most recent offering being its first-ever fan event—fittingly named TUDUM. Featuring over 70 series, films and specials, starring 145 stars and creators from across the globe, the Netflix Global Fan Event thrilled unsuspecting audiences worldwide when it went live on Saturday, September 25. The evening began with the Asia spotlight programs which highlighted new and returning titles across the Indian, Korean and anime genres, followed by the global show, which showcased a line-up of previously unreleased clips, trailers, promos and more.‘The Netflix Tudum: India Spotlight’ was hosted by actors Ali Fazal and Radhika Apte and the 30-minute clip unveiled nine new projects that are slated for release on Netflix in the upcoming months (and two that are returning for season two). The celebrities whose stellar performances and creative acumen we can look forward to this year include Madhuri Dixit Nene, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Raveena Tandon, Vishal Bhardwaj, Kartik Aaryan, Tovino Thomas, Tamannaah Bhatia, Riteish Deshmukh, Mithila Palkar and Sanya Malhotra, among others. From heart-wrenching romance picks to adrenaline-boosting thrillers—there’s something for everyone. Read on for a recap of the new shows and movies you’ll soon be binge-watching on Netflix.1. Finding AnamikaFans of Madhuri Dixit Nene can rejoice as the actor finally returns to the screen with a thriller-drama series that has been written by Nisha Mehta and Sri Rao, directed by Karishma Kohli and Bejoy Nambiar, and produced by Karan Johar. The storyline follows Dixit Nene in the role of Anamika Anand, an international star who suddenly goes missing. With the search for her underway, dark secrets soon begin to unravel, revealing a web of hidden truths about her life. The show also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Manav Kaul, Lakshvir Saran, Suhasini Mulay and Muskkaan Jaferi.2. DhamakaDirected by Ram Madhvani, Dhamaka is an official remake of the 2013 Korean film The Terror Live. It features Kartik Aaryan as a news anchor, whose life takes a dramatic turn when a terrorist calls him with a bomb threat. While this “mood promo” keeps fans on the edge of their seats with a real-life enactment of the plot by the actor, Aaryan shared with fans that the official trailer for the film will be out soon. The film also stars Mrunal Thakur, Amruta Subhash, Vikas Kumar and Vishwajeet Pradhan.3. Plan A Plan BLooking for a new fictional couple to ship? Look no further than this Riteish Deshmukh and Tamannaah Bhatia-starrer. Also featuring Poonam Dhillon and Kusha Kapila, the romantic comedy, Plan A Plan B, directed by Shashanka Ghosh, follows the love story of a matchmaker and divorce lawyer in a classic case of opposites attract.4. KhufiyaAn unmissable collaboration between Tabu and Vishal Bharadwaj, this film depicts the actor in the lead role as RAW operative Krishna Mehra. Based on Amar Bhushan’s espionage novel Escape to Nowhere, the action-packed film is inspired by true events and also stars Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi and Ashish Vidyarthi.5. HeeramandiCan’t get enough of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s cinematic opulence? You can now look forward to his first-ever series—14 years in the making—which is set in pre-independent India and follows the stories of India’s mujra-practising courtesans. You can expect stunning visuals along with drama galore, plus what promises to be a star-studded cast of 18 female actors including Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Nimrat Kaur, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Diana Penty. Juhi Chawla will be joining the cast as she will be seen playing an important cameo in the eight-episode web series.6. Minnal MuraliThere’s a superhero film in the mix as well—Southern star Tovino Thomas features in this Malayalam film helmed by Basil Joseph. The story is set in ’90s and revolves around a tailor from a small town in Kerala who acquires superhuman powers after being struck by lightning.7. Meenakshi SundareshwarSanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu Dassani star in this endearing rom-com as a couple who enter a long-distance, arranged marriage. When combined, their first names, Meenakshi and Sundareshwar, coin the name of the famous Meenakshi-Sundareshwar temple in Tamil Nadu. But for all the sanctity their names exude together, do they have enough in common in real life? The film follows the newly-weds as they try to find their own marital bliss.8. AranyakWhen an international teenage tourist disappears in a mysterious Himalayan town, determined policewoman Kasturi—played by Raveena Tandon—has to separate myths from facts in this moody thriller to get to the bottom of the case. With Rohan Sippy as its showrunner and Vinay Waikul as the director, the film also stars Parambrata Chatterjee, Ashutosh Rana, Zakir Hussain and Megna Malik in important roles.9. Little Things Season 4India’s favourite OTT couple, Dhruv and Kavya, better known as Kavu and Momo, return for a fourth and final season chronicling their heart-warming journey as lovers and best friends. After surviving a long-distance relationship in Season 3, the two continue to navigate their way through life and relationships with their signature dose of humor and sentimentality.The TUDUM India spotlight also announced the return of two other mega-successful shows, Mismatched and Kota Factory, that are coincidentally both set in Rajasthan, and will be back for a second season. If this list is anything to go by, you’ll smoothly sail through the festive and holiday season with just your laptop/smart TV for company. Also reads:8 of the coziest, most autumnal movies to watch this fall6 movies you didn’t know were written by celebrities, streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video11 upcoming movies, shows and documentaries to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and more this week