Women have SUCH a harder time dealing with their appearance, don't you agree?

Women have such a harder time dealing with their appearance than men do. We are criticized a lot more for not looking 'perfect'. We are bombarded with images of 'perfection' and being skinny. When men aren't that attractive, it adds character. When women aren't that attractive, she's ugly. There are lots of male celebrities that many would consider unattractive, ones that have unconventional features. Yet they are still obsessed-over by most women.Where as 99% of women that are seen as attractive look 'perfect' and have more attractive conventional features. Women don't really get a break.

When men have scars, they are called 'battle scars' and are seen as attractive. If a woman had any, I doubt anyone would find her attractive.Women have to deal with a lot more in terms of their bodies...

We need to be completey hairless and smooth and that needs to always be maintained(men only need to shave their facial hair but they could go without doing that), we usualy get more stretchmarks,we shouldn't have saggy boobs ( even though when a woman has children they will most likely get saggy anyway), we shouldn't have small boobs, or a fat butt, we aren't supposed to have any fat really - even though women are supposed to have more meat on their bones (for reproduction) it's natural.

Then there's things like cellulite, which mainly women get and it's very hard to get rid of. Men have much faster metabolisms so don't gain a lot of weight, women's are slower. We are also made to believe we should wear make up, and high heels, and have really long hair. We aren't supposed to sweat or smell in the slightest. Our teeth have to be perfect too, and white. Where as if men have yellow ish teeth that are a bit crooked it's not that bad. If women wear little clothing or showed flesh she'd get called names but if a man does it it's 'hot'. So please girls, be fair and stop criticizing eachother. Us girls have it bad already!

Can stress make you FAT?

There are several ways in which stress can contribute to weight gain. One has to do with cortisol, a stress hormone. When we’re under stress, the fight or flight response is triggered in our bodies, leading to the release of various hormones.

Chronic stress and cortisol can contribute to weight gain in the following ways:

1. Metabolism -- Do you feel like you're prone to putting on more weight when you're stressed, even if you're eating the same amount of food as you always have? Too much cortisol can slow your metabolism, causing more weight gain than you would normally experience. This also makes dieting more difficult.
2. Cravings -- OK, you're stressed. Do you reach for a nice salad or a pint of Ben & Jerry's? I'll bet on the latter. People experiencing chronic stress tend to crave more fatty, salty and sugary foods. This includes sweets, processed food and other things that aren’t as good for you. These foods are typically less healthy and lead to increased weight gain.
3. Blood Sugar -- Prolonged stress can alter your blood sugar levels, causing mood swings, fatigue, and conditions like hyperglycemia. Too much stress has even been linked to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of health concerns that can lead to greater health problems, like heart attacks and diabetes.
4. Fat Storage -- Excessive stress even affects where we tend to store fat. Higher levels of stress are linked to greater levels of abdominal fat. Unfortunately, abdominal fat is not only aesthetically undesirable, it’s linked with greater health risks than fat stored in other areas of the body.

Stress and weight gain are connected in other ways:

1. Emotional Eating -- Increased levels of cortisol can not only make you crave unhealthy food, but excess nervous energy can often cause you to eat more than you normally would. How many times have you found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you’re stressed, but not really hungry? More on what causes emotional eating.
2. Fast Food -- Experts believe that one of the big reasons we’re seeing more obesity in our society these days is that people are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting to get fast food a the nearest drive-thru instead.
   

Silent Melody by Mary Balogh

I laid my hands on Mary Balogh's Silent Melody for the first time on Saturday. I never read her writtings before and I don't know what to expect, so I decided to pick up the book when I read ALL ABOUT ROMANCE.com reviews on it. Okay, for the first to the tenth page, the story was kinda dragged with no fullstop. I mean, too fast for me to get to know the characters.

Then for the next pages I started to get familiar with Emily, the mute and deaf heroine who can read lips and Ashley, a guy that returns home to England and to the bosom of his family and Emily-of course, after several years in India. Even though he totally forgot her existence while he was in India, Ashley, tall, dark and requisitely handsome, has never had any problem communicating with Emily. Emily, deaf since a childhood illness, knows that Ashley is the only person who truly understands her. They develop a sign language all of their own and their love is like a living thing that leaps off the pages of the book to draw the reader into their story.

I dont know if you guys r really into historical romance, but I strongly recommend this book as a keeper , because I cried- CRIED through the halfway of the book. Truly, I can't stop crying from page 10 till page 160++, I simply can't resist the temptation to cry because Mary Balogh has beautifully written the novel even though it's lacked with dialogues. I mean, the heroine can't talk you silly , but how she defined her silent world and her feelings towards Ashley makes you really understand what the disables-deaf and mute are thinking.

I'll give this book 4.5 over 5 stars - The best Historical Romance I ever read.

English.

As you can see, I'm using English as my main language in this blog, ( Well, 98 percent of it is in English) - Which is extremely hard for me because irrevocably, English is my second language. And why is that? Okay, my surroundings are mostly Malays so I have to use Bahasa Melayu to talk to them. With exception, I did use English to some of them and eventually, I will end up being laughed or scrutinized for my grammar mistakes. And yeah, I have friends that usually talk in English with me, and they don't really mind if I talk weirdly, you get what I mean?

The main purpose of all these is to improve my English, as it becomes more crucial in our lives, to get good jobs, etc..etc. Also because when I want to talk - either in English or Bahasa, I will have to arrange the sentences in my head and then, I will calculate and replace unsuitable word to be used before the words come out from my mouth lol (I really suffered from these difficulties, firsthand it made me look stupid). Well and also, I have extensively unused vocabs in my mind which I think it will be such a waste if i don't really use them.

So, people. Will you help to correct me if i'm wrong? I'll be glad, honestly.