Say "Cheese!"

With graduation round the corner, everyone's snapping away! This post is dedicated to a lady with hazel brown eyes, ounces of body fats here and there just to compliment -me. And to Fuglians who's always ready with molar-molar smiles.

"Ah! I look blubbery! Delete that N-O-W!" You dont know how depressing it gets when i need to take 10 shots to capture that O-N-E perfect shot.

Ever been tempted to destroy a picture because your eyes were closed or because the camera added those pounds? Blame it on lighting.

Slate says "The flat, even illumination on the red carpet makes it hard for the camera to capture dimension, unlike in a photo shoot with flattering soft lights. Cast from an angle, light creates shadows that sculpt the face and body by hiding unwanted flesh. Softer lights can hide wrinkles and smooth out the skin for women, while harsher lights on male faces exaggerate lines for a chiseled look. Without the aid of shadows, however, light exposes the imperfections of the face and body and makes the resulting image bigger and flatter."

With point and shoot digital cameras, the flash is located in a place that does not flatter peoples faces. But if you turn the camera upside down and capture, the light comes from below, taking out dark circles under the eyes and smoothens out the face. Putting a coffee filter over the flash helps soften the light.

Unlucky for us, we don't have the luxury of having our own lighting technician casting light in all the right angles. Here's secrets to looking thinner in photos.

1) Turn partially sideways, planting one foot in front of the other.
2) Pull your head forward to eliminate double chin. (Try reaching your soft palate with the tip of your tongue. I do that if i remember =X )
3) Hold arms slightly away from the body. (Minuses the flabby triceps)
4) Take a deep breath as you pull your shoulders back, chest forward. (Forget bout KD's signature slouch!)
5) Look away from the camera, then turn towards it, breaking into a smile before the camera clicks. (Not gonna work if HPB's folder runner Osman the photographer-he doesnt give warnings & audaciously flashes a smirk. Know how your photographer counts. Eg: "Helen" counts 1,2,snap.)
6) Dont wear too low cut a shirt if you're top heavy. (Save boobs from disgrace, pls)
7) Everyone knows that wearing black gives a thin illusion. But if you don't want to wear black in all of your pictures, make sure your undergarments aren't too tight. Those bulges under a bra line show up a lot worse in pictures. (Consolation for cwk and i for being not as well endorsed as the other 4 fuglians)

Confidence captured in an image is sexier then any tense aritificial pose. You're beautiful. Embrace every bit of yourself. Ten years from now, those "extra" pounds are not gonna matter. What matters is the special moments captured.

But if you're corpulent due to diet issues, stop whining and quit munching on whatever-hooks-you, hit the swimming pool/gym: with me. :)
Anorexic looking lassies lack sex appeal. Get your fair share of chocolates!

While many people see chocolate as a wicked indulgence and health purists deny themselves its pleasures, recent research shows that good-quality chocolate has health benefits.

Chocolate
1) Is highly seductive. Even the smell of it slows brain waves, inducing a sense of calmness. Rated for a pleasant odor and being relaxing.
2) Causes the brain to release endorphins, the natural opiates that are our pleasure chemicals, and a compound in chocolate, phenylethylamine (PEA), is supposed to stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love.
If you feel inclined to eat 25 pounds of chocolate at one sitting, you might feel the effects of the chemicals in chocolate which are similar to those produced by marijuana.
3) Has nutritional value as it contains a reasonable quantity of magnesium and iron, 50 milligrams and 1.2 milligrams respectively in 1.75 ounces of plain chocolate. The same amount of milk chocolate has 110 milligrams of calcium.
4) 1.5 ounces of chocolate, or a cup of cocoa made with 2 tablespoons of powder, had about the same amount of antioxidant phenolic compounds as a glass of red wine.
5) Flavonoids contained in chocolate seem to reduce the time it takes for blood to clot, which might lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
6) A Harvard University study of 8,000 men over 65 found that, on average, those who ate chocolate lived a year longer than those who didn't. This was put down to the polyphenol antioxidant compounds in the chocolate.
Dr David Southgate writes in a review of Chocolate and Cocoa: Health and Nutrition in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition: "Clearly the antioxidant potential of cocoa is very high."
7) Fats in chocolate come from three sources: the cocoa bean, vegetable oils & milk. The fat in the cocoa is stearic acid, a saturated fat, and this makes up about 30 percent of the fat content of a bar. But while we usually think of saturated fats as unhealthy, the stearic acid from chocolate converts partly into oleic acid in the body, a monounsaturated fat of the kind found in olive oil, which is linked to health benefits. There are mixed reports about the advantages of this fat profile. It does not raise the damaging LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, which is good as far as heart disease is concerned, but it seems that the good HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is suppressed, as are other compounds, which could suggest an increased risk of heart disease. Conversely, the antioxidant compounds in chocolate help to protect from heart disease.

In people prone to migraines, amine compounds in chocolate can trigger attacks, as sufferers have low levels of an enzyme, phenol-suphotransferase, to process them. Yet because cocoa reduces blood platelet adhesion, which can lead to headaches, it may be beneficial for other people.

In research published in the EJCN, a cup of cocoa made with water was just as effective at limiting platelet stickiness as aspirin though the same effects cannot be expected of cocoa made with sugar and milk.
Chocolate: Cavity Fighter?

Some health benefits may be even more surprising. A report in New Scientist discussed a compound found in the cocoa bean husk that could help to cut tooth decay. The compound is found mainly in the husk, but some still finds its way into chocolate, and the cocoa butter that coats the teeth is thought to protect teeth by preventing plaque from forming.

When cocoa-bean husk was added to the drinking water of rats, they had half as many cavities when fed a sugary diet than those not given the compound. Dr David Beighton, of Guy's, King's & St Thomas' Dental Institute in London, says these compounds certainly had an effect, but that good oral hygiene is still the best way to healthy teeth.

The problem with chocolate is that we often do not know when to stop, and most of our intake is not always of the best quality. Most popular chocolate products have sugar as the main ingredient, and high fat
levels.

The answer may be to eat high quality dark chocolate with a 60 to 70 percent cocoa solid content (normal dark chocolate has around 30 percent). As they are very rich, a little goes a long way. And high-cocoa chocolate can be suitable for diabetics as it does not create a blood sugar rush in the same way that high-sugar chocolate does. Chocolate has low levels of caffeine; its main stimulant is theobromine, which has a much milder effect. And the darker the chocolate, the higher the amounts.

There may also be a case for organic varieties, as the pesticide lindane, linked to breast cancer, has been found in chocolate. The chemical is in the process of being banned for use here but is still used in developing countries.

Craig Sams, of the chocolate producer Green & Black's, is a committed campaigner for organic food production. "The cocoa bean is a remarkable food as long as it is eaten in good-quality, high-cocoa mass chocolate." he says. But most chocolate consumed has as little as 10 to 20 percent cocoa mass, with a lot of sugar and hydrogenated vegetable fats. If it is not organic, it is usually heavily sprayed because cocoa is such a valuable crop.