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Review Time

Enviga: Does it burn calories?


Lately I have taken interest in the Enviga green tea drink. It boasts that it can help “burn calories”, but that’s only one reason why I have taken interest in it. I also just wonder–does it taste good?

I remember when the drink first came out, Nestle/Coca-Cola were advertising the drink as having “negative calories”. This caused a lot of controversy in the health industry, with specialists saying that it’s “impossible” for any food/drink to have negative calories (at least, processed foods/drinks; I do believe celery has negative calories?). So it seems that the company has now taken on the approach that the drink helps “burn calories” instead.

I tried the berry flavor last weekend and liked the crisp taste of the green tea. Well, I cannot really say it was “tea” anymore since there was barely any hint of the actual green tea in the drink. Do I know if I burned calories from drinking the drink? I’m not exactly sure…

On the can itself, it states that “three cans per day of enviga have been shown to increase calorie burning by 60-100 calories in healthy normal weight 18-35 year olds.” So, in order to burn up to just 100 calories, one has to consume three cans in one day. Which means, roughly each can burns around 35 calories a day.

Hardly enough to make much of a difference in terms of burning calories; for someone looking to lose weight/watch their diet, best bet would be to exercise more and consume less food/drink calories (within a reasonable range).

I personally find enviga just to be a fun drink for me to drink every once in awhile; it’s not like I will subscribe to the theory of it helping me to burn calories. I can probably burn more calories if I added ice to the drink (ice cubes actually do help you burn more calories, according to the Mindless Eating book I read earlier this month).

Categories
Hot Dog Days My San Francisco Chronicles tourists Work Diaries

Vacation Mindsets.

Today was the first day for our carts to work at the Wharf this year; from what I could see between the two carts (located at the Cable Car turnarounds), people can be quite rude and idiotic, even more than the people around Union Square.

It is probably because more of the people who walk by the carts at the Wharf are on vacation, and therefore, they have vacation mindsets. They feel they can act however they want to because they are on vacation; no need to care about others’ feelings so much, especially people working behind a counter, hot dog cart, etc.

After awhile, I was very tempted to say this to people passing by:

“You know, just because you are on vacation, doesn’t mean you can act like an asshole.”

I wonder how people would have reacted to that.

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reflection

Relaxation, finally.

At times, staying busy is a sign of an interesting, adventure-filled life.

Other times, however, too many plans/time outside of the home can become too stressful/hectic.

For me, if I become too busy for too long, I feel burnt out (and I guess most people feel this way).

To have an evening to myself is heaven after a long week of running around, mingling, and working. After getting off work early today, I felt so happy to finally come back to my apartment and just relax. Piddling around on the Internet, catching up with a few friends on MSN…it felt nice to finally not “do anything” which involved leaving my apartment/spending money/mingling/etc.

Relaxation after a long week is pure bliss.

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My San Francisco Chronicles

ATA Student Film Screening; Taste of San Francisco

Tonight I went with a friend to a screening of some local student films. The event was held at ATA (Artists’ Television Access) in the Mission; we essentially watched films from students of City College, Cogswell, and from the Art Institute of California, SF.

My friend and I only stayed for the first half, but I have to say, I felt pretty impressed by the level of professionalism of the films we watched. I think it was my first time to see well-executed student films; I had a flashback to when I watched some student films back at my university three years ago, and I remember that, even though the films might have had good concepts, the executions still showed a lot of amateurism. These films tonight, however, could have passed for close to professional filmmaker quality (at least to the common person’s eyes). There was a good mix of genres, from chick flicks to suspense and even a random music video.

Actually, these past couple of days have been spent experiencing the “real” San Francisco. Been mingling with more locals and seeing more of the non-touristy scene. I somehow find myself involved in artistic adventures as well; after all, yesterday I was in a music video, and today, I attended this film screening. Perhaps this is all a sign that I should let myself dive back into the arts since I neglected that passion once I entered college.

Categories
music My San Francisco Chronicles

Toy Soldiers Music Video

Tonight was an interesting night; my friend’s friend invited us along to participate in the filming of indies band Toy Soldiers’ newest music video.

I am probably not allowed to reveal too much from the video, but in short, we were dancing on an old, decorate school bus and just having a good time. I wish I had dressed up a bit more, but then again, I was not even aware of participating in the video until 15 minutes before the filming began.

The filming took a total of two hours or so; the song was pretty cool to listen to, even after a billion times of playbacks. Hope to see the finished work sometime!