Natural Organic Healthy Weight Loss & Weight Gain Supplements & Powders

 Do you watch naaptol?

Or homeshop 18?

Or other advertisements which claim that they have the remedy of weight loss in the form of tablets.

Well, let me tell you a story.

Anita (name changed), was a moderately obese girl. Although she didn't have any life threatening or disabling obesity, she was still concious about her weight. As she was an aspiring model, so all she wanted to do was lose those extra kilos.

Day and night, she prayed to God to make her lose weight.

Although in matters of diet, she knew no bounds. Samosa, gol gappa, moglai, egg roll, biriani.. You name it. None of them survived when anita was there.

She became depressed and started to have sleepless nights.

One night, she couldn't sleep, so she turned on the TV at 3 in the morning (3 Am).

Naaptol was showing a remedy of obesity.

“ Ye tablet 30 din lijiye aur paiye mere jaisi patli kamar “

(take these tablets for 30 days and get a slim waist like me)

A model with very sharp features and extremely slim waist announced.

Anita's happiness knew no bounds. She watched it and was convinced that she finally got the solution .

Without giving any second thoughts, she ordered 3 of them ( for 3 Months) and started taking it.

And wow!!

She started to lose weight, FOR REAL!!

She was so happy, that she can finally audition for modelling.

After 3 Months, she lost around 20 kgs. She started getting dressed up for the modelling audition which was scheduled within an hour. She was about to wear her gold necklace when she realised, she had a lump on her throat.

Like this.

Confused and scared that she might lose the audition, she started having palpitations. Her hands started to shake violently on its own (tremors) She thought it might be due to anxiety, or because she was having heavy menstrual bleeding for the past 2 months.

She calmed herself down, drank water and sat down. But of no use.

Few minutes later, she started feeling dizzy and boom!

She fainted.

She was immediately rushed to the hospital.

Basic tests were done which was normal.

However she was having staggering BLOOD PRESSURE and a very high heart rate.

He thyroid hormones were checked, and it was sky rocketing.

The doctors asked if she took any thyroid medications or not to her parents.

They denied.

Then they asked if she took any supplements.

She informed them about the naaptol thing.

The doctors realised it, admitted her for a few days, then discharged her with appropriate medications with a statutory warning “ DO NOT TOUCH THE SUPPLEMENTS EVER IN YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE ALREADY BEAUTIFUL “

So, what actually happened?

WELL, she was suffering from, what we call FACTITIOUS HYPERTHYROIDISM.

Our body produces thyroid hormones on its own. One of the major functions of thyroid hormone is to increased BASAL METABOLIC RATE. That means, the more the thyroid hormones, the more the calories are burnt and faster the weight is lost.

The naaptol frauds took advantage of this.

What they gave in their medicine, was additional thyroid supplements, which will thus increase the thyroid hormones in the body which will lead to more calories burnt and faster weight loss and hence anita lost weight so fast.

The innocent people who don't know about this is are surprised and extremely happy by this miracle and take them on a prolonged basis, leading to HYPERTHYROIDISM, which can lead to symptoms as occurred to ANITA.

BOTH HYPERTHYROIDISM AND HYPOTHYROIDISM can cause goitre(the swelling in the neck) , as shown in the image above.

Sometimes, people can die too.

So, guys, beware of these fraud products

- Dr Pallab Roy

Have you ever played a game of carom?

Have you ever noticed that a beginner who hardly know how to play the game, sometimes strike on a random basis and score good very good points purely by chance.

However, at the end only the best player wins.

In the same way, even a novice can defeat a champion card player, if he gets all three aces by luck/chance.

However, over long period, luck/chance factor gets neutralized and only the best player wins.

Experts may not be correct 100% of times.

However, their diagnosis and solution are much better than the common people who simply shoot in the dark and hope that the arrow will hit the target.

• If they fail to achieve their goal, they blame their bad luck.
• If they accidentally hit the target, they consider themselves better than the best.

However, they learn no lesson either way and don’t become better.

They keep shooting arrows on random basis till they hit a wrong target and get punished for their mistakes.

Common people are like them.

They ridicule the experts by blaming out their errors.

They solve their own problems in their own way like a patient taking drugs on random basis from a pharmaceutical shop to cure his own illness.

In this way, they commit many more errors and make their life much more miserable.

What do you do if you don't like yourself because of your bad habits and you don't have the energy to change them?

 You’ll experience even bigger problems for one simple reason:

If you don’t have the time or the energy to change your bad habits, your bad habits will change you.

You’ll lose track of time because days will turn into months, and months into years. One day, when you least expect it, you’ll look at yourself in the mirror and you’ll realize that you’re not the person you were once. Perhaps you won’t recognize yourself (and not just physically). Perhaps you will like yourself even less than you do today. And that will be a painful moment. What you don’t know today is when exactly the moment will arrive, but know this: you won’t be able to run away from your bad habits forever. They will most certainly catch up with you.

As for how you got into this situation, it’s possible that you’ve tried breaking your bad habits before but without success. At some point you may have realized that your efforts aren’t making a difference, and maybe you think now that the habits are impossible to give up, so much so that you might be thinking to yourself, I can’t stop doing this! I don’t have the willpower to stop and it’s exhausting to me!

If this is the case, you’re stuck in a habit loop of negative self-talk, resignation, and giving up. It’s not the best feeling in the world. It probably feels like you are losing a personal war with yourself. But there’s one good thing about this situation:

It’s not hopeless.

There is a way to change your bad habits, and it starts with talking to yourself differently. Next time you think to yourself, I can’t stop doing this! change your self-talk to this question: Why don’t I just try?

It’s a way to give yourself permission to react differently to a problem.

Here are several steps that will take you through the process.

• Think carefully if there is something else hiding behind your “I can't!” Maybe it’s the fear of not being able to do something successfully, or not being able to be the best in the class, or not doing it perfectly, or being scared you’ll embarrass yourself in front of other people.
• Next time you feel like reacting this way, ask yourself where the resistance is coming from. Be honest with yourself. Why are you resisting? Is it from fear, or lack of interest, or giving in to distractions that take over your day because you lack self-discipline? Find out what it is so you can do something about it.
• Think how this habit change can benefit you. The biggest benefit to making this change is that you can win over fear. It’s a powerful thing to keep a little mental space open to possibilities, instead of shutting the door before even trying something new or different.
• Ask the question, Why don’t I just try? Then observe how your brain reacts to it. What is the first thing that comes to mind for you? Do you look for potential obstacles if you try something different, or do you feel like you have more freedom to contemplate what a positive outcome will bring you?
• Consider the future version of you. What would your life be like if you decided not to let fear limit you? How would you deal with problems if you kept an open mind? What kind of person can you become if you start dealing with a bad habit now so that it doesn’t turn into an even bigger problem in the future? By making small steps every day to eliminate what doesn’t work to your advantage, you’re opening yourself up to more positive things — also habits — to enter your life. You are creating space for a more positive version of you. And that is worth fighting for

Types Of Friendship

 I’ve used a two-axis classification system for a while.

The 1–5 axis reflects the depth of your relationship.

• Level 1: You know their name and face, but don’t really interact with them.
• Level 2: You don’t really know this person on an individual level, but they’re part of your social group. You include them in events and Facebook group chats, but if they moved away, you wouldn’t really miss them. Generally, you don’t know much about them beyond shallow information (like where they work, what their main hobbies are, etc).
• Level 3: You have a 1:1 relationship with this person. You know how this person ticks, and you know large parts of their life story. You will go out of your way to hang out with them because you value them as a person.
• Level 4: This person is a semi-permanent fixture in your life. You have an individual relationship with this person, and they’ve been in your life for several years. This is the kind of person you would invite to your wedding, or call a “best friend.”
• Level 5: This is someone you would make enormous sacrifices for, like your spouse or child.

The A-C axis reflects how often you see your friend.

• Level A: You hang out or chat with them several times a week.
• Level B: You hang out with them most weekends.
• Level C: You see them sporadically, maybe once a month or once a year.

Examples

• Brian Bi is a Level 4A for me. I’ve known him for four years, and we hang out several times a week. Even when I’m not in the same city as him, he is still one of the first people I talk to when something happens in my life.
• For many people, coworkers are Level 1A or Level 2A, since you have lunch with them every day but aren’t necessarily best friends.
• People who were your best friends in high school, but who you lost touch with when you went to college in different states, might be Level 3C. You might get together with them only during school holidays, but still see them as good friends.

-Jessica Su

How Discouraging it is, when patients do not follow your medical advice ?

About a year ago a young, Spanish speaking mother came into the ER with her two children. The older child was about 5 and the younger (who was my patient) was two. The two year old girl had an ear infection. When I started looking at her chart I discovered she had been there the day before and prescribed an inexpensive antibiotic and ear drops for pain. As I examined the little girl I spoke with the mother using a translator and found out she didn’t get the medicine that was prescribed the day before. This was not a diagnostic dilemma. The patient has an obvious issue treated with a medication that typically works…. If you take it. The chart from the day before had discharge instructions in Spanish so in my mind the visit was complete. Diagnosis=otitis media. Treatment= same as what we told you yesterday. Frustrating that they came back to the ER but no surprise she wasn’t better. I went about my shift and discharged them summarily and didn’t give it another thought. These things happen about three times a shift in the ER.

On my way home after my ten hours in the pit I stopped at a stoplight two miles from the hospital. I saw a homeless man on one corner with a cardboard sign asking for money. On another corner however was a well dressed, young Hispanic woman with a sign that said “baby sick.. need money for medicine”. I realized she looked familiar and was suddenly struck by the truth this was the mother of the patient I dismissed early in the day. I pulled my car over and walked up to her and in my broken Spanish apologized to her. I gave her $20 for her antibiotic and ear drops and begged her to go home where I was sure the five year old was trying to care for the two year old who was crying with ear pain.

I don’t tell this story because I did a good thing by giving someone money. In fact, I’m ashamed to remember it. I failed this lady and her child and endangered them all because I dismissed them out of hand as non compliant. The truth is that patients come to us for our advice. Typically at significant cost in time or money. If they choose not to follow our advice I think the least we can do is ask “why?”. Sometimes it is a lack of understanding due to poor communication. Sometimes they don’t like the advice or recommendations. Sometimes though, they want to be compliant and will take steps to do so that would humble you. However, they could still fail and it is wrong to blame the patient for not getting better.

Dr.Robert Frantz  MD,BS

Is IITJEE Worth It?

 The biggest misconception that people have about IITs and JEE preparation is that people go to IITs to study and that JEE tests one’s Physics, Chemistry, and Maths abilities.

Hear me out.

To be successful in life, one needs to learn certain qualities:

1. Persistence
2. Hard work
3. Dedication
4. Focus
5. Handling failures
6. Being around smart people
7. Learnability

The list is obviously not exhaustive. These are some qualities that came to the top of my mind. If one is able to develop these qualities, with a high probability, they can become successful in life. The chances of failure will drastically go down, with obviously, some exceptions.

IITs and the JEE preparation don’t teach you academics at all. In fact, academics (including Physics, Chemistry, and Maths) are used as a means to teach you the above abilities.

Let’s take an example. When you were young, your father gave you a piggy bank to save money. You saved Rs. 1 or Rs. 2 coins over the month/year and that turned into a sizeable hundred of Rupees worth of saving. Did your father intend to teach you how to save Rs. 100?

No.

He intended to teach you the concept of savings in general so that you become wiser financially. He wanted you to learn the value of hard work, patience, and money, and today, if you’d have followed his advice well, you’d have learned a bunch of other things - investing in mutual funds and stocks, not spending money on unnecessary things, etc.

The same is the case with IITs and JEE preparation. When someone studies Physics, Chemistry, and Maths in Class 11th and 12th, or studies CSE in B. Tech at IIT Bombay, they are not learning SN1/SN2 Reaction or Newton’s law of motion. They are rather learning the important life skills I mentioned above.

I prepared for JEE from 2011 - 2013 and then joined the Computer Science Program at IIT Bombay from 2013 - 2017. Do you think I remember anything about the ideal gas equation, inverse trigonometry, the moment of inertia, or Stoke’s law? I don’t even remember the instruction sets that I learned in the Compilers Course that I studied in the 3rd year of IIT Bombay, forget about remembering Raoult’s law. At best, I remember the names of these concepts, with possibly spelling mistakes.

What I, however, remember, is the fight that I did during the 2 years of JEE preparation to get a top 50 rank. I used the exact same fight to build Cogno AI to a team of 100+ members, leading to the acquisition by Exotel. I used the exact same fight to compete for the internship during my college days. The mindset that I developed during the JEE preparation days and during the IIT Bombay B. Tech time, is helping me to date and I know, it will help me for decades to come.

My hunger to learn, to earn, and to do something big in life helped me crack JEE with a top 50 rank and the same hunger is helping me build my startup. The same hunger will help me do well at Exotel as well.

At IIT Bombay, I met some of the smartest people, including juniors, batchmates, and seniors. I met people who have done phenomenally well in their respective fields. I met people who switched fields and did even better there. I can say with full confidence that much like me, almost none of them will remember the concepts they learned during the JEE preparation. However, all of them would remember the mindset and skills that they acquired, which are helping them succeed in their lives.

To answer your question - Is it really worth the 2 years of preparation?

Yes. A top rank in JEE leading to a top IIT is worth NOT just 2 years but worth 4 years of preparation. The IITs help you with a bunch of stuff:

1. Mindset and skills that I mentioned above.
2. A stellar group of a successful peer network, that can open a lot of doors.
3. A brand name that helps you distinguish yourself in a large group.

Aman Goel,IITB-CSE

Education is the best hope for the poor to become rich in legal and proper way

 Education is the best hope for the poor to become rich in legal and proper way.

The other ways to become rich is by crime and by business. However,

• There is too much risk while making money by committing crimes like theft, abduction, murder, drug- trafficking etc. You may even lose your life and certainly lose respect of people and spend your life in jail, once you are caught.
• There is also lots of risk if you do business though it is a legal activity. Almost 90% startups fails within 5 years of its incorporation and the investor lose all his money and time in the process. Moreover, you need money to do business, which poor don’t have.

Education is thus the best method to become rich.

It is thanks to education that ‘Govind Jaiswal’, the son of a rickshaw puller became an IAS officer and got rid of poverty.

It is due to education that Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam became a great scientist and the President of India.

There are millions of people who transformed their life due to education to become rich, famous and powerful.

Education is certainly a bridge between the poor and rich.

Benjamin Franklin said this wisely, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.“

Dr.Awdhesh Singh Ex-IRS,IITian -  B.Tech,M.Tech,PhD

Btech to Msc in Physics ( IITB ) and then Phd in Physics via IIT JAM

 Yes, it is certainly possible. I have exactly been in this situation and I have seen the struggle, especially when your engineering college’s rigid policies give you no freedom of taking physics courses outside your engineering branch and next to nil research opportunities in physics and a research reputation abroad.

I have been fortunate enough to be offered admission to a few top PhD programs in physics in US and consequently, I will be joining the physics department at Cornell University for my PhD. I can advise on how a transition can be made even when your undergrad engineering college has no resources to offer in physics. Clear information was not available in my time and I hope can change that thing.

I had already lost most of my interest in mechanical engineering near the end of my second year at Delhi Technological University. I instead enjoyed learning physics and continued doing so, when at the end of my third year, I realized that I wanted to become a physicist instead of an engineer. I had two options in front of me, one was to apply for PhD programs straight-away and the other was to instead do a master’s degree In physics and then apply for PhD. I chose the former though ended up doing the latter.

I decided to get some research experience in physics. Since my college wasn’t the right place for getting physics research experience, I started applying to internship programs for the summer, both via official portals and by mailing professors. I was rejected by almost all places (lack of physics coursework maybe or not enough marks?). Finally, some luck landed my way when I was accepted by a professor at IISER, Bhopal to work during the summer. I ended up spending my summer there and came back even more excited to pursue physics.

Now, my college had no provision of taking any electives outside my department and thus I had no official physics coursework. (A hat tip: If you are from a college where you are allowed to take courses in any department (like IIT), definitely take physics courses and build up a physics profile) I then took the general GRE, the physics GRE and the TOEFL, and did pretty well on them. Since US allows you to apply directly after bachelor’s for a PhD, I naively thought my credentials are probably good enough to get into a good program directly (mostly on the back of my GRE scores).

Requiring three letters of recommendation (LOR), I managed to get two from physics profs at IISER, Bhopal and one from my engineering prof under whom I did a project. I applied to 8 places. The LOR from my college prof turned out to be the weakest and he did not even send it to most places, and as a result, I got rejected from every place. In hindsight, even without this fiasco, any top place would have rejected since I really had zero physics coursework and PhD admissions are much more stringent.

Lesson learnt: Physics coursework is important, choose LOR profs carefully)

I had already made a back-up plan of pursuing a master’s degree in physics from India, in case things do not work out. I gave the IIT JAM exam and was able to do well enough to be accepted to IIT Bombay’s MSc physics program.

(Common Misconception – B.Tech students are not allowed to take JAM or offered MSc physics admission. Well, IIT Bombay certainly allows B>tech students in their MSc Physics program)

This in my opinion, turned out to be the best decision I took. The academic experience at IIT Bombay was polar opposite to what I experienced in DTU. Not only were the physics professors awesome, but there was plenty of opportunity to get involved in good research. I took a variety of courses in physics, was allowed to freely choose courses, gained research experience in both experimental and theoretical physics (astrophysics, condensed matter, particle physics), collaborated and interacted with professors both from India and abroad of different institutions, and learnt more physics than I could imagine. It was here I realized how less physics I knew and how entrance exams are a terrible way to gauge your knowledge of physics.

This time I applied to the top PhD programs in US again. Not only did I know more physics, I was better prepared, had actual real physics coursework (good GPA) and research experience in hand, and amazing LORs from IIT profs. Needless to say, I was accepted to several places with fellowship (Cornell, UCLA, Penn, John Hopkins, Bristol (UK) ) among which I accepted Cornell’s offer for doing a PhD in physics.

PhD in India: India is also a great option to do a PhD, especially in theoretical physics. I was going to apply to Indian programs as well. TIFR, IISc, IUCAA, ICTS and HRI are among many top institutes where you can try for a PhD. For Indian PhD admissions, you need to clear entrance examinations. There are multiple exams to do that including the CSIR NET, JEST, and the GATE exam in physics. TIFR has its own entrance exam too. A good rank in these exams gets you an interview call from these institutes. One has to then clear the interviews to get admission.

My advice would to be gain sufficient experience in physics before going for a PhD. This includes quality coursework and research experience. PhD admissions are tougher and at top places, GRE scores do not even matter much. It’s all about coursework and research.

I feel that doing a master’s degree put me in a better position to pursue a PhD. However, if your institute allows physics courses to be taken along with engineering courses, and you can gain valuable research experience in physics, then you can apply for a PhD directly too after B. Tech. And for Indian PhD programs, prepare well for the entrance exams and study physics to be able to clear the grueling physics interviews.

You can also check out this blog where I have written about my experiences: http://physicsafterengineering.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-journey-into-physics-after.html

-Vaibhav Sharma Phd in Physics , B.Tech in Mechanical