Technical Artist

Got some more videos and scripts up:

The raw character skeleton with Expression powered joint deformations:

In depth character control rig demonstration.

Character posed using control rig, and further rig demonstration:

The Python script/tool made to zero out the controls:

This character mesh is weighted with only Expression based joint deformers, and to a max of 4 joints per vertex. The animations can be then exported to game engines of all types, like Unreal, Unity, etc. If your engine doesn’t support dynamic joint deformations, you can always just key/bake them out.

Check out the newly organized Python and MEL pages here and here respectively for more info and to see the scripts.

Mostly organization, grouping the MEL/Expression stuff together, and added some new videos on a hand auto-rig created using Python. I’ll be adding more to the Python section soon!

More to come soon, like getting a new image viewer setup going…

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UPDATE: Image viewer is now working properly! That was long overdue…

Panoramic view, overlooking downtown Singapore at night, from atop the tallest building.

What an eye opening experience, 10.5 hour flight to Japan, stopover for 3 hours, 7.5 hour flight to Singapore. Vice-versa on the way back. Got an opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines, and can’t say enough good things about them.

Singapore Airlines food tray... with steel cutlery, awesome.

Singapore Airlines complimentary gift bag with toothbrush, toothpaste, and socks... Givenchy? Awesome.

The previous ideas of Singapore that I held were very stereotypical: no gum, no spitting, clean streets, safe to walk at night alone, big brother government, canings. Looks like there are some merit to those claims, however, it’s easy to get crazy ideas about them. It’s not all black and white; some clarification is needed, and there are even more interesting tidbits about Singapore to be aware of.

Here, I will attempt to interpret my experience there.

Looking down the southern shoreline towards downtown Singapore from East Coast Park.

Singapore sits just north along the Earths’ equator, there are no changing seasons aside from whether it’s raining or not, lots of daylight, the sun rises and sets at pretty much the same time everyday. It’s always tropical warm (at least 30 degrees celsius), and extremely humid. Step out into the jungle-fresh climate, out of the near-freezing air conditioned malls and you just feel the moisture attach itself to your skin like dripping sweat after a hard workout.

An international hub, and a central location smack in the middle of various cultures and countries, Singapore has 5 million inhabitants, roughly 60% are native Singaporeans, while the rest are ex-pats (foreigners), or service workers (labour force from Phillipines/Bangladesh etc). English is an official language +1.

The currency exchange worked out in my favour, $0.77 CAD to their $1 SGD.

Commonly differentiated terms, and good to know tidbits:

When speaking to men and women older than yourself, they are referred to with the honourific title of “Uncle” and “Auntie” respectively

Tipping is not customary, neither is customer service

When eating out, and obviously a foreigner/tourist, be sure to ask about and be aware of the price of food items beforehand… see here for more details

“2 for 1” is referred to as “1 for 1”

“Open Bar” is referred to as “Freeflow”

“Per person” is referred to as “PER PAX” or “PAX” in a plural setting (bus, group etc)

“Take out” is referred to as “Take away” in a food ordering setting

Don’t expect refunds or exchanges at most small outfitters, or even the chance to try them on before purchase

Public display of the middle finger is considered an offence, and is punishable

A sheltered hawker center in the business district of Raffles, on a Saturday.

Food is generally abundant, with the majority of Singaporeans and ex-pats eating out at hawker food stalls. Take note that local dishes are far cheaper than western branded dishes and restaurants. Also, tipping is not customary, and customer service is rare, it’s all business here.

Hawker food stalls are a must, usually in a sheltered outdoor area with no A/C. Eat in and the food comes in non-disposable eating ware/cutlery etc, order for “take-away” (take out) and you may be charged extra. As for drinks don’t be surprised to get the delicious liquid in a stringed plastic sandwich bag… at least you get a straw. Another surprise for me… no complimentary napkins! Unless you’re near a Starbucks, buy some, you will need them, good thing there are plenty of old men and ladies selling packs of 3-5 for $1 at the hawker food courts… and they like to target foreigners.

Must-try local favorites, with the best description I can give for western newbies:

I'm loving the baby Kai-Lan in oyster sauce, with fried shallots.

Baby Kai-lan in Oyster Sauce – topped with fried shallots ($, just as it sounds, a simple vegetable dish that turned out to be my favorite dish while being there, very common)

Prata – Indian style crepe, ($, I like the Cheese, Mushroom, or the filling Chicken Murtabak, common)

Chili/Black Pepper Crab – a Singapore original, Chinese Mud Crab that comes in other various sauce bases like butter ($$$$+, varying in size, even the small crabs have much bigger claws and leg thickness than a large Western Dungeness crab, so good, common)

Nasi-Lemak – Malaysian platter of rice, egg, split anchovies, cucumber, and chili sauce as its’ base ($, nice breakfast, very common)

Fish Noodle Soup – Noodles with assorted toppings like fish balls in a chicken/fish broth ($, cheap and hearty, very common)

Milo – Similar to Ovaltine, a chocolate-y type beverage ($, I recommend a Milo Dinosaur, very common)

Bandung – A beverage made from rose water, mixed with milk, sugar, and pink food colouring ($, personally not my cup of tea, still worth a try, very common)

Fresh Young Coconut Water and Pressed Sugarcane Juice ($, my personal favorites, try to find places that use fresh sugar cane stalks at order rather than the stalls reusing old pressed ones, you’ll notice the difference, +1 if you get it in a bag :D, very common)

There is also a place called Tom’s Palette that serves homemade ice cream. They have a lot of flavours, and are located inside the SB Shaw Tower building at the three way intersection of Middle Rd and Beach Rd. I attended an ice cream making workshop they had (expensive, $60 SGD per pax), and was greatly pleased (all you can eat ice cream too). I also had a lot of fun with the dry ice they gave me when taking my completed ice cream home.

EZ Link transit fare cards.

The public transit system (MRT, SMRT, TransitLink) is a vast network of rail trains (above and underground) and road buses that are responsible for the everyday commutes for the majority of Singaporean inhabitants. They use a “pay as you go” fare system, with the most popular being an “EZ Link” fare card which looks and acts like a debit card that you can top up. You scan the card when entering or leaving MRT stations and buses, getting a discount over the standard single trip fares.

One thing I’d love to see improved… notification of coming stops while on the bus. If you don’t know where your stop is, your almost screwed, since the bus stop sign is 99% almost always on the opposite, far end side of a bus stop when being approached, and blocked by the bus stop shelter, meaning that you can only read it when you leave the bus stop, looking behind you as the bus drives past it.

Riding in the back of a taxi.

Taxis are very affordable for the middle income individual, and plentiful. If you feel like you’re overcharged, ask for a receipt and call the cab company to state your claim. Although expect a higher costing trip to and from the airport, no matter how close your destination/location.

Since I’m on the subject of transit, let’s discuss the road and driving conditions. Singapore has by far, in my opinion, some of the cleanest, well paved, and well structured road systems I can imagine. There are many, intelligently placed, yellow no stopping zones to distinguish parking lot and bus exiting lanes/areas, many cement dividers between opposite traffic, and highly visible signs and lanes. I must admit, the Singapore government did a fantastic job on them.

A driver stops their vehicle across 2 lanes, preventing a bus from entering the bus stop to unload and pickup passengers.

It is unfortunate though, that the vast majority of car drivers in Singapore are not able to fully utilize the road systems in a considerate manner. For a country about 45 years old, it has some obvious growing room.

There is very little in the way of road courtesy. It is very common to see cars not signal when performing a lane change, or cut people off (at least by my definition), and take up 2 lanes while driving on the lane divider. It also appears that traffic laws are not strictly enforced. I’ve seen more than my share of car accidents in my time in Singapore than I would want, and was almost involved in one early in my trip.

A walkway along East Coast Park.

I was walking along the sidewalk of a narrow and winding residential road, when a speeding driver off a curve approached the stop sign at the intersection I was in the middle of crossing… without any intention to stop. Luckily for both of us, he did come to a screeching stop (infuriated I might add). Also, it’s not just the wealthy asian drivers (I was in an upscale houses only area), I’ve seen ex-pats block buses from leaving the bus stop, and apparently they don’t have the right of way either, maybe that’s the norm? Seems odd to me.

Owning a vehicle is grossly expensive, with good cause. To limit vehicles on the road, a restricted number of COE’s (Certificate of Entitlement) are issued and required for vehicle ownership, which costs a ridiculous amount of money (it can vary daily), on top of the cost, insurance, and 95 octane-level-only fuel costs. Also, it only lasts 10 years at max, which then requires the Singapore resident to scrap or export the vehicle. Aside from being a show of wealth (status), this probably is one of the factors that fuels a sense of entitlement for those wealthy enough to afford vehicles, and possibly, their poor driving conduct.

Regardless, lesson learned, don’t drive in Singapore, and don’t take chances with crazy self-righteous drivers.

The infamous technology-gadget mall, Sim Lim Square.

Shopping is apparently one of the major past-times for Singaporeans. However, in my outings, I rarely ever saw something that I could not get for far cheaper here in Canada. Anything North American branded is expensive, so best save your cash on more worthwhile ventures, like food, and maybe some foot reflexology.

A Singapore HDB building (Housing Development Board).

If you plan on staying awhile, one very important subject to consider is the living costs. Vancouver is one of the most livable cities in the world, and is very costly due to being so, however, Singapore dwarfs Vancouver in that regard. The cost of renting/owning property is much more expensive, probably due to the fact that Singapore is an island with limited land mass, its’ length at its’ longest is roughly 30 km, and it’s width at its’ widest is about 8km.

Luckily for me, I had the good fortune of staying my entire time in Singapore with a colleague and friend of mine – free of charge – whom with his 2 other house-mates, rent out a fully furnished mansion sized duplex-half (3 floors all above ground level, 2 kitchens, maids’ quarters, 4 master-size, 1 medium-size bedrooms with complete attached closet and bathroom, 20 feet(?) ground level ceilings, dining room, living room) for $6000/month plus utilities (5000 sqft on their side). Utilities are around $1000/month, and that’s mostly spent on air conditioning and electricity.

The house.

Now if that sounds like a pretty decent deal, that is because it is. It’s a steal of a deal from their perspective. I was told by a local recruiter that an average 3 room HDB flat (Housing Development Board aka government subsidized housing condo/apartment) in the downtown area starts at roughly $3000/month rent (1 bedroom, 1 dining room, and 1 living room all count as rooms… beware), whereas an upscale 2 bedroom condo in the Coal Harbour area of downtown Vancouver cost me $1800/month rent; and that was already too expensive for my taste.

Throughout Asia, it is common to not have hot water tanks on all the time, Singapore is no exception, and there is little use of hot water, except for say cleaning dishes. It’s so warm and humid, cold showers are a god-send, even though the water running out of the faucet is only lukewarm at its’ coldest.

Gotta love Singaporean marketing. Where else will you find an anti-mosquito poster that shows a cute little girl playing with her doll, and a giant Photoshopped mosquito hovering above her with the phrase, “Your precious child, her nightmare is about to begin,” or the label on packaged spinach, “Vitamin secured”? On multiple occasions, I saw actors/athletes on billboard advertisements, and they would have the title, “International Artist/Athlete” followed by their name, hence the inspiration for the title. I’m not letting go of that one, too good. I even saw a purchase-adspace advertisement on a trash can that read a quote from somebody I forgot, “Creativity without strategy is art. Creativity with strategy is advertising.” If that’s the case, Singapore could use some new tacticians, maybe I should be a consultant?

Back to the beginning, yes, you cannot buy chewing gum, and if you get caught bringing gum in, it gets thrown out, although I’ve heard that anti-smoking gum may be purchasable with prescription, and possibly some forms of dental hygiene supportive gum. It is, however, to the best of my knowledge, not illegal to own it.

Not selling chewing gum stems from the discouragement of spitting in public places, since the easiest way of getting rid of it is to spit it out, might as well make spitting illegal – to a degree. I’ve seen just one person spit, and it was into the grated drain sewers, never on any place where there was solid, paved ground.

The only piece of vandalism seen on the trip, along Clarke Quay, it was removed a few days later.

The streets are very clean, and no graffiti. The “graffiti” I managed to see being paid works of art in the Clarke Quay district, and on Arab street. However, it is not to say that all is well, I did manage to spot one piece of vandalism, a graffiti tag on a public sign in Clarke Quay, and intentionally littered garbage, probably from cars driving along Upper East Coast Road in Bedok where there is shrubbery between the road and the sidewalk. Needless to say, both were promptly removed/cleaned up a few days later when I had returned to the areas, talk about acting fast.

Relatively safe to walk around at any time, day or night, this is probably due to several factors like enforcing a strict code for misconduct, harsh punishments, and lots of cameras to enforce them. Also Singapore is mostly an evening/night city, and it comes alive after dark. Surprisingly, I rarely ever saw a police officer in uniform or a vehicle for that matter.

Monsoon downpour out of nowhere.

There are no cold nights, and when it rains, it rains hard (especially during monsoon season), in fact, the heat and humidity is easier to deal with at night, and so encourages people to step out more. Hardly any eatery or establishment is open at 9:30am, let alone 7am. Hawker stations can be open from 10am, to 6am the next morning.

No secret about it, there are cameras almost everywhere, on the bus, in the malls, in the taxis, at the stations, and on the street. Although it doesn’t eliminate crime completely, it’s amazing how different we act as a society when we know we are being observed.

Canings are a form of punishment to discourage criminal/inappropriate behaviour. Apparently, the system works itself out pretty well, although public canings have ceased (from my knowledge), while private canings are still held.

That pretty much wraps up Singapore in a nutshell (long nutshell). In the end, I had a wonderful time, largely due to my local friends in the area and the great company they provided, so, if you’re into Yoga, and happen to be in Singapore, go to Republic of Yoga, you can check out their new website here.

Cheers.

All the images in this article were taken on the trip.

My younger cousin of 24 years passed away suddenly last month. He was fishing when the current of the Fraser River swept away his two friends, and he attempted to save them. I made a tribute slideshow video in his memory:

He was the most cheerful, positive, and proactive person that could ever be. He shared his aura with everyone he touched and talked to.

Even though none of us were related by blood, along with a couple of other young, FOB, refugee Hmong families, we started a small, tight-knit, and growing community here in Vancouver. To us, it made no difference who your direct blood relative was. Everyone was family.

Our families were especially close, my own younger brother was born only a month before Christopher, and they both share the same name. As close as they were, he was also best friends with my other younger brother Don.

With his love of cars, and specifically Honda Integras, Christopher became an auto-mechanic, and had been passionately honing his craft for six years in Abbotsford. He saved many an Integra from impound lots and scrap yards, rebuilding them (almost entirely) into beautiful works of art. Needless to say, he was a major contributor to the local Honda Integra and import scene.

Christopher was an amazing uncle to his two nephews and niece, and loved his teenage sweetheart and fiance as much as a man could.

You will be dearly missed, and shall live forever in my heart. It is my great honour to have lived at your side.

Thank you for being a part of my life.

The most animation-impressive games I have ever played look even more impressive emulated in HD. For me, Shadow of the Colossus in particular is the pinnacle of “epicness”, efficiency, effectiveness, and beauty in games thus far. These two titles hold a special place in my heart, and in my game collection.

I remember seeing ICO in the video game bargain bin at the local Superstore… it was only $7.99! The game was in my hands, pass the checkout counter, and out of the store so fast, you’d have expected a security guard to come chasing after me believing I had shoplifted it. Never underestimate the bargain bin, for jewels they hold.

Check out the Eurogamer post here for videos of both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus being emulated in HD.

One can only hope that Sony gives them the God of War Collection-style treatment… and soon.

For those that managed to attend the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert here in Vancouver back in October in 2009, it was quite the experience. Performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and conducted by Arnie Roth, the concert performance brought tears to many a person’s eye (I know, people were crying tears of joy all around me).

For any Final Fantasy and video game enthusiast that missed out on it, you get another opportunity coming in December. Play! A Video Game Symphony is coming to Vancouver on Monday, December 6th, 2010 at the Orpheum Theatre. Click here for more details.

Performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and a full choir, Play! A Video Game Symphony features award-winning music from a catalogue of bluckbuster video game titles, including Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and many more. Stunning graphics on large screens above the orchestra accompany the exciting scores, highlighting memorable moments from the video games (let’s hope better choice of visuals this time).

If you are a VSO subscriber, you can get your tickets now. If not, make sure to bookmark Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 10:am on your calendars, because that’s when single concert tickets for the season will be open to the public. See you there.

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UPDATE
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So it was a fantastic night, the music was great, along with the extra encore of “One-Winged Angel” (but of course), and experiencing the show with some fellow colleagues/friends from the game industry made it much more enjoyable.

The biggest disappointment was that the synchronized video for the Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross piece failed to show (what I was most looking forward to)… and there are many better fan-made music videos out there for the majority of the pieces. All in all, I will do this again, every time if I can!

I did.

Well, to be more accurate, I used to. I used to believe that vegetarian/vegan food was for hippies, and enviro-green wannabees and fanatics.

Then, I researched about the food industry, the chemical companies and big food corporations involved… and I became a believer. Hallelujah!

Now, my mind, body, and especially my stomach have since opened up to the benefits of eating more organic, local fruits and vegetables, and less meat and dairy products.

Don’t get me wrong, I love meat, cheese, ice cream, and I can’t grow bananas and kiwis in my backyard. I can however, at least provide better direction, and take better accountability and responsibility for my diet, and personal well being.

Presently, I roughly prepare 90% of the meals that I eat every week (based on 35 meals a week), and I am committed to only cook/serve vegetarian/vegan dishes, using locally grown, or organic produce preferably. That way, I get a lot of practice, here are some of the results:

The Final Fantasy Ultima Vegetarian Pizza
A final boss-level weapon of mass domination used to convert meat lovers into liking vegetarian food – trademark violation free lol (I think).

Ingredients
Store bought flatbread/thin crust pizza dough etc
– organic tomato sauce, seasoned with organic dry basil, organic dry oregano, and organic no salt seasoning
– mozzarella cheese
– roma tomatoes
– locally grown mushrooms
– onions
– jalepeno peppers
– roasted, locally grown potatoes, seasoned with organic, extra virgin olive oil, and organic no salt seasoning
– black olives

Minimal work, preparation, and supervision involved, and ready in about 45 minutes (roasting the potatoes alone takes up half the time).

Just try to order this at your local pizza delivery place. They’re both about the size of a 10″ medium, take just a slice or two, and you will feel full. Now that’s the power of real food. Enjoy!

Hey hey,

The website layout has been updated. I noticed that some links were broken, or old, and a good portion of my portfolio was not accessible, click here to check it out. That should be fixed now.

Enjoy!

Howdy everyone,

My portfolio has been added since updating the site from sxlife.ca to scottxiong.com. Click here to access it. Best viewed with Firefox.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everybody! See you in 2010!

Scott Xiong

Thanks for being patient. I know it has been awhile, and now, what you’ve all been waiting for!

Continuing from Part 2, the final part of the Happiness and Health series!

Increasing my conscious awareness (and education) about nutrition, healthy eating, and how our food is processed became a powerful tool to activate the tremendous subliminal power of my unconsciousness. Giant corporations are well aware of that power, that’s why they spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year in marketing and advertising to get you to eat, and eat more (obesity epidemic anyone?).

Why not utilize that power for my own well being? Being aware, and well informed can really help in the development and health of my own awareness in defense of the marketing propaganda out there.

You can apply the same methodology to body mass awareness, by constantly weighing myself everyday after a shower, I become much more consciously, and more specifically, unconsciously aware of my body mass. I leverage the power of subliminal mind control on myself to make quicker, and better decisions when deciding to eat something that might affect my body mass.

Can you believe that eating pork for breakfast was only introduced during this past century? Similarly with diamond engagement rings, it is only recently in the past century that we’ve adopted these supposed “life long” traditions (those guys did an excellent job by the way).

I commit myself to health research, and condition my body to recognize and remember the health issues that are a concern for my body, and it eventually becomes second nature, not to mention a whole lot easier, to refuse, and accept certain types of food products. Keeping myself in top mental and health condition is a benefit all in its’ own.

Remember, don’t go off jumping bridges because I say so, I think it is important to eat foods that you love; for instance, I love meat (chicken, pork, beef, seafood = yummy), and a fast food burger tastes as good as it always has, I’m just not a fan of the aftereffects, or the level of processing that’s involved (watch the Food Inc. documentary).

Throughout your life, you will have conditioned your body to love, and hate certain foods, your body will react positively, or negatively, based on those emotions and thoughts. If you force yourself to eat spinach, you are basically sending signals to your body to reject it. Stay fulfilled, eat stuff you love. Of course, I hope you don’t expect that a diet of fast-food burgers, milkshakes, or deep-fried onion rings are going to give you a cover model body.

We can condition ourselves to increase our food palette, we can choose to love, or hate. It is a choice, our choice. I mean, we humans have been eating for thousands of years, and mostly vegetables too, so I’m sure there are at least several recipes out there than can interest even the most stubborn “meat-tarian”. I for one have taken a liking to learning new vegetarian recipes, with the increase in plant sterol count and nutrition, health benefits are pretty much a given.

Sleep, we spend a third of our lives doing it (supposedly)… it must be pretty important. I did my best to grab 8-10 hours of sleep a night minimum.

Alright, so let’s say we will live until the age of 75, that’s 25 years we are recommended to spend sleeping. If eating is how we grow, and training is what we grow, then sleeping is when we grow. The same thing can be said about any positive change we want our body to go through. Taking a 20-30+ minute nap during the day is great for relieving drowsiness and back pain, increasing alertness, energy, and heightening awareness and intelligence.

Investing in a good night’s rest might be in our better interest, because doing your fitness work, and health research can only get you so far. Sometimes, it’s worth it to take a rest.

If I find myself digging a hole, the first step I take to getting out is to stop digging!

Yes, it takes some level of discipline, and yes, it can be difficult at times, if it was easy, would we really be able to appreciate it? Would we be able to truly value it? I know I am very happy with my results.

So there you have it. My experience, my results, my rant. How accurate is my information? Like I said before, that responsibility is yours, and yours alone. Now go get educated, become aware, lose some fat, get some abs, eat some good food, and go be happy and healthy while you’re at it. Evaluate yourself regularly, and then in a few months, really take a good look at yourself (just be cautious of the possibility of increase in excess skin/stretch marks due to the sudden loss of weight).

Click here to view a very interesting, and powerful movie trailer for one of the best filmed documentaries today on our current situation on the food industry (American, but it affects Canadians too).

As for me, it’s time to hit the gym. I’m gonna try and make up some of that mass back… in muscle!
(maybe I should write another article series on that… hmmm)

~
Scott

Happiness and Health – My Secret to Losing Fat, Getting Abs, Eating Great, and Having More Strength and Energy Part 1, Part 2

Hi Everyone,

I just finished transferring my domain to my new registrar and hosting account, and as you may have noticed, SXLife.ca is now ScottXiong.com. What does this mean? Well, instead of having 2 separate sites for people to jump around, I decided it would be easier, and better for people to find everything on one site.

WordPress is such a godsend, I mean, it makes updating my website so much easier than it used to be, and it has so many cool features and tools… *sniff, I’m so happy…

Anyways, what this also means is that I need to incorporate my portfolio works into this site now, so please bare with me as I make those changes.

You can click here to view my portfolio works.

Take it ease!

Scott Xiong here, and continuing from Part 1 of the series, Happiness and Health Part 2!

How and why did I come up with the lifestyle plan that I created for myself? Read on (I don’t believe in so-called diets, to me, the word diet is just a term meaning eating habits).

Everything begins with a little health research, not all vegetables are picked ripe, especially if they are imported, they would normally rot or become seriously bruised during transport before they reached the store. Therefore, the majority of fruits and vegetables have to be picked ‘unripened’ so they are firmer, making them easier to transport, and ripen along the way or upon reaching their final destination – therefore not providing their maximum nutritional value. Flash frozen vegetables are easier kept, and are more likely to be picked fresh and ripe before they are frozen. I decided to eat fruits on their own, not combining them with proteins or carbohydrates, and as a light snack. As for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) fruits and vegetables… well, the name itself pretty much explains it. Would you eat vegetables if they were spliced with spider DNA so that insects would stay away from it? Here’s an interesting lesson I learned from a good friend of mine, “If insects won’t eat it, neither should you“.

Except for fish, I drastically cut beef, pork, other red meats, and chicken from my diet, only eating them when I rarely ate out for a social gathering. Don’t get me wrong, I love~ meat, steaks, sausage, ham, chicken wings, chicken breasts, lamb chops, pork chops, meatballs, burritos, hot dogs, burgers, meat pies, and deep fried… the list goes on, however, I’ve come to an understanding about how it can affect my body. My theory is that fish break down much easier in the body than regular meats, most likely because fish are water based animals, and they do not become toxic during digestion like that of red meats, or land animals. I mean, our body has to break things down in order to absorb them, so the easier it is, the better right? Also, fish are full of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, great stuff for a lot of mental and health issues, look it up. Thankfully, I can cook decently well, just a little olive oil, some fresh ground black pepper, sea salt, and a little lemon juice can go a long way.

Also, I did my best not to mix carbohydrates with proteins in my meals. Considering that the body produces different enzymes to break down carbs, protein, and fat, I wanted to be as efficient as possible, and be able to assimilate as much as possible, with minimum waste.

Water is extremely important, I cannot begin to press just how important being well hydrated is. Eating water rich foods like vegetables helps in their digestion, without having to directly drink any. I do my best to avoid drinking water directly during meals, instead, having a glass 30 min before or after a meal so as not to interfere with the breakdown of carbs/proteins. Work and health, one with the other.

Vitamin and mineral supplements, you may have heard a wide range of criticisms about them. Do they even work? Well, let’s put it this way, if a giant, for profit, pharmaceutical corporation creates a report on vitamin supplements, claiming harmful effects from their use, and is instead recommending I buy their patented, overly expensive, chemical infested drugs… I’d take my chances with the cheaper, generic supplements. Maybe you haven’t heard, but medicine is big business, there’s bound to be bias from certain areas of the spectrum. Now, there are vitamin lobbyists out there too, just like there are for pharmaceuticals, and big food companies, however, I try to take things with a grain of salt, and I recommend this to you, the reader as well. You gotta do what’s best for your own development and health.

Also, it seems strange that there happens to be a lot big pharmaceutical backed research claiming adverse side effects of vitamin use (and minimal amounts from their own medications of course), and it may be important to note that there are people who are lobbying for and against the sale of generic vitamins, minerals and supplements of the like. Some claiming that they should be regulated, or are produced by only ‘licensed’ manufacturers. Now what does that mean? Well, in my eyes, if pharmaceutical companies are the only ones legally allowed to produce supplements, then they can put whatever price tag they want on it, and you can expect it to be a big one. I don’t think their research will say anything bad about vitamins when that happens, do you? What is the price of our happiness? I’m sure there are some very interested parties willing to find out.

Am I vouching for vitamins? I fully believe that if you can get the appropriate vitamins and minerals from natural sources, go for it. Be aware though, that we live in an era where the general quality of the soil, and especially the fruits and vegetables that grow in them, are drastically lower in nutrients than they were 60, 40, even 20 years ago. Not to mention we live lives where we may not be able to have the time or luxury of getting the right nutrients daily from the foods we eat (even in this great age of convenience where machines do a lot of our work). Supplementation can be a good alternative. Personally, I take a plant sterol (phytosterol) supplement, Omega 3 rich fish oil supplement, multivitamin, and vitamin C supplement daily.

Fat-free and sugar-free foods, are they the answer to our obesity epidemic? Personally, I stay away from the majority of products claiming to be low fat, or low in sugar, and I’m especially cautious of fat-free or sugar-free products. It’s more of a marketing ploy than anything else. People like to eat food that taste good, and we know that fat and sweet taste good. Take the time to read the ingredients of these products (assuming the manufacturer is being truthful), generally companies will compensate either by filling them with low-calorie sweeteners, which are basically artificially engineered chemicals. In nutrition health terms, that just cannot be good.

Aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and/or others are all cheap, artificial/refined, and highly used low-calorie, or extremely sweet, sweeteners used to replace regular sweeteners such as dextrose, sucrose, and glucose-fructose. These, are to be taken with extreme caution. I don’t necessarily think regular refined sweeteners like the ones mentioned are healthy, however, I’ll take them over those artificial low-calorie sweeteners any day. My preferred choice though, all natural, sweet honey, Canadian maple syrup, and cane sugar baby.

There are legitimate, natural, low calorie sweeteners out there, such as the widely used in Europe (especially Finland) xylitol (sugar alcohols derived from the fibres of vegetables and fruits, like birch trees), or stevia (sweet leaf) from South America. However, due to a lot of controversy, export/import laws, and high tariffs/declarations on foreign sugars and sweeteners, it is currently illegal to use ‘stevia’ as a sweetener in the United States, and can only be sold as a dietary supplement in Canada. It leaves me to wonder why an artificially developed by-product like aspartame would be given the green light so easily for consumer use, yet something natural like plant leaves are banned. Hey now, wouldn’t that be an interesting topic to do some more research on? 🙂

That’s it for Part 2! More extra useful information to come in Part 3! So stay tuned!

Happiness and Health – My Secret to Losing Fat, Getting Abs, Eating Great, and Having More Strength and Energy Part 1, Part 3

My colleague at Electronic Arts Canada introduced me to some very interesting information concerning the economy, energy, and environment some time ago, click here to visit the site. It goes into detail the patterns that we humans, our government, and global and financial industry have concerning our use of energy, the effect on our environment, the management of our economy, and the potential impact of great concern that comes with it.

I highly recommend everyone who is concerned with any of the previously mentioned topics to check out the ‘“Crash Course”, click here to go directly to it‘. A collection of 20 short video clips totaling around 2.5 hours, and is offered for free on the website which explains the situation in a very efficient manner.

Learning is a life-long process, and I strongly encourage people to learn about things that are important in their life. Whether it be money/finance/business, health/nutrition/fitness, or your desired profession/hobby/philosophy. Why not learn as much as you can? You only got a short amount of time on this planet, make it count!

This will be a three part article about my experience on achieving health and happiness, losing fat, getting abs, and having more strength and energy.

You might hear people say things like, “I have health issues, I can’t lose weight, I am not happy with who I am, what I do, where I live, I have no energy...” and the like. Now, not to shortchange anybody or doubt them, I just think that life is what you make of it. When playing poker, you don’t get to decide the cards you are dealt. Why not try to enjoy yourself? It’s your choice if you want to put money down, you are accountable for that choice, and that’s it.

We can all use some help every once in a while, timely information, and maybe a little health research about nutrition health can be priceless.

Long story short, I managed to cut 15 lbs in about 2 months, this was back in May/June. I then lost an additional 5 lbs over the next month, and now through August, I have maintained that loss. It may seem like a little, or a lot, it depends on your perspective. Being 170cm in height, or 5’7″, I have a slim, muscular, and well defined build. I feel great, and full of energy; the physical, mental and health aspects are fantastic. I did not even go to the gym once (which really frustrated a lot of my peers).

My secret? Sex, eating well, and a lot of sleep. Sex covers the majority of the happiness part of it, and it burns a lot of calories. An absolutely excellent form of physical exercise (that’s probably why I didn’t need to go to the gym). Health-wise, allow me to define the latter of those requirements in greater detail, you might even be able to gain something from my experience. I don’t claim to be a health professional, nutritionist, or even a health guru. I am just a guy, who is taking responsibility for his health, and sharing my experience, findings, and maybe rant for a bit.

The health of our body is our responsibility, regardless of what physical ailments, or advantages we have. It is imperative that we educate ourselves on a matter of things for better health, and most importantly, a better life.

How? My Plan: Generally, eat a lot of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits, preferably local, especially organic, non Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), consuming a decent amount of whole grains, cut out meat products except for fish, eliminate refined sugars/sweeteners, eat small meals several times a day, take some dietary supplements, drink plenty of water, and get lots of sleep. Also, I wanted to avoid mixing carbohydrates and proteins in the same meal, eat vegetables with every meal, and only eat fruit on its own, as a like snack. As for fat, I just made sure to eat the least amount of saturated, and specifically high in trans-fat foods as possible. In terms of gym exercise or weight training, I had to cease it in order to not skew the results.

What Actually Happened: I was surprised to find a mix of achievements and failures of staying consistently disciplined on the plan. I did not eat nearly as much vegetables that I wanted, kinda sad actually… and when I did get the chance, they were mostly flash frozen vegetables (most likely imported/GMO too). It was more difficult than I thought to consistently incorporate fresh, locally produced vegetables into my diet. I was fairly consistent with my bowl of rolled oats every morning for breakfast, and eating small meals several times daily. Eating mainly fish was not a problem for me, I did however, a few meals every week, eat foods containing beef, chicken, or pork (no complaints). I did an excellent job of avoiding refined sugars and low calorie sweeteners. No glucose fructose, no High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), no Sucralose, and definitely no Aspartame (I like my soda pop, but I kept that to a minimum, like once a week, and only natural cane sugar soda). I did manage to stay well hydrated with lots of filtered tap water, and got lots of sleep too. The plan ended up doing pretty well for my development and health.

What does this mean? My conclusion came not by eating great exactly (as you can see), but rather by not eating poorly. Since I did not eat a lot of vegetables, I can’t say I owe it to the veggies. Basically, not eating as much meats, avoiding the refined sugars, staying well hydrated, and getting lots of sleep were the key factors for my results. Did the supplements help? I can’t say for certain, I would like to think so. I definitely wasn’t getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals from what I was eating on my own, so I imagine that the social and health aspects of it were worth it.

For work and health! No risk, no reward! (Sorta)

As to how I came to this plan and why I made the choices that I did, that will be in Part Two. See you soon!

Happiness and Health – My Secret to Losing Fat, Getting Abs, Eating Great, and Having More Strength and Energy Part 2, Part 3

Scott Xiong here, and welcome to SX Life!

I am in the process of transferring my content from my previous blog over at blogger to sxlife.ca. My portfolio can be viewed by clicking here, and you can check out my LinkedIn profile by clicking here.

Cheers