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Published: Thursday, 01 February 2024 14:57

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Diet and Supplements

There are lots of things that we need in our diet to fulfill our body's nutritional requirement.

NOTE: calorie vs Calorie (food Calorie): a lot of sources online state calorie requirement of body in units of Calorie (Calorie with a capital C, aka as big Calorie). Since small calorie (calorie with a small c) is such a small amount of energy (1 calorie is amount of energy needed to raise temp of 1 g of water by 1 deg Cel), nutrition industry came with unit of Calorie (big calorie) where 1 Calorie = 1000 calorie or 1kcal. i.e 2000 Cal per day means 2000 kcal per day, i.e 2000 kcal of energy is required. Similarly content of protein is listed as 4 Cal/g of protein, but it's actually 4kcal/g. I might mention calories (with small c) somewhere below, but treat it as Cal (with capital C). I'll try to be precise, and only mention kcal (or Kcal) to avoid confusion, but "copy and paste" may screw up my notes below, so bear with it :(

There are 6 essential nutrients that our body needs from food and drinks (our body can't make them):

1. Macronutrients (Needed in large amounts)
   1. Carbohydrates => Main source of energy. Each g of carb provides 4 Kcal of energy.
   2. Fats => Provides energy, and helps body absorb vitamins/minerals. Each g of fat provides 9 Kcal of energy. It's used a s long term reservoir of energy.
   3. Proteins => Needed for strong bones, muscles, organs, skin and nails. Each g of protein provides 4 Kcal of energy. 
2. Micronutrients (Needed in small amounts)
   1. vitamins => Body needs 13 different essential vitamins to fight infections, heal wounds, regulate hormones and more. There are two types of vitamins, either fat soluble or water soluble:
      
      1. Fat soluble Vitamins: meaning it dissolves in fat, and the body stores it in fatty tissues and the liver. Imp for muscle/bone. So, consumption of fat is essential, else these vitamins will never get absorbed by body. Hence, it's always advised to take vitamin pills with fatty food. There are 5 such vitamins:
         1. A,
         2. C,
         3. D,
         4. E,
         5. K
      2. Water soluble vitamins: meaning they dissolve in water and are not stored in the body. Imp for nerves/heart. All the B Vitamins are water-soluble. These are the 8 Vitamin B complex =>
         1. B1,
         2. B2,
         3. B3,
         4. B5,
         5. B6,
         6. B7,
         7. B9, 
         8. B12 => essential for nervous system function and red blood cell formation. 
   2. minerals: More than a dozen minerals are needed
   3. water: Water makes up > 50% of our body. It helps to carry nutrients and bunch of other functions.

There are few non essential nutrients that your body makes. Ex are vitamins as cholesterol, Vit D, etc.

Let's look at some of the nutrients and associated food/diet. A more detailed section is in "Biology" section. Brief summary is again presented here.

Proportion of Fat/Carb/Protein in Diet:

As per CDC data from 2020, people in US take their 2000 kcal requirement from 50% Carb, 35% fat and 15% protein in their diet. Calorie requirement for adult males with low physical activity is 2000 kcal per day, while for adult female, it's about 1800 Kcal per day. Ideally, below are the requirements for an adult over the age of 30 yrs (i.e when you not looking to gain weight):

1. Calories: Even though, it's usually mentioned to have a 2000 kcal diet per day for an adult, in order to lose weight, you need to have a calorie deficit. That is the single most imp thing to lose weight. Take your weight in KG, and multiply by 25 to get your calorie requirement, which gives you a 20%-25% calorie deficit, enough to lose weight. For ex, for an adult weighing 60 kgs, you should take 60*25=1500 kcal per day. However, if you do moderate physical activity, you still want to stick to 1800-2000 Kcal per day. After the age of 40, a 60 kg man shouldn't exceed 2000 Kcal per day, as metabolism slows down, and hence your body is not able to use up the full 2000 Kcal in a day, causing you to gain weight.
   1. Protein: As I've provided details in protein section, you should get at least 15% kcal from protein. That implies about 250-300 kcal coming from proteins, which implies 60-80 g of protein per day for a 60kg weighing adult, which is just enough to preserve your muscles. Proteins keep you full, so you feel less hungry. You can even go to 100g of proteins which is ideal, but that's pretty hard with a veg diet.
   2. Fats: Even though fats get bad rep, they are essential. 20%-30% of your calories should come from fat. That implies 300-400 Kcal coming from fats, implying 40g - 50g of fat per day. Target 1g of fat per kg of weight. So, for 60 Kg adult, that's 60 g of fat intake, implying 500 Kcal coming from fat.
   3. Carbs: Whatever calories are remaining comes from carbs. 40%-60% of calories should come from carbs. From our ex of 1500 kcal requirement, about 800 kcal came from protein+fat, so remaining 700-800 kcal should come from carbs, implying about 200 g of carbs in your diet. If you go to 100g of protein intake per day, then you can lower your carbs even further < 200 g.  
      • Fiber: Within carbs, we have fiber, which we need in our food. Recommended value is 30g fiber/day.

Meals:

• Breakfast: Try to get a heavy breakfast, as it keeps full for longer, and gets completely burnt. A typical breakfast that I take is shown below. It gives around 50g of protein and 800 kcal energy in the morning meal, which provides around 80% of protein requirement and 50% of energy requirement for the day. We also took about 100g of carbs and 
  • Bread + Peanut butter: Get 2 bread slices with peanut butter (PB) on it. This gives 450kcal with 20 g protein. Bread is rich in carb, while PB is rich in fat.
    • Bread: I take 2 slices of HEB "Essential grains" whole wheat bread (some with 7 and some with 12 multi grains are available). You should take a bread which has at least 5g of protein and 3 g of fiber per slice. 2 slices are 100 g, with 250 Kcal (carbs=50g, protein=10g, fat=2g => Calories =60*4+2*9=250kcal). 6g of fiber is present too.
    • Peanut butter (PB): 2 tablespoon of PB is 30g with 200 Kcal (fat=15g, protein=8g, carb=7g => Calories =15*9+15*4=200kcal). 2g of fiber is present too.
  • Milk + Protein powder: Drink a glass of milk (another 8g of protein in one glass) with Protein powder (1 scoop is around 20g of protein) in it. This gives 200kcal with 30 g protein.
    • Milk: 1 glass of low fat (1%) milk (250 ml) will will give you around 100 kcal (carbs=10g, protein=10g, fat=3g => Calories =20*4+3*9=100kcal).
    • Protein Powder (PP): I take 1 tablespoon of "ON Whey PP", which is 32g and provides 120kcal  (carbs=4g, protein=24g, fat=1g => Calories =28*4+1*9=120kcal). PP is mostly all protein source and nothing else. 
  • Nuts: If possible, add few nuts to your breakfast. 10 nuts will give you about 5g of protein. 
  • Banana: 1 banana will add about 100 kcal (carbs=25g, protein=1g, fat=0.5g => Calories =25*4=100kcal). 
• Lunch: For a vegetarian Indian diet, lunch comprises mostly of rice and curry. Rice is mostly carbs, roti and curries. I don't count too much on protein intake in home made curries, roti, etc. I assume you get at least 10-20 g of protein, bringing the total to 60 g of protein per day.
  • Rice:
  • Tofu
• Dinner: For a vegetarian Indian diet, dinner comprises mostly of roti and curry. 
  • Roti (Wheat flour)
  • Paneer curry: 
• Total: Total for the 3 meals turns out to be about 1800 kcal = 800 kcal () + 

Diet/Food:

Below are common food items along with their content:

1. Milk: Milk is produced by mammary glands of animals, and as such has lot of nutrients to support health of babies. Dairy milk is milk collected from farm animals, mostly cattle. Initially, humans didn't have the ability to digest mammal milk as adults, as milk contained lactose. An enzyme, lactase was needed to digest lactose, which was present in high levels in small intestine of babies immediately after birth but declined as babies grew. However a chance mutation 1000's of yrs back enabled production of lactase in adults, and we started consuming this milk directly. Before that humans converted milk to curd, cheese, etc to consume as those had lower levels of lactose. 
   1. Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk
   2. Production/Consumption: About 1B Ton of milk from 300M cows produced every year (~4000L/cow per year or 10L-15L ($10-$15 in milk assuming price of $1/L) per day per cow. That gives a total of $1T in milk production/consumption per yr around the world. Assuming 7B ppl, each person consumes ~0.5 litres of milk (or equiv dairy products) per day. About 1B ppl live in dairy farming households (10% of population). India is the largest producer and consumer of milk in world. It produced 200MT, followed by USA at 100MT. Cow and Buffalo milk are produced in largest quantity, with India and US producing 100MT and 90MT of cow milk, and India and Pakistan producing 90MT and 40MT buffalo milk. Goat milk is 3rd most produced milk with India and Bangladesh producing 6MT and 3MT. Milk yields per cow are highest in Israel at 12,000L/cow per yr, while India is pretty low at 1000L/cow per yr.
   3. Nutritional value: The values vary depending on src of milk, i.e human milk, cow milk, buffalo milk, etc.  Milk is about 90% water. Cow milk is thinner with 88% water, while buffalo milk is only 81% water. Apart from water, cow milk contain 4% each of fat, carb and protein, while buffalo milk contains 8% fat, and slightly more protein content. Unaltered milk with full fat content is called "whole milk". Milk is sold in reduced fat content too, where fat is reduced by 50% (instead of 4% fat, milk has 2% fat, and is sold as 2% milk or 50/50 milk). You'll also find 1% fat or even 0% fat (known as skimmed milk). Cow milk has roughly three times the protein content of human milk. Cow milk contains lower energy content compared to buffalo milk due to it's lower fat and more water content. 100 g of cow milk has 66kcal of energy (4*9(fat)+4*4(carb)+4*4(protein)=68kcal/100g). So, 1 cup of milk provides about 200 kcal of energy or more than 10% of daily energy requirement. That is why low fat milk (1% fat) is better as it 20% lower calorie. Apart from macronutrients, other micronutrients found are Vit D, Calcium, Potassium, Chloesterol, etc. There's no iron in milk.
      1. Protein: Cow milk has 20% whey protein and 80% casein protein. 
   4. Byproducts of milk: A lot of other things are derived from milk as yogurt, cheese, paneer, ghee, etc. These are more condensed form of milk, where water content is greatly reduced.
      1. Yogurt: 1 liter of milk makes about 2/3 kg of yogurt. So, if you prepare yogurt yourself at home, a gallon of milk will yield about 3 kg of yogurt, which is 3X cheaper. Never understood, why is there such a big differential in price b/w milk and yogurt, when buying yogurt from grocery stores. Make your own yogurt in 30 minutes, and save $10/month easily. Also, market yogurt has lots of added sugar (about 8%) to make it more appealing, which ruins the purpose of eating yogurt for health benefits. 
         • Steps to make your own yogurt => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxQdEl4EKk4
         • Nutritional Value: Yougurt is almost same as milk, rhough more dense, so whole yogurt also has almost same content as whole milk -  88% water and 4% each of fat, carb and protein (though more protein content at expense of fat and carbs). 1 Kg yogurt has 1 g calcium, 1 g Phosporus and 0.5g sodium. The bacteria that turn milk into yogurt digest the sugar (lactose) in milk and produce lactic acid, which is what gives yogurt its tart tang, this results in about 20%-50% of lactose than what is found in milk. Calcium and other minerals may also be reduced, if yogurt fermented for longer. Yogurt has probiotics due to bacteria and Vit B12. The most important nutrient missing from Yogurt is Vit D, which is present in milk
         • Greek Yogurt: This is another variation of regular yogurt, where whey and water, along with sugars such as lactose are removed from strained yogurt leading to more conc profile of nutrients in greek yogurt. It has 2X the protein of regular yogurt, and has become very popular among ppl eating healthier food. 
      2. Paneer (Indian Cheese): Paneer is made from milk, and though it looks like cheese, it is slightly different. 1 liter of milk will produce 200 g of paneer. Milk has 88% water and 4% each of fat, protein and carbs. Since 500 g milk makes 100g paneer, and paneer has 55% water, so in 100g paneer, 55 g is water, 2g-4g is carb and fat/protein are 20g each. So, paneer has very low carb (2%), and very high protein and fat content (20%) compared to milk. PAneer is considered very low carb and high protein food. Ideally all carb/fat/protein should be 20 g each in 500g of milk, and all of them should have retained in the paneer, but the process of conversion gets rid of almost all of lactose (carb) in milk. 100 g of paneer has 300kcal of energy (4*4(carb)+20*9(fat)+20*4(protein)=300kcal/100g).  
         1. So, 1 gallon of milk (~$4) should produce 700 g of paneer, or about $5/kg. Again, the price of paneer in grocery stores is 2X-3X higher than comparable milk price. Paneer sells for $5/lb -$8/lb or avg of $15/kg in American grocery stores as HEB, Costco, etc. Indian grocery stores sell it even higher. 
      3. Ghee: Ghee is also made from milk. It's another form of butter, and remains in solid/liquid form. Instead of preparing it from milk, you can buy butter quartz (unsalted) from American grocery stores, and melt them to make ghee. 4 of such 1 quartz blocks (costing about $3*4=$12) make about 2 litres of Ghee, while grocery stores sell it for 2X price.
         1. Nutritional Value: Ghee is almost same as butter, consisting entirely of fat, as all solids have been removed (inc protein and carbs) from butter. 2/3 is sat fat, while 1/3 is unsat fat. It has no lactose, as it has no carbs, hence suitable for ppl with lactose intolerance. It should be taken in moderation, as it's caloric value is pretty. Just a teaspoon of ghee (15g) will provide 150 Kcal.
2. Egg: Eggs have been consumed as food for millions of years. Most common is chicken eggs. Hens may live upto 10 year, but their peak egg laying age is from 1-3 years, where they lay 1 egg/day (200-300 eggs per year) under optimal conditions. By age 5 to 6, they stop laying eggs. In 2023, 90M tons of eggs were produced from about 9B hens (9B*200*50g=90B kg of eggs/yr). Each egg costs ~10 cents, so 2T Eggs (9B*200) cost about $200B per year, about 1/5th of milk's contribution to GDP. China is the largest producer of eggs at 1/3 of world production, followed by distant US and India at 8% and 5% respectively.
   1. Nutritional value: 100 g of egg contains following: water=75g, proteins=13g, fat=10g, carbs=1g (cholesterol=0.3g). It has 18 different amino acids, and various minerals and vitamins. It has 150 kcal per 100g. Since a medium egg is around 50g in weight, it has 6g of protein and 5 g of fat which is about 75 kcal (6*4+5*9+1*4=75 Kcal). Egg white is primarily water (88%), more protein and no cholesterol. Egg yolk (the center yellow part) has all the cholesterol and fat, and as such was considered not so healthy. However, research has found no evidence of this for people who consume about 1 egg a day. Consuming too many eggs a day may cause diabetes and other cardiovascular issues, though research is not conclusive. Better to stick with no more than 2 egg per day.
3. Banana: Bananas are a staple fruit consumed in all parts of world almost on a daily basis. They are sweet and have 100 Kcal each. They have lot of carbs at 25g, with much lower protein at 1g, and low fat at 0.5g. They are rich in Vitamin B6 and Vitamin C, and also rich in  minerals as Manganese, Potassium and Magnesium. Being sweet, ppl with diabetes should limit these. Eating 1 banana a day is very beneficial for health.
   1. Link => https://www.realsimple.com/what-happens-when-you-eat-a-banana-every-day-11901308
4. Rice: Rice is a staple 

Proteins:

A more detailed section on Proteins is in "Biology" section. Brief summary is again presented here.

Proteins are needed for body to build muscles. Proteins is in larger amount in meat products, but not so much in plant based products. So, for vegetarians, the big source of Proteins comes from dairy based products as milk, yogurt, cheese. For vegans, even dairy products are off the menu, so they have even limited things to fulfill their protein requirement.  It's also in lentils, beans, tofu etc for vegetarian and vegans out there. Our body needs massive amounts of protein to help build and maintain muscles. At a bare minimum, our body needs 0.5 g of protein per lb of weight or 1 g of protein per kg of body weight. Most people around 60 kg of weight need minimum of 60g of protein per day. Basically every year you need to consume about 20Kg of Protein, which is 1/3 of your body weight. This is huge amount of protein, and that's needed just to maintain what you have !!

Link below states 0.8g to 1.2g of protein per kg of body weight. Very active people as body builders, marathon runners may go up to max of 2g of protein per kg of body weight but that's the upper limit. Too much protein may put stress on your kidneys as the by product from protein breakdown is Nitrogen which needs to be excreted out via kidneys.

Link => https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-truth-about-protein-how-to-get-enough-at-every-age

However, new guidelines recommend 1.2g-1.6g of protein per kg of body weight. Link => https://www.npr.org/2026/03/30/nx-s1-5750384/protein-intake-grams-food-how-much

NOTE: for protein to work effectively in your body, you need to have both => exercise as well as protein intake. I would suggest taking at least 1.2g protein per kg of body weight, along with 30 min of exercise per day.

I'm listing below Protein products for a vegetarian diet:

Plants don't have too much protein. Each cup size serving may have max of 2g protein, which isn't going to suffice for your body, no matter how much plant you eat. Here are top vegetables rich in protein => https://www.self.com/story/high-protein-vegetables

Beans are another option for vegetarians, but lot of beans do cause gas and bloating (you might have heard that before from your elders).

Protein based supplements: You will have to supplement with Protein supplements. One of the most popular ones is whey protein. ON whey protein may be had for $10/lb (or $20/kg), which is a good price. It will cost you < $1/day in protein supplement, which is one of the best investments in your body.

 Isolate usually has higher protein concentration, but online videos claim there's not much difference b/w isolate and concentrate. FIXME ...

Calcium:

Calcium is needed for bone development, and 1.2g per day is the recommended amount. Basically you need to consume 1/2 KG of calcium every year, which is a lot of calcium. At one time, you should take < 0.5g of calcium, and that too with a meal, so that your body can effectively absorb it. Vitamin D and magnesium help your body better absorb calcium. Calcium supplements usually have Vitamin D in them, so taking 1 tablet a day will suffice for most people, as 0.6mg of Calcium comes from supplement, and other 0.6g comes from diet (milk, dairy products, vegetables, fish).

Walgreens Calcium supplement costs 1 cent/tablet. Regular price is $20 for 500 tablets, but most of the time it's BOGO offer, along with 20% off sale code, and WAG cash (i.e $10 WAG cash on $25 purchase). This results in cost around 1 cent/tablet. It contains 600 mg Calcium as calcium carbonate + 20 mcg (800 IU) Vitamin D, so 1 tablet/day will suffice. Link => https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-calcium-600-mg---vitamin-d3-20-mcg-(800-iu)-tablets-(500-days)/ID=300438454-product

You shouldn't exceed 2g of calcium per day, as that can lead to stress on kidneys, condition of too much calcium in blood (called hypercalcemia) and other possible risks.  => https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/calcium-supplements/art-20047097

Vitamins:

vitamin C: 

Vitamin D:

Vitamin B12: Very essential

Deals: 

2025:

01/03/2025: Amazon Dymatize whey protein for $42 (5 lb)

This is cheaper than Costco, but brand is different. Also, it's concentrate and NOT isolate, which usually has slightly lower protein content. People like their Isolate version. This is cheaper than even Costco ON Whey protein, but this price is only for 1st S&S order.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18036396-5-lbs-dymatize-elite-100-whey-protein-powder-chocolate-42-13-w-s-s-free-shipping

2024:

12/26/2024: Costco ON whey protein for $49 (5.5 lb) in store => expires 01/20/2025

Costco has 5.5 lb (2.5Kg) ON whey protein isolate for $55 online and $49 in store.  Prices are lowest for buying in store. It's 5.47 lb for Vanilla flavor, and 5.64 lb for Chocolate flavor, but both of them have same protein 24g per scoop. Vanilla has 24g protein per 31g, while Chocolate has 24g protein per 32g. Either way, price is < $20/kg which is as low as it can get. So load up.

https://slickdeals.net/f/18002616-costco-members-5-64-lbs-optimum-nutrition-gold-100-whey-protein-powder-55-free-shipping

UPDATE 03/20/2025: Amazon has the vanilla flavor for $93 (with 5% S&S discount) for 10 lb bag ($9.30/lb). This is still more expensive than costco, as costco is $49 for 5.5lbs ($9/lb). Only If you get 4 more items and get the S&S discount to 10% bringing total down to $87, it'll be able to beat costco price. Good thing is that there's an extra 5% on Chase cards starting Apr 1 (for their next quarter), so you can have the delivery set for mid Apr, so that you can get this additional 5% off.

Link => https://slickdeals.net/f/18190279-10-lb-optimum-nutrition-gold-standard-100-whey-protein-powder-vanilla-ice-cream-93-22-w-s-s-free-shipping

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Published: Monday, 22 January 2024 06:03

Hits: 2072

Deals: 

 Here are the deals from 2024. For deals from 2023, go to DEALS 2023

Deals starting from November till New year (aka Black Friday deals) for 2024 are also under this section itself

I've sticky deals and regular deals. Regular deals are posted below which are offered just one time. Sticky deals have separate section of their own, as they refer to deals which are offered multiple times a year.

Bank and Brokerage Deals (updated 2025):

01/01/2025: All bank and Brokerage bonus deals from 2025 onwards have been moved to "Sticky Deals" section

Previous unexpired/extended bank/brokerage deals from 2024 and before: 

10/28/2023: Robinhood (RH) Brokerage Offer of 1% bonus on total assets transferred  (3% bonus on IRA transfers) - expires Dec 8, 2023 expires Apr 30, 2024 (1% bonus offer extended to June 28, 2024)

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

10/20/2023: Chime - $245 $250 in SwagBucks for $200+ in direct deposit within 30 days (nationwide) => expires Oct 31, 2023 extended to Nov 30, 2023 Feb 29, 2024 Mar 31, 2024

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

UPDATE 03/18/2024: $10 bonus for tipping someone $10 or more. Valid 03/18/2024 - 03/20/2024. See above link for details

10/20/2023: TastyTrade (previously known as TastyWorks) Brokerage Bonus Offer of $2K for $100K+ - expires Mar 31, 2024. Ongoing as of July, 2024

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

10/01/2023: Wells Fargo - $325 for $1K+ in direct deposit within 90 days (nationwide) => expires Nov 13, 2023. extended to Jan 16, 2024 Apr 9, 2024

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

11/05/2023: Capital One - $1500 bonus for $100K+ in deposit in Savings account (nationwide) => expires Dec 6, 2023 => Still active as of 04/04/2024

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

Current Deals:

2024: 

12/26/2024: Costco ON whey protein for $49 (5.5 lb) in store => expires 01/20/2025

Look in "diets and supplements" under health section for details of the offer: diet and supplements

11/21/2024: Tracfone offer via HSN - 1 year service plan + 2 phones for $110 or less

Look in "phone services" under services section for details of the offer: phone service

10/26/2024: Open a Checking a/c at Alliant CU with $500+ DD - - get $150 via rakuten => expires Nov 2, 2024 (Now $200 as of 12/27/2024)

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

10/10/2024: Robinhood (RH) Brokerage Offer of 1% (or 2%) bonus on total assets transferred  (3% bonus on IRA transfers) - Valid from 10/16/24 to 10/27/24

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

09/28/2024: TradeUp Brokerage Bonus Offer => $2K bonus for $100K+ in brokerage account transfer => expires 31st Dec, 2024

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

10/01/2024: Bank of America - $300 bonus for $2K+ in direct deposit within first 3 months (nationwide) => expires Jan 31, 2025

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

09/25/2024: Laurel Road - $300 bonus + $20/month for $2.5K+ in direct deposit (nationwide, open to non-nurses too) => expiry unknown

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

09/15/2024: P&G - $15 rebate on $50+ for P&G selected items bought from any store: valid 09/15/24 to 12/29/24

Look in "stores" under shopping section for details of the offer: stores

09/10/2024: BMO Harris - $500 + $100GC for $7.5K+ in direct deposit within first 3 months (nationwide) => expires Oct 31, 2024

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

09/02/2024: Quorum Federal Credit Union - $300 for $1K+ in direct deposit in 60 days (nationwide) => expiry unknown

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09/01/2024: US Bank - $450 for $8K+ in direct deposit in 3 months (only in selected states) => expires Sept 26, 2024

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

08/31/2024: Farmers Insurance Federal Credit Union (FIGFCU) - $250 for $5K+ in direct deposit per month for 3 months (nationwide) => expiry unknown

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08/28/2024: Open a CD at Alliant CU - get $200 via rakuten => expiry unknown

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

08/20/2024: Chipotle Offer - BOGO by answering quiz questions => valid from 08/20/2024 - 08/22/2024

Look in "fast food" under food section for details of the offer: fast food

08/19/2024: Sofi Hybrid checking and savings account - ($200 via swagbucks, $250 $350 via Rakuten) + $300 for direct deposit  => expiry unknown

Look in bank account bonus section for details of the offer: best bank bonus

08/19/2024: Apple Ipad (9th gen, 2021 model) for $200 (various retailers), 10th gen (2022 model) for $250 on BF => (expiry => until they sell out everywhere)

Look in "electronics" under shopping section for details of the offer: electronics

08/16/2024: Six Flags - Yearly pass valid for 2024 and 2025 for $60-$100 => expires Labor Day

Look in "kids stuff/activities" under shopping section for details of the offer: kids stuff/activities

08/16/2024: Target - Free Ulta beauty product -  valid from 08/04/2024 to 08/31/24

Look in "Personal care & Apparel" under shopping section for details of the offer: Personal Care & Apparel

08/15/2024:  Free Google Pixel 9 with Apple/Samsung Tradein at BestBuy - expiry unknown

Look in "phone services" under services section for details of the offer: phone service

08/10/2024: Cici's Pizza - Buffet for $5 only (valid on Mondays and Tuesdays only) => expires Nov 12, 2024

Look in "fast food" under food section for details of the offer: fast food

08/01/2024: Sofi Brokerage Bonus Offer => 1% bonus for conversion and transfer from 401K rollover account to IRA account => expires 15th Sept, 2024

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

07/18/2024: WeBull Brokerage Bonus Offer => up to 3.5% match for IRA transfer and 2% for regular Brokerage account transfer (ymmv extra 3% APY on cash)=> various expiry dates

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

07/03/2024: Charles Schwab Brokerage Bonus Offer of upto $6K for new/existing accounts => expiry unknown

Look in brokerage account bonus section for details of the offer: best brokerage bonus

07/01/2024: 7-Eleven Stores - Free small slurpee only on 07/11 (Thursday) => expires July 11, 2024

Look in "fast food" under food section for details of the offer: fast food

06/20/2024: Axos Bank Rewards checking account - ($125 via rakuten) + $500 for direct deposit  => expires July 31, 2024

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Published: Wednesday, 03 January 2024 18:23

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RDC = Reset Domain Crossing

RDC is reset domain crossing. For a given reset signal, the logic being initialized by it, is defined as a reset domain. Just like clocks in CDC, reset signals crossing reset domains can be an issue if not done right. A problem can occur at the interface of 2 reset domains (same clock domain) when one is being reset while the other is not. These are some of the issues to be careful about when dealing with reset signal.

1. Reset Synchronization: Just like CDC, RDC can be an issue when reset signal crosses clock domain. Reset signal needs to be synchronized properly across clock domains. This is irrespective of whether reset signal is going into D pin of flops or async set/reset pin of flops. In this case, reset signal is just like any other signal crossing clk domain, and hence needs to eb synchronized before being used. This is checked as part of CDC, and NOT RDC.
2. Glitch free Reset: Just like Clock signal, reset signal should be clean, i.e no glitches. Else, flops may get incorrectly reset.
3. Sync vs Async  Reset: We have 2 styles of reset methodology in design:
   
   1. Synchronous Reset => Sync set/reset flops have reset coming into D pin of flop, which makes reset similar to any other signal (nothing special to reset). This makes RDC checks very easy. In this methodology, at the reset port, we have a synchronizer that asserts and de-asserts reset synchronously. Using Sync Rest is the preferred design methodology for all designs. It is however not always possible to use a full sync reset methodology. Below are few cases, where we have to use Async reset methodology:
      • Clock is not guaranteed to be running when the reset is asserted. In such cases, reset can't pass thru the flop and rest the design, until clock comes, which may be too late.
      • When logic needs to be reset right upon reset assertion, then we need Async reset. Ex are IOs, PHYs, test logic, etc.
   2. Asynchronous Reset => Async set/reset flops have reset signal going into Async pin of flops. In this methodology, at the reset port, we have a synchronizer that asserts reset asynchronously, but de-asserts synchronously. So, de-assertion of reset is NOT an issue, but assertion is. Further, this reset signal goes to async set/reset pins of flops (instead of going to D pin of flops). STA tools do recovery/removal checks on these paths, making sure they don't violate setup/hold time wrt clock. But they don't time the path thru the Async pin going to output pin of flop, and then going into the D pin of next flop. This path may violate setup/hold time of next flop asit is async to other domain, and cause metastability. If all these flops are in the same reset domain, then it's not an issue, as all flops get reset assertion, so all flops are anyway going to be reset. However, if the destination flop is in a different reset domain, which is not being reset, then the metastability issue may cause the destination flop to have unknown value for a cycle, which may propagate to other flops. So, the main issue with Async reset methodology is due to STA tools not timing the path from Async set/reset pin to Q pin of the flop (reset assertion), resulting in metastability. RDC primarily catches all these issues. For designs where we have to use Async reset methodology, we should stick with following guideline:
      
      1. Only POR reset (power on reset) should be connected to async set/reset pin of flops. Using other software or functional resets exposes the design to potential RDC issues.
   3. Hybrid Reset => This is reset methodology where we mix sync and async reset methodology. In this case, we should have Reset port go thru 2 synchronizers in parallel, one for sync reset (both assertion and de-assertion is sync), and another for async reset (assertion is async, but de-assertion is sync). Sync reset flops are driven by sync reset synchronizer, while Async reset flops are driven by Async reset synchronizer. This keeps the 2 methodolies separate, and much less RDC issues across the two.

RDC Fixes:

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Published: Wednesday, 27 December 2023 08:11

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Verbs:

Verbs can be in different forms, different tenses, different moods. They can be main verb or auxillary verb, be in active voice or passive voice, etc. Thus it's hard to group verbs in just one tree branching out, as tenses, forms, voice, etc overlap with each other. Usually we know verbs by their tenses, i.e whether it's in past, present or future. However, keep in mind that tenses are just one classification style of verbs, there are other classifications too.

Link: https://espanol.lingolia.com/en/grammar/verbs

Verb forms:

English: In English, there are only 5 forms of verb as shown below. Forms means different transformation of the verb. For ex: run can have diff forms as run, ran, running, runs, etc. These are all different forms. Of these 5 forms, first 3 forms are most commonly learnt when learning => These are past/present/past_participle forms of verb.

Link: https://www.careerpower.in/verb-forms.html

1. Present (Root) form of a verb (V1) => This is the base form of verb w/o modification. i.e I run. Here verb "run" is base form of verb.
2. Simple Past form of a verb (V2) => This denotes action done in past, i.e I walked. These are formed by adding -ed/-d to end of base verb for regular verbs. For irregular verbs, no simple rules (i.e I ran)
3. Past Participle form of a verb (V3) => This form of verb is similar to simple past form (V2), but always come with an auxiliary verb. Ex: "He played" vs "He had played". "He played" is simple past or V2 form, but "He had played" is V3 form. It needed auxillary verb "had". Past participle is refered as "past" since the verb form is of "simple past" with -ed/-d added. Sometimes, it's with -n added too (i.e took vs taken). However it doesn't mean event had already occurred. It can be used in past, present or future tense. Ex: He had been called, he is being called, he will be called => all 3 are V3 form and verb is in past form, but with the correct auxillary verb, it can represent all 3 tenses.
4. Present Participle form of verb (V4) => This form is created by adding -ing to the base form. It’s used in the past, present, and future progressive verb tenses. Ex: He was running, he is running, he will be running => all 3 are V4 form, but in 3 diff tenses.
5. Third -person singular Present form (V5) => This is the V1 verb, but instead this is used for 3rd person, i.e He, she, it, etc. It is denoted by addition of -s or-es to the base form, i.e he plays badminton. Here plays is V5 form.

Spanish: All Verbs in Spanish are of 2 forms - Personal and Impersonal. We choose which form to use depending on how the verb is to be used with the subject. We don't have 5 forms as in English. This will become clear later with examples.

Link: https://espanol.lingolia.com/en/grammar/verbs

• Personal form: These are verbs which change according to nouns/pronouns attached with the verb (i.e I run). They follow the same 3x2 table as shown for pronouns in previous section -i.e whether nouns/pronouns are 1st, 2nd , 3rd person (nouns are treated as 3rd person) and whether they are singular/plural. (Same as 3x2 pronoun table shown). So, we have a 3x2 table with 6 versions of these verbs. These are called personal form as verb changes based on person and number. In English, I eat and you eat, both use same verb "eat", but in Spanish, "eat" changes based on "I eat" vs "you eat". In English, we sometimes do that with specific verbs => an ex is verb "run", as in "I run" vs "he runs". In Spanish, it happens with almost all the verbs. This is called Conjugation, where verbs change their endings to reflect the subject of the sentence in person and number. Since the verb form indirectly specifies the subject pronoun, we omit the pronoun all together for 1st and 2nd person (i.e instead of saying "I eat banana" or "yo como plátano" we just say "eat banana" or "como plátano" as verb "cpmo" (from base word comer)  implies "I eat"). We'll see these in ex below.
  • ex: I eat => como (base verb is comer, but is transformed based on pronoun "I")
• Impersonal form: These are verbs which don't change based on noun/pronoun attached to the verb. So, they are called impersonal, as they don't depend on person. No complicated 3x2 table to memorize, as all forms are same. There are 3 forms of these verbs:
  
  1. Infinitive form: Every verb can be put in Infinitve form, where the verb remains in it's base form (i.e walk). This is same as V1 form in English, and is also the  simple present tense of the verb. The word "to" added in front of the verb doesn't change the base form of verb. So, "to walk" is also an infinitve form of verb. In Spanish, infinitive form of verb is with the word "to" in front of it. All verb infinitives end in -ar, -er or -ir.. These are base verbs, and all verbs are formed from one of these base verbs.The base word implies "to do something". ex: hablar which is an ar verb means "to speak". If we just say speak, then it's not hablar, but is transformed based on the noun doing the verb. So, this verb is converted to personal form that we read above.
     
     • ex: cantar => to sing
  2. Gerund form: The gerund of Spanish verbs is equivalent to the English -ing form. Explained under "gerund" section.
     
     • ex: cantar (to sing) => I am singing => estoy cantando
  3. Participle form: The participle is equivalent to the English past participle (V3 or third form of the verb). Explained under "participle" section.
     
     • ex: cantar (to sing) => I have sung => he cantado (NOTE: gerund form was cantando, while here it's cantado

NOTE:

• Gender: Verbs do NOT have a gender. So, no matter the gender of noun, verb remains the same. But verbs change according to forms discussed above. For personal forms, it's 2X3 table. Each verb can exist in various tenses, and each tense has it's own 3x2 table. We'll discuss tenses below.
• Endings: Verbs in Spanish always end in -ar, -er and -ir. Whenever you see a Spanish word with these endings, remember they will be verbs. In English, we can't look at a word, and say it's a verb (i.e "speak" - you can never figure out it's a verb, based on it's spelling, but in spanish, it's "hablar", and as soon as you see -ar, you know it's a verb).
• Consecutive verbs: When we have 2 verbs back to back, how do we conjugate them. Do we conjugate both of them based on the subject or just one. Well, conjugating both verbs will sound weird and also unnecessary since conjugation of 1 verb will be enough to indicate who the subject is. We usually conjugate the 1st verb, and have the 2nd verb in infinitive or participle form. We saw in "Participle form" above that "I have sung", "have" is the one that's modified as per 3x2 table.

Verb Moods and Tenses:

In Spanish, verbs also have moods - Moods help specify the speaker’s intention. In Spanish, there are three verb moods: With each mood, we have certain tenses. Tenses are same as in English - past, present, past progressive, future tense, etc. There are 18 Spanish verb tenses. Link: https://blog.rosettastone.com/your-complete-guide-to-all-18-spanish-verb-tenses-with-examples/

This video categorizes imp tenses very nicely (by Lliana) => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhmTCCrSlVE

Out of these 18 tenses,10 tenses go only with indicative, 6 go only with Subjunctive and 2 only with Imperative. Why do we talk about moods when talking about tenses? => Because, the verb conjugate differently depending on the mood. So, the same present tense will conjugate differently in 1 mood than the other mood. So, basically we have 18 conjugate tables that we have to learn for each verb. So, 6 entries for each conjugate table implies about 100 conjugations you have to remember for each verb. With 1000's of verbs, that's 100K of verb conjugations !! Fortunately, we can get away by learning just 3 conjugate tables for simple past, present and future.

Moods are 3 types => Most of the things we do are expressed in normal mood. Other mood is where you wish about something, and last mood is where you command someone to do something. The conjugation table changes depending on the mood (unlike English, where verb transformation remain same no matter the mood)

We'll see the Moods and allowable tenses in each mood:

1. Indicative mood (el indicativo): It is used for objective statements, events, actions and facts. It is the default mood and  expresses real information that is known or certain. Normal sentences are usually formed in the indicative mood. It's how we normally talk in English (Indicative mood). It is present in all tenses as present, past and future. There are not just 3, but 10 tenses that go with indicative mode:
   1. Present tense (Presente): This is simple present tense just like Present tense in English (V1 form in English)
      
      1. ex: He cleans the Kitchen => limpia la cocina. limpiar means "to clean". 3rd person form is limpia.
   2. Past tense (Preterit or Pretérito/Indefinido): This is the simple past tense (V2 form in English).
      1. They bought a new car => Compraron un coche nuevo.
   3. Future (Futuro Simple): This is the future tense in English as "I will do", etc.
      
      1.  I will talk to my father tonight.=> Hablaré con mi padre esta noche.
   4. Perfect form (Perfecto): Perfect tenses are participle form, i.e I had studied. They are also called as compound tenses, as it's not just 1 verb, but 2 verbs that convey the tense. All perfect tenses use the auxiliary verb haber (ex: had) along with a past participle main verb (studied). We saw the Participle form above, which was the V3 form in English. Along with past participle conjugate, we need "haber" verb conjugate to form sentences like "I have eaten", etc. The past participle of main verb (eaten) is formed by removing the ending of the infinitive and adding -ado for -AR verbs or -ido for -ER and -IR verbs (this was already explained above). The perfect tense of auxillary verb (have) is added to this to form the perfect form. Spanish translation of "have" is haber. Haber comes in all 3 perfect tenses as present, past and future, just as in English => I have, I had, I will have, are all possible by having the 3 tenses for haber. The haber table for all 3 tenses is in Verbs - ar,er,ir section. The main verb remains the same. We show the 3 Perfect forms => Present, Past and Future:
      
      1. Present Perfect (Presente Perfecto): He has eaten
      2. Past Perfect (Preterito Perfecto): He had eaten. One other form of this exists as shown below.
         
         1. Preterite Perfect (Preterito anterior): This tense is mostly used in formal speech or in literature, so no need to learn this. It describes an action in the past that happened immediately before another action in the past. ex: After we had eaten, he served dessert.
      3. Future Perfect (Futuro Perfecto): He will have studied.
   5. Past Imperfect (Preterito Imperfecto): You use this tense to talk about past actions generally, without a specific duration. Also commonly referred as "Imperfect tense" (instead of "past imperfect tense") as past is already implied. Ex: He used to play tennis. Othe Ex: He was walking. See in Past Imperfect section.
   6. Conditional (condicional simple): This is used to talk about hypothetical situations and make requests. Ex: We would take out the trash for you. I would eat a salad every day.
      1. Conditional Perfect (condicional perfecto): There is another form of conditional mood. It’s used to talk about actions that would have happened, but didn’t due to another event. You can also use it to talk about actions that probably happened or were likely true. Ex: He would have read the book, but his friends came. Not important to learn these.
2. Subjunctive mood (el subjuntivo): It is used for expressing emotions, desires, and possibilities. It s called subjunctive as it indicates subjectivity of the fact. Ex: I wish that it would rain today. 
   
   1. Present (Presente de subjuntivo): This is present tense. ex: Lamento que tengan que irse. = I’m sorry that they have to leave.
      
   2. Imperfect (Imperfecto de subjuntivo): This is past tense of subjunctive mood. used to talk about feelings related to past events, as well as hypothetical situations. ex: I wanted you to come to my party.
      
   3. Future (Futuro de subjuntivo): This is rarely found in modern Spanish, and its uses are largely covered by the present subjunctive. ex: Wherever you go, do what you see.
      
   4. Perfect form (Perfecto): Similar to perfect tense in Indicative form, we have it here too. they use auxillary verb "haber" along with main verb. All 3 tenses of present, past and future are present here too.
      
      1. Present Perfect: It is similar to the present subjunctive, except that it covers past actions that are connected to the present, as well as actions that will have happened at a certain point in the future.
         • ex: My teacher doubts that I have read the book.
      2. Past Perfect: It to describe hypothetical situations in the past, conditional situations in the past, and past actions that preceded other actions.
         • ex: If I had known, I would have come.
      3. Future Perfect: Similar to Future Subjunctive, this form is rarely used.
         
         • ex: Priority will be given to those matters that fall under the emergency procedures provision.
3. Imperative (imperativo): Similar to perfect tense in Indicative form. It is used for giving commands, making requests, giving advice, etc. addressed to one or more people directly. These verbs don't conjugate or change the same way as is done for personal verbs. The 3x2 table is still there, but it it has it's own table for -ar, -er and -ir verbs. We'll look at those in verbs - ar, er, ir section. They come in 2 forms:
   
   1. Affirmative Imperative: When we give a cmd to do something in affirmative. ex: Eat your food.
   2. Negative Imperative: When we give a cmd NOT to do something. ex: Do NOT go there.

Most common verbs:

There are 300 most common verbs that will cover 99% of verbs ever used in conversations. Some of them are irregular (see below), but knowing conjugation for even some of them will enhance your Spanish a lot.

Link to 100 most used verbs with Pics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhIQ2BfrxTM

Verb Conjugation:

We are going to look thru various spanish verbs in next few sub sections. Verbs in Spanish come in only 3 different endings => -ar, -er and -ir.

ex: pintar => to paint

There are few exception verbs which don't end in -ar, -er or -ir:

• busara => to search. Other word basura means Trash, garbage (i.e the physical garbage that we pick up).

Some words end in -ar, -er or -ir, but are not Verbs:

• amanecer => sunrise. atardecer => sunset. (both end in -er)

Verbs conjugate (i.e transform) based on the mood, tense, etc. There's a 3x2 table that helps us in making this transformation. This transformation table id different for different tenses, moods, etc.

Irregular verbs: These verbs are irregular, meaning they don't follow our usual 3x2 transformation table. These are discussed under their own section, as there are too many here. We need to learn some of the most commonly used irregular verbs. A lot of regular verbs turn out to be irregular in some conjugation table. But this will come with practice.

Verb Structures:

All Verbs exist in 3 different kind of structures, depending on sentence construction and the situation. Usually a given verb exists in only one of these structures in it's primary usage, but most verbs exist in all 3 forms. We don't try to learn all 3 structures of any given verb, but instead focus on a structure that's more common. Below are the 3 structures:

1. Normal Verbs: These are all verbs that we conjugate, and translate normally (i.e no abnormal translation). These are most common verbs, and discussed extensively in later sections. i.e I go => yo voy.
2. Backward Verbs: These are verbs, which you translate differently. Here subject and object order is reversed. See in "Backward Verb" section. Verb "like" is the most widely used backward verb, where it's written as "book is liked by me" instead of "I like this book". ex: I like this book => me gusta este libro. (We don't use "yo gusto")
3. Reflexive verbs: These verbs use "subject" form from backward verbs, but conjugation of "normal" verb. See in "Reflexive Pronoun" section (under noun/pronoun section). These are usually things done by oneself, i.e brushing teeth myself, etc. ex: I take a shower => Me ducharse.