Which Steps Should I Take To Become A Healthier Person?

If the idea of leading a vibrant, disease-free life appeals to you, now is the time to get the health optimization process underway. You can start enhancing your level of physical and mental well-being now by utilizing some or all of the following wellness techniques: 

1. Diagnose And Eliminate All Diseases. 

Individuals who are serious about leading lives of profound wellness should make a point to identify and eliminate diseases from their bodies. Failing to do so can result in a wide range of long-standing physical and mental complications that shorten your life span and induce depression. The first step towards eliminating disease is accurately diagnosing the condition, and you can do so through the use of testing kits offered by companies like Diagnostic Automation. This organization offers a wide range of kits, including the CLIA test kits. 

2. Kick Dieting To The Curb. 

Another technique that you can implement to enhance your level of wellness is avoiding diets at all costs. Unfortunately, we live in a society where many people are caught in the destructive cycle of yo-yo dieting. With this pattern, people go on diets, lose weight temporarily, and then return to a world of overeating that facilitates weight gain. They then start this cycle over. The end result is a severely damaged metabolism and the low self-esteem that results from feeling like you've failed. Diets almost never work, so be sure to kick them to the curb immediately! Instead of dieting, focus on finding healthy foods that you really enjoy eating and then make them a staple part of your meal plan. 

3. Exercise Regularly.

Although it may originally seem difficult to get into the habit of exercising regularly, individuals who do so often find themselves overwhelmingly pleased with the great physical and psychological results they receive from doing so. For example, people who work out regularly tend to experience improved digestion, better memory, enhanced metabolism, and sounder sleep. You can choose from a wide variety of physical activities when you begin to implement your fitness plan. Some of them include: 

• yoga 
• tae-bo
• swimming 
• cycling
• running
• weight-lifting

Don't Delay: Get Healthy Today! 
If you want to lead an extraordinarily rewarding life, getting healthy is a must. Luckily, there are numerous wellness systems you can implement to make great health manifest in your life. Utilize the information and strategies outlined above to get on the path to optimized wellness immediately! Pin It

Juicing With Beetroot

We drink green juices several times a week. Sometimes we like to add a little red in the form of beetroots or orange in the form of carrots in our juice. It gives it a nice touch of color. It is amazing how red the beetroot is. The taste is a bit strong so we don't put in more than one beetroot for 4 cups of juice.

This concoction has broccoli, celery, chinese flowering cabbage (choy sum) and beetroot. I love the wonderful colors of nature in our juice. It is also a good thing to eat or in this case drink vegetables with different colors. 

You can check out some of the benefits of beetroot here.

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Porridge With Marmite

We have been sick and eating nothing accept porridge for the past two weeks for each and every meal!

Luckily the kids don't complain.... that much. I try to make a variety of porridge so that they don't get too bored. Adding just a little of this and taking out just a little bit of that gives the porridge a whole new distinct flavor.

Hubby likes to have his porridge with marmite. I like it too but I find the taste so strong it kills off all of the other flavors within!

Hopefully we will all recover soon and go back to our regular diet. I must say that all that porridge for two whole weeks did one thing for sure. It helped us all lose weight! Pin It

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2012

My mom died of cancer, not of the breast but cancer nevertheless. While my aunt is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with breast cancer Stage 3 and had mastectomy of both breasts. That was 19 years ago. That would mean that I am in the high risk group and should then be breast cancer aware. 

However, I was not. I was afraid. I didn't bother to check because I was afraid. I went for yearly check-ups but I did not do any self checks because of this fear. Now, I am painfully aware as my own sister has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She goes for yearly check-ups too and just had a mammogram 6 months ago. Even then...sigh.

She discovered the cancer herself quite by accident because she felt a lump on her breast. She went for a check up soon after and had a lumpectomy within 2 weeks. Now, she is faced with the decision on whether to have chemotherapy. It was a good thing she discovered the cancer at its very early stage. That shows how important breast self examination is and how important it is to take immediate action. This not only saves your life but it also makes it easier to manage. Early detection and diagnosis may make the difference between whether you need a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. It may mean whether you need chemotherapy or radiation treatment and medication.

I also find this local Malaysian magazine a good read. It is the October issue of Health & Beauty. This month being the breast cancer awareness month, has lots of articles on breast cancer. There is also a booklet by Pantai Hospital which is very useful to read. I read both booklet and magazine from cover to cover so that I will understand what sister is going through. It is also good knowledge for me, as I am at high risk, having an aunt and now a sister (a direct relative) who has breast cancer.

So, don't be afraid. Do your monthly breast self examination, ladies. You won't know you have cancer at the early stages. If not for the self discovery of the lump, sister is in the pink of health. At the early stages, it is a silent decease. I hate how this has turned her life topsy turvy. To be faced with decisions on whether to do lumpectomy surgery, chemotherapy etc when you are feeling well as if nothing is wrong with you is very tough indeed.

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My First Time Drinking Wheat Grass Juice

Recently my husband bought 4 packets of wheatgrass from an organic store. We had been juicing celeries, broccoli and other greens for some time now and we found that it has improved our family health. 

Since it is my first time drinking wheat grass juice, I didn't know how much wheat grass to use. I decided to use two packets.

I didn't know how much juice the two packets would yield. I had read that if you are drinking wheat grass for the first time, you should go slow by taking a shot of 1 ounce of juice at first.

Our two packets of wheat grass was one big bowl after washing. We used our regular juicer to make the wheat grass. I didn't want to use my blender as I would have to sieve it afterwards. However, it did make my juicer rattle and shake! I removed some of the wheat grass that was stuck around the edges and then it was okay after that. Phew! I thought that I had damaged my juicer.

At last, our shot of wheat grass was ready. It came up to more than I had expected. Each cup had over 2 ounces of juice in them. The two packets of wheat grass or one big bowl yielded about 4-5 ounces of wheat grass juice.

I remembered that I was supposed to start slow by drinking 1 ounce first since it was my first time drinking the wheat grass juice but I didn't want to throw the extra away. This is expensive grass!

So I drank my 2 ounces of wheat grass and within 5 minutes I was burping. In 10 minutes I felt bloated and slightly uncomfortable. Within half and hour I felt nausea and threw up. I drank green juice but vomitted black material. Grouse! That was my trial and error first time drinking wheat grass juice. Next time, I'll try one packet instead of two. I'm very brave to think of trying again after throwing up don't you think but then, there are two more packets of expensive wheat grass in my fridge....

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I didn't vomit because it tasted or smelt bad. In fact, it tasted rather sweet. The vomitting was an involuntary action completely.

Updated:

I've taken the wheatgrass juice two more times after this. In 1oz shots and sipped slowly without problems. I used my regular juicer to make the juice but since the wheatgrass is very thin, it keeps on getting stuck at the sites causing my juicer to jam, make a loud vibrating noise and dance around (it literally jumped around my kitchen counter). Since then, I've tried to add celery to the juice to push the wheatgrass down the juicer which worked a little better. I'm still hunting for a Manual Wheatgrass Juicer at the moment.

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Homegrown Spring Onion Omelette

Spring Onion Flowers

My Spring Onion Flowers have continued to bloom. They look so pretty. I can't believe they came from my plain red shallots. I wonder what will happen next. I am watching them closely.

I used these shallots to plant  my own spring onions

I used these shallots or small red onions to grow my own spring onions. They take about 2-3 weeks to grow mature enough for harvesting.

Spring Onion Omelette

I used  my homegrown spring onions to cook spring onion omelette. They are very delicious.

My recipe for spring onion omelette:

• 4 eggs
• spring onion
• carrot cut into strips

How to cook the spring onion omelette:

• Add oil into pan
• Pour in the 4 beaten eggs
• When the egg looks almost cook but still runny, add in the spring onions and carrots
• Flip over when the egg looks golden brown
• Cook till the other side is golden brown

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Adult Chicken Pox

All those things they say about adult chicken pox being harder on adults than kids are true. I am 45. I have chicken pox. I guess that means I qualify as an adult with chicken pox. I got it from my daughter who had breakthrough chicken pox. She had it easy. She was given 4 days of time off from school. Add in the weekend and she had 6 days off. After the first 2-3 days of fever and cough, the rest of the days was like a holiday for her. If not for the fact that she had to quarantine herself, she was almost enjoying her time off from school. Breakthrough chicken pox is chicken pox in someone who has had the chicken pox vaccination. She has had one jab and we missed the booster one. What a big mistake that was!

I have it much tougher than her being an adult with chicken pox

• I had high fever for 4-5 days.
• My face, neck and upper torso was covered in chicken pox. They looked like harmless mosquito bites at first, and then into the more sinister looking blister like rash and finally turning almost black before crusting over and falling off. 
• I was extremely tired and lost all my appetite
• My stomach felt bloated and full even though I had eaten nothing accept medication.
• I felt nausea like I was having morning sickness

I was given anti-viral Aciclovir (if taken within 24 hours of the first rash would help reduce the severity. It won't kill the virus but it may reduce it from multiplying). I think it was too late for me but I took them all the same. I also took antibiotics for any secondary infection plus cough and fever medication and anti-itch medication. Anti-itch, Anti-biotic, Anti-viral. My stomach was anti-food at the time. The medication made me feel even more sick!

I bathed twice a day, then gently pat the pox dry before applying calamine lotion all over and lay down aahhhhh to rest. 

They say that having chicken pox as an adult is tough. Yes, it is. I felt terribly sick but the worse part was.....

there was no one to look after me! No one to give me my medication, no one to sponge down my fever or give me cooling baths or make cooling drinks for me or warm food. No one to help me apply the calamine lotion in the hard to reach places like my back. Plus, I had to quarantine myself from touching the family which was hard especially with the little boy saying "Just one hug, mummy. Not even one touch?" Then he would run around and try to accidentally touch me. Oh, how I do miss hugging my family!

In addition to having no one to look after me, I still had to look after the house and the family. That was the toughest part about having chicken pox as an adult mum!

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Flu Season?

It used to be the flu season all year round for us but this is the first time this year that we're all sick. Hopefully, all that juicing and supplementing and trying to get more exercise and eat more fruits and vegetables is starting to work its magic.

Whatever it is, we will keep this up for now.

• At the moment, we are all taking a multivitamin each a day accept weekends.
• We take fresh vegetable juices on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. That is 4 times a week. We try to take it on an empty stomach, half an hour before food.
• We don't get enough exercise but we try to take the kids to the park at least once a week. Hubby plays badminton once a week and works out at the gym during lunch once or twice a week. I do my home workouts 2-3 times a week. 

Hopefully, this keeps us healthy. It is end of April now. I think this is the first time we have not fallen sick for close to 4 months. That is certainly a record when you have a home with young kids. Young kids always fall sick from germs in daycare and school and pass that along to parents and this happens rather frequently.

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Adding Bitter Gourd Or Bitter Melon To My Vegetable Juice

Recently, I've started adding Bitter Gourd or Bitter Melon to my Vegetable Juices. I had thought that it would make my Vegetable Juice bitter and unpalatable. I hate eating Bitter Gourd by the way. To my surprise, it does not taste bitter in juice. It just taste sort of spicy tangy. Anyway, I add just a very small amount. Just one or two slices compared to a whole big bowlful of vegetables so you can hardly taste it.

I use the small variety, a mini bitter gourd. I don't know what is the difference between the big ones and the little ones, I just use the small ones to prevent wastage.

Here is my bitter gourd. I use the mini ones to prevent wastage.

I add just one or two slices to this huge bowlful of vegetables including celery, brocolli, choy sum and some apples. I don't know how to call choy sum in English. If you don't know what choy sum is, just take a look at these images of choy sum.The apples are for the kids to make the vegetable juice more palatable for them. It's my way of getting the kids to drink their vegetable juice. My kids drink the juice neat (without adding any water or ice) like us. They are 8 and 10  years old, old enough not to upset their tummies drinking neat vegetable juice.

All the vegetables go into a Juicer. Vroom. Vroom.

That big bowl of vegetables yields four cups of vegetable juice neat with no water added.

Vegetable juices help my kids 'eat' more vegetables. We do not drink the juice in place of our vegetables but rather in addition to the vegetables that we eat. I don't think it is a good idea to drink vegetable juices as a replacement for vegetables, otherwise you lose all that good fiber so drink them in addition to your vegetable intake.

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Year End Health Checks and Family Dental Check-Up

Usually at the end of the year, we would have a little bit of unclaimed monies for medical and health checks. That is a good thing because it forces us to actually make that appointment for a health check. It is also the time when we have more time as the children are on school holidays and the man has some leave to clear. We include dental checks as part of our health check too.

So each year, I would go for a pap smear, a breast examination and get the gynaecologist to do a blood test for me too. This year’s blood test was ok. Last year I was on the borderline for my cholesterol and it has gotten worst so she advised me to be careful with my diet. No fried stuff and eat less meat. I had a Hepatitis A jab and will go back for another one in 6 months. Otherwise, I passed my health tests.

As for our dental checks, the small one had been complaining to me about his toothache on and off for some time. I thought it was just new permanent teeth replacing his milk teeth but one morning he woke up with a swollen cheek. The dentist told me that he had a filling gone bad and I didn’t even know he had a filling!

The filling had been done at school during a school dental check. The boy did mention about the school dental check but I thought he was talking about scaling and general cleaning. Next time, I must remember to take a torchlight and peer into his mouth to do an inspection myself.

As it is, he had to visit the dentist 4 times to resolve that. We’re still not done yet with the dental visits. The first time was to take antibiotics. The second time was to remove the old filling and put in a medicated one. The third time is to put in a temporary filling and the fourth is to put in a new permanent filling. All this for his milk teeth.

When we asked the dentist why not just pull it out? She said that the teeth still has a good few more years to go before it is replaced by a permanent tooth so she prefers not to pull it out yet so that his permanent teeth will grow nicely in  position in the future.

As for the girl, she advises her to go for and orthodontist visit because her front teeth are beginning to jut out. This is a result of her having an opposite bite previously and how her permanent teeth came in at the back of her milk teeth in the past.

I am glad we have done our medical tests and everything is ok so far. Medical Checks is the one thing I don’t look forward to at the end of the year but it is very necessary for our well being and health.

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I don't have time to exercise

I don't have time to exercise is an excuse for those of us who lack motivation and who has not made exercise a habit or daily routine in our lives. When you truly want something you will make time for it.

You will make time to do the things you love so why not make time to exercise. Ok. The truth is, I am writing this post because I am trying to motivate and inspire myself to exercise. I have been doing well so far, daily since Monday. I will have a break during the weekends. Thats what I used to do, then the kids fell sick and I had a host of things to do. All excuses not to exercise.

After exercising everyday, instead of feeling more tired, I feel more energized with each session. I try to exercise at the start of the day so that I feel refreshed and energized but you can make time at any time of the day. My spouse goes to the gym during lunch. He walks to the gym too.

My brother who is a very busy man and always travelling makes time to exercise at all the hotel gyms. When he is home, he will either jog or cycle early in the morning or in the evenings.

You have to change your mindset from "I don't  have time to exercise" to "I will make time for exercise" then it will happen. It is as simple as that. You can walk, do housework, dance, run, swim, play games, jump on a trampoline. They're all exercises too.

Fitness can be fun too. On my current wish list now is a Wii Fit Plus. Pin It

Exercise

I have been slacking in my exercise routine. I have been busy. The kids have been sick. These are all excuses not to exercise. As I begin to exercise daily again, I remind myself that ...

To be physically fit enough to exercise is a blessing

Quite often people say that we should exercise to keep fit but have you thought about the fact that to be physically fit enough to exercise is a blessing. I try to remind myself of this now. I don't want to reach a point in my life when I am unable to exercise and I regret not exercising to improve my health when I am able to.

Some people only exercise to lose weight and once they reach their target weight, they stop exercising. I think that should not be the goal of exercising. We should exercise for health's sake and if we lose weight as a result, then it is a bonus. Pin It

Taking Good Health For Granted

I’m having a flu today and I keep on thinking about how I’ve been taking good health for granted.

When I am in good health, I don’t stop to think about what a blessing that is. Instead, I complain about being lazy to exercise. I don’t exercise on those days when I am feeling fit.

Now, that I can’t stop sneezing and I’ve lost my voice, and my lips feel hot and burning because my body is slightly feverish, I wish I could do those exercises that I had been neglecting.

I was this way for about 9 months last year. Each day, I would wake up with a bad sore throat and each evening I would cough uncontrollably. I took all sorts of natural cough remedies, consulted specialists, did chest X-Rays but nothing helped and then over one week, the cough just went away by itself gradually.

How awful it is not to feel whole. To feel sick most of the time. Now, I’m sick but only for a while. When I recover, I must remind myself not to take good health for granted.

I must eat  well, get enough rest and sleep and exercise. If I don’t take care of my own body, who will? Pin It