Its not a Hangover, its montoku flu!

First of all, I would like to wish all my Sabah Friends and readers 

Kotobian Tadau Tagazo Do Kaamatan!

This festival, and every-other one  before it is filled with joy, food, culture and ofcourse, for the natives and locals, alcohol.

Lots, and lots of alcohol, home brewed, import, canned, bottled, anything and everything that ferments into -OH (alcohol) is consumed.

I'm not jugding, its a once a year kind of thing and its their culture for many many years. who am I to advocate them to stop. so long as u are not an alcoholic (alcohol dependent), things will be back to normal by 1st June.

Anyhow, what I would like to share is the understanding of a HANGOVER. whats is a hangover, its the wonderful sensations and joyride you get the morning after your 'party' with Mr Alcohol. everyone leaves a gift after a good party, sex- gives you STD, sometimes a baby, and alcohol gives you hangovers, and sometimes the extra bonus of amnesia to forget the stupid things you did while under its influence.. its how they show their appreciation :P

So ok. we now know its alcohol that gives you hangovers.

Lets look at some of the 'fun' of getting a hangover

• Fatigue and weakness
• Thirst
• Headaches and muscle aches
• Nausea, vomiting or stomach pain
• Poor or decreased sleep
• Increased sensitivity to light and sound
• Dizziness or a sense of the room spinning
• Shakiness
• Decreased ability to concentrate
• Mood disturbances, such as depression, anxiety and irritability
• Rapid heartbeat

Ring a bell? 

Why? why do we get hangovers. simple redundant answer is well... you drank poison, you really think you would come out feeling nothing at all?

ok ok, well, alcohol is nasty when taken in excessive amounts (any amount that gets you drunk). 

some of its effects are...

• Alcohol causes your body to produce more urine. In turn, urinating more than usual can lead to dehydration — often indicated by thirst, dizziness and light-headedness.
• Alcohol triggers an inflammatory response from your immune system. Your immune system may trigger certain agents that commonly produce physical symptoms, such as an inability to concentrate, memory problems, decreased appetite and loss of interest in usual activities.
• Alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach. Alcohol increases the production of stomach acid and delays stomach emptying. Any of these factors can cause abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting.
• Alcohol can cause your blood sugar to fall. If your blood sugar dips too low, you may experience fatigue, weakness, shakiness, mood disturbances and even seizures.
• Alcohol causes your blood vessels to expand, which can lead to headaches.
• Alcohol can make you sleepy, but your quality of sleep will decrease. This may leave you groggy and tired.
• Alcoholic beverages contain ingredients called congeners,which give many types of alcoholic beverages their flavor and can contribute to hangovers. Congeners are found in larger amounts in dark liquors, such as brandy and whiskey, than in clear liquors, such as vodka and gin.

but i think the leading cause and key to the cure for hangover is dehydration.

That being said, the cure is simple. just drink lots and lots of water (ok, when i say lots, i do mean like a litre or so not 3-5 liters. water poisoning is a real and dangerous thing)

I've heard that in sarawak, when the natives consume their home brews, they wash it down with equal amounts of water. so half glass of spirit, with half glass water. they say, it prevents a bad hangover the next day. so yes, hydrate as you go.

or you can hydrate the next morning, so this is more of a cure than a prevention since you will probably be suffering from a hangover.

before you go for bed, drink at least 2-3 glasses of water. when you wake up, drink another 2-4 glasses of water.

other than water, you can go for drinks that replace electrolytes and have a little sugar in them. sport drinks are excellent. but be careful, many sports drinks use the shortcut and add lots of fructose instead of glucose. sorry, but I havent gotten around writing about fructose. its some nasty food minion. 

ok, focus. so among your other healthy choice of fluids are

• mineral water, 
• ORS, (oral rehydration salt, the name is self explanatory)
• sports drink (performance from shaklee is good),
• coconut water (a little hard to find if you are in the city, but if you aramaiti at kampung then no problem), and of course 
• nutritious soups with lots of water (soups have lots of salt, if you dont drink extra water, you can get more dehydrated)
• i think you can go for fruit juices too but they contain lots and lots of additional sugar. not good for the nausea or the waist :P

if you surf the net, there will be thousands if not millions of remedies from people around the world. some even advice to drink more alcohol (tsk tsk). whatever you choose to do, make sure to remember to correct your dehydration first, then you can go for all the egg in a stout or virgin bloody marry and stuff. 

rehydration works! how can i be sure? because i have lots of positive feedbacks from patients who try it out. And please stay away from the paracetamol, or locally known as panadol. you are just poisoning your liver further. drink plenty of fluids and the headache will go away. eating a panadol will only mask the problem.

So please, party responsibly, consume moderately, hydrate as much as possible and be safe.

Best way to prevent a hangover is.... DONT DRINK ALCOHOL! period.

signing off for now, long weekend ahead. time to relax in the jungle among my garden, ducks and a good book.

Dirt Poor

Have you heard of the expression 'dirt poor' - roughly means extremely poor.

We are not here today to rant on about money, but rather the poverty of nutrients plaguing humanity today.

Everything is on the rise,including diseases like heart disease, cancer, obesity, malnutrition and many other diseases despite us moving forward in our medical advancements. Have you ever wondered why? what is the root to all of this evil?

Health is influenced by numerous factors, thus termed multi-factorial. This means its not just about the one thing, its about the bigger picture. your pedigree, where you live, your job, what you eat, what you do daily all have a big impact on your end result.

eg, causes of acne

You are what you eat, and this is true in so many profound ways.  we are merely biological machines that need a constant uptake of nutrients for conversion into biochemical energy. energy to live and change the world. but unlike a car that uses fuel to propel it ahead, we assimilate some of our food to make new cells, for repair, and thus it becomes part of us.

But what we all fail to ask is whether or not the quality of our food is preserved over the years. when we shop at the market or the grocery store we tend to pick the biggest and prettiest fruit or veg thinking that its the best of the lot.... is it really?

I was reading a book by Dr Ross Walker - Highway to health ,antioxidants and you.I was fascinated to come across the fact that out soil today is depleted of nutrients and hence so is the fruits and veg that grow on them.

OUR SOIL TODAY!

There is an estimated over 7 billion people around the world today, and all of them, including you and me need to eat. so we cannot grow our crops the traditional slow and steady, small patches of tender love and care style.

In this modern age, crops are mostly genetically modified so they become bigger, stronger and more resistance to disease and plague. but we forget to focus on the effort to make them more nutritious. crops grow faster, and have bigger yield. rice used to take a year to grow and harvest, now we see crops that can be grown n harvested 3x per year. but all these practices are coming at a price. they are depleting our soils... and hence what we eat is just an empty fiber pod with little to trace nutrients.

Table 1. Average Yields of Major Crops in the United States, 1950-92 (Tisdale et al., 1999)
Year	Corn (bu/acre)	Wheat (bu/acre)	Soybean (bu/acre)	Alfalfa (ton/acre)
1950	37.6	14.3	21.7	2.1
1964	62.1	26.2	22.8	2.4
1972	96.9	32.7	28.0	2.9
1982	113.2	35.5	31.5	3.4
1992	128.7	41.4	37.0	3.6

A landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of researchers from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. They studied U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional data from both 1950 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C over the past half century. Davis and his colleagues chalk up this declining nutritional content to the preponderance of agricultural practices designed to improve traits (size, growth rate, pest resistance) other than nutrition. - taken from Scientificamerican.com

Every delicious looking carrot you eat today is less nutritious than the one you ate before it.

taken From a study by 

Dept of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin - Madison

And this is a worrying situation. because much of our health depends on what we eat. I am not even talking about the amount of pollution and junk that gets in your food like pesticides and stuff which definitely makes us more sick.

So what now?

well, we still need to eat our fruits and veg. in fact, we need to eat more. It is said that to achieve the same amount of vit c that your grandfather had in one orange, we, my friends need 8 now!!!

are you willing to go that extra mile to keep yourself properly nourished? eat 8 oranges a day, few kilos of veg, oh my, i cant imagine.

Well, luckily humans are smart and they invented this thing called vitamins and supplements. In his book, Dr Ross Walker - a cardiologist, advocated the use of supplements as a mean of prevention. He said that 50% of cardiologist take supplements but only a hand full will advice their patients to take. Why is that? Alot of Drs are evidence based and they wait and wait for research to be done and it takes years, sometimes until indefinitely. Its hard to do trials regarding the long term effects of supplements and antioxidants and thus we have little evidence despite it being around for so long.

But whatever it is, the facts are undeniably obvious. our foods are not as nutritious as they were before and they are not likely to change for the better any-time soon. we need to make modification on our health and take up supplements to fill in the gaps. What supplements you choose is equally important because companies these days are geared for profit and that could result in some shady practices like adding fillers, preservatives, dangerous compounds and so on.

Supplements are not substitutes for a healthy lifestyle!

All too often I come across people who just want a magic pill for everything. they say "oh so now i take these slimming set, That means i dont need to exercise?" seriously, this is a joke. please read up on my previous articles touching the benefits of exercise.

The point is, even with supplements, you still need your fruits, your veg, your nuts and legumes. You need to have proper sleep, put in some exercise, have a hobby to reduce stress. I told you in the beginning of this blog, health is a multi-factorial thing, you need to ensure you can change as many of the factors as you can. what you cannot, you leave to fate!

Key message, in case it wasnt already staring in your face,  - live a healthy lifestyle, take your supplements, be happy and hopefully you will die of old (very old) age and not heart disease or cancer..

Air, Air, panas, suam, sejuk, Hai! sedap rasanya!

Hai semua pembaca yang setia dan juga yang baru menaruh minat.!

Harap kamu semua sihat dan Happy hari ini.

Saya ingin berkongsi cerita, ilmu dan tips mengenai Air!

Ya, tidak salah baca, Air adalah topic kita hari ini.
kenapa saya pilih topic air? sebab ramai yang mengabaikan kepentingan air walaupun tidak kekurang an sumber. (yalah.. malaysia ni hujan cukup, kemarau jarang, bukannya gurun)

Ada berita baru baru ini, seorang pelajar mati disyaki kerana dehidrasi, atau kurang air. ada yang menyalahkan supplemen yang dia makan sebagai punca. akhirnya, punca sebenar adalah pendarahan dalam otak. kesimpulannya, kalau makan supplement pun, kalau air tidak cukup dalam tubuh, boleh membawa lebih padah dari kebaikan.

Ramai yang pernah dengar dan sudah tahu bahawa air itu memang bagus untuk tubuh,

tapi.... persoalannya adalah, kenapa ia bagus, berapa banyak itu bagus, bila ia bagus dan banyak lagi soalan soalan yang sering saya ditanya oleh pesakit/client tersayang.

Ok. satu saatu la ya.

Kenapa H2O atau air ni penting untuk manusia?

bukan saja manusia, semua makhluk hidup di dunia ini (dunia alien saya tak pasti lagi sebab belum ada org jumpa) memerlukan air. itu salah satu sebab terpenting kenapa planet kita ada hidupan dan planet lain yang kering kontang tak ada satu cengkerik pun.

so, air adalah asas kehidupan. 65% dari berat lelaki dan 55% dari berat wanita adalah dari air! itu lebih dari separuh. semua proses sel, bergantung kepada hadirnya air.

tak payah la cerita panjang lebar. kalau mau tau apa fungsi air ni... boleh la tanya Mr Google ok.
sepuluh muka surat pun tak habis kalau saya mau cerita.

cuma.. perlu tau.. air sangat penting untuk HIDUP. air harus cukup (bukan berlebihan juga) , air harus selamat (jgn minum air sungai mentah.. ni bukan cerita lord of the rings), dan air mestilah air (air merah ka, sirrap ka, air oren.. tidak termasuk dlm senarai).

barulah air boleh memberi kesan positive kepada tubuh. mengawal suhu, memastikan metabolisma lancar, membuang sisa kumuh dan banyak lagi.

Berapa banyak Air yang patut saya minum?

saya yakin 100 % mesti kamu jawab. 8 gelas la Dr.. atau 2 litre la sekurang kurangnya.

Tidak salah tapi tidak tepat :P

Kita semua pelbagai saiz dan bentuk. yang disarankan itu diambil dari anggaran purata saiz. dan saiz itu pula berdasarkan saiz orang eropah. tentu saja tak sama. lagi satu.. orang yang berada di cuaca panas, sedang berlatih sukan dan lain lain lagi... perlukan lebih banyak air dari kamu yang duduk di office dan baca article ni.

so bagaimana mau anggarkan keperluan air harian?

so ada tips

Ada caranya untuk mengira, tapi kena guna berat dalam pounds dan jumlah air pula dapat dalam ounces. tak payah lah susah susah keluar calculator, rujuk sajalah table diatas.

Faktor lain yang mempengaruhi jumlah air seharian.

Exercise - apabila kita melakukan senaman atau aktiviti sewaktu dengannya, perlu kita ingat bahawa tubuh akan kehilangan air dalam bentuk peluh. biasanya perlu ditambah jumlah air dalam 400-600 mls bergantung pada jumlah aktiviti. lebih kurang satu botol mineral yang kecil.

Menyusukan anak - recommendasi adalah sekurang kurangnya 3.5 litre sehari.

cuaca panas, kawasan pergunungan, keadaan sakit/demam - juga meningkatkan keperluan air seharian.

WARNING!

Semua yang bagus itu boleh menjadi bahaya jika diambil secara berlebihan. Begitu juga air, ia boleh menjadi racun kepada tubuh jika diambil secara berlebihan dan secara terlalu cepat.

Kenapa air berlebihan bahaya?

Tubuh manusia bergantung kepada keseimbangan garam dan elektrolit, serta air. apabila terlalu banyak air diminum pada satu satu masa, garam akan menjadi terlalu larut dan ini membahayakan. kenapa dan bagaimana... tanya la Mr Google kalau berminat. Tak cukup space mau cerita biochem sni.

ini bermaksud. kalau dalam jadual diatas.. kamu kena minum 3 litre sehari.. bukan bermaksud macam telan ubat.. semua sekali gus! salah!

itu keperluan air seharian... maksudnya.. kena bahagi bahagi supaya sama rata dalam 24 jam. dan ia juga termasuk air yang kita minum dlm bentuk lain.. contohnya sup!

so pagi dua gelas (500ml), pagi sampai tgh hari satu botol besar (1.5litre), petang dua gelas (500mls) dan malam 2 gelas (500mls).. cukupla 3 litre. Jangan teguk sekali 3 litre tu. konfirm masuk spital!

(apabila minum teh ka.. sirap ka.. atau lain lain, juga termasuk dalam pengiraaan)

Jangan minum air berlebihan tanpa nasihat doktor jika mempunyai masalah buah pinggan atau kencing tidak lancar. 

Jika anda mulakan untuk minum air yang banyak bagi tujuan kesihatan, pastikan mula dalam berperingkat. kalau sebelum ni slalu minim satu botol saja sehari... mualan dengan dua botol.. kemudian selepas beberapa hari.. 3 botol.. dan seterusnya hingga capai jumlah sasaran harian. jangan secara mengejut. takut nanti buah pinggan merajuk.

Tip Tips minum air...

kepada yang biasa minum air, tentunya tiada masalah. Tapi kepada yang biasa minum air manis, kamu mungkin rasa air ini tidak sedap!

tidak apa... mari lihat bersama tips minum air..

1. membuat Infused water- iaitu rendaman kepingan buah atau herba yang boleh memberi perisa kepada air tanpa meningkatkkan nilai kalori.
   
2. minum sports drink apabila melakukan aktiviti lasak dan intensive. apabila kamu berpeluh sangat banyak, kamu kehilangan garam dan electrolit juga. 
3. minum 500 mls air pada awal pagi sebelum mandi, cuci muka, berus gigi atau lain lain aktiviti. buka mata, first skalii minum air. ini akan melancarkan pembuangan toksin dan najis di waktu pagi.
   
4. sediakan bekas dan tandakan target jumlah air yang kamu perlu minum. supaya kamu tahu berapa banyak air kamu sudah minum... bekas yang ada sukatan lebih mudah selain mengingatkan kita jumlah yang masih perlu diminum
   
5. minum lah air .... tak kisah la air alkali ka, air rebus ka, air mineral ka, air tulen ka.. yang penting air yang tidak dicampur dengan gula atau kalori tambahan. minuman manis akan mengakibatkan obesiti, dan kemudian masalah lain seperti kencing manis.

Jadi Ingat, mulakan Hari dengan segelas dua air yang murni untuk kesihatan sepanjang hayat. Bukan saja pada waktu pagi, tetapi sepanjang hari, minumla air mengikut sasaran keperluan harian.

Selalu masuk Angin??

Angin...

Suatu terma yang sering digunakan untuk menggambarkan rasa kurang enak pada tubuh badan.
sememangnya dalam perubatan kita tau yang "angin" tidak mungkin "masuk" dan "duduk" pada anggota tubuh badan seperti mana yang disebutkan.

Tetapi, angin merupakan kondisi dimana tubuh kita kurang fit, kurang sihat kerana kekurangan nutrisi, rehat dan terlalu banyak melakukan kerja.

Tanda-tanda 'masuk angin'

sakit dan lelah pada bahu,
sakit tulang tulang dan sendi sendi.
sering buang angin (sendawar),
pening pening,
darah rendah
selalu rasa mengantuk
cepat penat
kurang bermaya
susah buang air besar atau kecil.
kulit kusam,
perut kembung

NGERINYAA... ini bukan cara buang angin yang tepat

Apa perlu dilakukan untuk 'buang angin'?

Minum minuman panas/ hangat
makan makanan yang tidak terlalu berat, berminyak, manis, masin
berurut untuk melancarkan peredaran darah dan melembutkan otot yang kejang
ambil supplement bersesuaian untuk 'detox'
minum air secukupnya (2-3litre) sehari
bersenam, beriadah, dan menghibur diri.
mandi (berendam) dalam air panas/hangat bercampur garam herba
Merendam kaki dalam air panas berisi garam herba/ limau nipis/ minyak kayu putih

Apa yang boleh Membantu?

Alfalfa - berfungsi untuk detox dan meningkatkan kesihatan

Herblax- juga untuk detox, bagi mereka yang sembelit.

Peppermint Ginger - menghangatkan badan, memberi effect 'relax', mengurangkan tekanan tubuh dan minda.

STOP FLU dengan ZINC

Wahai Rakan Sekalian,

(saya akan tulis blog ini menggunakan bahasa pasar kerana mood saya cenderung begitu hari ini. kepada yang sakit kepala membacanya, saya minta maaf. lain hari saya tulis dalam bahasa baku :P )

Hari ni saya mahu berkongsi sesuatu yang cukup berguna.

Musim panas macam ini, sudahlah tak cukup minum air, habuk berterbangan, mula la kita rasa kerongkong gatal dan kering.

Haa.. mesti takutkan. sebab bila kering macam ni, musim demam pun datangla. Hampir separuh dari keseluruhan kanak kanak akan meleleh dengan hingus.

Satu terjangkit kawan, balik rumah jangkit adik, abang kakak, ibu bapa, nenek... semua la, tiada yang terkecuali.

Demam yang saya maksudkan ialah demam selesma biasa. bukan demam denggi ka, demam sebab jangkitan paru paru ka. walaupun demam biasa saja, ia bukan sesuatu yang menyenangkan. Sangat lah menyusahkan apabila badan tidak cukup fit untuk terus bekerja, belajar, beriadah dan sebagainya

Mahukah kamu tahu tentang cara senang untuk menguatkan sistem imun diri bagi mencegah daripada dijangkit virus virus ini? Atau lebih luar biasa lagi, kalau sudah terjangkit, mahukah kamu menamatkan riwayat virus itu sebelum ia memaharaja lela di tubuh anda!

Kalau anda katakan YA, saya MAHU.

Maka anda perlukan supplement ZINC!

apakah ZINC ini? boleh ka saya makan atap rumah saya, zinc juga kan
hahaha... lawak betul la. mmg la ada juga atap zinc. tapi saya rasa tidak logic mau makan. kalau makan pun, cedera diri saja.

ZINC tersedia dalam bentuk supplement. macam kalsium, zat besi dan sebagainya.
ia tersedia dalam bentuk mudah ditelan dan diserap,

Apakah kebaikan ZINC ini.
sangatlah banyak sampaii saya rasa kalau tulis smua mesti kamu boring.

Saya mau tekankan fungsi meningkatkan sistem IMUN tubuh kita.

Bagaimana?
Jika kekurangan zinc, tentera tubuh kita iaitu sel darah putih tidah dapat berfungsi melawan penyakit. tak kisah la, virus ka, bacteria ka. Dia akan jadi lemah.

Zinc juga terlibat dalam proses replikasi DNA dan RNA, aktivasi cell, pembiakan cell dan kestabilan permukaan sel.

cakap saja banyak kan... mana bukti.

memandangkan orang yang buat kajian itu orang puteh! bukan Qu puteh ok, Jadi jurnal ini juga dalam bahasa English. saya yakin kamu semua hebat english. kalau tak brapa... google translate saja la.

THE COCHRANE REVIEW

perpustakaan cochrane ini rumah kepada berjuta juta jawapan. mesti pandai cari dan Fahamkan saja.

Review itu mengatakan bahawa, zinc yang dimakan dalam masa 24 jam permulaan jangkitan, dapat dipendekkan jangkamasa jangkitan tersebut.

boleh faham ka ayat tu?

maksudnya, kalau tak ambil zinc, sakit biasanya akan reda dlm 5 hari. kalau makan zinc, mungkin sakit 2-3 hari dan sakit pun tak teruk.

bacalah sendiri, baru faham. nanti kata saya tipu pulak.

Kalau suka Membaca, mari baca lebih banyak ilmu lagi di SINI.

Ok, saya harap kalian semua ada menimba sedikit sebanyak ilmu baru untuk kebaikan sekeluarga.

Disini ada beberapa soalan lazim ditanya.

1. Takpa ka kalau demam tak keluar. nanti demam stuck? Demam tu tindak balas badan kepada jangkitan dan benda asing dalam badan. tiada istilah demam tersekat ka dan sebagainya. kalau jangkitan sudah terbatal.. maka, tiadala demam.
2. Tidak bahaya ka kalau sakit tu tidak keluar. nanti memudaratkan badan? Sakit selesma ini, disebabkan virus, biasanya virus rhinovirus, parainfluenze dan influenze. kita terjangkit dari orang lain yang sakit. virus yang sedikit, membiak jadi banyak. bila cukup tentera, maka kita akan jadi sakit. apa yang kita lakukan dengan zinc ialah memendekkan hayat virus, menghalangnya dari berjaya mendirikan tentera. jadi, apabila bilangannya sedikit, sistem imun badan pun dapat menghapuskannya!

Mood and emotion, How it affects your Health.

Today I would like to talk about MOOD and Emotion

Mood is defined as a long lasting emotion. So it isn't something that fleets by like a bout of laughter you get from seeing someone fall. Or the 2-3 tear you shed when you watch a touching youtube clip.

We all know emotion. Happy, sad, irritated, angry, jealous, and much more.

Mood can be seen as a baseline emotion. something less intense, less pronounced than an emotion, but a state to which we revert to once the excitement or stimulus has faded.

If you baseline is an upbeat mood, you have nothing to worry about. I dont know of anyone that suffered through happiness, or even died for that matter.

Remember the concept of harmony and balance. anything tipping the scale on either side will cause some consequences on your health. tipping towards extreme happy would basically mean you are in a manic phase. that isnt healthy either. tipping towards the gloomy grey of depression will most definitely alter your health.

Mood is a subjective matter. you cannot measure someone's mood. but you can infer their mood from their actions, behaviour, speech and others. usually we speak about being in a good mood, or a bad mood.

So now lets look of what happens  when you are in a bad mood. The longer you linger in this mood, the worse affects it has on your health. a prolonged low mood, can be described as depression. How mood can affect health is still under study. but studies does show that there is definitely a link,

It is known that a low(bad) mood can 

• suppress the immune system.
• Make you letarghic (tired)
• disturb sleep (too much or too little)
• predispose you to weight gain
• alters eating habits and appetite

How about different emotional states and how they affects your mood.

For a complete list : How Mood affects your Health

Most important of all is STRESS!!

I will elaborate on stress and how it changes your physical health, the state of your organs, and the body homoeostasis in another article.

But I'm sure you know that chronic stress leads to:

• heart rhythm problems
• elevated cholesterol
• hypertension
• trigger autoimmune response
• trigger flare to conditions like SLE, psoriasis, 
• worsen acne
• worsen arthritis
• trigger allergies (hives, sinusitis, asthma)

and much much more

How to achieve balance emotionally?

This isn't rocket science, and I guess what I am doing is merely reminding you to practice these steps

• Exercise -  it conditions the body, making you release endorphins. keeps the weight in check. keeps your heart muscles fit, and Side effect would be a great looking body
• Hot drinks - tea, hot cocoa, hot ginger, whatever you fancy. take a little time for yourself, sit back, read, watch tv or chat with your loved ones over a nice hot cup of your fav drink.
• walks -  be it walking the dog or just strolling along the park, walks get your blood circulating and clears the mind.
• share with a friend - a burden shared is a burdened halved! make sure you have somebody you can talk to. if you dont, no worries, just stroll the net for chatmates and let out your pent up emotions. talking helps you not only to unload but can also help you see the problem from another angle.
• meditate - this doesnt mean sitting in the lotus position for hours and achieving the concentrations of monks. you can do meditation in whatever manner and time that suits you. take a deep breath, close your eyes, count to ten and clear your mind. there u have just meditated. yoga is good, fishing (yes, i consider fishing meditative :P), just laying and concentrating on your breathing... these are all helpfull to negate the constant attack of adrenaline. advice from a monk 
• pray - everyone has their own belief. may it be you pray to a diety, to a god, to a rock or to the universe, the act of praying gives hope. even if you dont believe in a god because you are too cool and know lots of science and science says mayb there is no god, you should still pray. hey, just in case you know. kidding. on the serious note, praying is an act that you let go of the uncertainty and put it in the hands of a higher being. this takes away alot of anxiety. especially anxiety related to death.
• Eat or take foods that promote relaxation, and positive upbeat moods. you know that the things around us gives many different effects. like citrus gives us a fresh feeling. certain teas like ginger and peppermint helps us relax. chocolate or cocoa can make us happy. some other examples are Food that affect mood
• and much much more! (too many to list out)

My story:

Everyone has a story to tell when in comes to stress. It is undeniable that everyone gets stressed.

so this is my humble story :

I deal with a lot of stress. I guess age and time has made me wiser in handling stress.

I work 8-5 everyday at the clinic and deal with,anywhere between 15-40 patients a day.

They come in all shapes and sizes (I mean that they differ in attitude) and some can be more irritating than others.

I am very passionate in my practice. I want only the best for the health of my patients. But sometimes, they themselves have no drive and concern over their own health and this can really drive me over the edge. remember, health is our most valueble asset.

So, in short, I have to deal with stress on a daily basis and i remember a time back when I was still an intern and it got to me. I got sick often, getting out of bed was the hardest thing to do, i stress eat, I had constipation. my hair was brittled, skin was bad, acne everywhere, period irregular and much much more.

Thankfully, I realised that in life, its your reaction that matters and not what happens to you.

so now, i keep my stress in check.

i meditate before bed,

i pray whenever i can

eat right

hit the gym at least twice a week

I keep ducks for fun (pets are excellent too if you like em)

and most importantly, 

Protein the 'Bricks' to my Body

Introduction

Lets get to know the building blocks of our body. We know our body contains lots of water, minerals, vitamins, fat, sugar and surely, protein.

Protein consist of Amino Acids , nine essential amino acids. Essential meaning that your body cannot produce or synthesise them. You can only get them from you daily food intake.

I call them the bricks to your body because these 9 essential amino acids (proteins) are what makes most of us. All our cells consists of proteins. cells make tissue, tissues makes organs and we need all the organs that we have to be healthy and functioning well in order to be healthy as a whole.

What happens if we don't consume enough proteins?

• Poor Healing, when you get an injury, you need protein to fix you up. without it, you will heal very slowly and this can lead to infection and ugly scars. this will include gastric ulcers.
• Weak immune response. our immune systems consists of cells (made frm protein) and compliment pathway (also made from protein). 
• Elevated LDL and cholesterol. in the fight against elevated cholesterol, you know that we want HDL. high density lipoprotein. its high density when it has more proteins than cholesterol. if you have a lack of protein, you get lots of nasty LDL
• Muscle wasting in low calorie diets. Protein is also a source of energy. if you aim to lose weight, you aim to lose fat, not muscle. but if you are on a low calorie diet, your body will switch to alternative fuel... hopefully fat, but it can also use protein. this means, muscle will waste and shrink. you become weaker and endanger your health.
• Ugly skin, Hair and nails , protein makes our skin supple, hair strong and shiny, and nails tough. if you lack protein, your general beauty will compromised. you become less attractive. I dont think hairloss is attractive, do you?
• Mental Retardation. As our society gets older, the elder population grows in numbers. They need a simple way to get their much needed source of protein. this is easy for them and can keep them from losing their mind. school children will benefit as well.

So can you guess its benefits?

• Healthy immune system
• Ensures optimal healing and keeping away unwanted infections
• promotes healthy blood pressure
• Promotes lower LDL and cholesterol (3%)
• Builds strong healthy muscles. 
• Keeps you full and satiated longer, helps in diets.
• Keeps your muscle from wasting in low caloric Diet.
• Promotes and protects beautiful Hair, Skin and nails.
• Helps Organs function and heal.

Why choose  Energizing soy Protein (ESP)?

• Shaklee ESP powder is a good source of soy protein.
•  ESP provides 14 grams of high quality non-GMO soy protein with all the amino acids, including the nine essential amino acids your body needs for protein synthesis.
•  It is also lactose and cholesterol free.Unlike protein from meat, eggs and dairy, ESP is naturally low in fat.
•  Not just proteins. It Contains five essential B vitamins, half the Daily Value for calcium, and soy isoflavones. Studies have shown that soy helps regulate hormonal balance during the transitional period of menopause.

This non-GMO soy protein is produced under an Identity Preservation Program (IPP), which means that the soybeans are tightly monitored and controlled from planting through processing.

Who needs proteins?

Everybody will benefit from protein. Especially,

• Pregnant mothers
• lactating mothers
• growing children and teenagers
• body builders
• athletes
• women concerned with beauty
• Elderly people.
• preparing for surgery and healing from surgery
• post trauma or injury
• people fasting
• people on low calorie diets to lose weight.

The Body In Harmony

 

     Health is the most taken for granted gift we have. When we are in health we do not think about the consequences of our daily actions towards health. I agree, this will not apply to everyone, but I believe that it is generally true. I too was once like that. oblivious to the agony of sickness until one day it came knocking on my door.

    

     What I would like to share in my blog here is how to live in a state of harmony. This means, we need to pay attention to what we invest in our health, be it foods that we eat, supplements that we take, and time that we make for ourselves to better our bodies.

      I am a practising Medical Doctor, and too many a times I must say that I am greatly saddened by the state of which my patients come in. Most of the time when they see me, the problem has progressed for the worse and some even beyond help. Why do we let ourselves get into these situation?

      I am a strong believer in prevention. There is nothing like prevention when it comes to health. Look around you, I bet most of the things you do on a daily basis are with the idea of prevention whether you notice or not. When you leave the house in the morning, you check to make sure the stove is off and non essential electricity is off. why? to prevent a fire and wastage. Before you drive for work, you fastened your seatbelts,why? before you enter a lane, you check your rear mirrors and signal,why? All in the name of prevention!

     Wouldn't it be nice if you could prevent most modern day diseases? Many of them are highly preventable. In terms of infectious diseases, the scariest and most infectious have available vaccines. How about the lifestyle diseases, Diabetes, Hypertension, High cholesterol, Heart problems, Obesity, Asthma, Allergies, Liver diseases and more? Can they be prevented? certainly! 

     What you need to know is that most of these modern day diseases occur due to a imbalance and disharmony in our bodies.  For example, we get Diabetes because of the imbalance between our sugar intake and the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin. when you keep pushing your insulin production to an all time high, it will eventually fail. Just like you, your organs can wear out as well. How do we get Hypertension? It occurs when a imbalance between your bodies ability to cope with stress vs your constant assault to it with poor nutrition, lack of rest, high adrenaline activities like meeting your boss and getting the report in time.

     So what can we do to tip the scale to our favour? is it a futile mission, destined to fail before it even began? Don't be a pessimist. The direction of thought is equally important in achieving the harmony to a long healthy life. 

     start with small steps and follow me to get insight on how you can tackle most of your disharmonies. I can only guide you through this epic journey, in the end, it is your determination and perseverance that will ensure you victory.

     You need to learn why you get certain disease (with legitimate medical foundations), what imbalances occur in them, and what you can do to tip the scale to your favour. This isn't meant for people who are looking for miracle cures or wonder magic. This is for the people who realise that health and longevity is the greatest asset one can ever achieve.

     Stay tuned as I will be sharing common problems like weight issues, allergies, autoimmune disease, circulatory problems, beauty, healthy ageing and more.