Happy International Women's Day to Mum!

8 March is celebrated as International Women's day.

I myself don't feel I am worthy of such an honorable day celebrating the sweat and pain that women around the world endure for the survival of mankind.

Its not just about giving birth to kids. It's about the sacrifice they make daily for their family.
Even though women still bear the stigma of being a housewife, she is much more than a laundry lady.

The housewife is the pillar to the family, ensuring that the family is well fed, using whatever the husband can provide, stretching the family budget. she takes care of the hygiene and cleanliness of the home and family, from the house to clothes to undies. She educates her little ones, teaches them what right and wrong, help them with their ABCs, and encourages them to dream for a better future.

These pages will never be enough to jot down the gigantic role that modern woman play in our society. May it be that they are working, single, married, with or without kids. Every one of them play an important role.

So allow me to introduce to you my mother, 
Ibu Sri. or friends call her Alice.

I remembered times when she would wait in the rain for me when school ends, just to ensure I was kept dry.
I remember times when she would stay awake at night, many nights sometimes, tending to my fever.
I remember when she would cuddle me, and tell me, nothing is impossible if I studied hard and got good grades.
She told me, someday she will get old, and when that time comes, I will be on my own, for she will not be able to catch me when i fall, to kiss my wound and tell me it will be alright.
so she told me, before that time comes, I must achieve success, study hard, get a good Job, and do well in life.

I am half way there Mum. Loving you always.

We stay young and vibrant with Shaklee.

My mum came to stay with me for a month here in Papar.
I'm happy to say that since she has been with me, she has been taking Shaklee supplements daily.
It has helped her stay fit and regain some of her youth.
My mum has elevated cholesterol. So taking  statins for her cholesterol has given her frequent muscles aches and feeling of lethargy.
Now, she is just taking Shaklee omega, phytocol, vita lea iron, and vivix. Her cholesterol and lipids are all in normal range in just 2weeks. she no longer complains of lethargy and muscle aches. She no longer suffer from digestive 'winds'.

she is well and happy, and joins me in the gym. Believe it or not she can do weights much larger than I can. hah.. how embarrassing. my husband says its coz i dont like to do house chores :P

my mom does 20 mins cardio or more. she can even do treadmill. better than me on the treadmill

whatever weights she is doing, usually its more than what i can do.

enjoying mother daughter bonding for fitness

Also, she takes osteomatrix at night, to help preserve her bones and teeth. also, it helps her 'go' the next morning.

Thankfully for that (taking calcium religiously), she didn't suffer any bone fractures when she fell down at home. I was away and she was out in the garden, distracted by my ducks (yes i have ducks), she missed a step and fell. she only had 2 days of soft tissue soreness and was well as before after. Imagine a 60 year old falling laterally and only suffering minor injuries. recovering in just 2 days. I find that amazing.

Here are some snippets of her at the river.

It is time to repay their kindness and love. They deserve the best.

YOU deserve the best too! 

Reward yourself with supplements that add not only years to your life, but quality.

Preserve your health so you can continue the love and care for the people that depend on you.

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.