I have just read today’s newspapers and found it very amusing to read the headline blast ‘S’poreans fear mental patients, study finds’. It triggered my memory of those days so long ago. I remembered very well when my family were staying quite near a mental home which was separated by some dense trees. The maids that my family had at that time, would frightened us with stories of ‘mad’ people coming after us whenever we get too naughty. Most of the time we didn’t hear anything from the home but once in a while we would hear screams from there. I remembered my siblings and I would get very scared whenever we passed by the mental home. Of course, by now we know better but I have still come across people who are still ignorant and therefore I fully agree that mental health professionals should work with the media to educate the public.

So here’s The Myths and Facts about mental illness by Chang Ai-Lien

>>Myth: Getting over disorders such as depression and anxiety is a matter of willpower
>>Fact: Pyschiatric disorders are legimate medical illnesses, just like heart disease or cancer. Most experts agree such disorders have physical causes, and the symptoms are caused by chemical changes in the brain.

>>Myth: Mentally ill people are dangerous
>>Fact: Most mental patients are not violent. In fact, those undergoing treatment are no more likely yo be violent than anyone else. However, other conditions such as alcoholism, drug abuse and having been a victim of child abuse increase the risk of violence.

>>Myth: Mental illness should be hidden as it cannot be treated
>>Fact: Even serious mental illness such as schizophrenia can be treated with professional help and medicine. As with many illnesses, the earlier it is spotted and treated, the better the chances of recovery.

>>Myth: Children do not get mental illness
>>Fact: Mental problems affect one in eight children aged six to twelve here. They affect one in four adults. And among those aged sixty and above, 5.6% are hit by dementia.

>>Myth: Medications to treat mental illnesses are addictive
>>Fact: While some sleeping pills can be addictive, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics to treat say, schizophrenia or manic depression, are not, and they help restore normal functioning.

>>Myth: Only mentally ill people see psychiatrists
>>Fact: Sometimes, people just need professional help to solve their problems

Like what Professor Chong Siow Ann had said, public education is needed to help remove the stigma and stereotyping of mental health related issues and we have to address these concerns as soon as possible.

Dr. James D. Lane from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Duke University Medical Center released his findings and stated, “The body acts like it is continuously under stress. If your work day is already stressful, you can take control of it by reducing caffeine. Coffee may temporarily help someone through a work day, but in the long term, heavy coffee drinkers may be damaging their blood vessels or weakening their immune system.”

I drink coffee very, very occasionally now but I still remember the time when I had a hard time weaning off coffee.That was when I learned that my migraines were triggered by the caffeine from coffee. I used to drink about three cups a day, ok…, sometimes more, and I thought it wasn’t much at that time…. when especially it was a must have to start the day going. I was so addicted that if I didn’t have my first cuppa drink by a certain time, I would be moody and headachy, and biting somebody’s poor head off!
The day when I learned that my migraines have started to get worst and in need of more morphine treatment, I decided to quit coffee drinking, that made my GP happy alright. I remembered the terrible effects on me, I had the withdrawal symptoms; blinding headaches, brain fog, depressed, irritable, moody and the feeling of being lousy, to treat all these, I was given more drugs to help me through.

Doctors lay great emphasis on diets considering the non- nutritous food available in markets these days. Fast food and cheese items lead to fat and chubby bodies. Then people try to loose some weight. For this they may use hydroxycut. However if does not suit you, you can even use xenadrine. Other than this, the diet recommended to diabetic patients is known as diabetic diet. It is basically low in fat and high in dietary fiber. For dieting you can even take black coffee. However, the caffeine present in it may affect you as you are not taking any healthy food item. It may cause weakness and you may feel dizzy.

In those days, we have never even heard of detox and we didn’t have the means of reading research papers. With migraines, people used to make comments that it is all in the head…how ignorant people can get.

Now we realize and know what caffeine effects could do to our body:
=> It gives our body STRESS because it stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the classic “fight or flight” syndrome.
=> It is a DIURETIC so your calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and trace minerals, all essential elements necessary for good health are excreted through urine.
=> It DEHYDRATES you and so don’t forget to drink plenty of water
=> It RAISES your cholesterol, homocysteine, increases heart rate therefore elevate blood pressure, gives palpitations
=> It is highly ACIDIC and acidity is a problem in many conditions such as acid reflux, ulcers, and chronic inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
=> Coffee is an IRRITANT to the bowel and the urinary tract causing problems for people who suffer from various conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, and Interstitial Cystitis.
=> It INHIBITS absorption of some nutrients
=> A recent study has shown that coffee drinking is associated with raising inflammatory markers that are implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease.

By the way, don’t even think of drinking decaffeinated coffee. Its worst! Do you know that to decaffeinate they have to use a chemical called methylene chloride, a solvent used in the paint industry. Although the residue of this chemical is only in trace amounts, it seems to have an effect on the health of sensitive individuals.

But then life is short and the last couple of years, I have started to indulge myself a cuppa once in a blue, blue moon….the feeling?…EXHILARATING!!!

An inspirational video that achieving a healthy lifestyle begets healthy weight.

I attended the 3-day Internet Marketing Incubator 2 or IMI2 event at the Singapore Expo last weekend where there were about 400 to 500 attendees. There were about 16 speakers lined up, majority of them were foreigners, where besides pitching their products, they also gave out very good tips on how to be successful in internet marketing. I was most impressed with John Childers and Dr Mel Gill when they came on stage, they were awesome and I even managed to get Dr Gill’s CD on ‘The Wealth Accelerator’.

After the event ended, I decided to pop into Metro and checked what sales they have put on, seeing so many people buying especially the bedding stuff. Never seen so many different brands of standard pillows on sale that I thought of walking out, when one of the carts that displayed Gingko Pillow caught my attention. For many years I have had problems with pillows, either it is too soft or too hard, feather down, latex, foam, whatever material there is, I have tried and must have spent a fortune over the years for my head to rest. So imagine to my delight I have finally found a pillow that is shaped to support my head comfortably for the many nights to come.

Besides that, they have put gingko leaves on both sides of the pillow claiming the benefits of their properties, maybe partly for their marketing gimmick but to me, the importance is the support of the pillow that have the best cut. As we all know…to sleep in comfort with good support is one of the main priorities as it would greatly affect our overall health. So imagine, my past two nights’ sleep was heavenly and I did get to smell those gingko leaves. It helped or not, that am not too sure yet.

Amongst the vitamin world, many are important for health. Especially vitamin C is the most useful one. In addition to this niacin which is basically vitamin B3 plays important role in energy metabolism in the living cell. Blogging will provide you more information on this topic. The most interesting thing is that you will get to know people’s real experiences, not stories as in books.

Just ended my one day mono-diet detox today, for lately I have been feeling lethargic and body aches all over, and worst, getting so lazy that I feel my brains have been fried! I supposed when one is away from home, the challenge of watching your food intake gets fly out of the window….

Anyway, I haven’t done detoxing for quite sometime which is normally a three-day regime, but when I am lazy I just do the one day detox on a mono-diet. So since my return last weekend, I have been cutting down my intake of food in preparation for today’s detox.

Actually, this is a good introduction for those who just wants to do a quickie detox as you won’t experience any dramatic side-effects but a positive effect on your well-being after. Well, there’s no harm in giving it a try is there? Have to start somewhere….

All sorts of information on dietary supplements can be searched for on the internet. An effective medicine used to loose weight is hydroxycut. Serenoa also known as saw palmetto is one of the very useful species in this regard. Some people do mono-diet detox. In this way they eat raw fruits and vegetables with plenty of water which has abundance of vitamins, minerals and powerful cleansing effects on your body.

Going on a mono-diet detox means you choose one type of your favourite raw fruit or vegetable that you won’t mind eating it the whole day and plenty of water, filtered if possible. Raw fruits and vegetables are ideal for detox because of the abundance of vitamins, minerals and fibre and also their powerful cleansing effects on the body. Besides giving the digestive system an opportunity to rest, the stored toxins in the liver gets the chance to be eliminated too.

For today’s detox, I have chosen organic apples… bought a bag of 12 for $6.80 from my local supermarket the day before, standby 2 litres of filtered water and my favourite herbal tea from Dr Stuart’s Botanical Teas. I chose organic apples because of its natural sweetness, smooth firm texture and with enough moisture unlike some apples which tend to be too crunchy with a metallic taste and dry.

Pre-detox day, I had blanched broccolis and cauliflower with chopped almonds sizzled with some olive oil and wheat germ for lunch, dates for my snack and a bowl of clear chicken soup with mushrooms for dinner. Oh, upon waking up, I had my normal drink of lemon juice water. Then after an hour or so, for breakfast…I had oats with raw honey and yoghurt. Throughout the day, I just top up with water to keep myself hydrate and at the same time to kickstart the toxins.

So today, I had my usual lemon juice drink, did about a 30 minute stretching exercises including the swiss ball. Had a shower and munched two apples for breakfast, decided to tidy up my bookcase and later in the morning I had two more apples. Had a slow lunch….munching three apples and then took a short nap. In the later part of the afternoon, had an apple and a cup of herbal tea. Did some work on the internet and another round of apples for my dinner. All this while, sipping filtered water throughout the day.

As I blog now I have just snacked my last apple for the day. After this, going for my dry skin scrub before showering. How time flies huh….? Should I continue tomorrow? Nah…got a seminar to go to. Looks like I am REJUVENATED already!!!

Swiss ball seems to be a popular exercise these days, especially when one gets too lazy to exercise. It is infact, very easy to carry out simple exercises on it and having fun at the same time.

Initially, I kept on falling off the ball but after much sliding off, for the ball kept on rolling away from me, I managed to ‘tame’ it Recently, I seemed to be getting back aches quite frequently due to not having been exercising as often as I should be. The excuse is the weather is too hot to be outdoors, REALLY, even without moving the perspiration just ‘pours’ out which really irritates me. And often with a tummy full of water top up, naturally I got too lazy to move my butt!

I have been eyeing swiss ball for sometime actually, and I am now glad that I finally got on it. After some back rolling on the ball, my spine seems more stretched and flexible. This therapy should strengthen your muscles because you need them to control the balance when you are on the ball. Have a go at it, but first you need to have plenty of patience before your body knows what you are trying to do.
Let me share with you some of the tips I picked from this video - they are simple and easy for a newbie - Enjoy…

I always look forward to Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims all over the world observe one month of fasting. For me, it is time to get my yearly fill of fresh dates or date palm, a sweet high carbohydrate fruit harvested from date palm trees. There are so many varieties of dates lately in the market that I have been spoilt for choice.

Besides, fresh dates are so much lower in calories than dried dates. All dates are high in iron and potassium and contain a modest amount of folate and a small amount of vitamin A, and the B vitamins, not forgetting they are loaded with both soluble and insoluble fiber. So this makes dates beneficial for anemia, constipation and fatigue.

Because dates are high in carbohydrates, they are considered a powerful house of energy for dates contain those naturally occurring sugars like fructose, sucrose and glucose, which makes this fruit an ideal choice for an energy-boosting snack but for those who are watching their weight, eating them in moderate amounts should be alright.

My top favorite is the Medjool dates from Morocco known for its softness with a thick, meaty flesh, and a firm texture. The color is dark brown, nearly black, and becomes tender-skinned, meaty and delicious.

The other one is Deglet Nur from Algeria which is a bit semi-dry and has a firm texture with delicate flavor but I noticed have different colors like light red or amber_ish?

Ramadan month is ending soon, so until then, I’ll be counting the days…..

Well, you don’t have to totally avoid them but it is best to keep track how much you are taking them.

Smoked Meats - I used to love eating smoked or cured meats like ham, bacon, sausages, salami and luncheon meat.
Infact, smoking of food was once an essential method for preserving meat and fish for centuries.

At the end of the last century, it was discovered that nitrite was a crucial preservative, but we are now warned about the harm of consuming too much of these foods. New studies by scientists founded that there are many components in these foods like acids, phenols, alcohols and other cancer-causing substances Though the chemicals would inhibit the growth of certain bacteria and delay the breakdown of fats, however, when smoked or cured meats interact with amino acids in meats during cooking and digestion they would convert into nitrosamines, a chemical reaction that causes cancer.

But then, the risk of cancer from nitrite is actually small when compared to the risk of coronary heart disease as there are too much saturated fats in smoked meats.

Besides nitrite preventing spoilage, it gives smoked meats the distinctive nice pink color called myoglobin, a meat pigment - my yummy breakfast ham….

So just make sure you eat them occasionally and in moderate amounts too and maybe, do like what I do, have plenty of raw vegetables at the side to go with your favorite smoked or cured meats at all times!