Calculate Your Body Fat

Recently I'm stuck in a plateau stage where my weight doesn't seems to decrease. This has really de-motivating me in doing any dietary plan.

Then I realize that weight measurement is not only based on scale measurement but also on how much percentage of body fat in our body. Averagely, an Asian women will have the range of 25% of body fat and 75% lean muscle.

Some equipment in the gym have the formulas of calculating total body fat and total lean muscle that a person have. As I did not have the habits of going to gym, I've tried an alternatives way of finding whether my body fat is healthy or bad.

I found this website that tells us how much body fat is good and how much is bad. In average, women with 20% to 27% of body fat is consider as normal while men would have 13% to 17% of body fat. Slim or skinny doesn't mean that the body fat is lower. The body do have probability of having high percentage of body weight.

These website helps me to know my own body fat. In one sources, my body fat is 22% while another shows a lower body fat of 18%. After few tryout of the body fat calculation website, I found two website which gives more information and is nearer to each other than the others.

**The website is at the bottom of the picture.

This website gives more information. Other than the body fat percentage, it gives the ratio of waist to height and BMI.


So, what are you waiting for? Checkout your own body fat. Remember: Slim doesn't mean fit. And fit doesn't mean you must be skinny!!

Aerobics - Extreme Exercise?

Aerobics is for everyone, regardless of age. Some of us would think that exercise is only for those who loves an extreme sports. Well, this is wrong.

I have been going for aerobics for almost 2 years now. The place that I went is quite nice. I can say that the instructor is good and the exercise is not very extreme. I guess she considers that not only youngster joining but also middle ages ladies.

For those who are interested, can always drop by at the centre every Tue and Thur, 6pm - 7pm.

While waiting for the class to start, I snap a video of our instructor demonstrating steps aerobics. Enjoy!

Maha Yoga, Jalan Song

Finally, Maha yoga had opened another branch, which is nearer to my work place. They have another branch somewhere at Sekama area.

I didn't go to their opening but starts to join their yoga class with SK. It's quite a nice exercise where there's something different with the practising here. Although the movement is quite slow, we can sweat too.

Last week, we attend the Friday class, teached by Yikru. There's only me and SK that day. Well, it's fun to practice yoga in a small group of people. The teacher asked what we want to do on that day. SK say to reduce tummy fat. Hahaha... girls will definitely opt for this one. Well, after the yoga lesson, I really can feel my tummy is smaller.

Anyway, here's some details for those who wants to go. There are 3 teacher: Valerie, Yikru and Alvin. I believe any of them is equally good. You can drop by at the centre on weekday at

5.45pm for a lesson or 7.15pm for the night lesson.

Photo taking outside the washrooms. If you came early and previous class had not finish yet, you can wait here

Here are summary of the fees:
Drop in = RM15
4 class per month = RM50
8 class per month = RM75
12 class per month = RM90
Let's stay healthy!

Rambutan - Benefits and Nutritional Info

Rambutan from my backyard

Rambutan is a local food found in typical Asia country such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. It's hairy appearance of either yellow or red color while the inner are white juicy fruits.

Before this, I thought that rambutan is one type of heaty food but in actual facts, it contains a lot of nutritional that our body needs. Rambutan is rich with:

- vitamin C - antioxidant that protects cells from radical and helps the absorption of iron
- vitamin A
- potassium
- zinc
- manganese
- magnesium
- calcium
- iron
- protein
- ash
- copper

Vitamin C helps in building up tissues, strengthening our immune system and decrease LDL cholesterol. It also protects from heart diseases and prevents us from fatigue, weakness, aches, rash and gum problems.

This juicy fruits contains a lot of fiber that is useful to eliminate waste, preventing us from diverticulitis, gallstones, hemorrhoids and colon cancer.

One major nutrition needed for structure of teeth and bones are calcium.

Well, I guess it is good to have some rambutan in our diets to help increasing our immunity and for good health. Since it is the season now, let's have rambutan for our health.

Durian Durian - The Benefit of It

As we all know already, it is durian season now. We can see durians sold at almost everywhere; be it outside the supermarket, 'pasar malam' and it at the roadside. Durian is also known as the king of fruits.

Durian is an extremely heaty fruits. Once you had some, it is better to drink plenty of water so that we won't fall sick after over-consuming of this fruits. Some believe that drink salt water after taking durian can help in cooling down our body.


Before this, what I know about durian is that it is very high in carbohydrates and extremely heaty. Other than that, I know nothing about durian. So, I do some google search about durian and found the nutrition facts of durian.

Taken from nutritiondata

Durian contains not only carbohydrates but protein and fats. So for those that is thinking of losing weight and trying to reduce the fat level, try not to eat too much durian.
Like any other types of fruits, durian too have some benefits:

Junk Food - Is this Good?

I believe all of us ever tasted all sorts of food that normally known as junk food. Common known definition of junk food is something which is consumable but not necessary.

Little did we know that the fried 'keropok' that we used to buy is called 'junk food' for a reason. Why?

Basically, the word 'junk' means something useless, something bad and no benefits. Here's what junk means in dictionary.com:

Isn't this means that junk food is actually something which is not suppose to be consumed but instead discarded? But why is it that we likes this food so much?
　
What about definition of junk food? Wikipedia defines junk food as "Junk food is a common term used for any food item that is perceived to be unhealthy and has low or poor nutritional value". Not only that, junk food actually contains too much calories and fats which are useless and may cause health problem such as obesity.

Junk food is loveable in-spite of the name "junk" given to it. The sweetness or sourness of the taste makes human just gets attach to it. One of the factor that makes us link to junk food is the conveniency. We can find junk food at anywhere; the mall, small shops, five-foot stall and even our office/school canteen. As I'm creating a blog about health, so this time I'll stress on the effect causes by junk food.

There are two types of effect ; the short term & the long term:
Short term:
Reduce energy - as junk food contains little or no nutritional value, therefore, our body will weakens due to the lack of nutritions.
Reduce our concentration - without energy, there's no concentration as blood circulation decreases.

Long term:
Heart disease & high cholesterol- as junk food contains very high amount of fats and calories, over consuming it will cause heart disease and high cholesterol level.
Obesity - consuming junk food daily can lead to obesity

So, stop eating those unhealthy food and let's get on with healthy lifestyle!

Curry-Puff

Business is getting better and so does the size of curry-puff. Few weeks ago, my cousin brought back curry-puff from KL. I believe this is one of the special food over there that they decided to enlarge the original curry-puff from the size of a soap into the size of 350 ml body shampoo.

For me, the taste of this super giant curry-puff has no difference than other curry-puff. I had difficulties finishing them and felt its such a waste to throw it away. So, I had to force myself to finish it and start the day with heavy stomach.

And yet Malaysian is wondering why obesity rate is increasing in Malaysia ......

Curry-puff is very high in calories and saturated fat. In one website, it is reported that every piece (25g) of curry-puff contains 115 calories with 14% of saturated fat. For the curry-puff that I've had for breakfast, it is equivalence of 4 piece of the normal curry puff. This means, for breakfast, I've polluted my body with 460 calories + 48% of saturated fat!!!!

For those who do not know what is this, here's where you can find the recipe. Don't eat too much ya!

Dark Chocolate

I believe all of us are chocolate lovers. But how many of us loves dark chocolate? Not everyone!!
Dark chocolate is actually a much more healthy choice for chocolates compared to those which tasted so sweet that after taking one, you will need to drink one glass of waters.

In general, the benefits are :

• Help in reducing blood pressure
• Improve our circulation
• Gives us lower percentage for heart disease
• Improve the function of endothelial cells
• Improve digestion and help to stimulate kidney

Dark chocolate (without milk) is a potent anti-oxidant that helps to prevent heart disease. As it contains anti-oxidant, therefore it can also gives the radiant look on our skin. In another words, glowing skin. Hot cocoa can be use to substitute coffee. Suggestion is to have 1 glass every morning.

Not only that, eating small amount of dark chocolate can actually helps to improve our memory too. For those who have difficulties in remembering things, try eating dark chocolate.
Like any other chocolate, dark chocolate can also helps in reducing depression.

Have anyone wondered what will cocoa do to our cholesterol level? Unlike other chocolates, dark chocolate (pure dark cocoa) can help to reduce the LDL cholesterol level by 12%.
So, stop feeling guilty to your weight when you grab a bar of chocolate. Grab one dark chocolate instead!

Papaya - The Source of Anti Oxidants

I'm not sure whether I've posted anything about papaya or not, but anyway, there's no harm in posting again. Recently, my papaya tree had collapse due to the strong wind. Luckily, the root is still attach and I believe the fruits would be able to ripe, not just rotten and spoilt.
Some of the benefits of papaya:

(1) Eating papaya gives us a lot of benefit. It is believe to help in preventing cancer. Papaya is rice with antioxidant that helps the body to fight against cancer-causing cells. Sources of antioxidants are vitamin C, E and beta-carotenes.

(2) For those with digestive disorders, papaya is one of the best solution. It contains the proteolytic enzymes (one of the leading proteolytic enzymes that are found in papaya are papain). Papain breaks down proteins in food, thus allowing better digestion. Eating papaya regularly treats digestion disorders such as bloating and chronic indigestion.

(3) For male, papaya helps in boost male virility. Arginine, which is found in papaya is known to boost blood flow around the penis. These enzymes boost nitric acid in the body to relax the muscles around the blood vessels and increases blood flow. Specific use of arginine is to treat erectile dysfunction.

(4) For girls, we are very concern with the premature aging sign. Papaya are proven to be able to control premature aging. When our body digest the food properly and absorbs all the nutrients it needs, our body remain vital for a long time, indirectly controlling the premature aging.

(5) For those who concern with heart attacks and strokes, you can include papaya in your daily diet plan. The antioxidants in papaya prevents cholesterol from oxidizing. A plaque is form when cholesterol becomes oxidized, which causes heart attack or stroke.

Hope all this tips would benefits my readers. It is good to plant 2~3 trees of papaya in our yard. Papaya is easily planted and the tree can serve as a shed to our homes too.

Lui Cha

"Lui Cha" is a traditional Hakka dish that contains seven types of vegetables which is good for our health. It is believe to be able to reduce the heat in the body, health in constipation, cleansing our body system and also free from artificial food.

Not long ago, my Godmum had prepared Lui Cha for breakfast. Lui Cha is not complete without the soup. For those that hate bitter stuff, you won't like the soup.

It is so bitter and it smells of chinese herbs. These vegetables are crushed in a lui cha pot and grind with a stick. Some people would use the blender as it is easier and faster. However, for those who loves lui cha, they says that the taste when grinding with blender is not as tasty at the original grinding with lui cha pot.

The vegetables, rice and soup are served by mixing all of them into a bowl.

Picture Illustration of Health Tips

Smoking Hazard - It's Free to Quit Smoking

Nowadays, the numbers of people that smoke increased day by day. Even though many know that smoking can kills not only the smokers but those close to them, yet this fact seems to be ignored.

Smoking can lead to deadly diseases to the smokers. In order to create this awareness amongst smokers, our government had taken the best measure. Some says that picture speaks louder words. Therefore, I have taken some photos that are printed on the cigarette’s package that shows some major diseases cause by smoking :

Another fact about smoking that many didn’t take into consideration is that smoking not only causes you bad health but would actually cost you a lot financially! Imagine if one packet of cigarette cost your $7. Most addicted smokers would require a packet a day. This would means 30 packets in a month, which is $210!! For those with family, you would definitely know how much pampers or baby milk powder you can buy with that amount of money!

So for those that want to quite smoking here are some tips, hopefully will be useful:

• Chew on gums or fruits but avoid sweet stuff
• Wash your hands as wet hands will urge you to pick up a cigarette
• Shower frequently
• Exercise, exercise and exercise!
• Meditate
• Pray

Remember that it doesn’t pay to quit smoking, but it cost to smoke!!

Say NO to Smoking!

Barley Drinks

As we all know, the weather recently is extremely hot. It feels like the mother Earth is punishing us for polluting her.

Due to the hot weather, I decided to make barley drinks. Barley is believed to be able to cools down our body from the heat. It is not only nice to drink but is also soothing. The preparation method is also easy.

Ingredients:
Barley seed (opps, I don’t know how to call it)
Sugar (I combine normal sugar with gula melaka)
Pandan leaves
Water

Pour in water into the cooking pot, together with the barley seeds (don’t forgot to clean the barley seeds). When it is boiling, add in sugar up to your own taste. Lastly, when it is almost ready, add in the pandan leave to enhance the smells.

I keep the cooked barley drinks into warmer to soften the seeds. The seeds can be eaten as well.cooked barley drinks into warmer to soften the seeds. ce the smells. d yet. onut smell is gone. re will be games, foo

I’m thinking of cooking kundur soon!

Benefits of Drinking Plain Water In the Morning

There is some research shown that it is good to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. It is said that this method can help to cure certain disease that is very well known amongst us. The diseases are - headache, bodyache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis, asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, eye diseases, womb, cancer, menstrual disorder, ear, nose and throat diseases.

The treatment methods are:

• Drink 4x160ml of plain water right after you wake up, before brushing your teeth
• After you brush and clean the mouth, do not eat or drink anything fo 45 minutes
• Do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours after 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch or dinner

There are also study shown the total days needed to illiminate the disease:

• High BP - 30 days
• Gastric - 10 days
• Diabetes - 30 days
• Constipation - 10 days
• Cancer - 180 days
• TB - 90 days

As of how true is the above, I'm not so sure. Anyway, good luck readers!

Aerobics

Many people thought that aerobics is a very fast and hard to catch up type of exercise. Well, for me, if you think its fast then it’s fast. If you give yourself a chance and try it out, after a while, you would feel that aerobics and other sports have the same level of frequency.

If you are going for aerobics, make sure that you do some warming up before the actual fun of it. Warming up is important because it tells your body that you are going to do something that needs energy. Also, don’t forget to drink warm water while you exercise. Many say that we cannot drink water while we are exercising. Let me ask you this- Do you drink water in between cleaning the house? It’s the same thing! Water is very important and if you feel like you need it, just drinks some (not one full cup!).

Warming up is not only important during the start of aerobics but also after the aerobics. After aerobics, it is also good to do warming up. This is to slow down your metabolism after the tedious possibly 30 minutes aerobics.

So, don’t just sit there and give reason for yourself! Let’s aerobics!

Snack Habits and Personality Traits

Last Saturday, an article in Borneo Post had kept my interest to read it more. It is about snack habits and what we can learn from a person habits on snack. Can’t help it but to share this with everyone else:

Disorganized Snacker
A person that often misses meals due to work or home schedule and snack when they need to. They may snack in the morning, evening or even during the day. They are seen as absent-minded and disorganized. They have a lot going on and meals are not high on their agenda. Often, this group of person is misunderstood as self-involved and selfish. They are ambitious and respected at work.

Emotional Snacker
Emotional snackers are friendly and outgoing and love life. Their cravings are driven by their emotions. Food cravings are often too sweet or too fatty snack to help sooth their emotional crisis. This snacker wants to feel appreciated and loves and can easily stress and feel fatigued.

Scheduled Snacker
This group has a set of snacking habit at the same time each day. Those that belongs to this group are set in their own ways and traditional in style. You can be charming as long as there’s attention. You live for your family and home life and can be opinionated.

Constant Snacker
Also known as nibbler loves to snack all-day long. The snacks are really mini meals 5 to 6 times a day. Also, the healthiest snacker among the rest. This group of people tend to be easy-going and experience little stress and rarely have mood swings. They cope well with life and are full of energy.

Joggings

Jogging is a very good sport that everyone should do as a start to a healthy lifestyle. Not only that it is free, jogging can also help us to get closer with the nature. It is advisable that one should jog at least four times a week.



I read an article previously about benefits of joggings. It can help to increase our metabolism and also help to reduce our cholesterol level. Not only is that, jogging also another tips for those who wants to have a smaller tummy.

Recently, I started to jog near to a garden at my house. It’s actually a very fun activity and also a way to get together with our loves one. As we jog, we can watch around other kids in the garden playing and having fun. Also, we could see the nature of Earth growing around us.

Morning jog is another way to start our day. The fresh air from the garden soothes our body and spirits. It gives our body a fresh start to begin the day.

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself ready and hop to nearest garden for a fun and thrills outing with your families now!

8 Possible Ways to Have Skins like Baby

Many of us would feel that our skins textures degraded over the time. The skins get drier and more wrinkles when we age.

There are some ways that we could do to maintain our skins to be as smooth as baby. Of course, we had to admit that as we grow older our skin will too, gets older. However, there are few ways that we can do to make it at least a little bit better and smoother.

• Watch what we eat. Wholesome, nutrient-rich diet would definitely helps our skin. Avoids fatty and high cholesterol food which not only is bad for our health, but also for our skins.
• Beauty sleep is one of the key for better skin texture. A person needs at least 8 hours sleep a day. We should always get to bed early and not when it’s almost midnight. Cut off that late snack and movie is definitely a way for healthier skin.
• Water is a very important item not only for better skins but also to cleanse our body from toxins. A person should drink at least 9 glass (ladies) or 13 glass of water a day.
• Stress is possible the hardest way and it’s very hard to go for stress-free life. However, high level of stress can also damage our skin and causes more wrinkles.
• As we know, our ozone layer is getting thinner and thinner. It is wise to put on some sun-screen when we go out to minimize direct sunlight to our skin.
• Lotions are one of the best way to makes our skins smooth and soft. Don’t ever forget to put on lotions.
• A hormones call Human Growth Hormones (HGH) can also helps in maintaining smoother and soft skins.
• Yogurts, milk, fruits and grains mixtures are definitely other tips for smoother skins!

Hope this tips would benefit my readers..

Information for Good Health

I got this information previously. It is about how to calculate the minimum amount of waters that a person need to consume daily based on their weight. Well, this is very interesting and I'm sharing it with everyone.

Minimum water (L) = (((weight (in KG)*2.2)/2/15)*450)/1000

For example, my weight are 50KG, therefore minimum amount of water that I should consume daily are

Minimum water (L) = (((50*2.2)/2/15)*450)/1000

I'm not very sure if this is applicable in reality or not. There is also a say that 8 glass a day is sufficient. Anyway, I hope that this information is usefull for everyone.

Another info that I've got is about what kind of food suitable for what area of our body. For example, for those who always have headache, it is good to eat more fish (protein). Fish oil helps to prevent headache.

(Click the photo to enlarge)

Top 10 Most Deadly Disease

Do you know that most of the top 10 diseases infected animals more than human? According to livescience.com, there are 10 deadly disease that is very much known to all of us. They are:

10 : Gorillas Give Human "The Crabs" - Human gets pubic lice @the crabs are from gorillas, roughly 3 millions years ago. Human most likely gots pubic lice (most common live in pubic hair) from sleeping with gorillas.

9 : Human Viruses Kill Chimps - Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV) had take the life of infant humans in developing countries. Majority humans have had contact with these germs, thus have developed antibodies naturally to fight them. However, when these viruses transmitted directly from humans to wild great apes, history shows that the virus killed entire populations of chimps

8 : Polio, Yaws, Anthrax - These 3 diseases had taken many lifes of chimps and gorillas all around the worlds.

7 : Ebola - it is a threat to gorillas and chimps. When human ate infected animals with Ebola, the diseases would spreads to human. Human to human transmission occurs via blood or body fluids of infected human. Symptoms are sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function and also internal and external bleeding.

6 : Cat Ulcers - A large cat dining contracted an ulcer-causing bacteria, Helicobacter pylori. This virus had spread to lions, cheetahs and tigers, scientists figure.

5 : Insane Mind Parasite - a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii infects the brains of more than half the human population. It increases the risk of neuroticism and contributes to schizophrenia. This virus can be found in cat feces.

4 : HIV / AIDS - it destroys the immune system, causing our body to be easily infected with diseases including cancer.

3 : Animal bites - malarias, aedes, dengue fever, rabies are all cause by animal bites. Illness connected to animals had killed more than 55,000 people accross the country.

2 : Bubonic Plague - black death or bubonic plague is a bacterial disease caused by Yersinia pestis. It is carried by rodents and cats, is deadly when transmitted between people. Symptoms are fever, chills, weakness, and swollen and painful lymph nodes.

1 : Influenza Pandemic - In 1918, the influenza pandemic had taken the life of more than 55 millions people.

Benefits of Lemon Water

Had anyone ever tried to drink lemon water? Well, I did and it is very refreshing types of drinks that could crunch our thirst.

Lemon is inexpensive, easily available for used to prepare variety of food recipes such as lemon cakes, lemon flavored drinks. Lemon juice consists of 5% citric acid and is also rich with vitamins C, B, riboflavin and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and proteins. Lemon water is a healthy drink to starts the day.

Lemon water is used to prevent and treat different infections and also to control allergies. As lemon contains antiseptic properties, it is effective in healing wounds. It is also helpful in relieving symptoms of sore throat, tonsillitis or asthma.

As for our digestive system, it helps to boosts the metabolism and improves the digestive systems and prevents constipation, indigestion, nausea, heartburn and parasites. It also helps to dissolves gallstones.

For those who concerns on beauty, lemon water is also effective to get rid of obesity and belly fat. It is also good for skin care and hair care. It rejuvenated the skin and gives a clear, radiant and glowing complexion. Not only that, it is known for acne control and treat various skin diseases like eczema. If you are going for an outdoor outing, application of lemon juice on the skin can prevents sunburn. Lemon water, when applied on your hair for few minutes and later rinse with water would make the hair clean and shining.

What are you waiting now? Start your day with a cup of lemon water to get to a healthy lifestyle!

Cervical Cancer Information

I believe most of us is like me-knowing cervical cancer as a type of cancer but not knowing what and how to prevent it.

There are two major risk that contribute to a person getting diagnose with cervical cancer:

· Those with many partner intercourse or partners with many sex partner have higher risk of getting cervical cancer

· Those with other sexual diseases

Symptoms

How do we know if we carry this disease? There are some symptoms that we can watch out and earlier detection is possible. We are at risk if:

· Abnormal vaginal bleeding, including longer period, bleeding between periods, after menopause and also bleeding during sexual intercourse

· Increase in vaginal discharge

· Pelvic pain

· Pain during intercourse

If anyone have these symptoms, it is advisable to go to your doctor for checkup. The best way to check is via Pap smear. For those actively having sexual intercourse, it is wise to get Pap smear once a year.

Other than that, there are few ways we can protect ourselves in fighting against this disease:

· Get screened for HPV

· Regular Pap smear to detect abnormality

· Limit number of sexual partner

· Quit smoking

· Get gardasil vaccine as per the advice from doctor

Remember: Cervical Cancer is The Second Most Common Cancer Affecting Woman!!

Prayer Heals

Prayers, lot of prayers, and positive thinking - these have saved my uncle, Kanding Mambak, from dying from cancer. He was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis which caused cancer about 2 months ago (in March, 2009). About 5 percent of patients with cirrhosis get cancer of the liver. His reading was 7,000 compared with normal people with reading 29. Meaning, it was already too late to do anything. And to make the matter worst, for your information, cancer could double every 24 hours!

The doctor at Sarawak Government Hospital, Kuching (SGH) gave him two options; ONE, take chemotherapy and survive for another two months (only!?); or TWO, go back home and enjoy the last 1 month to live (and hope for miracle to happen). That's certainly not the thing that we want to hear from our doctor. As if we are reading the "Book of Life", found our names and see the times of our deaths. As if the Angel of Death whispering to our ears. As if our world collapse on us.

Well, he decided to take the second option. He skipped chemo and told everyone to pray with him for recovery.

The news shocked everyone in my big family. Due to this, our big family is now reunited again. Even my aunty, Aunty Anda, went back from abroad to meet him to give him support. We grouped together to pray for his recovery although we come from many different churches; Catholic, Anglican & SIB (Sidang Injil Borneo). Church members, relatives, villagers & friends also pray for him (thanks to them). Recalling back what he said in SIB's special prayer gathering for him, which my wife & I attended, he said, "... I put my life on God's hands ..."

May 24th, Sunday, 7.30PM - He was rushed to hospital again. That news updates did caught me in a big surprise. It was only last week when I talked about him with my father, "It's 2 months already. How's uncle doing? He seems fine because we didn't hear any (bad) news about him." We went to hospital in no time. He was still in SGH's Emergency Unit when we arrived, in "Red Zone", an area for critically ill patients! He was then hospitalised.

May 25th, Monday, 7PM - My wife and I paid him a visit at SGH. We can't believe what we saw. Uncle Kanding isn't the same person that we used to know. He looks like a different person. He is skinny from abdomen up, the upper part of his body. He looks skeletal. This reminds me of King Tut Mummy which I watched in Discovery's History Channel. But he is gumpy, fleshy from tummy down, lower part of his body - a symptom which indicates liver's inefficiency (could be also due to heart and kidney failure or inefficiency). His tummy is big. His legs are swollen. We touched his legs. They felt like plasticine. He said he can't feel our touches - his touch sensors were not really functioning. The leg's skin is stretched. There's no wrinkle, no normal folding of skin at kneecaps; and foot and leg joints. And we can't see his legs' skin pores too. His lower part is literally ballooning! It was a sad view. I'm sure that no one would like to see their love ones in that terrible condition.

My wife can't hold her tears. The sadness filled her eyes. She cried to uncle, her Tingkat's friend (Tingkat is the name of my village's name). This year's Gawai (harvest festival celebration) would be her 5th Gawai celebration with uncle. But the previous Gawai could be their last. No one knows if he can survive till June 1st, the Gawai's day. I managed to hold my tears somehow. Yes, men are good in hiding their true feelings. With soft and weak voice, uncle talked (whispered) about his readiness to meet his Creator. Quoting his words, "... everyone will go pass this way one day ... I'm not afraid ...". Everyone there, me, Eliza (my wife), Noni (my first cousin), Elizabeth (my first cousin's wife, Noni's sister-in-law), Enggan (my cousin, his youngest son) and Hannah's grandfather and grandmother (his in laws), paid close attention to what he said. We didn't want to miss it as that could be his last words. His son, Enggan, argued with him to give him spirit and will to survive. I could just listen.

And God Almighty does hear our prayers. He does!

May 26th, Tuesday, 7PM - We visited him again. We joined Aunty Nila (my father's youngest sister), Uncle William (Aunty Nila's husband), Noni and Mit (his daughter who is taking shift with Enggan to look after him at hospital). And Aunty Nila's daughter, Rachel, who has a vision gift to see demon/ghost reported to her saying that she has stopped seeing "bad things" with Uncle in her visions. Rachel reported to her mother, "Uncle is just sick". And yes, uncle is much better now. He is recovering. The swollen legs reduced. And he is no longer receiving Sodium fluid intake. We were so delighted with the test result. Uncle Kanding is now free from cancer! How's that happened? God's miracle! Another God servant's life is spared.

May 27th, Wednesday - Aunty Anda in Australia sent SMSes to family members pledged everyone to fast and pray to God, beg to God for his full recovery. Hence, I fasted the whole day. No breakfast, no lunch. I had nothing but plain water whole day. And yet I survived the day - I did my things; went to (four) banks; accompanied my wife shopping at (three) shopping complexes; visited uncle at hospital; helped my sister-in-law to move her things to our house; and put her things in order in my house (she moved from her rented house and staying with us temporarily as her own house would be ready by next month). And to tell you the truth - I don't feel weak, tired and carving for food. I did felt energetic the whole day. I guess the God was with me as I was fasting yesterday. And yes He was, as my wife and my sister-in-law sponsored Pizza meals that night. Hmmm ... yummy!

We visited Uncle Kanding in "Yellow Zone" of the ward at 3PM after our shopping. Thanks goodness, he was transferred there from "Red Zone". Now, that's a relief! His condition has improved further. By now, we could see wrinkles and skin pores, more like our normal legs although they are still gumpy, fleshy. We do feel happy with his recovery. Uncle Julian, my father's eldest brother, was there too. They were talking about uncle's test result when we showed up at the ward. The cancer has left many small scars on his liver and his liver is "regrouping" (I don't know what it mean). By now, his liver is functioning at 18% efficiency. The cancer has damaged pretty much of his liver's part and function. 18% is low but just enough to survive - but we have to pay more attention to his health. 18% - it could increase or decrease.

That is what Uncle Julian meant when he said, "the God is testing us ... therefore, He doesn't give him full recovery yet (to Uncle) ... we have to pray harder." We left him at the ward after giving him a prayer. Uncle Julian led the prayer. And to add more to our delight, I received an SMS from my father yesterday's evening saying that uncle has been discharged from hospital. Yipee!!

Our big family is now praying so that Uncle Kanding Mambak's liver is fully recovered, renewed so that he can live a normal life, a second chance. Hold both your hands together, close your eyes and help us to pray for him.

Thank you.

Edited By: Ian Kree

Food to Lose Weights

Most of us would usually go on a diet in order to lose weight However, not all of us practice the correct way of dieting. I read some article about the types of foods that we should have in our daily life that can help in losing weight.

For those who want to lose weight, here are some of the tips of what types of food that we should consume:

· Bran bread: mix of cereals, raisins and non fat milk contains vitamins, minerals and protein. It is the best food to start our day off.

· Egg white: low fat and contains high quality protein. We can also mix the egg white with spinach, mushrooms or other type of vegetables.

· Low fat milk

· Fresh fruits: these is often famous foods known among dieters

· Toasted bread/bagel delights: helps in lowering carbohydrates and fats

· Boiled vegetables: normally I would cook cabbage soup as part of my diets menu. It is very popular dish as well.

· Sprouts: can have this cook or uncooked.

· Salads: someone ever told me that by changing from mayonnaise to yogurt is a better mixture of salads for dieters. As of how true it is, I’m not sure either.

Well, that’s all for the tips of weight lose. Good luck!

Travelling Precautions, Prevents H1N1

This morning, my HR sends out a notice of precautions that we should take note if we intending to go travelling. As we all know, the virus H1N1 is a hot topics accross the country. This information is from our Ministry of Health Departments. I also included the address and hot-line if anyone living in Malaysia has any enquiry about the H1N1 to the Health Department.

TRAVELLING ABROAD : PRECAUTIONS TO OBSERVE

Travel to the affected countries should be POSTPONED*.
If you have to travel, please observe the following measures:
Keep informed of the areas with outbreaks or high incidence of Influenza A (H1N1). Avoid crowded places.
Avoid direct contact with Influenza A (H1N1) cases. If you need to be in close contact with cases of Influenza A (H1N1), use an appropriate protective mask.
Observe good personal hygiene at all times. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands with soap and water.
If you fall ill, please seek IMMEDIATE treatment.

If you have recently returned from a Influenza A (H1N1) affected area, you should avoid close contact with other people for 7 days. If within this period you develop flu-like symptoms such as fever and any one of these - cough, difficulty in breathing, body ache, headache or sore throat, you should IMMEDIATELY seek treatment from the nearest doctor.

Inform the doctor that you have visited the Influenza A (H1N1) affected country/area.

Disease Control Division
Ministry of Health Malaysia
Level 3, Block E10, Complex E
Federal Government Administrative Centre
62590 Putrajaya
Tel: 603-8881 0200/0300
www.moh.gov.my
14/5/09-Ver.4.0(BI)
*For current update of Influenza A (H1N1) affected countries/areas please refer to www.moh.gov.my

Car Air-Cond ~ Do Not Turn on Immediately

I received an emails about the danger of our car air-conditioner. When we got into our car, it is wise not to turn ON the air-conditioning immediately!!!
According to a research, car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emits Benzene, a cancer causin toxin (carcinogen). Not only that it would cause cancer, it can also poisons our bones causes anemia and reduces white blood cells. As we all know, another simpler words of white blood cells is antibody. Prolonged exposure to these would cause leukemia and also might cause miscarriage.
The acceptable level of Benzene are 50mg per sq. ft. A car parked indoors with the window closed can contains 400-800mg of Benzene. If parked outdoors (under high temperature-sun), it can goes up to 2000-4000mg!!!

Therefore, please do not turn on the air-conditioning right after you got into your car. Instead, open the windows and door to let the interior air out.

Benzene definition according to Wikipedia - "Benzene, or benzol, is an organic chemical compound and a known carcinogen with the molecular formula C6H6. It is sometimes abbreviated Ph–H. Benzene is a colorless and highly flammable liquid with a sweet smell and a relatively high melting point. Because it is a known carcinogen, its use as an additive in gasoline is now limited, but it is an important industrial solvent and precursor in the production of drugs, plastics, synthetic rubber, and dyes. Benzene is a natural constituent of crude oil, and may be synthesized from other compounds present in petroleum. Benzene is an aromatic hydrocarbon and the second [n]-annulene ([6]-annulene), a cyclic hydrocarbon with a continuous pi bond."

Benefits of Banana

Many do not know that banana has a lot of nutrient that can help to prevent us from disease. Fully ripe banana produces a substance called TNF which are able to combat abnormal cells. This TNF has anti-cancer properties. The degree of anti-cancer effect corresponds to the degree of ripeness of the fruits. As the banana ripes, it will develops dark spots or patches. The darker the patches is, the higher the immunity quality will be. This also means the darker the patches is, the higher anti-cancer properties would be.

Banana can also increased our white blood cells, thus enhancing the immunity of the body.

Normal recommendation would be to eat 1 to 2 banana a day to increase body immunity to diseases. A research shows that skin bananas with dark spot are 8 times more effective in enhancing the property of white blood cells than the green skin version!

Another point for banana skin would be its effect to our teeth. If we rub the banana skin to our teeth, it can whiten our teeth. I read about this a while ago when I research on the benefits of banana.

Normal benefits that we all know is that banana helps to prevent constipation. So, whoever that had difficulties in doing the 'big business', you can try to eat more bananas...

Allergy

Previously, I was having quite a bad skin allergy called contact allergy. It is a type of allergy that was cause by substances such as nickel, perfumes, rubber or related chemicals, potassium dischromate (cement, leather), hairdressing chemicals, medications, epoxy resins, colophony and plants. In my case, my skin is pretty sensitive towards perfumes or dish washing cleaning which contains lemon. Clorox is something that I totally can't get into contact too.

After the allergy, I figure out to write something about allergy so that everyone out there would knows and understand allergy.

What is Allergy?
Allergy simply means a response within the body towards a substances that results in an immune response and reaction that causes inconvenience to the body.

Symptoms like runny nose, itchy eyes or rashes is very common. Allergy occurs when the body's immune system overreacts towards a substances which by itself is harmless.

What Causes Allergy?
Substances that causes allergic reactions are called allergens. Almost anything can be an allergen. Most common types of allergens are:
Animal Products - for example, cat allergy, fur, dander, cockroach, wool, dust mite, etc
Drugs or chemicals - penicillin, sulfonamides, solicylate, local anaesthetics
Foods
Milk
Seafood - especially crabs and prawn
Sesame
Soy
Insects stings - bee sting, wasp sting, mosquitoes stings

Types of Allergy

Most common types of allergy are divided into three types, that is skin allergy, allergen inhalation and food allergy.


If any of you believe that you have allergy, it is better to determine which type. From there, drills down to the specific types of allergy. With this, you can easily find and tackle our allergy so as not to gets worsen.

In my case, I have skin allergy. Categories of the allergy are called contact allergy, another worlds contact ezcema. This types of allergy would cause rashes on the skins. Sometimes the cause and effect is obvious (with red scaly reaction around)

There is only one way to determine a substance that causes contact ezcema allergy - Patch testing. This testing can be dangerous but that's the only way. Treatment for this allergy are moisturisers and steroid creams.

10 Ways to Prevent Swine (or any) Fl10 Flu

Got this very nice tips from my in-house clinic helpdesk.

1. Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands!
2. When water isn't available, use alcohol-based liquid hand sanitizers frequently. If using a gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. It does not require water to work; the alcohol in it wil kil hand germs.
3. If you sneeze or cough, cover your nose or mouth and avoiding rubbing or touching your eyes and nose. Cold and flu are often spread by hand-to-hand contact, so avoid directly facing an individual who is coughing and sneezing. If you do sneeze into your hands, make sure you clean them, and do this EVERY time you sneeze or cough.
4. Limit your exposure (even brief contact) to those "suferers," especialy during the first several days of their flu symptoms.
5. Stay home if you're experiencing any flu symptoms. Do not report to work!
6. For individuals who are excessively stressed, some studies favor the use of daily vitamin C during the cold and flu season.
7. Eating a balanced diet and geting adequate sleep is a good first step in keeping your immune system from geting overly stressed. When you're rested, you wil be beter prepared to fight of ilness.
8. Remind your children to practice healthy habits. And of course that means lots of hand washing, covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze and using hand sanitizers when water isn't available.
9. Routinely clean and disinfect. Disinfecting actualy destroys germs, it doesn't just clean surfaces. Folow instructions of al disinfectants. Germs may live on countertops and surfaces for hours or even days.
10. Finally, if you have flu symptoms, immediately go to see doctors!

Swine Flu (Swine Influenza A (H1N1) Virus

As we all know, recently we are all hit with the panic of swine flu. This morning, when I read the newspaper, there is one case of suspected swine flu in Kuching. The guy had just came back from U.K and had been sick since then.

I believe most of us heard about swine flu but to know what is that, maybe, we thought it is connected with pig. Or maybe we know the numbers or infected people in every countries. But to protect ourselves from this virus, we know nothing. Well, that is me. All I know is there is new virus call H1N1. Further of it, I'm blank! So, this morning, when I ask myself what is swine flu, it takes me to do some google search.

What is Swine Flu?

Scientifically, swine flu is a influenza A virus that is resistant to antiviraal medications amantadine (Symmetrel) and rimantadine (Flumadine). However, this virus is sensitive to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza)... Hhmm, sound like a tough virus to me.

In general English words, this disease can causes death if we do not seek immediate medications

Symptoms
Normal symptoms are fever, cough, sore throats and some may even have breathing problem. Other symptoms would be vomiting, diarrhea, headache, chills, fatigue and dyspnea.

What to do if you suspect that you have this disease?
Firstly, avoid going to public. Second, go to the nearest hospitals to seek immediate medication to prevent the disease from spreading out to the public as well as saving yourself.

Prevention
Swine flu can be prevented via vaccination. In general way, remember to wash your hand frequently and not touching your face or nose with your hand if it is dirty. If you know anyone with flu, avoid touching them. The virus can remain viable for up to 48 hours on surfaces, therefore, it is good to clean your hand with soap or alcohol-based hand dissinfections.

Many of us wonders why is it that these virus came arise with the economy downturn. Is this another of the punishment from Mother Earth? Well, in general, our Earth is 'sick'. It may indirectly contribute. Nobody knows the exact answer.

There are explanation of the causes and reason scientifically. I am not going into details about this. I believe none of us, who is just normal people will not even understand the scientific jargons that explains the sickness.

Cosmetics & Skincare Banned by Ministry of Health

A while ago, I receive this emails about 26 skincare / cosmetics brand that are banned by our Ministry of Health. How true is this, I am not sure. But I believe that it is better to be safe than sorry, right?

The new is from News Straits Times 2008/10/26. However, when I go to NST website, they do not have archive news from January 2008 onwards. I couldn't find the archive for this one. Anyway, let's just avoid from buying those brands...

NST 2008/10/26

The dark side of skin whitening products

The Health Ministry has taken 26 cosmetic products containing banned substances off the shelves in the last two years. Do you know what those products are? Do you also know that some of them are still being sold openly? New Sunday Times reporters went a hunting
THE plot was set -- to search for the perfect skin whitening product. The only difference was all the products earmarked for the search were banned ones.

But some of them were blatantly sitting on the shelves, waiting for the next unsuspecting victim to come by.

The hunt, which spanned six shops and utilised the reporters' winning portrayals of desperate vain pots -- yielded a bagful of products that could make you fair very fast.

How fast, you ask?
If you are willing to spend the ringgit, all you need is three days. These products are priced from as low as RM10 (works a bit slower) to a few hundred ringgit a set.

But what is wrong with them?

Nothing, if the product does not contain any ingredients such as hydroquinone, retinoic acid/tretinoin or steroids, which are banned in cosmetics.

The Health Ministry has, in the last three years, banned 26 cosmetic products for containing such ingredients.

Despite the ban, two creams are still being advertised on its distributor's website, alongside the agents' phone numbers.

The New Sunday Times team managed to buy the creams at a shopping complex.

The traders had no qualms about revealing that some "immediate effect" products did contain hydroquinone, although the abels did not state so.

"Produk ini memang cepat dan bestseller. Sebab ia ada bahan kimia hydroquinone. Tapi jangan risau, ia selamat. (This best-selling product works very fast because it has the hydroquinone chemical. But don't worry, it's safe)," one said.

What's more worrying is that some of the banned products have now been repackaged and renamed, but according to the traders, were essentially the same.

"Barangnya sama sahaja, cuma ada masalah dulu. Jadi sekarang dah tukar nama. (It's the same product. There were some problems earlier, so they changed the name)."

The National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau said consumers should be aware that hydroquinone and retinoic acid/tretinoin were scheduled poisons that were regulated as pharmaceuticals.

It is only allowed to be used under medical supervision and only supplied by doctors or pharmacies.

"Unsupervised use of hydroquinone could cause skin redness, irritation and discolouration.

"Excessive amounts of hydroquinone, when absorbed into blood circulation, could cause ringing in the ears, tremors, nervousness, vomiting, head-aches, seizures, muscle spasms and difficulty in breathing," the bureau added.

All this in the quest for that Asian obsession, fair skin.

From foreigners hawking whitening soaps, gels and creams by roadsides at every nook and corner of the bustling city, to booths in shopping establishments being crammed with similar products, it seems that fair skin is in vogue.

Adding to this is a multitude of advertisements drumming in the message for the need to be fair-skinned.

It is none too surprising then that a New York Times report in 2006 quoted a survey by market research company Synovate, saying that four out of every 10 Malaysian women use a whitening product.

The report also explained how whitening products work.

Some contain acids that remove old skin to reveal newer, lighter skin underneath.

Others inhibit melanin, like those with mulberry extract, licorice extract, kojic acid, arbutin and hydroquinone, an ingredient in prescription creams for blemishes as well as in photo processing materials.

The report also stated: "Some of the most effective agents are also risky and are often the least expensive, like mercury-based ingredients or hydroquinone, which in Thailand sells for about US$20 (RM70) per kilogramme, compared with highly concentrated licorice extract, which sells for about US$20,000 per kilogramme."

It makes one wonder what's really in the RM10 whitening cream.
Below are the 26th of the banned skincare/cosmetics by health ministry...
1.Dr Seagar SkinRecon
2.Ain's Beauty Care Natural Lightening Cream
3.Felisa GP Lotion
4.Sri Mutiara Krim Kecantikan Malam
5.Dewajah Night Cream
6.Ains Beauty Care Clear II Cream
7.Ains Beauty Care Face Lotion 1
8.Ains Beauty Care Face Lotion 2
9.Rihanna Beauty Cream
10.Sub Whitening Revitalizing Cream
11.Sub Instant White Cream
12.Herbarites Skin Whitening(Sensitive Skin)
13.Deep Skin White Plus
14.Atika Beauty Skin Lightening Cream
15.Crystal White Extra Night Cream
16.Crystal White Night Cream
17.Golden Deer White Complex Cream
18.Cellnique Skin Whitening Plus II
19.Cellnique Skin Whitening Essence I
20.Sendayu Tinggi Body & Skincare Cool & Lightening Soap
21.Kzanah White Pembersih Wajah
22.Gloskin Krim Malam & Siang
23.Reena's Astringen Lanjutan
24.Skin Desires Deep Whitening Cleansing Milk
25.Eetye Whitening Cream
26.O'Lynn Lynn's H2O Series Skin Lightening Cream

Hip Hop Dance

Last week, I started to try something new, which is hip hop dance. I found it very interesting with the new moves and steps which is slightly or almost the same like aerobics. The difference is, for hip hop, there is more actions and twisting that creates a style, postures or attraction to viewer. For aerobics, it is more to look at ourselves.

Hip hop is fun! Has anyone watch the movies "Bring It On"? It is about groups of teenagers doing cheer leading in their schools. The hip hop that I went is something like that. It is something new to learn and very motivating as we challenge our body into fast dancing that steps up and improving our self esteem.

For those who is interested to learn dancing, you can drop by at Premier 101 (somewhere near to Choice Daily). The price is also very reasonable. Here are some of the schedules that I have:

Tuesday :
9.00am - 10am ~ Steps/aerobics/yoga (RM5)
7.40pm - 8.40 pm ~ Reggae (RM6)

Wednesday:
9.00am - 10.30am ~ Line dance (RM5)

Thursdays:
9.00am - 10.00 am ~Steps/aerobics/yoga (RM5)
7.30pm - 9.00pm ~ Line dance (RM5)

Friday:
9.00am - 10.30am ~ Line dance (RM5)
6.30pm - 7.30pm ~ Hip Hop (RM6)

Saturday:
1.30pm - 3.30pm ~ Line dance (RM4)

Here is hip hop dance that I get from youtube..

World Malaria Day

Malaria is a type of tropical disease that is well known amongst children and pregnant women. This disease is cause by a parasite called Plasmodium, which infects the red blood cells. The first symptoms would be cold fever, pain and sweating. Areas in Asia, Africa and Central and South America are the major places where Malaria is spreading. In another worlds, places with high temperature.

In conjunction with the increasing of cases, World Health Organisation (WHO) had dominate 25th April 2009 as the World Malaria Day. This is to create awareness between in people about the danger of Malaria which could possibly lead to death.

The main symptoms for Malaria are:
- flu-like illness with fever, chills, muscle aches, and headache
- some might get nausea, vomiting, cough and diarrhea

Let us all united in taking part by creating awareness among ourselves and making sure that our home is safe from the breeding of the deadly virus.

Beware of Rove Beetle, Poisonous Insect

Rove Beetle or another name, Charlie is very poisonous. Malay name are called "Semut Semai" or "Semut Kayap". There are roughly 47,000 types of species for these insects. The size are less than 1cm and can be found in paddy field, school field and jungle. The adult "Charlie" can live up to 40 to 60 days.

Rove Beetle are carnivore, which means, they eat small insects. When there is heavy rain or flood, they would migrate to dry land. The entire body of "Charlie" contains the most poisonous toxin called pederin. Pederin is 12x more poisonous than cobra venom.

It is wise to avoid from being bitten by Charlie. Some measurements that we can take note to avoid are :

• Do not sit near to the lights
• Minimize lighting
• During beetle epidemic, it is advisable to close all doors and windows to prevent the insect from entering the house
• When contacted, wash with water and soap
• Go to the doctors if you suspected that you are been bitten by one of the Charlies!!!!