Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Constipation and Colon cancer

When i went back to Jakarta last holiday Hari Raya, my sister share with me how many of her friends who suffer from constipation..so bad that they have to take 20 dieuretic pill everyday to go to toilet. She also mention which one of her colleague who pass away because of Colon cancer.
She ask me whether i know any herbs or doctor who can help to cure this problem (naturally if possible) or to prevent the constipation to Cancer someday.

Then i remember my own constipation problem last time. i need to take fiber each day just so that i can go to toilet. And fruits intake that i have perhaps already around 6-8 serving each day..and i still get this constipation problem.

i went to Naturopath to do some test. It's pretty expensive test cost me around $250. The result come out is my body is healthy all over, except my digestion system has too many bad bacteria and too low good bacteria for digestion. I am not sure what is the cause. It could be due to antibiotic that i took last time during my skin treatment. As you all know antibiotic although is very useful for some very severe condition, but please never never use any other than surgery/when it's really needed. The damage done to our body is much more than you could think of. Not only it makes our immune system lower, but the antibiotic has kill all bacteria in our body..including the good bacteria in our digestion system that we need.

The naturopath prescribe me with a herbs that can help to cure the digestion system. He didn't recommend taking fiber. Because fiber is just another cleanser, but if taking too much, it will be harden inside. And I have taken fiber for years before, i know it can help me to go to toilet..but it doesn't cure the root problem. So if I stop taking the fiber..then i can't go to toilet again.

This herbs that he gave me is really really bitter, from India. It called Tri-cleanse with Triphala. He said jokingly..if there is any illness that can not be diagnosed, just use Triphala..it will definitely help. I can imagine though. a lot of disease come from digestion system that is not cleansed. So the toxin is accumulated inside and turn into different illnesses.

Now after taking Triphala for 2 months (regularly 6 times a week), my constipation problem has been cured. I no longer need to take the herbs anymore. But i tried to still eat as many fruits as I could. In the morning, I will take Oat or wholemeal bread. Then at night, i change my white rice into brown rice. It really helps my constipation now.

the naturopath told me the difference between this herbs and fiber is, the herbs actually contain certain ingredient that help you go to toilet (like fiber) but at the sametime it cure the problem in our gut system (digestion). That's why we will not depend on it and after sometime, it will be cured. Now i have used this herbs for half year..i can say that what he said is really true. For me, i still have the herbs, but i only take it once a month. Just slowly stopping it and i can still go toilet daily..once or twice even. Last time, I can only clear my bowel once a week. And that's really painful. I am glad that i found out about this earlier.

and I do hope all my sister's friends in Jakarta will be able to cure their constipation without have to suffer from colon cancer someday. To see the food in Jakarta I can understand why they develop such a cancer. It's fried food everywhere and we can hardly find vegetables in the food court. Perhaps what most important is try to avoid antibiotic as much as possible, and eat more fiber food like oat, wholemeal bread, brownrice, fruits, vegies, etc.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Anti Aging

Today is my birthday. I feel so contented and happy spending my birthday with all wonderful people in my life. During our lunch, me and my friends discuss about how aging will affect our life. our ability to have children, etc..And I start to think what is aging actually really means?

Aging. What is it about this word, or rather the process it implies, that causes many of us woman to endlessly seek the fountain of youth? Perhaps the ideals of our youth-oriented society have pushed the desire to stay young too far, or perhaps as society has developed it is only natural for us to strive to live longer, healthier lives.
Whatever the reason--and most likely the reasons are personal with each of us--it is clear that most women have an intense desire to stay young.

There is no way to avoid aging--it's a natural part of life--but there are many things we can do to keep your skin and body looking and feeling young and healthy. It's not a quick fix and there is some effort involved, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
Perhaps above all else, the real "fountain of youth" is a healthy diet. Insulin is the major accelerant of aging, and we can keep your insulin levels down by reducing or eliminating grains and sugar in our diet. Vegetables are also extremely important. Perhaps the easier way is to start taking vegetable juice like carrot, celery juice.
I think another key anti aging technique that i hardly apply is exercise, though exessive exercise can also cause wrinkles. So I will try to walk as much as I could, taking staircase instead of lift. Walk from MRT station to my home.
A good night sleep and properly addressing emotional stresses are additional keys to regaining your optimum physical appearance. I think i can see it so clearly from one of my lunch friend Lucy today..she looks so radiant now..and she told me she has been trying to discipline herself to sleep early recently and avoid stress.
My other anti aging Lifestyle are:
1. Avoid exposure to cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke exposes you to free radicals that will accelerate the aging process by damaging the microcapillaries in your skin. This limits your skin’s ability to absorb nutrients, which accelerates wrinkling and aging.
2. Get omega-3s by taking a high-quality krill oil daily. maybe you can get it with flaxseed, olive oil, salmon, tuna, avocado, etc. Omega-3 fats help to normalize skin lipids and prevent dehydration in your cells. This keeps skin cells strong and full of moisture, which can help to decrease the appearance of fine lines.
3. Limit your exposure to the sun during the hottest times of the day. This is when you’re most likely to get sunburned, and sunburned skin is more susceptible to damage and may age more quickly.
4. Adopt healthier eating habits, based on your body's unique nutritional type. Giving your body the nutrients it needs is the best way to keep your skin firm and smooth. Yo-yo dieting, a recurrent cycle of gaining and losing weight, is especially problematic as it will cause your skin to stretch and become less elastic. As you age, this loose skin will be more prone to sagging and wrinkles simply by the force of gravity.
5. Keep your facial muscles relaxed. If you frown (or smile broadly) often, over time lines will form where the muscles tend to contract.
6. Consider taking food (fruits and vegetables) and supplement with active antioxidant on it.

So as you can see it there is not one thing to do to feel and look our best as we age. Rather, it is a combination of things that, when adhered to as a lifestyle choice, will ensure that our body shows what has been going into it for all those years. And if we've been treating our body with care and respect, it will be reflected in our healthy skin, bright smile and strong energy. After all, it's only natural :-)

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Natural Remedy for Cough, Flu, enzema & Gastric

My company doctor knows me so well..whenever i don't feel well..and go to doctor, i never take the medicine he gave me. I only visit the doctor to find out what happen to my body.
I believe that natural remedies has exist thousand years a go and still apply until now. The best thing about natural remedies is it has no side effect.

Once i had severe cough and sorethroat. I will cough endlessly at night even during my sleep. One night, i peel off garlic and eat it raw. My dad told me I didn't cough at all during that whole night. That's really surprise me, and i did a lot of research about why garlic is so powerful. I found out that not only garlic can improve our immune system, it also act as natural antibiotic. On other day, I tried to steam the garlic, cos raw garlic just smell too strong! and i couldn't feel the impact at all. In fact, after we steam it/heat it, the sulfur in the garlic has gone.

for my cough and sorethroat, i tried to take manuka honey with apple cider vinegar. But my most effective remedy is Olive Leaf Extract. Since then i consume OLE regularly cos it also provide a lot of antioxidant for me. Particularly if I have taken fried food, I will quickly take my OLE.

My sister in law has gastric, and she asked me what to eat. So I ask her to try to take banana, or garlic, or apple (the potassium in apple can help to alkaline the acidity of the body), and peppermint tea. This remedy has been proven by some of my colleagues too..it works well.

I am just so excited to find out that every single fruits/vegetable, etc that we can find in our kitchen actually useful to cure some illness. e.g. Cayanne pepper and maple syrup can help for sorethroat. If your skin has enzema or itchy, just try to dab Apple cider vinegar to reduce itchyness. Instead of using steroid that doctor give you which will damage your health and skin in the long term, you can try this natural cream: DermaWheat Wheatgrass Recovery cream. But in the long term, it's our diet that we need to change to cure the rootcause of the problem.

First Journey of Health





Some of my friend think i am a health freak :-) Little that they know what makes me this way now. I grew up having really bad skin. Each morning is a nightmare for me because i will definitely found new pimple on my face. It wasn't so bad until I was on a long business trip in Penang where suddenly my pimple really goes uncontrollable regardless whatever cream that I use. This skin problem really frustrate me. I often walk into cosmetic counter and asking myself why can't I have such a good gene with flawless skin like these models.

I try to attend seminars, went to doctors from skin doctors to naturopathy just to find a way to get flawless skin that I dream to have someday. Spent fortune to try every skin care that everyone said is good, only to be dissapointed again and again.

When i went to Shanghai 2 years a go for 3 months to study Chinesse, I make resolution with myself that I will take a good care of my skin. But it was a nightmare!! Few weeks after my stay, my skin flare up, and pimple keep popping up uncontrollable. I tried to get any skin care, even buy some mask advertise in the TV, only to be dissapointed again again.

Because of this skin problem, i am very careful with what i eat. No sweet stuff, no much meat, junk food is a no no for me, often goes for detox in the hope that someday i will find the secret of a flawless skin. Now i have my 'problematic skin' to thank for. Because of this problem, i start my journey to a healthier life style. I attend seminars about health, read books about beauty and health & even attend health retreat few times to understand how do our body works. The last thing that i do was attending Nutrition course in the poly. I learn what is the best nutrition for the body, how good is the supplement, what is the balance meal, how to read food label, what happen with the food that we food. I found human body is soo amazing and i can see how great has God created us with so much self healing system in our bodies.

And during course and research, I found out how much I had danger my body from the skin doctor that i visit. They prescribe antibiotic, R0accutance, tretinoin, etc to heal acne and improve skin condition. Little that i know that those medication bring so much damage in our body and soul. Some of this medicine will even bring depression to the point of suicidal mode, and harm the baby when they get pregnant. I am so glad that I found out earlier and do not want to seek for this kind of short cut treatment anymore.

I start to experiment with the healthy life style. When i said life style, it means it's a life style..not 1 or 2 months diet, and goes back to the lifestyle that we had previously.

Now i can proudly say to myself that i have the best skin ever in my life. Although my skin still don't look like SKII models, but i am so proud of it, and never worry about waking up with another pimple or wrinkle on my face. I think I have found a little secret of the flawless skin.