Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit

As usual, CNY is a time of celebration. And to the Chinese, a celebration would not be complete if there is no session of drinking. Beer, Martell, champagne, red or white wine or any liquor would do. It does not matter what brand as long as it is liquor. Do I drink liquor? Yes, of course. Only when I have it, or when I’m feeling cold and need extra heat for my body and occasionally when I have to attend Chinese wedding dinner. Other than that, I’m not a drinker. I don’t really like the effect of alcohol in my body. Overall, it is not healthy to take alcohol. My brothers would gather together and drink during CNY. I joined them for the conversation but not for the drink unless it is a champagne or grape juice.

I thank God that none of my brothers are addicted to alcohol or drugs. If one of them are, then I will have to google for drug abuse rehab to find a drug abuse rehab center nearby my place. Also, I do not want my children to think that drinking is good. Therefore, I must set a good example to them. That goes for smoking too. I really hate it when people smoke and the foul smoke smell reaches my nose. I consider people who smokes as stupid people wanting to be stupider. Anyway, to those who are celebrating CNY, please don’t drink more than what your body can handle. It is better to be sober and enjoying the company of your relatives and friends than to be in stupor and making a fool of yourself.

CNY is tomorrow and all my family members are back. We look forward to this celebration as it is a time to catch up with my 10 other brothers and sisters. A time to build up family relationships and letting our children get to know their cousins better. And of course it is a time to eat. To eat food that we normally would not cook everyday. Food like Ayam Buah Keluak, Seh Ark, Itik Tim, Udang Masak Nenas and many others. And during visitation day, we will be served will various cookies and delicacies at every house. This year, as usual, we make the traditional Kuih Dodol. Praise God, this year’s Kuih Dodol turns out good. The hard work of almost 5 hours stirring the kuih made it worth it.

Learning from the past few years, I must learn to eat in moderation. Yes, there are lots of good food but I know my body cannot take in so much food at one time. I guess it is a sign of getting old. Just eat a little bit of everything or just eat the one that I really like. Hopefully the body will stay healthy throughout this CNY

Thanks to Erasmo Cortez

My husband got let go from the company he had worked for many years. They called it early retirement and downsizing. I just call it plain disrespect for an employee that has made you so much money. That is not the only thing I called it. Be that as it may, my husband is now a self-employed independent contractor or consultant who works out of our house. He brought home all his personal computers and bought a few extra things to go with them. Now we have all this expensive equipment in our house. I told him that I was not comfortable with all that equipment in our house without some kind of security system. He said that we had plenty of insurance to cover everything. But, when I told him that he could lose all the information he had stored on the computers if they got stolen, he had second thoughts. Then he decided to look at security systems to see what they had to offer in the line of security for our home. Then before I knew it the company was out installing everything that we could possibly need in the way of security. I feel much safer now knowing that we have that all in place.

* I’ve yet to try out some of these methods below. Please feel free to try and leave a comment if it works or not. TQ.

Methods that do not kill but get rid of ants, mosquitoes and cockroaches

Ants don’t like sour things, mosquitoes don’t like spices and cockroaches don’t like fragrant things.

To keep away ants, squeeze fresh lemon juice on where they’ll be passing, and also wipe the lemon slices on that surface.

Mosquitoes do not like spice. bury garlic under flowerbeds and clean dead leaves, and keep the area clean.

Cockroaches do not like fragrance. Cut small pieces of soap, put them in a bottle with water, and put the bottle in a cupboard where you want to keep out cockroaches. After several days, they will be all gone and your cupboard will even smell good.

You do not need to kill mosquitoes: dissolve Vitamin C and B2 in water, wipe the water on your skin, and the scent will drive the mosquitoes
away.

Put up orange coloured curtains, or orange plastic wrap around a bulb. Mosquitoes are afraid of orange light, and they will be gone.

Hang up a bunch of spring onions, and use gauze to wrap up the green sections of the onions, and there will be no more mosquitoes.
Putting a pot of Lilies, Milans, Roses, or Evening Primroses in your room will work too.Â

To drive away cockroaches, you can put pieces of cucumber where you want to keep them away.

by Dr Lai Chiu-Nan

It has worked for many. If it works for you please pass on the good news. Chiu Nan is not charging for it, so we should make it free for everyone. Your reward is when someone, through your word of mouth, benefits from the regime. Gallstones may not be everyone’s concern. But they should be because we all have them. Moreover, gallstones may lead to cancer. “Cancer is never the first illness,” Chiu Nan points out. “Usually, there are a lot of other problems leading to cancer.

In my research in China , I came across some materials which say that people with cancer usually have stones. We all have gallstones. It’s a matter of big or small, many or few.

One of the symptoms of gallstones is a feeling of bloatedness after a heavy meal. You feel like you can’t digest the food. If it gets more serious, you feel pain in the liver area.” So if you think you have gallstones, Chiu Nan offers the following method to remove them naturally.

The treatment is also good for those with a weak liver, because the liver and gallbladder are closely linked.

Regimen:
1. For the first five days, take four glasses of apple juice every day. Or eat four or five apples, whichever you prefer. Apple juice softens the
gallstones. During the five days, eat normally.
2. On the sixth day, take no dinner.
3. At 6 PM, take a teaspoon of Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) with a glass of warm water.
4. At 8 PM, repeat the same. Magnesium sulphate opens the gallbladder ducts.
5. At 10 PM, take half cup olive oil (or sesame oil) with half cup fresh lemon juice. Mix it well and drink it. The oil lubricates the stones to
ease their passage.
PS. 1cup=250ml, ½ cup lemon juice=3 lemons (aprox.)

The next morning, you will find green stones in your stools. “Usually they float,” Chiu Nan notes. “You might want to count them. I have had people who passes 40, 50 or up to 100 stones. Very many.”

“Even if you don’t have any symptoms of gallstones, you still might have some. It’s always good to give your gall bladder a clean-up now and then.

Guest post written by my buddy Judy Guerrero

Staying at home means I get to watch a lot of direct tv during the day. I started off watching the good stuff like the news and even some educational programming for the girls but it’s totally devolved into all these crazy shows during the day. I’ve recently gotten hooked on old episodes of CSI and the like because they’re just fascinating to me and I also spend a lot of time watching those 48 Hours Mystery shows. I think in a former life I must have been a detective or a private eye or something because I just get the biggest kick out of the shows where they look into past things and try to figure out “whodunit.” I know there’s something to be said for not being able to solve the murder but from my couch I’m always right on the money! My husband would die if he thought I was spending my days doing this so I don’t really tell him much about what I do with my free time at home…

On the 10th February 2011 the energy saver globe fused at the home of the IP. He did not wait for the globe to cool
down, standing on a chair with a piece of cloth and remove the energy saver globe. Due to the heat of the energy
saver globe he dropped the globe. As the globe fell on the floor it “explode” (brake). As he descend from the chair
he stepped into the broken glass and exposed mercury powder.

The IP was admitted to hospital for treatment of the cuts. He spent two weeks in ICU and at one stage it was
feared that his foot need to be amputated. The nurse in nursing uniform would tediously scrap the dead skin daily. Currently his foot is connected to a vacuum pump to remove continuously dead tissue. Long road of recovery is awaiting him.

Energy Saving Bulbs have been in existence for a long time now. As the name indicates, these bulbs are more effective as compared to an ordinary bulb in terms of power consumption. Most of us are currently using these bulbs to save on electricity consumption and ultimately the electricity bill.

However, these types of bulbs, if broken, can cause serious danger.
- If one breaks, everybody will have to leave the room for at least 15 minutes, because it contains Mercury (poisonous) which causes migraine, disorientation, imbalances and different other health problems, when inhaled.
- It causes many people with allergies, severe skin conditions and other diseases just by touching this substance or inhaling it.
- Do NOT clean the debris of the broken bulb with a vacuum cleaner, because it would spread the contamination to other rooms in the house when using the vacuum cleaner again. Put on lab coat if available and put one Rubber gloves and sweep the debris onto a dustpan. It must be cleaned up with a NORMAL BROOM or BRUSH, be kept in a sealed bag and disposed of right away from the house in a bin for hazardous materials.
- Try not to inhale dust from the broken bulb.

Written by my friend Betty Walls

In between paying bills and researching texas electricity providers so we can save some money when the cold hits, I’ve been washing and folding and folding and washing four kids’ clothes this week to prepare for the big clothes change out. Every Fall and Spring, we go though drawers, closets, and big plastic bins to see who’s had a growth spurt, who gets hand-me-downs, and who get shopping trip. Five years ago, when we only had Hannah, this was a no-brainer: Give all the stuff to Good Will and hit the mall. Now, with a bit of a tighter budget, and younger kids who can still wear those donate-able clothes, we’re less likely to part so easily with our clothes. As I’ve been tackling Mount Laundry, I realize that we’re at the point where ALL the kids need a shopping trip. Because our kids alternate gender as they go up in age, there is no one to wear the clothes that the other has grown out of. I’m secretly excited to shop, but I just know Hank is grump.

Guest post of the week by Moises Henderson

Being pregnant is hard enough but when you have to be put on bed rest you just want to scream. I for one already felt like I needed to walk around all the time because I was so big and uncomfortable but that was the last thing I was supposed to do, unfortunately. I read all the books in the house and watched endless hours of TvByDirect.com satellite but you know what finally helped me keep from going stir crazy? I started cross stitching! I know it sounds really old school and I’m not an old retiree or anything but the meticulous nature of it helped me kill hours at a time without ever knowing what I was doing. By the time I had the baby I had four full sized landscapes and one bible verse all stitched out which I hung up in his room! I recommend something like that to any of you out there who find yourself on bed rest. Get a new hobby and make it an engrossing one to kill time!

The Author of this post is Velma Baird

I work as a doctor, and though I prefer not to say what kind online, I see a lot of patients who are having trouble dealing with the aging process. Sometimes it’s hard for them to admit that their bodies are quite as young as they used to be, but I do everything in my power to make sure they have the resources to feel their best. For example, I often recommend and nutritionists or personal trainer for adults I see who aren’t as active as they used to be. That often solves a myriad of other problems as well. I have a really good eye doctor on call that I refer patients to when they can’t see that well anymore, and everyone I’ve recommended for LASIK says it was the best decision they ever made. When my patients are having trouble hearing I send them to http://hearingaids.miracle-ear.com/hearing-locations/north-carolina/c/charlotte/ so they can set up an appointment for a free hearing test… That seems to work well for my oldest patients. I’m no spring chicken myself, so I’m glad I have all these resources at my disposal!