Healthier us

This was posted on February 22, 2010 at our personal blog.

About a week before Christmas, John and I started to consume a certain nutritional shake for health reasons and to lose a few kilos, especially around the abdomen. He had recommended the product to me since he had taken it for two months before our wedding in 2008 and became rather trim. He then stopped since I complained, thinking that it was expensive and that he too wanted to maintain his weight by just going to the gym or taking walks in the park. But with his long working hours, he hardly got to do either. He had gone to the gym possibly less than five times a year.

So after our wedding, we both ballooned again to the weight we were before marriage. At our age, it was difficult to manage our weight. I could lose half a kg or a kg on my own but it requires a LOT of effort and discipline. It is difficult to lose weight because it is almost impossible to find healthy food whenever we eat out.When John told me about the shake that I could take for breakfast to replace my usual breakfast, which was either fruits followed by fried bee hoon, roti canai or nasi lemak with Milo, or if I make my own breakfast, it would be a fruit, my favourite half boiled egg, bread with butter and Milo, I wanted to try it out because I often yearn for healthy breakfasts.

I know that if I could have a healthy breakfast every morning, half the battle is won. So I gave myself three days to try the shake because since it is soya based, I feared that I would suffer from joint aches as I sometimes would when drinking soya milk or eating tofu. I thought if I do not experience any bodily discomfort, I would take it daily. That’s because all processed food do cause some discomfort to my body. My friends told me that my body is like a barometer that gauges how “clean” a certain food is. It works better than the “halal” certification because even with halal food, they were not “clean” enough for my body.

This is how my body suffers when I take processed food:

1. Fried food/animal fat/cooked santan – this is the worst culprit for me. My hands will feel an intense burning sensation from inside within half hour after eating and that includes KFC, which I wish I can sometimes enjoy. A small pus will emerge on my face. Then my fingers will swell and the joints hurt the following morning.

2. Black tea – sore joints in the fingers, knees and sometimes toes and sleepless night even if I take it in the morning.

3. Coffee – sharp joint pains in the fingers, knees and toes and heart palpitations. Also sleepless night despite consuming it in the morning.

4. Burgers/sausages/cheese/canned food – fingers swell and joints ache

5. Milo – laboured breathing

6. Ajinomoto and other monosodium glutamate – shoulder aches and breathing discomfort

7. A sweet - put me to sleep or knock me unconcious within 15 minutes.

8.Soya/tofu – sometimes have joint aches.

A specialist said I suffer from arthritis while Chinese physicians said I had poor blood circulation and toxin accumulation.

Whatever it is called, I often dread eating, especially when I have to eat out, because I would suffer after a meal. So for three days I tried the shake and I did not have any symptoms. I was intrigued by the product. I thought: What is this processed food that is as good as nature? So I decided to consume it daily.Today is the second month I took the shake and I have lost almost 4kg. That’s a feat considering that we only took the shake for breakfast and hardly took it for dinner because of all the dinners John and I had to attend during Christmas and Chinese New Year. I was 8kg overweight and friends and colleagues had been asking whether I was pregnant, but I haven’t had such questions asked for more than one month:).

More than the weight issue, my joint aches and swelling have subsided and I hardly have any of the symptoms anymore. I am not sure how the products have helped because I had only intended to take it as an ideal breakfast and to reduce my big abdomen. Amazingly, I now sleep well every night, unlike before. Several years ago, doctors had advised me to take medication. I did for a short while and then stopped and tried various alternative medicine which didn’t work out. I had even gone for faith healing. While I could after that stood and walk for long periods without pain, the morning swelling and stiffness in my fingers would not go away. Finally, I told the Lord three months ago that if He was not healing me directly for some reason I might not understand yet, I had asked that He bring something to me to help me keep my symptoms under control. The good effects from the nutrition and special tea mix on my joints were totally unexpected. I consider my prayer answered. I can even enjoy a glass of wine now without my joints hurting. John has lost more inches and his alarming visceral fat level has gone down two notches after drinking the tea mix daily. I cannot believe my eyes how it had worked so well with him. Mine, which was considered healthy but not excellent, had also gone down by one notch. So we have less fat around the vital organs now, which is considered more dangerous.

Our skin texture too have also improved. I have 4kg more to go and if all goes well, I should achieve my target in a month’s time since CNY is almost over and it is time to be serious about weight losing and being healthy. It’s not that I have not tried to be healthy. It is very difficult when we eat out most of the time. John has another kg to go but his abdomen is still big although it has shrunken to half its size. It is best to couple the weight loss effort with exercise... We are now enjoying a better quality of life and I no longer think that the product - Herbalife – is expensive. I would say it is value for money. For me, I have in the last 15 years put health as a priority and spent less on clothes, accessories and electronic gadgets, hence, am willing to spend more on nutrition.