Financial health journey

An acquaintance had not had a job for three years and I had wanted to help her get started on the Herbalife business. It is unfortunate that, often, employers do not want to hire a worker after a certain age, and she is not too far from retirement age.
And so I decided to help her the only way I knew – get her self-employed through Herbalife.
Pix showed our first weekend at a flea market at Summit, Subang Jaya, me backing up Ai Yim and her brother on a roadshow, and helping her kick start her business in a serious way while educating the public about basic health.

Please email healthpossibilities@gmail.com for information.

Chocolate and Mocha shakes

Over the past week, I felt like having chocolate or Mocha drink. So here are a couple of very simple shakes recipes.

Mocha shake
Pour 200ml of ice water into shaker cup. Pour 200ml of Soyfresh (green and white pack) soya milk into shaker cup.

Put one scoop of F1 Dutch Chocolate and one scoop of F1 Cappucino into shaker cup.
Put one scoop of F3 (optional).

Shake it for one minute and the breakfast is ready.

Orange chocolate shake
Cut one orange into four and remove the flesh from the skin. Put the flesh into blender together with 150ml ice water into blender and blend.

Pour 150ml Soyfresh into blender and put it two scoops of F1 Dutch Chocolate (and F3 optional).

Blend until smooth and pour out content and drink.

Banana chocolate shake
Peel one small banana and cut into small pieces one red apple and blend with 150ml ice water.

Pour 150ml Soyfresh and two scoops of F1 Dutch Chocolate into blender and blend until smooth.

RM50m fine for pyramid offenders

From The Star, Thursday April 15, 2010

ANY company or society found guilty of a repeated offence in promoting a pyramid scheme can be fined up to a whopping RM50mil under a new Bill by the Government to plug loopholes in the direct sales sector.

The proposed amendment to the Direct Sales Act will also see individuals, including those working in companies or societies, fined up to RM10mil or jailed up to 10 years or both for repeated offences.

The Bill – which will also see the Act renamed as the Direct Sales and Anti-Pyramid Act – was tabled for first reading by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The minister later said the second reading of the Bill was expected during this meeting.

The maximum fine for a first offence in promoting such schemes is RM10mil for companies and RM5mil for individuals in addition to a possible five-year jail term.

Among others, the Bill will define a pyramid scheme to include features such as having no buy back policy or refunds, the promotion of bonuses or benefits through the recruitment of participants rather than the sales of goods or services, pressuring members to buy goods to qualify them for bonuses, and disallowing them from withdrawing from the programme.

Such a scheme will also be defined by requiring members to buy goods or make minimum payment in order to be eligible for participation, and to force them to buy more stuff than can be re-sold within a reasonable period of time.

The Bill aims to protect those giving information to authorities about pyramid schemes and other offences by disallowing any disclosure of their names or addresses during court trials.

Under this clause, no witness in civil or criminal proceedings is obliged or even permitted to disclose the names or addresses of informers or the nature of their information and any documents bearing their names will be concealed from view.

Malaysians getting obese

Article from The Star, Sunday April 11, 2010

Malaysians getting obese - by eating too heavily at night
By FLORENCE A. SAMY
newsdesk@thestar.com.my



PETALING JAYA: More Malaysians are keeping awake till late to indulge in what is becoming a top national pastime – tucking it in at 24-hour eating joints.

Yes, we are practically eating round-the-clock. If you are still not convinced, take a look at the goings-on at mamak shops close to and way past midnight.

These shops have sprouted up all over the country to satisfy the cravings of Malaysians who are gorging on calorie-packed late night meals with hardly a care – and getting obese in the process.

Statistics show that the prevalence of obesity among Malaysian adults increased by a staggering 250% over a 10-year period from 1996 while the number of overweight has increased by 70%.

The National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2006 showed that two out of every five adults or 43%, were either overweight or obese and an alarming situation where the number of obese adults had more than tripled over a decade, from 4% in 1996 to 14% in 2006.

Besides that, about 38% of youngsters aged between 12 and 18 were classified as overweight.

A recent survey involving 10,000 students showed that 24% of those aged between six and 12 were either overweight or obese.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai is obviously a very worried man, with more Malaysians at risk of being seriously ill due to uncontrollable eating.

“It has to change ... an unbalanced diet and eating late at night,’’ he cautioned. “In the past, we used to have two meals. These days, we are eating five to six times daily with late-night suppers at mamak stalls,’’ he said after launching the Malaysian Council for Obesity Prevention (MCOM) here yesterday.

MCOM, which comprises 13 professional bodies and NGOs, was set up to help the government counter the problem of obesity in the country.

The minister, an avowed vegetarian, spoke of another worrying trend – meat is fast becoming a staple-diet here. A diet rich in red meat causes high cholesterol which leads to cardio-vascular disease.

“Available data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity indicates that the problem we face may be more serious than those in other countries of the region,” he added.

Being overweight and obese, he said, would lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and even cancer.

According to statistics, 14.9% and 43% of Malaysians aged above 30 suffer from diabetes and hypertension respectively, with 20.7% of adults over 18 suffering from high cholesterol.

Liow said 300 nutritionists would be employed to serve at government clinics nationwide to help tackle obesity problems by creating awareness on the dangers of unhealthy eating.

Malaysian Council for Obesity Prevention (MCOM) president Jong Koi Chong echoed the minister’s concerns, saying the unhealthy eating trend was becoming a major problem.

“Our metabolic rate is very low at night making it easy for fat to accumulate in the body.

"Most 24-hour restaurants serve food that is high in fat, calories and cholesterol. Sadly, more of our young are picking up bad eating habits from adults,’’ he added.

Overcoming the odds in weight loss

Some of you have expressed to me the challenges you face while taking Herbalife shakes. Here are a few tips that I hope can help you achieve your targets.

Hunger pangs
A few of you may experience hunger pangs while taking the shake. I did when I first started to consume it but not John who is bigger in size than me. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the body is taking less bulk and hence, you would, initially, experience hunger. Usually this is overcome within three days as the body gets adjusted with less bulk. Although there is less bulk, the body is receiving adequate nutrition with Herbalife F!, so you don’t have to worry thinking that you are starving yourself because you are not starving yourself.

Each shake (2 scoops of F1 and 1 scoop of F3) should last you three to four hours. That means, when you take it for breakfast, it should last you until lunch.

In the event that you feel hungry within an hour like I did (one of the rare ones), add another scoop of F1 to the shake or plain Nestum. Or you can make another 200ml shake with another scoop of F1 with sugarless or extremely low sugar soya milk after a couple of hours if you are hungry.

I was told that when the body lacks nutrients or protein, it tends to be very hungry. So that could be the other reason for the hunger. I had mild dizziness and hunger pangs for three weeks but they subsided and vanished after a month. I understand that the mild dizziness and hunger pangs are part of healing crisis. Not everyone experience this. However, different people may experience different symptoms depending on the lack in their bodies. Most people I know don’t have any problems.

These days, I seldom feel hungry until my main meal hours and I eat colourful meals of decent portion (minus oily and fatty food). I eat three to four times a day, including having a shake.

Difficulties due to travelling
If you have difficulties having a shake because you are a sales person and on the move, it is understandable that you cannot not find a suitable place or time to have your shake. Actually, there are creative ways to work around that. When eating with a client, you can order juice of your choice without sugar and put the juice into your shaker cup and add the F1 and F3 and shake it and pour it out into the same glass and drink it. So there is no excuse that we have to eat unhealthy food.

Some of you may initially feel as though you need to go to toilet all the time because the body is in the process of removing toxin. Moreover, you may not have drank so much water before.

Well, if there is a will, there is a way. Petrol station and fast food chain outlets are places you can visit. So that could help, until your body gets adjusted and you don’t need to go pee so often. Nevertheless, we should do it once every three or four hours.

Constipation
Remove F3, drink lots of water, eat one or two fruits a day and sleep before 12 midnight. No chillies, fried or oily food because that will aggravate the condition. Papaya and prunes help relieve constipation and I think yoghurt helps too. And so does exercise - at least brisk walking in the park or in the gym for 20 min to half hour a day.

Dizziness
Reduce the amount of tea mix until a comfortable amount. Then gradually increase it until comfortable amounts. Initially, I had mild dizziness even when I took only one teaspoon a day but now I have no problems taking up to two teaspoons a day. For those who are more well-endowed or tall and have visceral fat, three to four teaspoon a day in three or four mugs/glasses of water is recommended. Alternatively, you can put two scoops in a big water bottle and drink it while at work.

Please consult a doctor if you have other underlying medical conditions or when symptoms persist even when you don't take the shake/tea.

If there are any other problems, please email me at healthpossibilities@gmail.com