Simple vegetarian lunch

Tired of eating out, I made myself a very simple, complete and healthy vegetarian meal lunch on my off day today – Fong’s pasta.

These were the things I added to my spaghetti:

2 tablespoons of light olive oil (not sure if I chose the right olive oil but seems to taste ok, haha!)

A pinch of salt

Rosemary herb

Basil herb

Sliced black olives (ready to consume from bottle)

Chopped up Italian sun dried tomatoes

Blanched organic sawi (mustard leaves) - blanch with the boiling water before boiling the spaghetti.

Although it looked simple, I thoroughly enjoyed the flavour from the black olives, sun dried tomatoes and organic sawi. Whenever I buy sawi, it has to be organic because the ordinary sawi can be bitter while the organic ones has a sweetish taste, crunchy and easily eaten raw. Yes, I sometimes get slightly bitter organic sawi and wonder whether it is actually organic. I prefer to get it from a trusted organic shop but it’s such a hassle to travel to the nearest one, so I usually buy them in a hypermarket nearby.

Since I am not getting protein from meat, I have the spaghetti meal with my favourite soy based shake. I decide to blend the cappuccino flavoured shake with celery since celery is known to lower cholesterol and has a bitter taste that may go with coffee flavour. I also add a small green apple. I thought I will pengsan (faint) drinking it since the combination sounds repulsive, but it turns out to be all right. The flavour is not repulsive but not spectacular either, but it is decent, so anyone can try it. I prefer the Cappuccino shake blended with celery on its own or Cappuccino shake with a green apple on its own.

Here is the recipe I use for my shake meal:

Blend celery or green apple with some ice water 

Add ice water up to about 400ml in measurement

Add 2 heaping scoops of Herbalife F1 Cappuccino (It is rich in protein and has lots of nutrients)

Blend again and serve.

The shake helps me to cut down on nonsensical food outside which more often than not, hurt my joints. So for someone with a medical condition like mine, I am discovering that kosher food, organically produced food and eating food according to one’s blood type is helpful for everyone. I wish that the nation’s policy can encourage such a policy on food since Malaysians eat out a lot. This will help a long way in encouraging a healthier, and not more obese, nation. It’s very difficult for me to adhere to these guidelines but it’s always good to seek out these foods as much as we can.

Non-toxic cosmetics have arrived

This is the moment I have been waiting for. Melaleuca has brought in the Sei Bella range of non-toxic cosmetics into Malaysia a few days ago. They include a range of lip colours and eye shadows as well as concealers, mineral and liquid foundations, loose powder, pressed powder and mascara.

I needed a lipstick and decided to get one – Coral Reef. While I found the Sei Bella colours currently a bit limited, I like the feel and texture of the lip colour on my lips. It feels light. Most of all, it did not cause any allergies or dryness to my lips after using.

I have been a bit cautious when buying lipsticks because the use of two long-wearing expensive lipsticks from two different well-known brands some years ago had landed me with cold sores on the sides of my mouth. I don’t know what toxic chemical/ingredients they contained but I had stopped using the two brands.

I am also glad that there is hardly any taste to the Melaleuca lip colour. I don’t like the taste or smell of many lipsticks in the market, so this is good.

However, I am still not used to the Coral Reef lip colour recommended to me by the cosmetics consultant at the counter but John says it looks neutral on me while the colour has a bit of a sheen. I shall wear it more often and see what my friends say.

I hope Melaleuca will produce and bring in more lip colours suitable for Asian skin.

Now I am ready to get more of the Sei Bella range of products.

Melaleuca also has a wide range of non-toxic skin care, bath and shower products and household cleaning products.

For more information, please email John or me at healthpossibilities@gmail.com

Food laws that bring health

It’s the Chinese New Year season and it is the time of the year for Chinese families to get together as well as catching up with relatives and friends. During my visits, I have noticed a few of my relatives and friends’ children, and even hear of friends’ friends’ children, suffering from severe eczema or allergic rashes.

It is quite sad to see children suffering from such misery at such a young age. Surprisingly, they have flawless face skin but very dry and itchy hands and legs which caused them to scratch and bleed. While medication only suppresses the symptoms, I don’t know of any cure. People could try and boost their immune system so that the symptoms do not return and that they stop eating toxic food found in nature and processed food.

I have never heard or seen anyone with skin problem when I was young. Not even one case. Now, it is too common, with children as well as adults. As the result of this observation, I began to wonder about the food laws described in the Old Testament of the Bible and began to dig for information over the net. I have always known that the laws were logical but not exactly know the scientific details. The Jews adhered to them, the Muslims practice some of them but I don’t know personally of any non-Jewish Christians (who put the laws into practice although I have on rare occasions hear isolated cases where they avoid certain food based on the wisdom in the ancient text.

The only reason I can think off why our parents and grandparents hardly suffer from these symptoms is because they hardly eat meat or seafood, and if they do, it is only on special occasions. (And of course, they do a lot of manual work and sweat it out – which also helps remove some toxin from the body.) While they may lack calcium and other minerals as a result, and lose their teeth early in life, this could have saved them from a lot of unhealthy as well as toxic elements being ingested.

The food laws in the Old Testament could be found in Leviticus 11.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+11&version=NIV

While I don’t mind not eating insects and birds, I will surely miss my favourite seafood especially shellfish such as crabs, oysters, clams (lala) and prawns. Fish with fins and scales can be eaten but those without them are not to be eaten. So, the pomfrets (ikan bawal), catfish (ikan keli) and sharks are also not to be eaten.

Some websites point out that these shellfish and fish species contain high levels of heavy metals. Is there any wonder why some people are allergic to them?

One website says that these shellfish and fish species are actually made by God to clean up the ocean, lakes and rivers. In other words, we are eating garbage when we eat them. By depleting them, we are also destroying the environment.

The Biblical food laws also said that we are not to eat the blood and fats of meat. Ok, this is understood because blood could transmit diseases while fats clog up the arteries.

Pork is of course, not to be eaten too. I will miss my “char siew” and “siew yoke.”

I wish I can say that I can totally avoid these foods. It will be hard. But I will definitely reduce eating them from now on. I will particularly miss raw oysters and escargot even though I hardly eat them.

While times have changed, the laws are still relevant to our lives. Healthy people as well as those who suffer from eczema should avoid the foods mentioned in Leviticus 11. More than that, we should also avoid as much as possible deep fried and processed food. Processed foods are man made food (as opposed to God-made food or food source directly from nature) which includes nuggets, burgers, sausages, ham and cheese. These processed foods (unless real meat slices with no additives or preservatives are used) as well as canned food, many fermented food, food with colourings, additives and preservatives should also be avoided as much as possible. From my observation, those with auto-immune diseases such as mentioned above as well as those with asthma and arthritis, eating such foods can trigger inflammatory symptoms.

A few years ago, I had overheard a conversation in an organic food café of a woman sitting next to my table that she had gone to another organic food café to have a meal and after the meal, her eczema returned and she suffered a great deal and had to go on organic fruits and vegetables juice fast for three days to de-tox. She had been going to the café where we were and had no problems with the food and had told a friend with her that she did not know why her symptoms returned when she had eaten organic food from the other cafe. (She could only eat organic vegan food due to her condition.) I could not help listening to her conversation and decided to politely budge in and told her that the café used organic vegetables but not organic sauces or natural seasoning. She was shocked to hear that. I really felt sorry for her because food providers sometimes do not bother to label their food.

Basically, we all need clean food, not just for hygienic or faith reasons but also food that are safe from heavy metals, preservatives, colourings, additives, fats and carcinogenic recycled frying oils.

The recommendations above are not a substitute for proper medical or dietary advice and shall not be construed as a cure for any specific disease or health condition. Readers are advised to check their specific dietary needs and requirements with their doctor if in doubt.

Soap and body wash

I have been trying out the Platinum Bar soap from Melaleuca and really like it. It makes my skin feels totally clean. I like the mild smell too. Seems like a combined smell of some herb and a tinge of lemon. Usually, I need to use scrub for my shoulder and shoulder blade areas but with this, I need not.

I have used Renew Body Wash before the soap and I need to put more of the washing liquid on my shoulder and shoulder blade areas where there are more oil secretion. Otherwise, I don't feel clean. However, the advantage I noticed with Renew body wash is that my skin seems to look and feel smoother. It is a gentle body wash that is suitable for less oily or sensitive skin.

Although I don't quite like the body wash as much as the soap, I find the Renew Intensive Skin Therapy very good for my dry hands. It worked well for me during a winter holiday too but I must say I still like to add shea butter moisturiser for winter use. With the Renew, my hands recovered fast after a lot of housework.

You can look at the picture of the lotion here:
http://www.melaleucamalaysia.com/renew-intensive-skin-therapy

John has used a cotton bud and applied a drop of Melaleuca oil on a small boil on his eye lid that has not gone away for three weeks even after it had "ripened" and burst. He wanted to go to the doctor but decided to try out the oil first. In just a few days, the boil is almost gone. (We don't advise people to do this, but if you do, it will be at your own risk.)

I am really happy that since I started spraying the Sol-U-Guard Botanical Disinfectant once a week (I hardly cook) on the kitchen cabinet table top, there are no more lizard poo. I don't have to clean it up every morning anymore.

Lose weight for better health for the new year

Losing weight is about health and we make no apologies in encouraging our relatives and friends in losing weight healthily. Many people don't take it seriously that being overweight is detrimental and costly to their health and wallet in later life. We need not age with ill health.

Many Malaysians are having obesity related health problems in their 30s and 40s when it used to be 50s and 60s and Malaysia is one of the top Asian countries with obesity problem. Obesity can lead to problems such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure, stroke and heart attack. That is because, when we are overweight, our organs cannot cope with all the stress and will sooner or later give way.

Taking care of our health is an investment of the future.


John and his gang of friends are organising a weight loss challenge - the first for next year - on January 5, 2011. If you, or you know of friends in the Klang Valley who may need the motivation to lose weight for health reasons or for vanity sake or for a wedding, please do let us know.

Top winner of the challenge stand to win more than RM2,000. There are also prizes for winners up to top four and for every kilogramme lost.

Participants have to come in for weigh ins on Jan 5, Jan 12 and Jan 26 at Solaris Dutamas.

Some of you may have known that the products we are using are from an MLM company. We also make no apologies for that because we found the products to be of excellent quality and at reasonable prices compared with products in pharmacy outlets.

John and I are against pyramid schemes and will not go into such schemes. We have chosen a company that offers high quality nutritional products and they are value for money.

So if anyone is interested in nutritional products and not for losing weight, please do let us know.

Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Maximise Your Metabolism

By Luigi Gratton, M.D., M.P.H.


Exercise training helps you burn more calories both during the day and at night.

Total Caloric Expenditure is simply the total amount of calories that your body burns in one day. The vast majority of calories expended are used for the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or the "Resting Metabolism." This BMR accounts for over 70% of an individual's total calories used in one day. These are the calories your body uses to keep your engine running.

Your body is like your car. Think of turning your car engine on in the morning and just letting it run in the driveway. The car sitting in the driveway burning fuel is like your BMR. The bigger the car engine, the more fuel it uses. So a big truck burns lots of fuel and gets maybe eight miles to the gallon while an economy car uses little fuel and gets 40 miles to the gallon. If you pushed down on the gas pedal and revved the engine, you would be burning more fuel, which is basically what you do when you exercise.

The amount of muscle you have determines how many calories you burn everyday in a resting state. Each pound of muscle burns approximately 14 calories per day, so a big football player may burn over 3,000 calories/day at rest (BMR=3000). Meanwhile a tall and thin ballerina may burn only 1,200 calories/day at rest (BMR=1200).
When you exercise, you build more muscle mass and increase the size of your engine, which is a good thing. That means that even while you sleep you will be burning more calories because you have increased your BMR.
Imagine taking a small economy car and putting in a bigger engine that requires more fuel. That is the basic idea behind exercise training, fine-tuning your body's engine into a high-performance machine.
Herbalife® Inner Nutrition products help provide you with the best fuel for your high-performance engine. With a variety of delicious shakes, bars, soups and soy nuts, Herbalife offers a wide selection of fuel for your body. This healthy fuel will help keep your engine fine-tuned for maximum caloric expenditure–even while you sleep.

Tips for burning more calories:

Exercise to increase muscle mass.

Fuel up with Herbalife® nutrition products.

Rev up your workout routine to burn more calories.


Dr. Gratton also serves as Vice President of Medical Affairs and Education at Herbalife.

http://health.herbalife.com/health-articles/energy-and-fitness/maximize-metabolism

Less Sugar Better Health Campaign

This ad by the Health Ministry is useful for those who have not made any efforts to improve their diet. John and I are a few steps ahead. We generally don't put sugar in our drinks and do not add it in our cooking. We also hardly drink from bottled or packed juices but eat fresh fruits. We hardly eat fried food or food cooked in coconut milk and remove fatty parts of meat on most occasions.