Actually, it was not much struggling.. at least not with the food and hunger pangs.
I am still trying to get into a normal day/night routine with a jet-lag lasting a bit longer than usual (reason: 2 months Europe time zone and a night flight London-Singapore), so sleeping at night with Zoe still waking up once or twice a night to seek comfort with Mum and get some milk.. not easy..
As for the food: though I had to attend a few functions, it was bearable.
Today, I found a nature store, whose owner makes home milk kefir. Hard to find in Singapore. Most people eat outside, lest make their own food!!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
My autumn cleanse
This afternoon I observed my mirror image in profile while walking passed some shops and I realized I needed to do something badly! : loosing some weight around my waistline! (or is it waste line?)
My 7 weeks in Belgium, indulging on home made food, some of the most delicious breads and meals, made by my wonderful wife (who did not gain a single Kg!) and my own Mum (who gained 2 Kgs), lead me to some 6 extra Kgs that I need to shed now.
During the following 10-days, I will have a season cleanse, combined with a spiritual fast seeking God on some major issues in my life.
Each seasonal cleanse has its own characteristic dietary guidelines, basically consisting of 10 days of refreshing fruits and veggies and drinking water, lots of it!.
Day One - same fruit at each meal for the entire day, marked by five fruit servings (one or two cups of fruit for each serving). The best fruits for cleansing have a lot of water: watermelon, grapes, apples, and oranges.
Days Two through Four - four servings of fruit during the day plus a healthy salad for dinner. Greens and sprouts are wonderful high-fiber foods.
Days Five through Seven - Similar pattern as days 2-4—except that I add raw nuts and seeds to my salad.
Days Eight through Ten - one type of fruit and four ounces of whole milk plain yogurt or kefir and one tablespoon of honey. (I will teach later on how to make water kefir at home.)
My 7 weeks in Belgium, indulging on home made food, some of the most delicious breads and meals, made by my wonderful wife (who did not gain a single Kg!) and my own Mum (who gained 2 Kgs), lead me to some 6 extra Kgs that I need to shed now.
During the following 10-days, I will have a season cleanse, combined with a spiritual fast seeking God on some major issues in my life.
Each seasonal cleanse has its own characteristic dietary guidelines, basically consisting of 10 days of refreshing fruits and veggies and drinking water, lots of it!.
Day One - same fruit at each meal for the entire day, marked by five fruit servings (one or two cups of fruit for each serving). The best fruits for cleansing have a lot of water: watermelon, grapes, apples, and oranges.
Days Two through Four - four servings of fruit during the day plus a healthy salad for dinner. Greens and sprouts are wonderful high-fiber foods.
Days Five through Seven - Similar pattern as days 2-4—except that I add raw nuts and seeds to my salad.
Days Eight through Ten - one type of fruit and four ounces of whole milk plain yogurt or kefir and one tablespoon of honey. (I will teach later on how to make water kefir at home.)
Friday, July 27, 2007
Pork, Pig, Swine … not for mine!
Choosing Clean MeatsPork and dishes made from pork top many Western and Asian food lists. Some people don't realize, however, that these foods come from an ‘unclean’ animal — swine.
The swine, or pig, did not make the Creator's list of "clean" animals for a very good reason.
Clean animals like cows and deer that chew the cud have an advanced digestive system that includes an alimentary canal and a secondary cud receptacle. They have three stomachs to process and refine their clean, vegetation-based food in a process that can take up to twenty-four hours.
Pigs on the other hand, never limit their diet to vegetation. They will eat anything they can find — including their own young and sick or dead pigs from the same pen. That’s why we call some people: pigs…because they eat everything (see the photo and article: they do not even mind swallowing wastewater!) and slowly also start looking like pigs!
It's no wonder, then, that pork contains poisons and by-products that can harm you, including the destructive enzymes cadaverine and putrescine.
I am NOT promoting vegetarianism at all here! I like to eat meat! Just mind that we, humans have a digestive track 3 times our length, suitable - like most herbivores - for a mainly fruit and vegetable diet.
Carnivore (meat eating) animals can have a track 20 times their length and have much more stomach acid, needed to digest the meat.
Now, think what happens if meat, like pork, starts quickly decaying and rotting in the long digestive track
For your health, stick to the animals that the Creator chose as his ideal food for humankind. Modern medicin also links eating of pork and other meats to colon disease and other diseases, like CVD’s (cardio vascular diseases) with clogging of arteries (Cholesterol), etc…etc...
The Creator's Meats
For a quick reference when it comes to choosing meats, remember the bible's guidelines: Choose meat from animals that have cloven hooves and also chew their cud. There are no exceptions to this rule. If an animal has just one quality or the other, its meat is unclean.
No joke: God knows us and what is good for us!
Enjoy your food!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Detox? Just watch what you eat!
It has been a while since I bought my last crate of juice from Cold Storage.
When I was reviewing some infomercials by Jack Lalanne last month, one thing this 93 year old fitness and health guru said was: “Whatever comes packed or boxed and is made by man is no good!” I stood still by that phrase and thought of it deeply.
Indeed, all that has been created by God has been declared good: fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, etc… yet today, all seemed to be processed and packed for easy storage and consumption.
Even if you take something made of organic produce, it still must be packed with something that prevents it from decaying or rotting. Hence, good ingredients are processed with food additives, acids, preservatives, some even toxic.
The final product is not that organic anymore. So, by nurturing our bodies, we actually stuff it with acids and toxics that imbalance our organ functioning and eventually gets stored up in our organs and joints and causes illnesses and cancer.
Ever wondered why everybody is talking “detox” now? Instead of “detoxing” our bodies, we’d better be careful of what goes into our mouths!!
So, I have decided to make my own vegetable and fruit juice at home and purchased myself recently this fantastic "Hippocrates" twin gear juicer!
So every 2-3 days, I buy a couple of kilo's fresh produce from the market and make some exotic mixes at home. That is really yummie!!
On top of that, Tio - our gardener here - has helped me to set up this little wheat grass garden so once in a while I get to drink this super healthy fresh wheatgrass.
Below are some links of sites that I have found interesting on the above subject and for fun I have also added some of Jack Lalanne’s interviews and oldies of his TV shows when he was 50 years younger!! Enjoy it...
Here is good ol' Jack, doing his facelift workout at age 88: click on this link .. Jack 88 ... very funny...and it seems to have worked for him!!!
... and here he is with his famous "powerjuicer"... and his trade mark "Good-bye song" he has been doing on his TV shows for more than 50 Years!!!
Have fun and enjoy the clips!
(Double click on the dark coloured links to be re-routed to the YouTube site...)
When I was reviewing some infomercials by Jack Lalanne last month, one thing this 93 year old fitness and health guru said was: “Whatever comes packed or boxed and is made by man is no good!” I stood still by that phrase and thought of it deeply.
Indeed, all that has been created by God has been declared good: fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, seeds, etc… yet today, all seemed to be processed and packed for easy storage and consumption.
Even if you take something made of organic produce, it still must be packed with something that prevents it from decaying or rotting. Hence, good ingredients are processed with food additives, acids, preservatives, some even toxic.
The final product is not that organic anymore. So, by nurturing our bodies, we actually stuff it with acids and toxics that imbalance our organ functioning and eventually gets stored up in our organs and joints and causes illnesses and cancer.
Ever wondered why everybody is talking “detox” now? Instead of “detoxing” our bodies, we’d better be careful of what goes into our mouths!!
So, I have decided to make my own vegetable and fruit juice at home and purchased myself recently this fantastic "Hippocrates" twin gear juicer!
So every 2-3 days, I buy a couple of kilo's fresh produce from the market and make some exotic mixes at home. That is really yummie!!
On top of that, Tio - our gardener here - has helped me to set up this little wheat grass garden so once in a while I get to drink this super healthy fresh wheatgrass.
Below are some links of sites that I have found interesting on the above subject and for fun I have also added some of Jack Lalanne’s interviews and oldies of his TV shows when he was 50 years younger!! Enjoy it...
Here is good ol' Jack, doing his facelift workout at age 88: click on this link .. Jack 88 ... very funny...and it seems to have worked for him!!!
... and here he is with his famous "powerjuicer"... and his trade mark "Good-bye song" he has been doing on his TV shows for more than 50 Years!!!
Have fun and enjoy the clips!
(Double click on the dark coloured links to be re-routed to the YouTube site...)
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Pro and Cons of Network Marketing
Yes, 10 years ago I left the corporate world and wanted to become become a millionaire by 35.
I was already using some products by NuSin and jumped into working at it full time. The promise was not a QUICK rich plan, but years of hard and consistent work.
Amway, Herbalife, NuSkin, FreeLife, Young Living, etc (the list is long)... Yes, some have great products, but they also come with great prices.
Let me explain why!
MLM makes us believe that direct marketing is the cheapest way to get a product to the consumer.
That is TRUE. Only: in most MLM there are 6 to 10 levels of distributors who each need to earn a commission and make money to buy their own overpriced generic products.
This is also TRUE: Ex. : Shiseido sells a cream for 100$. 70$ is used for advertisement and marketing and to pay the pretty faces you see in Vogue. 20$ goes to the company for revenue and less than 10$ goes to R&D and the actual raw material cost. What do you buy: an expensive, poor quality cream.
Also TRUE: MLM company XWZ, sells their cream for 100$. Pays 70% of it to their multi level distributors (marketing cost) and can still afford with 30$ to invest in good ingredients. What do you buy: an expensive, good quality cream.
NOW: mind you: this is only for products with a high M&A cost, NOT for generic products and household products or consumer products with a low M&A. ESPECIALLY now that many of these products can be purchased directly over the net.
Most MLM pay out anything between 40-75% of their sales price to the level of distributors involved.
Here is some satire on MLM companies: Have a look at these
There is a certain power in network marketing, sharing with family friends, colleagues...do we not want the best for our beloved ones? Of course it is!
I yet to have to encounter a great MLM Company that has great, competitive products with a tech edge, good compensation plan and long term future, making a change in peoples lives.
See the next funny commercial of how a father talks to his young boy about "important things" in life ... I hope he does not end up with a new car and a teenage pregnancy at the same time!!
I was already using some products by NuSin and jumped into working at it full time. The promise was not a QUICK rich plan, but years of hard and consistent work.
Amway, Herbalife, NuSkin, FreeLife, Young Living, etc (the list is long)... Yes, some have great products, but they also come with great prices.
Let me explain why!
MLM makes us believe that direct marketing is the cheapest way to get a product to the consumer.
That is TRUE. Only: in most MLM there are 6 to 10 levels of distributors who each need to earn a commission and make money to buy their own overpriced generic products.
This is also TRUE: Ex. : Shiseido sells a cream for 100$. 70$ is used for advertisement and marketing and to pay the pretty faces you see in Vogue. 20$ goes to the company for revenue and less than 10$ goes to R&D and the actual raw material cost. What do you buy: an expensive, poor quality cream.
Also TRUE: MLM company XWZ, sells their cream for 100$. Pays 70% of it to their multi level distributors (marketing cost) and can still afford with 30$ to invest in good ingredients. What do you buy: an expensive, good quality cream.
NOW: mind you: this is only for products with a high M&A cost, NOT for generic products and household products or consumer products with a low M&A. ESPECIALLY now that many of these products can be purchased directly over the net.
Most MLM pay out anything between 40-75% of their sales price to the level of distributors involved.
Here is some satire on MLM companies: Have a look at these
There is a certain power in network marketing, sharing with family friends, colleagues...do we not want the best for our beloved ones? Of course it is!
I yet to have to encounter a great MLM Company that has great, competitive products with a tech edge, good compensation plan and long term future, making a change in peoples lives.
See the next funny commercial of how a father talks to his young boy about "important things" in life ... I hope he does not end up with a new car and a teenage pregnancy at the same time!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
“Fruits, Lies and Videotapes”
I have gathered from YouTube some infomercials on the wolfberry products, mostly drinks, either pure or mixed with other powerful anti oxidant fruits.
What a lot of fruit juice manufacturers fail to say is how much ORAC ( Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity ) contents is in the bottle!
Moreover, many of these juices are reconstituted, meaning they are made from concentrates. NOT from fresh raw or cold pressed juice. Yes, they usually do not contain preservatives, but why would it? … it is hardly a fresh natural product!
USDA research has shown that processing (such as evaporation to concentrate) significantly reduces the ORAC.
So, I am not calling it “Lies” but at least some form of deception, whereby manufacturers take claims of fresh produce and then attribute it to their processed products.
One example is this of “Del Monte”
Even though the USDA claims that “prunes” have the highest ORAC score of fruits ( 5700 TE ) per 100 grams, Del Monte fails to state that their premium prune juice has same or at least a fraction of that ORAC level.
On the same label, it is said “water extract from prunes” meaning it is not pure pressed juice!!! Consumers are made to think that drinking their product is the same as eating fresh prunes.
I have written many of these companies, including Del Monte, to explain this or at least mention on their packaging the factual ORAC level of the finished product, not referrals to their fresh produce. I have yet to receive any formal reply of any of them, including some “Fruit Juice Manufacturers Associations” in the USA.
In case they do, I will post their replies.
What a lot of fruit juice manufacturers fail to say is how much ORAC ( Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity ) contents is in the bottle!
Moreover, many of these juices are reconstituted, meaning they are made from concentrates. NOT from fresh raw or cold pressed juice. Yes, they usually do not contain preservatives, but why would it? … it is hardly a fresh natural product!
USDA research has shown that processing (such as evaporation to concentrate) significantly reduces the ORAC.
So, I am not calling it “Lies” but at least some form of deception, whereby manufacturers take claims of fresh produce and then attribute it to their processed products.
One example is this of “Del Monte”
Even though the USDA claims that “prunes” have the highest ORAC score of fruits ( 5700 TE ) per 100 grams, Del Monte fails to state that their premium prune juice has same or at least a fraction of that ORAC level.
On the same label, it is said “water extract from prunes” meaning it is not pure pressed juice!!! Consumers are made to think that drinking their product is the same as eating fresh prunes.
I have written many of these companies, including Del Monte, to explain this or at least mention on their packaging the factual ORAC level of the finished product, not referrals to their fresh produce. I have yet to receive any formal reply of any of them, including some “Fruit Juice Manufacturers Associations” in the USA.
In case they do, I will post their replies.
This is what Brunswick Labs, an independent testing facility on ORAC levels, state on their own web site: "The fact that a commercial product contains one of these plant products does not necessarily mean that the ORAC value of the product will be the same as the plant product in its' pure form. "
So, please sit back, relax and let the info overwhelm you. It is very hype and American. The Big Dream! You may need a broadband for quick streaming…and eat some fresh fruit or vegetables if you can!
The Greek philosopher Hippocrates said : "Let food by your medicin" but this is what God says in the Bible in Ezekiel : "The fruit of the trees be for food and their leaves for medicin".
It is amazing to see how MLM companies can turn these fruits into juiced products and sell for more than 50USD per bottle! One needs to be shrewd to see if all their claims are valid or not..
(REMARK: I do NOT endorse any of the products or companies shown)
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