Suspend-It

I’m recently addicted to chicken. All kinds of recipes on chicken tastes great! I especially love chicken curry. I’m so addicted to it that I even ignore vegetables when they’re lain on the same table. In fact, I also asked my friend to teach me how to cook chicken curry. I know it’s too much, but I just can’t resist their awesome taste! I might grow some feathers and two wings, someday. Ha ha.

It’s okay to have cravings sometimes. But DO eat healthy!

Canned goods sure are handy. Not only are they tasty, but you can also have them in an instant! You could just heat them and poof! Hello, food!

Even if they really are very tasty, we should lower our canned food intake because too much of anything is bad for your health! Alright? Remember: Rule of moderation.

Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables–that’s what my mother always says. She’s never been wrong, so I live up to what she says, and I can say I’m a better person now because of her!

We all know that they don’t all taste good, so I tried tasting each fruit and vegetable out there and I chose some that I like. I personally like apples and leafy vegetables.

Try it yourself. Explore the wonderful world of greenery! I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

While helping out my sister with her assignment in Chemistry, I was surprised to find out that Magnesium (Mg), as defined by Nutrition Data, “is an essential mineral for the human body. It is needed for protein, bone, and fatty acid formation, making new cells, activating B vitamins, relaxing muscles, blood clotting and forming adenosine triphosphate (ATP).” It is even the 11th most abundant element by mass in the human body.

I was more fascinated when I learned that magnesium is a very important mineral in the body since it activates over 300 different processes in our body – from digestion, energy production, muscle function, and bone formation, to muscle relaxation, and heart function. This is why when people suffer from magnesium deficiency, their body goes out of balance.

According to studies, an average person needs around 350 to 450 mg of magnesium each day. To replace the magnesium levels which were depleted via exercise or just your normal routine, you can either to increase your caloric intake by over 50% or take magnesium supplements or magnesium vitamins.

For those checking their calorie intake, I suggest you check your magnesium intake as well.

When my sister asked help in her assignment as regards to food supplements, I visited some websites that deals on vitamin supplements. As I was searching, I came across the site LiquidVitaminStop. The site’s name really caught my attention and I found this intriguing.

At first, I told myself, why stop taking liquid vitamins? Is it because we are no longer babies? As such, I took time to read and discovered that the site instead is encouraging everyone, young and old to take vitamins and minerals in liquid form. It is actually a one-stop shop for all your vitamin needs, thus the word “stop” in their website name.

During Easter in our parish, the priest keeps on reminding the faithfuls of this biblical verse, “Remember man, that you are from dust and from dust you shall return”. Relatedly, in one of the forums I attended, the speaker said, “to be healthy, a person should be very careful with the foods they eat”. He strongly recommended to consider the following in the selection of foods: 1st priority, the produce from the soil like the fruits and vegetables; 2nd priority, those foods from the sea and bodies of water such as the fish; 3rd priority, the two-legged animals such as the birds and chicken; 4th priority, the four-legged animals with horns like the cows, deer and goats; and the last group that everyone has to avoid are those four-legged animals with horns like the pig.

These two beautiful reminders are not only on the aspects of man’s spirituality but on man’s physical and health concerns too. Thus, the first priority, the organic food coming from the soil is highly recommended for man, being an organic creature. From this produce come organic products such as organic health products, organic vitamins and organic skin care. In conclusion, organic is best for organic.

“Food is an important part of a balanced diet” - Fran Leibowitz

Food, as in REAL food, not the kind that skinny people eat, IS an important part of a well-balanced diet. As I mentioned in my previous post, dieting need not be just palatable. That is, healthy food nowadays no longer means “not tasty food” and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Dishes like Greek Feta Cheese Soufflés and Mushroom and Broccoli Stir-Fry are examples of healthy but tasty food.

You can actually browse over several chefs recipes page online so you can prepare and cook those healthy, tasty foods for you and your family, and even friends. That way, you are sure that they are eating right, happily, and with great gusto. After all, “The true cook is the perfect blend, the only perfect blend, of artist and philosopher. He knows his worth: he holds in his palm the happiness of mankind, the welfare of generations yet unborn (Norman Douglas, 1868-1952).”

Who said mushrooms is just for cooking and for some “fun-high-time” with friends?

Mushrooms can actually be used as an alternative medicine. In fact, a mushroom called Reishi, also known as the “herb of good fortune”, is one of the most-widely used herbal remedies in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Also called lingzhi in Chinese, meaning “herb of spiritual potency”, reishi has also been described as “mushroom of immortality”. And because of its presumed health benefits and apparent absence of side-effects, it has attained a reputation in the East as the ultimate herbal substance.

According to Reishi at LongevityHerbs.com, it has been used since the 2nd Century B.C. but for a long time was restricted from anyone outside of royalty. With regards to its medicinal uses, lingzhi has been found to be “anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-diabetic, anti-hypotensive, and protective of the liver. It has also been found to inhibit platelet aggregation, and to lower blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.” With these properties, this mushroom Because of these properties, lingzhi has been regarded as blood pressure stabilizer, antioxidant, analgesic, a kidney and nerve tonic. Moreover, according to an article in Wikipedia, “It has been used in bronchitis prevention and in cardiovascular treatment, and in the treatment of high triglycerides, high blood pressure, hepatitis, allergies, chemotherapy support, HIV support, and even for fatigue and altitude sickness.”

So the next time you find a mushroom, I hope that with this information, you’ll be looking at it in a different light.

Being fit is often associated with one’s weight. And with a lot of people being more conscious about their weight, they tend to watch their calorie intake and start to exercise to shed off some unwanted fats.

FYI: A calorie is a unit of energy supplied by food.

Still, keep in mind that you do not just lose weight simply by watching your calorie intake and exercising. You need to take into account how much you eat because it affects how much exercise is needed to make a difference in your weight. Consequently, you need to have a reliable calorie counter to keep track of your food intake.

One of the most reliable calorie counters I’ve come across with is from MyFitnessPal.com. Their counter is fast and easy to use. To cap it off, it also teaches you the nutritional contents of what you are eating, and how you can make better food choices. That is, you need not starve yourself to slimness. After all, your diet ought to provide enough calories to make up for the energy you expend daily.

For those who already have their desired figure and just want to maintain it, all you need to do is exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet.

Today the “Breast-Feeding Campaign” catches the attention of all sectors of society. This does not only concern the “milk formula” manufacturers or the cows /goats raisers, nor the government for its effects on revenues. This campaign is the concern of everybody including that of the unborn, for their future health status will depend on the perception of the child’s future parents.

About few years ago, my family and I had attended a vegetarian cooking demonstration. The session started with a short introduction which caught the audience’s attention. The speaker, equipped with a freshly harvested pineapple and a newly butchered cow’s meat (still with blood) told us that what is best for human consumption are those from nature, as natural as these could be. Thus, the next question was, “Which would you prefer, the pineapple or the cows meat?”

“Remember, the advice is to take the food in its natured form,” the speaker added. At this juncture, my children, as well as the rest of the adult audience, unanimously chose the pineapple. The speaker gladly declared that we made the right choice.

She emphasized that the pineapple will remain as pineapple even after several hours, or even days. On the other hand, the cow’s meat will rot easily after few hours. The speaker further stressed that our stomach should be a garden of fruits and vegetables rather than a cemetery or funeral parlor of dead animals.

This cooking demonstration taught us a big lesson in our life. With this great concept of eating food in its natural form, we could easily associate that the best milk for the infant is not the animals’ milk but the mother’s milk. Let us support the “Breast-Feeding Campaign”.