Posts

The Ibanag is an "oddball"

Image
Sure I am You Are an Oddball You tend to be understated and under appreciated. You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way. People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little. Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know. Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid Your power color: Silver Your power symbol: Square Your power month: April What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

If I were a Yoga Position

Image
You Are the Crow Pose You have an amazing amount of strength. You don't need anyone but yourself in the world. You are able to life yourself up when times get tough. You know how to persevere. You are disciplined. You don't let pain or struggle be an issue for you. Even though you are very independent, you also have the makings of a great leader. What Yoga Pose Are You?

Documenting Drug side effects

As I mentioned in my earlier post I am now on a anti-cholesterol drug. This very short post is just about documenting what seems to be different about how I feel physically after taking this drug for over 5 days now. I couldn't exactly say I have never experienced this before, but I have these muscle cramps around my thighs and legs including my arms every time I wake up in the morning. Maybe lack of exercise? I have not gone anywhere outside my house in the last three days. Maybe I need to shake a leg a little. Let me plan that out.

Statin and me

I am back in the blogging world. After almost two months of absence I can finally say I am on my way to be blogging healthy again. And talking about health, I am slowly regaining my weight. It had been a very stressful two months. It started when we began planning our move to a different place. There were so many concerns that needed to be tackled, and issues that required refinement. I was on the verge of complete exhaustion. This affected my health, my health plunged. But today, as I write this very first post here since my hiatus, I feel better. I am starting to gain some pounds. I am not sure if this is about the statin drug I have started to take. My cholesterol count was starting to seriously worry me. You see, I postponed taking my doctor-prescribed statin medication against the advice of my doctor. I thought I could bring down my cholesterol levels through a better diet. The kind of hypertension I have is not really affected so much by the food I eat. Realizing this, I began

Avoid stress -- do what is right

It doesn't matter that you try to eat and live healthy, but if you are stressed -- there's a risk you'll still get sick. I should know. Stress came to me early. My life had been on a continuous spin since I began doing what I wasn't supposed to do. I had choices. But they were too difficult to make. Cowardice or just plain stupidity. Who knows? There were too many ominous signs but I chose to ignore all of them. Regrets? I am just glad discernment has started to make me fully understand who I am as a person. If only for that I got no regrets.

Growing fruits may well be served by virtue

Image
Can you guess what fruit has 60 mg of Lysine, 22 g of Protein, 30 mg of Calcium and a whole lot more of vitamins and minerals that can be useful for the body's well-being but at the same time looks yukky when over-ripe and doesn't look as good as other pretty looking fruits like strawberries and mangoes but perhaps equal if not better in nutritional benefit? Yup,yup, yup. I could not have guessed it either. The answer is sweet sop or sugar apple or locally known over this part of the globe as atis . "The Atis tree is easy to grow. Just plant a seed on almost any soil and atis will grow. However, it requires tropic al or near tropical weather. When planted, Atis will begin to bear fruit in about a year's time. It will bear fruit about 3 times a year and the sweetest fruits are those borne during the summer months." Ours just bore once last year and it was the first time. We started growing it three years ago and the delay was caused by lack of sun. The neighbor&#

Herb-ing and loving our livers

In the past I have posted bits and pieces on one of my favorite food topics, herbs . And though what I had researched and written is very far from being comprehensive and mostly executed through my food blog , I feel it would also be good to take it up here as well to seguey into a health and wellness post. And while we are into promoting wellness, why not choose to talk about our liver . Our liver is a glandular body organ that: Manufacture (synthesize) proteins, including albumin (to help maintain the volume of blood) and blood clotting factors Synthesize, store, and process (metabolize) fats, including fatty acids (used for energy) and cholesterol Metabolize and store carbohydrates, which are used as the source for the sugar (glucose) in blood that red blood cells and the brain use Form and secrete bile that contains bile acids to aid in the intestinal absorption (taking in) of fats and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Eliminate, by metabolizing and/or secr