Stormy

It's always a sad thing to see my blog neglected like this. Things happen and I can't help it that I don't have the time to blog as often as I want to. God knows how many times I want to write but things get in the way. I just had to blog about Stormy. Just 2 days left before 2018 draws it's curtain and I need to write this before it's too late. I might add some more facts later on when I have the time, but for now, I'll write about how Stormy came into my life.

For those who follow me on my Instagram, they would already know about Stormy. Every other day I would do an update about her. She came into my life last October. To be exact, I found her on the 18th of October 2018 in my own garden. She was screaming away like crazy. Sounding so desperate for help. I knew something was not right. I heard that scream the night before around 9.00pm. At that time I thought the sound came from the roof of our house. Never did I imagine that the little kitten was actually in my garden that night! There was a storm that night. Very heavy rain. The screaming became louder and louder. I couldn't help but wonder why the kitten was screaming so helplessly. If there was a mother....why didn't the mother comfort her. The sound was so disturbing. When it was time for me to sleep, I could still hear the screaming on and off. I suppose, she must have been tired of screaming and took a rest at times.

I couldn't sleep very well that night. I kept thinking of Manja. The stray cat that died in 2016 at our house. She died trying to give birth. It was a nightmare for me to see her die that way. I'm still traumatized about it till today. Whenever I see a cat, I'll be reminded of Manja. So when I heard that little kitten screaming, I kept thinking of Manja's babies that died with her. I cried myself to sleep that night.

The next day, the maid to our house. So we were busy that day. There was rain throughout the day. Off and on, I would hear the screaming. It was just so weird to hear a kitten STILL screaming since the night before. In my mind...I kept thinking, what on earth is the mother cat doing??? Where the hell are they anyway? Are they at my house of someone else's house?? WHERE!!! The screaming is killing me!

Finally....late in the afternoon, around 6.00pm....I went outside the house to see Bulat, my Kaloi. I wanted to feed her. At that time, I heard the screaming again....but it was not as loud as I heard before. Every time the kitten screamed, I tried to locate it. I followed my instincts....it lead me to the back of the house. I couldn't see anything. I almost gave up and was about to go back into the house when I heard the scream again and saw something small moving on the ground near the wall at the back of our house. Under the metal scraps and old wood, I saw this little new born kitten, with it's umbilical cord still on her. Luckily she moved. If she hadn't done that, I wouldn't have noticed her from far.

Immediately I ran inside the house to get some cloth to wrap the kitten with. The kitten was soaking wet!! My heart broke into pieces seeing her like that. I didn't stop to think if I did the right thing taking her in. If the her mother wanted to get her, she would have done so earlier. I mean, she had the whole entire day to do that, but she didn't get her little kitty. Until today I wondered why was Stormy left there all alone. How many siblings does she have? Who are her real mother and father?? 

To cut the story short, I had a hard time taking care of her. Because at that time, I was not well. At the time, I had a very serious eczema issue on my feet. It was just so bad, so much so that I had a hard time walking. I hadn't been taking good care of myself for almost a year. Not only did I not avoid foods that harm my body, I also ate a lot of it....A LOT!!! And because of that, my body just couldn't take it anymore. I had to detoxify my body immediately! It wasn't easy because once I start eating those foods that harm me, I just couldn't stop! October was just the hardest time I had in 2018. 

Ok, back to Stormy. Obviously I named her Stormy because I figured she was born during the storm. I assumed she was born on the 17th because I heard her scream the night before. Just so you know, I have no experience at all at taking care of new born kittens. I had to Google to educate myself about how to take care of her. I learned a lot from a YouTuber called the (KittenLady). Her videos are great! So easy to understand. Because of her videos, I was able to be a mother to Stormy. I may not be a great Mom, but I sure hell tried my best! LOL!

Stormy is almost 3 months old now. Although she is a handful, she is family now. :)

Soursop leaf

Soursop! I love Soursop! Who doesn't right?? The fruit is delicious! So they say. Honestly to date, I've only experienced eating the frozen flesh of the fruit which I bought a few years ago from a shop somewhere in Alor Setar, Soursop fruit in powdered form which was said to be good for curing cancer and also Soursop fruit in the form of juice which can be found in many supermarkets nowadays. All of them are Soursop fruit that have been through some form of process. So I've never had the chance to try the fresh ones before in my life! Haha! Kesian!

All these years, I've been dying to eat the fresh Soursop fruit from our very own tree, because I was informed of it's great health benefits. Besides, growing them would be much cheaper than buying the fruit itself. They are SO EXPENSIVE to buy! I only thought that the only great thing about the tree is the fruit. Because that's what everybody is talking about. The fruit! Little did I know that not only the fruit is great for our health but so are the leaves and bark of the tree! Wow! Who knew!! It was not easy to grow the tree itself as many of the trees that we planted have died. We have bought so many Soursop trees over the years and some were given by our own good neighbours. Now, we have some that are struggling to survive. It's a real challenge to grow them I tell ya! Haha! I heard that they don't like strong wind so much. :D

Today I would like to share here what I found out about the Soursop leaves so far. And also what I've personally experienced from using it the past one week.

I was surprised to know that a lot of studies have shown that the Soursop leaves are even better than the fruit itself. They say that it is the most beneficial part of the tree. The people in the Caribbean have been drinking the Soursop leaf tea for ages! It's like a traditional thing for them to consume it. Whenever they feel a little bit under the weather they would drink this tea to help them feel better. No wonder they are so strong! I read a lot of articles and saw a lot of videos of people from the Caribbean saying that the tea is so good for the nerves. So people who worked long hours or who does a lot of physical activity would take this tea after work so that they can sleep well at night and feel better the next morning.

So, since my Soursop trees are still pretty small and not bearing any fruit for us to eat, I could at least use the leaves for making tea. I've heard about how good it is for curing and preventing cancer but I never knew that is was also for other health issues such as Gout, Back pain, Eczema, Rheumatism, Diabetes, it can boost the Immune System, inhibit the growth of bacteria, virus, parasites and tumors, treats inflammation and swollen feet, reducing fever and high blood pressure, aids in digestion and improving appetite, improves stamina, good for treatment of boils and lice on your hair.   For me, I'm taking it for my skin and for something else that I rather not mention here, hahahaha :D.

I did a lot of research about the tea before consuming it. I wouldn't want to poison myself with it so it was really important to find out more about it. When I found out about how to make the tea and saw how so many people all over the world are taking it on a daily basis, I realize that it was actually very safe to consume after all. You can use the fresh leaves or air dry them first before making tea with it. It doesn't matter. What I also did find was that whatever tea we drink or whatever food we eat, do not OVERDOSE. That's why I only take one cup or one small mug of the tea everyday. It's better to do it that way rather than get too excited about the health benefits and overdose ourselves and thinking that the more we consume it, the better health we will have. It is so not the case.....so, less is more guys. Believe me, it's better to be safe than sorry.

How I make the tea is actually very similar to how I make the Lemongrass Pandan tea. All there is to do is boil water based on how many cups or mugs of tea that I plan to make/drink. Since I usually make one for me and my Mother, so it's always 2 mugs of water. I would bring it to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dump in the shredded leaves inside the boiling water. Lower the heat and leave it to boil for 5-10 minutes. Take out the leaves from the pan when it's done and pour the tea into the mugs. I usually would add some rock sugar to sweeten the tea a bit. And it's delicious!

I am pretty excited when it comes to talking about how wonderful the Soursop leaves are for the skin. I've experienced this first hand when I had a really big acne on my chin a few days ago. It was so painful!! I haven't had a big one like that in ages. So since they said that the leaves were good for the skin and acne, I decided to give it a try. What I did was, I used the dry mill to grind the leaves to tiny pieces. Then I would add in small amounts of rose water to it, to get the juice out of the leaves. Then, I would apply that on my face or any parts of my body that I felt needed the attention. 

What happened after that really shocked me. I applied the extract of the leaves on my skin and left it on overnight, and when I woke up the next day, the acne shrunk and is no longer painful! Amazing!! The day after that, it totally disappeared! WOW! The effect was pretty fast! 

I noticed that if you have itchy skin, that too can be healed with the juice of the leaves. No more scratching all day and all night. Especially if you have eczema, you should give it a try. It really works!

So that's all I have to say about the Soursop leaves for now. I'm just super happy that I get to use it for my health. All these years the trees were just there in our garden and we never knew the leaves could help us. I just wanted to spread the word and hopefully other people can benefit from it too. Take care everyone! 

  

Blooming Tecoma trees

Currently in Alor Setar, most of the Tecoma trees are blooming with flowers all over the city. It's that time of the year again when we can see this phenomena happening and it's so beautiful. I just love it when the flowers starts to bloom and brightens up the gloomy city.

I sometimes get distracted when driving the car in the city because of these flowers. My eyes sometimes keep wondering off the road and focusing on those pretty flowers especially when they are in full bloom. I didn't get the chance to take photos of the white Tecoma flower. I only got the chance to get good shots of the pink ones this week.

This is usually the time when photographers starts to roam in the city and start shooting photos of them. Brides and grooms will take advantage of the opportunity as well to get pretty wedding shots with the flowers. I for one have never taken photos of myself with the flowers. Maybe I should! LOL! A selfie perhaps! :D

Lemongrass and Pandan Tea

I'm not exactly sure how I came to know about Lemongrass and Pandan tea. I guess it was probably when I was browsing on YouTube early this month when I saw a tutorial on it made by someone from Thailand. The tea looked really tasty, I just had to give it a try. It's a very special drink it seems that can easily be found in most restaurants in Thailand. People even serve this drink in tropical beauty spas before and after treatment. It is well known for it's healing and therapeutic benefits. You can drink it hot or cold, but I prefer it served hot.

I've been browsing a lot before on YouTube for natural detox drink to try. And this is the first time I came across this recipe. I was very much into green smoothies and juices before but I had to stop doing that recently because it has become too expensive to do that on daily basis. Thinking of ways to save up money instead of spending these days because produce are getting more and more expensive to buy. The price of food are going up and it rarely goes down. So I guess planting my own herbs, vegetables and fruits are back in trend in our house. Well why not right? We have a big compound and it would be a waste not to plant more things we can consume. Yes, it does mean that I would need to spend more time in the garden to achieve all that but, I'm very selective of what to plant so that I won't have to spend too much time on it daily.

But of course, I'm not a great gardener....but I do try my best. My Mom is the expert. But she is in no condition to do a lot of gardening everyday now. She's not well enough to do it like she did before. So it's up to me now to plant what I want to eat. I prefer to plant trees that are easy to grow. 

Anyways, back to the Lemongrass and Pandan tea. How easy it is to grow Lemongrass and Pandan at home. Especially in Malaysia. Almost every home in Malaysia have these two plants in their garden. My Mom grows lots of them at home. So much so that she can actually sell them if she wanted to. Who knows maybe one day when things gets tough, it might be a good idea. LOL!! :D But for now, we just consume it for ourselves. 

To be honest, ever since I found out about this tea, I've been making it everyday. My Mom and I would drink it once a day after lunch because that's when we have our heaviest meal. It makes us feel so good after a heavy lunch. It helps relax the stomach and makes us feel so calm. The aroma  of the Lemongrass and Pandan is so wonderful. Smells so good and tastes so nice.

My Pandan leaves plant

My Lemongrass plant

It is not that difficult to prepare the tea. All there is to do is clean the lemongrass and pandan leaves. I usually use 4 stalks of lemongrass and about two pandan leaves. I would smash each stalk of lemongrass with a heavy pestle to bruise it so that it will release the aromatic oils from it. 

So after that, I would throw the pandan and lemongrass into a boiling water and let them boil for about 5 - 8 minutes. It's easy to know when it's done and ready pour into your cups or mugs, when the smell of the lemongrass and pandan leaves becomes so strong. It fills the air in your kitchen! It's so wonderful! And you could see that the pandan leaves starts to brown and you could see that the water has a tint of light green colour.

If you don't want to add any sugar to the lemongrass and pandan tea, that's perfectly fine......I usually would add some sweet lime or lemon to make it tastes good.  I've tried adding brown sugar before and it tastes SO GOOD!! Really really yummy! 

Honestly I can drink this tea everyday. Believe me, that's how great it tastes. Not to mention all the great benefits too. See the list below, to know a few of it's benefits:

• Good for digestion and stomach disorders.
• Full of antioxidants.
• Regulates blood pressure.
• Boosts metabolism and burns fat.
• Good for skin and hair.
• Heals cold and flu.
• Relieves menstrual pain.
• Lowers cholesterol.
• Detoxifies the body.
• Prevents cancer.
• Treats insomnia.
• Helps with respiratory disorders.
• Cures fever.
• Treats infections (works as antiseptic).
• Reduces aches.
• Tonic for the nervous system.
• Treats Type -2 diabetes.
• Prevents Rheumatism.
• Boosts immunity.
• Treats Edema (water retention).

Jamu Mandara

Hello again.....

I believe the last time I wrote here was in 2015....how a lot of things has changed since then. I never thought that I would leave this blog empty for more than 2 years. I do feel a little upset about that but things happen. Sometimes, I can't control the time in a day to do what I want.

Over 2 years now and a lot has changed. I thought that when I started my healthy diet back in 2015, I was able to stay on that diet forever. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned. I went from a healthy diet to the worse diet ever in my life. I remembered eating a lot of processed foods. A lot of cakes, muffins, pancakes, fast foods etc. I let things go and forget about what's right. I ate things I shouldn't have because at one point in my life I just couldn't go on with the diet anymore. I let myself go. I also didn't exercise that much. I didn't care anymore and it went on for over a year that way. I guess it's because I've been going through a hard time dealing with a lot of health issues for so many years that at one point I just gave up trying to be healthy.

I decided to change that bad lifestyle in August 2016. Because at that time I was feeling terribly sick, so overweight......I just couldn't do much with my life. I was always moody, always so fatigued and not being able to do a lot of work around the house too. I was just so miserable.

One day I was introduced to a herbal supplement called Jamu Mandara. I was skeptical in the beginning to take them but after being advised on how good it is, I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad that I did! It has changed my life!! I got energy back and I could do more than I could before. My menstrual issues are over, no more period pain, bloating etc. That was the most obvious. I had that problem since I was in my teens. Now no more.

The best part about all of this was that I lost some weight that I gained the year before. I didn't have so much of cravings for food either. I used to have problem controlling what I ate everyday. So this was a great relief for me. All I can say is that it has really changed my health. I used to be so fatigued....I find it so hard to get up everyday and work. Now all that is in the past. What's great about it is that the ingredients are all natural. All natural herbal ingredients. No worries. It's not a drug.

I used to think that multivitamins are the most the important supplements to take....but now, I know that multivitamins alone is not enough. Jamu is important too. Not to mention a good healthy diet and exercise. I've been taking Jamu Mandara for more a year now....in my second year and I don't think I will stop anytime soon. I love it!! :)

Green juice

When it comes to making green juices, I'd like to keep it simple. When I first started making green juices, the juices I made had 4-5 ingredients in them, with all the different types of vegetables, fruits and herbs . But now, the ingredients are less. Just celery and green apples. That's the most basic ingredients in my green juice.

I LOVE celery. I love them cooked and I even love them raw.  Celery are low in calories....there are only about 10 calories in each stalk. This will help a lot for weight watchers. It's also a stress reliever because the minerals in celery such as magnesium and the essential oils soothes the nervous system and helps us sleep better especially if we were to take them in the evenings.

Celery also regulates the alkaline in our body and protects our body from acidity. This is good as we need to keep those two in balance. It reduces inflammation too. So if someone was suffering from asthma,  joint pains, lung infections or acne....taking celery will bring much relief.

The high water content in celery will aid in digestion. The insoluble fiber makes it easy for eliminating stools. SO if there is a constipation issue, taking celery is the way to GO! haha! This fact might be a shock to some. Celery contains good salts.....it contains sodium, but not the same as table salt. It's natural, organic and essential for our health. It is also known to combat cancer, lowers the blood pressure and many more.

As for green apples.....hmmm, what are the benefits of taking them? Well, for starters, they have more health benefits compared to the red one! Oh yeah! The green ones are high in fiber and help keep the digestive track clean and healthy. Thus reduces the possibility to get colon cancer.

It gives our stomach the sense of satisfaction after eating them, which means we would feel full and not having the need to eat more. It also does not have any bad cholesterol in it. And since it has a very high fiber content, inevitably these high fibers can help reduce the cholesterol that are already present in our body. It reduces liver problems and prevents gout too. It contains antioxidants thus prevents cancer and DNA damage. These green apples also controls our appetite and gives us a lot of energy too. It contains carbohydrates which are good for athletes or people who are always on the move.

Besides from all the great benefits of the celery and apple, I just LOVE the taste of the two of them when combined. The juice has a sweet and sour taste to it and it's refreshing too. I would juice the whole celery stalk each time and would add about 4 green apples to juice along with it and it always turns out tasting amazing. It's definitely my all time favourite juice to make :).

Green smoothie

It's been almost 6 weeks now since I started making smoothies. When I first started making them, I made sure that green leaves were part of the ingredients in the recipe. This is because green leaves have the chlorophyll in them and they are alkaline. It is very good to alkalize our acidic body with green leaves.. I pretty much experimented a lot with the ingredients in the beginning. I didn't know what would taste nice together but I had some things in mind that I would like to have in my green smoothies.

I see a lot of people on the net using either plain water, coconut water, almond milk, or cow's milk as the base of the smoothie. It is important to choose the right kind of liquid for your green smoothies. You have to know what works for you. As for me, I would prefer to just use plain water for my green smoothies. I just can't imagine what my green smoothies would taste like with any type of milk. I don't DARE to try! haha!

BUT! I do however love to use powdered goat's milk in my other smoothie recipe. Especially in my chocolate banana smoothie! It tastes so delicious!! It's like drinking a chocolate milkshake! I'll share how I make it in my next post :).

The reason why I use goat's milk is because I'm allergic to dairy products. So for the base of any of my smoothies, it's either plain water, coconut water or goat's milk for me. It would be nice to try using green tea as the base as well.

As for the greens, I prefer to use Romaine lettuce compared to spinach or any other type of greens. This is because Romaine lettuce is suitable to be taken raw. I learned that spinach and certain other types of greens are best taken when lightly steamed or cooked because they might interfere with the absorption of essential nutrients in our body if taken raw. I see a lot of people on the net using spinach or kale for their green smoothies. I wonder if it will have a bad effect on their body in the long term. I rather not take the risk. So I'll just stick with Romaine lettuce. Besides, Romaine lettuce does not have a bitter taste. You'll never even taste it in your smoothies because the taste is so mild and it's easily hidden by the fruits that you add in your smoothie. You can check out the video below about the types of vegetables that you shouldn't be eating raw.

The other ingredients that I love to add in any of my green smoothies to make them taste delicious are as follows:

1. Banana / Frozen banana (very important ingredient to add in any green smoothies).
2. Honey (if you want to sweeten your green smoothies).
3. Any type of berries (I've used strawberries before).
4. Mango juice / Frozen mango.
5. Pineapple juice.
6. Kiwi.
7. Green grapes.
8. Coconut water and it's soft flesh.
9. Lemon (alkalizing)

So those are the things that you can add in your green smoothies. Choose whichever you like but make sure to at least add one banana in it as it will make your green smoothies tastes yummier. As for portions, it depends on how much you want each ingredients in the smoothie. For me, I always put Romaine lettuce the most. 70% leafy greens and 30% fruits.

One more thing I like to add to my green smoothies is this liquid chlorophyll. It is a pure extract of the mulberry leaves. I'm growing a few mulberry trees now in my garden. Hopefully someday I no longer need to buy this liquid chlorophyll and get my own liquid chlorophyll by juicing the mulberry leaves. This liquid chlorophyll has a very dark green colour. But when I pour it in my green smoothies, I don't taste it at all. Because it has no strong taste of chlorophyll. Some prefer to just add it in plain water and drink it straight in the morning, just like that. But I prefer it in my smoothies :).

There are so many benefits of chlorophyll to our body. It helps to rebuild and replenish our red blood cells, boosting our energy and increasing our well being almost instantly. Apart from it being highly alkaline, it is also anti-carcinogenic. Liquid chlorophyll has strong antioxidant and is anti inflammatory too.  It also has the ability to bind and remove toxic heavy metals such as mercury. In recent research, chlorophyll has shown to be effective in fighting candida. Chlorophyll also has a double action remedy for bad breath. It eliminates odor in the mouth and throat, but more importantly it promotes and healthy digestive tract (which is the primary reason for bad breath).

If you want to really detox your body and not use any fruits at all in your smoothies, you can try making green smoothies that only has vegetables and herbs in it. I've tried it before but I had to add one green apple to it as I couldn't take it 100% vegetables. It is important for it to taste nice otherwise I won't be able to drink it at all. But if you are able to take 100% vegetables, then that's great! I have yet to be able to do that. Haha!

You can try blending the ingredients below:

1. Romaine lettuce.

2. Japanese cucumber.

3. Green apple.

4. Parsley or cilantro.

5. Honey.
6. Plain water or coconut water.

The end of food cravings

For as long as I remember, I have always been a big eater. I'm quite famous for that in my family (sad to say). Since small, I had been the one who always seems to be hungry all the time. I had no idea why. I was never obese back then because I was always active as a child. I'm not obese now either. But I have big bones. And I am tall. Therefore, I can't afford to be obese because if I was, then I'll look like a GIANT.

Having said that, I am however overweight now. Not fat, just overweight. HAHAHAHA!! (In denial). Anyways, I have always tried to lose the fat and I have always tried to lead a healthy lifestyle over the years. But it has always been tough doing so. I was always in and out of it. I had problems staying in for a long period of time due to my constant cravings for fattening foods. If only I had cravings for healthy types of food. Like for instance having cravings for CELERY....bwahahahahahah!!! Then I'll never have problems with my weight. I WISH!!

The thing is, I never thought I could EVER stop the cravings....EVER!!! Until now. It feels weird not having cravings at all. Seriously. It is as if, my body is satisfied with what I've been feeding it with and therefore, it's not itching for anything else. This is NEW for me. I just couldn't figure out as to why this is happening to me. Until one day I saw a video over on YouTube and there was this girl talking about how taking smoothies has curbed all her food cravings and then it HIT me! Wow! Smoothies stopped her from craving all the sweet stuff and all the food that she had trouble staying away from. That sounded just like me!

So all this time it was the clean eating.....the juices....the smoothies.....but I believe it is more because of the smoothies. This is because, the smoothies had more ingredients in it that kept me full for longer period of time compared to the juices. I really noticed how much taking smoothies has affected me now compared to when I was only taking juices. I was taking juices for a few months but I still had the cravings and it was really bad. 

I'm glad now I can walk in the supermarket and not feel any fear whenever I see the chocolate aisle or feel any itch to buy cream puffs at the bread aisle. So this really helps when I am trying to develop a clean and healthy lifestyle. Because I can't be getting well if I can't control my cravings. It will be a very difficult process to try to be healthy for a few hours and then binge for the rest of the day. Imagine doing all the exercise and not getting any results because of the binging. It just won't work. 

I have a lot of issues to deal with when it comes to health because honestly for me it's not just about losing the weight. It's about feeling good about myself, feeling healthy as I have always been feeling so sick for so many years. It's about controlling my allergies too. God knows how much I have suffered because of the allergies. I almost gave up on it. I just didn't know how else to stop it. 

I've met so many people here who have suffered from allergies just like me. Some even suffered worse than me and have completely given up hope. These people just wanted to die. I know how they feel. I know how much it hurts. I've been there. And I don't blame them for feeling the way they do. It's really tough. They have been feeding on the wrong food all their lives. Food that harms them.....not food that heals. Just like me, they didn't know. No one educated them on it and they didn't know where to seek help. Doctors don't know everything! I myself took so many years to finally find a solution that worked for me. Each person heals differently. It's so subjective. I hope I can help them heal some how. But they need to believe. Without the believe, the healing journey can never begin.

I am just grateful for all the knowledge that I have now about health and how it has affected me and my health in general. Even though I have much to learn about it. I am learning everyday. At least now I have one less problem to deal with when trying to be healthy again. And that means a LOT to me.

Juicing vs Blending

To juice or to blend? Juicing basically means that juice from the fruits or vegetables is separated from the pulp when using a juicer, and blending means that neither the juice or the pulp is separated or removed from the blender. Everything stays in. So which one will I be getting? That was what kept circling in my mind when I first started thinking about how to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in my diet by drinking them. I'm not saying that I shouldn't be eating my fruits and vegetables anymore and turn to drinking them instead but I'm just saying that by juicing or blending them, I'll get maximum absorption of nutrients in my body. Chewing fruits and vegies takes too long to process and basically it means I'll eat them less because I'll get tired of chewing so much of them in a day. I'm very sure that I can eat more vegetables and fruits in a day by drinking them.

 

SO!! It was either to make juices or to make smoothies. I have never blended my fruits and vegetables together before. So I couldn't imagine how I would take it. But I have taken fruit juices before at restaurants and they tasted really good. But would I be able to swallow a smoothie it as easy as I could a juice? So out of fear of not being able to swallow blended fruits and vegetables, I opted to get myself a slow juicer first. Yes, a slow juicer just like the photo you see above. But that was the second one I got after I bought the manual slow juicer like the photo you can see in my previous post. An electric slow juicer is so much more convenient and saves me a lot of time. They are very expensive but SO WORTH IT!!!!

Why a slow juicer and not a centrifugal juicer? Well, I decided to get a slow juicer because after doing much research on the net, I found out that the best juice you'll ever get is by juicing with a slow juicer. This is because a slow juicer can make cold-pressed juices which means it does not expose the juice to heat and oxygen in the process, both of which degrades nutrients in the juice. That's why they call it "cold" pressed juices....because no "heat" is involved. I've tasted juices made from centrifugal juicers before and boy oh boy there is a HUGE difference between the two. Cold-pressed juices are so much more tastier. They don't oxidize as fast as juices made from centrifugal juicers too. So you can keep the juice in your fridge for more than 24 hours and they will still taste great the next day. 

The only thing that bothers me about slow juicers is that, it is not as flexible as a blender. You won't be able to juice certain fruits and vegetables with a slow juicer. For instance.....like bananas, kiwis and other soft flesh fruits and vegetables. If they are too soft, then it's difficult to get juice out of them. Certain herbs like parsley, cilantro would be a waste to juice as they are small and don't have much juice in them. They will just end up coming out from the juicer looking like mashed fruits and vegetables. So, it will be a waste to juice them. That's when a blender comes in handy for these types of fruits and vegetables.

After much research, by Googling, YouTubing, Instagraming etc......I found out about personal blenders. A personal blender is just like the one you see in the above photo. Of course the first thing that I wanted to buy was a high powered blender like Vitamix. I've heard a lot about Vitamix. But the thing is.....it's too BIG! I kept thinking about the space I have at home and where am I going to put it. I knew that it would be wiser to just get me a personal blender for the time being just in case I didn't like how a smoothie would taste. In case I didn't want to continue making smoothies, at least I won't feel so bad, unlike if I were to spend a lot of money on a blender like the Vitamix. Yes, my friends, Vitamix is so much more expensive compared to a personal blender. Booohoooohooooo!!

BUT!!! No more tears as now that I have tried the personal blender, I am super happy about it. Believe it or not, I have to say that it is the most used electrical appliance that I have in my kitchen! I use it everyday. Worth every cent I spent on it. Before I bought this personal blender, I made sure that it is going to work if not as good as the Vitamix, at least let be good enough to blend all the fruits and vegetables to teeny tiny pieces and end up looking so smooth and liquid, so much so that I won't have trouble drinking it. THAT I MADE SURE! Because I'm not going to spend money on something that won't do a good job in making smoothies. 

The best thing about a personal blender is that it's something that you can use to blend anything you want and go off anywhere with it after the job is done. You can take it to work, to the gym or anywhere you fancy. Blend everything inside the tumbler and drink straight from it. No need to transfer your smoothie to a mug or plastic container like you would need to do if you use a normal blender. Since it's small in size, cleaning is a breeze. So convenient.

Another reason for me to like blending more is because I don't wastes anything from it. No pulp is removed from fruits and vegetables, therefore I get more fiber in my diet. I feel fuller every time I take a smoothie. I feel full for hours compared to drinking a juice. Another plus side is that I get to add other ingredients to it like milk, protein powders, nuts, dried fruits and so much more to a blender. You can never do that with a juicer. So I'll get to make more interesting drinks with a blender. It's like making a whole meal from it. If I didn't have the time to cook, then making a smoothie solves the problem.

But having said that, I must say that I do love them both. Both have their own benefits. Juicing removes all the insoluble fiber from fruits and vegetables (meaning the pulp). Although fiber is good for you, because it keeps your digestive track healthy and slows down the absorption of sugar but it also slows down the absorption of nutrients and some nutrients stays in the fiber. If I juice, it means that I extract 70% of the nutrients from the fruits and vegetables and the juice gets absorbed into my body 100% and quickly too. The nutrients get in your body fast, easy digestion but doesn't keep you full that long.

Blending fruits and vegetables means that you get both insoluble and soluble fibers in your diet. Slow release of nutrients and keeps you full longer. So basically, it's all up to me. Do what suits me for that particular time. Or do according to what I have available at hand. Some times, I don't have enough fruits or vegetables for juicing but I can use them for making smoothies instead by combining them with other ingredients. So it's all good no matter what. What's important is that I don't stop making them. Don't ever quit. :)

 

Time for a U-turn

A manual juicer? Well, that is just part of the journey to a healthier me which started when I learned about how to get healthy by getting more fruits and vegetables in my diet. I saw a lot of videos on YouTube on how other people managed to heal themselves by eating a lot of raw food. Most of them are doing it all the way. One hundred percent on raw food and of course that means they are also 100% vegan. But in my opinion, by incorporating at least 50% of your diet with fruits and vegetables is actually more balanced. I can't imagine myself not eating any fish at all. I love fish and fish is good for me! Haha! I can never be 100% vegan.

Actually, eating a lot of fruits and vegetables is not something new for me. It's not like I've never heard of this before. In fact, way back in the year 2000, I already tried it and yes, it worked! I guarantee it! Except, way back then, I had limited knowledge on how to apply it or how to make it more interesting for me to stay on it forever. I only managed to stay on the diet for about 4-6 months and then I went back to my usual bad eating habits and got sick again.

I learned about it from a book my sister gave me called Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management. It was a book written by Dr. Jorgen Bernard Jensen. From that book, I learned a lot about how our bowel works, how a dirty bowel can affect our health and how important it is to keep it clean. I also learned about what are the type of food we should be eating to help with healing our diseases. If only we be kind to our body and help it by eating the right kind of food, then we would be in less trouble.

There is also another thing I found out. Each of us, should be eating according to our blood type. Seriously, I swear by this. No matter how much I try to deny it, I can't because of how true it is. There is a book written about it by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo, called Eat Right For Your Type. I don't own the book yet but I have read a lot about it via online at his website. So from there, I was able to find out what are the type of foods that would be highly beneficial or neutral or harmful for me. 

So after finding out what are the type of foods that would benefit me, I was able to make a u-turn and go to a path that would help me heal. But I have to say that even with all the information, I did have a difficult time making that u-turn. Because it would mean that I would have to permanently leave behind all the food that I enjoyed eating all these years. Even though they made me sick. I was a little demotivated at first because I felt that I was in this alone. I had no one to go through this journey with. It would be nice to have someone going through it together with you. But, my feelings changed after that thanks to the community I found online who shared the same issues as I did and are going through the same diet as I am. It was wonderful as they totally understood how tough it is to go through what we go through everyday and we support each other. So I am totally OK with it now and I can finally see how I can continue doing it forever. Making it my way of life so to speak.

Changing my diet alone is not enough. I also need to exercise. But I have limited ability to do so plus limited time. However I have found a solution for myself and it works for me. So everyday I do my best to cycle, or do simple workouts at home which I've learned from various YouTube channels. There are so many types of work outs for people who are ill and are not able to do heavy work outs. The important thing is to find out what works the best for you. I was really surprised to find out that there are so many types of work outs for ill people. So basically, I have no excuse for not working out! It's a must when making this u-turn.

So, the point is......food can heal you....it can also kill you. It can make you happy....it can also make you sad. Make the right choice. For you and your family. Be active, be positive, be sociable, be humble, be kind to yourself and others. Be more giving. Stay away from people who upsets you, forgive them and move on. If we don't tackle our emotional issues, then we are bound to go back feeling sick again. It does affect our health. No matter how much good food we eat, or how much we exercise, but if we don't settle with our emotional issues, we are doomed.