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.

A new chapter

Hello again.....

Wow....has it been that long? As I stared at my personal blog I began to wonder what kept me away from it for so long. How I missed writing here and sharing my thoughts. It has been over a year since I blogged here. I can't believe I left this blog for more than a year! The whole year of 2014 I was missing in action. Oh my poor blog! I couldn't stand looking at the old layout design of the blog and decided to give it a new look. Now at least every time I log in here, the design will give me that instant mood to jot down some of my thoughts.

I would have to say that last year was one of the crazy busiest year I had ever had. One that effected my health as well. So much so that I had to do another detox to keep me going. A lot has changed in my life since last year. Health wise, career wise etc. I made a lot of changes. When things got from bad to worse for me and I just couldn't take it anymore, that's when I put my foot down and gave me a tight slap on the face then focused on how to improve my health once and for all. It's always when things get extremely bad that I would make a change. I was never really good at staying disciplined in any of my health regime. It was always a temporary thing. I would get excited about it for a few weeks and then bamm!!! I would go off to my unhealthy habits again. The urge to eat whatever I fancy got the best of me.

It is tough living in a society that refuse to accept my health issues as well, as they keep telling me how to handle my health differently. But hey!! I'm not going to go there again and start blaming others for my problems. They don't know me well enough to tell me how I should live my life. It's my life....my health....I decide how I want to make myself happy and healthy. And I'm glad I was really focused on my decision last November and stuck with it till now.

I'm also taking it easy as well with work. I realised that if I don't do that, it would be difficult for me to heal. I need to take it easy on myself. Don't over stress myself. Just don't over do it. There is always time for work and play. Not just work work work.  

I want to spread the word....share my journey to good health with everyone. Who knows, somehow I get to help others who have the same issues as I do. I get to where I am today because someone cared enough to share the knowledge with me. Now it's my turn to do the same. Gosh I have so much to share with what I've learned the past few months. I will take some time off from work to write here whenever I can. It's also good for me to write it down so that I have a place where I can refer back to if ever I forget. So it's not just about sharing.....it is also a reminder for me....or a place of reference.

Make a difference in someone's life....and you'll see how it will affect yours too. And what better time to do it then in the month of Ramadhan. The time of giving. The time of sharing. :)

Pedal exerciser

I wanted to write about the new love of my life since mid November but I was too busy to do so......but today seems the right time to do it. But before I do so, I gotta say something about what happened today first. Actually I'm feeling a bit emotional right now because today is the last day I saw my bicycle. I handed it over to someone else.....someone who needs it more than I do right now. Been thinking about letting it go for quite some time now. But I couldn't do it until today. 

With the help from my Mother's friend......she managed to find a school girl who needs a bicycle to go to school everyday. I don't know why.....the minute I found out about it, my heart was ready for it. I was ready to let it go. So off we went to see the girl and handed it over to her. It was then when it really hit me that I was never going to see my bicycle ever again.

It was funny how excited everybody was to see my bicycle.....they complimented on how good it looks....how fancy it is....and how surprised they were about the condition of the bicycle. They imagined earlier that I was giving away an old, old worn out bicycle....but my bicycle was not like that at all. But when they found out why I decided to give it away, they understood my decision. Everybody was so happy......and of course, so was I. I never thought I would be feeling happy about it. I guess it was a mix of happy and sad at the same time.

The girl is 12 years old......she will be able to use that bicycle for the next five years of schooling. That bicycle will be of great service to her during that time. Before this, she walked to school everyday. I'm so glad they found the right girl for my bike. She had the height....and she rode it well. My bike is suitable for tall people. And she fits the bill.

I'll always remember Mr Raleigh and how much fun I had riding it all these years. But now I have a new love.....and my new love is special in its own way. It's pink in colour and it's one of the best thing that ever happened in my life. 

In mid November this year, I learned about the pedal exerciser from my Mom. She knew about it when she went to do her physiotherapy at the hospital. She knows that I would benefit from this simple machine and when I was introduced to it, I immediately feel in love with it at first cycle. From then onwards, there was no turning back. It has become one of my daily routines to cycle at home. It has helped me tremendously because now I can cycle at any time of the day and as many times as I like. No more excuses to not do my exercise everyday. 

I can cycle while watching TV, I can cycle while doing certain work at my table, I can cycle while browsing the internet, in fact, I can even cycle in my own garden too! Yes! It's so portable and lightweight, I can take it anywhere with me. 

But the best thing about finding out about the pedal exerciser is, how much it has helped me with my muscle cramps....I don't have it anymore. It seems to have disappeared. I also feel so much better, I can walk faster. I have the stamina to do more work everyday. I can even see how my abs and thighs are getting more and more toned.

Another great thing about it is that how many people I know has benefited from it too. My Mom and I have been promoting it to all our friends and we found out that many of them are suffering from muscle cramps, tingling and numbness at their feet. Old people and those who are having health problems can benefit from this machine. I'm not that old, but I do have health issues. But that is not the main reason why I got this pedal exerciser. Whatever the reason may be......the main thing is that I am so thankful that Allah sent me this product at this age. At least I get to use it when I am still young. It keeps me fit and keeps me happy everyday.

Pied-fantail bird in the evening

Ok....it would seem like I'm a little obsessed with taking videos or photos of birds at my house right now because in my previous post I posted something about birds as well. Actually I'm not obsessed....I'm just taking the opportunity as they come. It's not always that I get to see a bird at a very close range.

It just so happened that when I was doing laundry in the evening, I saw the Pied Fantail bird looking for food outside our cage like space at the back of our house. I could see that it was searching for insects to eat. It didn't realise I was there taking a video of it because I was in the cage like section of the house. So it kinda camouflage me in a way. So it didn't notice me at all and kept searching for food..

This is by far the coolest experience because I've never been so close to a Pied-Fantail bird before! It was so cool to be able to look at it closely as it fan open it's tail every now and then. :)

The White-Throated Kingfisher in my garden!

What a lovely lovely surprise! I was happily having breakfast with my Mom this morning and suddenly we saw this White-Throated Kingfisher in our garden. What a rare sight! I quickly went to grab my digital camera and started taking videos of the bird and also snapped some photos of it. I was so afraid that the bird would notice me. Luckily it didn't! I was very very quiet! hehe!

I've seen this bird many times before in our neighbourhood. Every time I  go out for my morning ride at the park, I would see them on the telephone line or up on the trees. It's never easy to get a shot of it. They are not that tame and are easily scared whenever they see humans staring at them hehehe.

But I managed to take a shot of it coz we made a cage outside our house like the photo you see above. I just love having breakfast and dinner here because we get to enjoy the fresh air minus all the flies, mosquitoes and bird poo! LOL! ;) Even the birds don't notice us when we take photos or videos of them when we are standing inside the cage. The minute they see us outside the cage, they would fly away. So I guess the cage sort of like camouflaged us a bit hehehe. I can now take more photos of nature without disturbing them. Love it!

Ais kacang salji

Ais kacang salji special........yes.....that's what I'm talking about here....the photo you see above is my current favourite cold dessert! See how happy I am when I'm having it? hehehehe! Super happy indeed! I recently discovered about it while watching TV, when they did a feature about it in the news. Immediately I had to find out how to get to the place where they are selling it. It's quite far from where I'm staying....quite a long drive to get a dessert ehehehe. 

The photo you see below is where the ais kacang salji is located......at Restoran Dinalang in Simpang Empat Kangkong, it's right next to Balai Polis Simpang Empat...you can't miss it...... :). I remembered asking around about it from my friends in Facebook for the directions to get to this place. Luckily a couple of them gave me the directions and it was quite easy for me to follow.

Once the location is found, I just had to go and get a scoop! Actually.....more than a scoop....a bowl of it! In the beginning I didn't know that they served the ais kacang salji in two different servings. One is the normal ais kacang salji and the other is the "special" one! Of course the special one is extra special and extra delicious. The normal one looks like the photo below.....less fillings and less ice of course. The special one is like the photo at the top.

The taste of the ais kacang salji is beyond amazing. It reminds me of my childhood seriously. A very authentic taste that brings you back in time. They made their own sugar syrup, red beans and jelly for this dessert and they made them fresh everyday. That's one of the reasons why it tastes so good. Plus of course the ice is shredded so thinly that it looks like snow.....and feels so soft and smooth unlike all the other ais kacang I've tasted before. By the way......for those who don't know what ais kacang salji means...... ais means ice.......kacang means beans and salji means snow.....so it's ice beans snow eheheheh! :D

They also sell kuey teow sup daging......like the photo below......I love it too.....love the taste.....sometimes I like the bihun sup daging as well. Well, all I can say is that everything that they sell here tastes so good and the price is super cheap. That's the best thing about staying in Kedah!!!

Post mortem

It's been 6 months! Wow......I can't believe that it's been 6 months since I started my health improvement program. It all started because of the issue with my eczema. And now, it's more than that. It has affected my weight....it has also affected my overall health. I feel great, I look great and I'm definitely happier than before.

Thinking back on the time I started it, it included a sugar free diet and also excluding all the food that would trigger my eczema. But for the past 3 months now I've been on a gluten free diet as well. And that really hit the target. I really lost a lot of weight just by excluding all the food that are not gluten free. I was really surprised at how effective it was compared to the sugar free diet. But of course, the best part is that my eczema has reduced a lot. And it's been improving day by day. I'm so happy about it. Amazing how taking the right food for my body can make such a huge impact on my skin. I knew that it would work, I just needed some discipline and some motivation to do it.

It definitely it not an easy thing to do. Restraining myself from eating all those yummy food was very difficult. Even though I know that those yummy food would hurt my body but I still wanted to eat them. So that was something very hard for me to do. I remembered how sad I was during the first couple of months. I was not able to accept the fact that I couldn't eat what I had been eating before. The worst was letting go of bread. I love eating bread so much. In fact, I love eating bread more than eating rice. But I'm glad now I can live without it. And I'm especially glad now that I know I lost a lot of weight because I let go of it.

Total weight lost since 14th of February ----> 10 kg!!! And I managed to keep it off!! I haven't gained any of the weight I've lost so far and I'm trying to lose more. I still need to lose another 10 kg. Hopefully with me following my diet closely and also working out everyday will give me good results. I also hope that by year end, all the eczema will be gone. I'm so determined to get rid of them for good.

What I love about my daily routine now is my determination on working out everyday. I even subscribed to some Youtube channels that provides easy workout routines for me to follow and do everyday. I'm so happy that I can do them now on a daily basis. I was not able to do them before when my feet were in such a bad condition. Now I'm more flexible and even able to do Pilates and Abdominal workout. It's great! I'm focusing on simple routines first. But will slowly advance to more difficult routines hopefully in months to come.

I'm even planning out on doing a timetable for me to organize my daily schedule. I've a lot to get done and I'm always missing something out each day. So I'm seriously hoping that the timetable will help me be more organized. Just talking about being organized is not going to help at all. Been there. It didn't work. I know now that I really need a timetable. I need to SEE what I have to do. So that I actually DO it. :)

The green tree snake

This video was taken on 30th of July 2013 but only now do I have some little time to blog about it. I was doing laundry at the back of the house when I thought of checking out the gherkin tree to see if there are any new gherkins available for me to pick out.

But as I got near to the gherkin tree, I noticed something that was out of the ordinary about the tree. One of the branch looked extra big and shiny. That's when I realised it wasn't a branch. It was the body of the green tree snake!! Yikes!!!

I got really scared and ran into the house. But I guess I wasn't that scared to take a video of it ehehe! So I did. Luckily there are windows in the kitchen that are just a feet away from the gherkin tree. So I just stood by the window and recorded a video of the snake. I was happy that a couple of the Yellow-vented Bulbul dropped by and made an appearance in the video too! heheh!