Golf expense

My wife bought a 2nd hand ping putter from a friend for 50 bucks!

Cholesterol Fight

I came back from the doctor this morning and was excited that my blood cholesterol has dropped by 10 pts. The drop was over the last 3 months period. Thanks in part to the routine exercise I did in preparation for the triathlon and the reduction in diet (less deep fried pork, more on vege/fish).

Here are my cholesterol numbers so far:

Year    Total   
===    ===
2010   216
2011   226
2012   263 (may 2012)          253 (Aug 2012)


And this is what I have done to achieve measly 10 pts off my baggage!

Month             Swim             Bike           Run
====              ====            ===            ===
June                13k               158k            13k
July                  6.5k               52k            17k  
August             7.8k               40k            10k

Race Day - Aug 26 (TRI FACTOR TRIATHLON)

Few more days and Im off running for my 6th Triathlon (2x2010, 2x2011 and 1 in May). This race is a prep race for my sprint distance this coming Sept 26th.

According to run keeper log, I have had 23 activities in June and 11 activities in July. Did I rack up the numbers to achieve my weight and endurance goal?

Lets see...

Born to Run and CHIA seeds

I was reading this book called "BORN To RUN" and one application I have drawn from this is to spice my diet with CHIA SEEDS.

Yes. According to the book, these seeds are used to make "ISKIATE' drink which apparently rejuvenates and restrenghens one's energy level. I found one organic store in my adopted country and Im checking out ways how to use them.

Here's one forum contributor said on her comments:

Jennifer says:  May 24, 2012 at 6:19 pm

I drink my chia smoothie every morning and feel full and energized. I use a frozen banana (cut into pieces of course before I freeze it), half a cup of wild frozen blueberries, a few frozen strawberries, hemp protein powder, 1 T of organic chia seeds, and aloe water. Delicious!

Health expense

Can health maintenance be quantified? Is gym and spa considered health indulgences? Here is my monthly spend on gym and massage. Gym - 40 dollars, Massage - 60 dollars. For a hundred bucks, I can maintain a healthy heart, body and soul.

Comments?

May 25

Bfast - banana crunch
Lunch - wanton mee
Dinner - beef and chicken bday

May 25 meal

Bfast - sandwich, prata
Lunch- omelette, tuna rice, bee hoon
Dinner- pork fries curry ( bday dinner)

Diet for week 3

Here is how Im faring with my diet so far.

Day 8 Tuesday

My meal today:
1. Breakfast - banana nut crunch,
2. Lunch - subway sandwich
3. Dinner - tuna rice with vegetable

Day 7 - monday

Here is my diet
1. Breakfast- bee Hoon tofu and eggplant with egg
2. Lunch-Subway oatmeal cookie
3. Dinner - banana, vegetable rice,
4. Snacks - chips, peanut butter sandwich.

Day 6

Not doing well
1. Breakfast-beehoon, tofu and eggplant
2. Lunch - belgian waffles/banana
3. Dinner - pumpkin, stringbeans, rice,
4. Snack-chili chips and 2 sports drink

Dinner may 12

Strings beans and pumpkin
One sip of mocca frappicino
Popcorn

Purchases

Additional

1. 2 cycling shirts - 50
2. Running shirt/shorts - 68

Day 5 diet

With the regular saturday cycling today, heres how my diet looked like.

A.Breakfast:
1. Oat meal and 1 banan
2. 2 plain prata and coffee
3. Liver cleansing formula (spinach, cucumber, apple, orange, banana)

B. Lunch
1. Fish sweet and sour with rice
2. Sambal Kang kong

C. Dinner
1. Liver concoction!

Day 4

Day 4 seems to become a normal day en route to my root canal appointment (:() . Here's the actual diet I had following my tooth fairy check up!

1. Breakfast - liver cleansing formula juice (spinach, apple, orange)
2. Lunch - subway sandwich
3. Dinner - spaghetti and liver cleansing juice/formula (spinach, apple, orange)

One of the motivation for today is be able to secure several triathlon gears.

Purchases today:
1. Newton racer       - 167 dollars
2. 2Xu compression -  29 dollars
3. Aquaspheare       -  33 dollars

On to another route of 5k run tonight!

Day 3

My diet:

1. Bfast - banana cruch cerea
2. Lunch- Half a grilled burger
3. Dinner - Half a plate spaghetti

So far volume is cut down! And my stomach gets full, and fast!

So help me God!

Day 3

My diet:

1. Bfast - banana crunch cereal.
2. Lunch- Half a grilled burger.
3. Dinner - Half a plate spaghetti.

So far volume is cut down! And my stomach gets full, and fast!

So help me God!

Day 2

Going well so far.

Started my day gulping my concoction of liver cleansing formula of spinach, apple, orange and banana. Never felt to full!

I then went for my regular run of 4k then went to work soon after.

Lunch is subway chicken teriyaki. Felt weak around 230 pm so went to grab a snack of subway oatmeal raisin.

My planned dinner is peanut butter sandwich with fruits, perhaps 2 small bananas. Well, as it turned out, the actual dinner is brocolli and salmon! Yum yum!!

Going well so far.

So help me God!

LIVER CLEANSING TECHNIQUES

PART 1: Liver Cleansing Techniques:



Cleansing the liver of gall stones dramatically aids digestion, which in turn improves general health. Here are the 3 stages in a successful liver cleanse:



Stage 1: Prepare for the cleanse by drinking fresh apple juice for 3 days. Meals should be small amounts of raw salad or unprocessed fruit.


Stage 2: Buy the liver cleanse ingredients:


1. Epsom Salts, 4 tablespoons mixed in 4 cups of water

2. Olive Oil
3. Fresh Grapefruit juice and Lemon juice

Stage 3: Do the cleanse. Choose a Saturday if possible! Here is the routine you should follow -



(a) Eat a very light breakfast and lunch of fruit and vegetables.
(b) At 6pm, drink 1 cup of the Epsom Salt water. Repeat at 8pm.
(c) At 10pm, mix the fruit juices and one cup of olive oil. Drink it, go to bed and get a good sleep while the cleanse does its work!
(d) At 7am, drink 1 cup of the Epsom Salt water.
(e) Repeat at 9am and finish the mixture.
(f) Eat only light fruits and vegetables for the rest of the day.

Your liver should be cleansed of gall stones and by the evening you should feel great!




 PART 2: Liver Cleanse and Gallbladder Flush (Alternative Procedure)


An alternative procedure to Step 3 above combines gallbladder flush with liver flush. It uses apple juice fasting, as described below (based on Herbally Yours, by Penny C. Royal, Sound Nutrition, Utah, 1982). I would like to caution that people with cancer, candida yeast infection, diabetes, hypoglycemia or stomach ulcer should not use this apple juice fasting procedure because of the high sugar content in the apple juice.



Day 1:
Take 2 cups of 8 oz organic apple juice or apple cider every 2 hours from 8 am to 8 pm. Altogether 14 cups will have been taken during this period. Do not take any other food or drinks except plain water.

Please note that the apple juice should not be taken cold from the refrigerator. It should be kept at room temperature or mixed with about 10% hot water before use because cold drinks chill the liver. For people with lots of stagnant bile, the collapsed stagnant bile may rush out after drinking apple juice. It may feel like having diarrhea but is actually stagnant bile (brownish yellow colour).



Day 2:
1.Repeat Day 1

2.At 8:30 pm, take ½-cup (4 oz) of olive oil (extra virgin cold pressed) mixed with ½-cup of lemon juice (squeezed from 3 lemons) or with ¾-cup of freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice.

3.Go immediately to bed and sleep on your right side. If there is a large amount of stones, nausea may be felt after drinking olive oil but this feeling will largely disappear on the third day after taking some food.

Day 3:
1.Upon rising in the morning, take 1 litre (approximately 4 cups) of warm distilled or filtered water containing two level teaspoons of un-iodized sea salt. Alternatively the addition of juice from half a lemon may be used in place of the sea salt. Wait for at least half an hour before eating.

2.Take vegetable broth and softly cooked vegetables only. The stones should be passed in the stool any time between midnight of Day 2 and morning of Day 4.

Note: The purpose of drinking apple juice is mainly for the malic acid in apple juice. Malic acid is a good solvent for stagnant bile in the liver. Apple juice taken during fasting would dissolve and push out stagnant bile in the liver. For someone with a yeast infection or diabetes, apple juice can be replaced by malic acid in capsule or powder form. The fasting procedure is the same except that apple juice is replaced by 1000 - 2000 mg of malic acid taken with 2 cups of warm water.


PART 3. Liver Detox Drink Recipe

This a delicious easy drink to make. Add all ingredients into the blender and voila!

a.A handful of spinach

b.1 apple
c. 1 banana
d. 1 lemon (squeezed)
e. Half a chili pepper (optional)
f. 1 garlic clove or as much as desired (optional)
g. 1 glass of water

Liver-Friendly Diet

Many different medical conditions can cause reduced liver function, and you may not even know you have a problem with your liver until your physician identifies it through routine blood tests. If your doctor tells you that you have reduced liver function, you may need to follow a special, liver-friendly diet to avoid stressing this important organ.

A. Causes
Viruses, such as hepatitis, can damage your liver, and so can alcohol. Both of these potentially can cause reduced liver function, according to MedlinePlus. Diabetes and obesity also play a role in fatty liver disease, which may affect as many as 20 percent of all Americans, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

B. HOW?
If you're following a liver-friendly diet, your goal is to avoid stressing your liver.


1. First and foremost, you'll need to avoid alcohol in all forms, since processing alcohol stresses your liver significantly, according to the Ohio State University Medical Center.
2. You'll also need to watch how much liquid you drink.
3. How much protein you eat and
4. How much salt you use.

C. Liquids and Salt
If your liver isn't working as well as it should, you may find yourself retaining water, especially in your feet and hands, according to the Ohio State University Medical Center. To avert this problem, drink only when you're thirsty, and avoid sipping beverages when you don't really need them. Also, limit your salt intake, because too much sodium in your diet also can cause water retention. If a food contains more than 300mg of sodium per serving, avoid it.

D.  Protein

Your liver works hard to process protein, and your liver-friendly diet will need to limit the protein you eat to help your liver function optimally. If you have particularly bad liver damage and you eat too much protein, toxic waste products from improper protein metabolism can build up in your blood and affect your brain, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Your physician will tell you how much protein to eat. Remember that meats, dairy products, nuts and beans all contain protein, and most grains and vegetables also have a little bit of protein.

E. Considerations
Because you're limiting protein on your liver-friendly diet, you'll need to replace those calories with something else.  Carbohydrates can form the backbone of your diet, according to the Ohio State University Medical Center. Just watch out for added salt in processed carbohydrate products, such as crackers and chips, and remember to include plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet.

Exercise To Lower Cholesterol


By Susan Davis

WebMD FeatureReviewed by Cynthia Dennison Haines, MDYou may have heard that exercise is one of the best ways to lower your cholesterol. But how does it work? And what type of exercise is most effective?

A. The Exercise-Cholesterol Link
Researchers aren't entirely sure how exercise lowers cholesterol, but they are beginning to have a clearer idea. "Lots of people, even lots of doctors, assume that exercise lowers cholesterol," says Amit Khera, MD, director of the University of Texas, Southwestern, Medical Center's Program in Preventive Cardiology. "But until recently, most of us weren't sure just what the connection was."

1. One way exercise can help lower cholesterol is by helping you lose -- or maintain -- weight. Being overweight tends to increase the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in your blood, the kind of lipoprotein that's been linked to heart disease.

Part of the confusion about the effect of exercise on cholesterol stems from the fact that most early cholesterol studies focused on both exercise and dietary changes, making it hard to tease out which of these factors was actually making the difference. But recent studies have more carefully examined the effect of exercise alone, making it easier to evaluate the relationship between exercise and cholesterol.

2. Researchers now believe there are several mechanisms involved.

   2.1 First, exercise stimulates enzymes that help move LDL from the blood (and blood-vessel walls) to the liver. From there, the cholesterol is converted into bile (for digestion) or excreted. So the more you exercise, the more LDL your body expels.

2.2 Second, exercise increases the size of the protein particles that carry cholesterol through the blood. (The combination of protein particles and cholesterol are called "lipoproteins;" it's the LDLs that have been linked to heart disease). Some of those particles are small and dense; some are big and fluffy. "The small, dense particles are more dangerous than the big, fluffy ones because the smaller ones can squeeze into the [linings of the heart and blood vessels] and set up shop there," says Khera. "But now it appears that exercise increases the size of the protein particles that carry both good and bad lipoproteins."



B. How Much Exercise Does It Take To Lower Cholesterol?
Exactly how much exercise is needed to lower cholesterol has been a matter of some debate.

1. In general, most public health organizations recommend, at a minimum, 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous exercise , such as walking, jogging, biking, or gardening.

2. But a 2002 study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that more intense exercise is actually better than moderate exercise for lowering cholesterol. In a study of overweight, sedentary people who did not change their diet, the researchers found that those who got moderate exercise (the equivalent of 12 miles of walking or jogging per week) did lower their LDL level somewhat.

3. But the people who did more vigorous exercise (the equivalent of 20 miles of jogging a week) lowered it even more. The people who exercised vigorously also raised their levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) -- the "good" kind of lipoprotein that actually helps clear cholesterol from the blood. "We found it requires a good amount of high intensity exercise to significantly change HDL," saysWilliam Kraus, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke and the lead author on the study. "Just walking is not enough."


According to Kraus's findings, however, even though moderate exercise was not as effective in reducing LDL or increasing HDL, it did keep cholesterol levels from rising.

Bottom line? Some exercise is better than none; more exercise is better than some.


C. How Much Will It Help?
Just how much of an effect exercise has on cholesterol is also a matter of debate. "We've found that the people who benefit the most are those who had the worst diet and exercise habits to begin with," says Roger Blumenthal, MD, director of the Ciccarone Preventive Cardiology Center at Johns Hopkins University. "Some of those people reduce their LDL by 10-15% and increase their HDL by 20%."



D. Getting Started

1. START SLOW: If you haven't been exercising regularly already, it's important to start slowly. Be sure to check in with your doctor, so that he or she can evaluate your current cardiovascular health. This could mean blood tests or a treadmill test to see how your heart reacts when you exercise.)Once you're cleared to begin working out, follow these guidelines:

2. CHOOSE THE ONES YOU LIKE: Choose a form of exercise you can do for 10-20 minutes at a time, with at least moderate intensity, such as walking, biking, swimming, jogging, or using an exercise machine at low speed).

3. VOLUME AND TIME MATTERS: Know that while the intensity may be moderate, the "exercise volume," which means the amount of time you spend exercising, has to be pretty high. The American Heart Association recommends working up to 30 minutes of physical activity per day, or 60 minutes per day if you're also trying to lose weight. Remember: you can get your exercise in 10 minutes increments if need be, as long as it adds up to 30 minutes by the end of the day.

4. FIND THE ONES YOU LOVE: Find an activity you love, whether it's walking your dog, playing tag with your kids, swimming laps at a pool, or bicycling through your community. Finding a buddy to exercise with can be helpful, too, both for moral support and to help make exercise more enjoyable.

5. VARY:  Even better, find several activities you love, so you can vary your routine. This helps you exercise more than one set of muscles, as well as enjoying different work-out environments.
Of course, exercise alone won't guarantee a low cholesterol level.

Genetics, weight, age, gender, and diet all contribute to an individual's cholesterol profile. The most effective way to ensure a healthy cholesterol level is to modify your diet and, if need be, take cholesterol-lowering medications.

But exercise has many advantages beyond lowering cholesterol. Exercise has been shown to keep bones strong, reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, stroke, and obesity, and to improve mood. "Even if the improvements in your cholesterol profile are modest, there are many, many other benefits," says Blumenthal.

Day 1

Today is my 1st day in my quest to lower down my cholesterol thru exercise and drastic diet changes. The health screening result showed very high cholesterol level brought about by my dietary preference over the last 2 years.  And I intend to do 180degree turn from these and reclaim back my health. So help me God!


THE PRESENT:
===========
1. Here is a typical diet that I follow. Breakfast with fried bee hoon with side dish of either egg, fried eggplant, deep friend fish fillet. Lunch with chicken curry, chicken cutlet or fried rice. Dinner would be either fried pork, sweetened pork, fried chicken, fried fish.

Bottomline, a LOT of FRIED FOODS! Deep fried foods, carbo rich and oily delights are the staple hawker foods in Singapore.

THE FUTURE:
==========
The goal is to significantly lower my diet from protein rich and salt based diet.

A.Breakfast Selection:
a. Oat meal
b. Peanut butter sandwich with whole grain.

B. Lunch Selection
a. Fish soup.
b. Subway sandwich.
c. Home made tuna sandwich

C. Dinner.
a. Fruitshake, strawberry, carrot, grapes, apples, banan.
b. Leafy Vegetable (stringbeans)
c. Tuna.

Battle for lower cholesterol

I was saddened to see the result of my higher than expected cholesterol level today. 

Baseline: May 2012           = 267 

Goal      : November 2012 = xxx

I shall attack this on 3 levels:

   1st level : Diet with high fiber, fruits, vegetables, oat meal, wholegrain, berries, nuts.

   2nd level: Exercise, swim, bike, run. Golf

   3rd level : Medication

If the number do not go below 20% by November, then I need to up the ante on my exercise to twice the level.

And if still the number persist, then I shall move to the 3rd level as a last resort.

Wish me luck!

 

Building for the next generation

Maybe this is my lot. To build for the next generation. To set up foundation for my kids. To harness their topnotch skill. To layout pathway for them to utilize their talent to the highest level. To lay groundwork for the next set of leaders to lead humanity to the age of unparalleled opportunities.

Let the numbers speak for themselves.

The day before

After training for 1.5 months, I'm here again for the 1st triathlon of the year!

Funny. But life has some interesting twist to offer. Not so long ago it was I who's prodding my kids to develop health and wellness consciousness by encouraging active sports participation.

Now that my eldest boy is in 4th year in High school, and with his PE background/subjects, he is now coaching me how to train properly. From "carbo loading" before a race, to interval training (toggling between high HR to medium to slow HR).

What you sow you will reap indeed!

Training for May 6

With my recent picking up of golf, i am now finding it hard to squeeze time to train. Nevertheless, as and when I feel my body is already starting to get sluggish, I then will start pushing aga