Saturday, October 23, 2010

Allergy Unknown

More than a week ago, Joseph suddenly developed red spots all over his body. I first noticed a red patch on his wrist during dinner time on Monday night.
Before he went to bed, I applied some hydrocortisone cream for him and realized there were more spots on his feet. As I applied, I found more and more spots further up his legs and his arms.

The spots started out rather small so I thought it could be chicken pox (assuming the fluid in vesicles formed later). So I sms-ed his teacher to ask if any kid in school had chicken pox recently and also to inform her that Joseph would be absent the next day.
Tuesday morning - We paid a visit to Dr Koe. She said that it was an allergic reaction and asked if he had eaten anything different. I couldn't recall him consuming anything out of the ordinary except for a pack of vegetable crackers during lunch on Monday. Dr Koe gave him a bottle of Zyrtec and that was it.

Wednesday morning - he developed fever at 4am. I thought it weird because allergies usually do not result in fever. I gave Dr Koe a call later in the morning and she said it was probably a viral fever coinciding with the allergy. She said to only bring him in again if the fever did not subside by Friday.
By then, the spots had spread out over a larger surface area and Joe looked pretty lethargic, complaining that his legs were weak and he couldn't walk.

Naturally, I was apprehensive as well, and Dr Koe's explanation wasn't too assuring. He also had the spots on both ears and a couple on his upper lip.
His right submandibular lymph nodes were very palpable and tender. By now, the sight of his arms and legs made my hair stand on ends! I was worried! So I called my clinic, packed all my morning patients into one hour - saw 4 patients (including one RCT and one upper wisdom tooth extraction) and came home by 11am to take Joe to Pantai Hospital.
We saw a Dr Chin - elderly man who looks old enough to be Joe's grandfather, who took one look and said it was allergy due to insect bite. He checked out the red spot on Joe's right wrist where I first spotted the redness and pointed out a punctum-like 'hole' and said that would have been the primary spot.

Though his explanation was a lot more convincing and assuring, the medication did little to fade the spots.

By Thursday, we decided to give Joseph one serving of Herbalife F1 shake each day. He doesn't like it. I've no idea why. Drinking it takes ages. So we pour it into his oats and spoon-feed.
He grumbled and grumbled but downed it anyway. Three days later, the spots looked much clearer. A lot less.

There's still some on the back of his thighs but certainly not bright red, and not itchy.

I also realize that his growth has not been at the same rate as previously. He's currently only at about the 70th percentile and looking rather skinny. 5.5 years old, 21.5kg, 113cm. So from now on, it's one serving of F1 every day with his breakfast of oats. I hope to see some improvement in the not too distant future.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Daily Water Intake

Most people do not drink enough water. It's true.

It's just not natural even though our body consists of 70%-75% water.

To calculate how much water you should drink daily, multiply your weight in kilogram by 5%.

For example, if you weight 50kg, you need at least 2.5litres of water daily.

I try to drink at least 3 litres a day. And this certainly helps...
This is a 2-litre bottle. It's really easy to drink from. I can just sip and sip and before I know it, 2litres of water has gone down by system. Retails at RM27.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Constipation-Relief

I've had a problem with defecating eversince pregnancy and childbirth. My problem with haemorrhoids is still mild and through the years, I've found some non-medicinal relief :

1. Drinking lots of water

2. Muesli

3. Psyllium husk. (this tastes terrible, and is difficult to swallow but it works wonderfully! A more pleasant alternative is Fybogel)

4. Exercise - lots of walking. When we were holidaying in Honolulu for 3 weeks and had no wheels, we walked everywhere - at least 2-3 km everyday. Defaecating was a breeze!

And now that we've run out of muesli, this works in the meantime - green apples and orange fruit blend :
It's wonderfully cheap at the pasar malam. 30 green apples for only RM10.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Some gain, some lost

Most people often have the misconception that Herbalife is a weight loss product. This is not true. Herbalife is cellular nutrition!

Depending on how you take it, you can lose weight, gain weight or just maintain a healthier body.

My husband has always been skinny. I don't think it's genetic, but rather lifestyle. At almost 6feet tall and weighing a mere 60-61kg, he's grossly underweight. But even though underweight, he's got well-toned biceps to show.
But his body fat percentage....man, I tell you.... it is just so extremely disgustingly low. So after taking the F1 shakes + F3 protein, he's quite delighted that he's managed to put on about 3kg and now weigh almost 64kg. He's even more delighted that his body fat percentage has not increased with the weight gain but his muscle mass has gone up from 52kg to 54kg.


As for myself, I've been taking more fruits in the past 2 weeks. I would blend oranges and green apples for a fruit smoothie everyday at about 8am. Then I take the F1shake blended with a banana at about 9am plus.

I've also got more energy to go to the gym for a 2km run in the morning before the kids wake up. Not everyday but I've managed about 4 times a week.

Though not intentional, I had a bit of weight loss.

Body fat percentage is still more or less the same.


Body water is a good number...


Physique rating changed from 5 to 4 (leaner)...


And this is my metabolic age - 18 years.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Watermelon Goodness!

Had some leftover watermelon from CG on Friday night. So I threw it in the blender and added Strawberry-flavoured F1 Shake.
It's natural sweetness is really delightfully refreshing!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Chocolaty Apple

I have a hubby who has a unique taste for food. Weird to some people. Maybe even gross. But definitely unique.

He eats cream crackers with Wan Tan Mee, cream crackers with Hokkien Mee, cream crackers with Maggi Mee.

Crackers and mee aside, this is what he had yesterday. If I put an apple into the blender, I'd probably use the Vanilla-flavoured F1 shake. But hubby likes it with chocolate.
Drink up!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Passion Fruit Pleasure

We brought back some passion fruits from Singapore, courtesy of Uncle Nick.

Passion fruits are really aromatic sweet. I blended Vanilla-flavoured F1 Shake with 1 passion fruit and 1 orange.
Sweet and yummy!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Work, Rest, Live

Don't you wish that money would just grow on trees? Wouldn't it be great if you had a money tree in your backyard and you could just take what you need daily, and it would continue to grow and grow? But the reality is that most of us have to work to bring home the dough. So how do we strike a balance?

Some weeks ago, Pastor Daniel spoke on the 4th Commandment - keeping the Sabbath. One thing he said remains vividly etched in my mind.

We spend all our health to gain wealth.
And then we spend all our wealth to regain our health.

Is this true for you?

Do you tell yourself that you need to work hard now so that you can provide for your children? Truth is, they need your presence (not your presents!), your time, your hugs and kisses right NOW. Not when they are grown-up, independent and have not time for you.

Are you working hard so that you can have a comfortable retirement? What if you don't live to retire?

Are you working so much that you have no time to eat well and exercise?
Nobody on their deathbed has ever said that they wished they had spent more time at work. Instead, they regret not having spent more time with loved ones.

By all means, work. But remember to strike a balance.

Live now. Love now.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Ideals - water intake

Several friends we know have been taking Herbalife with varying results. Obviously some people lose weight faster than others. But it is important to stress that the results would be most optimum with correct usage.

One important factor is water intake. How much water do you drink each day? As a rule of thumb, your minimum water intake (in litres) should be 5% of your weight (in kilograms).

So if you weigh 50kg, you should drink at least 2.5litres of water a day. And I mean plain, unadulerated H2O. This means coffee, tea, milo, horlicks, ribena, coke etc do not count towards this minimum amount of water you drink.

Sufficient water is vital for our optimum well-being.

Women should have a total body water of about 50-55% while the figures are 60-65% for men.

Lately, I have made a more concious effort to drink more water. I down at least 3 litres by 12noon.

So if you want to see results, use the products correctly and remember to drink! Drink! Drink! Water, that is.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Afternoon snack for today

I came home from the gym this afternoon and every cell in my body was screaming, "FEED ME!!!"

I managed 2.5km in 19minutes. Hopefully this means I can do 5km in 40 minutes tomorrow when I take part in the Run for the Nation. I've never been even mildly atheletic in my entire life. Exercise is plain boredom to me. Unless I've got a good book/magazine/newspaper in my hand while I move my legs on the stationary bike or there's a television with a good show on in front of the treadmill, I just don't have the stamina nor the interest to exercise. So this is the first time I'm taking part in a sporting event on a voluntary basis.  

Anyway back to my cells screaming for food.

So I opened the refrigerator and there were 2 delicious-looking cream puffs staring back at me.

And on the kitchen table there was a tupperware of chocolate-banana cake.


Surprisingly, it was hardly tempting when I thought about how much more nutritious a Formula 1 chocolate shake would be. And so I had a shake.

And then I took my kids for a swim. It's been a good day!

A Fruity Shake

I had a bit more time today because I'm not working and there's an abundance of fruits in my kitchen.

So I put a mango, an orange and a banana into the blender, added in 3 scoops of Formula 1 Vanilla shake + 1 scoop Formula 3 protein.
Wah laa..... it was a very yummy filling breakfast!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

4 Steps to a Healthy Delicious Complete Meal

This is the first official post in my new blog. And what better way to officiate it than with this drawing by my 5-year-old son.

He illustrates here 4 steps to make a yummylicious chocolate banana shake.

Step 1 : Put a banana in the blender.

Step 2 : Pour in the water.

Step 3 : Put in the Formula 1 chocolate shake powder.

Step 4 : Switch on the blender.

Drink up and get healthy!