Fruits – Radiance and Vitality

By Deline Tan

 Do you love fruits? Everyone does and I do. What are the fruits that you go for? For me they are orange, pineapple, strawberry, papaya, prune, kiwi, water-melon and many more. Orange tastes very good and it has high content of Vitamin C. I take an orange a day and it has become a habit. I enjoy the taste and it helps me in my digestion too. Take everyday and you will not need to go to the doctor.

Everyone knows the value of fruits, as taken constantly, it will smoothen complexion. It aids constipation and indigestion, and it is one of the most fruitful foods for our diet. It has beta-carotene in all fruits and has high antioxidant content that prevents disease. The best food we can find is fruits as it wards off cancer cells, lowers cholesterol, beautifies the skin, and aids digestion.

As fruits are not stored in the body, it has to be consumed on a regular basis. Plenty of fruits refreshed the body and give the body a radiant look. Fruits have to be consumed in an empty stomach as it is quickly absorbed in the stomach walls. If mix with food, it blocks the fruits from being absorbed directly, thus causing the meal to ferment in the intestines and may cause cancer in the long run.

Lemon is known to be the cancer eraser, as it kills cancer cells and eradicates free radicals. Taking lots of fruits are known to cure cancer as about 80% of cancer patients recovered purely through fruit consumption. It is therefore wise to eat fruits everyday as it adds fibre and aids toileting.

Eat fruits to your heart content. It gives you a clean bill of health and contains Vitamin C which is an important vitamin to keep sicknesses away. High consumption of oranges and other fruits prevent common cold as well as enhance the total health as the liver is cleansed, refreshed, and it invigorates the digestive system.

There can be a variety ways of eating fruits. It’s best to consume the whole fruit than taking the juice as it helps the digestion better and is a better way of eating. You can serve the different cut fruits on a plate and everyone can taste its goodness, or you can cut them into small pieces, put it in a tupper ware, cool it in the refrigerator, and eat anytime you want. It’s best to eat it all the time as plenty of fruits invigorate the body with the necessary fibre for the body.

Many fruits prevent diseases and combat cancers. Some of the fruits are apricots, blueberries, cherries, figs, grapefruits, grapes, lemons, limes, mangoes, oranges, peaches and strawberries. These are all very delicious fruits and each fruit has its unique way of preventing diseases. Apricot controls blood pressure; blueberry protects the heart; cherry ends insomnia; figs helps stops strokes; grapefruit promotes weight loss; grapes saves the eye-sight; lemon stops scurvy; lime smoothes skin; mango boosts memory; orange supports the immune system; peach helps hemorrhoid and strawberry calms stress.

It’s best to consume all the different types of fruits everyday, as varieties will help each fruit enhance its antioxidant power and aid in its capacity to prevent disease and boost the immune system. The body needs replenishment of fruits everyday. All fruits smooth skin and have good vitamins and minerals to boost the functions of the body.

Try taking fruits before breakfast, lunch and dinner and you will see your digestive system improves drastically, that will aid constipation and promote good colon system. There can never be too much fruits as the opposite will truly promote good health system in your body. You will be rejuvenated and radiant, full of energy and vitality. Eat fruits everyday and much fruits daily – it promotes good health.

Eat-Out or Home-Cooked Food

By Deline Tan

What do you like best for your meals? Home-cooked, or eat-out? What makes you stay at home for your meals, and what causes you to eat out? For hurried working adults, they have no choice but to eat out during office hours. However, so far the people that I’ve spoken to regarding this article unanimously said that they prefer home-cooked food.

Wendy Teo, a lawyer and 8 months pregnant, takes her lunch in the office by home-cooked-food cooked by her maid. The meals are brought to her daily to her office. Why did she has to have her home-food rather than having the pleasure of eating out? She adds, “I eat home-cooked meal because it is healthy, as I am pregnant, which requires good nutrition.”

Preferring nutritious food is primary the reason why most people choose home-cooked food over eating out. For Sun Chang Sing, a Financial Advisor, eating out is inevitable as his mum passed away when he was young, and eating home-cooked food would be a luxury if there is someone to cook for him.

He eats out everyday, but he prefers home-meal better, as he tries to cook himself whenever he can. I ask him why he prefers home-meal and he says, “cooking your own meal caters to your own taste, and it is healthier and cheaper too. I can experiment to cook but it takes a lot of time.”

Anie Tan, an Administrator, too prefers home-cooked food. She is fortunate to have a mother who cooks for her daily after she returns from work. The only time she with her mother and sister will eat-out is on every Sunday morning, where they will have a good breakfast together.

Whatever reasons one has for eating out or spending some extra time cooking, there is one thing in common – almost all view home-cooked food as the ideal and healthier choice. Wendy rather eats what the maid cooks, than eating food not suitable for her unborn baby. Chang Sing would rather eats his own-cooked-meal, even though he has no choice but to eat out.  Anie rather eats the food cooked by her mother than eating out, and so are the majorities who are working.

However, I have a friend Alice, who eats out with her entire family daily. She is a housewife and hates cooking. Her family would take lunch and dinner outside, as she doesn’t get tired taking outside food. She sees it as saving time for not cooking.

Singapore is known as the food paradise. The taste buds of most Singaporeans are exotic. We have expensive taste for good food, and that is the reason why there are so many food-courts around. The outlets for restaurants have also grown, as people don’t mind spending hundreds to dine at cozy restaurants. Some housewives prefer not to cook, as it is so convenient to eat out.

Food is the glutton’s belly. Do you discipline yourself when you eat? Do you overeat and regret later? Almost all that we do in our waking hours is to eat. We have food everywhere. However, the observation is that even though we are surrounded by food, but majority of the Singaporeans are not fat. Someone commented as to how we can stay so slim even though we eat all the time.

In America, about 30% are obese as they usually eat at fast-food joints like McDonald and Burger King. When Singaporeans travel overseas, they usually come back putting on a lot of weight. While away, they will always miss the Singapore local food such as char kway teow, carrot cake, chicken rice, noodles and the popular locals like laksa and pepper crab. It is known that Singaporeans are great food lovers, and no matter what the majority chooses to have on their own cooked-food, the restaurants are never without business.

However, there are so many restaurants and average ones that closed down too. The turnover for new businesses and those closing down are high. It is known that a stall alone at the popular food-court can fetch a good income of over a few thousand dollars per day. People try to get rich overnight, as some made it and many don’t.

If it’s your business to eat out, you probably know which are the popular stalls and people don’t mind queuing for their foods. I for one love eating out. I like Japanese sushi, Korean barbeque, Thai Tom-yam soup, seafood like prawns and lobsters; others include Western Restaurants like Italian and French food. Whatever your picks, you can never exhaust the lists of good eatable restaurants, if you love good food and know what it means to treasure all the good stuff there.

Whether you prefer home-food or eating-out, one thing is certain – we all love good food and eating is one of the many pastimes when we as Singaporeans will readily indulge in.

Eating-out or home-cooked food! You choose your pick and ultimately it is the pleasure of the taste-buds that will choose the right choice for you to have your meals – home-cooked, or eating out – my pick, I choose to eat out.

Bread – The Staple Diet

By Deline Tan

Bread – the staple diet for many, is one of the most consumed product in any household. I love it, and so do many. You can eat it with many different fillings, and the healthy way to your breakfast is bread with peanut butter or cheese. Peanut is a good source of monounsaturated fats and its perfect to go with the bread.

Bread started way back in 2000 years ago when Jesus broke bread during the Passover, and also fed the 5000 and 4000 crowd with the barley loaves. In Europe and the Middle Eastern countries, it has been umpteen years that bread has been a staple diet, in which it is included in almost every meal. To some westerners, this is still practiced today.

Breads are made from rye, whole-wheat germ mix with white flour, with yeast added to give it the fluffy-look. Whole-meal breads are high in fibre compared to white bread, and aids digestions. There are other varieties of breads made from fruit-nuts, raisins, whole-nuts, and bran. It is exciting to see the wide range of the many different types of breads on display at bread stalls.

Under the pyramid chart of healthy food, bread is one of the recommended diets for good healthy living. Wheat is good for us and is one of the good carbohydrates group. Athletes consume high amount of breads as it gives them energy and strength.

In every home, bread is the one diet that families cannot go without. Almost everyone eats it and the soft textures smoothen the mouth and it is one of the diets that people will not get tired of.  Sandwiches, invented by John Montagu a couple hundreds of years ago, remains as one of the most popular breads stuff with tuna, cheese or eggs.

Nowadays there are so many creative ways to bake breads. There are so many bread-stalls island wide, and people are flocking to the stalls because they can never have enough of it. The queues are long and people wouldn’t mind it as everyone wants to savour the many different varieties of breads that come in many different styles and fillings.

Self-baked breads can be an exciting and interesting hobby, where you dough the wheat bran flour and bake it in the hot oven, eagerly tasting it even while it is still hot. It is important to add yeasts so that the buns will not be flat. There are so many recipes books that you can easily pick one and start following the instructions and begin to bake all the many different types of home-made bread, as much as you want.

It is good to experiment it in the first few attempts, and once you are more confident, you can bake it for the whole family. As I said, we cannot go without bread, and as you pick up the skills to bake, you can fully enjoy your own crisp crumb breads that smell fresh right from the oven.

Alison my friend will testify that she is the great bread lover, and loves it very much. She views making sandwiches as one of the versatile ways to suit any occasion. With hams and bacons, added with salads that give it the perfect taste, Alison adds, “I just love the soft texture and the fine taste of the crusted bread as I never get tired of it. In every culture in the world, they eat some form of breads as a staple food.”

Sharing the same view with Alison is Poh Khuan, my cousin, who too, loves bread quite a lot, especially the freshly-baked ones. She finds it convenient to eat it everyday, as a loaf can last for a few days. Or, she would keep it in the fridge, and then would heat it in the oven once she takes it out. She adds with enthusiasm, “It tastes great when the bread is hot and so soft, just like the freshly-baked ones.”

She continues, “There are different types of bread with varieties of vitamins and calcium, which is not only healthy and nutritious but fibrous too. It aids digestions and prevents constipation.”

Indeed bread is one staple that people just simply love it. It is healthy and nutritious and every morning people just find bread at the table, and it is enough to keep them going for the day. I never get tired of it, and with the varieties of baked bread, I just never run out of taste for it.

What Are Your Favourite Foods?

 By Deline Tan

 What are your favourite foods? Some people enjoy ice-cream; others go nuts over creamy chocolate; and still some others cannot go through the day without at least a cup of aromatic coffee; while others go crazy over the smelling durians.

I love liver – yes, liver, you heard it right. I enjoy the stretchy textures and the more I eat it, the crazier I’ll go for it. My mum used to cook liver for my late grandmother and I would steal a share of it. She would boil it in the hot water and barely a few minutes, the soup will just come out right and when you sip it, the taste bud tingles your tongue and it  tastes soooooo… good.

What do you like for fruits? For me, it’s orange. Yes, it’s my favourite. I can feel the juicy droplets passed through my fingers and I feel the zest of life after taking one. It’s good for constipation and it has a very high content of Vitamin C and gives you a clear good complexion. If taken often, you would hardly catch a cold.

Seafood is still one of my favourites. I used to eat out with an Australian girl-friend here, where we used to have Korean bar-be-que buffet, or tried the good authentic Japanese sui-shi, and even frequent the Thai restaurant. I love tom-yam soup, which is hot and spicy, and for sea-food buffet, I would go for the king-size prawns, as usual the liver, crabs, fish, and beef, which are my delights, but I would hardly attempt the leafy because I don’t really enjoy vegetables as much. I would go for the meaty stuff and force myself to eat the greens, as I know it’s good for me.

Occasionally, I would eat at Sea-food Restaurants and would go crazy over the lobster. The unforgettable lobster meal that I had some years ago was at a French Restaurant. The lobster was cooked with cheese and I would go crazy over the taste. It is still one of my favourite dishes that I’ve ever tried.

In my younger days, I used to be an Insurance Agent and also an Investment Executive. I would meet clients and the usual thing to do is to go to the restaurants and eat. I just love all the different kinds of restaurants and the different kinds of spicy food, the hotter the better. We would go and eat tolsay at a North Indian Restaurant but my favourite is still the French Restaurant. The foods are always fancifully prepared and it makes you really hungry while you eyed the food. It is always creamy, with lots of cheese, and you can really put on weight if you frequent the place often.

For local foods, I would go for the rojak. The crispy yue-tao, usually grill over in a hot stove, tastes fantastic. I would enjoy the yue-tao more than the turnip, cucumber and pineapple, but nevertheless the whole dish is really good. I’m not so much of the local-food-type, as I love western food more, like the beef-steak, as I am more of a meat eater.

So much about food…and the next time when you drop by a restaurant, do remember me if you’re trying beef-steak or liver, as I would love to have these meals with you.

Work Not, Eat Not

By Deline Tan

“Come…come…good fishes here. 1 kg is $3 only. Come…come…final piece!”

The dirty soggy mud and wetness clings to my feet. Wearing a cloak would be most suitable. The shouting and yelling of the fishmongers and meat sellers penetrated into my ears. Busy housewives hurriedly get their vegetables and I was looking for bitter gourd because it cleanses the blood and clears the system. I wasn’t necessarily a regular market-goer, but this morning I was determined to explode the market and find what I need which are cheap.

I walked to the vegetable seller and asked what I needed – bitter gourd, and he asked, “Sweet potatoes too?” Huh, why not? I ended up buying besides the bitter gourd, sweet potatoes, tapioca, brinjii, sweet corns and coconut. I went home eager to explore how to make what I bought an easy cook. With recipe at hand I meshed the sweet potatoes and tapioca and baked a decent sweet-potato-tapioca cake. I dipped the ready cakes into the white coconut and it was ready to be served.

I cooked the bitter gourd and sweet corn with pricey oil in the ordinary way of cooking. The rice was boiling hot and to my dismay it burned. There was a strong stench of charcoal-burned smell. My invited guests would have to go without white rice.

The doorbell rang and I jumped to the door. Mercy, Mag, and Roy thunderously announced their arrival. Bags of grocery were handed to me and they expect me to cook what they’ve bought. Fishhead, curry-powder, coconut, cabbage, potatoes, ladyfingers, tomatoes, and the likes – they expected me to cook curry-fish-head.

All hands were working out their special touch to make the curry-fish-head tastes good. Again I forgot, no rice. I’ve forgotten that the rice was burned and curry-fish-head was presented without rice to eat. It didn’t take long to cook the rice again, but when I check the rice-urn, again no rice – it had run out. So we spent our mealtime eating dishes without rice and everyone was as hungry as they first stepped into the house.

There was a knock at the door, and the beggar wanted food. We had nothing left and counted ourselves most fortunate that we have something to eat compared to the beggar even though we were still hungry.

“May I come in?” the beggar asked.

“Come in please.” I said. “Why are you begging in the streets?” I asked.

“I got kicked out of my job five years ago, and ever since I’ve been begging.”

“Err…I suppose you can always wash my house if you want to.”

Roy looked straight into the eyes of the beggar and said, “See, you are given a decent job to do.”

The beggar looked a little confused and said, “But I came here for food, not work.”

“If you want to eat, you need to work.” Roy added.

“I…I…thank you.” And he left.

“Imagine why this beggar is begging. When there is work presented to him, he rather starves than work.” Roy said disgustingly.

“This is the reason why he is a beggar. Many people rather beg than find a decent job.” Mag added.

“What is the morale of the story here?” I asked.

“Well, the saying goes, work not, eat not.” Mercy chipped in.

“To earn a honest living, we must be hardworking and give our best. Anything done haphazardly is like a curse. There is no reward.” Mag continued.

“Well…let’s get going and clean the house, and perhaps after that we may go for a movie.”

I directed them what to do with the cleaning, and I took the poster in my room and placed it in the kitchen door with the words, “Work Not, Eat Not. With Every Sweat, It Pays Off.”

A Buffet Spread

By Deline Tan

Did you recently celebrated a party with a wide buffet spread for your guests and there were just so much food left over? Did you eat to your heart’s content and even wanted more? Think of your last buffet that you had; what was your attitude and response in the way that you eat. Was your skirt too tight after a hefty meal or that was not a problem at all?

Food glorious food! We are into so much eating that we almost fail to watch our diet and the way we eat. The worst feeling comes when we gouge so much food that the fullness is intolerable. You must have felt that way each time when you over-eat. Over-eating is bad for the health and it does affect the stomach, as it may lead to gastric pain as over-fullness will stretch the pain if you have a gastric problem.

How then would you eat a buffet spread, enjoy it, and not experience the fullness and the bigness of the stomach? Taste your food. Yes, taste your food by eating slowly; enjoy the wide variety of food by nibbling in small size each different type of varieties of food. How do you avoid over-eating? Take your longest time to eat, chew your food well and be determined to enjoy the food rather then eating out of gluttony. Yes, enjoying your food will prevent over-eating, as you are not just eating to whatever kinds of food that you can find, but rather you are eating the food to enjoy it.

Enjoying your food is one way to prevent over-eating. After you are full, you want to stop eating as you have enjoyed the whole process of eating and you are now satisfied. Over-eating occurs when you eat what you like without enjoying the food. In another word, you are eating as much as you can and there is no control as to how you eat. You eat because the food is available and not because you enjoy it. Such eating will cause over-eating and you will find that you will have a big pot-belly.

To avoid big ugly stomach, always eat to enjoy your food and control yourself to eat the right amount and stop eating whenever you feel full. Enjoying your food should be the attitude rather than eat to be full. The next time when you are at a wide buffet spread, resist the temptation to eat everything that you see, but rather choose what you like and what you will enjoy eating. In this way you will really enjoy the wide varieties of food and at the same time not over-eat.

However to what is said, all of us are guilty of over-eating, as we do not know how to enjoy the food that we eat. To be able to enjoy food, love what you eat and not eat what you see. There is a difference between eating what you love and eating what you see. What you see is everything that you will eat, irregardless whether you are already full or not. Eat what you love will allow you to chew your food, enjoy it, and eat the amount that you can handle.

Try the method of eating what you enjoy and you will find that you are eating less and have a healthy way of eating. Do not eat everything that you see as that will end up in uncontrolled eating. It’s good to have a flat tummy rather than a big one, and it all boils down to how you have been eating your food. Healthy eating is good for us as it enhances a positive character and a right attitude as to how we handle ourselves.

Chew your food… enjoy your food… eat the right amount… and it will lead to a healthier and a more beautiful you.

Nuts – The Real Treat

By Deline Tan

Nuts – is a healthy fiberous diet that contains the good unsaturated fats like poly and monounsaturated fats. It is healthy fats that our body needs to provide the necessary nutrients. A healthy way to snack would be a packet of almond or cashew nuts, which is a great way to satisfy cravings.

Peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, cashew, macadamia nuts, and Brazil nuts are all very healthy nuts that help reduce heart disease, lower cholesterol and maintain the HDL (good cholesterol) levels. They contain no cholesterol and have several Vitamin B, Vitamin E, magnesium, copper and antioxidant. These vitamins and minerals are a good source that is essential for a balanced diet.

One of the necessary nutrients in nuts is folate, which plays a vital role in producing DNA and RNA, which functions as an important role in building up the body cells, and work in conjunction with Vitamin B12 to form haemoglobin (which carries oxygen) in red blood cells. Peanuts and sunflower kernels are a good source of folate, supplying at least 10% of the recommended daily intake per one ounce serving.

Pistachio is a great source of Vitamin B6 which helps the body form protein compound to make red blood cells, and antibodies to help maintain a healthy immune system. Other important minerals are riboflavin, thiamine and niacin, which help the body utilize sugars and fats to release energy from foods. Almond is a good source of riboflavin, and Brazil nuts, macadamias, and pistachios provide thiamine, and peanuts and sunflower seeds produce niacin.

Another important nutrient found in nuts is Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant that helps protect cells and tissues by neutralizing free radicals. Almond, Brazil nuts and cashews are an excellent source of magnesium. Cashews and pistachios are the source of copper, which is essential in making haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Nuts are also an important source of plant protein and are rich in energy, packed with antioxidant, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids. Nuts is a source of monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic and palmitoleic acids which help to lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol, and increase HDL or “good” cholesterol. For Mediterranean diet which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, it helps to prevent coronary artery disease.

Nuts can fight against diseases like cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer and viral/fungal infections through the compounds like poly-phenolic and flavonoid antioxidants. Resveratrol in peanuts is known to reduce stroke risk.

With all these benefits, there is no doubt that nuts can be a real treat to our casual snacks, and you can also use them for cooking, like adding cashew nuts or almonds into rice when  cooking pineapple or gee rice. There are so many creative ways to eat nuts if you were to think of your recipe in terms of the real treat.

Try adding the different nuts into your cooking and you will have a balance diet of good saturated fats together with your food of carbohydrates and proteins. There are many creative ways to cook a meal with the delicious nuts, as you can plan to add cashew nuts together with the vegetables, or cook a good peanut soup with red dates and other recipes to make a good dish.

Whatever your plans are for a meal cooked with the varieties of nuts, know that you can never get tired with it as it serves as a good crushy snack delight with good healthy means for the body. Let these nuts made you nutty and you will always go about with a packet of nuts for your leisure snack.

The Beauty of Sleep

 By Deline Tan

Sleep – the beauty of life is a gift to mankind. After a hard day’s work, we rest and go into slumberland. It is one way to repair the body after a strenuous day of hard work. Our body needs recovery from the exertion of the day, as the cells replenished itself during sleep.

However, some people are robbed of this special rest. Insomnia, the robber of sleep, destructs one from enjoying the beauty of sleep. Stress and anxiety can be the reasons why insomnia occurs. It is a complicated situation to understand, as the brain stays active and the mind is denied of rest.

Those who suffer from depression usually experience insomnia, as the mind is restless and anxious. Medication might help, but the best cure is to be free from fear and anxiety. The problem we face sometimes overwhelmed us and we may react and does not know how to recreate positive thoughts. Rest and recreation are the best form of de-stressor. It has been found that exercises calm the mind and body and produces chemicals in the body that balances the system.

There are three types of insomnia that we can identify with. They are:

1)     Transient Insomnia – which lasts for less than a week and can be caused by different sleep environment, or the different timing of sleep, as well as cause by severe depression and stress.

2)     Acute Insomnia – the inability to sleep for about less than a month.

3)     Chronic Insomnia – which lasts approximately about a month and can be due to muscular fatigue, hallucinations, and mental fatigue.

Let’s look at the pattern of insomnia, its causes and effects:

1)     The causes may be due to mental disorder, which makes the person having difficulty sleeping in the beginning of the night.

2)     Awaking in the middle of the night and have difficulty falling asleep after that. It is referred to as nocturnal awakenings.

3)     Waking in the early wee morning hours followed by clinical depression.

Statistics on insomnia shows that it affects more women than men. Stress is the main trigger that affects short-term problem known as acute insomnia, and if the problem is not addressed, it will lead to chronic insomnia.

Due to busyness of life, people don’t exercise, and excessive accumulated work-loads also do trigger stress-inducing chemicals in the brain that causes insomnia. Bad relationship is also one factor that causes stress and produces harmful effects on the body. Usually a crisis aggregates tension and stress that develops into insomnia.

How does one get rid of insomnia? You must have heard that people count sheep when they can’t sleep. The real solution is to change your lifestyle and lead a healthy way of life. Most conflicts that we face in our lives are caused by our own selfishness and sinful lifestyle. We fight and gossip, and we have strings of enemies. We strife at work and we want to be the best above everyone else. We fight to stay at the top and we have no regards for our fellow men. In another word, we are our own worst enemy.

A lifestyle change is what we need. We feel good when we do a kind deed, or, when we’re politely served by the waiters/waitresses, that made our day? A kind word is soothing to the ear and brings health and healing to the body. A good deed done blesses us with good relationship with people and as we love and accept people, know that we can safely fall soundly asleep. What the mind needs is rest (free from strife) and as we constantly live a healthy way, we’ll not have insomnia.

Think healthy lifestyle. Avoid quarrels and seek to be a peace-maker. Enjoy the bliss of life by doing good and sleep will follow you. You reap what you sow. If you intend to have lots of friends and able to sleep soundly, then keep your mind sound by doing what is good and right.

Your body listens to you. Your mind responses to your environment. Sleep follows you if you remain a good friend to your neighbour. You don’t have to count sheep, you only sleep, if your mind is aware of a good deed that you did during the day. Stay free from stress and rest will follow you.

Let’s look at how we can help ourselves through the available help for insomnia. One of the ways is through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In the therapy, the patients are taught improved sleep habits, like regular hours to go to bed and to sleep early. Attention to sleep hygiene is an important first line treatment strategy. Massage therapy would be very beneficial for sufferers of insomnia too.

Another way is through medication, which stood at about 95% of treatment for insomnia. It may not be the best way for cure as the drug can cause physical dependence which manifests in withdrawal symptoms if the drug is not carefully tapered down. Other side effects include day time fatigue and cognitive impairments.

Whatever way you seek treatment, know that prevention is better than cure. Live a healthy life style with no worries and you will beat the blues as you strive to be the confident you. Beat insomnia, beat life and you will be free from insomnia.

Fruits – Radiance and Vitality

By Deline Tan

 Do you love fruits? Everyone does and I do. What are the fruits that you go for? For me they are orange, pineapple, strawberry, papaya, prune, kiwi, water-melon and many more. Orange tastes very good and it has high content of Vitamin C. I take an orange a day and it has become a habit. I enjoy the taste and it helps me in my digestion too. Take everyday and you will not need to go to the doctor.

Everyone knows the value of fruits, as taken constantly, it will smoothen complexion. It aids constipation and indigestion, and it is one of the most fruitful foods for our diet. It has beta-carotene in all fruits and has high antioxidant content that prevents disease. The best food we can find is fruits as it wards off cancer cells, lowers cholesterol, beautifies the skin, and aids digestion.

As fruits are not stored in the body, it has to be consumed on a regular basis. Plenty of fruits refreshed the body and give the body a radiant look. Fruits have to be consumed in an empty stomach as it is quickly absorbed in the stomach walls. If mix with food, it blocks the fruits from being absorbed directly, thus causing the meal to ferment in the intestines and may cause cancer in the long run.

Lemon is known to be the cancer eraser, as it kills cancer cells and eradicates free radicals. Taking lots of fruits are known to cure cancer as about 80% of cancer patients recovered purely through fruit consumption. It is therefore wise to eat fruits everyday as it adds fibre and aids toileting.

Eat fruits to your heart content. It gives you a clean bill of health and contains Vitamin C which is an important vitamin to keep sicknesses away. High consumption of oranges and other fruits prevent common cold as well as enhance the total health as the liver is cleansed, refreshed, and it invigorates the digestive system.

There can be a variety ways of eating fruits. It’s best to consume the whole fruit than taking the juice as it helps the digestion better and is a better way of eating. You can serve the different cut fruits on a plate and everyone can taste its goodness, or you can cut them into small pieces, put it in a tupper ware, cool it in the refrigerator, and eat anytime you want. It’s best to eat it all the time as plenty of fruits invigorate the body with the necessary fibre for the body.

Many fruits prevent diseases and combat cancers. Some of the fruits are apricots, blueberries, cherries, figs, grapefruits, grapes, lemons, limes, mangoes, oranges, peaches and strawberries. These are all very delicious fruits and each fruit has its unique way of preventing diseases. Apricot controls blood pressure; blueberry protects the heart; cherry ends insomnia; figs helps stops strokes; grapefruit promotes weight loss; grapes saves the eye-sight; lemon stops scurvy; lime smoothes skin; mango boosts memory; orange supports the immune system; peach helps hemorrhoid and strawberry calms stress.

It’s best to consume all the different types of fruits everyday, as varieties will help each fruit enhance its antioxidant power and aid in its capacity to prevent disease and boost the immune system. The body needs replenishment of fruits everyday. All fruits smooth skin and have good vitamins and minerals to boost the functions of the body.

Try taking fruits before breakfast, lunch and dinner and you will see your digestive system improves drastically, that will aid constipation and promote good colon system. There can never be too much fruits as the opposite will truly promote good health system in your body. You will be rejuvenated and radiant, full of energy and vitality. Eat fruits everyday and much fruits daily – it promotes good health.

Bread – The Staple Diet

By Deline Tan

Bread – the staple diet for many, is one of the most consumed products in any household. I love it, and so do many. You can eat it with many different fillings, and the healthy way to your breakfast is bread with peanut butter or cheese. Peanut is a good source of monounsaturated fats and its perfect to go with the bread.

Bread started way back in 2000 years ago when Jesus broke bread during the Passover, and also fed the 5000 and 4000 crowd with the barley loaves. In Europe and the Middle Eastern countries, it has been umpteen years that bread has been a staple diet, in which it is included in almost every meal. To some westerners, this is still practiced today.

Breads are made from rye, whole-wheat germ mix with white flour, with yeast added to give it the fluffy-look. Whole-meal breads are high in fibre compared to white bread, and aids digestions. There are other varieties of breads made from fruit-nuts, raisins, whole-nuts, and bran. It is exciting to see the wide range of the many different types of breads selling at bread stalls.

Under the pyramid chart of healthy food, bread is one of the recommended diets for good healthy living. Wheat is good for us and is one of the good carbohydrates group. Athletes consume high amount of breads as it gives them energy and strength.

In every home, bread is the one diet that families cannot go without. Almost everyone eats it and the soft textures smoothens the mouth and it is one of the diets that people will not get tired of. Sandwiches, invented by John Montagu a couple hundreds of years ago, remains as one of the most popular breads stuff with tuna, cheese or eggs.

Nowadays there are so many creative ways to bake breads. There are so many bread-stalls island wide, and people are flocking to the stalls because they can never have enough of it. The queues are long and people wouldn’t mind it as everyone wants to savour the many different varieties of breads that come in many different styles and fillings.

Self-baked breads can be an exciting and interesting hobby, where you dough the wheat bran flour and bake it in the hot oven, eagerly tasting it even while it is still hot. It is important to add yeasts so that the buns will not be flat. There are so many recipes books that you can easily pick one and start following the instructions and begin to bake all the many different types of home-made bread, as much as you want.

It is good to experiment it in the first few attempts, and once you are more confident, you can bake it for the whole family. As I said, we cannot go without bread, and as you pick up the skills to bake, you can fully enjoy your own crisp crumb breads that smell fresh right from the oven.

Alison, my friend, will testify that she is the great bread lover, and loves it very much. She views making sandwiches as one of the versatile ways to suit any occasion. With hams and bacons, added with salads that give it the perfect taste.

Alison adds, “I just love the soft texture and the fine taste of the crusted bread as I never get tired of it. In every culture in the world, they eat some form of breads as a staple food.”

Sharing the same view with Alison is Poh Khuan, my cousin, who too, loves bread quite a lot, especially the freshly-baked ones. She finds it convenient to eat it everyday, as a loaf can last for a few days. Or, she would keep it in the fridge, and then would heat it in the oven once she takes it out.

She adds with enthusiasm, “It tastes great when the bread is hot and so soft, just like the freshly-baked ones.” She continues, “There are different types of bread with varieties of vitamins and calcium, which is not only healthy and nutritious but fibrous too. It aids digestions and prevents constipation.”

Indeed bread is one staple that people just simply love it. It is healthy and nutritious and every morning people just find bread at the table, and it is enough to keep them going for the day. I never get tired of it, and with the varieties of baked bread, I just never run out of taste for it.