My heaven on earth

My home is a place of peace, tranquility and happiness to me and it should be. I worked very hard in the office and at the end of the day I want to come home, rest, relax my mind, enjoying my home and family life without any stress or anything that may incur stress on me. For me, “rumah ku” is really “syurga ku”. My home is my heaven on earth.

Since I was small, I like home to be clean, orderly and beautiful. It must be clear, spacious and cool to my eyes. It may not be expensive or elegant or big but pleasing to me. I really have a dream about a perfect home. Because it is a place I come back to everyday for rest, family enjoyment and self recovery to prepare for the next day. So that is the condition of my house, always clean and orderly, free from clutters, and no wrong item at the wrong place.

I hate to come home and see mess or dirty conditions everywhere. Whether it’s in the living room, kitchen, bedroom or bathromm. It would cause me stress which is totally unnecessary and avoidable.  I hate to see clothes hanging where they are not supposed to, dirty dishes on the table or items on the floor. Even though nobody is visiting the house and see these conditions but for me home is not primarily for others to show but for us to see and indulge.   All the clutters seem to have a bad energy that affects me deep into my mind. No wonder they have this thing called Feng Shui. Anyway to avoid this stress I always make sure before I leave home, the kitchen is clean, the table is clear, most things in place. When I open the front door in the evening I expect to enter into my heaven (on earth). And this is the way I have always enjoyed every single day.

Well, things are not always 100% perfect and minor glitch here and there will occur. For me time is always a constraint number 1. I love doing the cleaning up, checking, put things in order but I can do only as much as the time allows. I also have small kids at home and there are so many toys from the smallest to the biggest. It’s like having a mini Toys’R’us in my home. Emir enjoys all kind of throwing especially throwing toys down the stairs and food everywhere. He also likes to pour water into tissue box, onto floors, overturn everything he saw in the bowl or cups, orange juice, milk, rice, whatever that he fancies. It’s really a toddler issue and my task seemed to catch him before he spill anything on the carpet or cushion. There’s a barricade rail upstairs that’s been used to hang towels and I had managed to ignore that and hope it won’t be like that for the next 20 years.

During my growing up years, I don’t remember any clutters in my home. My parents’ house was so small before, just a quarter that a police personnel was given. 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bath and they were 5 childten in the house. But I can tell you, there’s no clutters at home, no hanged towels on the chair, no dirty shirts hanged on the walls, no dirty dishes ever left on the dining table or in the sink and no dirty bathroom. So I grow up continue to be particularly concern about house cleanliness and tidiness. Now my parents house is much bigger, a kampong house, but it’s still clean and tidy. So it radiates this cooling effect to the eyes.

Fatini seems to share the trait of tidiness. She has been in the habit of clearing up the family area and the result of her work is so amazing for her age. I am so proud of her. I’d like to cultivate in my children the habit of cleaning up, tidiness and orderliness. This promotes working together, consideration for others, sharing & responsibilities and inhibits basic laziness. When this good value is inbuilt in them, you can trust when they become adults they can have a home to call a heaven too.

What's boiling?

You know what I sometimes feed my children especially when I need to be on the go but lack the time to prepare. Or when I am somewhere and don’t have anything healthy. Some people may call me lazy. Actually I did it when I felt lazy too. What I did was I would boil a few eggs and served them to my kids for a meal. Fatini will throw away the yellow crumbly yolk and just ate the white part. The best thing is my kids like them hard boiled or half boiled but not fried.

Actually eggs are good food for you especially for the children. With their significant protein, vitamin and mineral content and relatively low saturated fat content, eggs are a valuable component in a healthy diet.

Protein

Eggs contain the highest quality food protein known. It is second only to mother's milk for human nutrition. Egg protein is of high biological value as it contains all the essential amino acids needed by the human body. Eggs therefore complement other food proteins of lower biological value by providing the amino acids that are in short supply in those foods. 12.5% of the weight of the egg is protein and it is found in both the yolk and the white albumen. Although protein is more concentrated around the yolk, there is in fact more protein in the albumen.

On the evaluation scale most commonly used for assessing protein, egg is at the highest point, 100, and is used as the reference standard against which all other foods are assessed.

Vitamins

Egg yolk is the major source of the egg's vitamins and minerals. Eggs contain most of the recognised vitamins with the exception of vitamin C. The egg is a good source of all the B vitamins, plus the fat-soluble vitamin A. It also provides useful amounts of vitamin D, as well as some vitamin E.

Minerals

Eggs contain most of the minerals that the human body requires for health. In particular eggs are an excellent source of iodine, required to make the thyroid hormone, and phosphorus, required for bone health. The egg provides significant amounts of zinc, important for wound healing, growth and fighting infection; selenium, an important antioxidant; and calcium, needed for bone and growth structure and nervous function. Eggs also contain significant amounts of iron, the vital ingredient of red blood cells.

What about cholesterol?

Egg yolks are indeed full of cholesterol. As in everything else moderation in egg intake is required. The average large egg contains 212 milligrams of cholesterol. The fat of an egg is found almost entirely in the yolk; there is less than 0.05% in the albumen. However you could opt for the healthier Omega-3 eggs which have healthier fats in the yolk.

Following is additional facts on egg yolk and egg white for our information.

The miracle herb

I like to find alternative treatment to many ailments which we can practice in our daily life. It should be simple, cheap and easily available to us. Well, one of the well known and well published is on Bitter Gourd which I like to share the information here. And we can find these vege/herbs at any grocery stores in this country. We should take advantage of this easy availability and high medicinal value and incorporate it in our life. It’s a cheap easy way to maintain health.

Nutrition Benefits of Eating Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and has high dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana.

They contains a unique phyto-constituent that has been confirmed to have a hypoglycemic effect called charantin. There is also another insulin-like compound known as polypeptide P which have been suggested as insulin replacement in some diabetic patients.

Seems that two teaspoon daily is sufficient to alleviate many ailments.

Caution: Not for pregnant women and kids.

Other medicinal properties

Blood disorders: Bitter gourd juice is highly beneficial for treating blood disorders like blood boils and itching due to toxemia.

Cholera: Can treat cholera

Diabetes mellitus: Bitter melon contains a hypoglycemic compound
(a plant insulin) that is highly beneficial in lowering sugar levels in blood and urine. Bitter melon juice has been shown to significantly improve glucose tolerance without increasing blood insulin levels.

Energy: Regular consumption of bitter gourd juice has been proven to improve energy and stamina level. Even sleeping patterns have been shown to be improved/stabilized.

Eye problems: The high beta-carotene and other properties in bitter gourd makes it one of the finest vegetable-fruit that help alleviate eye problems and improving eyesight.

Hangover: Bitter melon juice may be beneficial in the treatment of a hangover for its alcohol intoxication properties. It also help cleanse and repair and nourish liver problems due to alcohol consumption.

Immune booster: This bitter juice can also help to build your immune system and increase your body's resistance against infection.

Piles: can be used for treatment of piles

Psoriasis: improve psoriasis condition and other fungal infections like ring-worm and athletes feet.

Respiratory disorders: Take two ounces of fresh bitter melon juice and mix with a cup of honey diluted in water. Drink daily to improve asthma, bronchitis and pharyngitis.

Toxemia: Bitter gourd contains beneficial properties that cleanses the blood from toxins.

Isn’t it wonderful?

My new friend

Recently dark thoughts have been looming over me. Thoughts about my health and life. And then there is my back pain which is still there. So I decided to make visits to the doctor, which was yesterday.

 

Well, I spent the whole day at the hospital yesterday. I came in at about 9.45 am, and after a discussion with my gynecologist, I proceeded to the table where the examination was going to take place. As always, even though I braced myself to bravery, I was shaking the whole body from head to toe. This was not my first pap smear but even though it would be the 20th times, I would still feel the same.

We did the ultrascan and also decided that apart from the normal pap smear test I was to do the HPV test. The pap smear is to check for cancerous cell while HPV test (Human PapillomaVirus) is to check for a virus known to cause cervical cancer. This new test is just developed recently due to some new medical findings. The doctor said the sample taken would be taken quite deep. Seeing me so scared, he just talked on other things to calm me down while he’s doing his work. I don’t know how come I was still scared of this procedure after going through 2 caesarian deliveries and 2 D&Cs. Well, that’s how tough a woman is I guess, We braved all these for the sake of human subsistence. 

Anyway the procedure was not painful only the way it was done was so scary. I won’t elaborate. Then I went to the imaging lab for the mammogram which was actually my first test ever. I was so scared also. But the technician girl who was doing the imaging for me was very considerate and understanding. She said to me ‘don’t be scared, it will be uncomfortable but it won’t be painful’. I said, ‘are you sure? And she said, ‘yes, did other people tell you it would be painful?’ There was four imaging done. In between we had little laughs, me embarrassed, nervous type of laughs and she I guess seeing patient day after day must be thinking we were funny. But overall she was gentle and so understanding, considering the way the mammogram was done with all the awkward posture that I had to do. Then I had an Ultrasound scan done next. After waiting for the results and films, I went back to see the gynae to discuss. And due to a couple of small nodules found on my left breast he asked me to consult the surgeon for further discussion which was set at 3 pm. The findings scared me to the core, why was this happening to me?  My children, my children…. I kept thinking about my children. What if something was to happen to me ? I felt I must see the surgeon that day. No point to come back another day.

Well it was 3.30 pm when the surgeon came to see me. We reviewed the films and he decided that the nodules were harmless and very small. They normally developed after a certain age and sometimes disappear again. If I was too worried he could do a biopsy for me where a small fluid sample will be taken and checked in the lab but he didn’t think it was necessary. I need to come back for another check next January. I blew sighs of relief. What a day! God…, please protect me!

It was 4.30 pm when I finished and my bill came over more than RM1000.

Now come the moral of the story. I had been so lazy to go to the hospital. It seems like a complete waste of hours of waiting etc. I always waited till emergency case then only I dragged myself to the hospital. This set of mind needs a paradigm change. Hospitals are not just about doctors. They are just advisors like us in our jobs. Most importantly hospital has all these expensive equipment , technologies and laboratories which could be use to monitor our well being. The results from these technologies are facts and figures of our health. We should not only use hospital for treatment, we should use hospital as a preventive mechanism, to monitor the trend of our health so that preventive measures can be taken. Hospital is not my enemy anymore, it is my new friend.

For more info, please visit www.tellsomeone.com.my

Honey

I knew honey is good. We always have a jar at home. Rasullullah said that honey cures as medicine. My father had given us pure honey whenever we had chesty coughs when we were small. My husband put Manuka honey in tea. Sometimes we gave Manuka honey to our kids when they have chesty cough. This is the benefit of honey as confirmed by researchers particularly on Manuka honey.

Studies of the chemical composition of honey indicate that it has several major health benefits when in an unprocessed state.

· Apply it on the skin, it will act as an antiseptic, prevent infection and protect the area and clean away infectious cells.

· functions as a powerful antibacterial agent because of its high acidity. Its low water activity disallows development of micro organisms.

· when applied to the skin, provoke cellular growth, rising levels of skin collagen, and antioxidant activity

· can work against antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria,

· promote younger, healthier skin, repairing aged or damaged skin tissue

Let’s make honey part of out diet.