Last posts on health

Film”Fast Food Nation” Who are to blame?

2009-03-01T08:24:42+01:00

The film was more like documentary than drama. The story is fiction but it should be based on the facts.

A hamburger store chain manager goes to the meat processing factories to know why the poisonous bacteria were detected on beef for hamburger. The search reveals the harsh reality of fast food chain business and severe conditions of the workers in the factories.

This is something I, myself could more un-USA. But the film was of course produced by Americans. One of the characters was played by a famous actor, Bruce Willis.

The people involved in the story represent the problems of America and the world. Illegal immigrants from Mexico who seek much higher income than their homeland and end up working in meat processing factory where working condition is very, very dangerous.

Farmers who are fighting against corrupt food industry, liberal students who learn stupid system of their country but don't know how to change it.

Well, it just didn't happen in the U.S. Food industry is in fact scary sector. Very profitable but at the same time very competitive and people involved are very greedy.

But the bottom line is this phenomenon was caused by consumers' greed. We are always seeking cheaper products and more convenient way of life.

Then what we see in the end is McDonalds everywhere, people eating cheap but very poisonous beef.

What if we are more knowledgeable and considerate, things might be better.

I've heard that in Europe, there is a movement called "Slow Food. Slow Life."

Nothing's EZ~

2008-06-29T18:05:00+02:00

Yoo~

Hmm.. to-date as weighed at home, should have lost like 10-11kgs. The fats are cooperating well and I have grown to love garnier even more as their bodyfit firming hydrating lotion really leave on a hydrated feel... so smooth~

This morning Polin Aunty came.. haha! We asked alot of qns, asked on career lah.. and for my case, its gonna be a life long uneven ride according to her, and thus "job-hopper" shall be thye name! We asked about love too~ Guess wat? Next year shall be when the peach blossoms luck bloom! Haha! At that instance, that gut feeling that I had to do something about my weight sort of makes sense now... wat? preparing for that someone's arrival? LOL

Anyway, I recalled the instance that I felt the urge and seriousness in my attitude to start getting aware of property came to mind. Its like then, I got serious because a Need is coming by... So we shall sit back and see if this is really how my body works... Giving out signals according to the Timing in Life.

Spoken a little more and there I found out that the way to a healthy body is not stopping at the weight problem. The root of problem lies on my stomach and digestive system. More work to do now that the aunty has w'orked it out' for me.

I believe, that aint gonna be EZ but Im sure I will pull it off quite well. Its gonna feel real good to accomplish the goals you've set an to proof something's right and so forth. I wana have a taste of that!

Bikini suit >>> shall be my christmas present for myself!

FS.Rain | Celsius
a.k.a. Fangru

Pills that make you ill?

2008-04-18T19:10:00+02:00

Another health scare made front page news this week. A Danish study pooling 67 randomised trials with 232,550 participants concluding that taking "beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E significantly increased mortality". And taking vitamin C had "no significant benefit".

The mass media attention is fuelled by our mistrust of 'nasty chemicals' which we forget are in natural foods as well as - in pure form - in test tubes.

The BBC website reports that "After various factors were taken into account and a further 20 studies excluded, the researchers linked vitamin A supplements to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% increased risk and vitamin E to a 4% increased risk." Scary stuff? Maybe, considering how many vitamins are both naturally present in and added to foods, including bread and cereals. How many realise synthetic vitamin A is added to cod liver oil pills, usually taken as a traditional 'natural' remedy?

One blogger at least believes it is all lies, damn lies and statistics. Letters from a Tory reports that the studies used on average a dose of around 8 times the recommended amount for vitamin A, and other averages were also well above recommended amounts.

Does that make pills that deliver 100% of RDA 100% safe? I still somehow doubt it, so I'll mostly be sticking to as much fruit and veg as possible, including my own list of so-called 'superfoods' which, whatever the exact merits of the claims made for them, just happen to be delicious:

Broccoli: rich in vitamins A and C and anti-cancer ingredients, reduces cholesterol and has anti-viral benefits*
Garlic: regulates blood pressure, anti-viral and good for the heart
Mushrooms: anti-viral
Spinach: high in beta-carotene, good for the eyes, bones and more*
Cooked tomatoes: anti-cancer properties, anti-inflammatory*
Watercress: anti-cancer properties
Turmeric: anti-inflammatory and anti-viral, resists Alzheimers
Ginger: anti-oxidant, anti-coagulant, promotes healing
Oily fish: anti-viral and good for the heart
Raw olive oil: anti-inflammatory and cholesterol lowering
Apples: cholesterol lowering, eliminate toxins*
Blueberries: over-hyped but taste good!*
Cranberries: good for the kidney
Grapefruit: anti-coagulant, and more
Kiwifruit: high in vitamin C, anti-oxidant, eye protecting*
Pineapple: anti-inflammatory
Pomegranate: good for the heart?
Strawberries: lower blood pressure, anti-ageing and good for the heart
Walnuts: anti-inflammatory and cholesterol lowering*
Green tea: anti-oxidant and makes you feel good
Dark chocolate: lowers blood pressure and makes you feel good
Red wine: lowers cholesterol and makes you feel good

*I'm able to cut down on food miles by growing these at home.

”Sicko” Sick society, USA!

2008-04-05T14:50:00+02:00

I rented a DVD of Micheal Moore's documentary film "Sicko."

The film described how terrible the U.S. medical system is. 50 million of Americans don't have health insurance. Even if you have one, the insurance company wouldn't pay for your treatment by making up technical problems.

Once you get a serious disease, you might bankrupt. Insurance companies and the government don't want to provide national health insurance like Canada, England and France. Of course, in my country Japan does. You government prioritizes money over human lives of the poor people. They say national health insurance is socialist idea that restricts individual freedom.

My opinion for the realities presented in the movie was that America is no longer role model for the world. Such scary society. Spending so much money on invasion of Iraq and other parts of the world, killing innocent civilians outside the country and leaving sick people die inside. Pathetic!

Well, I wouldn't say my country is best nor other country in Europe. But USA is trush. I know nice Americans personally but where they come from is sick land.

Recently I've been regretting that I tried to imitate as many things from USA as possible in the past. There are things I should learn from them but they have things I never want to learn from.

Overall, the country is arrogant, corrupt, and undemocratic society. Who wants to live?

Guilt-ridden confessions

2007-07-13T17:55:00+02:00

I became aware of a fact - my boss has been working REAL HARD, real late (wee hours of the morning), even had work done at home...
As for myself, I have tons of work piling up, unable to finish during NORMAL working hours due to several meetings (with staff who walked-into my office and those scheduled ones) and other distractions. I did stay back quite frequently in attempt to complete some tasks, but its never possible to complete all that were 'due' for that day. With that, the vicious cycle of accumulation and tighter datelines kept coming back... STRESS is just one of the end/side products of such cycles.

Realisation brought back recollections of then, those times which I had just started work and was blindly putting in much time and effort with the many hours of OT to finish as many tasks as possible at work, while I was even studying part-time. That was also the period of time which I neglected the rest of the population of concern. Yet, those efforts weren't exactly appreciated. Thinking back, if I had been here with these great people in this current organization then, my efforts would have triggered satifying results and my 'spirit' may still linger. Now, I thought, I have made up my mind before ending the previous job, to not delve too much and indulge myself in work... This decision, is distrubing me, and costs me several restless nights filled with exhausting dreams, I think.

I would love to 'switch' back to my workaholic mode, but I am also afraid of the impending 'dooms' if I were to activate it. Energy is also one of my concerns, I felt old, somehow...

I guess, I need more time to think about this... More than I had expected...

FS.Rain