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Saturday, May 09, 2009
Believe that it can be done!
When our children want to take on any challenge, be it an elocution competition or an English commentary on a Japanese movie, encourage them. This is especially so when our children themselves voiced their wish to go for it.
As parents, we ought to understand that every challenge our children willingly takes on must always be considered as a step towards self improvement.
I know there are some who would like to point out that our children may fail in the challenge. “So what?” I would say. After all, is not life always full of challenges? Are not failures a part of the learning process? And if our children are not allowed to face challenges they believe they have the opportunity to succeed in; then, when are they going to know their potentials, when are they going to know their limits and when are they going to improve? How are they going to learn everything about their capabilities when they only see the possiblities and the probabilities but not the certainty? How are they going to know themselves well?
It is not the failing that we ought to fear, for it is the attitude towards it that matters. In life, if we fear failure, then we will never try anything. Then, what possible thing can we get out of life? For, in all ventures that we ever made, there is always the chance to succeed or fail. Nevertheless, without any attempt, how are we ever to know which will be the outcome?
Take falling in love. If we do not allow ourselves to do so, how are we ever to know the outcome? Even if we fail in our first love, that should not deter us from falling in love again. What is important is the ability to face failure, take it as a part of life, learn from it our own weaknesses and go on to live another love. Those who commit suicide as a result of such a failure are those whose minds are unaware that one love does not a make a whole life-time. They have never known how to face problems and challenges in life. Maybe, they were never given the opportunity to face life's challenges. Even if love matures into marriage, marriage does not guarantee happiness forever. Marriage merely gives us the opportunity to help each other to reach happiness through love. The possibility and probability of happiness is there. The challenge lies in the sustenance of love. (I shall go into that in a future post for it's a subject I have thought deeply about.)
In every competition our children take part in, there is always the chance to fail to emerge as the best. No matter how good our children are, there could always be someone better at a particular time. However, that is not true failure!
What is failure to us? It depends upon how you look at it. For example, is being in second place a failure? What about third place? Fourth place? To me, so long as they benefit from the participation, they have won something. They have gained something. Do you agree? Please think about it.
Furthermore, being in fourth place is not being a failure. It merely means that at that particular time, three persons managed to prove themselves better. It could be they have more experience, more knowledge and longer training in attaining certain required skills. Of course, we should not make these our excuses. However, given the same experience, knowledge and training, the fourth placed person may turn out to be even better than the present best. In true life, we see it happen all the time. They move up the ranks and become the world's best in time to come.
Even if your child does not get a placing, he/she has learned something. He would have understood himself/herself better and know which field to enter in future.
The wonderful thing about challenges and activities which our children want to face in their youth is they give our children the chance to understand and know their own strength and weaknesses, their potentials and their limits. And if parents give them the encouragement by appreciating their aspirations and their efforts, they can develop great attitudes, excellent resilience and a strong character.
To know our weaknesses, limits, strength and potentials is important as with that knowledge, we know in which career or sphere of life we would be able to excel. Let us face the fact that no individual can be excellent in everything. Some cannot excel in science but are fabulous in arts. Every one of us can, with the right knowledge, be successful in many things but the chances of being successful are much better in areas where our strengths and potentials lie.
Just as a general with knowledge of his army’s strengths and weaknesses can plan a suitable strategy to win, so can our children if they understand their own capabilities and weaknesses well.
All of us have our weaknesses and limits. Some among us, I am one of them, cannot excel in singing or dancing, although we are among the best in other matters. If we know our weaknesses in singing, we can put some effort into overcoming it and thus, still have fun or be fairly good at it but we know we can never be another Elvis Presley or Cliff Richard no matter how much we train or how many times we go onto a stage.
Never mind, just be like me. I can still sing to myself to my heart's content in my bathroom. I am my own best fan!
Actually, there are many adults who do not fully know their own strengths and weaknesses or potentials and limits. For our children to have this knowledge, we ought to encourage them to try out whatever they want. This is the kind of knowledge that will indicate which direction probably leads to success and which possibly takes them to dead-ends. Such knowledge is similar to a map which shows dead-end roads as well as all the roads leading to success.
So, should we not encourage our children in whatever dreams they have?
As parents, we ought to understand that every challenge our children willingly takes on must always be considered as a step towards self improvement.
I know there are some who would like to point out that our children may fail in the challenge. “So what?” I would say. After all, is not life always full of challenges? Are not failures a part of the learning process? And if our children are not allowed to face challenges they believe they have the opportunity to succeed in; then, when are they going to know their potentials, when are they going to know their limits and when are they going to improve? How are they going to learn everything about their capabilities when they only see the possiblities and the probabilities but not the certainty? How are they going to know themselves well?
It is not the failing that we ought to fear, for it is the attitude towards it that matters. In life, if we fear failure, then we will never try anything. Then, what possible thing can we get out of life? For, in all ventures that we ever made, there is always the chance to succeed or fail. Nevertheless, without any attempt, how are we ever to know which will be the outcome?
Take falling in love. If we do not allow ourselves to do so, how are we ever to know the outcome? Even if we fail in our first love, that should not deter us from falling in love again. What is important is the ability to face failure, take it as a part of life, learn from it our own weaknesses and go on to live another love. Those who commit suicide as a result of such a failure are those whose minds are unaware that one love does not a make a whole life-time. They have never known how to face problems and challenges in life. Maybe, they were never given the opportunity to face life's challenges. Even if love matures into marriage, marriage does not guarantee happiness forever. Marriage merely gives us the opportunity to help each other to reach happiness through love. The possibility and probability of happiness is there. The challenge lies in the sustenance of love. (I shall go into that in a future post for it's a subject I have thought deeply about.)
In every competition our children take part in, there is always the chance to fail to emerge as the best. No matter how good our children are, there could always be someone better at a particular time. However, that is not true failure!
What is failure to us? It depends upon how you look at it. For example, is being in second place a failure? What about third place? Fourth place? To me, so long as they benefit from the participation, they have won something. They have gained something. Do you agree? Please think about it.
Furthermore, being in fourth place is not being a failure. It merely means that at that particular time, three persons managed to prove themselves better. It could be they have more experience, more knowledge and longer training in attaining certain required skills. Of course, we should not make these our excuses. However, given the same experience, knowledge and training, the fourth placed person may turn out to be even better than the present best. In true life, we see it happen all the time. They move up the ranks and become the world's best in time to come.
Even if your child does not get a placing, he/she has learned something. He would have understood himself/herself better and know which field to enter in future.
The wonderful thing about challenges and activities which our children want to face in their youth is they give our children the chance to understand and know their own strength and weaknesses, their potentials and their limits. And if parents give them the encouragement by appreciating their aspirations and their efforts, they can develop great attitudes, excellent resilience and a strong character.
To know our weaknesses, limits, strength and potentials is important as with that knowledge, we know in which career or sphere of life we would be able to excel. Let us face the fact that no individual can be excellent in everything. Some cannot excel in science but are fabulous in arts. Every one of us can, with the right knowledge, be successful in many things but the chances of being successful are much better in areas where our strengths and potentials lie.
Just as a general with knowledge of his army’s strengths and weaknesses can plan a suitable strategy to win, so can our children if they understand their own capabilities and weaknesses well.
All of us have our weaknesses and limits. Some among us, I am one of them, cannot excel in singing or dancing, although we are among the best in other matters. If we know our weaknesses in singing, we can put some effort into overcoming it and thus, still have fun or be fairly good at it but we know we can never be another Elvis Presley or Cliff Richard no matter how much we train or how many times we go onto a stage.
Never mind, just be like me. I can still sing to myself to my heart's content in my bathroom. I am my own best fan!
Actually, there are many adults who do not fully know their own strengths and weaknesses or potentials and limits. For our children to have this knowledge, we ought to encourage them to try out whatever they want. This is the kind of knowledge that will indicate which direction probably leads to success and which possibly takes them to dead-ends. Such knowledge is similar to a map which shows dead-end roads as well as all the roads leading to success.
So, should we not encourage our children in whatever dreams they have?
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Be big but not that big.
After being born, acquiring sufficient correct nutrients to grow so as to have the best possible bone density and the best possible healthy growth of the various organs, is important to reach the best physical potential any individual is capable of.
When it comes to bone density, I am not saying it is desirable to have big bones. Gymnast, for instance, need to be strong and powerful but not big boned or too tall. A wrestler must have the maximam weight and the thickness of skeleton to combine with their power and practised skills to excel. So, it depends.
To develop physically, this has to be done before the approximate age of thirty, after which nothing much can be done. After that age, it is only possible to maintain whatever has been developed.
To achieve our goal of giving maximum possible physical growth to our children, they can be allowed to be plump but not so overweight that there is no possibility of the condition being reversed as they become teenagers.
Being overweight has nothing to do with size. A stout person is often seen to be big but is not necessarily overweight.
Overweight or the better word for it, obesity, means having an amount of excessive fat being lugged around by our body and hampering our organ's work twenty four hours a day.
In their teens, our children may gradually realise that the extra weight they carry around can be a disadvantage. They can be clumsy and are not able to participate in some of the more vigorous activities of their peers.
However, if obesity is still at a low level and if our young adults are habitually active, it may not present any problem.
As they grow older, their problems with too much weight may become more noticeable. Some may have to start seeing their doctors more often with diabetes or some kind of heart disease.
According to the latest research, excess fat comes not so much from consuming fats as from consuming too much carbohydrates. The experts tell us people who consume fats do not feel as hungry as often as those who consume carbohydrates. That is because fats is not as easily digestible as carbohydrates. Also due to this reason, easily digested carbohydrates make us feel hungry sooner. In the process, we take in more food which means more calories, causing more blood sugar leading eventually to diabetes.
For young adults burdened with excessive weight, unless they do vigorous walking or running regularly at least three times a week to bring down their weight, their weight will increase with our age.
When weight is borne by their skeletons to wherever they go, certain parts of the skeleton like the spine and the rib-care will have to suffer. To remain upright and straight becomes a heavy task for the spine. That is why older men and women who are too fat hunch more than their peers as they age. Not only that, there could also be pain as gravity and weight presses down on each and every vetebrae, perhaps pinching some nerves in the process. Having to support too much fat around it, the rib cage suffers and that is the reason some fat old people complain of pain at their sides, near the ribs.
The joints suffer too when excessive weight is put onto them in every move they take. With more pressure on them, they will wear out faster.
With too much fat around the organs, the lungs have to struggle to breathe, the heart has a tough time pumping blood to every part of the body.
With fat around our organs and body, movement is bound to become more and more limited and it is just a matter of time for fat to beat any will-power a person may need to overcome it unless we set out with determination to beat it before it does.
Prevention is the best way to ensure such hardships which impede movement does not become our misery; with such impediment further aggravating the situation with even less movement can only mean less calories burnt. With hardly any brisk movement, energy is barely used up and excess fat builds up; each day fat is added as almost the same amount of food is usually consumed although there is less activity.
Any preventive steps must be taken as early as possible as age can sap us of our strength, mobility, metabolism and almost everything needed to overcome obesity.
When it comes to bone density, I am not saying it is desirable to have big bones. Gymnast, for instance, need to be strong and powerful but not big boned or too tall. A wrestler must have the maximam weight and the thickness of skeleton to combine with their power and practised skills to excel. So, it depends.
To develop physically, this has to be done before the approximate age of thirty, after which nothing much can be done. After that age, it is only possible to maintain whatever has been developed.
To achieve our goal of giving maximum possible physical growth to our children, they can be allowed to be plump but not so overweight that there is no possibility of the condition being reversed as they become teenagers.
Being overweight has nothing to do with size. A stout person is often seen to be big but is not necessarily overweight.
Overweight or the better word for it, obesity, means having an amount of excessive fat being lugged around by our body and hampering our organ's work twenty four hours a day.
In their teens, our children may gradually realise that the extra weight they carry around can be a disadvantage. They can be clumsy and are not able to participate in some of the more vigorous activities of their peers.
However, if obesity is still at a low level and if our young adults are habitually active, it may not present any problem.
As they grow older, their problems with too much weight may become more noticeable. Some may have to start seeing their doctors more often with diabetes or some kind of heart disease.
According to the latest research, excess fat comes not so much from consuming fats as from consuming too much carbohydrates. The experts tell us people who consume fats do not feel as hungry as often as those who consume carbohydrates. That is because fats is not as easily digestible as carbohydrates. Also due to this reason, easily digested carbohydrates make us feel hungry sooner. In the process, we take in more food which means more calories, causing more blood sugar leading eventually to diabetes.
For young adults burdened with excessive weight, unless they do vigorous walking or running regularly at least three times a week to bring down their weight, their weight will increase with our age.
When weight is borne by their skeletons to wherever they go, certain parts of the skeleton like the spine and the rib-care will have to suffer. To remain upright and straight becomes a heavy task for the spine. That is why older men and women who are too fat hunch more than their peers as they age. Not only that, there could also be pain as gravity and weight presses down on each and every vetebrae, perhaps pinching some nerves in the process. Having to support too much fat around it, the rib cage suffers and that is the reason some fat old people complain of pain at their sides, near the ribs.
The joints suffer too when excessive weight is put onto them in every move they take. With more pressure on them, they will wear out faster.
With too much fat around the organs, the lungs have to struggle to breathe, the heart has a tough time pumping blood to every part of the body.
With fat around our organs and body, movement is bound to become more and more limited and it is just a matter of time for fat to beat any will-power a person may need to overcome it unless we set out with determination to beat it before it does.
Prevention is the best way to ensure such hardships which impede movement does not become our misery; with such impediment further aggravating the situation with even less movement can only mean less calories burnt. With hardly any brisk movement, energy is barely used up and excess fat builds up; each day fat is added as almost the same amount of food is usually consumed although there is less activity.
Any preventive steps must be taken as early as possible as age can sap us of our strength, mobility, metabolism and almost everything needed to overcome obesity.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Thank God. We can read!
In the library on Wednesday, the 6th of May, 2009, I read in the New Straits Times of how unscrupulous some people can become through their greediness.
According to the report, a team from the Health Ministry raided a pharmacy and discovered that it had sold one thousand codeine tablets each week to a coffee shop which sells each glass of a herbal tea laced with a tablet of the drug, giving its customers a high each time. Of course, with addition, the customers will head for their herbal tea each day. The coffee shop and the pharmacy are located in Petaling Jaya, Sleangor, Malaysia.
For those people who are not literate, such knowledge may never reach them unless it can be conveyed to them through a literate friend.
Certainly, literacy is important in our society. It is even more so than experience.
Especially in the matter of drugs and its consumption, we should not wish to experience it, unless it is the only way to overcome some kind of sickness. This particular drug, codeine, is used in cough mixtures. We have read before about drug addicts buying cough mixture as a cheap form of drug-taking. Unfortunately for those people who take codeine in beverages or cough mixtures, they become addicted after some time.
Once addicted, they may have to progress to stronger drugs to have their ‘kick’. Such highs can lead to problems for their family and society. Money to support such a bad habit will empty the addict’s account. Stealing may be the only way to get sufficient funds. That’s when everyone in the addicts' locality may have to suffer for his/her addiction.
If one is not careful, fire-crackers can deprive one of a few fingers. Addiction is worse! One can lose oneself! It can deprive a person of his/her human feelings and responsibility to society. Such things are too dangerous to experience. Knowledge of such things have to come from books, magazines or newspapers.
That is one reason every country throughout the world wants one hundred percent of its people to be literate. That is why language learning must begin from the first day of life.
According to the report, a team from the Health Ministry raided a pharmacy and discovered that it had sold one thousand codeine tablets each week to a coffee shop which sells each glass of a herbal tea laced with a tablet of the drug, giving its customers a high each time. Of course, with addition, the customers will head for their herbal tea each day. The coffee shop and the pharmacy are located in Petaling Jaya, Sleangor, Malaysia.
For those people who are not literate, such knowledge may never reach them unless it can be conveyed to them through a literate friend.
Certainly, literacy is important in our society. It is even more so than experience.
Especially in the matter of drugs and its consumption, we should not wish to experience it, unless it is the only way to overcome some kind of sickness. This particular drug, codeine, is used in cough mixtures. We have read before about drug addicts buying cough mixture as a cheap form of drug-taking. Unfortunately for those people who take codeine in beverages or cough mixtures, they become addicted after some time.
Once addicted, they may have to progress to stronger drugs to have their ‘kick’. Such highs can lead to problems for their family and society. Money to support such a bad habit will empty the addict’s account. Stealing may be the only way to get sufficient funds. That’s when everyone in the addicts' locality may have to suffer for his/her addiction.
If one is not careful, fire-crackers can deprive one of a few fingers. Addiction is worse! One can lose oneself! It can deprive a person of his/her human feelings and responsibility to society. Such things are too dangerous to experience. Knowledge of such things have to come from books, magazines or newspapers.
That is one reason every country throughout the world wants one hundred percent of its people to be literate. That is why language learning must begin from the first day of life.
Fantastic facts about saturated fat.
Healthy Nutrition: Saturated Fat: What to Do?
By Laura LaValle, RD, LD
One of the biggest areas of dietary confusion today is whether saturated fat is bad for us or not. For the most part, conventional medical thought remains firmly in the “saturated fat is bad for you” corner, while a growing number of people feel that not only is the jury still out on saturated fat intake, it may even have health benefits.
One of the primary reasons we are told to lower our saturated fat intake is to lower heart disease risk. As Jim and I have already discussed in several Total Health Breakthroughs articles, studies looking at the effects of low carb diets are a big reason the effects of saturated fats are being questioned; that’s because numerous studies have found that low carb diets lower total cholesterol and triglycerides while increasing HDL — despite being higher than is conventionally recommended for saturated fat intake.
These changes in lipid profiles lower the risk of heart disease, not raise it.
As if these findings aren’t reason enough to prove that conventional medicine may be wrong about saturated fat, another study out of Harvard has really raised some questions. This study looked at postmenopausal women who had previously eaten low fat diets and who, despite that fact, had plaque build-up in their arteries. But the same study found that when the women ate diets that were higher in saturated fat, the progression of arterial plaque stopped.
Interestingly, the one factor that was associated with progression of artery clogging plaque was a higher intake of carbohydrates, as is typically eaten on a low fat diet.
Other findings that are shedding more light on the effects of saturated fats stem from research that is being conducted on the different types of fatty acid chains like lauric acid, myristic acid, stearic acid, and butyric acid, which together make up the whole category of saturated fats.
These fatty acids are all saturated, but they differ in composition and function depending on the length of their carbon chains. If you haven’t heard much about them yet, you will, because the research on them is hot and heavy.
Here are some examples of the research findings:
Stearic fatty acids are composed of 18 carbon atoms and are commonly found in cocoa butter and fatty meats, like beef. Quite surprisingly, research has revealed that stearic acid doesn’t raise cholesterol levels as much as myristic acid found in dairy foods; and palmitic acid from palm oil actually lowers cholesterol.
Lauric acid, a 12-carbon chain, is commonly found in coconut oil, palm oil and breast milk. It is gaining attention because it raises healthy HDL cholesterol but not serum triglycerides and lipoprotein(a) concentrations (risk factors for heart disease). These findings further shatter the notion that saturated fats as a whole increase heart disease risk.
In considering whether we should consume saturated fats or not, heart disease should not be our only consideration. Higher saturated fat intake from full fat dairy products has been found to decrease a woman’s risk of being infertile, while eating low fat dairy foods, which most people do to lower their heart disease risk, was found to increase risk of being infertile.
And while I see many headlines and articles stating that saturated fat intake in general is associated with an increased risk of cancer, many people feel that some of the risk could be from other factors like heterocyclic amines (HCAs) produced from over-cooked meats or the hormones that are sometimes injected into commercial livestock and poultry.
In fact, while it is not yet definitive, it looks like butyric acid, one source of which is butter (a saturated fat), may play a role in preventing cancer by stopping the development of cancer cells.
As more research accumulates, there is no doubt the messages to consumers about saturated fats will be modified. In the meantime, our position at LMI remains the same: limit carbohydrates and center the diet on plant foods and organic proteins. And we probably shouldn’t be afraid to include some saturated fats from butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and organic meats and dairy (as tolerated).
This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs which offers alternative health solutions for mind, body and soul.
By Laura LaValle, RD, LD
One of the biggest areas of dietary confusion today is whether saturated fat is bad for us or not. For the most part, conventional medical thought remains firmly in the “saturated fat is bad for you” corner, while a growing number of people feel that not only is the jury still out on saturated fat intake, it may even have health benefits.
One of the primary reasons we are told to lower our saturated fat intake is to lower heart disease risk. As Jim and I have already discussed in several Total Health Breakthroughs articles, studies looking at the effects of low carb diets are a big reason the effects of saturated fats are being questioned; that’s because numerous studies have found that low carb diets lower total cholesterol and triglycerides while increasing HDL — despite being higher than is conventionally recommended for saturated fat intake.
These changes in lipid profiles lower the risk of heart disease, not raise it.
As if these findings aren’t reason enough to prove that conventional medicine may be wrong about saturated fat, another study out of Harvard has really raised some questions. This study looked at postmenopausal women who had previously eaten low fat diets and who, despite that fact, had plaque build-up in their arteries. But the same study found that when the women ate diets that were higher in saturated fat, the progression of arterial plaque stopped.
Interestingly, the one factor that was associated with progression of artery clogging plaque was a higher intake of carbohydrates, as is typically eaten on a low fat diet.
Other findings that are shedding more light on the effects of saturated fats stem from research that is being conducted on the different types of fatty acid chains like lauric acid, myristic acid, stearic acid, and butyric acid, which together make up the whole category of saturated fats.
These fatty acids are all saturated, but they differ in composition and function depending on the length of their carbon chains. If you haven’t heard much about them yet, you will, because the research on them is hot and heavy.
Here are some examples of the research findings:
Stearic fatty acids are composed of 18 carbon atoms and are commonly found in cocoa butter and fatty meats, like beef. Quite surprisingly, research has revealed that stearic acid doesn’t raise cholesterol levels as much as myristic acid found in dairy foods; and palmitic acid from palm oil actually lowers cholesterol.
Lauric acid, a 12-carbon chain, is commonly found in coconut oil, palm oil and breast milk. It is gaining attention because it raises healthy HDL cholesterol but not serum triglycerides and lipoprotein(a) concentrations (risk factors for heart disease). These findings further shatter the notion that saturated fats as a whole increase heart disease risk.
In considering whether we should consume saturated fats or not, heart disease should not be our only consideration. Higher saturated fat intake from full fat dairy products has been found to decrease a woman’s risk of being infertile, while eating low fat dairy foods, which most people do to lower their heart disease risk, was found to increase risk of being infertile.
And while I see many headlines and articles stating that saturated fat intake in general is associated with an increased risk of cancer, many people feel that some of the risk could be from other factors like heterocyclic amines (HCAs) produced from over-cooked meats or the hormones that are sometimes injected into commercial livestock and poultry.
In fact, while it is not yet definitive, it looks like butyric acid, one source of which is butter (a saturated fat), may play a role in preventing cancer by stopping the development of cancer cells.
As more research accumulates, there is no doubt the messages to consumers about saturated fats will be modified. In the meantime, our position at LMI remains the same: limit carbohydrates and center the diet on plant foods and organic proteins. And we probably shouldn’t be afraid to include some saturated fats from butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and organic meats and dairy (as tolerated).
This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs which offers alternative health solutions for mind, body and soul.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Great news! Beautiful teeth is easy to have!
Hey everybody, here's some really wonderful news I cannot wait to share with you.
A young, beautiful single mom with two beautiful children, Mandy Doyle from San Jose, CA has found an easy way to whiten her stained teeth by using two products, Teeth White Pro and Easy White. She wants to share her secret with the world. Go to her blog: http://happyteethblog.com and read about her simple secret to beautiful white teeth. See the difference in her teeth and perhaps share her joy and fortune by following her example. Beautiful white teeth certainly gives excellent self-esteem!
However, the product may not be in your country. Well, where there's a will, there's a way. See how you can have someone send them or import them. Sales, gals and guys!Do you see the potential?
Find out now and all the best from me.
A young, beautiful single mom with two beautiful children, Mandy Doyle from San Jose, CA has found an easy way to whiten her stained teeth by using two products, Teeth White Pro and Easy White. She wants to share her secret with the world. Go to her blog: http://happyteethblog.com and read about her simple secret to beautiful white teeth. See the difference in her teeth and perhaps share her joy and fortune by following her example. Beautiful white teeth certainly gives excellent self-esteem!
However, the product may not be in your country. Well, where there's a will, there's a way. See how you can have someone send them or import them. Sales, gals and guys!Do you see the potential?
Find out now and all the best from me.
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