of anti-oxidants and free radicals :)

Do you know that too much free radicals in your body will cause risk to your health such as cancer?

Health depends on balance between anti-oxidants and free radicals. To gain optimal health, this is very important. I found out a few sources of free-radicals from a talk i attended.

To those who smoke, one cigar contains 10,000,000,000,000 free radicals!! Goodness, that really shocked me! No wonder people who smoke and inhale the smoke are very very much likely to have cancer.

Others sources are energy production in mitochondoria, radiation exposure and environmental (the ozone). Most of us lack of anti-oxidants is because we don't eat enough vegetables and fruits thus we lack of nutrients.

Oh, do you also know we have to at least eat 1kg of vegetables and fruits per day? In our busy lifestyle in KL, not many people actually have the time to be health conscious. I used to be like that but I realized I really do need to take care of my health. When something happened, it's too late. Prevent is better than cure, right?

That's why supplements are carefully researched with the best ingredients. XD. just pop a few good pills :) Supplements are good for us. Look at this picture below. Can you eat that much vegetables and fruits per day to meet your nutritional needs?
cheers :D though i love vegetables and fruits, but not this much a day!
Live healthy! :D(lols, very health conscious dy me XD)

Lose Weight the Right Way with TRA (The Right Approach)

Obesity is posing a growing threat to the health of the world population. In our country, 5 in 10 adult Malaysians are now rated overweight or obese under the guidelines issued by WHO. The global overweight (BMI>25) and obese (BMI>30) are estimated to be more than 1.1 billion, with more than 300 million (1/3) who are clinically obese (with chronic disease and disability due to obesity)

I'm more aware now that obese is indeed a serious issue as overweight people are at risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. I have been overweight since my childhood days and I realized this is probably due to the lifestyle my family of generations lived. Almost all my relatives from my dad's side are extremely overweight. I still remember we had lots and lots of food during our gatherings or even just having a casual dinner. And they are meat-lovers and veggie-haters!

I was never really health conscious or really cared about what I ate. Of course, I thought about losing weight as well (signed up for California Fitness for 2 yrs and now True Fitness for 2 yrs) Who doesn't want to achieve an ideal weight, right? It didn't really worked out as with the busy lifestyle and plus didn't really researched on the right way to gain ideal weight.

In Feb 2008, I joined this program TRA (The Right Approach) for better weight management and health. I know my health is at risk as I'm obese so I decided to embark on this programme. It proves to have changed my life! It has been almost 3 months after I finished the programme and I manage to lose weight healthily and still am losing weight. Food intake in my family have changed as well thanks to me being on this programme and insist that I must eat right and healthy. My mom is happy too as she also suffers from high-blood pressure, diabetes and high-cholestral. All this has definitely benefited me and my family :D I don't spend on going gym anymore but I exercise outdoors. It's much refreshing :)

I now lead a healthy lifestyle! Are you? Here is an article of the weight management programme I joined. It was on the Star on Sunday, July 12. I took the article from The Star Online. It's proven safe by HSA (Singapore Health Science Authority as it was first launched in Singapore)

Sunday July 12, 2009

The right approach

A three-pronged weight loss programme helps people lose weight by combining weight loss products, good nutrition and plenty of exercise.

IF you consider the countless weight loss programmes you can choose from, you may find it difficult to believe that the underlying philosophy of losing weight basically boils down to one equation: when you take in less calories than you spend, you have weight loss. It is that simple, says Nu Skin enterprises chief scientific officer and executive vice president Dr Joseph Y. Chang. But although everybody knows that, it is not easy to lose weight with our current lifestyles.

“I always find it ironic that people have to drive to the gym,” says Dr Chang. Indeed, as machines increasingly replace muscles (the way cars replace the need for any legwork), there seemed to be less reason to spend calories any more than we absolutely need to. And thanks to fast food and convenient mamak stalls, we are now blessed with more calories than we ever need.

With these in mind, Malaysian-born Dr Chang and his research team in the US came up with the The Right Approach (TRA) – a patented weight loss programme by Nu Skin Enterprises that combines supplements, nutrition management and exercise with an additional element: group support.

Available in countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the weight loss programme has recently reached our shores.

“By bringing in TRA, we hope to provide Malaysians with a scientifically tested system to help them lose weight the healthy way,” he adds.

The reason we sometimes eat too much is our brains associate eating with sociable events, where we sit down with friends and family to eat and chat. And often, we eat more than we should, says Dr Chang.

Malaysian-born Dr Joseph Y. Chang and his research team in the US came up with the The Right Approach – a patented weight loss programme by that combines supplements, nutrition management and exercise with an additional element: group support. – AZMAN GHANI/The Star

That is why we need to retrain our brain to eat less and exercise more to achieve permanent weight loss, he explains.

People who go on TRA will be encouraged to exercise and practise portion control, where they can eat their normal diet, but half as much. On top of that, they could also take meal replacements to control their calorie intake and consume supplements to control carbohydrate cravings, absorb fat in the digestive tract, increase their body metabolism and burn fat.

To check their progress, they are encouraged to form small support groups that meet regularly.

A “TRA Consultant” will be assigned to monitor the groups’ progress or on a one-to-one basis. (The company conducts regular TRA consultant training for its distributors to educate them on The Right Approach to weight management – the Right Supplementation, Right Nutrition and Right Exercise.)

It may be difficult to do it on our own, but having a group that reminds you to eat healthily and exercise regularly makes it easier, says Dr Chang.

The problem with most diets is that when you are on it, you lose weight fast. The moment you stop, you put the weight back on. As Dr Chang put it, “it’s like a yo-yo”. That is why weight loss medications like laxatives that help people lose weight by losing water are, at best, temporary measures to reduce weight. With TRA, we place more importance in keeping the weight down, he says.

While he concurs that there is no best product for everybody, he cautions against some weight loss products that contain dangerous chemicals, some of which have been pulled off the shelves recently.

Our best protection against these dubious products is our common sense, says Dr Chang. Some of the questions you should ask are: does the product come from a reliable company? Has it been researched well? How exactly does the product work?

A rule of thumb is: if it sounds too good to be true, be careful. As nothing beats reduced calorie intake and exercise in weight loss, if you have to lose weight with the help of supplements or weight loss programmes, choose them carefully.

for more info do go to http://www.therightapproach.com/ and read the article on http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2009/7/12/health/4034714&sec=health

Throughout my 1 year of being a temporary staff for PIKOM continuosly, I realised working life has definitely changed me. There are of course, pros and cons. Sometimes I wish I could be the person I was back then. I became more emotional, haha as more responsibilities sunk in, things get emotional sometimes. I tend to think about my future at all times. Questions arised, such as "where is this going to lead me?" "will what i do now take me to where i want to go?"

It's so easy to get discouraged and my moods are like roller-coaster. I never thought about working permanently for a company as I just fear of my time being tied. Probably I have given it a thought at times but it never did work out. I felt at loss and also regret that I did not put effort earlier to do what I really want to do. It took quite some time to find out what I really wanted. It's like I should have straight venture into my industry earlier rather than spent a year in PIKOM.

However, thinking back, its really not such a bad thing after all. I got to know a industry that's totally opposite of what I studied. I've met wonderful people there, which is probably one of the reasons I did not leave the company. Haha yes maybe some people would not understand, but the teamwork and friendship I saw there are just amazing. I absolutely adore my boss, I've learn a lot from her, she's my inspiration and gives me the drive to work better and live better! :D

Now, I've chosen a path that gives me the freedom to manage my own time. I know, I know I had bad time management - but I've improved through my college years and my time in PIKOM. Ahem, laziness is an issue as well. Oops. Now, it's just the beginning. Like the war has just started! The race has just begun! I joined a business that does weight management and skincare. It's fun and challenging. And it thought me more about the real world too. Haha! I'm also trying to build my own garment business, hopefully to make my products first and able to design and sell.

I would say I didn't have proper training in pattern drafting back in college. Pattern drafting is a step before you actually sew the garment. As I'm from the pioneer batch, I didn't have proper foundation. Only in my last two years, I've improved a lot in design and pattern drafting, thanks to my lecturer Ms.Sheila. She has tremendous experience in pattern drafting and design, she was in UK for 10 years! When you have more exposure, especially being in the fashion capitals in the world like New York and Paris, you will improve a lot in your designs. Your imagination goes beyond!

A sample of what pattern drafting is. If you think this is complicated, it gets more complicated!
I have a complete pattern drafting book, its good so now I'm using it as a reference to make my designs. It's like starting from A B C again. I want to make my foundation stronger. It's going to be really hard but I love what I do and I will go for it. Well, with no business, marketing or probably sufficient experience in fashion world, I will DO it! As I go by, I know I will learn. Learning is forever.

Time goes by so fast its scary sometimes. I better catch time before it catches me. Haha! There's another thing I want to share here. Last two weeks we shared about doubt in TSF. And that's something I struggled most of the time and to many people too, I believe. I would like to post a verse here thats so encouraging to me.

Mark 11 : 22-25

"Have faith in God" , Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea", and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins"

Haha, seems my post this time a lot of things to share. Maybe I never really express last time. Haha! GO GO GO! "Faith with actions, no doubt, no fear, more patience, do it!" :D oh be more forgiving! :D