Anlene Total and Osteoporosis

I must exercise! It has been a year since I “ran” and at my age, I should be exercising not for “aesthetics” but more for health reasons. Back in the days, I used to hit the gym and run 5 days a week, and play tennis and hit the ballroom floor twice a week! Yup! I was so agile, buff and quite strong. Things change and in the course of 11 years, I now find myself exercise-less! 

When one hits the half-century mark, one feels the little aches and stiffness associated with aging. I know that I am way fitter than some of my contemporaries but I feel (and know) that I should really be doing some cardio activities to keep myself fit. Though I do try to eat “healthy” I know that I should be more conscious of what I eat and drink.  I am keen on clean living to avoid age-related ailments such as hypertension, high cholesterol and osteoporosis.

I was surprised to learn that one out of three Filipino women (1:5 in Filipino men) is likely to suffer from osteoporosis. A few years ago, my female friend slipped in her bathroom floor and fractured her hip. I took her to the ER and I was shocked when I saw her X-ray. Her bones were so porous that there was hardly any white component in the X-ray! Now she takes those expensive medicines to make her bones denser.

I am a fresh milk drinker but I found out that even if I down a litter of fresh milk daily, I still won’t be getting the right amount of calcium to strengthen my bones. So, I switched to ANLENE, which provides twice the amount of calcium than regular milk. ANLENE is the number one bone health milk brand in the Philippines and according to a 2009 study, it can decrease bone breakdown within four weeks. Yup! A glass or two of ANLENE a day keeps osteoporosis away!

Many Filipinos do not take the necessary steps to counter osteoporosis. Though this ailment is asymptomatic, the danger lies in osteoporosis-related fractures such as in the hips, spine and wrists. The NNHeS (National Nutrition and Health Survey, indicated that the incidence fracture on 50 years and above females is more than 11% and almost 9% in men. Our joints provide lubrication for two moving bones. When the joint cartilage wears out, then the risk of damaging the joints is higher. This predicament could very well hinder physical activities. A new product from the Fonterra is ANLENE Total. This high calcium formula contains Glucosamine which helps protects the joints

Anlene and Anlene Total are products of Fonterra. Since 2007, the company has been working with the International Osteoporosis Foundation to increase bone health education and awareness. One cannot deny the role of calcium in preventing the onset of osteoporosis. I used to take calcium tablets then either take vitamin D (or expose any part of my body to the sun) to “activate” the calcium. No more calcium tablet for me. I prefer to drink ice-cold Anlene!

A delicious way to take Anlene is to pour some on a bowl of corn, oatmeal with sliver of almond cereal. Delicious! 

Twitter: @AnleneTotalPH

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/AnlenePhilippines

The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser, the TV show series is in town. There will be an audition at the Megamall tomorrow. Ethan seriously said that I should join and the sentimental fool that I am, asked him if I were that fat.

"You're not fat mom, but the cash prize is!"

Great! The cash price is quite hefty at $100,000 which translate to about 5 Million pesos. I have a niece who is 150 pounds overweight. She lost weight sometime ago when she started on diet pills. The moment she shed 30 pounds, she stopped taking the pills and at the same time started to indulged again and never looked back. The other day my girls were formulating the audition video of their cousin for the Biggest Loser in the hope that she could be one of the contenders.

Draining Day...

Yup. You read it right. Draining, not Training. I was not able to go online yesterday for various reasons. The "reasons" were all physically and emotionally draining. Suffice to say I am a 5/10 in terms of being "okay". Anyway, I opened my email a while ago and a day of missing out opening my email account presented me with hundreds of spam emails. A lot of those emails are from companies offering diet pills. Are the claims of these diet pills all true? It's a good thing there is a website that do diet pill reviews. Five things listed in the site's DONT'S regarding diet pills are: buying diet pills without a money back guarantee; falling for those "free" trials; buying proprietary blends unless there are positive reviews about it; buying diet pills without reviews from experts, buying without reading consumer reviews. Are you on the lookout for the best diet pills for you? Check out the site for reviews of various diet pills in the market today. In the meantime, I'd life to put a little spark back in me. I need to recharge. Wouldn't it be something if people could just be recharged as mobile phones?

Wrinkle-Free Face

I am browsing for articles regarding Botox injections. Do I need Botox injections? Heaven forbid! Please...not yet. A cousin of mine has an affliction that no doctor could explain. For the past 10 years she has been suffering from extreme migraines and her eyelids were progressively closing. It came to a point where she has to pry her eyes open for her to see. She consulted doctors both in New York and Manila and the diagnosis was vague. However, the doctors prescribed Botox injections on her eyelids and the surrounding eye-area to arrest the drooping eyelids. The Botox injections worked! Her eyelids no longer droop but she has to have a sort of a prophylaxis Botox treatment every 3-5 months.

Botulinum toxin is the scientific name of the the product Botox. It was approved by the FDA in 2002 for the treatment of frown lines and wrinkles. The product is also used to treatment of migraines, muscle spams in the face and even excessive perspiration. How does it work? Botox block nerve signals to the muscles. The muscles are then paralyzed, albeit temporary, to create a smooth, wrinkle-free appearance. The procedure takes less than 20 minutes. The effect last from 4-6 months. It is a necessary for a would-be-Botox devotee to seek medical advice first before doing the procedure. Millions of women and men are usign Botox now to maintain wrinkle and furrow free faces. Interested? Who would not be?

What's an AED?

Daughter # 1 and 3, on occasions, come home after each duty with horror stories to tell. Both are in the medical and dental professions and "errors" are inevitable in some cases. I was really bothered by the case of a young man who had appendectomy and died hours after the supposedly successful operation. What happened? No one knows yet as an autopsy had to be performed. Daughter # 3 said that a colleague of hers performed dental surgery and the patient just died after the anesthesiologist gave the patient some medications to sleep. Horror stories! We should all take extra precautions concerning our health.

Daughter # 1 is now serious about getting our own Automated External Defibrillator as both my mother-in-law and husband are cardiac patients. She said that she has been telling my sister-in-law to get one for the longest time. I think she already called her uncle, his dad's brother who lives in Texas, to buy an America AED before coming home to Manila in two weeks time. She said the offered packages on sale at the site are worth the price. The site offers free medical prescriptions and medical authorization on all AEDs. I asked daughter # 1 if the AED would be easy to operate. Daughter #1 said that any idiot could be taught how to use it. Well now, I could actually learn to operate it!

Painless Lipo Laser

Who does not want to look beautiful? Who does not want to look firm and buff after birthing a bunch of kids, toiling night and day for years of stressful motherhood with the added strain of being a wife, a tutor, a driver, a cook, a counselor, a bread-winner, an event organize, a gardener, a care-taker, etc, etc. You're one big fat liar if you say you don't care how you look once you hit the 40s! Life has changed as it no longer begins at 40. It has transformed to "life begins at whatever age you want it to begin!"

Okay. So I'm having a hard time getting back into the shape and size I was back when the price of gas was 15 PHP per liter. The stubborn extra weight won't come off! Short of getting a knife and cutting off the woobly-jiggly thingy that is my tummy, I researched on a non-surgical way to get rid of the offending err..ahh... fat. Sure, liposuction has been around for years and years now but I don't want that since the procedure is still pretty invasive for me. Zerona might be the answer to my problem. The lipo laser quickly and painlessly breaks down the fat cells of the areas being treated as it stimulates the body to rid itself of the excess fat. A typical treatment course runs for a period of a 40-minute tri weekly sessions for three weeks. How does it work?

The Zerona laser liposuction is a cold laser beam penetrates fat cells making them empty out the fatty cells into the body for normal secretion out of the lymphatic and digestive systems. Great! This is best if one is in a hurry to look ones best for that special occasion in the offing. Count me in!

"Magic" Eye Cream

I had a very tiring day yesterday. I went to Divisoria in the morning to buy the textiles for my family's Filipiniana attire to be worn on my mother-in-law's 80th birthday. I and my family intend to wear Muslim-inspired costumes. Think Singkil, Maranao, Kumintang, Sari-Manok! Oh I had a field day choosing the textiles and accessories. After buying all the materials I needed for our costumes, I asked my driver to take to C.M. Recto to order the invites. I got the invites real cheap at 35 Php a piece compared to about 100 Php per piece in mall outlets.

By 4:00 P.M. I was home. At 5:30 P.M. I did my daily 3.5 -5 K jog. By 6:30 P.M. I have taken my shower and was about to turn on my computer when daughters 3 and 4 drove by and picked me up for a game of badminton. We got home around 10:30 P.M. after sets after sets of robust playing. I was ready to hit the sack by 11:30 P.M. when daughter # 2 came in my bedroom and requested that I drive her to school at 5:30 A.M the tomorrow (that's today). She said the whole faculty and staff of the school will be having a field trip. Yey! to them. I must have dozed off around 1:00 P.M. for I specifically remembered watching two re-runs of The Nanny.

"Mom! wake up. It's time for you to drive me to school."

I groggily and grudgingly got up and dressed to drive daughter # 2 to school at 5:30 A.M. It's now 8:14 A.M. and I look like crap. I have dark circles around my puffy and eyes. I can even discern a more pronounced "crows feet" at the corners of my eyes! I need to do something real fast for I have to look my best at my mother-in-law's birthday. In times like this, I need the magic that is called anti wrinkle eye cream. I have an hour and 44 minutes to kill before I raid the mall and get me one.

Influeza Shot: A Must

Having five kids, I am no stranger to sleepless nights caused by their illnesses and ailments. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your child go through known childhood diseases such as influenza, mumps, chicken pox, measles and the likes. One good thing though is over the years, great drug companies like Sanofi Pasteur, continued to do research and produce vaccines to help preserve and extend human lives. Sanofi Pasteur is an active advocate for flu prevention in the Philippines – the Bakunado sa Flu campaign. What’s the big deal with flu?

The flu is a dreaded disease not only for children but for adults too. It is a highly contagious disease of the lungs caused by the influenza virus. It is viral so you can catch it from the surrounding; from someone who is sneezing or coughing; from close contact with someone who has the flu or from touching contaminated objects. It is ranked as the fourth leading cause of death among Filipinos. Research indicates that one out of 100 Filipinos is reported to develop an influenza-like illness every year. I have had numerous experiences with trangkaso, the latest of which was in August 2007.

My son contacted the disease while staying at the school dormitory. He called me one stormy morning and asked me to fetch him as he was feverish and was experiencing body aches. With typhoon signal # 3 about to break loose, I braved the flood and rain to fetch my son. My son barely made it walking to the car. He was running a 39-40°C fever and almost dehydrated. I drove like mad to get him home. As luck would have it, the street were live was flooded and my son had to wade in the flood to get home. He was almost delirious when my eldest daughter, a doctor, came home. She immediately hooked her brother to an IV and gave him a shot for his fever. The flu turned into something bacterial and my son had to take high-dose-expensive antibiotics for 7 days- missing school for a week. The influenza could have been prevented if only I did not forget to have my son immunized that year.

Flu season in the Philippines has its peak during the months of June to September. It is best to avail of the flu vaccine before the onset of the season. My daughter uses the brand Vaxigrip to immunize us. She buys the vaccine from a reputable drugstore and injects the whole family. The doctor in the family explains that the vaccine has a 70-90 percent efficacy and usually protects most people from the flu. Sometimes, a person who receives the flu vaccine can get the flu but will be far less sick than those without the vaccine. That is reason enough for me and my family to get our yearly shot.

Have you had your flu shot? If not, what are you waiting for? Go to your doctor for your bakuna. For more information go to http://www.bakuna.ph.

“A Flu Awareness Campaign brought to you by Sanofi Pasteur”

Curbing My Appetite

A few months back, my blog's topic for a month was all about losing weight. I must have written more than 30 articles about the subject. The subject covered all aspects of shedding off pounds: exercising, dieting, diet pills, and more. I thought that writing about the many ways of losing weight would push to lose poundage too. No deal. I am still overweight and summer is almost at my door. Time to consider taking Solo Slim. The pill claims that within 30 minutes of taking it, you fill less hungry and your cravings for carbs and sweets diminish. Now, this pill is for me.

Fat - Burning Foods 2

Fat-burning foods are food that burn more calories than the calorie content of the food itself. The book Fat-Burning Foods summarizes 10 basic Do's on how to lose weight by eating fat-burning foods. First, eat a much as you want of the 30 fat-burning foods. Eat complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and grains fro these foods should provide 65% of your daily calories. You should eat from 30 to 40 grams fiber daily. Eat no more than 20% t 30% of your total daily calories as fat. If you can, avoid FAT! Up to 10% to 15% of your daily calories can be from animal protein, however, eat no more than 5 ounces of animal protein in a day. Too much red meat is not good for the body. To determine the percentage of calories from protein, multiply the grams of protein by 4, divide that number by the number of calories and multiply by 100. Here is a sample menu of fat-burning foods.

Breakfast:
1 cup orange juice
1 slice melon
1 ounce prepared cereal with 1/4 cup skim milk
1 oatmeal muffin

Lunch
1 pasta meal
1 sliced tomato
1 muffin

Dinner
curried chicken salad
brown bread
1 slice upside-down cake

Snack
1 cup air-popped popcorn

Quite yummy, actually. Now if only we could combine the eating man's diet and fat-burning foods diet, that would be pretty perfect.

Fat - Burning Foods 1

I took to tidying up my mini-library cum work area last night. I just realized how much books I have not counting the more than 2 big boxes of books that I just have to throw out because they got wet in a freak flood incident in my basement years ago. Wow! how's that for a running a sentence. Anyway, I found this book about Fat-Burning Foods by Judy Jameson. Umm...and I never even realized I have this book. The book says that food high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat are natural fat-burners. Why?

Scientist aren't really sure why but your body seems to handle complex carbohydrate differently than other types of food. Food high in complex carbohydrates seem to raise the metabolism of overweight people. Studies show that the body easily converts complex carbohydrates into energy while dietary fat are converted into, well, body fat. Aside from raising your metabolism complex carbohydrates also serves as your fuel or energy for they break down into glucose. So what are the food high in complex carbohydrates? Here is list of the 30- fat burning foods.

apples, corn, peas, bananas, cranberries, peppers, beans (all), grains and grain products pineapple, bread (plain), grapes, potatoes, broccoli, jam (sugar-free), root vegetables, cabbage ,leeks, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, melons, waffles and pancakes (lowfat), citrus fruits, mushrooms, pasta (Low-fat), zucchini.

There you go. Enjoy eating these fat-burning foods. Burn, baby, burn!

What to Eat

What do we eat then? Eat a balanced diet - from the three food groups- as much as possible. Under carbohydrates we have noodles, rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and other starchy food. My son loves to eat pasta with rice and mashed potato. I keep telling him that he's overloaded with carbo to which he replied, that's the point mom. He needs carbo loading on occasions because of his varsity training. Be sure to include protein in your daily diet. Protein being beef, pork, mutton, beancurd, dried peas and beans, fish, poultry, milk and eggs. Ethan does not like to eat pork, beef and chicken. He only eats fish, which is fine by me. The third food group that you should be included in your daily diet are vitamins and minerals- fruits, vegetables. Since my son, daughter #2 and Ethan do not eat most vegetables, I make sure they take their daily dosage of multi-vitamins. The important thing is you should eat a wide variety of foods for a healthier eating choices - makes eating a lot more interesting too.

Diet for Life

It has been an old-age practice and mistake to go on a starvation diet when trying to lose weight. The most common mistake is skipping breakfast and eating the first meal of the day at lunch. By lunch time or close to it, the large intestine is eating the small intestine or vice-versa. Or, gastric juices are freely flowing in your tummy causing a lot of gurgling sound and a lot of gnawing hunger pangs. By lunch time, you are so hungry you actually eat more than you usually eat - breakfast and lunch combined. The point is: avoid crash dieting no matter what. Rapid weight loss is almost always followed by a more rapid weight gain plus extra. Sudden gains and losses in weight are disruptive to the body's metabolism. Therefore, use a diet plan that you can maintain and stick to even after you've reached your long-term weight goal.

Eating Man's Diet

Back when Robert Redford was the hottest male star, I found a diet book on sale at National Bookstore. The book was titled Eating Man's Diet. Of course I bought it for I was intrigued by its title. Ever the perpetual dieter, the book held a lot of promise for me. Eat and Diet at the same time sounds really promising. The book was written by Thomas Sharkey. I Googled the name and found a Thomas Starkey who is a boxer, a biochemist, an artist, a sailor and one who has been missing since 1999. So there. I cannot say for sure the who and the what of the book's author. One thing, there is actually a used copy of Eating Man's Diet on sale at Amazon.com for $1.77. The book helped me to lose weight. How?

The basic principle of Sharkey's book is that you can eat anything, as in anything that you like to eat. There are no restrictions. Of course, knowing full well that fat and empty calories are not good, it is well if consumption of these food is limited. Anyway, Sharkey's diet plan goes like this. First you have to set a weight goal. Let's say a small framed 30 year old woman stands at 5'3" and weighs 150 lbs. Based on the the height and weight table for women her ideal weight is from 111-124 lbs. Let's say her target weight is 115 lbs - meaning she has to lose 35 lbs. The daily caloric requirement of a woman that age, frame and height is from 1,800 to 2,000 calories.

To lose a pound of weight you have to burn 3,000 calories. Here's the regimen. The woman has to eat 1,800 - 2,000 calories every other day: say Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, her caloric intake must not exceed 900. On Sunday, she starts again with 1,800-2,000 calories and so on. On the low-calorie-intake days, the subject saves or burns 900-1100 calories or more. If she exercises on top of her dieting, then more calories would be saved. Losing a pound per week is attainable with this regimen. Work your eating days to coincide with parties or events so you would not feel cheated. If you fail in your non-eating days, cheer up! Start all over again. This diet works. I should know. It worked for me.

Not Exercising? Walk!

So all of us know we should exercise more, but many of us don't. This is a health mistake we consciously make! And why is that? Simply because we refuse to admit the damage we are causing to our bodies by not working-out. A number of people only start working out once they've experienced a warning signal. Don't wait for a heart attack or a stroke to happen before you decide to opt for a lifestyle change. Make the change now. You don't need to train for the marathon to be in top shape. Half an hour of brisk walking three to four times a week will make a world of difference to your health. You could then increase this to forty minutes, four times a week - and you're all set. If you haven't exercised for a week, you're making a mistake. Go! Stop blogging for a moment and go do some stretching and walking.

Skip Breakfast?

Never, ever skip breakfast. Remember, when you wake up in the morning it's been around 10-12 hours since your last meal. Your body needs food now, more than at any other time. Eat a heavy breakfast or if you can't, at least drink milk or eat cereals or fruits. You will then be busy through the day, and the calories will get expended quickly. If you are trying to diet, eat a light dinner and please, lay low on fats and sweets.

Super-sized Meals

One Value Meal #3 please.

Would that be "go big"?

Yes. "Go Big" please.

Fast food restaurants are offering meals that are super-sized. Portions today are bigger than in the past translating to more calories for the consumer. More and more fast food restaurants are offering biggie meals for just a few cents more. Customers, logically, super size their order for the bargain. Super-sizing adds about 50 -150 calories per meal. What's the big deal? An additional stored 10 calories a day equals to a gain of a pound a year. An extra 100 calories a day equals to a gain of 10 lbs. a year. Ok. Now you know where the extra pounds are coming from.

A small serving of french fries packs 210 calories. Super size it and you'll have an extra 400 calories on fries alone. A 12 oz soda has 150 calories. Get the biggie and you'll add another 250 calories to your meal. A biggie hamburger meal would be equivalent to 1500 calories -and that is only one meal. People are now used to big servings. A research shows that consumers buy the large bag of just about anything. We have been conditioned to eat what is served us - no matter how big the portion is. The end result of eating big portions is overeating that leads to unwanted weight gain.

Next time you have the urge to "go big" on your meal, think of the extra calories you'll be consuming.

No Go to Fatty Food

I grew up in a family (my mother's side) that loves to eat. We eat when we're happy, sad, mad, lonely, afraid, bored and all other emotions. Occasions are celebrated lavishly... with food. It was no wonder I was chubby, if not real fat. My dear-departed Tiya Viring loves to cook food swimming in oil: adobong baboy (pork adobo), binagoongan baboy (pork stew in anchovies), pritong liempo (fried pork belly), chicharon (pork cracklings) and more. Thinking about these cholesterol-laden food makes my mouth water. The picture on your left was me at 10 years of age. This was the time that I started to gain weight due to over eating.

The high-fat diet of my relatives on my mother's side eventually took its toll. Diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart conditions and even cancer were contacted by some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It is imperative that we moderate our fat intake. It is better to broil and grill than fry. It is better to go slow on salty and sweet foods too. Moderation is the key in food intake if you want to stay healthy.

How I lost Weight (eons ago)

In my 9th month of my 5th and last pregnancy, I tipped the scale at 160 lbs. My doctor was quite upset then because I started showing signs of pre-eclampsia. Anyway, I was able to deliver my baby boy safely but I had to have a double epidural since the first round did not take effect. This post is not about my pregnancy. This post is about the fat (and grime?) that my body readily accumulated during my child-bearing years.

I weighed 100 lbs. when I got married. I actually gained 4 lbs in the course of preparing for the wedding because my pre-engagement weight was 96 lbs. When I gave birth to my first child, I was 125 lbs. heavy. Not bad. I was able to shed off 20 lbs in no time at all. With each pregnancy I progressively added, then lost some weight. Two months after my last delivery, I weighed 145 lbs. I.WAS.FAT! My waistline was 35 inches! I had to do something. I have to lose weight!

Luckily, I have a lifetime membership at Slimmers World. I sought my doctors go signal then immersed myself into serious weight lost program. In 1990, SW was not a healthy place to be. Their diet program borders on starvation. I remember starting-off with a 7-day soup and water detox period, then veggies and fruits week, then progress to matchbox size meat serving, half cup rice or a slice of bread. No soda or alcohol. No sweets. No "patis" and "bagoong" -fish sauce and anchovy. No life! I don't know how I did it but I was such a good dieter that I lost 25 lbs. in two months. In six months of dieting and exercise, I trimmed down to 105 lbs which went down to 96 lbs then stabilized at 103 lbs. From 1990 up to 2003, I was a gym buff. My mornings were spent at the gym - working out: weights and cardio. At this point I was eating regular food but I seriously cut down on rice, fat and sweets.

What is the point of this post? The point I'm trying to make is that dieting and exercise go hand in hand if you want to lose weight. OK. That was meant for me.

Eat Wisely

What you eat is what you are. This quote is not from some health or diet guru. It just popped into my head and it kinda sounded nice and appropriate. The amount of energy of each type of food that we eat varies. Take for example fat. A kilogram of fat is equal to 9 calories while water, no matter how much, is zero calorie. Black coffee is zero calorie too. I used to drink 5-6 cups of black coffee when I was at the peak of my dieting ( 20 years ago?). The coffee suppressed my hunger but freaking kept me awake half the night. That was no problem though then because I used to keep really, really late nights ( 20 years ago).

Anyway, foods that contain a lot of fat and sugar like oil, fatty meat, cakes, ice cream, french fries, contain a lot more calories than foods which are mostly water and fiber e.g. fruits and vegetables. Alcoholic and pop drinks are also laden with calories. If you can't make it through the day without a soda, try diet pop. I do.