Yin Teing’s Health Blog

Here are the SIGNS OF STROKE as per American Heart Institute. Please heed these warnings signs.

I want to share with you on what happened to my favourite auntie (my mom’s 5th sister) as a lesson not to delay in obtaining medical treatment. She had been feeling “out of sorts” and uncomfortable. A part of her body sometimes felt numb. Sometimes she felt very dizzy. She dealt with self-massage. She did not want to go to a clinic and get checkup done. Thinking back, I understood her reasons: she wanted to save on medical expenses. She did not think that seeing a doctor was necessary- she had attributed it to be the disease of old age and she did not want to trouble anyone.

Big, big mistake. We wished now we could have just drive to her place, climb up to the 4th floor of the flat and dragged her kicking and screaming to the hospital. But with deep regret, we could not turn back time.

Read the rest of this entry »

The top 3 killer diseases in Malaysia:
No. 1: Heart Diseases
No. 2: Cancer
No. 3: Stroke

It’s sad to know that on all together- these 3 diseases combined take away one life every 5 minutes. All the 3 diseases are preventable and treatable with early screening.

Most of the time, we never thought of visiting the doctor until it is too late. Many a times, IJN (National Heart Institute) will receive emergency cases of people collasping suddenly due to heart attack. By the time the patient reaches IJN, it is already too late- since our brain cannot survive more than 3 minutes without oxygen. And heart attack does not necessarily strike those who are sedentary and/or overweight- it can strike apparently healthy and active adults too. It can be due to diet, genetics or stress- an active young person who always eat food rich in saturated fat (especially those on high protein diet) is susceptible as the saturated fat would cause gradual blockage in the arteries.

The New Straits Times paper published a very useful article titled Nip Diseases in the Bud (15 September 2008) that explains the need to go for regular health screenings to detect diseases before they became serious or better still, nip diseases in the bud. The article is writen by Suzanna Pillay. I would strongly recommend you read the article.

From the observation that I made, it is indeed very sad that many people are dying younger and younger. If you don’t believe me, read the obituary pages in the papers, the notices no longer indicate people passing away in their ripe old age. You will see a lot of people passing away in their 40s and 50s- some of them owing many big companies. So it is worth to work so hard in your life only to die before enjoying the fruits of your retirement? All it takes is to take one day out of the 365 days to go for medical screening. Early detection may save you your life and ensure you have many more good years to live. If you love yourself and your family enough, you should take time to get yourself and your loved ones checked. Read the rest of this entry »

The April 2008 of Runners World featured an inspiring story on an obese principal who turned into a fit 48 year old marathon runner. To read the entire story, click HERE.

In the physical magazine, his ‘before’ photo is featured and it is totally different from the ‘after’ photo.
Before:

• Weight= 397 pounds
• Cholesterol= 440
• Blood pressure= 220/110
• On medication for hypertension, high cholesterol and anxiety. He also had to sleep with an oxygen mask supplying 2 litres of oxygen to avoid sleep apnea

Read the rest of this entry »

My friend told me that her parents’ Qi Gong teacher just passed away. He died from a ruptured blood vessel in his brain, ie stroke. The news came as a huge shock to her parents as well as his other students. No doubt the instructor had taught Qi Gong for many years, the factors that attributed to his sudden demise could be:

• he did not take medication regularly, ie he had only taken medication when he felt giddy or unwell and not consistently. He was confident that just by practicing qi gong, he could do away with medication.
• he did not practice restraint in his food intake, ie he basically takes food that he loved, even though it is high in saturated fat.

This served as an important lesson for all of us and also for our loved ones. If you or someone you know suffer from high blood pressure and cholesterol, it’s important to continue taking proper medication. Even though there are side effects, the medication helps to control the condition from becoming fatal. I can relate very well to this lesson because my own dad passed away from stroke because he had not been taking medication consistently and could not give up or at least reduce oily food and meat.

Read the rest of this entry »

We have no idea how the food we eat affects us. Absolutely no idea at all.
Is your life going to be happy? Felt you could do more but your stamina sets you back? Or the lack of energy robs you of a zest in life?
All those years, I have read and heard advice from people, who changed their lifelong bad eating habits after a disease such as cancer, diabetes strike them or their loved ones. It took a life threathening situation for them to do something about it. It never occurred to me what a huge impact it could be until something dawned on me today..

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I had suffer from chronic fatigue all my life. I could not get things done coz I felt tired and drained most of the time. Even when I started seriously exercising, it will bring my energy back for a few hours, and later I will still feel tired. I become an avid gym goer- I have that inner motivation because exercising (which I cannot skip coz I pay lots of money for the membership fees) cured my tiredness, even temporarily. My metabolism was still a bit sluggish.

Then when I start to cut down refined/table sugar and starch from my diet, I started noticing these changes:

• My stamina increases- I have more energy during exercising
• I am losing weight
• My metabolism increased- previously I could to go Body Step class and workout but only sweat a few drops (while I see others literally being drenched). Now a while in the cardio machine made me sweat a lot.
• Even if I miss my visits to my gym, I do not feel that lethargic feeling.

Bear in mind those changes above was not obvious prior to my change in diet- just a change in diet and it gives me results that my one year of intensive gym going did not give.

Therefore, COMBINING EXERCISE & PROPER DIET ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Try your best not to do one without the other.

I want to share on the difference of how the diets taken by my mom and dad affected them:
My Mom

• Unlike many people, she does not eat food because they are delicious but because they are nutritious for her. She eats oats and Ensure almost everyday and instinctively look after her nutrition.
• She came from a very poor family and suffered constant hunger throughout her childhood- when hungry, she climbed up rambutan or jambu trees to eat the fruits.
• I always referred to some of her food choices as GBP (not Great British pounds) but Gross Body Parts. This is the kind of food that is nutritious such as liver, feet, stomach of some animals (till today I still refused to take those food).
• She has high metabolic rate- rise up at the crack of dawn and work all day.
• Sleep early, rise early.

My dad:

• I must have taken after him- both of us basically eat what we liked.
• My dad naturally does not like home cooked food. He had preferred more MSG flavoured food like mamak food, Cantonese and Hokkien fried. So he ate out a lot- and he tended to choose those type of food- no nutrient, deep fried, sugar and carbo.
• He had always felt tired so spent lots of free time sleeping and developed a beer belly (even though he hardly takes alcohol. Does not like to move around.
• Developed high blood pressure in his forties. Then a second stroke attack led to his early demise at the age of 55

Me:

• Do not like to ‘real’ food either. Preferred processed and fast food anytime.
• Since young, my sweet tooth dictated my food intake- Twisties, Cheerios, Cottage Fries, carbonated drinks, sweets & chocolates. Spent all my ang pau money within 2 months to buy those food.
• As I grow into a teenager, my sweet tooth cause me constant fatigue and led to my eventual addiction to caffeine, namely teh ais, nescafe- and later when I was working- expensive coffee such as latte, cappuccino (people spend their money on clothes or other stuff but I spend as much on coffee). The more coffee doses I put in, the more tired I feel later when the effects of coffee goes off.
• I can drink a Starbucks espresso and latte at night and still sleep.
• When I quit sugar and starch, my coffee addiction drastically reduced.

So especially if you have kids, make sure they do not eat processed or take out food most of the time. Things like cornflakes, cereals and white bread are actually not good for health. Give them ‘real’ nutritious food instead.

So today, I have a very important message:

Watch what you eat, REALLY,

If you are not eating well, you robbed yourself of a life of inner quality & happiness,

You may think “what’s the point of living if I cannot eat what I love”,

But as long as you put junk into your body, you will suffer a host of health problems,

Not to mention not being able to fit into clothes that you love

Or achieve your dreams, due to the limitation that you put on yourself, and NOT what life or circumstances put on you,

Remember, REAL PEOPLE EAT REAL FOOD.