4 Tips for a Healthier Family

Do your kids enjoy fresh air and exercise? Do they eat sweets in moderation and never complain about their brussel sprouts? If they're anything like the rest of America's children, they could probably have healthier habits. But what can you do to instill them in a culture full of fast food and TV?  Here are just four tips for getting your kids off the couch.

1: Make It Fun
Your children may or may not be interested in joining you for your morning jog. If you put them on a soccer field, however, they'll cover the same distance without complaining or even realizing what they've done. The key to curbing childhood obesity is through engaging, interactive activities that don't feel like exercise at all.

2: Don't Ban Sweets
Anything you forbid will become instantly attractive to your children. A better strategy is to allow junk food in moderation so they'll understand that sugar and carbs aren't the enemy. Overindulgence is.

3: Add, Don't Subtract
In the same vein as the above, it's better if you don't throw out all the hamburgers and immediately start forcing your kids to chew tofu. Instead of making them pine for lost favorites, gradually introduce new, exciting ways to eat healthy foods that will become their favorites in time.

4: Change Your Habits
At the end of the day, there's no such thing as a quick fix to better health. If you're serious about raising your children with positive attitudes towards food and fitness, you'll need to change your routines entirely. Visit sites like KingInstitute.org to learn more.

Epilepsy

When my girls were babies through toddlers, I would have to go through sleepless nights each time they had high fevers. I would sleep on the floor with the child who was having fever, on a mattress. Next to me were an alarm clock, a small bucket to retrieve vomit should my baby threw up, plastic mats to line the bed just in case they puked, a digital ear thermometer, a small tumbler of water, wet towels to sponge my baby’s body and suppositories! I would wake up at every hour to check their temperature, sponge their body and to force feed them with water and at times to insert suppository. Those were the nights I wish I never have to go through again. Having a baby is indeed a joy and a gift from God. But raising children is the toughest job God has ever created too. 

High fevers in young children can cause epilepsy and damage to the brain. I have a friend who almost lost her son when he suffered a bout of high fever. While she did not loose her son completely, she lost half of the son. Most unfortunately, the son suffered a brain damage and is now in a vegetative state. I also have friends whose young children suffered from febrile epilepsy resulting from high fever.

Epilepsy has a lot of causes, ranging from brain tumors to infections. Sometimes, a sudden, high fever can also trigger a seizure. Known as febrile seizures, they usually occur in very small children who have a viral infection. Epilepsy can be a very scary experience for the child as well as for the parents or caregiver. While febrile seizures are rare and usually do not result in another seizure, there is a small chance that these children may develop epilepsy later on in life. Do you have a child who has had an episode of epilepsy recently? If you do, it is advisable to bring your child to an epilepsy specialist for consultation and check up.

I Need DHA And Gangliosides too!

As I was reading the Star newspapers in the gym while working out on the Air Walker this morning, I read an interesting ad from Anmum Essential. I read that in order for the brain to function optimally, not only does it need DHA. Our brain needs Gangliosides too. No wonder I have such a terrible memory lately as I have stopped popping on fish oil ever since I stopped breastfeeding Cassandra a year ago. I also find that I cannot think of multiple things at the same time, especially when I am tied down with too many things at the same time. If I do, I tend to have fleeting moments of ‘brief memory lost’! Is this an early symptom of dementia? I hope not. I better fix this problem before I have pre-matured dementia LOL!

I must remember to stock up on some fish oil tabs with high DHA to nourish my aging brain. Or perhaps I should just add a few teaspoons of my daughters’ Anmum Essential into my coffee every morning LOL! Well truth is, I really like the taste of Alycia and Sherilyn’s Anmum Essential milk formula. It tastes very much like the milk powder that I am currently drinking plus it has very high amount of DHA and Gangliosides which gives us the ‘brain power’!

I read that the new Anmum Essential formulation has DHA and Gangliosides levels that are even higher than other brands of GUMP. It has 80% more DHA and 25% more Gangliosides. High amount of DHA alone is not as effective in optimal brain cell function. It is only when Gangliosides is added that the amazing synergy brain cells work optimally, just like how you need Vitamin D to be present with Calcium in order for the body to absorb the calcium more effectively.

If you want to find out more about Anmum Essential, you can hop over to www.anmum.com.my. You will also be able to watch the ad on Anmum Essential in most of the TV and Astro channels. The below video is the TV commercial currently being aired. So make the smart choice with DHA and Gangliosides, specially combined in Anmum Essential. Because, together, great things can happen !

 

The Importance of DHA And Gangliosides To Your Growing Child

Have you ever wondered why some people who keep going on a frustrating diet and never seem to lose any weight? Or why is it that some people who keep engaging themselves in sports and exercise and yet have a body weight that seems stagnant? This is because they are not doing both together. In order to lose weight, you need to control your calorie intake and exercise together. A healthy diet and exercise work hand in hand in losing weight. When these two virtues are in place simultaneously, they synergize and bring about the desired body weight loss and help to maintain a healthy body weight.

Likewise, in order for a young child’s brain to develop and function well, DHA is a very important nutrient needed by the brain cells. DHA is a key building block of brain cells. But DHA alone is not sufficient. For optimal brain development and function, other very crucial nutrients are needed. One of these is Gangliosides, a nutrient that is involved in the formation of brain cell connections. The more connections, the faster a kid learns. The functions of DHA and Gangliosides are complementary in that they work in synergy to deliver a better outcome. Having one without the other just cannot be as good.

Do you want to know which GUMP (growing up milk powder) that has both these important ingredients in combination? This GUMP is also the only brand that has no added sugar in the local market. Stay tuned. I will let you know soon ;P

Do You Allow Your Kids To Read In The Car?

On most Sundays, my girls will each borrow a book from the church library. Once they get into the car, they will enthusiastically read the books that they had borrowed. I think that reading in the car is better than having their eyes glued to the 2 screens watching DVD in the car. I don't like my kids to be such TV addicts.

Though I had told my kids many times not to read in the car, lest they get dizzy, they keep telling me that they are just fine! No dizziness or motion sickness. I can't believe that they are fine reading in the car coz I am one lousy fella who will surely have a bad bout of nauseousness if I ever read in the car. I remember one incident. I was 8 years old and had read a book that I borrowed from the library in the car, all the way from my school back home, for a good 20 minutes. When I got home, I got really nauseous and then developed a fever that left me puking for many days! Maybe it was just mere coincidence but that incident had developed a phobia in me reading in a moving vehicle.

Do you allow your kids to read in the car?


Pix of my girls reading in the car, taken today, after church... on our way to Xenri Japanese Restaurant. My girls read their books for 20 minutes in the car and were fine. No motion sickness and no nauseousness! Thank God! I would have puked!

Miss 'See Yeh'

Everyone who knows me says that I am very 'see yeh' (I guess it means fastidious in Cantonese) when it comes to cleanliness and health issues. I know Alycia and Sherilyn have a habit of not washing their hands before their eat and after going to the loo. I have told them umpteen times that they are to wash their hands but I always catch them not washing them after going to the loo and before they eat. I doubt their teachers actually ensure that each and every pupil washes his/her hand after the trip to the loo and before he/she eats.

That's why I always ensure that there is a fork, spoon or food picks in their lunch boxes.


I even cut up a butter bun into easy-to-eat bite sizes and put a fanciful My Melody fork inside the lunch box to entice my gals to use their cutlery. It's better to be safe than sorry when they contract HFM disease.

Are you that fastidious too when it comes to your kids' food?

Sherilyn Has Swollen Lymph Nodes

We just came back from the paed's clinic. My poor baby Sherilyn's lymph nodes on her right neck, just below her jaw are swollen and infected. She has also been having gluey yellowish-greenish goo on her right eye for the last 3 days and I thought she was just plain 'yeet hei' as the chinese say it or heatiness in her body coz she had been eating quite a bit of durian, biscuits, corn flakes and pan-fried tempeh lately. I am also having a strep throat and slight runny nose with phlegm and I guess Sherilyn must have gotten the bug from me.

Careless mummy me didn't even notice the swell in her glands near her neck until daddy felt it last night as he was cuddling her while reading to her. When I touched it and felt a lump there, I really felt a big lump in my throat, so did DH. Being the wimp in us whenever health issues affect our 2 precious daughters, we were actually quite worried, more so as the swell is on the lymph nodes in her neck. All sorts of morbid thoughts came flashing through my mind and I am sure DH's too, coz I could see he was just as worried but just put on a "nah.... nothing to worry wan" look on his face.

The paed said Sherilyn's lymph nodes are infected and if we brought her to the clinic a few days later, the lymph nodes could get inflamed and then more invasive medical treatment is necessary. The lymph nodes got infected as they were trying to fight off virus from invading the body. She also has URTI (upper respiratory throat infection) and antibiotics (Augmentin) is needed to treat it. She was also given an ointment for her eye and allergy medicine for her nose.

As Alycia has also developed a slight cough this morning, she was also given an allergy medicine for her nose. Both the gals have sensitive nose and get nose allergies easily, or so said the paed. The total bill came up to RM140. Cost aside, DH and I are both relieved that Sherilyn's swollen glands are nothing serious.

Exercise

I used to bring Alycia and Sherilyn to the playground to jog and play everyday so that they can get their daily doses of free Vitamin D from the sun, sweat it out to remove toxins from their little body and to breathe in fresh air to their lungs and brains. A good physical program is in fact the foundation to a good mental and physical health of a child. Of late, I've neglected my gals quite a bit :guilty:, also the weather is crazy... mornings will be scorching hot and evenings will be wet. The weather this morning was lovely... it was a tad cloudy and windy, just my perfect kind of weather for an outdoor activitiy and I jumped at the opportunity to bring the gals out to let out their long-stored overcharged energy. Boy, they went crazy at the playground like a just released puppy that has been caged for a long time.



Alycia grinning away on the swing.


Sweet taste of freedom alas... mummy!


Like primates climbing up and down.

Essential Oils May Spur Breasts In Boys and Other Health Issues

I was reading this month's Reader's Digest this morning when I read this article which may be of interest to mummies with boys. Here's an excerpt of the article :

Use of lotions, soaps and shampoos containing high concentrations of lavender or tea tree oil may lead to breast growth in pre-pubescent boys, according to US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Pure lavender and tea tree oils can mimic the actions of oestrogen and inhibit the effects of androgen, the hormone known to control masculine characteristics, says Dr Derek Henley, one of the study's lead researchers. If you use these products on your child and you see changes in his body, talk to your dr or paediatrician.

Scary isn't it? There is also this current widespread scare of SLS (Sodium Laureth Sulfate), a relatively cheap chemical which produces suds in almost all the body shampoos, soaps and shampoos, which is cancer causing if used excessively. And then there is this recent report in the newspapers that some of the vegetables sold in our local markets are tainted with pesticides, fish tainted with mercury, diseased poultry and what not, tell me.... what are we to eat and what are we to bathe with? I guess back to basics..... use plain water to bathe lor, use natural oil from plants to smoothen on our skin, plant our own crops lor and rear our own fish and chicken lor, just like what our forefathers did decades back and lived till a ripe old age!

Hip Dysplasia In Babies

Before Sherilyn came along, Alycia was indeed very very precious to me. I'm not saying she's not precious to me anymore now but being the only child then and an extremely hard-to-get precious baby, I was really very 'kan cheong' (overly anxious) over her then. Even a body temp of 37.5 degrees Celcius then would sent DH and I rushing Alycia to the paed, only to be sarcastically told off as being overly anxious parents by the paed.

During Alycia's 5th month well-child check up and immunization, our paed discovered that there were some 'clicky sounds' from both her hips. He then suspected hip dysplasia or dislocatable hips on both her hips. He then referred us to have Alycia checked by an orthopaedic. Upon doing an ultrasound scan of Alycia's hips and performing a few tests on her hips, the orthopaedic confirmed that Alycia indeed has dislocatable hips and a shallow hip socket. I was frozen with shock and disbelief and was dazed at the orthopaedics clinic as the dr. explained Aly's condition to DH and I, treatments available and showed me the human bone anatomy. When I heard that diagnosis, I felt my life and happiness were beginning to crumble to an abrupt end. Oh God, what's going to happen to my precious beautiful Alycia? Is she going to be cacat or hobble in future? What would the future behold her if she really can't walk normally? All these morbid thoughts came flashing thru my mind as I was seated at the clinic that I wasn't even listening to what the dr was saying. My mind just went blank. For the next 4 months, I again surfed thru the net to study Aly's condition. The diagnosis, prognosis and pictures shown on the net weren't too encouraging and I was really depressed. All I could do was just to pray to the Lord.

The dr. suggested that we try a non-invasive, non-medical method of treating Alycia first. Since she's only 5 mths old and her bones are still soft and not fully developed yet, there is still hope of 'intervening' the formation of the bones. Alycia has to be put on double diapers for 4 months and carried & put to sleep in certain positions in the hope of pushing the hips back to the socket. We spent lots of money on diapers for the 4 months, not to mention Alycia felt very unconfortable and hot in double layer of diapers 24 hours a day for 4 months.

4 months later, a scan and x-ray revealed that Alycia's hips were symetrical and perfectly in place. When the dr said "I can now confirm that your daughter is ok and does not need to see me again", I almost wanted to scream. That was another happiest day of my life. Thank God, my prayer had been answered again, it was trully a miracle.

So to all parents whose babies have some kind of imperfections or another, do not give up hope. Pray and miracles do happen.