Food for Body & Mind

Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep & Positivity (5)

2011-05-10T14:16:00.002+08:00

Sleep

My sleeping tips are as following:

Always sleep before 11:30p.m. (Ok... I admit that it's considered a tough target for most students, but it worths a try, don't you agree?)
Keep the light and sound OUT. (However for some rare cases, playing specific sound/music for the patients is a good way to calm down their mind and allow them to sleep well and tight.)
Stop eating at least 3 hours before you sleep. (Or else it will ruin your biological clock)
Keep your body warm, especially your feet.
A standard time span of sleeping for adult is in between 7 and 8 hours.

For people who have been troubled by the torment of Insomnia, should inquire a doctor to find out the reason and get a regular treatment.

Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep & Positivity (4)

2011-05-03T17:58:00.007+08:00

Exercise (Part-II)
Obesity Epidemic is currently an urgent global issue.

The healthiest ways to fight against the obesity by ourselves are nothing else but Physical Exercises and Diet Control.

Today, I don't want to have too much theoretical discussion but a practical method to share with you, especially for those who have a problem with their BMI or waist.

What I'm going to introduce later is what we called "Slow Training" and "Slow Jogging".

Slow Training is a kind of exercise that trains your muscles by your own without any equipments, it's a safe, easy exercise, furthermore it only takes for 5 minutes to complete a whole set of workout.

The link below is the explanation and guide of the Slow Training (Written in Chinese, in order to allow all other classmates understanding it):
http://biem.nchu.edu.tw/blog/?PID=23&Sn=17

While for Slow Jogging, it's yet another conceptual breakthrough that most studies on exercise were suggesting that people should go for a high exercise intensity in order to burn more calories and so as to lose weight.

Recently, more scientific evidences prove that slow jogging (running speed below 4KM/Hr) hardly increase the lactic acid level in our body, which means you'll have longer-lasting performance without tiredness!

Moreover this exercise may increase more vessels all over your muscles, and the efficiency of the circulation and metabolism in your body will be intensified at the same time! Read more about the details of slow jogging, please click at the following link.

"Jogging Secret Revealed" (written in English):
http://www.pyroenergen.com/articles09/jogging-secrets.htm

Hope you find them useful, and we'll meet again next week! :)

Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep & Positivity (3)

2011-04-26T14:29:00.003+08:00

Exercise

Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health.(Definition from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_(physical))

It is one of the most effective ways to improve our circulation and metabolism, and it also helps lowering the risks of having obesity, hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis*, etc.

Aerobic exercises like jogging, cycling and swimming are intended to improve the ability to use oxygen, while weight training works to train certain muscles. A well-combination of both exercises would turn into an amazing result for those who plan to lose weight.

To boost our catabolic strength in an easier and faster way, I will show you some tricks in the next week.

All suggestions are welcome! ^^

* P/S: Exercises which may help preventing osteoporosis are those require your muscles and bones to work against gravity. Swimming is an example that has no such benefit however it helps to train muscle and prevents the probability of falling-down.

Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep & Positivity (2)

2011-04-12T14:18:00.000+08:00

Nutrition (Part 2)

Protein, Fats, and Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in our daily meal, they're just like the fuel for vehicles.

We need them not only for the energy, we also need them to build cells and tissue for our muscles and organs, especially protein and lipids.

Furthermore, you might be surprised that roughly 95% of our bones is made of protein in the form called "Collagen".

But that's not all! Enzymes, which help the bio-chemical process in our bodies, are also made with protein, while lipids help to compose the cell membrane and hormones.

A well-balanced portfolio of protein, fats, and carbohydrates for normal adult is 30:30:40. But for patients who have kidney problems should lower their protein intake.

Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep & Positivity (1)

2011-04-06T16:16:00.000+08:00

The 4 keys to health & longevity:

Nutrition (focus on Dietary Fiber)

Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates, Vitamins, Minerals and water are the 6 essential groups of nutrition, they are vital to maintain our lives and it.

Dietary Fiber is informally known as the 7th group nutrition but actually it's just sort of carbohydrate which is hard to be broken down by human's digestive enzymes with its beta-bond structure. Its indigestible characteristics became a controversy that whether it should be taken as a nutrition or not, as the definition of nutrition is the substances which can be used by human cells.

However recent studies realize that even the dietary fiber is not digestible, it's still very important for our health, as it can help to keep our intestine clean and healthy with its ability to keep the feces moisturized and help carrying away the excrement inside.

Moreover, it is also a main source of food for the beneficial bacteria within, and those bacteria will have better predominance to stay in our large intestine rather than to have other harmful bacteria which consume protein, fats and sugar to live on. And those beneficial bacteria produce some vitamins and boost up our immune system.

It then lowers the risk to have colon cancer, hypercholestrolemia, and even to help preventing Type-II Diabetes with its property to stabilize the blood sugar level.

Current recommendations from the United States National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, suggest that adults should consume 20–35 grams of dietary fiber per day, but most of the people nowadays are consuming far lower than the recommended intake.

Vegetables are an extremely ideal source of dietary fiber, which also contains vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Add vegetable in your every daily meal is what I recommend.

Water

2011-03-29T17:02:00.001+08:00

More then 50% of our bodies is made of water, the ratio is even up-to 80% when we were just a new born baby.

Water plays a critical role in every living creature; no one can live without water as well as the air which I mentioned last week.

Scientists have been trying to figure out whether there's any living thing on the other planets, and water is one of the most important signs to tell whether the planet has the slightest possibility of the existence of organism.

It is indeed a vital nutrient to keep our lives going, as our bodies depend on a huge variety of chemical reactions, and water is the key substance in common to enable the whole process. Lack of water would cause dehydration, and even slight dehydration would also make you feel fatigued.

Daily recommended water intake for adult is around 2~3 liters, however the amount of water one should drink daily varies by individual depends on age, sex, body weight, the amount of exercise, and other biological requirements. Also, much of the food contains water, and it should be taken into account.

But remember, excessive water intake could cause water intoxication. It’s advised not to drink more than 5 liters of water per day, and immediately supplements sport drink after a workout to prevent overhydration or hyponatremia.

First & Most Vital Nutrient for Lives

2011-03-22T23:37:00.001+08:00

I mean Oxygen.

It's no doubt that humans and many other animals on the planet earth rely on the air (especially the oxygen within) to live.

It is so vital that normally no-one would able to live without oxygen for more than 5 minutes.

However, oxygen is NOT defined as a nutrient alone traditionally. Yet, despite of the oxygen gas, oxygen occurs in a wide variety of compounds, such as protein, lipids, carbohydrates, water, oxides, etc.

Learning to breathe more efficiently is the upper most important task leading all of us to the state of both physical and mental well-being. And that’s no wonder why exercises like Yoga and Qi-Gong emphasize on breathing techniques.

The basis of those techniques is “Diaphragmatic Breathing” (also known as Abdominal Breathing, Belly Breathing, etc.)! It’s a manner of deep natural breathing in humans, in which the lungs expand due to the lowering of the diaphragm rather than the expansion of the chest. (Reference: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaphragmatic_breathing)

A common diaphragmatic breathing exercise is as follows:
Sit or lie comfortably, with loose garments.

Put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach.

Slowly inhale through your nose or through pursed lips (to slow down the intake of breath).

As you inhale, feel your stomach expand with your hand.

Slowly exhale through pursed lips to regulate the release of air.

Rest and repeat.

(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing)

Let’s integrate this breathing exercise into your daily life, and hope this would help to improve your health in any manner. See you next week! ^^

P/S: For those who have breathing problems (e.g. COPD), please inquire your doctor and get regular medical treatment.

My very first blog!

2011-03-09T16:00:00.000+08:00

Welcome to my blog! I'm Eric Toh and I'll share and discuss on what I find interesting about the recent studies in Nutrition and Personal Health Care.

Hope this blog would be maintained regularly ^^