It's time to update my post!

I know. It's been a while but I just posted something about me at blogkadahan. Get to know me more. See you there!

Happy New Year to One and All!

It's been a privilege for me to have met you all here in blogosphere. It's always been my wish to have new beginnings in 2005. Good health is what I wish for all of you who have become my friends.

May we all wish for worldwide peace and harmony next year!!
'hope to see you all next year, same place!

Getting to Know People

These holiday season, chances are you would be attending at least one party. I will be going to more than one for sure. In one of the books I was reading while on the potty, it said that attending parties could be a feat if you do not know the rest of the invited guests. And it could be a bore if you linger with the same persons you knew from the past.

The book also suggested that you could be depriving yourself of the privilege of getting to know other people who are as equally worth keeping as the same people you met in the past.

Here's what the author had in mind. When you're about to attend a party, try to make it a goal to at least add one special person in your list of good friends to cherish in the coming years to come. You can do it by aiming to talk to people who are wearing say outfits with any green or gold or silver in them.

That's a thought.

Your guide to vitamins and minerals

I was surfing the net today and found this. Not that I badly need these vitamins but it’s nice to know what they actually do to our bodies and where we can find them. I got this info from here.

Vitamin A

-needed for growth and repair of body, healthy immune system, and healthy vision.
-Found in liver, eggs carrots, milk, yogurt, cheese, and fish liver oil.

Vitamin B12

-needed for healthy nervous system and making blood cells.
-Found in liver, meat, milk,and fortified breakfast cereals.

Vitamin C

-needed for healing wounds, helping body to absorb iron.
-Found in citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits) nectarines, melons, vegetables, tomatoes, and potatoes.

Vitamin D

-needed for healthy bones and teeth, helping body to absorb calcium.
-Found in sunshine, eggs, oily fish, margarine, liver, fortified breakfast cereals.

Vitamin E

-needed for protecting body tissues against damage.
-Found in vegetable oils, nuts, vegetables, and cereals.

Vitamin K

-needed for helping blood clot for wound healing.
-Found in dark green leafy vegetables (cabbage, spinach, brussel sprouts), liver, meat, and wholegrain cereals.

Calcium

-needed for helping to form healthy bones and teeth.
-Found in milk, yogurt, cheese, canned fish, dark green leafy vegetables, and dried fruits.

Iron

-needed for making red blood cells.
-Found in red meat, liver, fortified breakfast cereals, bread, spinach

Selenium

-Needed for protecting body tissues against damage.
-Found in cereals, meat, fish, liver, cheese, and eggs.

Zinc

-Needed for growth, digestion and taste.
-Found in meat, liver, eggs, cheese, wholegrain cereals and seafood.

Let's take a break!

I know, I know, I'm being remiss with this blog. 'just can't get the momentum if you know what I mean. I'm glad, a friend of mine sent me this..how about trying it for yourself? Have fun!!

This is for older people. Younger people try it at your own risk. This is working well for me.

For those of us getting along in years, here is a little secret for building your arm and shoulder muscles. You might want to adopt this three days a week.

Begin by standing straight, with a 5-LB. potato sack in each hand. Extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can-try to reach a full minute. Relax.

After a few weeks, move up to 10-LB. Potato sacks, and then 50-lb. Potato sacks, and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-LB. potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight out for more than a full minute.

After you feel confident at that level, start putting a couple of potatoes in the bags!

Now don't blame me for not warning you. I told you that we're having a break!

Hearts That Care

Something good for the heart.

I was touched by a blogger’s interest in bringing a smile to the less fortunate this Christmas. She and her friends and family came up with this project called Hearts That Care.

All in the spirit of blogging, wouldn’t it be nice if we thought about something similar to this even just for this time of the year?

I remember at my children’s school two summers ago. A province nearby was literally on fire. The forest was burned, the houses were reduced to ashes, electricity was not even a priority and the people had no potable water. The school came up with a project called “Operation Shoebox”. The students were asked to fill one shoebox with whatever a student their age would appreciate if they were in that situation.

My daughter spent her allowance on a toothpaste, a toothbrush, a comb, pencils, pens, erasers, a pair of socks, and a notebook. What touched me was when she slipped a couple of chocolates and a note of hope. My daughter is a very private person but she let me read her note just the same.

I did that last year. I packed literally the same things intended for a 7 year old girl. I had no clue who was going to get it. I met a man I usually meet everytime I go home. He looks after our needs like cleaning our place or just doing some errands for us. I asked him if he has a daughter and he said "meron po ma'am, pitong taong gulang po". There you go. I haven’t met the recipient but I knew the father was in awe. It wasn’t much but I intend to do it again when I go home next year.

I know the happiness and the smile might only be for a moment but think about how you made one happy even for a moment this year. A moment is better than not having tried at all. The shoebox might not even be 1% of the blessings you received for the whole year.

Take good care of your eyes and they will take care of you even when you are old

Retinopathy is the name of the disease of your retina if you are diabetic.

I have learned briefly in elementary about retina, but not as clear as I have learned about it in the last few months.

We all know that the retina is one of the most important parts of our eye. It is the film that captures the light that sends signals to other cells in our eyes and these cells likewise send signals to our brain so we can see. Blurry film means blurry pictures, right? This is also why we get so concerned whether our film is Kodak, Fuji or whatever, because we want sharp outcomes. A picture tells a thousand words and if can’t see how good are those thousand words to us?

Going back to the cells I mentioned above, these cells are our messengers to our brain. They carry the light that they took up from the retina to our brain so we can see. In order for the cells to be effective, they need energy like oxygen and other nutrients to function and they get these from the blood vessels connected to them. These blood vessels are very tiny and they pass through these cells.

Now if our blood sugar is high, that means to say that our energy has not all been burned so they get stored somewhere. Chances are, that “somewhere” could be in those tiny blood vessels. If this happens, an accumulation of those unwanted substances within the walls of our blood vessels, including those tiny vessels I am talking about result into blockages and eruptions in our retina.

If there’s a blockage, new blood vessels grow but not as strong as the original vessel. These new vessels bleed easily. Because they bleed, these new cells will eventually close if they leaked. Blood distribution in our retina becomes faulty. That’s when the word “blurred” becomes a reality.

If there’s a leakage happening in our blood vessels, the retina starts absorbing those leakages like a sponge and you know pretty much how it feels if a sponge absorbs too much water. You will have to get rid of the absorbed liquid for it to work better. We have to squeeze the sponge to get rid of the water. We cannot squeeze our retina easily, can we?

Wait a minute. Why do we have to bother about how we can squeeze it in the future if we can prevent it now?

Recommendations: (here I go again)

1. Have your eye doctor check your eyes every year.

2. Bring down your blood sugar by keeping a healthy diet and having regular exercises.
Love your eyes. They show you how wonderful life is. Take good care of them.