Health

Hazy Days are here to stay! How to protect yourself from the haze and smog [Video]

October 21, 2015 Paris B 16 Comments

Not long ago, our country was blanketed by a thick smog caused by forest fires in our neighbouring countries. A potent combination of fires, dry weather and a northwesterly wind saw the smoke drifting over and choking our airspace. It’s not just us here in Malaysia, Singapore is pretty fogged up too.

While the skies cleared up a week or two back, it quickly got hazy again this week. The air quality is so bad, schools are closed. I think it just plays merry hell with everyone’s plans you know, and with schools opening and closing at the whims and fancies of the air pollution conditions, I think it plays merry hell with education as well. But I won’t go there (Or we’ll be here all day!)

Instead, with news reports warning us that this haze (or I should say smog) is expected to stay with us for a couple of months more (yikes!) I thought I’d share some tips on how to protect yourself from the haze or smog.

If you’re wondering what I’m on about when I talk about this “haze”, you might understand better when you watch part of my video below, in my latest MWStv episode, where I show you just how bad things can look 🙂 Yes, my friends, we have video!

A little lifestyle change that I hope will do me good

October 9, 2015 Paris B 17 Comments

Hello friends!

I was going to blog about a product I love today, only to find out that it’s likely discontinued. So, really, that was a waste of time wasn’t it? So, after humming and hawing, and taking a suggestion from my friend Tine, I decided to share a quick, short video.

Basically, I’ve made a small little change in my lifestyle that I don’t really want to shout about, because it’s really small, but it’s a start for me. One small step for PB, one hopefully major change in life! 🙂

What food poisoning taught me about appreciating fresh coconut water

September 28, 2015 Paris B 30 Comments

I spent the better part of last week and the weekend lying prone on the couch. While I’m generally to be found in a horizontal position on most weekends, this was a bit of an exception. I’m still trying to recover from a severe bout of food poisoning that had me staring into the depths of my toilet bowl 8 times in a night. Needless to say, I wasn’t bouncing back as quickly as I usually did before.

But the day after my insane bout of throwing up, I discovered that my body was rejecting plain water. What? I was trying to rehydrate and all plain water did was make me retch. It was a surreal moment for me, because I’d never experienced this before. I’d never had problem drinking just plain warm water before this.

Fortunately for me, I remembered that a local “cure” for diarrhea and vomiting or food poisoning in general, is fresh coconut water from a young coconut. I managed to get a few, and they’ve kept me hydrated all through the weekend. In fact, it was all I could stomach in terms of liquids!

But what I also discovered, is a new-found “addiction” to fresh coconut water. I know coconut water is going through a huge healthfood renaissance at the moment. If it is to be believed, it is the new superfood, prompting people to tout it for everything from losing weight to curing ailments. I’m a sceptic of course! LOL 😀

Are you buying into the whole superfood theory? Or are you a fan of fresh young coconut water anyway?

8 Subtle Signs My Body Was Telling Me That I Was Not Drinking Enough Water

September 9, 2015 Paris B 29 Comments

Every year at about this time, we are blanketed by a haze that not only irritates our breathing passages, it plays merry hell with our skin. So, it is at this time of year that you will see a lot of articles and advice for you to drink more water because staying hydrated helps keep your nasal passages clear.

We also need water to keep ourselves hydrated and to well, literally stay alive! But not long ago, I had a bit of problem that saw me drinking less water in a day than I should. I was only drinking about 2 mugs a work day, which was really ridiculous. Slowly but surely, I later noticed some effects on my body that troubled me, but went away when I started upping my water intake.

At work, I usually have a bottle on my desk to keep myself hydrated. It saves me from walking up and down (although that’s actually one way to keep myself from dozing off!) But what it also does is remind me that I have to drink, and I do.

But following the trouble I had not long ago, I stopped this habit of keeping a bottle on my desk. After just a week or so, I started noticing some negative signs in my body that had me wondering what was wrong. It didn’t strike me it was my reduced water intake until much later.

So here are the 8 signs my body was telling me that I wasn’t drinking enough water. I’m no medical or science expert, so this is purely based on my personal experience. If you are noticing any one of them, before you run out and buy that latest skincare or health supplement, think instead of your water intake. Have you experienced any of these symptoms?