Health

Your Say: How far are you willing to go to lose weight? Would you use hormones?

June 10, 2014 Paris B 48 Comments

The pursuit of beauty seems to have taken a decidedly medical slant if the sharp increase locally in aesthetic clinics that offer beauty medical procedures are any indication. It’s no secret that I have been approached by many skin/aesthetic treatment clinics to try their procedures in exchange for a review, an offer I decline almost immediately. I don’t have anything against anyone who does go for these medical beauty procedures, but it’s not a route I am particularly interested in going down. Not even laser treatment. I’ve had an experience that scarred me psychologically for life and it’s one I have no desire to repeat.

But facial procedures aside, I have noticed a proliferation of weight loss treatment offers, that worried me. It bugged me more, when I saw people endorsing the treatment as a quick way to lose weight. The irony is that those endorsing it aren’t even overweight to start with! It was the HCG Diet treatment and because it involved injections, I did a little reading up to see what it was about.

What I discovered scared the daylights out of me and blogging about it probably doesn’t make me very popular among those who have tried it or the institution promoting it, but hey, some things have to be said! 😛

A local clinic claims that with this HCG diet, you can do everything from lose 30 pounds in 30 days, boost metabolism, spot reduce fat, eliminate binging… and I was terribly sceptical. You see, on the HCG diet, not only do you have to be injected with hormones, your daily calorie intake is reduced to 500 a day. I don’t know, is that like a bar of chocolate? A bag of crisps? Heaven knows, I probably inhale that in one sitting when indulging in my favourite keropok lekor! 😛

But it was the hormone injection bit that had me concerned, and it made me wonder just how far people would go to lose weight easily.

Tip: Taking Cod Liver Oil for health helped improve my skin too

June 3, 2014 Paris B 45 Comments

When I was a kid, I remember being force-fed a foul smelling white emulsion that I came to fear and run away from the minute I see the bottle appear. Hands up if you too were averse to Scott’s Cod Liver Oil Emulsion 😛 The minute I could assert my rights, I refused to take any more of it and that was that.

However, I was recently nursing a very bad cough that was dragging on for weeks and I suddenly remembered my Mom telling me that taking cod liver oil would help. Well, I wasn’t about to down that foul emulsion anymore so I got a bottle of cod liver oil capsules from the brand Seven Seas.

I was told that I could take a slightly higher dose to start, and the recommended dose was 1-2 capsules 3 times a day. So I would take about 8 capsules a day. My cough did go away eventually (a combination of antibiotics, cough mixture) but I continued taking the cod liver oil capsules since I already had a bottle of it, and to build up my immunity.

About a month and after taking 100 capsules, I woke up one day to a realization that not only was my cough almost gone, my skin was looking and feeling better than it has been in a while, despite the fact I’d been sick as a dog and under tremendous life stress. I had some marks from some stubborn cystic acne spots around my chin and mouth and my skin was feeling a bit clogged and bumpy and just blah.

But I hadn’t been experiencing that lately. Instead, I noticed that my skin was looking a lot better. It felt significantly smoother, pores looked smaller, skin looked more refined and glowy and most of the pesky spots and clogged pores were all but gone. Blemishes and marks healed and disappeared quickly and scarring and marking of skin was minimal. That was when I wondered “Could it be that the cod liver oil was helping my skin look better?”

Water Woes: Quick tips on how to bathe and wash up with minimal water

March 13, 2014 Paris B 14 Comments

Ok not everyone will appreciate the water woes I’m currently experiencing, but after I put you on the spot early this week and asked if you’d collect enough water for a shower or to wash your face if you could only choose one, the dreaded event happened – I came home after a long day to dry pipes! Yikes!

Ok not entirely dry. I turned on the shower and there was some water so I quickly jumped in and started soaping up my hair… and then slowly the water slowed and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I literally begged for the water not to disappear. “No! Don’t go! Noo….!!!” The distress I felt at seeing the water slow to a trickle and then stop, as the shampoo ran into my eyes was almost comical if it wasn’t so tragic. I then found myself staring at the pail of water in the bathroom, dreading the cold water… brrr!

But I did manage to wash myself and my hair and yes, my face with rather minimal water usage, so I thought it would be a good idea to share how I did it. It could be because you too are experiencing dry pipes, or perhaps you may find yourself in a situation where you don’t have access to a lot of water to clean yourself. It sometimes happens (As a student, I once stayed at a pensione in Venice that had the dirtiest, grimiest bathroom seen to mankind. My friends and I refused to shower in there and we had to make do for 2 whole days. We survived. Barely.); so it’s useful knowing you can still stay clean without using a lot of water.

And you can also tell me how you save water or manage to keep your personal hygiene with minimal water use too – remember, we learn from each other! 🙂

Mouthwash: Do you need it and does it do more harm than good?

August 13, 2013 Paris B 65 Comments

I remember a little while ago, in the comment box some readers shared their thoughts on using mouthwashes, or rather, not using mouthwash. I came across a very interesting article in the Bangkok Post last week, that reminded me of this fleeting discussion so I thought I’d like to open this up for further discussion.

We often see lots of ads on TV encouraging us to use a mouthwash or to gargle with one to prevent cavities and gum disease. There are some that are so strong it feels like they strip off the interior lining of your tongue and mouth (Listerine, ouch!), some that taste so sweet it feels almost ridiculous, some that even stain your teeth red (Plax, ugh!) and some that claim to be all natural (Ah Yuan and Aesop).

In most cases, I have not seen them advertised as being a substitute for regular brushing and flossing, but I can imagine that sometimes, if in a hurry or tired people may just think a mouthwash could serve as a quick substitute. After all, it’s supposed to be good for your oral hygiene… or is it?

Do you use a mouthwash regularly and if so, why? Is it because you were advised to?

Health

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