Saturday, October 30, 2010

secret to long life

got this e-mail the other day from a friend. so see how many of it you do ok. =)

The Nine Habits of Highly Healthy People
by Jonny Bowden

1.  Eat your Vegetables. No kidding. And I'm talking at least 9 servings a day.. Unless you're following the most stringent first stage of the Atkins Diet, you should be able to consume 60-120 grams of carbs a day (depending on your weight and exercise level), and you'd have to eat a stockyard full of spinach to get to that amount. Every major study of long-lived, healthy people shows that they eat a ton of plant foods. Nothing delivers antioxidants, fiber, flavonoids, indoles, and the entire pharmacopia of disease fighting phytochemicals like stuff that grows.

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2.   Eat Fish and/or take Fish Oil. The Omega-3's found in cold-water fish like salmon deserve the title of "wellness molecule of the century". They lower the risk of heart disease, they lower blood pressure, they improve mood and they're good for the brain. And if you're pregnant, they may make your kid smarter!

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3.   Connect. And I'm not talking about the internet. In virtually every study of people who are healthy and happy into their 9th and 10th decade, social connections are one of the "prime movers" in their life. Whether church, family, volunteer work or community, finding something you care about that's bigger than you that you can connect with and that involves other people (or animals) will extend your life, increase your energy, and make you happier. Only always.

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4.  Get some Sun. At least 10-15 minutes three times a week. Interestingly, a recent study of four places in the globe where people lived the longest and were the healthiest noted that all four places were in sunny climates. Sun improves your mood and boosts levels of cancer-fighting, performance-enhancing, bone-strengthening vitamin D, a vitamin most people don't get nearly enough of.

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5.  Sleep Well. If you're low in energy, gaining weight, grumpy and looking haggard, guess what?- chances are you're not sleeping nearly long enough nor well enough. By sleeping "well", I mean uninterrupted sleep, in the dark, without the television on, in a relaxing environment. Nothing nourishes, replenishes and restarts the system like 7-9 hours sleep. Hint: start by going to bed an hour early. And if you've got a computer in the bedroom, banish it.

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6.   Exercise Everyday. Forget this 20 minutes three times a week stuff. Long lived people are doing things like farm chores at 4:30 in the morning! Our Paleolithic ancestors traveled an average of 20 miles per day. Our bodies were designed to move on a regular basis. New studies show that merely 30 minutes a day of walking not only reduces the risk of most serious diseases, but can even grow new brain cells!

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7.  Practice Gratitude. By making a list of things you're grateful for, you focus the brain on positive energy. Gratitude is incompatable with anger and stress. Practice using your under-utilized "right brain" and spread some love. Focusing on what you're grateful for- even for five minutes a day- has the added benefit of being one of the best stress-reduction techniques on the planet.

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8.   Drink Red Wine or eat Grapes.The reservatrol in dark grapes is being studied for its effect on extending life, which it seems to do for almost every species studied. (So does eating about 1/3 less food, by the way.) If you've got a problem with alcohol, you can get resveratrol from grapes, peanuts or supplements. (And if you're a woman, and you choose the alcohol option, make sure you're getting folic acid every day.)

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9.   Get the Sugar out. The number one enemy of vitality, health and longevity is not fat, it's sugar. Sugar's effect on hormones, moods, immunity, weight and possibly even cancer cells is enormous, and it's all negative. To the extent that you can remove it from your diet, you will be adding years to your life and life to your years.

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xoxo

Joanna

Monday, October 25, 2010

fear

i am a jealous person.

simple enough sentence, but the weightage it carries is enormous. what am i jealous of though?

i’m jealous of everyone and everything. i’m jealous when a classmates gets better marks than me. i’m jealous when a friend can spend and spend and spend on clothes while i have nothing left in my wallet. i’m jealous when people eat as much as they want and still don’t put on any weight. i’m jealous that some girls get more admirers than other. i’m jealous when a girl i see has the perfect body that turns heads. i’m jealous that a person is much more atheletic than i am. i’m jealous that some people have perfect families. i’m jealous that other people are so popular. i’m jealous that some people can just multitask and the projects are always successful.

yup, i’m a pretty jealous person. but then, i’m a procrastinator too.

instead of doing something to change my current situation, i rather think about it and fantasize of what could have been instead.

i lack dedication and motivation when doing things. only the fear of failure keeps me going at the best of times. i blame my spm results on the fear that i wouldn’t get any scholarship at all for my college life. i blame my beginning of the year results on the fear that i would not get accepted into uni. and i blame my current results on the fear that the uni would take back my offer.

it’s time i did things not because of the fear that i might never succeed in life, but because it helps me become a better person,.

i’m determined to do the best and be the best person that i can after reading a good story today.

this marks the day that i start doing things for myself and not for the fear of failure.

last day of P3

 

 

xoxo

Joanna

Thursday, October 14, 2010

homemade pizza

mama and i went to cold storage one day, we saw this buy one free one naan bread cause it was gonna expire in two days time. so i thought we could do cheat pizza the next day since we haven had pizza in a long time. =)

so cheat pizza consistes of

naan bread (can use pita or pre-prepared pizza dough)

onions (about one)

tomato paste ( half a small tin can liao)

pepperoni (can substitute with other meat products)

mushrooms (any kind, be adventurous )

mozarella cheese

parmesan cheese

mixed herbs and oregano. can put in some pepper also

1. spread tomato paste on naan bread, thick enough so you can’t see the bread beneath it. put 2 pinches of mixed herbs, oregano and pepper each

2. lay the ingredients according to your imagination, excluding the cheese.

3. once finish laying, spread loads and loads of cheese. this helps to keep the pizza together

4. bake in oven at 150 degrees for 20mins – half an hr

5. enjoy!

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the cheese a bit fail cause i forgot to defrost the cheese in the freezer. so when i put it on the pizza it was still a bit frozen. thats why it didn melt. lol!. dun make my mistake =p

be creative. make a pineapple chicken pizza! or olive tomato one. its an enjoyable process, so take your time doing it. but plan ahead, otherwise your gonna be starving if you just do it 30mins before your supposed dinner time. =)

xoxo

Joanna

P.S i miss you

Friday, October 8, 2010

stress indicators

hello pretty people who still read my blog even though 'i;m a terrible blogger. i had this idea for a blog post, and its the first time i haven’t forgotten an idea right after thinking about it, that i thought i might as well blog about it then only study. heheh. confusing? =)

so my idea of today’s blog post is stress indicator.

so let’s get the scientific part set first. stress refers to the consequence of the failure of an organismhuman or animal – to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined. Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor, real or imagined, a stimulus that causes stress.

confusing much? in other words, stress is what you feel when u do not respond correctly to emotional or physical threat whether real or fake. clearer? =)

tumblr_l0yqxzxSU21qb6t6wo1_500_largeso i’m not going to do into much details about the stress part. if your in SAM psychology, you should know by now what is GAS and all. if you do not, there are many ways to classify stress, and to see how our body adapts to different stressful situations. but they’re more confusing, so i’ll just mention the indicators that i came up with after research. =)

the following are stress indicators, mental and physical   

Mental

1. Problems with memory
2. Inability to concentrate
3. Poor judgment
4. Racing thoughts
5. Moodiness
6. Agitation
7. Irritability
8. Sense of isolation/loneliness
9. Constant worrying
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10. Viewing everything as negative
11. Restlessness
12. Quick temper
13. Sense of being overwhelmed
14. General unhappiness
15. Loss of objectivity
16. Always being fearful
17. Anxiousness
18. Indecisiveness
19. Inability to relax
20. Feeling on edge

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1. Headache
2. Muscle tension
3. Nausea
4. Insomnia
5. Acne breakout
6. Diarrhea or constipation
7. Loss of sex drive
8. Frequently being sick
9. Dizziness
10. Weight gain or loss
11. Change in appetite
12. Procrastination and neglect
tumblr_l960twE7DS1qcbbt9o1_400_large13. Alcohol, tobacco, or drug use
14. Nail biting or pacing
15. Excessive spending
16. Tooth grinding
17. Excessive exercise
18. Overreactions
19. Sleeping too much or too little
20. Starting fights

so if you have one of the above indicators? DON’T WORRY SO MUCH.

deal with the stress in a way that would help you the most, e.g relaxation methods, exercise, social activities, or if your restless go do some charity! deal with the stress before it gets to you, you either become a very depressed person, or a nervous wreck. =p

btw, the indicators are very partial, some of them also apply to how we feel during a normal day. so it might not be stress.

didn’t know stress was so complicated until i started blogging about this, then all the information came flooding in. before i end, i wanna tell you about my stress indicators! the first one is. ZITS. i know everybody gets them, most of the friends i have who see me on a daily basis always scoff when i say i have a pimple. but its true! photographic evidence,.

09102010240 see nose! i have a zit. i can roughly estimate where my zits will turn up on my face. if i draw a line to divide my face into half, my pimples would be along that line. yes, my pimples like to be geometrical. hehe

second indicator? dandruff!. when i get stressed, i get loads of dandruff, like im shedding skin like that. no fun. TT. thats why i don’t really wear that much black nearer to exam times. hahaha. =)

xoxo

Joanna

P/S time to nerd now. =)

P/P/S next post, how to make quick and easy pizza. =)

Question : is it possible to like 2 people at the same time?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

empire state of mind

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hi pretty people!

wish i remembered what i wanted to blog about, but since my brain doesn’t want me to remember, imma just update you, pretty reader, about my life atm.

so finals are in 26 days. yes im counting down. TT. trying to motivate myself but doesn’t seem to be working, i’m as lazy as ever. =s. got back my trial results.i didn’t fail anything! but i thought i would get better results than the ones i got. whatever it is, im grateful with what i got i guess, i think i kinda deserved it. totally learned my lesson about studying last minute. so imma try to work harder! the thick think books of past years are super daunting anyways, cause im lazy to put them in my cupboard as i’ll use them almost everyday, they’re in a pile beside my bed. TT.

hmm what else, been spending more time with friends. super enjoyable. especially board games with en, drew and long the other night. and also lunches with the classmates. we’re boycotting prom for karaoke and steamboat yo, u can join us too! haha. =)

leo pretty busy this month. this sunday the 10th is blind leading the blind. 17th is blood donation drive and health screening at subang avenue. 23rd is visit to SPCA. let me know if you wanna join! seriously go for the blood donation and health screening. more info on facebook. =p

been feeling pretty mixed up about how i feel. been so unsure and weighing the pros and cons. confession to make : i dreamt about you the other night. and honestly, it was quite pleasant. =), hahah! except it will never be i guess. =). a girl cant help wishing can she. =p anyway, you don’t even read my blog, cause you don’t know this exists! LMAO.

errr. i don’t think theres anything else. oh yeah, im super undecisive about which uni to go to. seriously, weighing the pros and cons. and of course im scared i cant meet the academic requirement. whatever it is though, i’ll probably be leaving good old malaysia in 4-5 months time, man, i’m gonna miss the food!

okays, i should go finish some more work while waiting for the gossip girl stream to load. oh yeah. i’m totally addicted to the new songs by the new season of glee. =p. they’re pretty awesome!. haha

i’ll update again soon. =).

xoxo

Joanna