Rice Cake on the Tourist Trail

I am trying to maintain a website about our hometown in the Philippines and one of the recent articles I just posted is the possibility that Pozorrubio, a small town in Sison may just be in a position to catch a spot on the lucrative tourist trail. A movement seems to be going on to revive traditional ways of making some of the delicacies like the rice cake pictured above. The novelty about these rice cakes is that the raw rice is woven into these baskets then cooked in sugar cane juice as it is caramelized into raw sugar or brown sugar. It's really a fascinating process.

These rice cakes are fat-free but definitely not calories free for you dieters out there. But they sure are delicious! But like any calorie rich food, I believe that you don't have to totally forsake them. I was reading sensa reviews and they even say that those diet pills are not meant to work for long term solution, that healthy eating and exercise are still your best option for keeping weight off. That, and of course moderation.

Drugs to Mugs Meant to Scare

I ran across this article today on the true faces of addiction. It is a shocking look at how drug addiction not only changes you from the inside but even much quicker. It's actually quite scary. These people look like they've over dosed on ephedrine diet pills and have some crazy gross skin disease, but they don't. This is what your skin does on drugs.



Scary, yes? If you look at the caption, this change came about in a mere few months. It doesn't take long to hit bottom. It's a drug education program called from Drugs to Mugs supposed to scare kids away from trying drugs. It scares me, but I wonder how effective this really would be for your people?

Another Reason to Cut Out Soda

Are you like many of us who are now in the midst to working to maintain our New Year's resolutions or are you with the group who have fallen off the wagon already? OR are you of the camp who meant to start with a healthier diet but just never even got started?

Well if you're in the third camp, don't feel quite such a loser yet. It's not the end of the world. One quick and easy tip to a healthier diet is to cut out soda. That's right, just one simple thing and you may even end up losing weight! If you're a soda guzzler like some people, just cutting it out of your diet can save you almost a thousand calories a day! That's the equivalent of a whole meal!

Besides, those things are toxic for you anyway. You really should do yourself a huge favor and just cut soda out of your diet. Even sites like www.dietsthatwork.org which sell diet pills will tell you that I'm right.

For instance, did you know that Coca-Cola is an excellent solvent for rust? That's right! Don't bother spending lots of money on commercial rust removers, just pour some coke over your rust problem and scrub the rust off! Coke contains phosphoric acid which dissolves the rust. Now just think what it does to your intestines every time you drink some! If that doesn't make you quit sodas, maybe you're one of those people who claim to have a cast iron gut?

Health Insurance Concerns Even After Reforms

A couple of years ago many of us were on pins and needles with anticipation for the promised reform bill. We had visions of better health care that didn't put us into bankruptcy. We rejoiced when the promised bill passed finally after much pulling and scheming and screaming. Today, can we really say we are better off?

I'm not. I'm still in the same boat as I was in a couple of years ago. Thank goodness I managed to keep my job that luckily provides a somewhat affordable if not cheap health insurance. My kids and I still try to only visit the doctor at a minimum because whenever we have had a medical emergency, it ended up costing me an arm and a leg in fees. Fees that my health insurance does not cover.

With the beginning of a new year, it's open enrollment at my job again. Time to renew benefits and time to review affordable health insurance quotes. It would be nice to be able to afford private health insurance and go to whichever doctor you want at whichever hospital, but for us working folks it's going to be the HMO route. It's cheaper for us to be in a network or group but it also means that we have to limit some of our choices. The cheapest plan being offered at my company is a group plan where we can only go to service providers that are also signed up on the same network. Most of them are local which is good, and really for the most part, they are competent doctors. It's not like only the losers sign up for these networks.

It's just that if we ever require a specialist, god forbid one of us gets seriously ill, it would not be as easy to go out of our network. But, that's the gamble that most workers in this country take. We pay high insurance premiums for mediocre care and pray like bloody hell that we remain mean and healthy so we can whine another day.

The Best Way to Lose Weight

When you Google "the weight loss product" the top search results are diet pills. While there will be people who tell you they lost weight using diet pills, more people will tell you that diet pills are really the worst way to go when you're trying to lose weight. I'm speaking in general terms of course, when it comes to the everyday housewife trying to lose the 'baby pounds' ten years later like me.

I found that the best way to lose pounds is still PORTION CONTROL. I hate dieting and I hate depriving myself of the things I like to eat. I found that by watching the amount of food you take in, you can drastically reduce your calories. I love to eat fatty foods, so portion control is really the only thing that works for me.

I was really glad to see Julie who blogs at Wii Mommies emphasize that she lost weight in part through portion control and not solely through the Wii. Yeah, she really did lose over a hundred pounds from playing Wii games as it says on the interview! Isn't that awesome? But before you start spending all your time playing games, note what she also said about portion control and also watching the kind of foods that you eat.

Foods that Help Your Skin

The weather is turning cooler and for a lot of people that means ITCH. With the cooler weather it also means that our skin is getting drier and we're already feeling the unmistakable sign of fall, itchy skin. This morning I switched back to a heavier moisturizing lotion than the light, scented one I had been using all summer. Yep, time to pull out the heavy guns so to speak.

For some people who have more skin problems, this problem is no joke. My sister who has been using various eczema treatments over the years always has a hard time this time of year. But lotions and moisturizers are not the only weapons you have against dry skin. You can also help keep your skin moisturized and in healthy condition by eating the right kind of foods.

2 Essential Fatty Acids to keep your skin healthy - these come from vegetables, nuts seeds and cold water fish.

Omega 6 - good sources are safflower, sunflower, sesame and corn.

Omega 3 - good sources are flax seed oil, walnuts and pumpkin seeds. Cold water fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel and sardines are also good sources.

FOODS RICH IN OMEGA 6 & 3

Fish: Two to three servings of fresh salmon, mackerel (preferably not smoked), herring and sardines per week.

Nuts and seeds: Walnuts, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, one to two tablespoons per day. Mix and store in the fridge, then sprinkle over salad or grind them up and have with yogurt or cereal.

Oils: flax, sunflower, corn evening primrose and starflower oils. One to two tablespoons of flax seed oil daily initially. Use oils on salads or vegetable – but for cooking, use only olive oil as the other become unstable when subjected to heat.

Vegetables: Green leafy vegetable, particularly spinach and cabbage. Aim to have five different types each day, including a good portion of dark-green leafy ones.

Graceful Aging

As much as I hate to admit it, I am getting OLD. Yes, I said the dirty word among forty-somethingers. It seemed to have come on me suddenly. The changes had never been more obvious as they have been this year. Yes, I notice my face changing, new wrinkles have settled in and more gray hairs have popped up. Conversation among my friends have gone from breast feeding and diaper changes to anti-wrinkle creams and hair dyes. Some have even ventured into investigating human growth hormone facts. Well I haven't gotten that far yet.

I still appreciate the adage about aging gracefully and loving the stage that I am in, no matter the decade. And actually, 40's isn't that bad and it even has certain advantages. For one, I now have more time for myself. Good thing too as I've never had time for a beauty regime before. Now I can take time to slather on lotions and what nots every night and I'm thinking I'll finally have some time to put in some exercise too. We'll see...

Useful Tips: Meatless Days

Meatless Fridays, Meatless Mondays or Meatless Sundays, they've been around a while. I have been reading about people taking a day out of the week to go meatless in attempts at healthier eating or just to say you can do it. Well, it's also a good idea to go meatless one or two times a week to save some money.

Start trying out some vegetarian recipes and before you know it, you may find out that you actually like and feel better because of it!

To make your meatless days even more significant, try using produce that you grew yourself or if you don't have a garden (you should, you know), buy from your farmer's market and support locally grown foods. If you don't have a farmer's market, then so some green shopping at places that sell organically grown produce.

Ok, so you're saying you just can't live without meat even for just one day of the week? Then try reducing the amount of meat you use in your dishes at first. Make a vegetable heavy soup or something. Or stirfries work really well too, just reduce the meat and use more vegetables.

If you have to have meats, you can also save some money by buying tougher cuts of meats which are usually cheaper, and make soups or stews. And if you can stand it, throw in lots of vegetables in the pot.

That's the useful tip of the day! Cut down on meats, save money and save your health.

Reviving this old me

You know how they say that stress wreaks havoc on your skin? Well that has not been more apparent than the last couple of months. Not only have I been having sleep problems, I have also been feeling like a teenager with skin breakouts and added wrinkles. And don't even mention the added gray hair.

So this week, along with my determination to get back on track, I also decided to do something for myself. For the first time, I bought some hair dye to get rid of the grays; I bought an anti wrinkle cream (god forbid! this was hard to admit to!); and finally I bought some acne body wash to get rid of the breakouts.

So, do you think there's hope to fix this mug? I also got some under eye cream, btw, and will be giving an update in a few weeks if any improvements can be noticed.

Are you sleeping with the enemy?

I love pilows! My bed does not have just two pillows, it has ten! Yes, believe me, ten pillows on it. Five for each side. Why?

See, when you love to read as much as I do, you want to be as comfortable as possible when you're laying in bed with a good book. That's why I love my pilows! Some of them I've had for over ten years and they are my favorites! What I never realized is, how disgusting they could be or probably already are! Watch the segment below and see what I mean.



Scary, isn't it? My husband is borderline germophobe so he makes sure that our beddings are washed every week. When he does the washing, he also sprays the bare pillows and mattresses thoroughly with Lysol antibacterial spray. I'm hoping these measures that he has been taking has taken care of some of the problems mentioned in the video. I am still a bit wary though because our pillows are so old! As mentioned in the video, the older the pillows are, the more susceptible they are housing all the nasty things mentioned like dust mites, their droppings, fungus, mold and bacteria.

It got me thinking that maybe it's time to get some new pillows. There are new products in the market like the allergy pillow offered by Healthy Dreams. They are made with the Micrenza bio-filter which effectively keeps out the germs, mold and allergens from settling in to your pillows. They cost a bit more than the average good quality pillow but if it keeps you from breathing in harmful particles that can compromise your health, why not splurge? And if you consider the fact that a good quality pillow can usually last at least a couple of years or longer, that's a pretty good investment.

A great thing about these Healthy Dreams pillows is that they have 10-Year Warranty and a 60-Day Unconditional Return Privilege. If you've been considering changing out your pillows, these Healthy Dreams pillows are worth considering. Stop sleeping with the enemies, sleep healthy instead.

That time of year again....

No, it's not Valentine's Day. It's not taxes either. At our job, February has become the open enrollment period for our company benefits.

So today, I filled out my forms and turned them all in just before the 3 o'clock deadline. This year, a little more paper work was involved since we changed insurance carriers for our health and dental benefits. The bottom line is, the amount I pay for our health, dental, vision and live insurance went up an exactly 3% of what they were last year. Is that a coincidence to the fact that annual pay raises usually average around 3%?

That means that unless I get a very nice raise this year (I doubt it) my paycheck this year will actually be slightly less than they were last year! Does that make sense? Well, maybe it does to someone out there... I'm having a hard time wrapping my little head around that one.

Someone at the meeting actually said, "Thank you, health care reform!" LOL! With insurance rates like this, it makes me wonder about and want to investigate independent brokers like health travel guides to see if the plans they have listed on their site have more to offer than the paltry ones we get every year.

5 Best Foods for the Skin

There is something about the new year that makes most of us more introspective. This year, 2010, I will turn 47. Before I started approaching 50, it was so easy to say that age is only a number. But really, it is not. This past year, I started feeling and looking my age. Kind of depressing, really.

I look in the mirror and see my face changing. I've taken on that middle age look, sadly. But, as they say, no use fighting against the inevitable right? Well, not quite right... this is one fate I don't want to quietly submit to. So besides researching acne home remedies for my teenagers, I have also been looking into anti-aging and rejuvenating remedies. The main thing for both cases, young and old, is to make sure you're eating the right things to enhance your skin.

1. WATER - we all know that the secret to great skin is hydration. So what better way to improve you skin than drinking lots of water?

2. YOGURT - is over all good for you, especially for women who greatly benefit from the acidophilus bacteria and vitamin A contained in this dairy product.

3. SALMON - contains essential fatty acids that is also good for your health and your skin by keeping your cells moisturized.

4. AVOCADO - is full of B-complex vitamins and essential oils. You can derive benefits from avocado by eating it but also by applying it directly on your skin. This makes for a great facial.

5. NUTS & BERRIES - are full of antioxidants & vitamin E, which are both great for keeping your skin healthy and young looking.

Bottom line is, take care of your overall health and your skin will follow suit.

Noodles & Tarts

Happy Sunday! Here's a couple of healthy and delicious suggestions for your Sunday dinner. I'm making a roast beef today just because Sunday has gotten to be a roasting day around here. The following dishes are more like weekday dishes for us. They are quick and easy to make, delicious and satisfying. Give them a try if you like.



This is Curried Chicken Over Rice Noodles. I kind of made it up as I went along but it came out quite well if I do say so myself :)

“Photo credit: One Fork, One Spoon”

Earlier in the summer we had an abundant harvest of Swiss Chard from our spring planting and that was when I discovered this recipe for making them into the pie or to put it more fancy like, a tart :)

Click here for the recipe for Swiss Chard Tart.

Don't go running looking for diet pills that work just yet, these two dishes, while not exactly low fat are actually very healthy. The Noodles has hidden veggies in it and very small amount of oil and while the amount of oil in the tart may seem like a lot, keep in mind that it's Olive oil and it's supposed to be good for you. We all have to have a little fat in our diet. We just have to consume it, like everything else, in moderation.

What is Salicylic Acid?

Do you know what salicylic acid is? You hear it bandied about every so often but I'm sure you're like me in that you probably don't know exactly what it is. For instance, I knew it's in my facial cleansers and toners but other than that, I really had no reason to find out more about it.

Well the other day, as my teenage daughter was thumbing through one of her magazines, she casually asked, What is salicylic acid anyway? She was reading about various ways to take care of her skin and cure acne. Not that she has an acne problem or anything, the girl has beautiful skin! But she's just into that age where she's more conscious about taking care of her body including her skin.

Anyway, thanks to Google, I found out that salicylic acid removes dead skin thus preventing pores to get clogged with all the debris. That's why the component is also found in dandruff shampoos and products that treat dry skin, and other skin problems like warts, corns and calluses.

Salicylic acid is just as the name implies, an acid. It works by degrading the dead skin and removing them from the surface. As with any acids, you have to be careful when using any product that has this ingredient. I recommend trying it out first before committing to long term use. For instance, when my other daughter was in kindergarten, she developed a round patch on her cheek that her internist deemed to be ring worm. He recommended applying a brand of dandruff shampoo to the area to cure ring worm.

Even though the guy was almost a doctor, I should have been more wary because rather than eliminating just the ringworm, the shampoo burned her delicate skin and caused it to scab. Not really bad, but it looked worse at the time. I didn't take into consideration how potent the dandruff shampoo was and how delicate her young skin was. It probably would have worked just fine for an adult or an older kid, but not for someone so young.

So yeah, salicylic acid has it's uses and works quite well when used properly. Just consider what or whom you're using it on.

The Health Care Reform's a Comin'

I watched Nightline last night because I like that show and the president happened to be on talking about health care. If you hadn't already heard, health care reform has been a hot media topic lately. The president promises sweeping health care reform before the year is up.

I hope so. It's one of the issues closest to me because I have growing three kids and my husband and I aren't getting any younger. We need more and more visits to the doctor or to the dentist and everytime we go, even with insurance, we end up forking over more money that we really can't afford. Two of my daughters, for instance, have needed braces since they were in elementary school. They are now in high school and I can't afford to get them their braces still. Sure there are many ads out there for the Smile Doctor, the Frisco Dentist and others who claim to maintain your teeth at an affordable price. But 'affordable' is always relative. What they think is affordable isn't always affordable for me.

So yeah, I'm really looking forward to see how this health care reform pans out as I know a lot of people who are in the same boat as I am are also watching.

Colds are creeping in

The cold weather is not the only thing creeping in. The sniffles, sneezes and the flu are also slowly spreading again. As I've probably mentioned before, I try really hard not to medicate unless I have to. In our house, we try to go for nutritional remedies if we can. You can call it the chicken soup cure, but it works for us.

Dr. Lark is a physician who believes in diet, nutrition, exercise and stress management techniques to remedy most health problems. Her website, www.drlark.com, offers tips, health solutions and products that enhance health and well being. I notice that there was also a section on recipes to try out. I like the idea of trying a nutritional remedy first before drugs.

If you're interested visit the website where you can get more information and subscribe to the newsletter.

This recipe for a 5 minute energizing tea was on the website and I just realized aside from the peppermint leaves, this is my grandma's cure all for a sore throat, ginger tea! I guess with the addition of the peppermint it's supposed to give you more energy. I know whenever I've had this tea I always felt better after wards. Try it next time you need a picker upper.

2 cups water
2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, grated
1 teaspoon peppermint leaves
1 teaspoon honey (if desired)

Bring water to a boil. Add ginger and peppermint to water and stir. Turn heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sweetener if desired.

This drink is an excellent coffee substitute. Both ginger and peppermint are stimulating herbs that can help raise your energy level: ginger also helps relieve digestive problems, while peppermint may help quiet muscle spasms.

Knock on Wood

Maybe it's anxiety or whatever you call it, but with the scheduled doctor's appointments, the aches, the little niggling pains and whatever else that comes with getting old, I can't help but worry whether we are prepared enough for this phase of our lives. I can't help but worry if we have enough life insurance to make sure the kids are taken cared of in case anything happens. If we were to decide to increase our life insurance, I think now is the time to do it while we are still relatively young; seniors life insurance is very costly and I'm sure we wouldn't be able to afford it.

Weird the things you obsess about... My investment/retirement account that I barely bothered with before, I find myself checking my account at least once a month and start worrying when they start fluctuating down. My husband says I could be worrying myself sick.

Another trip to the doctor

My turn for a doctor's appointment tomorrow and wouldn't you know it, I'm PMSing! Hopefully it will hold off until after noon. Hopefully, this doc won't be as long winded as my daughters doctor, the one who went on and on about acne treatments but never really addressed the specific problem we asked her about. Geesh!

Why I'm going to the doctor: well, it's that yearly time for torture plus I've been feeling really fatigued lately. I feel like a slacker most days because all the energy I have lately is just enough to get me in bed as soon as I get home. I feel guilty that my family has been exceeding their fast food quota lately and my husband has been doing more than his share of cleaning up and washing dishes. Anyway, I hope it's something simple that can be remedied quickly. We'll know tomorrow.

The Annual Visit

Jade is playing field hockey this year and because she needed to have a physical, I had to make a last minute appointment with the clinic. Luckily, they did have a doctor who could see her the same day I called, but it wasn't her usual doctor. That was ok, so we went on to see this new doctor, who it turned out was a young resident. She was very thorough, unlike the cursory exam we normally get from her usual pediatrician. This doctor covered every concern from head to toe. She even went into a long discussion about acne scars cream when asked about the pimple breakouts. But, I suppose that is a good thing. The thirty minute physical with the old doctor turned into an hour long consultation! At one point she even asked me to step out of the room so they can have a private 'talk'. You know what that means, they were talking about S-E-X only this time it's mom that's left out. Geesh!

Carpal Tunnel

I developed carpal tunnel syndrome when I was pregnant. At least that's when I first noticed it. At the time, I was working at a job where repetitive manual tasks were required. Even since then, even though I don't work at the same job anymore and with subsequent pregnancies, I've had bouts of tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

The thing with having flare ups when pregnant is you can't take any medications to relieve the swelling and pain. And it can get painful! The simplest tasks like picking up something or holding a spoon to feed the baby can be the worst. It's the slightest angle to the wrist that would seem to bring on the worst pain. While there are pain medications that could have alleviated a lot of the problems, I also have never been one to take too many medications so I didn't take them even after I wasn't pregnant anymore. Instead, I used smart gloves like these for carpal tunnel relief. They look like the kind of gloves you use for bowling. My sister actually thought I got them for that. LOL! Seriously though, these things work because they keep your wrists in the proper position until they heal themselves. You'd think they would be cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear, but they are actually very comfortable. After a while you don't even notice you have them on anymore.