2014 SC Marathon Video

   
                   This is from the 7th Dec 2014  Marathon.  I'm wearing the orange running vest. Thanks for the memories Standard Chartered Marathon !!

2014 Marathon - No. 9

Not the best of times by my standard, but the heat and humidity was high

This year's 2104 Marathon was in my opinion, my least prepared one. So finishing it in a time of 6 hours and 2 minutes, I could not complain as it was actually better than 2 other runs in previous years. I only started seriously preparing for the race with less than 3 weeks to go. I will not recommend this 'training' to anybody because I have years of experience running, and the body has been conditioned by more than 13 years of active long distance running.

Here is the planned route (in my handphone anyway) which I tried to stick to but of course, the heat and lack of training meant that I finished more than my planned time of 4 hours and 50 minutes.

This Visualisation Technique is very important for anyone who wants to finish a marathon and I would recommend it to whoever who wants to achieve a goal, you need to visualise every step and milestone to achieving those lofty goals.  

5 km - Fullerton Hotel 30 to 35 minutes (about 7 min per km)

6 km - Theatres by the Bay 36 to 42 minutes

7km  - Marina Floating Platform  

9km  - Nicholl Highway Start        54 minutes

10km - Nicholl Highway before Sports Hub ; Pop in 1 Gel, 1 salt Tablet ; 60 to 70 minutes

11 km - Sports Hub, Check and Pace Up

12 - 13 km Singapore Swimming Club Fort Road

15 km   - East Coast Park start ; Get Moving !!

19 km  -  ECP Lagoon start ; Target  below 2 hours ; Pop in 2nd  Power Gel, 2nd Salt Tablet

24km  -  Bedok Jetty ; Top up water bottles, 2 hours 30 ;, Drink Up and Stretch !

29 km -  End of ECP ; 3 hours 10 minutes ; Drink Up ; Pop in 3rd Gel and Ready for Super dry 

               Stretch outside Golf Club ! Parched like Desert after this !! 

33 km -  Golf Club Drink ; Spray legs, Stretch  3 hours 45 minutes

36 km -  Marina Gardens by the Bay ; Drink ; Spray Last 6 km ! 

37 - 39 km - Marina Barrage, Heartbreak Hill (Sheares Bridge) ; Go Go !!!

40 km  km - Last Drink Station (F1 Pit Building) Spray and Pray ! 

41-42km   - God and Mum with me !

                     Final (Targetted) Time : 4 Hours 50 Minutes

                     Actual Race Day Time : 6 Hours 2 Minutes

Conclusion :   I need more Training and I am willing to try some Overseas Marathons. 

Finally crossing the finish line. 

Americans Living on the Edge

Egypt Dec 2009 - Blast from the past

                                                       Coronation of Pharoah Ramses II ;
                                                   on a Relief (carving) in Luxor along the Nile  

Manage Diabetes by Health Supplements ?

                                             Made in Singapore, $ 60 per bottle of 60 capsules


      This product, proudly made in Singapore is taking the consumer world by storm. Called Proviva, it is the first in the world employing both Probiotics (good bacteria ) and Prebiotics
(oligosaccharides) employing fermentation techniques and using the traditional remedies of bitter gourd and moringa (horse radish).

      I have been taking the sister product called Proviva L, used to manage high cholesterol levels (total HDL and LDL) as well as triglycerides, it is a godsend for me. I have never felt better in my life and blood tests are expected to yield some pleasant results in the cholesterol category I am sure. 

Good Memories - Sai Workshop

      This workshop was conducted jointly with Ken Shin Rai club, helmed by Sensei Francis Chia.
The training entails the use of the Sai which is a 3 pronged weapon and dates back to the Japanese Samurai era.

     Our traineed included all of the above here, as well as some other old hands such as Leck Chye Chuah and Jason Chua. Jason has since dropped out of the Club, as has Drake Lim who is now a successful actor in MediaCorp, our TV channel 5 and 8 stations 

Family

Have I aged ?

Taken in 2008 outside the then QRA office

June 21st 2014 outside the Teen Ho Wan Dim Sum Restaurant HK

June 18th taken with Andrew, my son who is 16 going on 17

Taken on Sept 1st 2014 with Krid at QRA Int'l office 

On looking at some photos from the past, I am pleasantly shocked and happy to learn that I am aging slowly and hopefully gracefully. Time has indeed been kind to me. If there is any 'secret formula' it is a combination of 4 things which I have been doing since my mid ' 30s. These 3 things are :

1. Manage stress - it is a killer and a ticking time bomb if I let the daily stresses get to me. In addition, weight management is key. 


2. Eat healthy -  This is all thanks to my wife, as she has always emphasised on eating fresh and steamed (clean) foods right from the day we got married and lived together.  

3. Exercise extensively - in my fast paced life, I make this a priority, what with running at least 3 times a week (at least 5 km each run, many longer runs), shitoryu karate training (once every 
    sunday and one practice session at home)

4. Take health supplements - My previous posts have highlighted all the supplements which I have been taking religiously everyday for the past 10 plus years.

 So there it is ; I feel blessed in every way, having good health is so important to having a positive outlook in life.

   Seize the Day.   

Remembering Geoffrey Abisheganaden 1919 - 2010

Singing at our wedding in 1993

     My dear father, Geoffrey Abisheganaden passed away 4 years ago on this day. He was 90 almost 91 years of age, his birthday being the 23rd of November. I always remember that my Dad's birthday came first on 23rd, followed by mine 27th and my Mum's on 30th November all in a span of 1 week !

      Papa (as we used to call him) was a wonderful servant of God, a devout Christian owing to his strong family committment as his father (my Grandfather) was an Anglican priest, who migrated first to Penang and then to Singapore in the 1930s. Geoffrey was musically gifted and had a magnificent baritone voice. He was a stalwart at the Saint Andrew's Cathedral choir and also sang at many functions lending a virtuoso performance many a time. He performed several times publicly at the Singapore Conference Hall at Shenton Way in the 1970s. Called the 4 Voices, he was the baritone, with Shirley Fleury, David Lim and Catherine Lam as the Alto, Tenor and Soprano respectively.

    Geoffrey was a talented and dedicated lawyer and in his prime was the assistant to the late David Marshall or first Chief Minister of Singapore in the 50s and early 60s. He defended many people and also did a lot of pro-bono work for people who couldn't afford legal fees. His firm Abisheganaden and Co. which he established in 1970 was located at the shophouses which were formerly the go - downs of the Boat Quay. 

                                    A famous picture after an evening function outside the then Tropicana                                                          Hotel, the  hotel is now Royal Plaza at Scotts 

    One fond memory of this was walking up the musty and dusty stairwell which was not cleaned for perhaps 20 years, to his office. He had a male head legal clerk, TT Fry as well as numerous other female clerks assisting him at the office. 

    Another unforgettable memory I have of him was that, he had a habit of sleep talking, so he would be yelling and shouting out (sometimes swearing) his legal cases in the dead of the night, luckily we were then living in a large bungalow where the neighbours were at least 200 meters away. It was a right ruckus !  My mother would not dare wake him up and we would all be awoken by the shouting in his sleep, but after awhile, he would then simmer down and we would then all drift to sleep ! 

    He was a loving father, and though he was busy occupied with many social committments, such as the President of the NUS Guild House (at Adam Road) in the late 60s to 1970, the President of the Bible House, Singapore Swimming Club legal convenor (almost 20 years), YMCA legal adviser, St. Andrew's Junior College Chairman of Board of Governors, St. Andrew's School Board of Governors, St Andrew's Cathedral legal adviser among many others H always found time to be there for me and my brother John during the key times of our lives such as exam results, graduation, and family holidays. We had many wonderful memories of the clever, articulate, 

                                                   Li Bai, Sheraton Towers dinner taken in 2009

kind hearted, and God fearing man who was my father, Geoffrey Abisheganaden. He must be happy in God's house  having served so willingly  and faithfully all his life. 

He also helped me when he gave alot of expert advice to our debate team during the times I represented the then Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) in the televised  TV debates in 1984 and 1986 against the likes of the fearfully renowned NUS team I and II, the IE, and the Polytechnics.  We reached the semifinals in 1984 and the finals in 1986 for the record. 

He is surely missed and loved by those who were close to him, family, friends in Singapore and around the world.   

Great Song to Sing To ; David Nail

Taking It to the Next Level - within reason

Ever increasing demands for the ultimate dish is always the next one

      Our previous Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kwan Yew once put it to his citizens that life is a marathon, a never ending run with no finish line. Yes, I agree with that but only partially. At this stage in life, I find myself running an uphill marathon, an uphill climb with no end in sight.

      We always want to better our last act, improve on the bottom line year after year. Perhaps that is why perfectionists are such unhappy people, as they know they will have to go downhill after a certain time.

     I believe that we have to find a balance between what is set out as an ambitious goal and what can realistically be achieved given the limited resources one has. Look at Singapore's football team, almost 20 years ago, we were minnows only playing and achieving Malaysia cup success. Now 20 years later, we are the AFP Asian Football Suzuki Cup Champions for 4 times, the most in South East Asia. But, our FIFA ranking is a paltry 144 and we have never really improved much since the 1990s. 

     Singapore football is still outside the top 10 in Asia with Japan, S Korea, China, Qatar, Oman, Jordan,  S. Arabia, Australia and New Zealand streets ahead of us. Our foreign talent programme has failed, we have not even made in to the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Cup!

    Perhaps thats where the study of sport which we have had a first mover advantage. Take Shooting, Sailing, Table Tennis, Badminton, and even Swimming. We are nearing World Standard.

   Taking it to the next level is where we see where we can make a tremendous improvment in a short span of time with the same amount of investment, that is where we have improved so much in the last 20 years for the above 5 sports so far,

   Football, the Contact Sports, Rugby, Tennis, Squash, Athletics, well lets take a reality check.

Can I do 2 marathons this year ??

                                                                           Am I Nuts ??

The CEO of the company Creative Technology, Mr. Sim Hong Woo always empahsised the need for having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, or BHAG. So I am stating this very clear in my blog for all to see, I want to run 2 full marathons this year. I have signed up for the Bangkok marathon in mid November - 3 months away and the Singapore marathon in early December or 3 and a half months away.

There is no time left to lose, as I embark on the business vision set out by me earlier this year, and we are well on the way to attaining it, I have decided to go 1 better ; every year I run 1 marathon, and as time is not on my side, I decided to up the game and go 1 better. I have decided to run 2 marathons - in good time too.

Now, that having said and put in print, all I need to do is practice day and night, and we will see at the end of the year.

Seize the Day. 

Time's Up for Fandi

        The recent poor run of results by the Lions XII or the Singapore National team is really not acceptable. Led by our most successful footballer in the 80s, Fandi Ahmad, the former Champions had a miserable run ending at 8th place this last season and are on the verge of being knocked out of the Malaysia Cup and the recent loss to Johor Darul Haxim is the final nail on the coffin. Its time to look for a new football coach, this close season. Sorry Mr. Ahmad, you have had 1 season and it was dismal. Just a year ago, we were Champions. 

      I had previously thought of giving Fandi another season, but in reality, while he has been Singapore's best footballing son achieving great success as a player, he is not even close as a good manager for the National Team. Perhaps his tactics and motivational skills are not in the same league as his predecessor, Sundramoorthy, but Singapore has lost several skilful players to the Thai and Indonesian leagues. 

    Our S League has never progressed beyond the South East Asian stages, as has been our football teams, so a real shakeup is necessary.

Who me ?  Yes You ! 

   

Excuse Me, are you a Toilet Cleaner ??

 
                                                       
     I will reveal a hitherto secret, I am the family's Sunday toilet cleaner. True many people will shake their heads and say this is no big deal, there are millions of families all over the world who do without a maid. I say, agreed, but this is Singapore, the city where there are more rich millionaires and billionaires per capita, and there are easily 30 - 40% of families who are dependent on their maids, and for generations and decades since the early 70s.
I won't want to get into an argument with readers about the merits of not having a maid and all that.

    The fact is that every Sunday, the maid, takes a day off and I have assumed the role of toilet cleaner to clean the 3 toilets. It is something which I have been doing for the last couple of years and I gave it some thought on why I do it.

     I run a small business in Singapore with sales territories into South East Asia.
It has been tough going the last 1 and a half years, but with a lot of determination, effort,focus and cost management, things are looking much better since the middle of this year. I had made a lot of sacrifices both personal and professional and I am determined to make good in an ever changing industry. We added product lines, provided more diverse services, pushed sales efforts everywhere and reached into our mental and emotional reserves to see through a very difficult period. We are not out of the woods yet, but the silver lining or the golden hue on the horizon is beckoning. 

    So, just as in cleaning toilets, as the boss of a company, I need to clean sxxx from time to time, though it is not of my own doing, but the very fact that I am prepared to roll up my sleeves and get down and dirty and not run from the mess, is something inbuilt in me.
I will not give up, I will clean up the mess made by other people, and make sure we can all have clean toilets for our daily business. Many people will not stoop beneath themselves and run away from it, saying it is other people's jobs. Not me. 

   So to the Toilet Cleaners everywhere, I salute your dedicated efforts, many times it is a dirty job, but never will I look down on it, as I know, in my small way, what it takes to be a leader, to clear the crap from the WC or the dirt from the floor. Similarly speaking, for the company, only after the crap and obstacles are cleared, can we make the orders smooth flowing and we can then move on to the big leagues.

  Seize the Day     

ECP Run 22 Aug 2014 - Refelctions

      The Run today of almost 10km was in one word ; difficult. I had started at the Ski 360 centre at  Beach Food court or the East Coast Seafood Center at roughly 10.40 am, heading East towards Changi I started on a leisurely pace of almost 7 min per km. The weather was hot (33 deg C in the shade) and humid (easily 85% rH), there were no other runners as far as I could see running in my direction, who would be crazy enough to tackle a run, at this time of day, or as they say, Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen. I must be a Mad Dog then. 

     Reaching the halfway mark at the Safra Resort and Country Club, I did not bother to stop and returned back in the sweltering heat. I felt sluggish, and as was my goal, I wanted to lose 5 kg by the end of this year, I pressed on. 

    Finally, reaching the Ski 360 after 1 hour and 10 minutes, I took time off to stop and look at the beach. Finally. it was a perfect day, hot, slightly windy and devoid of the thronging masses of people. I stopped at a park bench, and did some light stretching. In the disatance was a family of 4, the Dad with his 2 kids by the Breakwater and the Mum (more logical and practical one) sitting in the shade at the Park. It was an idyllic scene. The ships in the background, the family just looking at the scene and the wind and the lapping waves.

   For those precious 30 minutes, I felt so at peace, no pressure, no deadlines,nothing.  It was a surreal feeling. 

Effectively manage and control your blood sugar - All Natural Ingredients

                                                     Proviva G with Probiotics and Prebiotics 

     The product above is the latest revolutionary product using Pre and Priobiotics to enhance the effectiveness of the already effective natural herbs and vegetables using a breakthrough process of fermentation. Proviva G is already in the market for over 3  years and the results speak for themselves.Fermentg specifice plants known for healing such as bittergourd and horse radish tree, with probiotics strengthened with a prebiotic protective 'case' of oligosaccharides, the natural ingredients of bittergourd,and horse radish tree and quickly absorbed in the bloodstream from the small intestine and the results are quite amazing. 

    Of course, the results will vary from person to person, but a clinical trial conducted several years ago in a hospital setting showed very good control of the HbA1C levels of those who took Proviva G for their blood glucose control. 

     I have been taking this health supplement to control my cholesterol level as the supplement can also control triglycerides and LDL (low density lipoprotein) and so far so good. There was a clinical study done several years ago by a hospital, whereby there were a total of 166 patients with diabetes Type 2 volunteering. 3 groups were formed among the 166 and they were given the following dose :

a) Blue band - patients given metformine (oral diabetes medication) 
b) Red band - patients injected with insulin 
c) Green band - patients taking Proviva G exclusively

    
After just 1 month, the results of the patients in the Green Band improved to the Ideal range, after taking just 2 capsules of Proviva G a day for 30 days (1 month). Continuing the oral dosage of Proviva G assured them of the good health and results, as can be seen from the chart above. 


Sales can be done online at www.proviva-g.com (for Proviva G) and www.proviva-l.com (for Proviva L) and also through local distributors and stockists in Singapore, Australia and Europe. 

Herb Supplements to control blood sugar levels

a Made in Singapore product 

     Recently this year, World Health Organization made a startling assertion, based on current humans consumption of calories, the sugar intake must be 'halved' to prevent a pandemic of blood sugar diseases like diabetes and other related diseases. This is meant to cause alarm, but in the world we live today, everything has a 'cure' so why waste too much news space and get people all a tizzy in changing their food and dietary habits which have built literally trillions of dollars of revenue for the fast food, health, medicine and pharmaceutical industries. 

    I'm doing my small part in wanting to alleviate one of the world's critical diseases and one of them is diabetes.  A small one person study (by yours truly) recently had me walking and checking about 20 health food and pharmaceutical shops in Chinatown for herb based supplements to alleviate and control blood sugar.  

  This product is made in Singapore (see pictures), costs $ 50 for 2 bottles for roughly 10 - 15 days of bitter gourd and cordycepts extracts. The upside is that while it may control the blood sugar, the costs of managing taking this supplements is surely not cheap. For the proper control of blood sugar, one has to take 9 supplements (tablets) of 3 each, 3 times daily. So the patient has to take 3 in the morning, 3 after lunch and 3 in the evening. The compliance of intake is one critical aspect of keeping the disease under control. 

Secondly, based on 90 capsules per bottle, that means 10 (for 9 capsules dosage per day) to 15 (for 6 capsules per day dosage) days for $50. To effectively control the blood glucose, the patient has to spend $ 100 (for 6 per day) to $150 per month for these natural supplements. 

In my next post I have just the solution. Effective and Price Competitive.   

Goodbye Mr. Williams ; We will never know the real you

                                                           Robin Williams 1953 - 2014 

     Many of my family and friends of my generation, those born in 60s and 70s will surely recall Robin Williams from the sensitive but madcap Mork (Nano Nano) and Mindy with his co-host Pam Dawber.

     During our formative years of the early 80s, the satirical comedy Happy Days and later Mork and Mindy were really our weekly entertainment for many of us young adults. Robin's madcap and hundred miles a minute humour were sidesplittingly funny and his trademark handshake, or the one with the fingers outstretched and with the 3rd and 4th fingers apart was the 'cool' handshake of the era. We, the young adults of the early 80s had only TV, radio to entertain us. No internet, smart phones, cheap budget airlines to distract us from the humdrum of daily life.  

    I read so many tributes of his wacky zaniness in many magazines, tabloids and top news magazines like Time and Newsweek, as well as his great gift of making people laugh. He was a comic genius who was so troubled by his mortality and falling off into obscurity that he took his own life. He fell into drug and alcohol abuse and was in and out of rehab a number of times. The very lure of the entertainment world with its monetary rewards and fame ultimately leads to many a diva, entertainer, movie, TV star to lose their sense of reality when their star fades in obscurity. Fitting back into society to be a 'nobody' is very scary and traumatic when earlier, every tweet, comment, and utterance is carried along by millions of 'followers', you dine in private jets, go to exclusive parties and live like oil rich princes. Money, the lavish life, the fans, the sense of being removed from reality. Many people just 'lose it'. The list of people who have had nervous breakdowns, taken drugs, taken their own lives in the entertainment world far outstrips those of us lesser mortals working 9 to 5 day jobs and struggling with our mortgage and kids education. 

We the nameless faceless people who form 99% of the society are the lucky ones. We have no massive expectations by ourselves, our managers, our fans and our family and friends to top the last selling CD or film which raked in mega millions. Success in itself is a double edged sword, it sits uncomfortably with the ordinary.  So the 64 million dollar question is this, can we deal with failure for multiple times, until we find success ? If we attain success too quickly and too huge, can we live with it ? Dare we ?   

   The tragedy of life is that it is too serious to be taken too seriously. Robin knew that only too well that he created all his alter personas to entertain all those around him. Many who knew him said he was actually ultra-shy and needed the zaniness as an outlet of his creativity which was nothing short of genius. 

   Goodbye my Captain. Nano Nano. The world is a sadder place without you.  

Lose 5 kg for good ; by end of this year

         Setting Yoyo diets are like any short term goals, once you achieve them, you revert back to your old ways and the results you have strived for so hard and so long all go to waste. However, this year, in the middle of nowhere, in August, I have decided that enough is enough, I am writing this down for everyone to see. But my immediate goal is to lose 5 kg, for the following reasons :

a) health
b) vanity
c) family

        Many of my peers are overweight, and as the 50s decade rears its ugly head, health issues will invariably crop up. I have been active in sports for the most part of my life, but the last couple of years, the weight gain has been due to bad dietary habits like snacking, the occasional drinks with friends, and lack of exercise.

       Metabolic syndrome is the onset of the most common lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart problems and gout, so I want to delay or even totally avoid these debilitating diseases with the correct attitude as well as strong minded will to lose weight.

     So from today 18th August, I have started on my fitness regimen. I will track

and keep myself updated weekly. Watch this space.

   For a start, I intend to skip the lunch meal and replace it with a short but fast run in the gym of 5km or longer everyday this week. If the lunch run is not done, then a run in the afternoon is a MUST. On top of that, I will intersperse the evening with a 10 - 20 lap swim for the days when my aching body (perhaps Wednesday and Friday) says STOP. 

So every week I will track my weight, and run history. 

     18th August - 76 kg  

Rise and fall of nations and empires (football teams included)

                                                    Where did we go so wrong ??

The agony of defeat

       Brazil's world cup 2014 run till the semifinals ended in the most humiliating way. Leaderless (their captain Thiego Silva was out suspended), firing blanks (their talismatic key striker Neymar) the team succumbed 7 - 1 to a ruthless German team at Belo Horizonte stadium in front of a partisan 70,000 crowd.

      What happened to the record 5 times World Champions which boasted in the past the likes of Pele, Garrincha, Romario, Ronaldo , Ronaldinho, Socrates, Zico and Caesar ?  Many a great team like am empire has to realise that their time is well and truly past them. I am no expert soccer pundit, and this post has been written post mortem so everyone has hindsight as their database.

      This World Cup in 2014 was Brazil's to lose. They had invested US$ 11 billion into building new infrastructure like stadiums, roads at the expense of alleviating the massive social problems of the poor who protested day and night. Why spend money on an U$ 11B advertisement when you could easily feed or provide cheap housing to 1 million marginalised slum dwellers ?? Why indeed ??

     Football (like governing a country or empire) is never stagnant. Once a great ruler or team manager has reached the pinnacle of success (like Julius Caesar in BC 70), it was time to find a successor - for rightly or wrongly. That is called rejuvenation or re-invention.  Many a ruler and football manager has stayed on longer than necessary for love of power, ego or money's sake and to disastrous effect.

    Luis Felipe Scolari must make way for new blood with fresh new ideas and change tactics and strategies for the betterment of Brazil. To stay on to prove a point or rebuild is indeed pointless in my opinion. 

    Brazil is now a has-been, just like Spain's tikki taka football. Hard skillful attacking sides like Germany now rule the day. 

    My prediction for Final ?     Heart says Argentina (for Messi sake) but Head says Germany

   Germany to win by 2 - 1.

   Seize the Day.     

    

Great New Song

The Fifa Website for all the Video Highlights of the World Cup 2014

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/videos/highlights/match=300186478/

Spain 1 The Netherlands 5 World Cup 2014

What a cracker of a goal, the first one scored by Arjen Robben. His second one was equally splendid.

The Usual Suspects ; My Health Supplements

L to R:   Triflex, MegaMen Multivitamins, Proviva G, L-Gluthathione,Ginko Biloba,E 400

      Some readers are wondering what I take as health supplements, for the past 9 years, these are the supplements I take on a daily basis. The latest addition is the Proviva G which is to prevent the inevitable rise in blood sugar and high cholesterol.

     As earlier mentioned, I take health supplements as one of the factors to ward off disease and old age issues as long as possible. There are of course people who disagree with me completely but I have been a convert since the mid 2000s when I had a health scare.

    The bath-tub curve which I will describe in a later post is one which is widely used in the Life Insurance industry as well as in electronics and other industries. In it, it depicts the normal life span and the onset of mortality (death) for people living in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries.

Of course everyone wants to live as long and as healthily as possible. That would be a great blessing from God if one could live to say 90 years if age without encountering any major disease or deterioration of one's mental and physical well being. That is the dream and goal of modern day medicine since its founding some 200 plus years ago.

Doctors, physicians, traditional medicine practitioners and drug manufacturers always aim for the optimal health of the human being with the best quality of life for as long as possible. 

The case of healthy living and health supplements.  

Many people in modern society have known about the ills caused by metabolic syndrome. Many choose to ignore it at their own peril. Many just take a wait and see position. Many die prematurely and many only will do something only when a life changing disease hits them.

If you are living in an urban or even rural community, there will be stress points thrown at us from time to time caused by work, business, family and personal health circumstances not of the person directly but maybe a family member.  

My humble suggestion :  

Eat healthy + Exercise enough (cardiovascular and strength) + Sleep enough (7 hours min) + Health Supplements.

The first 3 everybody knows how to regulate themselves, but I will offer my own regimen.

a) Eat healthy - Less oily and fried foods, more vegetables, brown rice, less meats, no snacks  and no soft drinks. I make it a point to eat at home in the evenings as much as possible, as home cooking is the best way to control the oils and fats. We normally steam, grill and only occasionally stir fry. Plenty of vegetables, fruits, soups and only 1 meat dish (almost no beef) consisting of fresh fish (daily), chicken or a little pork.  

b) Exercise enough - I run 2 - 3 times a week (at least 5km each time for half hour to 45 

    minutes) and do cross training exercise Karate at least 1 and a half hour each week.

    Lately I have been swimming 10 to 15 50 m laps for about half hour each time.  

    So 4 times each week minimum totally 4 hours.

c) 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

d) Health Supplements : daily dosage

        Joint Flexibility

     x 3 tablets of Glucosomine, Chondroitin, and MSM Sulphate  (hard big capsules)   (GNC)

        Memory and Brain Boost

     x 1 capsules (soft) 120 mg Ginko Biloba                  (GNC)

       Blood Sugar and Cholesterol Control

    x 2 capsules (soft) Proviva G                                       (VivarFresh International)

      Blood Thinner and Coordination

    x 1 Vit E (soft)   ;  x 1 Glutathione (small)                   (GNC)

      General Nutrition

    x  2 tablets Mega Men                                                 (GNC) 

    x 1  1000 mg Vit C                                                      (Various)

 So there it is ; many people are shocked at my looks and health,  when I tell them I'm 52, to be honest. I am boasting a little, so there are definately plus points in looking young and healthy !!  

     

                                                                  Still alive and running !! 

Samurai Soccer Brazil June 2014

Proviva G ; Great new Health Supplement using Pre and Probiotics

Proviva G 

This revolutionary health supplement from Singapore is what I have been taking these past few months with great results.  

I have been taking health supplements for the last 10 years, owing to my rigorous sports training (long distance running and martial arts), as well as as having a health scare almost 10 years ago, when I collapsed due to unknown reasons just before a karate class. 

After having a full brain scan, plus blood tests, the results were inconclusive, except that from that day onwards, I decided to really take care of my health, adequate management of stress (don't take life so seriously),have enough sleep, enough exercise (not extreme, not too little but just right), healthy diet and lastly (not least) health supplements.

So I decided to read up on health supplements, and embarked on taking upwards to 10 health supplements daily. 

We should all take care of our own bodies and health as it is the one and only true 'gifts' we can give to our family, relatives and friends is the presence, love, vision and care as a spouse or partner, parent, colleague, cousin, uncle, aunt, and friend.  We all would love to 'live long and prosper' and see our children grow up, have kids of their own and experience all the joys and struggles each one of us is bestowed in each of our lives.   

An article recently in the BBC news made me sit up and take notice : 

WHO (World Health Organization) recently published an article that said that the amount of sugar intake in people's daily lives  should be halved (cut by 50%).

The outcome if this is not heeded is that given todays' adult calorie and sugar consumption, the bulk of the population will be afflicted with the modern day diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and even cancer. 

We are all in the 'rat race' in this modern world, so  like it or not, we are eating, drinking processed foods like fast foods, hawker foods, restaurant fare,  potato chips, cookies, ice cream, you name it, there is some percentage of hydrogenated fats and oils in practically everything we consume.

Drinking of sports drinks, canned drinks, coffee (instant or brewed), tea, beverages of every kind, wines, beer, spirits, you name it there is something called sugars in  all of these. 

What are we facing in today's fast paced and stressful society ? 

Metabolic syndrome is a common and progressive lifestyle disease which is afflicts almost 2 billion people worldwide, and ultimately leads to chronic diseases such as diabetes (type 2), heart disease, stroke and cancer.  

We know of this, but many of us chose to ignore the elephant in the room - the coming pandemic...  

Anyway to cut a long story short, I did some research and found that there is this revolutionary  health supplement using Prebiotics and Probiotics with plant extracts with known healing properties and I decided to give it a try.  

Proviva -G is a Phytosymbiotic which uses Prebiotics (complex carbohydrate), and Probiotics (Good bacteria) and fermented with traditional foods such as Bitter Gourd and Moringa Olifera. 

Bitter Gourd and Moringa Olifera have traditionally been effective in reducing high blood sugar, but large amounts of both have to be taken daily to be effective. 

Proviva -G has been clinically tested and shown to be effective to balance blood glucose (HbA1C) leadng to diabetes , Low Density Lipoprotein ('bad' chlolesterol), High density

Lipoprotein ('good' cholesterol) leading to heart disease. 

I have been on statins due to high cholesterol (since last year when my total cholesterol level hit 300), so I did a blood test in March to determine my total cholesterol ; it had reduced to 270. 

Still very high.

Since April when I started on the course of Proviva G, I have felt my overall wellness to be much better and chest tightness reduced, I plan to take my complete blood and medical test end of June.

I believe I will be pleasantly surprised by the results.