The Quality of Healthy Aging

From the day we are all born, we age everyday. As a young person, we don’t think about the later years in our life. We live in a very fast pace world today and it causes a lot of stress in our lives and as time goes on, the stress will affect us increasingly.

Everyone young and old, we all need to take care of our bodies and minds. By taking care of ourselves, it keeps us thinking, moving and helps prevent major illnesses such and cancer and many other diseases. We all have to work at keeping ourselves healthy and there is no better time than right now. The younger you start taking care of yourself the better it is; by starting early your catching things before they have time to progress.

So right now, start of by eating healthy. Keep an eye on that diet and make sure your not overeating, but eat enough to get vitamins you need to have. A good multivitamin is a good way to start adding supplements to what you don’t get in your food. 

Food doesn’t always have the amount of vitamins anymore like they use to, and that starts at the farmer’s level. Don’t blame the farmer for this because they are just doing their jobs the same way we all go to ours everyday. The farmer has to add fertilizer, chemicals and even water to their crops to make them grow bigger, faster and for beauty too. Adding all these chemicals eat up all the natural vitamins that you need. Water has chemicals in it too; one reason why your water needs to be tested at least once a year especially if you have well water. Once the food is grown and ready to be shipped it is polished, coated to keep it nice and fresh looking during shipment, which is why this will take away some of the vitamins as well. Try to eat as much, homegrown food as you can and not processed foods. Fresh homegrown food is the best, since you get natural vitamins.  You can find some good products like underberg at smallflower.

A good multivitamin isn’t going to hurt anyone. It is known that people who take a multivitamin everyday is in better health than someone who doesn’t. Sometimes your doctor may want you to take extra vitamin, as we grow older because our bodies change and sometimes require more of something. In addition, as we grow older our eating habits change and we don’t eat as much or we want to lose weight and don’t eat the right foods.  Nevertheless, remember you can lose weight and still eat right.

As we grow older our bodies and mind change. All the stress we had growing up and continue through out our lives. Relieve that stress as much as possible because it can do a lot of harm to us. Stress is known to be a major factor for poor heart conditions, strokes, and it will lower our immune system, as we grow older. 

A regular exercise program is good for all ages and helps relieve stress at the early ages as well.  If only families took time out maybe as a family with their children and made it a part of their lives that would help relieve it during the younger years. 

A person who learns and enjoys exercising on a daily basis will keep during it, as they grow older as well.  

Exercising will help the older person to keep those bones more flexible so they don’t get stiff and weak. The heart gets benefit from exercising too. Exercise will cause the heart to produce naturally, by working it harder to keep it highly flavored. Exercising helps to keep our bodies toned up and helps us to lose weight, or at most keeping the weight maintained. 

Remember starting early can help later in years to make your life healthier and more contented.

Know How To Practice Guitar

If desire is the most important part of learning guitar(without it you wouldn’t have even started), then concentration is the most important part of practicing guitar.

I often say to people that 20 minutes of focused practice can beat, hands down, 2 hours of ‘normal’ practice, or just goofing about.

Many people are discouraged when they are told how much time they must put into practice. The truth is, you don’t have to practice all the time to be a good guitarist.

(I’m not saying you shouldn’t have time to goof off and play around. But if you want to improve quickly, you must keep playing guitar and practicing guitar separate.)

Let me tell you now…

It isn’t how much time you put into practice, it’s the quality of the practice that matters.

When I play guitar, I play to have fun, I play to perform for people, and I play for the fun of playing! That’s why I started learning guitar in the first place.

But when I practice guitar, I focus and concentrate on what I’m trying to achieve, and I work on the goals that I want to complete.

You see, if you completely focus on one thing you are more likely to do it well.

This may sound simple too to some. Some of you may be thinking “this is great, I only need to practice 20 minutes a day and ill improve more than I would if I practicing 2 hours a day”.

Well that’s not exactly true.

Its how focused your practice is that counts, not how long you practice. Can you really focus for 2 hours?

Let me give you this small example to illustrate my point.

Picture a red triangle inside a black box.

Close your eyes, and keep that image in your mind for 5 seconds without letting a single thing distract you – no other thought must enter your mind for that 5 seconds…

How well did you do? Be honest with yourself.

This isn’t an easy thing to do. Most people find this difficult at first. Its difficult to keep a focused mind like this.

I hope this example has shown you that it’s not that easy to keep focused attention & concentration for look periods of time.

But still, you must always remember that its quality and not quantity of practice that makes the difference between a great player and an average player.

This is a perfect time to tell you that you shouldn’t be spending hours and hours ‘practicing’, because you simply can’t focus for that amount of time.

If you are practicing for a solid 2 hours or more you are probably not helping your development as a guitarist that much.

A much better way of using this time is to practice in bursts.

A good idea would be to practice in bursts of 20 minutes or so. You can vary it depending on what you feel like doing, but try not to practice for long periods of time in one go. It’s not helping as much as you think it might be.

Also, it’s important to take breaks from what you’re practicing. You can do something else for awhile, go for a walk, watch TV, or maybe just play around and have fun with your guitar and loosen up a bit before you start focusing on practice again.

It is important for you to have a definition in your own mind of ‘practicing guitar’ and ‘playing guitar’.

This will keep you more focused and allow you to reach your goals as a guitarist much easier.

An exercise for you to try to help you further develop concentration is to sit silently and count slowly from one to ten in your mind.

If anything should interrupt your counting, whether it is a noise, a stray thought, or the awareness of your own breathing, you must start over from one.

Again, it’s unlikely you will be able to achieve this straight-away. It’s a hard thing to do. However how out and 'Zen' this exercise may seem, it will re-focus your mind on the task in hand, and it’ll help you learn faster if you can stay focused on what you’re practicing. And oh, choose light guitar picks. 

You should try this exercise whenever you start to feel like you’re loosing your focus.

Recipe: Papaitang Kambing/Baka

Today, my brother gave me some innards to cook. He wanted to have papaitan for dinner. Hence, this recipe.

Papaitan Kambing “Pinapaitan nga kalding”or Goat Innard Stew (Bitter Goat Stew) is a unique Ilocano cuisine that has a main ingredient of goat’s tripe, intestines, lungs, kidney, liver and papait (bile liquid).

Ingredients:

2 kgs. goat’s tripe, lungs, intestines, & kidney – boiled until slightly tender then sliced into tidbits

1/4 kg. boiled goat’s blood – boiled and sliced into cubes

10 pcs. siling haba (banana peppers/chili fingers)

3 tbsp. patis (fish sauce)

4 pcs. medium sized red onion – finely sliced

6 cloves garlic – crushed and minced

4 fingers of ginger crushed

2-3 tbsp. rock salt

1 tsp. magic sarap

1/4 cup pure papait (bile liquid)

2 liters of water

Instructions:

1) Saute garlic until light brown, followed by the onion and the sliced and boiled goat’s intestines.

2) Add the ginger, patis and magic sarap and continue sauteing until liquid is reduced or until intestines turn to light brown.

4) Add the boiled goat’s blood, water and salt, let it boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

5) Add the papait and siling haba then simmer for 2-5 minutes. Taste it and add salt if necessary.

6) Ready to serve with steamed rice. This is best to eat when it’s hot.

I hope you guys like it! Please don't forget to leave some feedback. 

Join Fisher Farms’ #KungHeiLessFatChoi Online Photo Contest and Win an Overnight Stay at Manila Shangri-La Hotel!

Fisher Farms Inc., a world-class aquaculture food processor that supplies farm-raised seafood to major restaurants and food manufacturers here and abroad, is giving away an overnight stay at the Manila Shangri-La Hotel plus Fisher Farms goodies! Just share how you and your loved ones are welcoming the Chinese New Year the healthy way in #KungHeiLessFatChoi Online Photo Contest!

Here’s how to join:

1. Gather your family or friends to form a group. Groups may be composed of:

a) three (3) adults

b) two (2) adults and two (2) children

2. Like the FISHERFARMS Facebook page.

3. Post a photo on the comment section of the contest announcement of how your group will    celebrate the Chinese New Year in a healthier way (e.g., you and your family wearing all red and biking together or having a healthy Chinese New Year meal). Make sure that you tag your family members/friends in the photo. Include the hashtag #KungHeiLessFatChoi, #GourmetBakedRelleno, and #Fisherfarmsph in your comment.

4. ‘Share’ the #KungHeiLessFatChoi contest poster on your personal Facebook Wall.

CRITERIA:

Creativity - 30%

Originality - 30%

Relevance to theme - 40%

PRIZES:

There will be 1 grand prize winner who will take away overnight stay in Makati Shangri-la Hotel plus Fisher Farms products worth P3,000. 1^st and 2^nd runners up will also bring home P3,000 worth of Fisher Farms products!

Deadline of entries: February 26, 12:00 PM. Winners will be selected on February 27, 2015 by a panel of judges.

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

• Contestants can only submit one entry throughout the promo. Contestants cannot appear in other photos/entries aside from their own official entry.
• Contestants may only win once. Only the contestants in the photo can avail of the prizes.
• Fisherfarms employees and relatives up to second degree of consanguinity shall be disqualified from the contest.
• All winners will be announced on Fisherfarms’s Facebook page on February 27, 2015.
• Fisherfarms shall also notify the winners within 1-2 days of Feb 27 via direct message on

Facebook. Winners will be asked to provide their complete names, email addresses, and contact numbers.

• Winners must claim their prizes at the Fisher Farms, Inc. office located at Unit 1610 16/F West Tower Philippine Stock Exchange, Exchange Road, Ortigas, Pasig City.
• A representative from the winning group may claim the prizes on behalf of the other group members, provided that the representative present at least one (1) valid ID of each member of the winning group. For groups with children, representative must present the child/children’s birth certificate/s.
• Prizes are non-transferrable and must be claimed within 60 days from the first announcement of winners in Fisherfarms’ Facebook page. Prizes left unclaimed after the said period will be forfeited.
• Fisherfarms reserves the right to delete, disclaim, and report any improper posts/entries.

Contestants must own the rights to all photos submitted. By posting an entry, contestants

hereby transfer to Fisherfarms all intellectual property and ownership rights to their entry.

• Fisherfarms shall be held free and harmless against loss and damage from any claim, demands, actions, liabilities and the like that may be brought by any third person against Fisherfarms as a result of or related to the submission of the contestant’s post or entry.
• All decisions of Fisherfarms are final.

For questions, inquiries or concerns, please email sales@fisherfarms.ph 

Recipe: Easy to Bake Brownies

This past few days, I noticed that Mikyla's been having a slice of brownies every after meal at her school. And thought that why not bake some for her and her little sister. 

Now, sharing with you this easy to bake brownies. :)

What you'll be needing

• 2 cups white sugar
•  1 cup butter
•  1/2 cup cocoa powder
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  4 eggs
•  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•  1/2 cup roasted peanut

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter or margarine and mix all ingredients in the order given.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes in a 9 x 13 inch greased pan.

Inspirational Monday: Success

You Can't Spoil Your Child through Love

Though we all worry about spoiling our child, rest assured that you cannot spoil your child with love. Love doesn't spoil children. Love is imperative to a child's healthy development, and it's just not possible to love your child too much. They need caring adults to spend time with them, play with them, teach them, protect them, and enjoy life with them. 

I may sometimes being hard on my eldest, but I believe that it's a parent's job to provide love, safety and encouragement. The process of growing up provides children with lots of challenges. Try to listen openly and understand their situation and communicate honestly with them when they have difficulties and letdowns in their life. 

Set appropriate limits with your child and then adhere to them. Establishing limits with your child gives them a sense of safety and security.  Sometimes parents do not set limits because they don't want to fight with their children. They don't want to cause bad feelings. They may beg a child to comply. Or they may make a rule and fail to enforce it. They may nag without ever enforcing the rules. None of these helps children. When your child fails to adhere or comply with the boundaries you've set for them, be firm yet kind in your response. This lets them know that you're serious about the rule but dedicated to helping and loving them.  Bear in mind though that each child is different and what works for one child may not work for another.  For example, one child may respond well to the direct approach of telling them a specific time to be home, where another child may need a gentle reminder that it's now time to come home.  

Develop a firm but kind manner of making and enforcing your household's rules and expectations. There's no need to fear our children, and there should be no need to instill a sense of fear in our children in order to get them to comply.  

Grill Night

It's been a while since we had grilled fish. So I decided to do some for dinner. :)

We have some fish meat stored at the fridge, but this time around I tried grilling over the oven.

Marinated the fish for 30-60minutes. Marinated in lemon juice, a bit of vinegar, salt and pepper.

6 Tips To Maintaining A Healthy Relationship

Last month was my marriage anniversary and my husband and I were reflecting about the day we got married, and what has kept us together. So, I will like to share with you some of the things that maintain our relationship running, though we're only married for 2 years and been in a relationship for almost 4 years..

If you noticed I wrote “working” on our relationship because our marriage is not perfect. I do not believe there is such a thing. Yes we do get along, share some of the same ambitions and at the moment we do not have any major marital problems. Disagreements we have them all the time but, hey my brother and I were raised in the same household and it is actually weird whenever we agree on something; Let alone someone who grew up in a totally different environment. Here is a list of the little things that keep us together:

•Maintaining good humor! My husband like many hates to get up on the mornings however, he likes it when I also get up with a big smile and just talk to him about general stuff over a cup of coffee while he gets ready. It is surprising but, most of our best conversations arise at this time.

•Patience: Do I need to say more? Honestly some times I get a little cranky, when tired and somehow I convince myself it is all his fault and poor guy having to put up with me. Hey, sometimes I have to be patient too! It is not easy telling a guy to remember to put the toilet seat down all the time.

•Little details: We both love details and please do not start thinking about the most expensive gifts. This can be anything from saving a piece of your pie for him to buying a simple gift or showing appreciation etc, especially when it is not an important date such as a birthday or anniversary.

•Support each other: Yes he is always repairing a computer, stuck on TV or a video game but it surprises me how he comes back to planet Earth whenever I need him.

•No back stabbing: Imagine you found out your partner tells his family every single flaw you posses? Even worse add a couple of extra ones. How would you feel? or how about you call your family and friends every time you have a small problem? Do you thing they will think less of him? Believe that he does not deserve you? If you need help there are always professional counselors.

•Respect for each other: He accepts me the way I am even when not on the same terms and I do the same for him.

Remember I am not a relationship expert! These are just some tips that have worked for us so far but, remember always treat your partner the way you want to be treated.

Inspirational Monday

It's Monday again and it's the 2nd day of the "LOVE MONTH". 

Sharing with you this inspirational quote of the week.