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Remember Growing Up?

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Remember growing up?

Our formative years shape our perceptions and expectations of the world, for many years to come. How was it for you growing up?

If you are lucky, you grew up in a stable environment in which you can discover yourself and your surroundings without too much chaos. However, if you are like many who did not have the luxury to grow up in a safe and secure home, you’re still not out of luck!

You have the ability to gain insight into your life and to choose how to react to your world today, and to live a life of your choosing.

Let us begin the journey.

A Healthy Breakfast

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

A hearty breakfast that is never out of style is the multi-grain porridge that can be made in bulk and stored in smaller containers in the freezer and in the fridge for easy consumption. It can be made with a variety of ingredients: green mung beans, red beans, brown rice, millets, barley, oatmeal, bulghur, lentils, buckwheat, yam, chickpeas, corn, lotus seeds, and any other grains, legumes, beans, seeds, or roots that you fancy.

Pick out a bean of your choice, then 4 other ingredients made of grains, legumes, or roots. I suggest no more than one bean variety for each porridge since bean is full of protein and is also more difficult to digest. My favorite combination is green mung bean, millets, barley, oatmeal, and bulghur. After you have 5 ingredients, then cook them one part each, together with plenty of water for a couple of hours in low heat. When all of the ingredients are soft, then you are done.

I usually put 8 ounces of each ingredients together and put them in two large pots and plenty of water. After two hours of cooking, I will have 2 weeks of breakfast.

To expedite cooking time and to improve the nutritious value of the beans, I always soak the green mung bean for 2-3 days with frequent water change so by the end of the second or third day, all the beans have germinated. This will allow the bean to cook faster and to cause the bean to create vital nutrients that it would not normally possess when it’s not in a germinated state. Brown rice also germinates nicely if the water is changed every 8 hours and the rice is soaked in fresh tap water for 3 days.

When cooking the porridge, I would allow for plenty of water and frequent stirring in a non-stick pot so the end product is a very saucy mixture of earth’s goodness that can be eaten like a hot, soupy cereal. To ease digestion, I use VitaMix or a blender to puree the porridge for 1 to 2 minutes so I don’t even need to chew the cereal. I simply drink it.

A breakfast like this is full of fiber, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients. It takes me 2 minutes to puree my porridge each morning, 1 minute to drink it, and 2 minutes to clean up the VitaMix machine. I feel healthy and full of energy each morning after such a breakfast. The cost of each breakfast is probably one or two quarters. It’s better in nutrition than any breakfast that I have encountered.

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Sleep Hygiene

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Poor sleep can be caused by a myriad of reasons. When my patients tell me that they have trouble sleeping, I often suggest a few things to help them sleep better.

Good sleep habits (hygiene) are often not practiced by people who have trouble sleeping. They have learned bad habits along the way which, like a vicious cycle, cause them to have more trouble sleeping at night. Bad habits include drinking at night to fall asleep, watching TV or playing with computer if they can’t sleep, becoming anxious about going to sleep which causes the brain to not be able to shut down. If one changes course and re-learns new healthy sleeping habits, one’s sleep usually improves. Good habits take time to solidify. Prepare yourself to do exactly what’s prescribed below and work hard at following these principles for at least 2 weeks. You will see a difference in your quality of sleep as you maintain these habits. Here are the do’s and don’ts.

Do’s

Do go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time, even on weekends. Try not to deviate from the time for more than an hour.

Do allow yourself seven or eight hours of sleep nightly.

Do keep the place where you sleep quiet, comfortable, dark, and cool.

Do use ear plugs if your neighbor is noisy and you can not get them to quiet down.

Do exercise in the daytime so your body will be tired. This principle is important if you are an anxious person. You want to work off your anxious energy in the daytime. The variation of your hormone levels will accentuate and that will induce better sleep.

Do only two things while in bed: sex and sleep. Do anything else while in bed and your body will be trained to be awake when you are in bed.

Do give yourself an hour of winding down time before going to bed. During that one hour, habituate your mind to relax and to prepare to shut down by doing mundane things such as brushing your teeth, taking a shower, meditate, read something not too exciting, etc. This principle is especially important for those whose minds can not stop racing. If you are one of them, learn various relaxation techniques and do them to relax your brain.

Do progressive muscle relaxation exercises or meditate if you worry or are anxious at night. Progressive muscle relaxation exercises is easy to learn, and can be done in 15 minutes or less. At the end of the exercise, you will feel relaxed and sleepy. Mindful meditation is also a good way to train your brain to relax and stop racing.

Do put things down on paper if you are worried about something undone. Transfer all obligations, errands, and chores that you have from your brain to a to-do list on paper so you no longer have to keep them on your brain. If you worry about something, also put it down on paper and tell yourself that you can worry about it tomorrow. This transfer or letting go of worry is an important skill to learn.

Don’ts

Don’t read, watch TV, eat, or get on the Internet while lying in bed. You don’t want to habituate your mind to be active while you lie in bed. You can sit in bed and read, but don’t lie in bed and read.

Don’t watch TV or get on the Internet if you can not fall asleep. Instead, do something monotonous or boring such as data entry, balancing your checkbook, or listening to slow, soft music until you feel sleepy.

Don’t stay in bed if you can not sleep after thirty minutes to an hour of lying there. Get up and do something monotonous or boring until you feel sleepy. Then you can try to go to bed again.

Don’t do vigorous exercise late at night as it will give you adrenaline which will prevent you from restful sleep.

Don’t drink or eat anything with caffeine such as Coke, coffee, tea, or chocolate in the evening, or your mind may become too alert at night.

Don’t drink fluids at night if you have tendencies to go to the restroom in the middle of the night. Void your bladder before going to bed will allow you not have to urinate until the morning.

Don’t use alcohol to help you sleep. When the level of alcohol falls in the middle of the night, it may wake you up.
Don’t worry if you can not sleep at night. One night of no sleep will cause you to be drowsy and you will catch-up on your sleep the next night. Worry will only prevent you from sleeping.

Don’t take naps if you did not sleep the night before. Taking naps mid-day will often prevent you from sound sleep at night. If you really need to take a nap due to lack of sleep in the night, take a short 15-minute nap only.

These instructions are commonsensical. Every one of them are essential. Most people follow them without realizing it. Most people who have trouble sleeping have often deviated from these simple principles without realizing it, either.

Once again, if you have trouble sleeping, be sure to follow these habits religiously for at least two weeks. You will notice significant improvement when you re-train your body to sleep under these conditions.

Steps to Exercising

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Everyone knows that exercise is good for one’s health. The real question is, do YOU exercise regularly?

People who exercise have found that it lifts their mood, increases their vitality, and improves their sleep. Studies have found that people who exercise regularly have a decreased chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease, heart attacks, diabetes, and many other ailments. When one exercises, his or her daily hormonal variance become accentuated, which improves one’s sleep and helps the person to feel less sluggish.

If you do weight-bearing exercises such as weight lifting, your bone density will increase, which decreases your chance of bone fractures if you are older.

If you know all the benefits of regular exercise but for some reason have not build it into your weekly routine, here is what you can do. Start TODAY by consciously walking, for a few minutes. Almost anyone can walk a few minutes. After the walk, congratulate yourself that you have done your exercise for the day today. After the first walking exercise, your next goal is to do another walk tomorrow. After you do that second walk tomorrow, congratulate yourself again. You have consistently exercised for two days.

After the second day of daily walk, the third day should be even easier.

Once you have done three days of short walks, aim at walking for the next four days so you can be proud that you have exercised daily for an entire week.

If you can consciously walk for a short distance everyday for a week, then you are ready for the next phase of challenge. Instead of walking on a daily basis, choose at least three days out of the week when you will walk slightly longer than a few minutes. Mark your calendar and allot the time on your datebook so you have a specified time when you will be walking. Pick routes that are pleasant to your eyes and at a time when you are not pressured so you can enjoy the walk. With every walk, you tell yourself that you are exercising, that you are doing something nice for your body. The act of giving yourself a pep talk while you exercise is an important thing to do. It will increase the likelihood that you would exercise again the next time. People who continue to exercise have found ways to positively reinforce themselves, either by seeing their weight go down, noticing that they have more energy throughout the day, or feeling better about themselves because they know they are doing something great for their health.

Once you have established a pattern of talking longer walks every couple of days, your next goal will be to find an exercise that you want to do on a regular basis, be it walking, weight-lifting, jogging, swimming, dancing, rollerblading, volleyball, or something else. If you can not decide, then keep walking.

If you have decided on one sport, then try it for a while while you keep your walking routine. It is important to keep the routine because if you stop the routine once, it’s easy to stop altogether. With the new exercise, start slow like how you did it with walking. Make sure that you enjoy the sport that you’re doing. It’s easier to keep on doing it when you like it.

After a few months of doing the activities that you enjoy, you can look back and realize that you’ve done it. And it all starts with a few simple steps.

How to Budget

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

If you are like most Americans, you did not get adequate education on budgeting and finances. The lack of knowledge on how to manage one’s financial affairs has caused a lot of heartache and mental anguish in many who suffered as a result of the lack. It is not difficult to grasp the concept of sound financial advice. One of the most basic concepts of financial education is budgeting.

The authors of All Your Worth (see recommended reading under the Resources tab on this website) have outlined a simple yet effective way to budget. They suggest that you divide your expenses into three categories: Savings, Must Have’s, and Fun Money. These categories should aim to have the following percentages: 20%, 50%, and 30%, respectively. Every month when you get paid, you want to put money into the Savings category, then the Must Have’s category, and lastly the Fun Money category. Remember to always pay yourself first by putting money in the Savings category first.

Savings include emergency fund, retirement fund, and big-ticket future purchases. It should constitute about 20% of your expenses. If you have credit card debts that you can not pay in full, those debts are borrowings from your future. You should stop adding to your debt to the future and start paying it off. Whatever you pay on the debt is to improve your future/retirement situation. The 20% on Savings can be divided into 10%+10%. Use one of the 10% to pare down your debt as soon as possible. Use the other 10% to save for emergency fund and retirement fund. Once you are debt free, then you can use that same 10% to save for big-ticket future purchases such as a car or a house.

The Must Have’s include expenses like housing, food, utilities, insurance, and transportation. It should constitute about 50% of your expenses. If you don’t know if an expense item is a Must Have item or not, simply ask yourself this question: “Does this item help me to sustain my life?” If the answer is yes, then it’s a Must Have expense. For example, transportation expenses allow you to get to work to make money so you can survive. Insurance protects you and your family in case you lose your life, health, house, or ability to work, so it’s also a Must Have item. You may ask, “What about Cable TV or Home Internet?” If Cable TV and Home Internet are not necessities that directly contribute to you making money, then they are not Must Have items.

Fun money include clothes, personal hygiene items, entertainment, vacation, gifts, electronic gadgets, furniture, and everything else not in the Must Have’s or Savings category. It should constitute about 30% of your expenses. Once you know how much you need to budget for Must Have’s and for Savings, then the rest of the money is Fun Money. You can feel free to spend the Fun Money however you want, without guilt.

Knowing how much you spend in each category gives you the guidance you need to adjust your spending. Sometimes, it may not be pleasant, but it will be necessary if you want financial freedom. For example, if you find that you spend 70% on Must Have’s due to housing, then you will need to move to a smaller dwelling so you don’t spend most of your income on housing. If after some budgeting you find that you spend 50% on the Fun Money category, then you know it’s time to eliminate some entertainment, dining out, expansive vacations, clothes, and/or gadgets.

Having a simple budget as outlined above and following the rules of the 20/50/30 budget, you will regain control of your finances no matter how small your income is, or how impossible your financial situation happen to be.