Our Life Cycle

I love these versions of Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT05-oUO8Wo
MANILA, Philippines — There’s nothing like a special formal occasion with glamorous guests expected to attend to force a woman to scrutinize herself from head to toe and beef up on her beauty regimen.
My tall, model-slim childhood best friend is getting married next month, and she has appointed me bridesmaid. She is very pretty so outshining her is something I won’t even attempt, so I just aim not to suffer too much in comparison.
The other three bridesmaids are equally stunning just to add to the pressure bearing down on me. For those in the same boat, I have written down the regimen that has helped improve my appearance a lot.
Puffy eyes
The moment I hit my mid-30s, cucumbers stopped working for me, and I have since been more and more prone to swollen eyes that look horrid in photos.
Certain eye creams actually give eyelids a slight lift to offset slightly hooded upper lids due to age and shrink eye bags caused by fluid retention.
My tried-and-tested treatments since late last year for puffiness, slight dark circles and lids that are beginning to droop: Clarins Advanced Extra-Firming Eye Contour Cream; Guerlain Orchidee Imperiale Eye and Lip Cream; Origins Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Eye Serum; Clinique All About Eyes Rich; and The Face Shop The Skin Nutritious Effect Eye Cream.
These were my lifesavers during PMS pig-outs and allergy season. They also prevent and eliminate fine lines and crows feet.
Smooth, even-toned skin
Glutathione won’t actually make you that much whiter than your original baby skin, but its antioxidant properties will register first on your skin’s texture. So you will not look like Michael Jackson as everyone fears, even if you take it for 10 years straight.
You may not be that much whiter at first, but your skin will be even-toned and silky from head to toe.
Since the treatment repairs skin from the inside, you will recover faster from a tan. Those who go under the sun often without SPF protection will tan evenly and not in uneven patches. One will only get noticeably whiter when you overdose, but since the body needs glutathione in large doses, it will take some time because it takes effect.
Glutathione taken orally is difficult to absorb in the system as most of it dissolves in the intestinal tract so you absorb less than half.
For better absorption for speeding up whitening, the best solution is the IV GLG— it’s a needle and syringe with liquid glutathione that is slowly injected on your vein then flushed with distilled water to get every last drop. The going rate is P5,600, VAT-inclusive, at Belo, which uses vitamin C as a flush to boost the whitening power.
It stings even more, though, because vitamin C is thick, but three to five sessions will already make you a half to full shade lighter in foundation color. Those with lower sting tolerance may opt for distilled water flush like that of Godiva Skin Station and Blooming Center. Results will show after six to nine sessions, which become cheaper per session. A package includes 10-15 sessions, and one comes in twice or thrice weekly for the first three weeks.
Gluta Snow Liquid Glutathione (P60) at Watson’s and SM grocery is incorporated into isotonic water so it is absorbed into the body. It’s great for the liver and kidneys; it detoxes your intestines by flushing out backlog.
Even the most constipated of people will use the bathroom a minimum of six times a day for the first two weeks with one bottle a day.
Downside: I could not leave my house for a month as stomach would literally quiver and high sodium content left me bloated at times.
Research by Harvard Graduate Dr. Theodore Hersh shows that Glutathione is better absorbed through the gums so Natasha has brought in the chewable form (P1,995 for 30 pieces of Natasha Spa Thione Complex, 500 mg). Melt the grape-flavored lozenge between the inner cheeks and teeth so it will be absorbed through the gums so as to be distributed to the rest of the body and not break down in the intestinal tract.
Upsides: it tastes good and is painless.
Weight control
Having neither the time or funds to join a gym, I had to do something to shed the pounds I packed from being house-bound with gout.
I clipped a step counter/pedometer (P200) on my waist band and aimed for 12,500 steps daily for weight loss. I strap it on the moment I get off bed in the morning and check how many steps I have totaled before I sleep at night.
Walking in the rain on incline surfaces was tricky so I would recommend Crocs Mary Janes (P1,875) for traction, arch support and comfort. There will be no foot odor or sweating and you can even walk over mossy surfaces so 10,000 steps will be a breeze.
The downside: Not pretty.
E-mail the author at kinnysalas@yahoo.com
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Found this follow-up at Inquirer (July 6, 2007), re: Glutathione:
Improved formula
Remember Gluta Snow whitening water? It is Glutathione in liquid form incorporated into isotonic water, which is best absorbed by the body for the benefit of the kidneys, liver and immune system. The water contains antioxidant precursors that boosts glutathione levels in our body like alpha lipoic acid and vitamins C and E.
The first formula was great on my skin, making it instantly silkier in only a week’s time, and with visible lightening after a month. The only drawback was the strong laxative effect on the user.
Gluta Snow now has a new formula that has the same effect on skin but with a much gentler laxative effect, so you are, in fact, detoxed without the discomfort and can go on with your job and daily errands. Now you can take the maximum amount of two bottles a day to speed up the whitening results.
Available at all Watson’s and SM grocery stores at P62.50 per 500-ml bottle. Tip: Drink it during a workout or sports activity to keep you hydrated and to fight off free radicals released by exercise.
Call 0918-6768440.
E-mail the author at kinnysalas@yahoo.com
Body care
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Mix six-teaspoon petroleum jelly, two-teaspoon glycerin and two-teaspoon lemon juice. Apply this moisturizing lotion at least twice a week if you have dry and flaky, arms and legs
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Peel and grate a cucumber. Squeeze the juice to this, mix half-a-teaspoon glycerin and half-a-teaspoon rose water. Apply this on sunburns, leave it for some time.
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If you have cracked heels, melt paraffin wax; mix it with little mustard oil and apply on the affected area. Leave it overnight. After 10 or 15 days, your heels will become smooth.
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Massage your body with a mixture of coconut oil and any of your favourite scented oils like lavender or rosemary.
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For rough palms, use a mixture of glycerin and limejuice in equal proportion.
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For cracked heals, massage the foot with coconut oil and keep the foot in warm water for some time. Wipe the water off the feet and apply a mixture of hibiscus flower(10), Henna (1 handful) and juice of half a lemon. when dry wash it off.
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Remove scars on your hands and feet by rubbing them with lemon peel.
Eye care
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Dip wads of cotton in a chilled mixture of cucumber and potato juice. Keep this on your eyelids for 15 to 20 minutes and gently wash it off. Apply a little baby oil.
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For long eyelashes.., apply a thin coat of castor oil every night. It strengthens lashes and cools your eyes.
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Massage a few drops of coconut oil around the eyes to get rid off dark circles.
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To reduce puffiness of your eyes, grate a potato; tie in a cloth and place the cloth over your eyes for about 15 minutes.
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Add a small pinch of salt in water and wash for bright and sparkling eyes.
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Mix tomato juice and lemon juice in equal quantity and apply around the eyes. After 30 minutes wash it off with cold and hot water alternatively.
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Make a paste of sandal wood and nutmeg. Apply the paste around the eyes before sleeping and wash it off in the morning.
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Crush a cucumber and take the juice. Add a little rose water and apply around the eyes and wash it after 30 minutes.
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Place cotton wool swabs dipped in cold milk on closed eyes for removing dark circles.
Lip Care
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You can mix one-tablespoon cranberry sauce juice with two tablespoons Vaseline for a delicious home made lip balm.
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Apply the juice of lemon skin for avoiding black colour of lips
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Massage your lips with coriander leaf juice for soft and rosy lips.
Make Failure and Frustration Your Friends: A History Lesson
By: K. Stone
We all experience failure and the subsequent frustration. But how you handle those tormentors makes all the difference in your final outcomes. Oftentimes the peak of frustration comes right before a major breakthrough. That’s if you don’t quit. So don’t quit! Instead use the energy behind that frustration to break through to a new level of strategy. Make failure the friend that brought you to breakthrough’s doorstep! Let frustration be the energy that propels your leap across the chasm!
What follows are several success stories from history where failure was a frequent companion throughout these great people’s lives. Let’s all take some inspiration from their stories.
Abraham Lincoln
Failed in business in 1831. He was defeated for the legislature in 1832. He failed in business again in 1834. Hi beloved, Ann Rutledge, died in 1835. Had a nervous breakdown in ‘1836. Was defeated in election in 1838. Defeated for Congress in 1843, 1846, and for a third time in 1848. Lincoln was defeated for Senate in 1855, and defeated for Vice President in 1856. In 1858 he was defeated for Senate. And finally in 1860 he was elected President!
Thomas Edison
Built 1800 prototypes until he created the first light bulb. He was one of America’s most prolific inventors, and he was granted 1,093 patents by the U.S. Patent office, including motion picture cameras, the phonograph, and the storage battery. But his inventions included such failures as a perpetual cigar, furniture made of cement, and a flying machine.
Alexander Graham Bell
Bell invented the telephone, and yet he found it difficult to secure a major backer. In the same year he patented the telephone, 1876, Bell tried to sell exclusive rights to the telephone to Western Union, the leading communications company at the time, for $100,000. William Orton, Western Union’s president, declined the offer, saying: “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?” The rest, as they say, is history.
Frank Herbert
Herbert is the author of Dune, the epic science-fiction tale. The book was rejected by 13 publishers with comments like “too slow,” “confusing and irritating,” “too long,” and “issues too clear-cut and old fashioned.” But Herbert was persistent. Dune went on to win the two highest awards in the science-fiction writing and has sold over 10 million copies.
Albert Einstein
Einstein was a poor elementary school student. He failed his first college entrance exam at Zurich Polytechnic. However he went on to develop one of the greatest theories of Physics, The Theory of Relativity. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics and today his name is synonymous with the word “Genius.” He will go down in history as one of the greatest scientists in the history of the world.
Henry Ford
Ford failed in business and went broke five times before he finally succeeded. In his first car, he forgot to put in a reverse gear. Then in 1957, he created bragged about the “car of the decade,” the Edsel. This car was infamous for its doors that wouldn’t close, a hood that wouldn’t open, paint that peeled, a horn that stuck, and a notoriety that made resale impossible. Despite this, Ford went on to much success.
Col. Harland Sanders
Yes, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Guy. Before his original recipe made it to the big time the Colonel traveled across the country trying to franchise his business. On the 1009th try he got his first sale. Today, KFC is a worldwide success story.
What’s your favorite success story that began with many failures? Where have you succeeded after many failures?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have everything run on autopilot? Chores, exercise, eating healthy and getting your work done just happening automatically. Unless they manage to invent robot servants, all your work isn’t going to disappear overnight. But if you program behaviors as new habits you can take out the struggle.
With a small amount of initial discipline, you can create a new habit that requires little effort to maintain. Here are some tips for creating new habits and making them stick:
1. Commit to Thirty Days - Three to four weeks is all the time you need to make a habit automatic. If you can make it through the initial conditioning phase, it becomes much easier to sustain. A month is a good block of time to commit to a change since it easily fits in your calendar.
2. Make it Daily - Consistency is critical if you want to make a habit stick. If you want to start exercising, go to the gym every day for your first thirty days. Going a couple times a week will make it harder to form the habit. Activities you do once every few days are trickier to lock in as habits.
3. Start Simple - Don’t try to completely change your life in one day. It is easy to get over-motivated and take on too much. If you wanted to study two hours a day, first make the habit to go for thirty minutes and build on that.
4. Remind Yourself - Around two weeks into your commitment it can be easy to forget. Place reminders to execute your habit each day or you might miss a few days. If you miss time it defeats the purpose of setting a habit to begin with.
5. Stay Consistent - The more consistent your habit the easier it will be to stick. If you want to start exercising, try going at the same time, to the same place for your thirty days. When cues like time of day, place and circumstances are the same in each case it is easier to stick.
6. Get a Buddy - Find someone who will go along with you and keep you motivated if you feel like quitting.
7. Form a Trigger - A trigger is a ritual you use right before executing your habit. If you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. If you wanted to quit smoking you could practice snapping your fingers each time you felt the urge to pick up a cigarette.
8. Replace Lost Needs - If you are giving up something in your habit, make sure you are adequately replacing any needs you’ve lost. If watching television gave you a way to relax, you could take up meditation or reading as a way to replace that same need.
9. Be Imperfect - Don’t expect all your attempts to change habits to be successful immediately. It took me four independent tries before I started exercising regularly. Now I love it. Try your best, but expect a few bumps along the way.
10. Use “But” - A prominent habit changing therapist once told me this great technique for changing bad thought patterns. When you start to think negative thoughts, use the word “but” to interrupt it. “I’m no good at this, but, if I work at it I might get better later.”
11. Remove Temptation - Restructure your environment so it won’t tempt you in the first thirty days. Remove junk food from your house, cancel your cable subscription, throw out the cigarettes so you won’t need to struggle with willpower later.
12. Associate With Role Models - Spend more time with people who model the habits you want to mirror. A recent study found that having an obese friend indicated you were more likely to become fat. You become what you spend time around.
13. Run it as an Experiment - Withhold judgment until after a month has past and use it as an experiment in behavior. Experiments can’t fail, they just have different results so it will give you a different perspective on changing your habit.
14. Swish - A technique from NLP. Visualize yourself performing the bad habit. Next visualize yourself pushing aside the bad habit and performing an alternative. Finally, end that sequence with an image of yourself in a highly positive state. See yourself picking up the cigarette, see yourself putting it down and snapping your fingers, finally visualize yourself running and breathing free. Do it a few times until you automatically go through the pattern before executing the old habit.
15. Write it Down - A piece of paper with a resolution on it isn’t that important. Writing that resolution is. Writing makes your ideas more clear and focuses you on your end result.
16. Know the Benefits - Familiarize yourself with the benefits of making a change. Get books that show the benefits of regular exercise. Notice any changes in energy levels after you take on a new diet. Imagine getting better grades after improving your study habits.
17. Know the Pain - You should also be aware of the consequences. Exposing yourself to realistic information about the downsides of not making a change will give you added motivation.
18. Do it For Yourself - Don’t worry about all the things you “should” have as habits. Instead tool your habits towards your goals and the things that motivate you. Weak guilt and empty resolutions aren’t enough.
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Americans are learning, from Dr. Weil and others, that green tea - a drink made from the unoxidized leaf of the Camellia sinensis plant - is wonderfully healthy. The most important polyphenol in tea is EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), a potent antioxidant that probably contributes to the protective cardiovascular and neurological effects reported in many studies. But people who are new to green tea sometimes dislike the flavor. For them, the answer is not to give up on green tea, but rather to try another type. The world of Japanese green tea is vast, with literally thousands of varieties, each featuring subtle differences in taste and aroma. Connoisseurs can spend a lifetime exploring them, but that’s not necessary for most of us. All we need to do is try some samples of the nine basic types below. Many are available at natural foods stores, and even supermarkets are starting to stock different varieties: 1. Matcha is the quintessential experience of Japanese green tea. It is made from skillfully cultivated, shade-grown tea leaves that have been meticulously stone-ground into a fine powder. To prepare, take a teaspoon of matcha and stir it vigorously with hot water using a bamboo whisk. Because it is made from the entire tea life, matcha bursts with a bold, rich herbaceous flavor in the mouth. It is traditionally served with delicately flavored sweets to balance this intense taste. 2. Sencha refers to a broad category of loose leaf green tea meant to be infused. Senchas can range from simple, unassertive teas that may be enjoyed daily to more bold teas. In general, the top few tea leaves from the shoot are use since they are rich in flavor. The finished tea may consist of small, almost powdery particles, or long, delicate, slender stands. For the best balance of flavor and color, many senchas are a mix of leaves of different sizes and shapes. The final brew will be yellow-green to a deeper green in color. The taste may be a mellow with a hint of maize or wildflower to lively and herbaceous with a palate-cleansing astringency. Often times, the leaves are deeply steamed to create a bolder sencha known as fukamushi-cha. 3. Gyokuro means “jade dew,” referring to the deep green color of its leaves. An elaborated form of sencha, its leaves are meticulously shade-grown in the same manner as leaves for matcha. The shading creates a tea that is intensely rich in flavor and low in astringency. The intense labor behind gyokuro makes it one of Japan’s most expensive kinds of tea. 4. Kabusecha is similar to gyokuroin that it is also shade-grown, but for a shorter length of time. Its flavor lies between senchaand gyokuro, offering a mild sweetness and depth of character. 5. Bancha is made from more mature leaves than sencha, picked during a later harvest season. While not as complex as sencha, it is mellow and easy drinking. Moreover, it is low in caffeine yet high in antioxidants, making it an ideal daily tea 6. Genmaicha is one of the most popular Japanese green teas. It consists of a mix of roasted rice and either sencha or bancha tea. The roasted rice imparts a warm, toasty flavor to the vigor of green tea, creating a smooth overall taste. Genmaicha’s popularity grew out of the lean war years when the scarce fresh tea available was mixed with rice. 7. Hōjicha takes its name from is the combination of the Japanese terms hōji, “roasted,” and cha, “tea.” The story behind hōjicha is that a Kyōto tea merchant had an excess stock of green tea that he was an unable to sell off. Instead of wasting his stock, he roasted the leaves to quick public acclaim. To create hōjicha, finished tea leaves or stems are roasted for a few minutes, turning them a dark brown. The result is a smooth tea with no astringency - making it ideal with meals. 8. Kukicha is a tea made mainly of stems, or kuki. Its flavor is vibrant but mild in astringency. It is important to note that the kukicha referred to in macrobiotic circles is actually hōjicha made from stems. 9. Konacha is made from from fine, powdery tea leaves. It brews a vibrant green and yields a clean, brisk taste. Because it cleans the palate well, it is often the tea of choice to serve with sushi. View Link HERE. |
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She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.
On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.
On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight,
put on some soft background music and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar and a bottle of Chardonnay.
When she had finished, she went into each and every room
and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp dipped in caviar, into the hollow of the curtain rods.
She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.
When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days.
Then slowly, the house began to smell. They tried everything; cleaning, mopping and airing the place out.
Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steamed.
Air Fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters,
during which they had to move out for a few days,
and in the end even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.
Nothing worked. People stopped coming over to visit.
Repairmen refused to work in the house. The maid quit.
Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move.
A month later, even though they had cut their price in half,
they could not find a buyer for their stinky house.
Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls.
Finally, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place.
The ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going. He told her the saga of the rotting house.
She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly,
and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.
Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad t he smell was,
he agreed on a Price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth,
but only if she were to sign the papers that very day.
She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.
A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home….
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including the curtain rods.
I LOVE A HAPPY ENDING, DON’T YOU?????