For all the things I gripe about my company’s management team not walking the talk (i.e. not practicing what they preach), one thing I do admire is their commitment to being healthy. This is specifically referring to the CEO, because earlier this year, he had issued a challenge to all employees to sign up for the Penang Bridge Marathon in Nov. And today, he posed a question : If you could do something to be healthier today, what would you do?

What would I do to be healthier?
- Exercise at least 3 times a week consistently. Currently, I’m only at 2x a week.
- Eat healthier, preferably a vegetarian diet. Currently, I do eat fish and some seafood.
- Watch my portioning. I think Malaysians eat too much for our own good because we have so many types of yummy (but unhealthy food) available anywhere, anytime. I pledge not to eat more than I need.

What I’m currently doing :
- Avoiding deep fried food
- Avoiding carbonated drinks (I allow myself the occasional 1oo-plus and Coke)
- Eating my veggies. I love veggies!

If there’s nothing else I admire about the Scandinavians at the workplace (work-wise, that is), the one thing that I DO admire about them is how well they keep themselves in shape. I was told that our CEO can run a full marathon without any problems. I know another colleague who is an avid cyclist and diver. An American dude is always seen munching on his fruits during meetings. I don’t work with many of them but from physical appearance alone, most of them appear to be quite trim so I assume they do something to keep themselves in shape.

So I am very glad that our CEO is promoting being healthy. Hopefully this will trigger people to rethink their lifestyle and make a change for the better. Being healthy is not a one-off effort. It requires ongoing commitment and effort to maintain and remain healthy till we’re old and grey.

I have been getting the flu almost every month this year, the latest being now

Started with a sorethroat on Saturday, then my cough came back. That was the worst bummer because it took me so bloody long and a whole bottle of cough syrup to get rid of it. Phoeey.

Now my nose is runny and I’m sneezing my head off. Shucks.

Regardless of this all, I’m still reluctant to take the flu jab. Never been much of a fan of vaccinations of illnesses that continuously evolve like the flu bug. The first time I took the jab (1.5 years ago) was almost under duress — the doc jabbed me before I could make my final decision. Although that year, I didn’t catch the flu that often, but the drawback is that the flu vaccination needs to be updated every year. So this means a new jab every single year. Bleargh.

No thanks you. Let’s see how long I can do this without getting jabbed again.

I haven’t yet had time to collect my thoughts about my experience in Sri Lanka but here’s a teaser :

• We almost bought an entire tea shop, at least it felt like it
• They’ve got an awesome store that sells really nice, tasteful and cheap souvenir t-shirts
• Some of the roads are a bit rough, so getting from one place to another may take a bit longer because the vehicle can’t move very fast
• Dogs are everywhere!

Full story to come later…

Women whose partners actively take care of their own health without constant nagging should thank their fortunate stars that they have one less thing to worry about amonst the many other things they have to worry about like work, family, in-law issues (I don’t know why but it seems that women are more likely to face this issue as compared to men), trying to accommodate everyone and keep everyone happy, including herself.

One of my pet peeves is people who choose not to care about their health when the signs are everywhere. Lifestyle diseases are so common these days, due to our diet and sedentary lifestyle. I used to think that hypertension is a condition that only older people get but now, people in their 30s are getting it!

Of course, both women and men are guilty of not taking charge of their health but I see more women who are more involved in their health than men. ST was so upset with her husband (unhealthy food and no exercise; recently diagnosed with hypertension) that she told him he’s selfish and irresponsible because if anything were to happen to him, it would be her who has to care for him and if/when they had children, she alone would have to care for him AND their kids. And she also told him that if he wanted to continue to be irresponsible, he should just have remained single and not get married. I think that has woken him up a bit because he’s now playing badminton weekly, goes running and yoga classes with her. Good for both of them! I told ST at least her husband listens to sense.

I simply don’t get what is so difficult to understand that your health is your responsibility and ultimately, the key to longevity. The moment one starts getting sick with this condition or that, problems will start. Can’t do this, can’t do that, can’t eat this, can’t eat that. And then you have to start popping pills for the rest of your life. Is that such fun? And the most selfish part is that your loved ones will worry about you and you will burden them with caring for you, in the midst of their hectic schedules. I think that that is just plain ultimate selfishness.

These days, I find myself unable to discard/dispose of garbage (i.e. plastics, cans, paper) indiscriminately.

In the days before, I used to just toss these things into the trash without a second thought. Now, with the knowledge I have regarding where our trash ultimately ends up and the amount of trash we humans generate, I think twice about WHAT trash I dispose of and HOW I do it.

Today, so many consumer products come in smaller packaging for convenience. For example, candies and junk food are now packaged individually so that people can just pick up a packet and finish it with ease, instead of having to deal with a large packet and then having to find some place to store the remaining. While I do think this type of packaging is convenient, it generates tons more trash because now you have all these little packets of plastic to dispose of in addition to the large packaging which these little packets come packaged in. So I try to avoid buying food/consumer products which come individually packed whenever possible so as to have less packaging to discard.

Another thing I try to do diligently is to separate my trash — paper, plastic, aluminium/cans. I find it difficult to just toss plastic or cans into the general trash like I used to because ultimately they end up in landfills and take years to decompose, and leak toxins into the earth and waterways, which ultimately lead back to us. The hubs probably thinks I’m crazy but I regularly rinse out soda bottles/cans and wash oily plastic bags (when I pack food) before I put them in the recycling bin, more for the hygiene factor because I don’t know how long it takes for these things to get processed at the recycling plant so if they remain soiled, they would most likely be tossed by the time it gets there.

Honestly, I don’t know if ALL the trash I send for recycling actually gets recycled (e.g. I understand that some types of plastic cannot be recycled) but I just do every little bit I can to help the environment. Hey, every little effort counts, right?

Now to figure out about composting…

So the most recent bout of flu I’ve had occurred on the night we returned from our climbing trip. I distinctly remember that I started feeling the sore throat when we were having McD’s at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport and by the time we boarded the plane, I was starting to feel feverish.

The fever went off for a while after I took 2 Panadols but by the next morning, it was back again in full force. Went to the doc to get checked up and got another prescription of antibiotics. Yucks.

Decided that I’ve had enough of getting sick (and I didn’t want to take the flu jab*), I went to see the doc who practices traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) because I do feel that Western medication usually only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause of the problem. Here, root cause being my weakened immune system. However, I’m a bit wary of TCM because sometimes, I don’t know what they put in the meds, especially the grounded up ones in powder form (could be some endangered animal bones, for all I know), but I’m ok with the roots/herbs they prescribe to be boiled and drunk because I can see that they are either roots or seeds or flower buds.
*I took my first and only flu jab in 2009 under pressure from my doc at that time, and I wanted to try avoiding it this time

So this time, as the doc listened to my pulse, he picked up on my ectopic heartbeat. The last time that I went to see him (which was a few years ago), I haven’t yet developed this condition. I informed him that I’d already been to a cardiologist to get it checked out but they didn’t find anything wrong with me so I just thought I had to live with it. The TCM doc told me that this condition can cause the immune system to weaken and that it can be fixed by taking some herbs.

Just a quick note, this TCM doc is not one of those seemingly quack doctors you sometimes see at some dingy-looking Chinese medical hall. This guy had graduated from the University of Shanghai in this area of study. So I’m pretty confident with his prescriptions plus my mom and sis have been seeing him for health supplements for years.

Anyway, in addition to the roots/herbs I had to boil and drink for my flu, he also prescribed me with a week’s supply of some sort of powdered meds, which I’m supposed to take morning and night for a week, after which I’m to go back to him for a follow up. My only concern about this powdered concoction is that I have no idea what’s in it! I did ask him if it’s only herbs and he said yes. But then again, I didn’t ask specifically what herbs is in it, not that I would know what they were if he did tell me. So I can only hope and pray that it doesn’t contain any parts of endangered animal(s) *crossing fingers*

So the four of us attempted to scale Mount Kinabalu recently : my sis, her hubs (Rizal), my hubs (CL), and me.

Here we are, all fresh and ready to go at Timpohon Gate

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Had a very interesting lunch today with a new colleague.

He’s 28 and from a consulting background. But the most interesting part about him is his passion in making a change in this country. ???From the way he articulates himself and his thoughts, he sounds so much more matured than his 28 years of age (I’d initially though he was at least in his mid-30s!).

He helps out one of the opposition parties on a pro bono basis, assisting them in their strategic direction. To him, he’s doing this not for himself, but for our future generations. He would like to get involved in politics full-time so that he can exert a bigger change but at this moment, he has a bit of family conflict with this idea (he needs a bit of time to get his family to accept this decision of his) and also he is using this time to set himself up financially so that he can sufficiently provide for his family if and when he does venture into politics full-time.

I admire his passion, commitment, and drive in contributing towards the betterment of our country because I don’t meet many 28-year-olds who care two hoots about the state of our country. Well, some of them are tied due to commitments to their families (which is a valid reason because we all know that being involved in politics – especially the opposition — comes with its own risks) but most are just indifferent, preferring to look after their own “rice bowl”.

 This is not to say that I am so involved myself, but I am getting myself more informed on the happenings in this country, although reading of the news does make me feel very sick and disgusted at the way the country is being managed.

So it was a very interesting lunch today when this colleague shared his experiences and views about the politics and state of the country. He will be heading to Sibu this weekend to help out in the upcoming Sarawak elections. Hopefully we will see some positive changes come 16 April 2011.

Lord knows we need some drastic but positive changes in this country.

I’ve a friend who hasn’t been on talking terms with his mom for more than a year (I think it’s 2 years or more).

I believe it all stemmed from an agreement that his mom had apparently made, pertaining to one of their yearly family traditions, which conflicted with his wife’s family’s tradition. They had proposed a compromise where the could would perform the tradition but on another day, which my friend’s mom had agreed to initially. But later on, she apparently did an about turn and changed her mind, accordingly to my friend. Which resulted in an argument and in them not speaking to each other since then.

While I think that family is family (i.e. blood is thicker than water, and all that), and at the end of the day, we’re stuck with each other and it may be best to forgive and forget (unless what was committed was so severe in consequence — I can’t imagine what), I commend my friend for standing up to his mom for what they had agreed about. I find that it is difficult to find Asian men who have the guts to stand up to their parents, especially when it comes to defending their wives. It’s not about taking sides, it’s about doing what is required when the need calls for it. And a lot of Asian men, sad to say, are not capable of stepping up to the role. At least for my friend’s wife, she doesn’t have to worry about her husband being a mommy’s boy who gives in to all his mom’s demands.

I do hope that my friend will make up with his mom soon though.

I swear, the older I get, the longer it takes to shake off a bug. Ugh.

Yesterday was the first day after getting sick on Cambodia last Friday, that I managed a good meal

It’s good to be on the mend.