Angie, My lovely dog

This is my dog. Her name is Angie. She is a clever English Cocker Spaniel with Champion Bloodline. Haha, so called "blue blood".

This video was taken few months ago. She is bigger and cleverer now.....By the way, she is only 1 year and 3 months......kaka!!! Considered as teenager in human already.......

Detoxification, Myth? Truth?

Nowadays, many so call "professor, dietitian, doctors and don't know who" has brought up issue of body detoxification....Now, here comes the questions, do our bodies really need detoxification? Do our bodies really accumulate lots of toxin? And most importantly, can detoxification help us to loose weight? Undoubtedly, many people will tell you that yes, we need all this detoxification once a while to cleanse our body.

"Detox" is certainly a popular buzzword in the dieting world! The idea behind it is that we need to periodically clear the "toxic waste" from our body in order to stay healthy. In particular, we might be tempted to detox after over-indulging a little, for example during Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hari Raya and so on. Part of the reasons people practice detox after these "grand eating" might be due to the guilty feeling after eating so much food.....haha, typical Malaysian style of thinking....

Detox diets can last from around one day to around one month and may involve:

• Fasting for short periods of time
• Consuming only fruits and vegetables
• Cutting out wheat and dairy foods
• Consuming a limited range of foods
• Avoiding caffeine and alcohol

Now, the fact is.... The concept of detox diets is irrational and unscientific. In actual fact, when you starve your body of calories your body will ultimately start to build up chemicals called ketones. These chemicals can result in nausea, dehydration, weakness, light-headedness and irritability. Further, a prolonged lack of protein causes your body to break down its own muscles and can compromise your immune system.

Rapid weight loss occurs when fasting or severely restricting dietary intake, but this weight loss is water, glycogen (the body's carbohydrate stores) and muscle, rather than fat. You may feel fatigued and dizzy and it's likely you'll have less energy while you are following a detox programme that involves fasting. Further, if you are fasting your body won't have the proper fuels available to carry out sustained exercise and activity. At the end the programme, when you return to your old eating habits, any weight lost is likely to go back on!

So, think twice when you are ask to join any "detox" diet...

Then, you might ask, "what should i do/eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle? ". Well, this is a big question to answer....which i will try to share some of my thoughts some days later. But now, it is generally agreed that, a well balanced diet is the key to healthy lifestyle.

5 Questions to ask when you get your Medicine

Every time when you buy your medicine from pharmacies or clinics, have your ever wonder, "WHAT IS THIS?" ?

How often do you really take the trouble to ask the dispenser or the pharmacist anything about the medicine or health care product that you bought or prescribed? I doubt.

In Malaysia, a funny situation is that everyone will think that the doctors are always right and unquestionable, which to me sounds stupid. Normally, medicine bought from hospitals will be attached with proper labels including name, dosage and sometimes with special precautions. But, what about private clinics which contribute a significant proportion of health care industry in Malaysia? I am sure many will agree with me that private clinics provide neither medications with proper labellings nor basic counsellings regarding the medications.

There are 5 important questions to ask whenever you buy your medicine from pharmacy or clinics or hospitals:

1. What is the name of the medicine and what is it use for ?
eg: Claritin (loratidine) 10mg, relieve of seasonal allergic rhinitis or better known as runny nose by Malaysian.

2. When and how should I to take it?
eg: Claritine should be taken one tablet daily. Some medication is not taken through oral route.

3. Is there any special diet restriction/drug interations with other medicine?
eg: Claritine should be taken with empty stomach and is generally safe with most other medicine.

4. Is there any side effects that I should know? If yes, what should i do when I encounter those side effects?
eg: Every single medicine has side effects. How ever, only those which are related to us that should we know. No pharmacist will tell you the whole list of medicine side effects which will probably scare you off by then.

5. Can I get the product information leaflet?
It is generally considered the right of us as consumers to ask for the product information, so don't hesitate to ask one from the pharmacist of the dispenser when you buy your medicine.

I am sure that you will be benefited from these 5 questions. So, make sure you remember these 5 questions and ask your pharmacist or doctors when you are prescribed with a whole bunch of medications.

All About my BLOG

Hi there, this is my first English blog which i would like to share my experience and knowledge on health care and medicine.

In my opinion, health care knowledge is not something that should only be limited among health care professionals ie: doctors, pharmacists, nurses and others. Health care is a concept of lifestyle that i would like to promote.

People nowadays know little about their medication that is prescribed by their doctors or bought from pharmacy. Although health care is not solely about medication, it certainly plays a vital role in health promotion. Health supplements, over the counter drug, prescription only drug and pharmacist drug are all different kind of medicine that people always use. Sad to say, many people seems to ignore the importance of health care knowledge and place their own health care responsibility solely on health care professionals especially doctors.

In my next and up coming posts, I would like to continue with different group of medicine available in the market and how to recognise counterfeit drug.

I will focus more on conventional medicine concept, at the same time I might discuss briefly on the role of traditional and complimentary medicine.

In order to make things interesting, i will certainly add some posts on other topics that I am interested in such as travelling, pet (especially my dog, Angie, she is a cute English cocker spaniel).

That's all for this post....