Asian flush

Everyone knows I enjoy drinking alcohol. They even know I drink like a fish! *guffaw* I love my reds and single malts in the evening. I enjoy cool and refreshing ales, beers and whites during a hot day.

I would typically turn red after a few drinks but I generally would ignore the cosmetic side effects to have a good time! Yes, that’s how much I enjoy my drinks!

Why do I turn red? No, it’s not because my blood circulation is in excellent condition. No, it’s not really due to any allergy to alcohol. No, it’s not because my genetics have malfunctioned. No, it’s not because I’m Chinese or Asian.

It has been scientifically proven that most Asian especially Japanese, Chinese and Koreans respond to alcohol by turning red. So there is no surprise when you see a sea of red faces (think loyal Man U supporters!) all over bars and clubs in Asia. In Europe, alcohol-drinking Asians will stick out like the red lights in red light districts!

Alcohol is metabolised in our liver where it is oxidised first to acetaldehyde and then converted to acetate by an enzyme known as aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2). Those who turn red after a bit of alcohol have a genetic change in their ALDH2. The gene variant causes the body to metabolise alcohol more quickly, but become less efficient in breaking down acetaldehyde. The build-up of acetaldehyde is what causes your blood vessels to dilate and your skin to turn red. Sometimes one will also experience itchiness on the skin and the body gets redder after scratching it! Drink too much and chances are you’ll forget your red face/body and itchy skin, as you end up throwing up and busy sorting out your mess!

This condition is known as alcohol flush reaction. Since it typically happens to Asians, it is also called the Asian flush/glow.

Recent studies have revealed evidence that ALDH2-deficient individuals are at much higher risk of developing esophageal cancer from consuming alcohol than those with a fully active ALDH2. Esophageal cancer also happens to be one of the deadliest cancers in the world with pretty low survival rates. Acetaldehyde is a metabolite of alcohol but is also an animal carcinogen and mutagen with recognised cancer-promoting properties. When the tissues of your upper aerodigestive tract are repeatedly exposed to acetaldehyde, the probability of DNA damage and mutation could also increase. OUCH! NO SHIT!

Since this is a genetic problem there’s no cure for alcohol flush except to completely abstain from alcohol. If you get red, you should think about drinking less as you’re putting yourself at a higher risk of developing both cancer and hypertension. If you can’t completely abstain from alcohol, drink moderately and this is defined as one to two drinks a day for men, and one drink a day for women.

Cheers! Opps! :-)

What you absolutely need before bedtime...

What do you absolutely need before bedtime? Sex? Well, hell yeah! But this is equally important… ;-P

I’m talking about food. Yes, your last meal before going to bed (or before having sex!) *guffaw*

It is important to note that the right meal before you retire for the day can have a positive effect on your overall training result as this important meal helps your body recover from your exercise by feeding your muscles with quality nutrition as you sleep.

You have to be selective and not pick unhealthy food such as fast food or ice cream or roti canai or fried rice etc. Choose the right food based on the following general rules:

Rule #1: Avoid carbs and insulin

Consuming carbs will result in a significant insulin release. This will in turn put the breaks on fat burning. In addition, carbs are easily stored as fat in the evening hours when metabolism is naturally slowing in preparation for sleep.  Furthermore, you will definitely have very little opportunity to burn off that energy after consuming carbs at night as you don’t burn much calories when you are asleep.

So you’ll surely think, “that’s ok, I’ll just have protein”. Well, certain proteins such as red meat and fish have been shown to yield a significant insulin response as well.  While these proteins are generally acceptable for a pre-bed meal, there are better choices, like those mentioned below.

Rule #2: Choose slow digesting proteins 

Slow digesting proteins such as turkey and chicken meat are great pre-bedtime meal choices as they digest slowly and they don’t really produce a significant amount of insulin.

Another great choice is the milk protein casein found in some supplements and also in cottage cheese.  Casein has the ability to coat the stomach, digest slowly and provide quality nutrition to your muscles over several hours (time-released properties) and thus makes a perfect pre-bedtime meal!   

Rule #3: Add fat 

Before you cuss at me and ask me whether I’ve gone out of my mine, let me qualify myself…yes, add fat…but only quality and healthy fats such as nuts and nut butters that will help to further slow gastric emptying and digestion while increasing fullness and satiety.

Beautiful lavender

Lavender is doesn’t only have a beautiful purplish-blue colour but it’s also widely known as the healing herb.

The powerful healing abilities of lavender are derived from the chemical composition of this herb. You can freely and confidently use lavender to treat bites, burns, wounds, fatigue, depression, fatigue, cramps etc. Its wide variety of healing abilities makes it one of the most popular plants on the face of the earth.

Below are the 7 healing wonders of lavender:-

#1: Lavender is an antiseptic or disinfectant

#2: Lavender is an expectorant that helps soothe coughs

#3: Lavender is an analgesic that relieves headaches, pains, discomforts and tension

#4: Lavender is used in aromatherapy that has calming properties and induces sleep

#5: Lavender is a nervine that can gradually calm the nerves system

#6: Lavender is a cicatrizant that promotes natural healing

#7: Lavender is an antidepressant and helps to uplift mood

More benefits of red wine

You've probably read and heard that red wine can be a very healthy beverage (heck, I too have personally covered this a few times in my previous posts!). However, you most likely only read and heard about generic benefits of drinking red wine, i.e. the antioxidants and resveratrol.

These are other key reasons why drinking red wine in moderation (1-2 glasses per day max) can be a super healthy part of your diet:-

1. People who drank red wine moderately per day (only dry red wine and not the sugary dessert wine variant) had higher levels of beneficial bacteria in their gut and lower levels of pathogenic bad bacteria in their gut.  Harmony and balance in your gut is crucial to everything from your digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin health etc.

2. In addition to decreasing pathogenic bacteria in the gut, red wine consumption also has a prebiotic effect in the gut in that it supports the growth and colonies of healthy gut microbes, which ultimately protect and promote good health.

3. Red wine drinkers have lower levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and CRP (C-reactive protein).  CRP is a measure of overall inflammation in your body, so it's great to see an association between red wine and reduced inflammation.

4. Red wine consumed with a meal can slow and moderate the blood sugar response you get from that meal.  This is yet another benefit to keeping your hormones balanced, controlling insulin levels, controlling appetite and staying lean!

You’ll not be able to derive any of the above benefits by drinking equivalent servings of another alcoholic beverage. This is because the benefits above are related to the polyphenols and resveratrol in red wine and not the alcohol content itself.

So go ahead and choose your favourite Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz or any other dry red wine to pair with your meal! I know just which French red to open for my next meal… :-)

7 anti-aging foods

I’m a vain pot and they call me Vain Ken! There you have it! I’ve admitted I’m vain! *LOL*

I’m in my mid-30s and I’m not waiting ‘til I’m older to start taking natural anti-aging nutrients. Best to start early if possible to defy each passing year!

Below are what I regularly take (mostly the first 4 items) to help me stay youthful:-

1.  Red Wine - Its resveratrol content is a unique anti-oxidant that can help fight against diabetes, heart disease and age-related memory loss (drink too much and you’ll have momentary memory lapses! *LOL*)

2.  Beans - The unique proteins in beans thicken and strengthen your hair cells resulting in a fully head of hair (hopefully it’s only applicable to the larger head! *LOL*)

3.  Tomatoes - Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which has been shown to support heart health and healthy cholesterol levels as you age.  Lycopene also acts as a natural sun block to keep skin youthful and protected from harmful UV rays. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to apply sunblock when you go out in the hot sun ya ;-)

4.  Olive Oil - The monounsaturated fats contained in olive oil support healthy arteries and a healthy heart, while the polyphenols, which is a potent anti-oxidant helps prevent a number of age-related diseases.  Organic extra virgin olive oil is arguable the best!

5.  Brazil Nuts - Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, a mineral which aids in the production of the anti-oxidant glutathione to help slow down the skin aging process.  Just 2 nuts a day will provide you with enough selenium to reap its anti-aging benefits.

6.  Raspberries & Blueberries – They contain important anti-oxidants that help offset inflammation and oxidative stress that contribute to skin aging and wrinkles.  Just one serving of either contains more anti-oxidants than 10 servings of most other fruits and vegetables! Berry up!

7.  Organic Eggs - Eggs are rich in biotin and iron which help to promote healthy, youthful skin and hair.

Triple drop set circuits

Want to lose weight? Want a quick but effective workout? Want to triple the burn (and pain!)?

If yes, you should try doing triple drop set circuits.

Triple drop what? *guffaw*

Please don't let the grand-sounding name scare you. It's pretty simple actually.

Here's the concept:

You select an ideal weight that will adequately challenge you for a triple drop set of 12 reps, 10 reps and 8 reps with 10 seconds of rest between each set. Once you complete the drop set of 12-10-8 reps, that's considered 1 set. You do 3 sets for each movement or each muscle group.

In a triple drop set circuit, you'll apply the above concept for 1 chest movement, 1 back movement, 1 leg movement, 1 shoulder movement, 1 triceps movement and 1 biceps movement. 6 movements or muscles groups in total. You move from 1 movement to the other with just 10 seconds of rest between each movement. Once you finish all 6 movements, repeat the entire workout once more and you are done!

I bet my last dollar you'll ache all over the next day! No pain no gain, right? *guffaw*

Lemon wedge in your glass of water? Think again!

Do you like your glass of sky juice flavoured say with a wedge of lemon?

I sure do! This is especially so at restaurants. It makes me feel more “atas” (classy)!

Let me warn you. You might be drinking more than you bargained for as those garnishes could be serving up a doze of unappetizing organisms!

Researchers swabbed the rinds and flesh of lemons from some restaurants and found that a mindboggling 70% of them have microbial growth! The samples were collected as soon as the beverage was served, before drinking or touching. Researchers speculated that these microorganisms could have possibly come from the restaurant employees or raw meat or poultry contamination.

 

It’s rather weird as although lemons have known antimicrobial properties, a wide variety of microorganisms may still survive on the flesh and the rind of a sliced lemon. This means that lemon slices added to beverages may include potentially pathogenic microbes! Ouch! Yikes!

 

Most employees handle lemons with their bare hands and they may not diligently wash and scrub the lemons. It's also easy for a worker's hands, whether it be a bartender serving up a drink or a chef slicing the fruit in the kitchen, to cross-contaminate after dealing with patrons, washing glasses and handling food.

But fret not! According to researcher, there is only a small but distinct risk that lemon wedges might make you sick. Usually there would be no infection, but there is a small possibility. Our immune system is usually pretty good at fighting these microbes.

So you may just decide to squeeze the lemon juice directly into the water instead of throwing in a lemon wedge into your glass? Well, doing so will reduce exposure but you’ll never be able to eliminate it 100%. This is because even the flesh of the lemon can be contaminated!

 

But please don’t freak out just yet. You need to realize that similar organisms are present in all restaurants and in every surface area. This includes ketchup bottles and salt and peppershakers to menus and table surfaces! And the same likely goes for a variety of other drink garnishes too such as onions, limes, cherry etc.

 

So how do your manage this or protect yourselves? Start by adopting the most basic of action- hand washing as frequent as possible and/or use hand sanitizers Choosing a clean restaurant also helps but there’s no guarantee. If you still feel freakish, your best bet could be to cook and eat at home. But that too doesn’t guarantee anything.

Leptin and weight loss

There’s one important hormone that can either make or break your weight loss journey. The hormone is called leptin and it’s the “fat burning hormone”.

Leptin is essentially the "master" hormone that more or less controls EVERY other weight loss hormone in your body and your ability to burn fat as a whole. When you have leptin on your side, fat loss becomes easy.  When you don't, losing even a single pound can become virtually impossible. This means in order to lose weight or fat, you need to control the level of leptin in your body.

 

In order to burn fat, your body depends on these 2 things:-

1) high levels of leptin; and
2) highly sensitive leptin "receptors" (which acts as the "lock" to leptin's "key")

Every time you go on a diet and reduce your calorie intake, leptin levels plummet and fat burning is dramatically reduced. Why is this so? Leptin's main function is to protect your body against starvation and in the midst of decreased food and calorie intake when you diet, your body unfortunately views your stored body fat as a huge asset to survival. Whenever your food or calorie intake is below the "normal" level, your brain will reduce the leptin levels in your body and thus dramatically decreases your body’s fat burning capabilities.

Research has shown that leptin levels drop by as much as 50% after just 7 days of dieting.  That puts you at only 50% of your fat-burning potential just one week into your fat loss plan, and it only gets worse with each passing day.

So the bottom line is don’t reduce your food or calorie intake. Workout instead. Do it the smart and right way.

Lasik

Don't you just hate wearing glasses and contact lenses? I was wearing them for about 23 years and it was no fun!

As an active person, it is such a nuisance whenever my glasses slip down my nose when I sweat or my contact lenses come off when I wipe my face with a towel. Wearing glasses causes discomfort and pain at my nose bridge and at my ears. Wearing contact lenses causes eye irritation and dryness especially towards the end of the day. My eyes would periodically be infected by bacteria if the lenses are not adequately cleaned. I used to buy disinfectant for my contact lenses and that helped a bit. However, the lenses would soon feel rigid and uncomfortable towards the end of the monthly life-cycle. I could have opted for daily contact lenses for improved cleanliness but that's way too expensive.

I started talking to people about lasik and I received mixed opinions- some would say nay, some would say aye. Nay-sayers commented on the high cost and safety aspects of the procedure. Also, there is no guarantee that the power won't increase over time after the procedure. Aye-sayers swear by the comfort and freedom after the procedure. But they also warned about the slightly blur vision immediately after the procedure and eye dryness for the initial few months.

I visited websites of a few lasik centres to better understand the procedure and risks involved. There are a few key players to consider and their pricing is quite competitive. I've also asked former lasik patients to introduce their ophthalmologist to me.

I was keen but worried at the same time.

Enter FFB. We were enjoying our burger lunch in Bangsar Baru one afternoon and I popped the subject of lasik procedure.

"You should go see my friend. He does lasik and he previously fixed my ripped cornea. Here's his mobile number", FFB said.

After keying in the eye doctor's mobile number into my phone, I dropped him a sms to introduce myself. He replied saying I should visit his centre for a suitability check. But I needed to be off contact lenses for about a week. I was actually off contact lenses for over a month as the prolonged bad haze was irritating my eyes.

I called his centre to make an appointment. As soon as that's done, I read information on his website a few times to familiar myself with the procedure, risks etc.

Property of Mr Flabby Less

Brochures and price list from the lasik centre

The initial check was pretty quick, about 20 minutes or so. The power of my eyes were recorded and the usual eye tests were performed. After that, they announced that I qualify to proceed with the procedure. The entire procedure was explained to me clearly- all 3 steps, which are painless (yay!). They didn't promise 100% result and offered a realistic 95% improvement in my vision post lasik procedure. What I should and shouldn't do after lasik were also highlighted. They kept reminding me to look at the red light during the procedure for better results. Mental note...red for red-light district! *chuckle*

I liked them as they didn't hard sell the procedure to me. They told me to go back and consider and return only when I'm ready to proceed with the procedure. I appreciated their professionalism. I would have ran away if they had given me the old sales pitch!

Naturally, I discussed this with Wifey when I got home. She advised me to consider carefully especially the risks involved. Yes, she agreed it was affordable at slightly over RM4,000 for both eyes but I needed to be aware of the side effects etc.

A few days later on a Thursday morning when we were spending time with our kids at the Farm in the City in Seri Kembangan (it was school holidays then), I declared to Wifey "I think I'll proceed with lasik. Since I'm on annual leave tomorrow (Friday), I could do it then. I know it's very last minute. Let me call them and see whether they have an available slot. If yes, then it's meant to be". I called the centre and there was a slot at 2.30pm on Friday for me! It was a sign and I greeted it with open arms! I'm so gonna be having 20/20 vision soon!

I was out the entire Friday morning with my family and it was another great day spending time with my kids. After lunch, we rushed home and I hurriedly showered, washed my face and shampooed my hair (as instructed before going for lasik). I arrived just 5 minutes before my scheduled appointment and they immediately prep my eyes. Eye drops were applied to dilate my eyes. Then I had to wear a blue head piece to cover my hair and a blue coat to cover my body. Just before I entered the operating room, anaesthetic drops were applied on my eyes.

The ophthalmologist was a picture of calm when I saw him. He guided me calmly with his clear voice. Once I'd settled in, he told me he would give me a heads up before he did anything. This way, I would be aware of his every action and less anxious of the procedure (not too sure about the latter!). He also reminded me to keep looking at the red light.

He started with my right eye. He affixed a gadget to hold back my eyelids. This prevented me from blinking. The next gadget sucked onto my cornea. It made a terribly irritating and painful grinding sound as it cut a thin layer of my cornea. My cornea was lifted back (think opening a window!) and my vision became blur at once. Antibiotics were applied. I was told to keep looking at the red light, which I did. He then started zapping the laser beam into my eye. I hated the burnt smell! My eyes were barbequed! More antibiotics were applied after that. Thereafter, he placed my cornea back into position by flipping it forward (think shutting a window!). There was no stitching involved. Immediate a plastic cover was placed over my eye and taped up. After about 30 seconds, he moved on to my left eye and the same process followed.

I remember half way through my second eye, I held my breath for awhile as I started getting distressed. The lack of vision and burnt smell finally got to me and I felt partially numb. I think at one point I was pressing my body hard against the table trying to distant myself from the laser beam (yeah I was chicken shit!)!

The entire process was over is a matter of minutes. I would say less than 10 minutes. There was absolutely no pain throughout the entire procedure. Only my mind and my heart were racing! It was simply nerve-wrecking!

After he had covered my left eye, I was led to a dark room. I spent the next 40 minutes or so there. My eyes were mostly closed during that time. I tried opening my eyes now and then to see things but my vision was still blur.

Property of Mr Flabby Less

Me with my sunglasses just before leaving the lasik centre

My ophthalmologist came into the dark room once I've adequately rested my eyes. He removed the plastic covers and put on my sunglasses for me. He reminded me not to wash my face or hair until the next day. He also assured me that my vision will improve over the next few hours. Finally, before I left, he advised me to diligently apply the prescribed eye-drops.

 Property of Mr Flabby Less

Prescribed eye-drops

With a relieved heart, I walked downstairs and waited for Wifey to pick me up. I immediately noticed my improved vision as I looked around Mid Valley. That was just an hour or so after my lasik procedure! I was amazed by the result!

Property of Mr Flabby Less

I wore protective plastic eye covers before going to bed

That night, I had to sleep with protective plastic eye covers. There could be a risk of the cornea moving out of position if anything or anyone accidentally hit my eyes. Rubbing my eyes against the pillow when sleeping could also move the cornea. It was scary shit! I didn't sleep well that night.

In the next morning, my vision was much clearer. The improvement was remarkable! My vision was still slightly hazy but I didn't have to wear glasses or contact lenses to see anymore! I was able to drive myself back to the lasik centre for check up!

Post lasik, I had to periodically return to the lasik centre for check-ups. My vision was not very clear initially but it has improved after a few weeks. My vision is now clearer and sharper. My eyes get dry occasionally and I would just have to apply some eye-drops.

I'm so glad I was ballsy enough to proceed with lasik. I feel like a new person without having to wear glasses and contact lenses. The freedom is priceless!