Diary 132: Food to cure cancer

Since May 2010, I was duplicating some copies of a special TV program on food to cure cancer for distribution.

It was based on scientific research done in Korea and Japan. While many cancer patients normally die within 5 years, those taking this type of food are able to lengthen their life for more than 10 years.

The TV program is important for cancer patients and their family members to know that there are food that can help control cancer.

This is definitely an exciting news.

The feedback received is that some of the duplicated copies did not contain the TV program.

I found out that the reason being the copying was not done properly.

For those who have received the above copies, please accept my apology.

Since August 2010, I manage to duplicate proper copies now.

If you wish to own a copy and willing to pay the basic cost, please let me know.

Best health to all cancer patients.

Diary 131: Diabetes among children on the rise

More and more children are obese these days.

Their obese condition could be traced to eating too much unhealthy food and having a sedentary lifestyle.

According to UKM Medical Centre senior consultant paediatrician and paediatric endocrinologist Prof. Dr Wu Loo Ling, “The children’s bad dietary habits of eating burgers, nuggets, fried chicken and carbonated drinks are contributing factors”.
Long hour of homework, watching television and playing computer games added to the problem.

Parents, kindly take note that obesity affects the patient’s vital organ like the heart, kidneys, nerves and eyes.

Love your children? Do not feed them “junk food”.

[Source: Lee Yuk Peng & Loh Foon Fong (2010), Sweet malady: diabetes among children on the rise, The Star 24 July 2010.]

Diary 130: Government medical expenditure in Malaysia

The Minister of Health Malaysia provided the following alarming figures (Sin Chew Daily 18 July 2010).

Malaysian population totalled about 23 million in 2000 and this increased to 27 million in 2009.

2000 – RM 5,400,000,000 or about RM235 per person

2009 – RM14,700,000,000 or about RM 544 per person

It simply means that within 10 years, the government’s medical expenditure per person has doubled.

All Malaysians need to view this seriously.

Take care of your health.

Do not burden the family and the nation.

Diary 129: Energy from the sun

Affendi H, a colleague, said that many people do not realise that we need the sun’s energy to survive.

Sunlight is important in the process of photosynthesis for the ultimate production of food crops in the forms of young shoots, leaves, stems, roots, fruits and grains.
Human beings consume these plant products.

Without the sunlight, plants cannot produce the foods we need.

When we consume the plant foods, indirectly we take in the sun’s energy.

If we take in a lot of plant foods, we receive more sun’s energy.

Peoples receiving more sun’s energy are likely to live a healthier life.

Diary 128: Chemicals used in vegetable cultivation

Below is some useful information on conventional (non-organic) vegetable cultivation provided by an ex-farmer.

Vegetables are categorised into two groups: the leafy vege, and the beans/"qua". Leafy vege are the choy-sums, kailans, etc. "Qua" are the cucumbers, bitter gourds, brinjals, etc.

The chemical sprays used by most farmers are grouped into 2 categories: the fungicides and the pesticides. Fungicides are used to protect the plant from fungus, and pesticides are to ward off pests like bugs, caterpillars, snails, etc. The main culprits are the caterpillars.

For the leafy vege, normally less sprays are needed. When they are "young" they usually do not need any spray unless there is an outbreak of a fungus disease in the neighbourhood. But when the vegetable is maturing with many young leaves growing, farmers usually apply a round of pesticides to ward off the attack of pests. No fungicides are needed.

The label on the pesticide bottle says that it should not be used 1 week before harvest. Not all farmers follow that faithfull. How "toxic" a leafy vegetable is depends on the attitude of the farmer.

Beans/"qua" are "fruits" from a "plant", and these fruits are being harvested continously from the same plant which could last several months, not a one-time harvest as the leafy vege. In this case the farmers need to protect the "plant" as well as the "fruit". He has no choice but to spray the plants with both pesticides and fungicides.

Cucumber plant would have its first cucumber mature enough to be harvested 40 days after planting, and we can harvest cucumber (from a row of cucumber plants) every day for another 20 days. So what to do during this period of 20 days? The farmer just has to spray whatever pesticide/fungicide needed even if he is harvesting the fruits again the next day. During this harvesting period of 20 days he may spray 1 or 2 times of the needed chemicals since the spray is effective for a week only.

For long beans the harvest is on alternate days and the harvesting period is longer, up to 35 days. Chilli and brinjai plants can last even longer. So for this group of beans/"qua", the chances of eating one with recent toxic sprays is certainly very high. You might be eating one which was sprayed with pesticides the day before.

Diary 127: Cancer treatments

Cancer is a deadly disease which can end a patient’s life within months.

Oncologists normally adopt one or more of the following treatments.

1. Remove can cells with surgery.
2. Kill them with chemicals (chemotherapy).
3. Kill them with radiation (radiotherapy).
4. Stop, slow down cancer cell growth by blocking biochemical pathways that promote cancer cell growth (target therapy).
5. Stimulate the immune system to attach cancer cells.
6. Apply human initiated therapeutic vaccine therapy.

In the above treatments, it is a “zero-sum” war game. The perception is that cancer cells must be killed to enable the patients to survive.

Do cancer patients have other choices?

Yes, there is the alternative treatment where you do not treat the cancer cells your enemy. They are part of you and have to be taken care with great love and compassion. It involves a holitic change in a patient’s life --- physical (such as diet), mental and spiritual aspects.

Diary 126: Body Mass Index

In medical science, Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to check if a person is in the healthy weight range.

BMI calculates the range of healthy weights for different heights.

It is a useful guide for personal health.

The following procedures are used to calculate BMI.

Weight oneself in kilograms and measure one’s height in meters.

Divide one’s weight by one’s height squared.

For example, if a person weights 65Kg and is 1.6m in height, one BMI is 25.4.

If BMI <18.5 = under-weight and risk of weight-related illness is low.

If BMI 18.5-24.9 = normal range weight and risk of weight-related illness is moderate.

If BMI 25-29.9 = over-weight and risk of weight-related illness is increased.

If BMI >30.0 = obese and risk of weight-related illness is moderate to severe.

Take note: overweight and obesity increases your risk to coronary heart diseases, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Diary 125: Statistics on overweight and obesity in Malaysia

Over-weight means Body Mass Index (BMI) 25.0 – 29.9; Obesity means BMI >30.0

1996 Second National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS II)in Malaysia: % of adults that were overweight 16.6% and obese was 4.4%. Total adult overweight and obese was 21%.

2006 Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III)in Malaysia: % of adults that were overweight was 29% while those obese was 14%. The proportion of the adult population that are overweight and obese totalled 43%.

The rise in proportion of adult overweight and obese was double within 10 years.

NHMS III also found that 5.4% of children below 18 years old were overweight.

Diary 124: Osteoarthritis treatment

Medically, there are a number of treatments for asteoarthritis (OA).

For early and moderate stage of OA: medications, physiotherapy, injection.

Medication: use of painkillers.

Through exercises and physiotherapy, one can gradually increase the strength of the muscles that surrounds the joint to take some of the stress off one’s joints.

Lubrication injections or injections of gel-like components of the fluid in the joints (called viscosupplementation).

Viscosupplementation helps to lubricate the joint and as it has the contents of hyaluronic acid, it helps the healing of the cartilage.

Caution: patients who have lost their cartilage due to prolonged wear and tear, viscosupplementation would not work as well.

Severe or advanced arthritis, knee replacement surgery might be needed to help relief pain and improve the mobility of the joint.

Will calcium supplement help?

According to Dr Chanranjeet Singh, while taking more calcium can help with bone strength (which can help slow down osteoporosis), it does not help with osteoarthritis (which is a joint problem).

[Information source: Lim Wey Wen’s article entitled “Weary knees” (The Star 4 July 2010)].

Diary 123: Love our joints

Please take note that stiff and aching joints are just a concern for the elderly.
Youths in their 20s are also prone to joint damage.

Do not wait until osteoarthritis occurs that we only begin to take care of the joints.

Osteoarthritis (degenerate arthritis) is the gradual degeneration of movable joints especially weight-bearing joints such as knee, hip and spine.

It refers to a condition caused by a denegerative or wear-and-tear process.
The daily wear-and tear process damages the surface of the joint.

When a persons suffers a breakdown and eventual loss of cartilage (a protein substance with cushining effect between bones and joints), osteoarthritis occurs.
Currently, there is yet to be a cure for asteoarthritis.

However, adequate physical exercise, balanced diet and healthy body weight can minimise the risk of osteoarthritis.

One thing for sure. If one is over-weight or obese, there will be a lot of stress on the joints.

Keep you weight at a healthy level, you should be able to keep osteoarthritis at bay.

Diary 122: Poison in watermelon

Furadan (trade name for Carbofuran) is one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides. It is used to control insects in a wide variety of field crops, including potatoes, corn and soybeans.

In Malaysia, the watermelon planters put Furadan into the soil before planting the watermelon to kill and keep away insects, especially ants.

It is said that Furadan is active for one whole year (12 months) and is most powerful and effective during the first 90 days.

The watermelons mature and are picked after 55 days, when the Furadan is still powerful, and a lot of it is INSIDE THE WATERMELONS!

“This means the watermelon is filled with poison! Furadan especially DAMAGES THE KIDNEYS the organs which have to filter pollution from the blood!”

I know about the above some time ago. In my home village, farmers admitted that they use Furadan for the above purpose.

These farmers do not consume the watermelons produced.

Knowing that I am health conscious, my farmer friend gives me watermelon harvested for his own consumption where no Furadan is applied.

Diary 121: Ban on the use of polystyrene

To change our lives effectively, there are at least two ways.

First, the government requires us to change. This is the case on the use of polystyrene containers as led by the Penang government (The Sun, 25 June 2010).

In Penang, all hawkers in food courts under the Penang Island and Seberang Perai municipal councils have to stop using polystyrene containers from 1 July 2010.

In the same state, government hospitals were given until August 2010 to ban the use of polystyrene containers on their premises.

They have to use environmentally-friendly containers instead.

Second, the consumers change their lifestyle. They can choose not to buy from hawkers or food stalls that still use polystyrene containers. In this way, the hawkers have to change.

Rather than waiting for a ruling from the government, it is better for us to change ourselves.

Diary 120: Promoting books for a good cause

Doing good deed by helping others is encouraged by all religious teachings and social cultural practices.

There are many ways of doing good deed in our daily life.

Promoting my health books to raise fund for public interest is one of the ways I am doing good deed now.

I participated in a fund raising activity in Brickfields (Kuala Lumpur) on 11 July 2010.

In the 5-hour activity, a total of 23 books were sold and three books were given as gifts.

To the organizer, it was a good sale.

Past experience showed that to raise fund, it is necessary for me to promote the books personally.

People felt good when I explained the importance of the books for them and then autographed the books if he/she wished to own a copy.

Purchasing a book not only enables one to gain knowledge to attain and reclaim health, one is indeed doing a good deed.

Hence, no discount is given as it is for fund raising.

Good health awaits those doing good deeds.

Diary 119: Talk at Mardi

My health talk entitled “living healthily without medicine” was successfully delivered at Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in the morning of 16 July 2010.

MARDI regarded this talk as sharing of knowledge among researchers of research institutes in the country. My senior director made the wise decision by permitting me to deliver the talk at MARDI.

Since the majority of those attending the talk was Malays, I used an excellent example of a 35-year old Malay obese male who switched to health food to reduce weight. He managed to drop about 40 kg within 5 years.

Yes, obesity is a problem for many Malaysians as about 50% of adult Malaysians is considered obese.

Researchers at MARDI are important asset to the nation. The talk before mine was on herbal research & development delivered by a young Ph D researcher. The content of his talk complements what I delivered later.

The promotion of my health books was well received.

They were also happy to receive some copies of the CD entilted “Foods to cure cancer”, an Astro program based on scientific research in Korea and Japan.

Diary 118: Arthritis

The term means the inflamation of a joint.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is also known as “wear and tear” arthritis.

If one has been putting a lot of stress on his/her knees, are over 50, there is a high possibility that one may have osteoarthritis.

Cartilage is the protective cover of bones in the joint.

What happens in OA is after years of use and abuse, the cartilage starts to wear down.

Slowly, the smooth surface of the cartilage will become rough.

Loose pieces of the cartilage of the cartilage can cause irritation and pain to the joint.

Further stress will cause bones to eventually rub against each other, causing pain and difficulty when one moves or carries weight.

An important factor on the development of OA is the amount of stress a person puts on the joint.

For example, the heavier one is, the more stress one puts on one’s knee.

[Information source: Lim Wey Wen’s article entitled “Weary knees” (The Star 4 July 2010)].

Diary 117: Health talk for tourist guides

I was invited to deliver a health talk to a group of tourist guides in Kuala Lumpur on 7 July 2010.

The nature of the job of a tourist guide involves hectic traveling schedule, busy life and irregular meals.

Talking about health food, many guides said that they have little time to take care of their health.

Well, health is wealth. If a tourist guide loses health, no wealth is gained.

The suggestion is for one to take health food at home and just take light food (such as fruits) when bring the tourists around.

Just switch to health food gradually and do it happily.

Even though guides are very busy, they agree they have to take care of their health.

This applies to all of us. No matter how busy we are.

Diary 116: Removing gall stones naturally

This one concerns removing gall stone naturally taken from the internet (http://www.natural-cancer-cures.com/remove-gallstones.html) As I told Stanley, I have done this thrice over the last 14 years. Feel good.

HOW TO REMOVE GALLSTONES NATURALLY
1. For the first five days, drink at least four glasses of apple juice every day. Or eat four or five apples, whichever you prefer. Apple juice softens the gallstones. During the five days, eat normally.
2. On the sixth day, take no dinner.
3. At 6 pm, take a teaspoon of Epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) with a glass of warm water.
4. At 8 pm, repeat the same. Epsom salt or magnesium sulphate opens the gallbladder ducts.
5. At 10 pm, take half cup olive oil (or sesame oil) with half cup fresh lemon juice. Mix it well and drink it. The oil lubricates the stones to ease their passage.


The next morning, you will find green stones in our stools.

"Usually they float", Dr Lai Chiu Nan notes. "You might want to count them. I have had people who passes 40, 50 or up to 100 stones. Very many".

Even if you don't have any symptoms of gallstones, you still might have some. It's always good to give your gall bladder clean up now and then.

Diary 115: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is certainly something all of us should know.
• White sugar’s other twin evil.
• US studies showed that about 40% of super market foods contain HFCF.
• Contribute to health problems ranging diabetes, liver damage, kidney damage
• Increases risk of allergies, likelihood of gout…..

Where are HFCS found in foods?
• Baking & cooking ingredients (e.g. cake icing)
• Packed fruit juices, soft drinks, beverages
• Breads, bread cereals
• Condiments (e.g. BBQ sauce)
• Chocolate
• Ice cream, jams
• Salad dressing, sugar syrup

If you wish to keep away various diseases related to HFCS, you now know what to do.

Reduce consumption of these foods. Better still, do not take these foods.

Information source: Utusan Konsumer May-June 2010

Diary 114: Is black tea alkaline?

Unlike Chinese tea and green tea, black tea is highly acidic.

It simply means that one should not take too much of it.

Black tea is a term that can be used to describe tea without milk. It is tea drank without milk or cream.

Black tea, also known as red tea was originally made in China. The Chinese call black tea "red" because the tea liquid is red, while the British call it "black" after the tea leaves themselves.

It is generally stronger and contains more caffeine than less oxidized teas like white and green.

There are serveral factors that determine how much caffeine tea has. For example, the longer you brew the tea, the higher the ending caffeine content will be.
Lipton tea started with black tea as their first available tea drink. However, they are constantly creating new flavors and variety of different tea-based drinks.

The advantage about black tea is that it can be stored several years compared to other teas which can only be stored for up to one year.

Diary 113: Is Chinese tea alkaline?

This is one frequently asked question during my health talks. My Hainanese friend, Shirley Teh, dropped an email to inquire the same yesterday.

On 7 July 2010, the tourist guides in KL Tourist Guides Association asked if it is good to drink a lot of Chinese tea while bringing tourists around. They were not sure whether it is alkaline or acid.

Chinese tea and green tea are alkaline.

Do not add sugar to the Chinese tea or green tea. Sugar will offset the alkalinity with acidity.

You may add lemon. Lemon is acidic outside the body but turns alkaline inside the body.

Kindly take note that Chinese tea or green tea being alkaline in nature, they bring cooling effect. Over consumption may bring different effects to our bodies.

For example, when it rains heavily and the weather is cool, it may be wise not to take Chinese or green tea. The explanation is simple. The environment is already cooling, why take cooling drink to further “cool off” the body.

Always listen to messages sent by the body.

Diary 112: Food detoxifier

They are many brands of food detoxifier in the market now.

What is it all about?

To begin with, we need to understand something about ozone.

Ozone is one of the most power oxidising agents in the world. It is effective against bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, fungal spores and microorganisms.
Now, ozone is used in the food industry to increase crop yield, protect raw agricultural commodities, sanitise packaging materials for storage and food cleansing.

In 2001, the US Food & Drug Adminsitration (FDA) approved the use of ozone as a sanitiser not only for food contact surfaces, but also for direct food application.

Thus, we now hafe food detoxifier that cleanse fruits, vegetables, meat and fish before storing and cooking. Accordingly, it turns water into an oxygen-rich environment to detoxify food, water and utensils. It is claimed that the detoxified food tastes more natural, stores longer and gets rid of unpleasand smell.

What do you think of this technology?

If you have no choice in cleansing the food, this could be a temporary measure.

If you have a choice in consuming organic food, do you still need this food detoxifier?

Diary 111: Why Vegetarians Are Also Obese

Most people think that vegetarians are able to attain good health.
Not necessary so.

If you do not how to select the vegetarian food, you are also likely to have various illnesses and diseases. One of these is obesity and over-weight.

This is the case of Mr Y who has been a vegetarian for the last 5 years. He is facing the problem of obesity as his body weight is above 80 kg.

He no longer comsumes meat.

His obesity is related to the taking of white rice and bread.

When one is taking too much of rice and bread, the extra carbohydrate is changed into sugar and stored in the body as fat.

What is the solution then?

Fasting is essential. Ability to withstand hunger during simple fasting is equally important. It is during this time that the extra fat in the body is burned.
One will lose the extra kilos.

That requires determination and confidence. These come from understanding the food consumed every meal.

Diary 110: Formaldehyde and Your health

Formaldehyde is a common industrial chemical and VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) found in many types of wooden furniture, disinfectant, glue and insulation material.

In our home, products emiting formaldehyde include plywood shelf, wall paper, fiberboard table, cigarette smoke, window sealant, particleboard chair, floorboards, carpeting and pesticides.

These products emit formaldehyde over time as a clour-less gas.

I was informed that some fishermen also apply formaldehyde to preserve the fish and ikan bilis as well as keep away flies. The next time you purchase fish and ikan bilis from the markets, just watch out if there are any flies around.

In short, formaldehyde is always in the air.

A high level concentration of formalhehyde in the air can cause eyes to water, coughing and wheezing as well as irritation of the nose and throat.

All of us have to take care to reduce the contact with formaldehyde.

That is the reason my friend advises me not to shift into new house within six month of its completion.

Diary 109: Growing young gracefully

This is the title of an article written by Dr Amir Farid Isahak on page SF11 in the The Star dted 27 June 2010.

Part of the article (below) may be of your interests.

“I had the opportunity to ask The Most Venerable Master Chin Kung (approaching 85) about his secret to health and longevity.

According to him, it is to maintain a pure, stable mind and a pure heart. With a pure mind, you are able to discipline yourself to only do the good and beneficial things, including eating healthily, and leading a healthy lifestyle. The pure mind can also command the body to healthy, as the mind is fully in charge and in control of what is going on elsewhere in the body.

This is another aspect of mind-body science that scientists are now discovering. I have observed Master Chin Kung during the many trips that I have been with him, and I noticed that he never over-ate, even whan we were served with the most scrumptious meals at the most elaborate feasts.”

Well, I have more confident on this mind-body relationship that maintains good health.

I hope you do too.

Diary 108: Vitamin B-12

One of the frequently asked questions during my health talks is the source of Vitamin B-12 for vegetarians.

The audience is concerned because Vitamin B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells, the maintenance of the nervous system, and growth and development in children. Deficiency can cause anaemia.

Vitamin B-12 (Cobalamin) is exclusively synthesised by bacteria and is found primarily in meat, eggs and dairy products. These foods are not good for health in the long run.

If such is the case, where can vegetarians get their source of Vitamin B-12?

Do not worry as it may be obtained from fermented soya products, seaweeds, algae such as spirulina, Korean “pau-chai” and brown rice.

Both my children (aged 15 and 9) grow healthily with the above. We do not have to take meat, eggs and dairy products to have Vitamin B12.

After all, vitamins and minerals are micro-nutrients. We do not have to take a lot of food to derive the necessary vitamins required daily.

Diary 107: Drink clean filtered water

You are probably aware that the water we drink may affect our health in the long run.

The increase emission of green house gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere leads to global warming and can affect the quality of water supply.

It is well known that contaminants in the water such as dioxin, trihalomethane, chemicals and heavy matters can cause dieases such as cancers, allergies and other health problems.

It is thus important to filter the water before drinking.

Choose a water filter machine that can provide clean water for drinking.