It's that time already

Happy holidays to all!

Time flies. It's that time of year already to do a yearly review.

We continued to walk daily when weather permits, and we added a few kilometers a day from 8 to 12.

Richard continued to play pool every day and started rope skipping. He continued to lose weight. Now he weighs around 160 lbs. This is the weight he will maintain. We measured his height and turned out that he was 6'. At the above weight his BMI would be 21.7.

I added some stretching exercise, and 15 to 20 minutes meditation in the last three months of the year when walking became difficult due to the weather. I continued not smoking.

We continued to eat healthy, which to me is home prepared meal with plenty of vegetables and fruits. Our protein source is mostly from fish. Towards the end of the year, we added some tofu and a little bit of pork. Our carb. comes from pumpernickle bread, plantain and rice. Fat source is from cheese, avocado and walnut for Richard, and avocado and walnut for me. Of course, all nutrients overlap somewhat. there is fat in tofu and protein in cheese and walnut.

We cut off refined sugar in every format, except one chocolate cake (1kg) every two months on average.

We stopped drinking fruit juices all together after reading how fruit juices are processed (Orange juice: basic beverage isn't that simple).

Are we caloric restricted? Not by very much, anywhere between 0 to 20%. However, I have achieved my goal when BMI is concerned, which is at 18.8.

At the beginning of the year, we wanted to put in some house plants into the apartment. We started with 3 Mother in law's tongue (which survived three months without any care). Now we have 13. The ones we added include:

1 English ivy
6 Money Plants
1 peace lily
1 Christmas cactus
1 Madagascar jasmine

Out of all these, the Madagascar Jasmine was the most expensive and probably hardest to care for.

Richard continued his bible study.

I read and studied health and longevity related articles and becoming increasingly convinced that living till or beyond 100 is very achievable.

We started to host our own blog, which you can find at www.instead-of-wishing.com.

On the living space, we started the year by finishing Sanya home and just continued on. We started purely to beautify our living environment. However, this year seemed to have more weather related disasters on buildings than ever. We were one of its victims. So we fixed whatever damages done to us and tried our best to stay one step ahead; do what we could in order to prevent future disasters.

Existing cancer drug lenalidomide could restore aging immune system

UCSF “fountain of youth” pill could restore aging immune system

The cancer drug lenalidomide, a a derivative of thalidomide introduced in 2004, is marketed as Revlimid by Celgene.

Lenalidomide has been used to successfully treat both inflammatory disorders and cancers in the past 10 years.

However, as with any scientific research, one should not interpret the result as ready remedy.

Abscisic Acid

Researchers discover how natural drug fights inflammation

The natural drug described here is abscisic acid, which is a plant hormone. It exists in all parts of plants, but high in leaves, seeds and fruits.

Food high in abscisic acid includes carrots, sweet potatoes, green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and cereals. However, high temperature cooking can destroy the acid in the plants. Therefore, eating raw or slightly cooked vegetables might be more beneficial to health.

Another interesting article to read is this:

Cancer: conquered or conqueror?

Anger Kills

On our kitchen wall, Richard posted a saying (do not remember from whom) to remind himself how to act in negative situations:

Between stimulus and response there is a space.

In that space lie our freedom and power to choose our response.

In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.

I say that in that space, one should time travel to the future, something like 10 years. If you can laugh at the stimulus of this moment 10 years from now, you will choose your response more wisely.

One of today’s CBC news (Montreal road rage victim dies) is a great example of some people who did not apply the above wisdom and it cost one human life.

It is no small feat to dig a 3.5' hole in the basement

We had to put a sump pump in the basement, so we started digging. It's no small feat to dig a hole 3 and half feet deep in the basement, especially if you did it in two days. We got rid of 1/5 of the dirt and do not know what to do with the rest. In between, tempers flared up and we almost got ourselves in a serious fight.

But it ended something similar to a part in "Sylvie and Bruno" by Lewis Carroll

"What are you doing there, Bruno?" I said.
"Spoiling Sylvie's garden," was all the answer Bruno would give at first. But, as he went on tearing up the flowers, he muttered to himself "The nasty cross thing wouldn't let me go and play this morning,--said I must finish my lessons first--lessons, indeed! I'll vex her finely, though!"
"Oh, Bruno, you shouldn't do that!" I cried.
"Don't you know that's revenge? And revenge is a wicked, cruel, dangerous thing!"
"River-edge?" said Bruno. "What a funny word! I suppose oo call it cruel and dangerous 'cause, if oo wented too far and tumbleded in, oo'd get drownded."
"No, not river-edge," I explained: "revenge" (saying the word very slowly). But I couldn't help thinking that Bruno's explanation did very well for either word.
"Oh!" said Bruno, opening his eyes very wide, but without trying to repeat the word.
"Come! Try and pronounce it, Bruno!" I said, cheerfully. "Re-venge, re-venge."
But Bruno only tossed his little head, and said he couldn't; that his mouth wasn't the right shape for words of that kind. And the more I laughed, the more sulky the little fellow got about it.
"Well, never mind, my little man!" I said.
"Shall I help you with that job?"
"Yes, please," Bruno said, quite pacified.
"Only I wiss I could think of somefin to vex her more than this. Oo don't know how hard it is to make her angry!"
"Now listen to me, Bruno, and I'll teach you quite a splendid kind of revenge!"
"Somefin that'll vex her finely?" he asked with gleaming eyes.
"Something that will vex her finely. First, we'll get up all the weeds in her garden. See, there are a good many at this end quite hiding the flowers."
"But that won't vex her!" said Bruno.
"After that," I said, without noticing the remark, "we'll water this highest bed--up here. You see it's getting quite dry and dusty."
Bruno looked at me inquisitively, but he said nothing this time.
"Then after that," I went on, "the walks want sweeping a bit; and I think you might cut down that tall nettle--it's so close to the garden that it's quite in the way--"
"What is oo talking about?" Bruno impatiently interrupted me. "All that won't vex her a bit!"
"Won't it?" I said, innocently. "Then, after that, suppose we put in some of these coloured pebbles--just to mark the divisions between the different kinds of flowers, you know. That'll have a very pretty effect."
Bruno turned round and had another good stare at me. At last there came an odd little twinkle into his eyes, and he said, with quite a new meaning in his voice, "That'll do nicely. Let's put 'em in rows-- all the red together, and all the blue together. "
"That'll do capitally," I said; "and then--what kind of flowers does Sylvie like best?"
Bruno had to put his thumb in his mouth and consider a little before he could answer. "Violets," he said, at last.
"There's a beautiful bed of violets down by the brook--"
"Oh, let's fetch 'em!" cried Bruno, giving a little skip into the air. "Here! Catch hold of my hand, and I'll help oo along. The grass is rather thick down that way."
I couldn't help laughing at his having so entirely forgotten what a big creature he was talking to. "No, not yet, Bruno," I said: "we must consider what's the right thing to do first. You see we've got quite a business before us."
"Yes, let's consider," said Bruno, putting his thumb into his mouth again, and sitting down upon a dead mouse.
"What do you keep that mouse for?" I said. "You should either bury it, or else throw it into the brook."
"Why, it's to measure with!" cried Bruno.
"How ever would oo do a garden without one? We make each bed three mouses and a half long, and two mouses wide."
I stopped him, as he was dragging it off by the tail to show me how it was used, for I was half afraid the 'eerie' feeling might go off before we had finished the garden, and in that case I should see no more of him or Sylvie. "I think the best way will be for you to weed the beds, while I sort out these pebbles, ready to mark the walks with."
"That's it!" cried Bruno. "And I'll tell oo about the caterpillars while we work."
"Ah, let's hear about the caterpillars," I said, as I drew the pebbles together into a heap and began dividing them into colours.
And Bruno went on in a low, rapid tone, more as if he were talking to himself.

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"Hush, Bruno!" I interrupted in a warning whisper. "She's coming!"
Bruno checked his song, and, as she slowly made her way through the long grass, he suddenly rushed out headlong at her like a little bull, shouting "Look the other way! Look the other way!"
"Which way?" Sylvie asked, in rather a frightened tone, as she looked round in all directions to see where the danger could be.
"That way!" said Bruno, carefully turning her round with her face to the wood. "Now, walk backwards walk gently--don't be frightened: oo sha'n't trip!"
But Sylvie did trip notwithstanding: in fact he led her, in his hurry, across so many little sticks and stones, that it was really a wonder the poor child could keep on her feet at all. But he was far too much excited to think of what he was doing.
I silently pointed out to Bruno the best place to lead her to, so as to get a view of the whole garden at once: it was a little rising ground, about the height of a potato; and, when they had mounted it, I drew back into the shade, that Sylvie mightn't see me.
I heard Bruno cry out triumphantly "Now oo may look!" and then followed a clapping of hands, but it was all done by Bruno himself. Sylvie: was silent--she only stood and gazed with her hands clasped together, and I was half afraid she didn't like it after all.
Bruno too was watching her anxiously, and when she jumped down off the mound, and began wandering up and down the little walks, he cautiously followed her about, evidently anxious that she should form her own opinion of it all, without any hint from him. And when at last she drew a long breath, and gave her verdict--in a hurried whisper, and without the slightest regard to grammar-- "It's the loveliest thing as I never saw in all my life before!" the little fellow looked as well pleased as if it had been given by all the judges and juries in England put together.
"And did you really do it all by yourself, Bruno?" said Sylvie. "And all for me?"
"I was helped a bit," Bruno began, with a merry little laugh at her surprise. "We've been at it all the afternoon--I thought oo'd like--" and here the poor little fellow's lip began to quiver, and all in a moment he burst out crying, and running up to Sylvie he flung his arms passionately round her neck, and hid his face on her shoulder.
There was a little quiver in Sylvie's voice too, as she whispered "Why, what's the matter, darling?" and tried to lift up his head and kiss him.
But Bruno only clung to her, sobbing, and wouldn't be comforted till he had confessed. "I tried--to spoil oor garden--first--but I'll never-- never--" and then came another burst of tears, which drowned the rest of the sentence. At last he got out the words "I liked--putting in the flowers--for oo, Sylvie --and I never was so happy before." And the rosy little face came up at last to be kissed, all wet with tears as it was.
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The Complete Stories and Poems of Lewis Carroll

Health News

Three interesting news from EurekAlert today:

Study reveals 'secret ingredient' in religion that makes people happier

Mindfulness meditation found to be as effective as antidepressants to prevent depression relapse


Low-dose aspirin reduces death rates from range of cancers by between 20 and 30 percent

Food or Poison?

Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, once wrote: "Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison."

Water is essential to our survival, but too much water can cause water intoxication, which can result in death.

Without oxygen, we die in a matter of minutes. Yet oxidative damage is part of the ageing process.

Can food be poisonous?

Food has been scarce. Starvation have been normal ever since we came into existence. Even today, starvation affects more than one billion people, or 1 in 6 people on this planet.

So whenever we had abundance of food, we over-ate in order to store extra energy to cope with the famine that were bound to happen sooner or later, except in today's developed world, it did not happen. we have had enough food ever since World War II or earlier in North America.

So we ate and ate. Are we poisoning ourselves with food?

According to Dr. Lustig, fructose in large doses is poisonous.

Most spices, when ingested in small quantity are beneficial to us, but are harmful in large doses. For example, black pepper contains small amounts of safrole, a mildly carcinogen. Garlic is another example. Although culinary quantities are normally safe for consumption, there are reports of adverse effects when large quantities are consumed as supplements.

Before we know more about how food works in relation to our health, we must treat food as everything else, that is, " Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison."

Another example of doctors not keeping up with science

Via EurekAlert Doctors failing to prescribe low-dose menopausal hormone therapy, Stanford study finds.

You Might As Well Live

I remember watching an interview with a centenarian. Her secret of living a long life is “You just live.”

Scientists apparently agree. “Reaching 100 years of age may be more about attitude and adaptation than health history, UGA study finds”.

By the way, the title comes from a poem by Dorothy Parker when describing suicidal methods

You might as well live

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.