5 Super Micro-Plants to Include in Your Diet

There are a few plants in Nature that are extremely concentrated with vitamins and minerals surpassing even kale and broccoli. Although micro-plants are related to dark leafy vegetables, they provide a higher level of nutrients than other foods. These micro-plants consist of blue-green algae, chlorella, spirulina, wheat grass, and barley grass. They were the very beginning source of life for this planet and they continue to nourish us well into the future.

Micro-plants come in many forms and colors, harvested both from the sea and dry land, and nutritionally each one is an excellent source of two important phytochemicals, chlorophyll and lycopene. These super powerful nutrients support your body’s ability to detoxify heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxins, plus they are loaded with nutrients to boost your immunity to disease. Micro-plants, commercially known as Green Foods, contain a concentrated combination of phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, bioflavanoids, proteins, amino acids, essential fatty acids, enzymes, coenzymes, and fiber. This means a whole lot of nutrition in small amounts of food. Dr. Richard Schulze, author of Get Well, refers to micro-plants as Nature’s blood transfusion.

It may be a bit confusing to discern which micro-plant is right for you to take, but don’t worry, there are products on the market that combine these Superfoods into one formula making it easy to stir into fresh juice and drink your nutrients. Individually, the more common micro-plants sold in natural foods stores include:

1. Blue-green algae (Cyanophyta): one of the first life forms, scientists have found 3.5 billion years of earth’s existence encoded in the RNA/DNA (nucleic acids) of these primitive organisms. Presently available in loose powder or capsule form, blue-green algae contains the highest amounts of beta-carotene, and nucleic acids than any plant or animal food. Actually, blue-green algae are composed of hundreds of types of algae, spirulina, aphanizomenon and microcystis being a few.

2. Chlorella (Chlorophyta): is a single cell freshwater green micro-algae that is the Superfood of choice for over 10 million people worldwide. The first known form of plant life with a true nucleus, it has survived for 2.5 billion years because of its extremely tough outer cell wall and its ability to quadruple in quantity every 20 hours, making it the fastest growing plant on earth! NASA believes it to be the ideal food for long-term space travel and colonization. It is useful for removing heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxic carcinogens from the body. It contains less protein and beta-carotene than Spirulina with twice the nucleic acid and chlorophyll. It’s cleansing and rejuvenating properties are considered to fight aging, Alzheimer’s, sciatica, palsy, seizures, multiple sclerosis, and general nervous system issues.

3. Spirulina: a microscopic spiral shaped blue-green algae, native to shallow brackish lakes and also known as a cyanobacteria. Esteemed as a Superfood for centuries by people inhabiting the regions surrounding Mexico’s Lake Texcoco and Africa’s Lake Chad, Lake Nakura and Lake Rudolf. It is one of the most heavily researched, nutritious, well-rounded foods on earth being one of the single-celled plants of the blue-green algae family. Spirulina provides more than 100 vitamins and minerals, is 60 percent digestible vegetable protein, with high concentrates of Beta Carotene, Antioxidants, B Vitamins, Iron and Chlorophyll. It’s also a rare food source of GLA fatty acids.

4. Wheat grass: a variety of grass similar to barley, oats and rye, it is grown in fields across America, but the wheatgrass referred to here is grown indoors in trays for approximately ten days and then pressed into fresh juice. The tray-grown grass is used primarily for therapeutic purposes. The sixty-day-old field grown grasses, available in dehydrated powder or tablets, are used primarily as nutritional supplements. Wheatgrass juice is made from sprouting wheat berries, and is very high in chlorophyll. The chlorophyll helps to cleanse the body, neutralize toxins, slow the aging process, and prevent cancer. Wheat grass juice is also effective when applied as an external poultice for burns, poison oak rash and wounds.

5. Barley grass: Barley grass is another green grass that is high in chlorophyll. The young green leaves of barley absorb crucial nutrients from the soil. When barley leaves are 12-14 inches high, they contain vitamins, minerals, and proteins necessary for the human diet, plus chlorophyll. These necessities are easily assimilated throughout the digestive tract, giving your body instant access to vital nutrients. Green barley leaves contain a multitude of enzymes, which supply the spark that starts the essential chemical reactions our bodies need to live.

Next: Are they safe?

These micro-plants are well known by scientists as nutritious and safe to eat. With over thirty years of international scientific research, and thousands of published peer-reviewed papers that document their safety and nutritional and therapeutic health benefits, micro-plants should be a part of everyone’s daily diet. Scientific research continues to investigate each one of these amazing foods, so new discoveries are always forthcoming.

For your present needs there are quality “green” powder drinks that are a combination of all the listed micro-plants, plus fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains and probiotics. Makers of the leading “green drinks” claim that one to two tablespoons of this concentrated powder in water or a smoothie drink will provide you with the equivalent of five to six servings of vegetables. Check the label for ingredients and nutritional breakdown.

Excerpted from The Everything Superfoods Book, by Delia Quigley, with Brierley E.Wright, R.D.

A better food pyramid?

It has been a while since the food pyramid underwent any significant changes. Some experts, like Marion Nestle, suggest that the current pyramid may be contributing to the obesity crisis with its overemphasis of carbohydrates (e.g. breads, cereals, and grains). Those food groups currently make up the biggest layer of the food pyramid, suggesting that people should eat more of those than any other food group.

Designed by Andrew Lasky and selected by judge Marion Nestle, the new design included a two column layout specifying what we should eat more of and what we should eat less of. On the "more" side, it focused on farms, variety, plants, and moderation. On the "less" side it mentions factories, monotony, meat and excess.

While Nestle loved the two-column design, she did mention that she wished it addressed the overconsumption of carbohydrates and emphasized fruits and vegetables more than grains.

What’s Wrong With Eating Too Full

"The more you eat, the sooner you die. The lesser you eat, the longer you live." This is what Dr Lee always says in his health talk. He also mentions, "Eating too full causes all sort of health problems such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, etc."

Why eating too full is so harmful to your health? What can you do about it?

Mice experiment
To see how eating habit affects life span, a professor from University of Texas did an experiment on mice.

For the first group of 100 mice, he let them eat without any restriction, just like a buffet meal. The second group was fed only 60% full. And the third group was given food without restriction too. But this time, he reduced protein content to half. After 2.5 years, guess how many mice were still alive out of 100?

• First group (eat without restriction) - only 13 mice was alive. Opsss...
• Second group (eat 60% full) - 97 mice was still alive. Only 3 mice died.
• Third group (eat without restriction with protein cut half) - 50 mice still alive.

What can we learn from these results?

Firstly, eating too full is really harmful to your body. Secondly, eat 60% full if you want to live longer and healthier. Thirdly, taking too much protein is harmful to your body too. We don't need so much protein after all.

Overworking body
Imagine having a small family car. Instead of using it for short travel between home and office, you use it for long distance travel between different cities every day. Instead of using it 1 hour a day, you use it for 10 hours a day. Instead of driving at 70 km/h, you always speed up to 170 km/h, hitting engine's red line.

Can you estimate your car life span? Do you expect having various problems with your car after a short time?

Driving your car at high speed for a long time is like always eating too full. You force your body to always work at its red line.

Do you know digestion is the most demanding work for your body? Think about the organs involved such as your mouth, stomach, liver, pancreas, duodenum and intestine. Think about the length of digestive tract from your mouth to intestine.

Eating too full zaps up much of your body energy for digestion. Otherwise, this energy may be used for other purpose such as enhancing your immune system.

Do you realize you become very tired easily after a big meal? That is the sign of your body working hard to digest all the food you take in.

If you eat an extra bowl of noodle, your pancreas has to produce extra insulin hormone to process the extra carbohydrates you take. Your liver, stomach and intestine also have to produce extra enzymes to digest and process specific nutrients from that bowl of noodle.

Therefore the more you eat, the harder your body has to work to process it. Of course, we must eat to survive. But we don't have to eat that much!

If you drive your car slowly and handle it gently, you can use it for a long time. But if you always floor the accelerator and drive like a rally driver, you know the consequence on your car life span.

Side effect of eating
Your car engine burns fuel to move your car and bring you to anywhere you like to go. As a result, the engine produces exhaust smoke which is toxic. It must be dispersed out from your car.

Similarly, your body cell burns nutrient for energy to survive. In the process, it produces free radicals. Since free radical is toxic to your body, it has to be neutralized and expelled.

"Just metabolizing food - especially fatty and carbohydrate-rich fare - causes the body to produce free radicals, which attack cells and can promote the development of chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes and cancer," says Ronald L. Prior, Ph.D.

Of course, your body can control free radicals in small quantity. But the more you eat, the more free radicals your body produces. Without adequate control, these free radicals easily attack your body cells and eventually cause all sort of diseases.

Good eating habit
After knowing the harmful effect of eating too full, what's your choice? Do you want to live longer, just like the second group mice in the experiment? Or do you want to risk ending your life earlier, just like the first group mice?

If you wish to live longer, here are some tips you can follow:

1. Always eat until 70% full. Do not exceed 80% full. You may want to stop eating when you feel slightly full.

2. Avoid having buffet style meal which makes it harder to control how much you eat. Instead, prepare the food you want to eat in a plate. After finishing it, don't add anymore food.

3. Leaving the dining table earlier may prevent you from picking some extra food to eat.

4. It is always a good idea to prepare lesser food in the first place. Some people are afraid of having not enough food for everyone. Actually, lesser food is beneficial for everyone. In a restaurant, order in small amount first. You can always add in some extra order if necessary. But if you can get by with the original smaller order, that's great. Remember this: You have higher chance of overeating if you serve more food on the table. You have better chance of not overeating if you serve less food.

5. Avoid stuffing your fridge with ice cream, chocolate or other dessert. You cannot eat what you do not have.

6. When someone prepares a big plate of food for you, look at it first. Ask yourself, "Do I want to stuff it all into my stomach?" If your answer is no, just put aside some food to another empty plate first. After finishing your food, look back at the extra food on that new plate. Say to yourself, "Phew! Luckily I didn't stuff that portion into my stomach."

7. When you get too hungry before your meal time, just take some fruit instead of heavy meal.

The tendency to overeat is very high for modern people. Do you know most monks only eat twice a day? Monks wake up at 4am, meditate and say their prayer. They have their simple breakfast at 7am. Before 12pm, they have their lunch. They eat no more after that. No tea break. No dinner. No supper. Yet they still look strong and energetic.

Of course, we don't have to eat like them. But it reminds us we can eat less and stay healthy. So remember to eat only 70% full if you want to stay healthy.

A New Food Pyramid

Do you have acidic body condition? What causes acidic body? And what is the correct food pyramid to prevent acidic body?

Your blood pH level is 7.4 which is slightly alkaline based. Your body automatically maintain this pH level to ensure proper body functions.

But if you take in too much acidic food, your blood tends to become more acidic. To maintain pH level of 7.4, calcium in your bone will be extracted into blood stream since calcium is alkaline based. Eventually, you will have all sorts of body stiffness, body pain and even bone spur.

Acidic body environment also prevents your immunity cells from functioning properly. This in turn leads to lowering of your immune system. You will also have poor blood circulation. In short, most diseases are caused by an acidic body.

Acidic food
By acidic food, it doesn't mean the food must has acidic taste. We burn the food into ash and mix it with water. Then we test the water for its pH level. This is how food acidity is determined.

So what type of foods are acidic in nature? These are:

• Meat
• Fried and grilled food
• Beans and nuts (peanut is highly acidic)
• Rice, wheat, noddles and bread
• Sugar and sweet food (except fruits)
• Salty food

And what type of foods are alkaline in nature? These are:

• Fruits
• Vegetables

Balanced diet
Naturally, you should take a balanced diet to maintain a slight alkaline body condition. Forget about the old food pyramid where you must take rice, wheat and bread the most. Here is a new food pyramid you can follow:

• One forth of your diet should consist of meat and beans (acidic)
• One forth of your diet should consist of rice, wheat and bread (acidic)
• Half of your diet should consist of fruits and vegetables (alkaline)

Do you realize this new food pyramid consists of half acidic food and half alkaline food? This balanced diet helps to keep your body in a healthy acidity level. Actually, your body is slightly alkaline. Therefore, it is even better if you can take more fruits and vegetables.

In your next meal, see how much acidic and alkaline food you take. Make sure you have a well balanced diet for a healthy and strong body.

How To Strengthen Your Bone

Have you ever wondered why some people suffer from arthritis in the early age of 40s? Why some people seems to have strong bone even in their 50s? How you too can strengthen your bone with adequate calcium intake together with a healthy lifestyle?

On average, your bone density reaches its peak between 30 and 35 years old. After that period, your bone will start to get weaker as part of aging process.

When a woman is 30 years old and a man is 40 years old, the rate of bone loss begins to accelerate. For every 10 years, bone density will drop by about 3%. In addition, menopause will also increase a woman's bone loss. This eventually worsen the osteoporosis condition.

Osteoporosis always occurs without being noticed. It is always being neglected. However, taking food with high calcium helps to prevent or prolong osteoporosis. Below are some of the foods rich in calcium:

Main meal: Wheat grass, oat, grain bread, cereal, rice

Meat: Pork's bone, spare ribs, beef, dried meat floss

Seafood: Small dry fish, prawn, crab, abalone, tiger prawn

Vegetables: Water spinach, edible seaweed, hair weed, laver, carrot, potato, barley, lyceum

Fruits: Persimmon, mandarin, papaya, grapes, apple, star fruit, pea, pineapple, watermelon

Milk/egg: Egg yolk, milk powder, cheese, milk

Others: Yeast powder, black sugar, honey, black sesame, yellow bean, black bean, green bean, red bean, peanut, green tea, red tea

Points To Heed

1. Having a balanced diet not only help your body to absorb enough calcium, it also prevent the lack of activator due to malnutrition, which affects calcium absorption. A balance diet contains enough vitamin C, zinc, magnesium and copper that can prevent bone loss.

2. Have adequate amount of soy isoflavone (genistein) by taking soybean, soy bean milk and bean curd.

3. When you drink milk, do not overheat the milk in order to avoid damage to its enzyme. Overheating will affect calcium absorption.

4. Avoid taking too much meat or processed food. Excessive protein and phosphorus can obstruct calcium absorption.

5. Take less salt, oil and sugar as they too will affect calcium absorption

6. In your diet, try to take some vinegar which can speed up calcium absorption.

7. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. These bad habits can reduce estrogens level in your body and affect calcium absorption.

8. If you are consuming calcium tablet, it is wise to take it one hour before breakfast and consume it with fruit juice.

9. Food that contains oxalic acid such as spinach will bind with calcium to form calcium oxalate compound and reduce calcium absorption.

10. During growth or pregnancy, heed on calcium absorption so that you can prevent osteoporosis in old age.

11. Be cautious about taking medicines that can influence calcium absorption.

Daily health care tips

1. You must have adequate exposure to sunlight that can assist in producing Vitamin D which promotes calcium absorption and strengthens the bone.

2. Having enough amount of exercise can strengthen bone manufacturing cells and bone endurance.

3. Have some light stretching exercise before you do proper exercise. If abnormality in muscles and bones occur, you must stop exercise.

After the age of 40, try to prevent taking part in aggressive outdoor activities. For women, they must prevent period abnormality which can increase the loss of bone substance.

4. Keep a proper posture and prevent body bending.

5. Make sure your posture is correct when lifting heavy goods.

6. For elderly people or those with osteoporosis, they must avoid falling down.

7. Have a disciplined life. Avoid sleeping late at night, smoking or drinking alcohol.

8. Have a regular check up on osteoporosis.

Bone problem is hard to cure. Therefore, remember to strengthen your bones before it's too late!

Why Your Stomach Hate Ice Drink?

Imagine it is winter time with falling snow. It is freezing cold out there but you still go out for a walk. And there you are walking alone in the park while enjoying the scenery.

It's nice isn't it? But wait. Did I say that you're naked? Yes, naked! How would you feel walking outside at zero degrees Celsius, naked? I bet you would shiver madly. You can't walk properly. You can't even talk properly! And you body feels numb.

That's not very nice, isn't it? Well, put on your cloth and sweater now. Go back to your house. Sit near a fire side and have a cup of hot coffee.

Feeling better? After half an hour, you will feel normal again. Great! Now take off all your cloth and go outside again for a walk!

Hey, Stop it! Why torture me like this?
Good question. Actually, that's the question your stomach asks you while you're enjoying a glass of ice drink.

You see, most people prefer having an ice drink especially in hot summer days. Ice Coca-Cola, ice lemon tea and fruit smoothies are among the favorites. But do you know that while you're enjoying your ice drink, your stomach is crying like hell! Why?

Your stomach is lying inside your body, naked. And you just pour in gulps and gulps of ice water at near freezing temperature. It shivers. No sweater. No fire side.

It cannot do its work, which is digesting the food you take in. There are different types of enzyme in your stomach to help digestion. At below 10 degrees Celsius, those enzymes cannot do anything. So your food just sits there in your stomach.

And what happens next?
Now that your stomach is freezing, it will draw in heat from other organs such as liver and kidney. After 10 to 30 minutes, your stomach finally gets warmed up and reaches 37 degrees Celsius, which is your optimum body temperature.

At last, it can carry on with its digestion work. But guess what happens? You take in a few more gulps of ice water again! Immediately, your stomach temperature drops to below 10 degrees Celsius again. It is helpless. But do you hear your stomach shouting, "Hey! Stop it! Why torture me like this?"

What happens when you torture your stomach like that?
Your digestion slows down significantly. If your food stays too long in your stomach, it will undergo fermentation process. This causes burping. Beneficial nutrients will also reduce. And after a prolong time, you may get heartburn when gastric acid flows upward. It may even damage your vocal cord!

You will worsen it if you take spicy food and ice drink alternatively. When spicy food goes in, your stomach expands. But when ice drink goes in, your stomach contracts. The continuous stomach expansion and contraction is really damaging.

Your stomach couldn't stand it. And for a prolong time of torture, you may get all sorts of stomach problem including stomach cancer.

Does this mean you cannot take any ice drink? Well, it's best if you can avoid ice drink. However, taking it once a while is okay. If possible, leave some time gap between your meal and ice drink. The longer, the better.

Remember to take care of your stomach. You only have one.

Meat. To eat or not?

Why should we limit intake of meat:

Cancer

A pan-European study of nutrition and cancer found that people who ate more than two 80g portions of red meat a week were 30 per cent more likely to develop lung and colorectal cancer than those who ate less than one portion.

Scientists are still unsure why there is an increased risk, but there is a theory that the compounds haemoglobin and myoglobin, found in red meat, trigger a process called nitrosation in the gut which in turn leads to the formation of cancer-causing compounds.

Processed meats such as sausages may also be risky because the cooking process can create carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCAs).

Alzheimer's disease

Research has shown that a Mediterranean diet - low in red meat but rich in plant foods and fish - can reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's by up to two-thirds.

Again, there is no firm theory on this. Researchers University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) suggested last month that red meat could be linked to a build-up of iron in the brain, causing the opposite effect of antioxidants; in effect, the brain rusts. The researchers suggest it may also explain why more men develop Alzheimer's, as men eat more red meat than women.

Bones

Too much red meat can have an adverse effect on bone health. The digestive process of protein leaves acid residues in the body that need to be neutralised with alkalising minerals - and these may be taken from the bones, leading to a higher risk of osteoporosis and other conditions. While green, leafy vegetables are high in calcium, red meat has a low level and can cause excess acid to form, creating bone problems for the future.

Arthritis

Eating red meat every day could double your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists believe that collagen, found in red meat, may trigger an immune system response, which may also affect the joints.

Additives contained in processed meats may also play a part in the increased rate of the disease.

Cholesterol

Red meat is one of the first foods that doctors advise patients to stop eating if they are at risk of heart disease, because it contains high levels of dietary cholesterol.

A build-up of cholesterol in the arteries can eventually stop blood flow and trigger heart attacks.

However, it depends on the type of meat you are eating; lean red meat is relatively healthy - it is the fatty chops and burgers that are more risky.

Red meat is also high in saturated fat, which has been linked to a range of cardiovascular problems, including high blood pressure.

Food poisoning

Meat is highly subjected to contamination. The Food Standards Agency has launched an investigation into the safety of red meat after research suggested that beef, lamb and pork are the cause of one in six outbreaks of food poisoning. Experts are to test samples to find out the amount of bacteria in them, although the problems are more likely to be linked to poor hygiene in the home than to standards at abattoirs.

Up to 60 percent of chickens sold in supermarkets are infected with Salmonella entenidis, which can pass to humans if the meat is not heated to a high enough temperature. Another pathogen, Campylobacter, can also spread from chickens to human beings with deadly results.

Aggravates Global Hunger

The 4.8 pounds of grain fed to cattle to produce one pound of beef for human beings represents a colossal waste of resources in a world still teeming with people who suffer from profound hunger and malnutrition.

Today, hundreds of millions of cattle are being fed precious grain so that American and European consumers can enjoy the pleasures of "marbled" beef. Meanwhile, nearly one billion people suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and between 40 and 60 million people mostly children die each year from starvation and related diseases.

Currently, more than 70 percent of the U.S. grain harvest and more than one third of the grain produced in the world is fed to cattle and other livestock. We could provide proper nourishment to more than a billion people if we used the world's agricultural lands to grow food for human consumption rather than feed for cattle and other livestock.

Environmental Costs

U.S. factory farms generated more then 1.5 billion tons of animal waste every year. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), livestock raised for food produce 130 times the excrement of the human population, some 87,000 pounds per second.

The much-publicized 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska dumped 12 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, but the relatively unknown 1995 New River hog waste spill in North Carolina poured 25 million gallons of excrement and urine into the water, killing an estimated 10 to 14 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of coastal shellfishing beds. Hog waste spills have caused the rapid spread of a virulent microbe called Pfiesteria piscicida, which has killed a billion fish in North Carolina alone.

More than a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in the U.S. are used in animal production. Nearly half the water consumed in the United States is used to grow feed for cattle and other livestock. Beef production alone uses more water than is consumed in growing the nation's entire fruit and vegetable crop.

In the book "The Food Revolution", author John Robbins estimates that "you'd save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for an entire year." Because of deforestation to create grazing land, each vegetarian saves an acre of trees per year.

The grain-fed cattle complex is now a significant factor in the generation of three major gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide that are responsible for global warming. The burning of the world's forests for cattle pasture has released billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The world's 1.3 billion cattle and other ruminant livestock emit 60 million tons of methane through their digestive systems directly into the atmosphere each year. Moreover, to produce feed crops for cattle requires the use of petro-chemical fertilizers which emit vast amounts of nitrous oxide. These gases are building up in the atmosphere, blocking heat from escaping the planet, and could cause a global climate change of cataclysmic proportions in the next century

Path To Health

Have you ever wondered? With improvement in medical field and technology, we should have a longer and healthier life. But why do cancer rate keeps climbing every year? And why childhood disease keeps increasing? Why do we have new and deadlier diseases every now and then? Why do human keep contradicting diseases at an earlier age?

The reasons beside due to environment factors from human evolution, are Diet, Emotional Health and Lifestyle.

Today, we can no longer rely on doctors to look after our health problems. Till we stepped into the clinic, it may too too late as not all diseases are curable. Taking medicines only control the symptoms temporarily. And most people simply underestimate the side effects of medications.

So what is the solution? While taking medicines or health supplements, you must also control your diet, emotional health and lifestyle. Only then you can really improve your health in long term.

Control Your Diet

This is the root cause for poor health. As the old saying: "病从口入，祸从口出". You are what you eat. In short, below is the food you should avoid or limit yourself to:

- Food high in salt and sugar
- Food high in saturated and trans fats
- Intake of Meat
- Barbecued or grilled food
- Charred food
- Preserved or processed food
- Deep fried food
- Intake of alcohol

But then again there're people who love eating so much so that they would rather die eating these delicious but unhealthy food. My grandfather is such a person. He passed away in agony from colon cancer at the age of 55.

Look After Your Emotional Health

Mental illness is becoming more common and is fast becoming one of the main cause for health problems. Negative emotions, depression, anger, stress do affect and cause great harm to your body and is more difficult to treat then physical illnesses.

Being emotionally and mentally healthy doesn't mean never going through bad times or experiencing emotional problems. We all go through disappointments, loss, and change. And while these are normal parts of life, they can still cause sadness, anxiety, and stress.

The difference is that people with good emotional health have an ability to bounce back from adversity, trauma, and stress. This ability is called resilience. People who are emotionally and mentally healthy have the tools for coping with difficult situations and maintaining a positive outlook. They remain focused, flexible, and creative in bad times as well as good.

Building your resilience

Letting yourself experience strong emotions, and also realizing when you may need to avoid experiencing them at times in order to continue functioning

Stepping forward and taking action to deal with your problems and meet the demands of daily living, and also stepping back to rest and reenergize yourself

Spending time with loved ones to gain support and encouragement, and also nurturing yourself
Relying on others, and also relying on yourself

Taking care of yourself by:

- Get enough rest
- Exercise to relieve stress and lift your mood
- Get a dose of sunlight every day
- Engage in meaningful, creative work
- Get a pet
- Make leisure time a priority
- Make time for contemplation and appreciation
- Socialise yourself and be a volunteer
- Participate in religious activities

Do things that make you feel good. Go to a funny movie, take a walk on the beach, listen to music, read a good book, or talk to a friend.

Think about the things you're grateful for. Mediate, pray, enjoy the sunset, or simply take a moment to pay attention to what is good, positive, and beautiful as you go about your day.

Doing something that benefit others. The meaning and purpose you find in helping others will not only enrich and expand your life but also make you happier. You may also find someone with common interest.

Improve Your Lifestyle

Our lifestyle, the way we live is closely related to our health. A change of lifestyle can in fact lengthen our life span. Changing of life style is difficult as most of us have been living with bad habits for a long time.

- Early to bed, early to rise (10pm - 6am)
- Avoid over eating
- Exercise regularly
- Quit smoking and alcohol
- Avoid unhealthy social activities
- Learn to cook healthier food
- Spend quality time with family

Our health lies in our hand. No one can determine how healthy we want to be. Each of us are responsible for our own health. It is our heaviest responsibility for without health, we'll not be able to fulfill all other responsibilities.