The one with something worked finally

I'm so happy that finally a diet has worked.  I've tried several diet regimens and everything did'nt seem to work. But now I'm very hopeful that I think finally has given me concrete effects. :)

I'm on ketogenic diet for two weeks now.  The objective is Low Carb-High Fat diet. 

I like this diet because:
~ I can eat and get full until i'm satisfied.
~ The ones that I need to avoid are food that I can easily let go off (well except for the sweets)
~ I don't have to drink anything, food supplement or the like. I just have to count the carbs.

Ketogenic diet requires someone to eat low carb. as a starter and if you really want to lose weight, you have to stay at a 20g. of carbohydrates per day.  How do you count the carbs? Read the label. :) I've learned to always read the label.  Here are some tips that you can read about.  I got this from dietdoctor.com.  For two weeks that i'm on this regimen, I lost about 5 lbs already and I'm so happy that i'm not craving for sweets (chocolates, ice cream) which is very unusual of me. haha. I hope i'd be able to get used to this and stick to the regimen for a long time.  Apparently, i have friends who know about this too and it has become effective on them too. :) i'm excited!

LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) means you eat less carbohydrates with a higher proportion of fat. The most important point is to minimize your intake of sugar and starches. That way you can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.
A number of recent high quality scientific studies show that LCHF makes it easier to lose weight and control your blood sugar. And that may just be the beginning.

The basics

• Eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
• Avoid: sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes).

Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low fat products.

Real food. Add some good fat (like butter).

There are good scientific reasons why LCHF works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of the fat storing hormone insulin drops. This increases your fat burning and make you feel more satiated.

Note for diabetics

• Avoiding the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar decreases your need for medication to lower it. Taking the same dose of insulin as before might result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You will need to test your blood sugar frequently in the beginning and adapt (lower) your medication. This should ideally be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable physician. If you are healthy or a diabetic treated by diet alone or just with Metformin there is no risk of hypoglycemia.

Dietary advice

Eat all you like

• Meat: Any type. Beef, pork, game meat, chicken. The fat on the meat is good as well as skin on the chicken. Try to choose organic or grass fed meat if you can.
• Fish and shellfish: All kinds. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring are great. Avoid breading.
• Eggs: All kinds. Boiled, fried, omelettes. Preferably organic eggs.
• Natural fat, fat sauces: Using butter and cream when you cook can make your food taste better and make you more satiated. Béarnaise, Hollandaise, read on the packages or make it yourself. Coconut fat, olive oil and canola oil are also good options.
• Vegetables growing above ground: All kinds of cabbage, such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes and more.
• Dairy products: Always select high fat options. Real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, fat cheese. Turkish yogurt. Be careful with regular milk and skim milk as it contains a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low fat products.
• Nuts: Good to eat instead of candy in front of the television (preferably in moderation).
• Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not a super strict /-sensitive. Good with whipped cream.

Maximum 5 grams of carbohydrate (excluding fiber) per 100 g of food is a basic tip for beginners.

Avoid if you can

• Sugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals. Preferably avoid sweeteners as well.
• Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, french fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. »Wholemeal products” are just less bad. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK if you’re not too strict with the carbohydrates.
• Margarine: Industrially imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. Has no health benefits, tastes bad. Statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
• Beer: Liquid bread. Full of malt sugar, unfortunately.
• Fruit: Very sweet, plenty of sugar. Eat once in a while, treat it as a natural form of candy.

Once in a while

You decide when the time is right. Your weight loss may slow down a bit

• Alcohol: Dry wine (regular red wine or dry white), whisky, brandy, vodka, drinks without sugar.
• Dark chocolate: Above 70 % cocoa, preferably just a little.

Drink most days

• Water
• Coffee: Try it with full fat cream
• Tea

The one with christmas around the corner

Let me be the first to greet everyone a Merry Christmas! This is my favorite season of the year and I'm just too excited that it's just months away! Yey! Christmas is just the best...everyone's all happy, everyone's celebrating Jesus' birth and everyone's together for the season. :)

Merry Christmas! :)

The One With Not Ordinary

I can't tell you enough how happy I am that Simone is enjoying school. She loves going to school everyday. And when the weather bureau had to cancel prep classes one time, she even went on a crying hysteria because she couldn't go to school! Totally beats me why, as everyone loves "NO CLASSES TODAY" announcements, right? Turns out, my baby isn't like all the rest :) I just hope it continues till she grows up and through the college years.

So anyway, my birthday is officially over and I've got tons of pictures to remember it by. (Next time, I'll get Display Banner Stands as remembrance, as big as the ones we used for my kiddie parties, ahehehe). Will upload those pics soon. I promise!

The One With Gotta Start Shopping!

August is almost over and September is here. I know, it's the start of BER months and Christmas is drawing near! So, that's probably why I keep thinking about exquisite little something like beading supplies from Beadaholique and yes, gift vouchers for discount deals on the Internet! Of course, I am not getting addicted with online deals, it's just that it's nice browsing through the offers and thinking "hey! I could give this as a Christmas gift!" and you know it's almost Christmas and everyone will start Christmas shopping soon, so I really just want to start my shopping early, that' all. And I AM NOT ADDICTED to online deals at all. Hehehe. I don't sound convincing even to myself :) Ok, Ok, I love online deals! Ahahaha! One of these days, I'll tell you more about the craziest deals I've ever got. But they're really fun, aren't they?!

The one with imo

When I was young--er, m mom used to say..."You have too many friends, you spend so much time with them..." and I'll just shrug it off thinking that "yeah i really do have a lot of friends and I like it the way it is".  But over the years, I managed to retain two major circle of friends -- my childhood friends and my bestfriend.  I think it's the longevity that has maintained our friendships throughout the years. 

But having my hands full and with my friends being busy as well, I miss them.  I actually got emotional that on my birthday, I was expecting I'd spend time with my childhood friends but since the situation called for otherwise, we had to reschedule.  And by the time I asked again, everybody was busy once again. :(  And to add to the imo, my best friend forgot to greet me.  I was more surprised than disappointed. You see, for years, she has always been my first greeter.  She even greeted me ahead of Simon.  She never forgets...until now. And I can't blame her because we have'nt seen each other in months, we don't talk that often anymore and I suddenly missed her.

I know, I know, this post ruins the celebration mood from my birthday but I just wanted to share it.  So if you have close friends, please spend time with them.  Next to family, they're the next best treasures one can find.  I miss all of you! I hope we'd catch up again soon.

The one with out of date

Okay, now that my digits are out of the calendar, I've come to realize that turning 32 must have been hard to accept, haha. But I found myself on the other side of the fence.  It was the same feeling of celebration, being thankful for all the blessings and for what God has placed me now. 

The celebration lasted for almost three days.  As always, it was a working birthday.  My husband took a leave but I had three events that day and i managed to drop by to the two parties and glad everything turned out ok.  Then we went to the mall, had dinner and enjoyed good family time.  The following day, we attended church service and had buffet at Imperial Palace Suites together with my family and Simon's.  It was a good lunch.  We capped off our family time with Starbucks (of course, i had to choose a hotel with a starbucks nearby) and spent the rest of the day in the hotel.  Simone had so much fun.  We watched, they swam, used the bathtub, eat comfort food (read: junk food) and just relaxed and chilled.  We went home feeling relaxed and recharged. 

Thank you Lord for giving me another year.  Thank you Lord that You are the God who has always been with me.

More pictures to come! Oh and in celebration of another year, I had a new hairdo! Bob cut rocks! :)

The One With Home Sweet Home

So, we heard that my SIL Skokie and her husband Jayson are doing great in their new house. How they're slowly getting settled and how they even got a free cable installation cared of the house lessor (what a shame, I was planning to give them a Bell Télé satellite system! haha!)! Kidding aside, Simon and I were really thinking of something to give them, just to help them settle fast. Even though we know that their moving out of my in-laws house is for the best, we still miss them, Simone particularly when we came visit and she found her tita gone. Oh well, life's life.

The one with childhood friends

I've always felt blessed that I had childhood friends. as in friends i've known since i was 6 years old.  And seeing Simone having a close friend in Aliya brings joy to my heart, knowing and hoping that they'd be friends til they grow old too. Aliya is the kikay one, in terms of making herself beautiful (hairdo wise) and i'm so grateful that she has influenced Simone one way or another in agreeing to having her hair clipped or combed at least. hahaha. I love it when they spend time together, giving us moms (Abi and I) a chance to chat and relax a little.

 take care of each other babies :)

The One With Birthday Celebration

So my birthday celebration was over and it was super. Well, I didn't get an everlon diamond knot collection for a present (hehe) but still, I had a great time with my whole family. We had a sumptuous buffet lunch in the hotel we're we've also checked in for the day, and then chilled out in the adjoining Starbucks downstairs. It was a totally relaxing day! More stories and pictures to follow :)

The One With Happy Birthday

It's my birthday! --in a few hours time, that is. And yes, we're having a bit of a celebration too, just like we've managed to do every year, with close friends and family. This year, we're going to check-in at a hotel and have dinner celebration after with the whole family. So, I hope to fill you in with more stories later, as I prepare myself to enjoy my day and hope that the family will have a great time too. (Heck, if I could bring in a log loft bed so they could all sleep in the hotel too, I'd do it!) Hehehe.  Happy birthday to me!

The One With Successful Exams

So examination week is over for my little preschooler. She aced all her exams and made me a proud mommy once more. I'm still thinking of a good reward for her conscientiousness at school (I don't even have to urge her to study!), but since she's always managed to twist me around her little fingers every time she wanted something and I've graciously gave in to her wishes, I might as well not think of a reward any more and just let her pick what kind of Barbie, or dress or skirt or whatever, she wants this time. Really, I may have to buy barcode scanners in the near future to keep tabs of her purchases! Hehehe. But of course, as long as it's within my power, she can always have what she wants :) Congratulations, Simone! We love you!

The One With New House

Congratulations to my SIL, Skokie and BIL Jayson for finally finding a house of their own! So they're moving out of my in-laws house on Sunday and will finally experience how it's like just the two of them in the house :) you know, independence + household keep + financial responsibilities = happiness! Well yeah, the financial bit part doesn't exactly spell happiness, but they always come with "power", so that's a good thing. House warming time! They don't have to send invitations like formal bridal shower invitations either! Ah! I so love parties!

The One With Online Deals

Online deals are one of the things that's making me crazy these days. Aren't they great! I know one way or the other it's a marketing strategy designed to lure us consumers into spending our hard-earned money, but I truly think it's one of the greatest ideas people have ever made since Bill Gates invented Windows!

They're practically everywhere. It's like online deal websites have sprung up to life overnight and there's a deal here and a deal there, I don't know where to start! Hahaha! Aren't they just clever of stripping us off our money? Sometimes, I even see some beauty deals that are so hard to resist, like 50 percent off on beauty items like dead sea bath salt. But then again, what good is our money if we can't spend it, right? Ya, I'm beginning to sound like Rebecca Bloomwood  in Shopaholic :)

The One With Going Healthy

Not many people know that I've taken on a new diet. Yep! I'm on a diet. Some herbal nutritional regimen that I must follow in order to loose weight. Hehhe. I really really hope the program works, because I've even decided it's time to give gym another try. So you see, I'm trying to complement the diet with an exercise. And no, I'm not being desperate (who say's I am?). Hahaha. In fact, I'm thinking of making this my "lifestyle"! Well, I can certainly tell you that it's not just a simple craze like electronic cig seems to some smokers. So, wish me luck!

The One With Contemplating

I know I've written about Simone's accident already but I just feel like writing about it again, especially as every time I think about it, I still cringe inwardly and wonder not for the first time if I could have avoided it from happening. I know I shouldn't blame myself, but I guess when something happens like that right before your eyes, like a slow motion film playing before you in a few heart-stopping minutes, they'll keep coming back to haunt you. I just wish we have something like a Medicare part D plan here in our country like they have in the US, because we don't really know what life's gonna throw at us next, do we?

The one with simone's accident

This is a post i made to a forum i'm a member at...Wanted to share as a guide for other moms out there.

i would'nt mention the name of the mall establishment and the clothing store na lang din siguro.  Anyway,  it was a sunday and i came from my parties that day.  It was a busy day so to reward myself, i wanted to go a little shopping after attending church service.  Since i always tag my kid along, she also wanted to go shopping with me. So we went inside a clothing store and i was looking into the items on sale (of course, dapat sa laging naka-sale. mas madali i-justify sa husband yun e. hehe).  I was literally three steps from Simone and i can see her thru my peripheral vision. As i bent down to get an item on the rack, admittedly, i had like a 5-second timeframe that she escaped from my sight and when i heard the saleslady in a loud voice, "ay baby, wag ka sumampa dyan!" i looked at simone to find out that she used one of the clothing racks as a hangbar.  the display rack kasi is like an inverted T-shaped clothing rack eh ang catch, it had no clothes hanging in it.  so as in bar lang sya.  then it was so fast, the whole thing just fell off. as in the whole T-shaped rack.  it's made of wood and steel.  when it fell straight to the floor ng patayo, syempre babagsak na yun and that's when i shouted.  Sa lakas ng sigaw ko, Simone had the survivor instinct to move away from the falling display rack but she was still hit on the forehead.  Grabe, it was traumatic and i felt so helpless seeing her being hit by wood where in fact i was just several steps away.  Pag kuha ko agad sa kanya, super iyak sya. her forehead got swollen immediately but she's a strong kid.  After a while, she calmed already and i asked her kung san pa masakit.  she pointed her forehead, and foot tapos pag kita ko may sugat din pala and she has scratches sa cheek nya :(  Ang mas traumatic was when a couple of mall security officers went to the store and asked us to go to the clinic so simone can be checked for head injury.  SOP daw sa kanila. mas dito pa umiyak anak ko e, seeing the big buys in uniform. parang feeling nya something is wrong with her.  at that time, sabi ko nung una wag na lang pa-check pero my husband and i realized pag hindi namin napa-check and something went wrong, they won't take responsibility in it kasi we didnt follow the proper procedures.  So we went anyway and then the doctor said that we observe our kid for seizures, headache, blurring vision or vomitting in the next 24 hours.  For me, it was one of the hardest moments. my gosh, i can never forgive myself if something happens to my kid so literally that night, i was waking up almost every hour checking her temperature, if she's still breathing, or something.  Thank God, that Monday when she went to the school, she even got 4 stars pa and nothing unusual naman so everything was ok.  I got depressed for a couple of days after that incident though.  Feeling ko failure as a mom that i was just nearby but i was'nt able to protect her.  Buti na lang my husband comforted me na accidents really happen (kahit ayaw kong tanggapin na while with me, dun pa sya na-aksidente) and that i'm the best mom Simone can ever ask for. (hehe) pero pag naaalala ko pa rin yun, i really feel bad about myself. :(

I drafted my letter to the store and the mall establishment.  We wont be filing complaint to get even.  We just want them to know that they have to strengthen their tenants' rules and regulations when it comes to furnishings and fixtures on every tenant of their mall.  kasi admittedly, kahit maglambitin anak ko dun the whole day, the T-shaped thing should'nt fall. dapat kaya nya yun weight. for some of you who've seen my kid, she's medium-built, di sya mataba as in pero di rin ganun ka-skinny. and yun lang i wanted to share rin lang siguro to finally let this out of my system and tell the other moms out there to be always alert and not just a step ahead, but ten steps ahead of our kids. and realize also na kahit sa mga kid-friendly places, these things can really happen.  grabe, my kid is not even the hyper type and i've always felt that she's old enough to roam around as long as i can see her and she's just an arm-length away...hindi pa din pala.