Cooking Oil.... Do you REALLY know about them???

I have been reading this book since I got it and I cannot put it down.

Interesting part of is, it made me realize about Omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids
Taken from page 12. It said
"There are many different kinds of fats in food and most of them are bad guys, as we've already seen. Omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, are the good guys.

The key differences between omega-6s and omega-3s are these:

• Omega-6s cause inflammation, constrict blood vessels, encourage blood platelets to stick together and form rigid cell membranes.
• Omega-3s reduce inflammation, dilate blood vessels, deter blood platelets from sticking together and form flexible cell membranes.

For optimum functioning you want flexible cell membranes, that is, omega-3s. But in the modern diet, omega-6s outweigh omega-3s ten times over. Although omega-6s are essential, that ratio is thought to be too great. So you need to aim for more omega-3s than omega-6s.

Omega-3s abound in oily fish. However, flaxseed is the only known non-fish oil that provides more omega-3s than omega-6s.

In other words, if you don't eat fish, try to use flaxseed oil as much as possible. You'll also find vegan omega-3s in rapeseed (canola), soy and walnut oils, but flaxseed is better because of its low omega-6 content."

After reading this, now I know the reason why I changed my cooking oil to a normal type rather than high-tech type.

Before I read this book, all I know is the cooking oil I am using consists of omega-3 and omega-6 but unsure about the ratio, just that it made my kitchen full of black sticky oil every where and it is hard to clean. Back in 1980s, I remember the cooking oil I used will only made the kitchen oil and rather easy to clean compare to current cooking oil and I always wonder what will happen when I eat inside, what or where does it stick inside my body. That made me make the change of my cooking oil.

Reading labels...

Lately I been reading label a lot, almost every label; especially formula milk. In fact, I am very concern what my children are consuming especially they consume at least 5 times formula milk per day. This is what I found.

Corn Syrup Solids
Consumption of large quantities of sugar and high fructose corn syrup have been linked to behavioral disorders such as ADD as well as other issues such as anxiety, daytime drowsiness and nighttime insomnia.

Feeding your baby sugar and corn syrup also increases your child's risk for a wide spectrum of other health problems ranging from dental cavities to high triglyceride levels to nutritional deficiencies. Even the mainstream medical establishment warns of the dangers of added sugars.

Refined Carbs
Refined carbs are considered unhealthy carbohydrates. These complex carbs have had the fiber stripped away so they act as simple carbohydrates do in the body; they are digested rapidly, which causes a spike in blood sugar followed by a crash. They are essentially empty calories, and according to the University of Tennessee, refined carbs may even lead to the development of diabetes.

Really have to watch out what I put inside my mouth.

Then, I found that other name for SUGAR...
So, here is a list to help you identify the different forms of sugar in your food:

1. Barley malt
2. Beet sugar
3. Brown sugar
4. Buttered syrup
5. Cane juice crystals
6. Cane sugar
7. Caramel
8. Corn syrup
9. Corn syrup solids
10. Confectioner’s sugar
11. Carob syrup
12. Castor sugar
13. Date sugar
14. Demerara sugar
15. Dextran
16. Dextrose
17. Diastatic malt
18. Diatase
19. Ethyl maltol
20. Fructose
21. Fruit juice
22. Fruit juice concentrate
23. Galactose
24. Glucose
25. Glucose solids
26. Golden sugar
27. Golden syrup
28. Grape sugar
29. High-fructose corn syrup
30. Honey
31. Icing sugar
32. Invert sugar
33. Lactose
34. Maltodextrin
35. Maltose
36. Malt syrup
37. Maple syrup
38. Molasses
39. Muscovado sugar
40. Panocha
41. Raw sugar
42. Refiner’s syrup
43. Rice syrup
44. Sorbitol
45. Sorghum syrup
46. Sucrose
47. Sugar
48. Treacle
49. Turbinado sugar
50. Yellow sugar

My favorite wet tissue!

Ever come across reading label of each of the everything.

I love this because it is fragrance free and paraben free (cancer causing agent). It is gentle and no soap feel.

They are not available in well known departmental store. Only specific mini mart have them.

My Last Journey in Breastfeeding

She is 2 years old today.  Happy Birthday, sweetheart!  Thank you for being my little girl.  Thank you for all the precious moments we shared.  The love, the hugs, the kisses, the fun, the tears, the laughs... Thank you so much.

 

She was on fully breast milk till 3rd October 2012, then mixture of 1 or 2 times formula when breast milk was not enough.  Therefore, my goal is fail.  Sigh.

 

Eventually I feel very guilty because she really cannot accept formula milk and she refuse to drinks.  I gave her Fernleaf, which she totally cannot accept the taste.  Then I switched to Enfagrow, she can accepts this taste but she is only drinking 4oz per times compare to 8oz of breast milk per time. Hopefully she will get used to it soon.

 

I am still pumping but I can only produce about 6oz per day which is barely enough for her one meal.

 

I feel sad & guilty for not producing enough and IT IS HARD TO GIVE UP.  I am reluctant to give up.

Romantic color?

I always thought romantic color is purple because it is the color of passion but recently my friend told me romantic color can be any colors as long as it is soft.

Ohhh... I am definitely curious about and I googled it and found out this.  Definitely an eye-opnener. :)

Article taken from Top 10 Romantic Colors

1. Purple is the color of romance and passion. It is the most feminine color amongst the top 10 romantic colors. Use the color purple in Valentine's Day flowers, gifts and decorations to awaken the romantic spirit in your beloved.
2. Maroon is the symbol of outrageous passion and imagination. Maroon is mostly used in Valentine's Day dessert to sweeten the romantic relationship. Many restaurants also use maroon candles on dinner tables.
3. Pink is the color of innocent love and affection. It is the gentlest color amongst the top 10 romantic colors. Pink is the perfect color for new relationships. This is the reason why pink roses are as popular as red roses on Valentine's Day. Pink teddies, candies and pink satin bows area also very popular parts of Valentine's Day celebrations.
4. Orange is a very bright color and suggests fertility and happiness. It stands for fulfillment. This is the reason why orange candies, cakes and flowers are used greatly on Valentine's Day.
5. The color blue symbolizes trustworthiness. So, if you want to assure the love of your life of your honesty then gift a bunch of blue orchids. It also has subtle erotic suggestions. This is the reason why blue light is used in Valentine's Day parties and night clubs.
6. Yellow stands for wisdom and illumination. It is symbol of the sun and hence suggests power. Yellow is not a very popular romantic color. However if you want to complement the beauty of your beloved then this is the perfect color for you.
7. Green is color of royalty and can be used in Valentine's Day decorations.
8. Red is the most popular color in top 10 romantic colors. In fact it is a vital symbol of Valentine's Day celebrations. Red Candies, Valentine's Day cards, red hearts and red roses are very popular parts of Valentine's Day celebrations.
9. White suggests purity and is popularly used in Valentine's Day decoration.
10. Lavender is another very popular romantic color used on Valentine's Day.  

My favourite is PINK!  What is yours?

Time to wean her off!

Teething, teething, teething..... 4 front teeth (2 at the bottom and 2 at the upper part) bite plenty of teats, making the teats hole becoming bigger - because of these, I changed a lot of teats for her.

One day, she decided to surprise mommy with her strong teeth or she was throwing tantrum and mommy ignored her... and she did this to her pacifier. She bites it off.  This is the first pacifier she bites off.

You know what it mean... weaning her off from her pacificer.

When she asked for her pacifier, this is what I give to her.  When she saw what I gave her, she will shake her head.

It has been 3 days without pacifier.  She did asked for it about twice per night but eventually she can live without it.

Well, I am preparing her for play group next year.  Weaning off her pacifier is the first step.  Then diaper is the next, now training her to tell me when she needs her potty.

Somehow, we managed.

Felt Flower

New hair clip for Joey!

At first, planning for non-sew project but the glue turned out to be a disaster creation, maybe I have not get used to glue-ing everything.  Another new thing to learn.

I sewed this hair clip with OWL button.  I love this OWL button, it is just way too CUTE.

For this hair clip, soft felt was used and it attached to infant snap hair clip.

It turned out to be quite nice but I do think I need a lot of practice to make it perfect.  For now, I learn to appreciate imperfection thingy... :p

It is perfect on her, just that I placed the button up-side down.  sigh... another mistake, another experience, another learning curve.

Buttons.... anyone?

I never knew there is such a thing called "self-covered button" till I came across a very interesting tutorial by Christina Williams on "DIY Bobby Pins".

I went so many places just to hunt for this self-covered button and you know what, they nearly never exist.  Bobby pin with glue pad also nearly never exist as well.  So hard to find it and they are not available in local store, I purchased them all online.

Fabric? Beautiful fabric that imported from Japan or anywhere else also hard to find.

OK, I know, I know. I should stop complaining.

I think these buttons are CUTE.  What do you think?

As you all can see, still have 3 buttons are not belong to Booby Pin / snap hair clip.  I am not sure what to do with them yet.

You guessed it correctly.  Now all these belong to my little girl, Joey!!!

Yay! Way to go.....

My Lastest Addiction...!

 This little snap hair clip, handcrafted by me for Joey.  Joey has super fine hair, so I am using infant snap hair clip wrapped with felt.  This little hair clip measure about 5 cm in length.

Not too small nor too big.  Just nice on her.

Gone Soon.....

Previously, in this two-door fridge consists of 3-levels of freezer.  Level 1 & 2 were full with frozen breast milk but now they only filled with bottled mineral water to save my electricity bills.

Level 1 of 2-door fridge.  Once upon a time it was filled with frozen breast milk.  Now filled with bottled water to save my electricity bill.

Level 2 of 2-door fridge. Once upon a time it was filled with frozen breast milk. Now filled with bottled water to save my electricity bill.

My deep freezer.  I brought it just to store my precious breast milk for my little girl, Joey.

Now, a level starting to empty. 

I am not producing as much as I used too.  Nowaday, I could only pump out about 18oz of milk per day.

I am thinking to increase my milk supply by taking lactogenic foods & herbs, but come to think again, Joey is 20.5 months, approaching 24 months.  Soon, I will be achieving my goal for giving her breast milk till her second birthday.

I missed those day where I could pump out 60 oz per day, where my 2-door fridge & my deep freezer were filled with frozen milk till no place for new frozen milk.  Upon that time, Jessie helped to finished up mommy's breast milk.

Life Style aka Family Gathering

My family and I were having breakfast at McD.  When I looked around the restaurant, it made me realised that quite a number of family having breakfast as well.

Breakfast at McD during weekend/public holiday is expensive as you are paying near double of weekday price and surprising a lot of family are there.

Why am I having breakfast @ McD on weekend?  It been months since we had one.

When I asked my hubby "Look, so many family are here even though breakfast @ McD during weekend is double."  He replied "McD is selling life style nowadays NOT food."

I guessed Saturday & Sunday are those two days where family really sit down and having fun together.  Where young children get to see their mummy & daddy rather than pre-school teacher / nanny.  Where they can get most attention from parents.  Where they got tons and tons of story to tell them.

Jessie & Joey love Saturday & Sunday because non school day and no nanny day.

Jessie at this age really a chatter box, he cannot stop talking.  He can talks everything under the sun.  EVERYTHING.  Sometime, he really makes me headache.  He can non-stop calling me mummy for a thousand times without getting tired.

Joey loves to imitated whatever Jessie is doing, from expression to motor skills.

When I was missing from their sight for 5 minutes, they will look for me.  Guess what?  That is the biggest reward for me. :)

Jingle Junle Breast Milk Storage Bag : Newly Improved

I did blog about "New Improved Breast Milk Storage Bag from Fabulous Mom", the complimentary pack after I complaint to Vivian.

Anyway, I am pretty happy with result as non of them leak.

I end-up brought 10 packs from Vivian last year during a baby fair.  I used up 4 packs and non of them have any leakage problem. I am happy with the results.

I only left with 6 packs as shown above.



Teacher Day 2012

Jessie got back from school with his message book given by the school that noticed us, the parent, for anything events/activities will be happen in the near future.  So it happen, Teacher Day for Year 2012 is just around the corner.

When I told Jessie about the message saying that we are going to do a flower (or more if time permitted) for his class teacher.  He added a house for Ms C, his day care teacher, number for Ms E, his ASP teacher & a tree for Ms H, his principal.  I was very surprised by his reaction and meaning that these teachers mean a lot to him.  I got a lot to do during the weekend, a lot of art work to be complete.

First, we did the flower for his class teacher.  He drew a big purple circle for the petal, 2 small circles for the pollens.  When cutting half way, he said "Mommy, I cut not nice.  Please help me to cut."

He pasted them as I instructed him.  When come to the leaves, I only drew one leaf.  He cut half and I cut half.  When pasted the left, he added flower has 2 leaves.  I said one should be enough, then he said "No mommy, two leaves".

Jessie got his own high requirements when comes to flower.

It looks like big lollipop rather than flower.  We shall see what can we do to further improve it.

A house for Ms C, his day care teacher.  I guessed a picture frame of a decent house will do.  He cut the sun, paste it and highlighted it.  He gave it 2 eyes and a smile.

I cut the tree & drew the outline, he pasted it.

When come to clouds, must be three, such a requirements.  He drew the outline with guides.

The house must be pink (do not ask me why, Jessie loves it that way, LOL).  He drew the outline, pasted them and he said chimney is brown. He even drew 3 clouds of smoke coming out from the chimney.

The outcome came out quite nice.

Another 2 art works to go. How it going to looks like?  I am unsure myself.  One thing I knew, children have a great imagination. 

Jessie, you make my day.

Love you.

Mother's Inspiring Video About her Blind Baby Boy

"People ask her why she didn't choose to abort her boy. They stare at both of them. They talk behind their back. But none of that matters because this mother knows that her boy is beautiful just the way he is. What a great video."

This video was share in my FB, the title caught my attention.  The description made me wanted to watch.  I could not hold my tears, such a beautiful story about a beautiful mom & her little baby boy.

She & her hubby never give up till this moment.  Beautiful story inspire me a lot, to look things in different views.

God bless you.