Plan your daily menu for a healthy living.

I have always been aware of the importance of health since I was young. I have “never taken my health for granted” because I believed that “Health is wealth” and “you are what you eat”. The latest trend is to “Eat what you are”. I will go into this later. But how do you maintain a good health.

What is health?

Unlike animals and plants we need a certain amount of food, clothing and shelter to survive in this ever changing world. Your body needs proper nutrients to grow and glow. Beside food, human being also requires other basic needs, such as love and companionships for our emotional, physical and spiritual development.

When you are young and strong, your body resistance is still strong. The antigens and antibodies in your system, helps you to regulate and control your heath system, including your emotional and spiritual well being. Thus you are not easily weakened by minor ailments such as colds and flu. It will usually go off after a few days rest. But as you age, your body resistance can no more take the slightest jerks; the bones become more brittle; your heart becomes weaker and the blood pressure rises alarmingly.

Food and health

With the advancement of food technology and the variety of food available to us today we are spoilt for choice. But how does our body react to all these good food that is being swallowed into our digestive systems? Will the amount of food we consumed has any influence on our health and optimal well being?

How do we make the right choice? Which food is best for us? Where do we go for advice? Are we eating correctly? Do we need to count calories every time we eat? These are some of the pertinent question that needs to be addressed as we are exposed to the all type of health risks. It is very depressing to know that as the medical knowledge progresses, more and more new diseases are discovered. More and more people suffer from all sorts of medical complications such as heart diseases, diabetics, liver and other ailments which were unheard off in the olden days.

Indeed every living thing needs the daily supply of food to survive and flourish.
Malaysia being multicultural and multi-racial her food choices are a fantastic spread of variety of taste and color.

Malaysia is indeed a food heaven. If you are in Sarawak you will fall in love with her Umai ( the raw fish mixed in asam kelubi or asam paya as the local called it).You go to an Indian Restaurant you will want to indulge yourself in their special banana leaf spreads. Not forgetting the various specially prepared rice dishes such as Nasi lemak, Nasi kerabu, Nasi dagang, Nasi berlauk, Nasi tumpang and all the other sweet desserts such as Jala emas, kueh kelompang, pelepat pisang and hundreds of other specialties from each of the 14 states in Malaysia.

The best part about all these food is that, one need not spend valuable time in the kitchen preparing them. They are easily available all year round in restaurants, market place, and hawker stalls near you. Not forgetting the various fast food restaurants mushrooming all around you.

Controlling your eating habit

We must now learn to control our eating habit. We should know what food is good for our body and what is not. The latest theory is that you should be eating food according to your blood type. This is an interesting discovery because at least everyone should be aware of their blood type.

A book on this subjects has been written by Peter J.D’Alamo,ND entitled “eat right for your type” and “the Answer is in your Blood type” by Steven M.Weissberg. explained what we should eat according to your blood type.

Dr.D’Alamo has classified “food into beneficial, neutral and avoid which are further classified into fifteen types of foods namely; meat, fish, oils, beans, cereals, breads, vegetables, fruits, juices, condiments .etc.”

For further readings please go to http;//www.innerself.com/health/eating _according_to_ancenstry.htm.

One interesting feature about these theories is you should eat according to your blood type which is amazing. I have never bothered about my blood type before. I know it is
type “O” but has never considered it as an important factor in my daily life.

I have been suffering from IBS for more than five years now. I discovered that I cannot take dairy products and had been avoiding cheese cakes (one of my favorite) and carbonated drinks because I will have stomach upset and had to run to the nearest toilet as soon as I consumed these food.

Now I know the reason better. These are the food are under Avoids for people with type “O” blood. But my favorite drink has always been coffee and tea. Now I am supposed to avoid them. Oh! My Gosh! Life is indeed becoming more difficult as you grow older. But I am so happy. It is still not too late to change. I hope?