While driving to the nearest supermarket
for my groceries, I overheard on the radio, the voice of Malaysian international
actress Datuk Michelle Yeoh’s community message. It was in Cantonese and it sounds like this
after my translation.
“A woman does not only dominate her
home, but is capable of leading a country”.
I
nodded my head with agreement. Married women nowadays are certainly not just
merely your home-bound housewives who spend most of their time at home. With
the rising cost of living and the rising inflation rate, a majority of women
choose to work and have a career of their own, while juggling their different
roles in life. Be it being a working single lady, a wife, a working mother,
stay-at-home mom, work-at-home mom, driver, cook, you name it.
Women have so many roles to play in
today’s fast-paced lifestyle that often we tend to compromise on our own health
and well-being, not to mention beauty rituals too!
It is time to start taking care of
ourselves with the basic tips below that are often forgotten:
1. Get enough sleep and rest
Sleeping allows the body to repair and
regenerate itself. It also helps the brains to process and file new information
collected during the day. To get a restful sleep, reduce the need to use the lap
top, Internet, mobile and avoid late-night shows. Going to sleep earlier before
midnight is beneficial as every minute of sleep you get before midnight is
equivalent to about four minutes after that.
Taking a day off at least once a week from
our daily tasks or responsibilities for a complete ‘me’ time also allows us to take
a break from the daily stresses, enabling us to recharge our energy to continue
our task cycle, which often seem never ending. This prevents exhaustion and
build-up of stress that may only deter us from doing more!
2. Healthy eating
Avoid highly processed, refined, pre-packaged
and fast food. These are food bought off-the-shelves that are usually laden
with sugar, hydrogenated fats, preservatives, colourings and other additives.
As a rule of thumb, the longer the food can be placed on the shelf, the longer
the substances will remain in the body and harm our overall body function and
performance resulting in a sluggish body. Aim for fresh and natural vegetables
and fruits.
3. Take supplements
As much as we would like to stay
nourished by eating healthy wholesome food, our diet would still lack of some
essential nutrients due to our often inconsistent daily diet and depletion of
nutrients from the soil where most of our food source come from. There are four
types of supplements that are necessary for optimal health and performance.
- Multi-vitamins preferably wholefood multivitamins
- Balance Trance mineral (eg: zinc, slenium, Magnesium, ETC)
- Antioxidant : Vit C, CoQ10
- Omega -3 oils
More will be discussed about the
benefits of the above supplements in the next post.
4. Exercise
Exercising at least 30 minutes a day
helps to relieve our everyday pressure and stress. Try doing some light
physical activities that you enjoy such as jogging, swimming, yoga or simply
brisk walking or stretching exercises. Exercise also allow better mind and body
coordination.
5. Hydration
Our body consists of more than 70%
water. Every individual’s hydration need is different. For example if you weigh
50 kg, you should drink minimum 50 ounces or 1500 ml of pure water a day. That
is about 7 to 8 glasses of water.
Let’s practise these diligently as a
first step to giving yourself a healthier body and mind, to be able to live
better and do more!
By CL,
CL is a new mom, who is still exploring
the joy of motherhood. She has chosen to commit to her family and baby while
working at home. She believes in giving them the best of love and health by
first loving herself.
