I brought out my very accurate weighing machine an hour earlier to weigh myself, which I haven’t done in two months. And guess what? I gained 7 pounds! That’s 3 kilos more for you guys who read metric.

7 pounds! That’s a lot.

I’ll tell you why I gained that much. I stopped breastfeeding 4 months ago. To tell you the truth, I’ve been breastfeeding almost a total of 4 years. I stopped each child when he was almost 2.

John at 6 months

Ethan, almost 2

And when I breastfed, weight just peeled off me. Just like that.

I never thought I’d be breastfeeding so long. Really. I thought, 4 months tops per kid. But I found that once I went past the nipple pain (too much info?), mastitis and the need to sleep 24/7, I found it such a relaxing moment to breast feed. Just me and the baby, and some peace and quiet.

If you ever want an almost fool proof diet program to get rid of your baby fat. Try this. And don’t do what I do know, which is still eating for two despite not doing so. Fast track to being over weight.

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More about babies

• Adrian’s Baby Full Moon Celebration
• Mine is bigger than yours

I think the Korean Kimchi Ramen is Korea’s biggest, most popular food export. It’s not the healthiest thing around, but it’s darn tasty. Add a half boiled egg topped with a handful of raw enoki mushrooms and 2 large spoonful of raw kimchi, and you’ll have a pretty nutritious dish full of protein (egg), enzymes and vitamins from the veges.There’s really good probiotics from the kimchi as well that’s as good as what you’ll get from a small pot of yogurt and probably even better than the probiotics pill you’ll find at the pharmacy.

Now, there are lots of other things you can add to make this dish healthier. Maybe some raw green onions, raw seaweed strips, shredded carrots and cucumber. You can be creative.

By the way, most mushrooms sold at the store can be eaten raw. enoki, button, brown mushrooms, Chinese (Shiitake) mushrooms, straw, portobello, bunashimeiji and oyster mushrooms. There’s probably lots other mushrooms not listed. You can check them out online.

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More info on how to heal your body

• Should we drink chlorinated tap water?
• Lots of great raw or almost raw food here!
• “This plant healed my sister!” said hubby
• Gotu Kola heals the world!
• Iodine Tincture Heals Cancer Lesions?

An Indian study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension confirmed that the guava fruit help reduce high blood pressure and high blood fat reading.

Half the participants (73 people) ate 1 pound – 2 pounds of guava daily for 4 weeks. The other group had a different diet. Blood pressure decreased an average of 5%. Fat reading decreased an average of 5-8%.

~ Guava As Medicine by Ingfried Hobert MD & Harald W. Tietze ~

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More info on how to heal your body

• Should we drink chlorinated tap water?
• Lots of great raw or almost raw food here!
• “This plant healed my sister!” said hubby
• Gotu Kola heals the world!
• Iodine Tincture Heals Cancer Lesions?

There’s all types of sweeteners. Right now, white sugar, honey and raw agave are popular. There’s also raw cane sugar and maltose. The (liquid) maltose is very popular with the Chinese. It’s made by first grinding long grain rice into powder. It’s then cooked with malt and fermented. The final product has a golden light honey color and it’s less runny than honey.

Maltose benefits the Qi, moistens the Lungs and relieves coughs due to dry lungs.

You’ll be able to find Maltose in most Chinese grocery stores in major cities around the world, and thankfully, most have the English word “Maltose” on it’s label. If not, ask for Màiyátáng or 麦芽糖

Click on this link to see how it looks like. http://yeqiang.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jiayao/maiyatang.jpg

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More info on how to heal your body

• Should we drink chlorinated tap water?
• Lots of great raw or almost raw food here!
• “This plant healed my sister!” said hubby
• Gotu Kola heals the world!
• Iodine Tincture Heals Cancer Lesions?

A study conducted by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group found that 17 of the top fragrances contained 38 secret chemicals!

Here are the list of the fragrances that has the most chemicals:

American Eagle Seventy-Seven – 24
Chanel Coco – 18
Britney Spears Curious – 17
Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio – 17
Old Spice After Hours Body Spray – 16
Quicksilver – 16
Calvin Klein Eternity for Men – 15
Bath & Body Works Japanese Cherry-Blossom – 14
Calvin Klein Eternity for Women – 14
Halle by Halle Berry – 13
Hannah Montana Secret Celebrity – 13
Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels Wish – 13
Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce – 11
Jennifer Lopez J. Lo Glow – 11
AXE Body Spray for Men: Shock – 10
Clinque Happy – 9
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue – 7

See the problem is, studies have shown that our skin do absorb chemicals that we put on our body.

Frankly, I have not been using any chemical perfumes ever since I got pregnant with my first kid. I didn’t want anything to be absorbed into my baby’s body. Luckily for me, Asians have been using fragrances for hundreds of years. Traditionally, we soak flowers and nice smelling herbs in a warm  bath water, hmmm, about an hour before we take our bath. The wonderful fragrance from the bath water is what would lightly perfume our body.

Image taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/30471084@N07/2937326324

Bathing with fragrant flower water is something most brides-to-be in Southeast Asia will undergo

Asian women also use fresh flowers, like the tiny, pure white fragrant Jasmine flower,  on our hair.

I myself love perfumes, and when I decided to ditch my bottles of perfume, I did feel a twitch of sadness. Only the thought of doing something for the greater good spurred me on.

Ok, speaking of flowers being good for the hair, I’d like to share a natural hair shampoo that you can make at home using the hibiscus flower and leaves.

Hibiscus or Bunga Raya (Joyous Flower) is Malaysia’s national flower. And let me tell you, these plants can be found just about anywhere in Malaysia.

All Natural Bunga Raya Shampoo

• Firstly, you’ll need to collect a handful of leaves and flowers (remove the stems and stamen from the flowers).
• Wash and soak the flowers and leaves for about 15 mins.
• Then, cramp the entire thing into a blender. I like my Magic Bullet for this sort of thing.
• Blend the leaves and flower petal, adding a little bit of water to get the whole thing moving.
• The brown paste is ready for you to use as a shampoo.
• When you are washing your hair, first, be sure to wet your hair.
• Then, massage the brown paste  into your hair (yes, it can be used as a body scrub as well). You will get a mild foam when you do so.
• Wash and rinse really, really well to get everything out of your hair.

This cleanser is very gentle and totally safe for kids as well…  unless they are allergic to hibiscus.

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More info on how to heal your body

• Should we drink chlorinated tap water?
• Lots of great raw or almost raw food here!
• “This plant healed my sister!” said hubby
• Gotu Kola heals the world!
• Iodine Tincture Heals Cancer Lesions?