Living a Sugar Free Sweet Life

I have heard a lot of stories from friends, both online and offline, about how thieves have become so advanced today with regard to their tactics. For instance, a friend related how she almost got robbed inside her own home. The thief was trying to get inside the bedroom window at the second floor of their home and they haven't eaten their dinner yet. That's how early it was. It seems that robbers nowadays do not attack in the wee hours of the morning anymore. They do not have a dog in the yard, not like us.

This is one of the reasons why we chose to keep a big dog. We have two, actually. Musmos (short for Optimus because we got him after watching the first Transformers movie) is of native breed. Bronson, on the other hand, is a Pitbull Terrier. We got him from Ralph's swimming coach a year ago. These two dogs are the reason why thieves, and even neighbors, do not attempt to go inside our yard. They both look ferocious but they are gentle giants.

Bronson


Musmos, with Rap, when he was still a puppy
Our dogs have different needs. Musmos only needs the basics: food, clothing, shelter, and shots. Bronson needs all of those plus pet supplements. He's allergic to chicken so I need to carefully scrutinize his dog food and see to it that it doesn't have chicken. Bronson is a dog that loves to have all the attention. He's our houseboy's favorite. To balance it, I show more attention to Musmos so he won't get jealous.

Yes, our dogs are like our children, too. We give so much time and effort in taking care of them because we know that they take good care of us, too.

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I was able to watch a show on Discovery Channel this morning and it showcased future gadgets that almost made my jaw drop. Most of these gadgets and machines already have existing prototypes in their respective laboratories and scientists are just making some tweaks and repairing bugs before they are released. Their inventors express their desire to make human life easier with the help of these gadgets.

One future machine that I am rooting for is the air-powered car. This car runs on energy that it converts from air. Imagine all the fuel that can be saved because of that! And because it uses air and not fuel, it does not emit smoke that is harmful to the atmosphere.

Another invention that was featured was a computer contact lens. Wearing these contacts is just like taking a lightweight computer anywhere you go. It makes your eye acts like a barcode scanner scanning the images that you see and providing information about them. You will be seeing written information on demand just like when you're googling about something.

I appreciate the efforts of scientists who are constantly researching on ways to further improve these machines. I just hope that they won't forget that these should only be used for the good of all mankind and not use them for man's destruction.

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Ang larawang ito ay kuha noong kami ay manood ng Sea Lion Show sa Ocean Adventure noong Abril. Kailangang basa ang sahig kung saan gumagapang ang sea lion dahil madalas niyang idinudulas lang ang kanyang katawan para maging mas mabilis. Ginagamit din naman niya ang kanyang flippers sa paglalakad pero mabagal ang kanyang galaw kumpara sa pagdulas na lamang sa sahig.

Kung ikaw ay mahilig kumuha ng mga larawan at may mga "basang" litrato kang gusto mong ipakita, sali na sa www.litratongpinoy.com.

This is a shot from the Sea Lion Show that we witnessed at Ocean Adventure last April. The floor needs to be wet so that the sea lion will have an easy time sliding and moving its body around. Sea lions may also use their flippers in moving around but it's slower than just letting themselves slide on the floor.

If you are a photo enthusiast and have some "wet" photos to share, head on over and join us at www.litratongpinoy.com.

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Do I need to get a life insurance? This got me thinking lately. It's not a priority, really. Or is it? Probably if I have extra savings, I would get one for myself although the current state of the world economy may stop me from doing so.

When I was still working in a publishing company years ago, part of our employee benefits was a term life insurance. It was imperative, especially for me, to have one. I was an editorial assistant and part of my job was attending media events. I needed to be insured just in case an accident happened while I was on the job.

This is one of the cons of having a freelance job. I guess I will just try hard to be safe at all times while I still cannot afford to get a life insurance for myself.

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My household switched to brown rice recently after my husband had his kidney stones removed. It was part of our healthy living plan for the whole family. Back then, brown rice in my household was just exclusive for me, the lone diabetic.

Usually, I buy brown rice in 5-kilo packages at a nearby supermarket and it costs me 264 pesos or almost 53 pesos per kilo. Our town's public market also sells organic brown rice for 50 pesos a kilo. I am so glad that, just last week, I was able to find organic brown rice sold at Sta. Lucia East Supermarket for only 39 pesos a kilo. The cheapest white rice in supermarkets is sold at 35 pesos a kilo which means that I only added 4 pesos per kilo to what I regularly spend on white rice. Not bad, don't you think? Before, to cut down on extra costs, I would tell my househelper to mix white rice with brown rice but we need not do that anymore. We can now enjoy pure organic brown rice with our daily meals.

When I was still a kid, I remember eating brown rice whenever we have vacations in the province. I remember hating how it looked like and how it tasted as well. Its texture was coarser than the white rice we ate back home. It was the usual rice in the province, fresh from the farm, dried and pounded the traditional way. My older cousins would tell us that they can only eat white rice on special occasions. Brown rice is peasant's rice, they would say.

Now, it's the other way around. Brown rice is more expensive than white rice. Of course the laws of supply and demand have something to do with that. Another reason for this is that rice manufacturers would need additional specialized equipment to prepare brown rice. Brown rice also has a shorter shelf life compared to white rice so these manufacturers cannot produce much unless they have a guaranteed market for it. By the way, I keep our stock of brown rice inside the fridge.

In the past, white rice has been found to cause beriberi because of its lack of vitamin B1. Vitamin B1 is stripped off the grains during processing. Rice producers were then compelled to enrich their rice. Still, we should remember that part of the process of cooking rice is washing it. This step actually makes the vitamins and phytochemicals go down the drain. Brown rice still has its bran which keeps the innate vitamins and minerals intact even when its washed. Aside from being high in fiber content, brown rice is also rich in manganese and selenium. Manganese helps support a healthy nervous system while selenium reduces the risk of colon cancer. Brown rice also lowers cholesterol and helps in weight loss. Diabetics benefit the most from eating brown rice because its magnesium content helps the body maintain stable blood glucose levels and improves insulin secretion.

It's a hard fact that healthy living is now more expensive than having just the regular stuff. Nevertheless, I would prefer spending a little more than the usual just so we can have a healthier diet. I hope that more and more people get into having brown rice to increase the demand and supply and bring down the costs. For now, I am happy with my 39 pesos per kilo brown rice find.

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When I started designing my diet to become more diabetic-friendly, one of the first steps I did was to avoid white sugar. White sugar or refined sugar is readily available in the market and is what is commonly used in almost every household. I chose to buy artificial sweeteners instead and used it for almost a decade. Since artificial sweeteners available in the supermarket are all manufactured overseas, I was constrained to buy only what I will be consuming. The rest of my household used refined white sugar which is less expensive albeit less nutritionally beneficial.

Refined sugar is stripped off its important vitamins and minerals and is more acidic. High acidity levels in our bodies make us more susceptible to diseases. Aspartame, on the other hand, is believed to increase the incidence of cancer cells in the body. Aspartame is the chief ingredient of artificial sweeteners.

I started using muscovado sugar just this year. In the past years, our local supermarkets do not carry muscovado sugar. Muscovado sugar is often only found in specialty shops or baking supplies stores. Now that there are more manufacturers of this healthy sugar, more brands became available and the prices went down, too. One kilo, as of the last time I did my grocery, was at 70 pesos. It is actually double the price of refined sugar but cheaper than my artificial sweetener brand. Because of this, my entire household now uses muscovado sugar.

Muscovado is derived from the Spanish word "mascabado" meaning unrefined. It is natural cane sugar and is comparable to pure honey in terms of health benefits. It being unadultered and unrefined makes it retain its natural nutrients like potassium, calcium, and iron. Unlike refined sugar that has empty calories, it doesn't make our body have sweet cravings. The empty calories in white sugar make our body want for more sweets because our system instinctively looks for the calories that our body needs for energy. It is also an alternative to using the best diet pills for weight loss since sugar craving is stopped.

Using muscovado sugar has helped me control my blood glucose levels without the danger of having cancer that artificial sweeteners bring. My blood glucose levels just stays within the 80mg/dL to 120mg/dL range.

With this information, I hope that you also give muscovado sugar a try even though you are not a diabetic. Use it as sweetener for almost everything and enjoy its healthful benefits.

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Part of our country's history are the Chinese tradesmen that came over with their wares even before the Spaniards discovered our seven thousand and one hundred islands. The Chinese are known to be very skilled business wise. Even some of the richest families in our country at present are Filipino-Chinese. Some early inventions are born of Chinese ingenuity and this just shows how the Chinese has helped shaped our civilization.

But not everyone is happy with Chinese products. With the event of globalization, China has become active in exporting their products worldwide. They compete well with other imported products by bringing down prices. But being less expensive has made most their products suffer in terms of quality. The "Made in China" tag has eventually earned a not so good the reputation among consumers.

But then, in a country such as ours, cost is still prioritized over quality. During the start of the school year, price conscious moms and dads trooped to Divisoria to buy school supplies. They wouldn't mind if these are made in China. What's important is the price. This is one of the reasons why there are so many Chinese immigrant businessmen in the country today. In my location alone, two stores selling ceramic wares and porcelain tiles sprouted in the past month. I haven't checked out their products yet but I saw pretty porcelain wares by their window displays.

I am the type of consumer who considers quality over price. If I see that the quality is good, I would buy it even if it's Chinese. Heck, my laptop's made in China as well as my year-old TV phone! How about you?

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