There are many ways that you can inherit genes from your mum – you may have her loud laugh, brown eyes, and dimples.

It is common knowledge that your mother has played a huge role in the way you’ve been brought up and in shaping your life. However, when it comes to your health, you can’t blame it on your mother’s genes.

Apparently, the chief responsibility for your health falls on you. There exist risk factors that are within your control, you can manage these factors and take ownership of your health.

Heart Disease

If anyone in your immediate family has had a heart attack or suffered chest pain caused by blocked arteries, then the risk of you developing heart disease increases significantly. However, you can do these things to keep your heart healthy.

Stay fit– Being overweight can lead to conditions that increase the risk of strokes and heart diseases, like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

Maintain healthy blood pressure values and cholesterol levels – High cholesterol and blood pressure can destroy your blood vessels and your heart. You can manage them by following a healthy lifestyle and by taking medication prescribed by your doctor.

Get a regular health check up – You can’t know your risk of heart disease without knowing your cholesterol level and blood pressure levels. Regular health screenings identify dangerous conditions which need treatment.

Consume a healthy diet – A heart-healthy diet consists of limiting the intake of sodium, unsaturated fat, and sugar, while also eating plenty of whole grains, vegetables and fruits.

Quit smoking – According to Dr. Leslie Tay, who is a cardiologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, smoking regularly guarantees you a heart disease in your lifetime. Apparently, no amount of smoking is safe. The more you indulge in smoking, the greater you risk your life. However, fortunately, it’s never too late to quit smoking –the risk of heart problems slow down as soon as you leave it.

Exercise – As per Dr. Tay, being inactive is twice as worse as being obese. Getting involved in even a small amount of regular exercise can remarkably reduce your risk of premature death. It also lowers your blood sugar and cholesterol levels, regulates blood pressure controls your weight, reducing your risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.

No matter how old you are, you should try to identify your risks and learn to manage them. This will reduce your risk of developing vascular and heart disease.

Osteoporosis

If you have inherited a smaller frame or your mother has had thinning bones, then you are more prone to get osteoporosis. However, you can take some steps at a younger age to prevent it from happening.

Taking sufficient vitamin D and calcium –Consuming calcium alone isn’t enough and vitamin D is needed in the body to absorb calcium.

Quit smoking – Human body isn’t able to absorb calcium properly if you smoke. As per studies, intake of tobacco leads to a decrease in the density of bones.

Do weight-building exercises –These exercises improve your bone health and increase your bone mass. You can choose from a variety of exercises like racquet sports, tennis, dancing and hiking.

Also, if some of your relatives have osteoporosis, then you should get bone check ups done at a younger age.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

A person is up to 50% more prone to develop rheumatoid arthritis if their mother had it. In this condition, the immune system attacks the body, leading to inflammation of the cartilage and joint lining. It leads to a painful swelling resulting in joint deformity and bone erosion and joint deformity.

You can diminish your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, in the following ways:

Quit smoking – Smoking not only increases the risk of this disease but it also is associated with a greater severity of the disease.

Stay fit –Obese people have a higher danger of developing this disease, particularly females diagnosed with the disease before 56 years old. You can stay healthy by exercising regularly and by being conscious of your diet.

Avoid caffeine and red meat–People who eat large amounts of caffeine and red meat are more likely to suffer from this disease. However, high intake of vitamin C helps in fighting molecules which trigger rheumatoid inflammation.

Breast Cancer

Your risk of developing breast cancer gets doubled if your mother is diagnosed with it. If someone has inherited a harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, their risk of developing breast cancer increases to between 40–85%, which is roughly 3–7 times greater than that of a female without the mutation.

You can follow these steps to control the risk factors:

Either drink moderately or avoid it entirely– For women, one drink a day is the limit. Drinking two or more drinks a day doubles the risk of breast cancer.

Plan kids early– Consider having a baby before you turn 30. Having the first baby before 30 reduces the risk of breast cancer. Other than that, prolonged breastfeeding for a period more than six months isn’t also good for health.

Stay fit–Maintain a fit body and healthy weight by having an active lifestyle and eating well.

Quit smoking– Higher you smoke, higher is the risk of having breast cancer.

Furthermore, it’s beneficial to appear for health screenings at an early age, if someone has a strong family history of breast cancer.

Migraine

If your mother is troubled by a migraine, then your risk of suffering from migraines increases by 50%. However, you can make it go away by making some changes in your lifestyle.

You should eat foods such as citrus fruits, coffee, chocolates, cheeses, and alcohol. These are some of the common dietary triggers of migraines. Other than this, avoid places with strong smells or bright lights. Get ample rest, manage your stress and drink plenty of water each day.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease increases by about 30–50%, if your mother had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Also, there’s a 3–5% increased the risk of developing dementia. However, there are some things you can do to fight it.

Maintain healthy cholesterol levels and blood pressure –Conditions which increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure also increase the probability of developing Alzheimer’s.

Stay fit–Maintaining healthy weight will reduce your risk of heart diseases, type two diabetes and stroke. These conditions increase the risk of developing dementia.

Quit smoking– Increased amount of tobacco use increases the risk of developing dementia along with a host of other diseases.

Exercise regularly –Apart from reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, exercising benefits brain cells by increasing oxygen blood flow and oxygen flow in the brain.

Research suggests that heart-healthy eating may also have the possibility to protect the brain. Heart-healthy eating includes limiting the intake of saturated fats and sugars and increasing the intake of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

All of these combined can reduce your risk of developing dementia by approximately 20%.

Just because you are genetically inclined to certain conditions doesn’t mean that you are bound to produce them. A complex interplay of genetics is the cause for most of these conditions.

Some risk factors lie within your control, which you can manage to be healthy. While you may be disadvantaged from the genetic point of view, you can still take ownership of your life and take measure to lead a healthy and happy life.

The inspiration for this article has been taken from Health Plus Section, a source of credible health information by Mount Elizabeth Hospitals, Singapore.

The post Do You Share Your Genes With Your Mother? appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

Besides beauty, as you know health and wellness played a huge part in my current lifestyle as I embarked on adapting a healthier lifestyle to my everyday life. So when Vitacare invited me over to their store at The Gardens Mall, I jumped onto the opportunity as I was told we were going to learn about Live Blood Analysis (LBA). I was a curious cat as usual, trying to figure out in advance what is LBA. I was told there will be a live demonstration but I wasn’t told that the demonstration is an eye opening event and one would be amazed with it. Well, I was amazed alright. I walked out of Vitacare that day in awe and I am still in awe whenever the demonstration flashes back into my mind.

We get to see a few volunteer’s Live Blood Analysis that morning. The first volunteer stepped out, had her middle finger lightly poked with a needle to draw out just a small dot of blood and all of us get to sit down and look at the huge screen in front of us.

I didn’t brighten the following few photos just so you could see clearly the blood cells. I was told you can learn a lot about your health and body through looking at these cells. Overall, this volunteer lady’s blood cell was quite good.

However there are a few overlapping cells indicating that she might be a little stress. We could also see sugar in her food floating besides the cells as she just had breakfast lol.

Then things got more and more interesting. Anything that are not round are damaged cells. We all have it in us but more or less depending on our own body and our health state. We could also see white cells, which are more like an amoeba and more translucent. We were told that if you see a lot of white cells, that means the person may have dengue. Okay, that make sense.

After that, all volunteers were given a glass of RIN Enzyme to drink. Another LBA will took place after 30 minutes.

Now, what is enzyme and why do we need enzyme in our body? Enzyme are primarily protein molecules that consists of a few hundreds to a few thousands of amino acids. Without enzyme, no activity would take place in our body. Vitamins, minerals and hormones couldn’t do its job. They are powerful engine that drive every bodily process, including breathing, circulation, food digestion, transporting nutrients, flush away toxic wastes, purify the blood, deliver hormones, balance cholesterol, nourishes the brain, build protein into muscle, feed and fortify the endocrine system. On a larger scale, enzymes slow the aging process and support wellness homeostasis.

I had tried RIN Enzyme personally and I was shocked that it taste really good! It is not meant to be taken as it is as our body wouldn’t absorb it. It is recommended to dilute 20ml (using cup provided) with 200ml of water. And what happened to our volunteer’s blood cell after 30 minutes of consuming RIN Enzyme drink?

THIS! All her cells are so round, so fluffy and bouncy

You can too have your very own Live Blood Analysis (LBA) at The Gardens Mall and Suria KLCC on every 1^st Saturday of the month starting from August.

The charges for the Live Blood Analysis are as follow. Not too bad as you can’t do this analysis at normal clinic and through the LBA, you will be able to find out so much about your health.

• VCard Member during VCare Day : FREE
• VCard Member normal days : RM10
• Non VCard Members : RM30

While we were waiting for the 30 minutes to pass, we learnt about astaxanthin. I only knew the benefit of astaxanthin beauty wise, not health so I learnt something new as well.

I’m not going into details on astaxanthin but you may learn more from these slides below.

For more information on Vitacare, please visit Vitacare Website or Facebook page.

The post Lifestyle Sunday: Discovering Live Blood Analysis at Vitacare Health & Wellness Discovery Journey appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

With a blink of an eye, #IWillBeOkay is one year old now and has entered into its 4th campaign to date. I have an aim of running a campaign every quarter but right after my #IWillBeOkay Trail Hike ended, I got a call from Clinelle asking for a collaboration. Immediately I went into planning mood. I already knew what I want as I have spoken about it for so long, even before the trail hike event. Clinelle was looking forward to “re-introduce” their Hot Body Shaper Cream and my fitness event fits the bill.

The event was supposed to happen in April, a month after 3rd campaign ended. But due to the venue issue, it was postponed to early May. Still not too bad. And since this 4th campaign happened so early, I had more time off now . Planning this Metafit event was way easier than planning a full-on outdoor event like the trail hike because of many reasons such as people management, safety, goodie bags, T-shirts and so on. Due to bad experience from the last event whereas 3 sets of goodie bags and meal was stolen, I took everyone’s advice and charge a minimum fee this time. The fee of RM35 per person is not even enough to cover the coach fee, brunch and the advertising I put on Facebook as well as Instagram. And because there is a charge this time, people are reluctant to sign up unlike the last event. Let’s not even get to the part where I get a lot of sh*t from people asking for medal, cert and many more.

Venue Sponsor

I always had my Metafit training outdoor but due to the time issue, I had to find an indoor venue otherwise everyone will be under the hot sun at 11am. The challenge was to get a studio big enough to fit 40 people jumping and pumping on the floor. My coach suggested to check with Monster Fit if they can sponsor us the venue. Monster Fit said yes!

Monster Fit is at VSQ @ PJ City Centre, along the same road from Armada Hotel. It is in PJ, which many people would be happy and more convenient to go and it has ample parking. I was told by many participants that they had issue going into parking as there was a wedding going on. I reached at 9am and entered the parking in no time so I did not even notice the wedding at the church next door lol. Monster Fit is HUGE. It has all the gym equipment, a swimming pool outdoor and a huge indoor studio, which they kindly lend to us for the morning to have this event. This event would not happen without the kind sponsorship from Monster Fit so a big thank you to Monster Fit

I did everything myself this time, without any volunteer or crew with me except for a photographer. I reached at 9am to install the banners, which I learnt how to do it the night before and not long later my friends from Clinelle arrived. Slowly the participants arrived. My #fitfam from Cyberjaya Metafit class, who is also a runner registered for 8 pax (thank you!) and she too arrived not long later.

Registration was all done by myself as it was not a big crowd and we had everyone fill in the Par-Q Form (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) to determine that everyone is fit to participate in the Metafit session. After the form was filled, the coach will have a word with them to see if they are good to go.

This is the Clinelle goodie bag, fully sponsored by Clinelle. Two full sizes and one travel size. For RM35 registration fee, you get Clinelle products worth RM160. That is a pretty good goodie bag ❤️

Without realizing, Meraki Kitchen arrived with our food and it was caught on camera haha! If you have not tried meal order from Meraki Kitchen yet, you are missing out. They made the best meal ever and it’s healthy! Each pack is full to the brim of the box and it is enough to last you from lunch to dinner lol. Everyone told me the meal pack is too huge and it’s rice. Well, multigrain rice to be exact. They are so supportive towards #IWillBeOkay and this time I decided to order from them again as I know the participants will love it. No, all the meals are not sponsored by Meraki Kitchen BUT they do give me a discount which I appreciate very much. Thank you for the continuous support and believe in #IWillBeOkay, Meraki!

As usual lah, while waiting for everyone to arrive, I like to say this – “come let’s take photo since there’s nothing to do”

And take photo we did! I dragged the coach for some Metafit shots too lol. We did two style, sprint and tuck jump.

Familiar faces! Yvonne from previous event. I was so happy to see her again. This time she dragged a new friend along

We also hand all the goodie bag to the participants and ask them if they would want to try Clinelle Hot Body Shaper Cream before the training starts. It was 10.20am at that time. I figure by the time we start at 10.30am, the heating sensation from the cream has already started and help to burn more fat.

Doing one last head count before the event start.

The fabulous family of 8!

An unexpected friend arrived. Sabrina, my babe from Malay Mail who was sick but decided to come last minute to sweat it all out. Sabrina was the one who interviewed me and crowned me as the selfie queen last year lol. Here is the article. It was supposed to be a front cover news but a bigger news came up and my interview was put to the 2nd page. Still a good story. Selfie was a hot topic and coincidentally at that time I started my selfie game too . That is how I ended up in the newspaper.

We started our Metafit training with some warm up and as usual, the coach will show us all the moves for the day and we would try it out before the real session. And we are already tired even before the real training started.

Although Metafit was tough, 19 minutes in total. But everyone agreed it was a good workout. Some had jelly legs right after the training, some jelly legs after brunch but most of us feel it the next day and that’s normal. It means you are doing it right.

Then it was the cool down session.

Still stretching.

Usually right after an event, everyone would dash to me for food. This time none. I waited and waited but everyone was too jelly legs to remember the food LOL. I have to walk to them to hand over the food and slowly, some of the came over.

I was supposed to hand over the studio by 11.30am but a few of us stay on to have our food, chatting and laughing about the training earlier. Monster Fit was kind enough to let us do whatever we wanted to do but we make sure we did not dirty the place and leave food everywhere. We clean the place and left by 12.30pm.

These are the 20 brave and strong people who signed up for one of the toughest bodyweight HIIT training, Metafit. Bravo! You’ve survived your first Metafit session with #IWillBeOkay X CLINELLE Shape Up Metafit event. It ain’t easy but it works!

#IWillBeOkay X Clinelle Shape Up Metafit is made possible thanks to our Brand Sponsor, Clinelle and Venue Sponsor, Monster Fit.

The post #IWillBeOkay X Clinelle Shape Up Metafit Post-Event: The Most Relaxing but Intense Campaign #4 appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

Many of you know that I run but I think not many of you know that I am also into bodyweight HIIT training as well. In fact, I sort of slowed down my running for HIIT training. And the kind of bodyweight training I am into is not the normal version but rather a more intense workout named Metafit. I spoke about having regular Metafit session for my #IWillBeOkay ‘Fight Against Depression’ Awareness Campaign for so long. Even way before I started planning for #IWillBeOkay Trail Hike event. Because the trail event needed a lot of planning so that took off first.

Initially I am skipping the coming quarter (June) campaign as I am drained out from the last event. However when Clinelle asked to collaborate for an event for their Hot Body Shaper Cream, I jumped onto the opportunity. Hence this #IWillBeOkay Shape Up Metafit Training. Clinelle Hot Body Shaper Cream AND Metafit is a perfect combination!

What is Metafit?

Many have asked, what is Metafit? Metafit is the workout name for bodyweight HIIT training. HIIT means High Intensity Interval Training. Metafit is high intensity workout that includes a series of bodyweight exercises with interval style training. What I like about this training is that it keeps your body burning calories long after your training completed. You even burn fat when you sleep! It is not just a normal bodyweight or HIIT workout, it is more intense, fast and more explosive. To help you understand further, here is a Metafit group workout video I found on Youtube.

The workout is short. The most maximum kill-out session I have had is 22 minutes. That is enough to kill me for the next few days. BUT, it is so much fun. Everytime I walk out of my training, I feel 300% better. Much more satisfying than running. It builds your stamina better and faster. And with consistent training, you will be able to breath better, run longer and faster too (if you’re a runner).

Details of the event

DATE: 6th May 2017, Saturday
TIME: 10.30 am (please come latest by 10am for registration)
VENUE: Monster Fit VSQ @ PJ City Center, Block B4 Level 3A,, Jalan Utara, Section 14 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor FEE: RM35 per pax, limited to 40 pax. Breakfast is provided and Goodie Bag worth RM160 consists of two Clinelle full size products and one travel size product.
Registration ends 4th May 2017.

Terms & Conditions:
Payment must be made in 24 hours.
After payment is made, please email me the proof of payment to confirm your slot.

Why Do You Need To Join?

First of all, you will get to experience what my workout feels like. I had trained with my Coach VJ and now you guys can too. I have seen other Metafit coaches and I still prefer Coach VJ. Probably because I have been training with him since the beginning. Call me bias haha!

Secondly, Clinelle will be there to introduce their iconic product – the Hot Body Shaper Cream. This cream is recommended to apply before training. So you burn more fat. I like that lol. And Clinelle is kind enough to sponsor each participants a goodie bag worth RM160 consisting of two full size products and one travel size. Psstt! Hot Body Shaper Cream is included.

Lastly, one very important reason. You are supporting #IWillBeOkay ‘Fight Against Depression’ Awareness Campaign. This campaign focus on raising awareness and public acknowledgement on depression. The more people talking about the campaign, the more awareness it will raise. When you speak about the campaign, it will spark other’s curiosity and they will too start asking about the campaign. Most importantly, those who are silently battling with depression will know that they are not alone. Many people suffer from depression. And I am hoping they will start seeking the help they need. That is the two main goal of #IWillBeOkay – educate and create awareness on mental illness and encourage those who are suffering from depression to seek the help they need. 

#IWillBeOkay Shape Up Metafit Training is made possible thanks to our supportive Venue Sponsor, Monster Fit. If it’s not because of Monster Fit, we would not have a huge cozy air-conditioned studio that fits 4o people! Monster Fit Gym covers over 18,500 sqf of combined space area, with 6,000 sqf scenic studio, 5 Types of Cardiovascular training equipment, 13 Types of Strength and Resistance Training Equipment, well-equipped free weight areas, outdoor Swimming pool, and a Steam room. Do check out the place at http://monsterfit.com.my/ where we will be having our training. Thank you Monster Fit!

Registration

Registration starts from yesterday till 4th May 2017 for 40 pax only. Successful registration will receive an invoice email so keep an eye on your Inbox and Spam folder. If we have not communicate before through email, most probably my email will goes to your Spam folder.

To register, please go to http://bit.ly/iwbokmetafit. See you on the 6th May! <3

#IWillBeOkay Fight Against Depression Awareness Campaign was initiated to educate and create awareness on mental illness as well as to encourage those who are suffering from depression to seek the help they need. 

The post #IWillBeOkay Shape Up Metafit Training: Registration OPENS! 6 May 2017, Monster Fit Gym PJ at 10.30am appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona