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FRUIT POWER

Kiwi: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, Vitamin E &fiber.
It’s Vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

Apple: An apple a day keeps the doctor away?
Although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

Strawberry: Protective fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits &protects the body from cancer causing, blood vessels clogging free radicals. (Actually, any berry is good for you..they’re high in anti-oxidants and they actually keep us young………blueberries are the best and very versatile in the health field……..they get rid of all the free-radicals that invade our bodies)

Orange: Sweetest medicine. Taking 2 – 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessen the risk of colon cancer.

Watermelon: Coolest Thirst Quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene – the cancer fighting oxidant.  Other nutrients found in watermelon are Vitamin C &Potassium. Watermelon also has natural substances [natural SPF sources] that keep our skin healthy, protecting our skin from those darn suv rays.

Guava &Papaya: Top awards for Vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high Vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber which helps prevent constipation while Papaya is rich in carotene, this is good for your eyes. (also good for gas and indigestion)

Tomatoes are very good as a preventative measure for men, keeps those prostrate problems from invading their bodies.

Hope you spread the word around…God bless…SHALOM!

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FOOD AS MEDICINE

 

Hello people! Just want to share some really helpful and practical knowledge to help us be more healthy and alive! Live life fully!
HEADACHE? EAT FISH!
Eat plenty of fish — fish oil helps prevent headaches. So does ginger, which reduces inflammation and pain.
HAVE FEVER? EAT YOGURT!
Eat lots of yogurt before pollen season. Also-eat honey from your area (local region) daily.
TO PREVENT STROKE DRINK TEA!
Prevent buildup of fatty deposits on artery walls with regular doses of tea. (actually, tea suppresses my appetite and keeps the pounds from invading….Green tea is great for our immune system)!
INSOMNIA (CAN’T SLEEP?) HONEY!
Use honey as a tranquilizer and sedative.
ASTHMA? EAT ONIONS!!!!
Eating onions helps ease constriction of bronchial tubes. (when I was young, my mother would make onion packs to place on our chest, helped the respiratory ailments and actually made us breathe better).
ARTHRITIS? EAT FISH, TOO!!
Salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines actually prevent arthritis.
(fish has omega oils, good for our immune system)
UPSET STOMACH? BANANAS – GINGER!!!!!
Bananas will settle an upset stomach. Ginger will cure morning sickness and nausea.BLADDER INFECTION? DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE!!!!
High-acid cranberry juice controls harmful bacteria.

BONE PROBLEMS? EAT PINEAPPLE!!!
Bone fractures and osteoporosis can be prevented by the manganese in pineapple.

PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME? EAT CORNFLAKES!!!!
Women can ward off the effects of PMS with cornflakes, which help reduce depression, anxiety and fatigue.

MEMORY PROBLEMS? EAT OYSTERS!
Oysters help improve your mental functioning by supplying much-needed zinc.

COLDS? EAT GARLIC!
Clear up that stuffy head with garlic. (remember, garlic lowers cholesterol, too.)

COUGHING? USE RED PEPPERS!!
A substance similar to that found in the cough syrups is found in hot red pepper.
Use red (cayenne) pepper with caution-it can irritate your tummy.

BREAST CANCER? EAT WHEAT, BRAN AND CABBAGE
Helps to maintain estrogen at healthy levels.

LUNG CANCER? EAT DARK GREEN AND ORANGE AND VEGGIES!!!
A good antidote is beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A found in dark green and orange vegetables.

ULCERS? EAT CABBAGE ALSO!!!
Cabbage contains chemicals that help heal both gastric and duodenal ulcers.

DIARRHEA? EAT APPLES!
Grate an apple with its skin, let it turn brown and eat it to cure this condition.
(Bananas are also good for this ailment)

CLOGGED ARTERIES? EAT AVOCADO!
Mono unsaturated fat in avocados lowers cholesterol.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE? EAT CELERY AND OLIVE OIL!!!
Olive oil has been shown to lower blood pressure.
Celery contains a chemical that lowers pressure too.

BLOOD SUGAR IMBALANCE? EAT BROCCOLI AND PEANUTS!!!
The chromium in broccoli and peanuts helps regulate insulin and blood sugar.

Spread the word!!!

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Solidarity

       
sitting inside the circle
watching the flames leap up
and light the eyes
that sit still staring..                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
watching the flames flicker
as tears rolled unheeded
from eyes that sit still staring –                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
into space, into souls
reaching out to each other
in need, in comfort
reaching out as we sit
still staring and listening…                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
and listening as the wind blows
as we sit still staring
inside the circle
part of the circle
one with the circle                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
being present
as we sit still staring
sitting in-side the circle.
*Nursia, February 2000. trainers’ training on education work with women                                                                                                                                                                       
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Let gratitude be my song…

CHRISTMAS ‘08

Dear friends,

At the start of the Misa de Gallo this year, I wrote about how God dragged me out of bed to remind me of the essence of gratitude.  I have not been able to sustain the early morning masses due to recurring fever and colds but I surely would not want to miss out on this opportunity to count my blessings, so here I am…

The blessing of a new job…

 2008 for me began with the sense and the taste of change in the air. I didn’t really know exactly what it was I wanted, but I did know I needed a change..and change I had. It was mid January when I got a call from Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), setting up a job interview.  It was a surprise, considering my application was way back in October, so I went more out of curiosity than confidence.  More surprise in the next week:  I got the job.   However much or less it turned out to be, coordinating a national anti-mining campaign, the experiences and lessons this job change brought  are gifts in themselves.

 The blessing of a father’s love

There had been times over the years when I had reason to doubt Daddy’s love for me and my brothers.  But in the last two years, the invitation had always been to show him how much he means to me/us.  Sometimes, I felt I wasn’t so responsive to this, being far away from his daily reality, and there were times I felt guilty.  But when he finally left last January 26, he left me in no doubt how very much he cherished us.  My sister said he expired soon after my brothers visited him and we talked on the phone.  Perhaps there were also times when I wished I had a different father, but when I think of who and what I have become in this life, the choices I made because of him, I can only feel the blessings of Father.

The blessing of a love lost

Does this sound crazy? Really, I also did not think I would be including this, but how could I just set aside something that changed much of how I thought love should be and finally  discovered to be? I have not given much thought about falling in love at first sight, but when it happened to me in 2007 all my romanticism came into play -and I was lost.  But Myself would not allow me.  I was made to realize I was tilling infertile ground and the pain of letting go almost killed me.  Loving and losing, however, has its lessons and I just had to move on.  Always, he will be a special memory, another member in the community of my heart .  But for now, I simply tell myself that at least I know what it means to fall in love at first sight.

The blessing of a love found (or finally being found)

I did not think it was possible, but there is no arguing love found its way into my heart when I least expected it…when I was trying to get over someone else.  Rebound? Or finally being found?  There are no words to describe those days when I felt myself so strongly drawn and telling myself it couldn’t possibly lead to anything..days when everything felt right even when circumstances are anything but right.  And finally making the choice, almost as unconsciously as inevitably.  There are those who think things can be better, but I am happy with what is and hopeful for what can be. Letting go and letting love find me is the one blessing that makes this year so special to me!

The blessing of friendship

“New friends I cherish and treasure their worth, but old friends to me are the salt of the earth.”  Somehow, in the midst of changes and new challenges, 2008 became a year of reconnecting, redefining, and strengthening friendships formed throughout the years.  I feel I’m entering a new phase in my life and bringing over all the goodness and enrichment of the special people who have touched my life and continue to make heartprints despite distance, elapsed time, even different viewpoints.  Truly, my friends are my treasure.

Let gratitude be my song…

All these blessings presented challenges to different aspects of my being, probing long-held beliefs and surfacing my fears especially about relationships, testing my ideals about peacemaking and prophetic witness for justice, redefining my spiritual convictions and perspectives, learning and relearning and embracing a spirituality of surrender…calling forth a new me. All these, seemingly all at once, and at once ongoing…

Dare I, can i, should I, must I?  What do you will of me God?  The questions tremble even as I watch the days fly by to give way to the new year.  And I must say, if I will only remember all the flak I got for trying to do the job of 3 people as best as I solely can..if I will only recall the many body aches and spiritual depression and other signs of dis-ease..if I will only allow the doubts and insecurities to reign..it’s rather hard to say ‘thank you’.  So, if I must point out one underlying blessing of this year, it’s the gift of hope.

I hoped to have a new venue for service.  I hoped that I would get over a lost love.  I hoped to be strong in the midst of adversity.  I hoped for understanding from family and friends.  I hoped for peace and love in dealing with others and especially myself, sickness and failures and all else.  And now I continue to hope that my year-end intention be granted.

Many times God has not answered me in all the ways I wanted to be answered.  it’s the same experience these past months and I just hope that God’s detours and surprises at the close of this year will be gentle, if not favorable.  But because he has filled me with hope, then and now, my heart sings gratefully.  I can count my blessings, I look to the future with hope and I know without doubt that I am loved.  How can I not sing of God’s goodness?

As the curtain draws close on 2008, I see the same internal struggle of self with God, of letting go and letting God, in the drama of my live. After all these years, different scenes and different tunes, the amazing realization remains the same:  when I truly let go and let God, then I am able to see the more in everything and everything as blessing, and as always, more blessings to claim and enjoy.

I believe 2009 will be the same in that regard.  The difference will be how to believe and hope and love MORE.

I am truly grateful to have you and your friendship in my life.  May you have the more you need this blessed season of gratitude – and always!

Bless you…

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The day God dragged me out of bed

It was already past midnight when I went to bed last night, more to deaden the pain brought on by stomach cramps than for any real desire for sleep; I was trying to finish something and my mind was still very much alive.  As I lay down I remembered the sounds of people coming back from the church after the first anticipated “midnight” mass.  I had just sent an email to my non-Christian beloved about this Filipino tradition, saying I would not be able to attend it this year, and I felt a twinge of regret.  But the pain and sleep finally overtook me..

For about three hours.  Yep! Only about. Suddenly I woke up, fully alert and knowing somehow that I will not be able to get back to sleep, no matter what i’d do.  There are very few times this happens to me and I knew why.  Simbang Gabi.  Somebody up there wants me to do it, cramps or not.  i looked over my bedside clock and sure enough, it read 3:35.  I groaned and buried my face in my pillow, but then the neighbor’s “alarm” sounded, Christmas music blaring forth from their car stereo, loud enough to wake everyone on our street; the car is just beneath my window.  Great! No choice but to get up and get ready.  Already I can hear people walking, teenagers giggling, and other Christmassy sounds floating through my clear head.  Still, I lingered…but when the church bells began to toll, I hurried to the bathroom and got ready in record time.

The church is but a few steps from my place, just across the main road, but it was so jampacked and I saw some of my neighbors had brought their own chairs and they already lined the pavement.  I managed to squeeze myself inside where I could see the altar; it was already Gloria by the time I got in.

By all means it wasn’t the best 1st Simbang Gabi mass, especially the homily, and I’ve been to some.  But the fact that I was totally awakened after only about 3 hours of sleep made me listen well.  There must be something I need to hear.  The priest was asking, “how do we bring Christ back to the center of this celebration”?  How can Christmas be meaningful for us now, today, this very moment?

My mind drifted off to mull on the question for the rest of his vocal exercise Indeed, how can Christ be more (mas)?  Or perhaps, how is Christ more for me this 2008?  The ‘mystery’ of being dragged out of bed became clear.  Don’t miss out on saying ‘thank you’.  Don’t forget to count your blessings.  More than gift giving (yes, I’m feeling the pressure) and the break the season affords us, this is the time for thanksgiving.  Go Gratitude! as one of my e-groups say.  This is the reason why I went straight for the computer when I got in from the church.  Well, after partaking of the puto bumbong of course, which tastes best when piping hot.

I’ve actually started to reflect on my year-end message to friends and family.  Something I started some years ago but for the past 2 or 3 years was not able to send out because I never got to finish it on time.  Somehow I was always putting it aside for the ‘better moment’, for ‘when the inspiration and the words would come’.  So, my gratitude was confined to a few words and phrases of greeting, not the proclamation of God’s goodness which is always my goal when I start writing.  This time, it seems, the Holy Spirit is shaking me, reminding me that feelings of gratitude need to be translated to be appreciated.  Guess I was not giving God his due, is my rueful realization today.

Gra-titude is an attitude and attitude is certainly more than feelings, but feelings acted upon.  Yes, I am grateful for all the blessings received, but I need to show that.  I need, first of all to acknowledge it, to say ‘thank you God’ and to acknowledge it before others, because blessings are meant to be shared.  Have I not learned that telling the story of God’s goodness in my life was my own – and others’ – healing?

Sometimes too we have so many wishes, so many desires.  But unless we do something about them, unless we act on them, they remain only that – wishes and desires.  To be grateful is to let God’s goodness in my life to overflow into others’ lives.  And I must not only think about it; I must do it.

Whew!  Am I glad to get these thoughts out!  They’re probably quite evident for others already, but another thing I’ve been learning lately is that, we never really learn enough.  Always, there are tests and quizzes along life’s road to gauge whether we have learned one lesson fully and we should never begrudge the opportunities to re-learn it in another form, another circumstance.  It keeps us on our toes, it makes us grateful, it helps us better understand that we are co-creators with God and with each other.

Ooooops! i’m tempted to go on, but I’ve already been meandering for a while and my only point in sitting down now is to share the experience of being lovingly reminded of the essence of gratitude.  The list of my blessings will be coming out soon.  the treatise on co-creating with God may come later.  Whenever my next post will come, the sure thing is this:  God sure knows when to give a rude awakening! I dare a joke, Jesus, coz I know you’re laughing with me.  Thank you so much for making me feel your presence in this way, at this time.  You and I know why.  Someday, I might write about that too.

Time to get ready for work.