With a really hot weather, you might break out and put your health to high levels of risks. Actually, getting careful on a hot season should only take a little effort from your side and a simple common-sense.

Day-to-day activities can be strenuous, even a simple walking or running wears you out on a hot day. These together with air temperature result to a, really, warm core body temperature. Now, your body reacts to such situation by transferring more blood infusions all through out your skin. You will feel a cold sensation, as a result. The bad thing in here is that lesser blood is left for the muscles. That is why, at the same time, you will feel your heart beat increasing and faster.

Have a cooler summer!

During a hot day, more stressed is experienced, because your sweat is only able to evaporate slowly, with the heavy humid around, it competes in part. This should, also, heighten body temperature, as well.

How can you endure such a hot day? To prevent suffering from a wearying heat exhaustion and possible heat stroke, you can do these precautions:

1. Remember tips and helpful ways in making a hot day, a cool one.
• Add several more recess or breaks during working, so that you can have time to drink more water or juice.
• Relax and enjoy your summer vacation.
• Re-schedule your strenuous activities like soccer field games or outdoor tennis games.
• Be sure to stay in shades like tents or small waiting areas.
• Use a big umbrella to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
• You can, also, stay in air-conditioned rooms, if it is possible, but if not, you can instead, twice (2x) take a bath in a day (or more.)
• Observing a proper diet can, also, cool things down, like eating chilled salads or fresh fruits. This should lessen your time in the stove.
• Moreover, alcoholic drinks can make your body really hot, so avoid it.
• In terms of fashion, dress lightly and choose pastel colors. Cotton is, still, the best material for your dress in a hot day. It is lightweight and reflects heat away from your body.
• Keep a bottle of water, always, with you.
• Help elders or kids suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion; bring them immediately to the nearest clinics or health department.
2. Know the early signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke symptoms, for quick first aid applications. These can be heavy sweating or no sweating (very dry skin), headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, body weakness and fainting, paleness or redness, very high body temperature, fast heart beat and stammered lines.
3. Use proper heat stroke treatments. Such a situation can be life-threatening. You should treat it as an emergency. For first aid steps, when finding a victim, be sure to carry him or her to the nearest shady place like under a big tree or inside a store. Loosen clothing, you can open the top buttons or remove totally the shirt. Apply cold materials, like a damp cloth or ice, on the victim’s neck, face, armpits or feet. Splashing small amounts of water all over the body can, also, helpful. Although, letting the victim drink water or treated with alcohol is a no-no. While you are doing these, the body temperature should be recorded in account. During life saving cases and the ambulance or health experts are still not there; call the health hotline for medical assistance.

Please read  How To Prevent Heat Stroke and Taking Care of Heat Stroke Patients for more information about heat stroke. I personally recommend it and share it to your loved ones and friends.

Be cool this summer! I hope the tips mentioned will help you to even be more cooler!

Really? Is there such a way to reduce weight naturally?

Wait, before I answer that let me tell you first that I’m a little bit few marks higher on weighing scale than my supposed to be natural weight. The good news is, according to my recent visit to my doctor,  I lost 2 pounds since the last time I visited him.  I think the biggest factor that helps me to loose weight is my active participation in mountain biking and running. I actually had my first 10KM run during Run United last March 04, 2012.

Our family picture during the Run United 1 2012

The other reason, although I dreaded the word “DIET”, is the body cleansing through…diet. And this is where how to reduce weight naturally comes in.

You see, our body detoxify itself daily. However, if we don’t monitor what we eat, there’s a tendency that our body systems become overload with toxic and wastes. These wastes  comes mostly from processed foods and even pollutants that we breathe in.

Cleanse diet detox helps us by getting rid of the harmful  and toxic matter from our body. It is also designed to increase our body stamina and energy.

The next question you might have in your mind right now is, isn’t dieting expensive that requires a special menu? Well, on the contrary, it’s not. If you really want to detoxify your body, you don’t need to shell out more money than the food that you might already have in your table or fridge. Fresh and whole foods is all you need!

Fruits and green vegetables are best for detoxification. Since it’s summer time, flush out the toxins in your body by drinking fresh squeeze juices such as oranges and carrots. Drinking plenty of water also helps a lot. It keeps your body hydrated.

If you can, (and since it’s Lenten season here in the Philippines), you may want to skip eating of meat for some few days.  Skipping or eating less meat is good for your health and proven way to lighten up on the scale.

Reducing weight without resorting to unnatural methods is possible. Try to participate in a more physically challenged activities such as running, and  eat (as much as possible) more fresh and unprocessed foods.

If you would want put your kids into good night sleep and the best ever, I would recommend this relaxation CD, “The Sleep Fairy”, which is authored by Lisa Malkiewicz. She is an effective stress management consultant for children, guided imagery specialist and also a mother like us.

“The Sleep Fairy” sets a creative mood for kids when going to bed and envisioning a place called the Sweet Dreamland. In each chapter, delights, humor and up-turns will bring long hours of giggling. Through developing mental habits, your kids can be guided according and taught how to be independent as well as self-nurturers to overcome childhood insomnia or solve child sleep problems.

Here are the magic ingredients given by “The Sleep Fairy”:

• Progressive Relaxation
• Remembering Positive Events of the Day
• Guided Imagery
• Good Behavior and Self-Esteem
• Good Dream Direction

“The Sleep Fairy” can cater to newborns of 1-2 months old up to kids of 5-12 years old. It can also as well improve sleep patterns in kids. Lisa is very knowledgeable in the primary activity of their brain and recognizes taking enough sleep to be affecting in pattern. More from her, she said that there are 2 changing types or states of sleep in kids. They are the quiet sleep (Non-Rapid Eye Movement or NREM) and the active sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). The latter inhibits dreaming and brains are active. According to Lisa, babies have more time in both of these states with a sleep cycle of 50 minutes per bed time. In the preschool age, this will increase to 90 minutes. Meaning to say, sleep irregularities can also be more expected.

“The Sleep Fairy” is a bearer of the Dr. Toy “Best Vacation Children’s Products” Award in the USA. You can buy its CD at www.sleepfairy.com for only $14.95.

Here’s the best tip to make your nail polish last longer: Avoid doing dishes!

But as a mom, specially mom who stays at home while their kids are out in the school and with a hubby who’s doing his best to be a good provider, we can’t avoid putting our hands in the water. Aside from the fact that skin and nails lose moisture with age, the dryness is compounded by frequent hand washing.

Now to really make your nail polish longer, take a look at some of my personal and tested tips:

1. Make sure your nails are  perfectly smooth, clean and buffed. This is to make sure the nail polish has a clean surface to attach to.
2. Use your own nail polish. If you go to a salon or even when you hire somebody to do the job for you, try to bring or use your preferred nail polish. It has been a practice of some salon owners to add thinners on their stock of nail polish to extend it’s life. Check out some nail care collection specifically for professional nail care.
3. If you have your own nail polish, store them in cold, dark place. This will keep them from changing colors. Not properly stored old nail polish can cause bubbles and peeling later on.
4. Avoid putting on nail polish with electric fan or moving air directly in your nails. This is a sure way to have some uneven finish.
5. Apply a base coat nail polish and wait for it to dry completely.
6. Apply your favorite nail polish (2-3 coats). Again, wait for it to dry completely. I prefer to use 2 coats only. My favorite colors are those with earth tones. You may want to check julep maven review for nail polish watches. Personally, I spend 15-20mins air dry between coats.
7. The last step is to apply a top coat nail polish. Take note that it takes around 12 hours for the nail polish to dry completely so avoid exposing them to harsh environment within this period.

Again for us moms who do the dishes, try to use dishwashing gloves on dishes, and other household chores.

Also, hydrate your hands with a petroleum-based cream to lock in moisture. Lately, I’ve found out that applying virgin coconut oil is also helpful in making my hands and nails smooth, moisturized and healthy looking.

As couples grow old, they will need a retirement community wherein choosing a good health care system is vital. As Pinay Moms, you and your husbands should now start investing on an effective health care system. You can search them among the Internet advertisements offering this kind of services.

How can you say if it is the right choice for you? One should cover programs catered especially for needs on prevention of diseases and illness as well as the promotion healthy lifestyles for the both of you, endowment of the newest health technologies and guiding materials containing the most novel health and medical products, with particular treatments using special products for the prevention, health discovery and treatment of disease.

Life says that a good health is the heart of an investment. Every hale and hearty person can complete activities that make it meaningful to be alive. As you and you husband get old, so does your happiness level. Thus, exhausting more energy than you can think of. Incorporating a health care system in your routines is 1 way of sustaining and enhancing your health. You can combat daily environmental and behavioral threats in this way. Our goal in life should be to add years, life to these years.

If you are not still a part of it, nowadays, there is an obsession with bearing bodies to die for. Anyone of us would want to reach this state in our lives. Some even say that this effect on people is a good manner of skirmishing diseases and affecting relationships over actually no effort at all.

Health promoters also attest that end results of a good health care system show members on exhibiting added exercises, maintaining lighter weights and eating balanced diets that improves each day at their dining tables. Yet, critics of the said health solution have protested that this way of contouring up a body can only give us empty hearted and selfish personalities at the end. They say that members will only show care from own gratifications. However, stop worrying, because these conjunctions are so false.

Who are the experts to ask? If you really want a very effective health care system, you can consult the nearest health workers, health policy makers, health analysts and health service users reachable in your area. They should be capable of a better and broader grasps on aspects of health, its causes, needed phases and follow-up treatments. Besides, you can also read scholarly materials from books with chapter discussions on topics like academic debates, occupational health, health philosophy, policy statements, distribution and risks of health and disease patterns or health curriculum.

Incorporating studies on well-being under health care system will introduce the re-conceptualization of health, fresh ways of perceiving health, a new way of studying what health is, and a broadened understanding of health that was resulted due to an absence of disease or physical functioning to comprise of social issues, like transport, work, housing, sexuality and the diversity of risks with choice, behavioral and outlook factors.

Moreover, studying well-being in terms of health, a person’s key life experiences and conditions are compared with the health policy and practice, which you and your husband can actually be really facing today.

Hence, know what to include in a daily diet. See you and your husband today transform health into well-being with the benefits of a good health care system! It is the key to a balanced life.

This November 27, 2011, bring your family and friends to the “McHappy Day Fun Run 2011!” With a second time in a row, McDonald’s has again opened the event for the benefit of “Bright Minds Read” project in charity help. The Department of Education (DepEd) co-partners in making it successful. The organizer is the Eventking Corp. Together they make dreams of reading books and magazines for grade 1 students in the Philippines public schools possible.

The race venue and assembly is at the Mc Kinley Hills, Taguig City with levels of tracks in 1Km for kids with age 3-5 and 3Km for kids with age 6-12, 3Km for families in packs of 4 (though this ones already closed in registration,) and the 5Km for ages over 3 years old and 10Km open for ages 15 years old and above. The joining price for the race in 1Km for kids is Php 375, 3Km for kids is Php 425, 3Km for families in packs of 4 is Php 1,000, 5Km is Php 525 and 10Km is Php 725. You can register at any McDonald’s outlets.

Once joining, racers are asked to create their bibs in any style they want, place the best head dress for the occasion and wear their most favorite family costumes worn. These are special prices conditions that are awarded with gift certificates and cash for every winner, while the regular track prices waiting are also gift certificates and cash for every winner.

For more details on the “McHappy Day Fun Run 2011,” visit the www.mchappyday.com.ph today! Join the fun.

150,000+ runners will join this year’s 11.20.2011 Pasig River Run. The date of the race was included in the title showing a mirror of numbers, while the theme song will be “Salamin ng Ating Langit.” Assembly was held at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and with the globe as the finish line. The Philippines is aiming another world record by exceeding the running number last year, which is actually the current international contender for the most set runs in a race named by the Guinness World Records.

This race is made possible by the joined efforts of Ms. Gina Lopez, who is the ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director for “Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig,” and the 11.20.2011 Pasig River Run directors: Thumbie Remigio, PJ Villarta, Rio Dela Cruz and Eric Imperio. It is under the KBPIP, being a program for goals on developing the river through cleaning campaigns and fund-raising events. The organization is known for helping the communities of Calauan, Laguna through its relocating projects, adding improvement on technologies for cleaning the river’s water, training members of the River Warrior programs as well as implementing waste management procedures taught in communities concerned. All work for the Pasig river rehabilitation.

11.20.2011 Pasig River Run Categories:

• 3 kilometers route – begins at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and V. Sotto Street CCP Complex
• 5 kilometers route – begins at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and Pedro Gil Street
• 10 kilometers route – begins at the corner of Ocean Drive and Bayshore Avenue
• 21 kilometers route – a ceremonial run all over Metro Manila that is allowed only for the KBPIP sponsors and its partners who would also want to run the event.

According to Lopez, she wants this to be a yearly event for runners and in order to reach their desired number of participants they have to designate stricter rules on the event. Wherein, runners are asked to finish the race up to the last point. Since last year, there were some who didn’t get the chance to cross the line and remained in clusters. This was really a seen problem at that time.

Moreover, expected proceeds of about Php 40 Million this year are aimed to benefit the Estero de San Miguel in rehabilitation of the river as well as others like Estero de Paco that streams in current among the 5 channels of Malacañang Palace.

11.20.2011 Pasig River Run registration and rules can be found at the site. http://kbpip.abs-cbn.com/

Get to Know the Real Meaning of Play for Kids at Play Pilipinas! This October 21-23, 2011.

Kids love to play nearly all day given in their lives. What is the real meaning of play for them? It is a single word that covers every aspect in physically, cognitively, emotionally and socially throughout their developmental stages. This actual shows the formative meaning in psychology. How and where they choose to play actually give the impressions of their time management while still being small kids, which they can fondly look back into upon growing up.

Play Pilipinas 2011

When you bring your kids to the store and buy toys carefully chosen, you are actually teaching them responsibility for the things they own as well as the way they will handle or even protect these toys in the future. It is necessary for them to know that playing includes almost all the time toys, activities, workshops and with other aspects they need to learn in building qualities like sportsmanship, creativity and leadership that when they are already grown ups in the future can be compared to much more deepened or enriched activities. Wherein, the qualities are almost in the same capacity, just as this time, they are grown ups and not kids anymore.

You see it is very important for them to see the level of responsibility they are asked for and the way it changes as time goes by, as their activities also changes. Older people have more responsibilities than kids, thus, faces more risks in life.

That is why Play Pilipinas was started by the Play Universal Co. If you don’t know, it is actually the first festival to be held just to tackle the different issues faced by kids play in the country. Together varied companies and institutions help with concerned individuals on shaping the future of young Filipinos today through improving ways to do their playing activity.

Since, our culture encompasses a lot of games that were actually passed from generations, Play Pilipinas aims to start a call on preserving, promoting as well as enriching original Pinoy games, or what kids play here in our country, while at the same time touching on psychomotor skills. The event is wholly packed with fun and energy driven activities for the whole family to participate.

Visit the site now at www.playpilipinas.org for more details on how to join!

Here is a view of what’s in store at Play Pilipinas 2011:

• some of the speakers attending to hear would be Ma. Lourdes “Honey” Arellano-Carandang, Ph.D., a practicing clinical psychologist.
• Hitoshi Shimamura, a playworker and supervisor in series of adventure playgrounds in and outside Tokyo for 15 years.
• Kay Gibbons, the Head of Nutrition Services at Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.
• You can also choose from relevant workshops to join like “Toy Analysis” by Rebecca de Guzman, OTRP, University of the Philippines – Manila and “The Play Mindset” with My Masterpiece;
• and lastly, the fair would also include aside from exhibits from toy designers, a book and nutrition fair just for your kids together with other fair activities.

The registration for participants is extended only up to this October 15, 2011. So what are you waiting for?

For the Filipinos,  September 21 is “Martial Law” day. It was the day when President Ferdinand Marcos put the entire country under martial law. Most people connote it as a negative day. However,  this is not my topic today. I want to share to you the positive aspect of September 21, not only for the Filipinos but for the whole world.

September 21  is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Peace. It is celebrated each year to recognize the efforts of those who have worked hard to end conflict and promote peace. The International Day of Peace is also a day of ceasefire – personal or political.

On this day, also known as Peace Day, people around the world take part in various activities and organize events centered on the theme “peace”.

The first Peace Day was celebrated in 1982 and was held on the third Tuesday of September each year. Apparently,  the UN General Assembly decided in 2001 that the International Day of Peace should be annually observed on September 21 starting from 2002.  With the setting of the fixed day, the UN declared that the day should be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

The symbol of peace is a dove flying with an olive branch in its beak. The dove represent “hope for peace” or a peace offering from one person to another. Some religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam a white dove is a sign for peace.

Let’s use this day not only to find peace in our country but to each and everyone as well including our family members, neighbors and even to our office mates. And most importantly, let’s utilize this day to take a pause from our every day toils and struggles by praying and meditating so we can have the most important peace of all – that is our inner peace.

My husband and I together with our group of mountain bikers had a nice ride last week. We we went to unheard Crocodile Lake  and Dampalit Falls. Both are located in Los Banos Laguna. The total distance we  ride that day was 68.11 kilometers, according to my husband cyclometer. This is the longest bike ride I’ve been so far!

Crocodile Lake Los Banos

The Crocodile Lake is not that much popular among the bikers and tourists. I think because aside from the lake itself, you won’t see much any much sight seeing in the area. There’s not much development. In reality, the lake is surrounded by private houses already and some resorts.  My husband and I were expecting something more of a rural settings. We’d chanced to see few old boats, houses and handheld water pumps.  Apparently, upon asking the locals,  we were told that most houses are already operating their own electric water system because according to them deep well pumps prices are much cheaper  in the long run.

As we pedaled our way to Dampalit Falls, my husband and I were discussing how we fetched water from the available hand pump. My hubby told me, as far as he can remember, there’s only one pump along the stretch of their street, and there’s no other water pumps available. He can also fondly recall how much fun he and his friends  had when they took a bath together.

We were astonished by the beauty of the the falls when reached our destination, so my husband and our friends took a bath right away.The ladies didn’t take the plunge because we didn’t bring any extra shirts.

Some of our friends who didn’t make our bike ride that day were envious  when we posted our pictures in Facebook.

And now, we’re planning to hit more trails of Los Banos to Caluan to visit more falls and hidden valleys…soon!