Detox (Part I)

I am what I eat.

Given all that rich, artery-clogging food and copious amounts of wine I consume, I'm afraid I have only myself to blame for my recent pimple outbreak (arghhhh). So it's time to detox. Spring clean the battered body, so to speak.

Nothing drastic, of course. I promise to cut down on the indulgent meals BUT not completely. This blog needs material!

So I'm going to do a series of posts on detoxing - for the lazy girl. No juice fasts, colon cleansing or similar horrifying activities. Just plain, (very importantly) convenient things we can do to eliminate/neutralize the toxins from our bodies. "Improved energy, clearer skin, regular bowel movements, improved digestion, and increased concentration and clarity" - sounds good right?

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Today, I am going to talk about ABC. Apple, Beetroot and Carrot.

Based on my research, this is one power-packed juice! Beetroot, in particular, is supposedly good for treating anemia (I am slightly anemic), good for the immune system and proper liver functioning (!). Due to the beetroot, the juice is reddish and it rather reminds me of watermelon juice. I know beetroot sounds very erm "grassy" but do give this a try, it's surprisingly tasty.

I'm too lazy to make ABC juice myself so thankfully there are stalls around the CBD which sell it freshly made. Where to find it:

1. Lao Shen Fresh Fruit Vegetable Juice (Amoy Hawker Centre #02-105)
2. Cheng Xing Fresh Fruit juice (Seah Imm Hawker Centre #01-40)

Try to have it on an empty stomach (at least 2 hours after food) and wait 30 minutes before eating anything else. Good luck!

Btw, if you have any detox tips please feel free to share)

Kallang - Tanjong Rhu Run

Watching reruns of American Idol on the hamster mill are fine on weekdays but weekends, I like to run outdoors. I read this article a while ago and have been meaning to check out the recommended routes.

I'd normally just head to the old Kallang track to jog whilst watching cute caucasian kids attend overpriced soccer classes but today, I decided to try something different. The recommended Kallang - Tanjong Rhu route is literally in my backyard lor.

Weather was excellent and it was a nice run, with scenic views of the river and families having picnics (go figure) and flying kites. I simply walked from home to the Macs near the stadium and started running along Kampong Arang road, Tanjong Rhu Road, turning into Tanjong Rhu Place, going further out to the riverside and making a loop right beside the river. Thankfully they cleaned up the river, no bad smells! 5km was just nice as my muscles were still aching from the workout yesterday.

Happy Easter everyone!

Tummy Pains

I haven’t been blogging because I was hospitalized for a severe bout of gastritis (inflammation of the stomach) and needed a gastroscopy to ensure there were no stomach ulcers. Without going into medical 101s here let me just say that it was (and still is) a painful experience and there are some lessons to be learnt here.

1. NEVER underestimate the corrosiveness of painkillers. All I did was two 4-day dosages of painkillers for my sprained wrist and tada there goes my stomach lining L Stupid doctor didn't tell me to take them with antacids to reduce the acidity and impact on the gastric.

2. This next point is my bad – When taking painkillers, avoid taking tea and coffee. I was washing my painkillers down WITH my morning cup of coffee. Having my breakfast sandwich at the same time was probably the only saving grace from burning a hole in my stomach.

3. Make sure you are adequately covered by insurance. My A&E fees, the hospital stay (2-bedder, private hospital), stomach scope, sedation, and gastroenterologist fees came up to a bill of more than $3k! Medisave only allows claims up to a max of $800 a day. Luckily for me I recently just topped up my insurance coverage for emergencies like these so if nothing goes wrong the balance of the bill should be covered by insurance.

Doc says I have to watch my diet for the next two weeks, but I'll still post any good food deals I come across! Sigh I can only 望梅 止渴 for now.

Qi Mantra

Massages are my guilty pleasure. After 3 years of weekly (sometimes twice) sessions back when I worked in Shanghai (oh so cheap..), trust me, I am quite the authority on what constitutes a good massage.

Qi Mantra rocks. I am sooo glad I found a good, reliable massage joint in Singapore. My old bones are thankful too.

They have several outlets across the island but I usually go to the one along Club Street, a stone's throw from my office. So nice to have an oasis in my backyard.I have my favourite therapist, but I have tried the others on her off-days and found them all very competent. Service is attentive and they maintain records of your problem areas. Go for the Star Blast (1 hour) or the Power Back (30 min) - shiok!

Cost-wise it's $78 for an hour massage but I signed up for the package and each session costs about $60. The other outlets are at Raffles City, Great World and Holland Village. Go on, make a reservation. Indulge in some touch therapy.