Tuesday, June 30, 2015

HOW HOBBIES MAKE YOU HEALTHIER AND LIVE LONGER: So, Do You Have a Hobby?

garnek.pl
Stress is the number one killer today. In fact, from it often derive deadly diseases like serious heart ailments, diabetes, cancers. inflammation, and others. The principle is simple--too much stress cripples your immune system, and thus the easy onslaught of diseases.

Hobbies have an important role to play in combating stress. They make you relax and think positively, making you indulge in things you really love doing--making you get a break from life's problems. Especially at the end of a hectic day, hobbies provide a good alternative to everyday routine that kills enthusiasm and the vigor in life. Hobbies make you live again and puts meaning into things.

But don't mistake hobbies for bad habits. Bad habits are those you seek refuge in when you feel lazy and just laying idle during the day. Here are characteristics of a hobby:

  • It makes you think and figure out things more, like collecting stamps and coins. You research about them to get the best and rarest items available. Hobbies make you want to learn more about them.
  • You love doing them because they satisfy your emotional and intellectual needs. You feel accomplished, making you feel an improved and better person the more you accomplish about your hobby.
  • You can gain profitably from it if you turn it into a business.
Examples are photography, collecting rare items, reading books, blogging, sports, playing instruments and cooking or baking, to name a few. Setting positive goals, a feeling of well-being and a sense of accomplishment fight off stress and reduce free radical damage in your body systems. It empowers your immune system in the process. Better if you couple hobby with regular workouts and healthy eating.

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. [Ecclesiastes 8.15]
Aside from eating and drinking, the Teacher mentioned about being "glad." Hobbies make you glad and give you joy that will somehow neutralize "the toil all the days of (your) life."

Here is how bad habits look:
  • They make you waste time over nothing.
  • They promote laziness.
  • Give no challenge.
  • Don't make you grow intellectually.
  • Makes you fat.
Examples are spending the day watching TV or movies, playing computer games, chatting, texting, or taking too many naps. Watching TV or movies now and then isn't bad, but doing it the whole day regularly is already unhealthy addiction. When you get caught trapped in bad habits you'd become sickly with time. They weaken your immune system. They make you burn less fat. You may not feel it now (especially if you're still young) but the unhealthy effects will slowly manifest as you age. What you spent time in years ago will surely find you out sooner or later. 

So, start getting a good hobby you really like. Mine is studying martial arts, collecting weapons, working out, blogging, and reading. After doing boring jobs I look forward to my hobbies later in the day.

Hobbies for health? Doesn't cost you much. It's ideal for cheap health and fitness with middle income budget.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

VERY CHEAP WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT: Anyone Can Easily Afford This

itgirlcode.com
Here's a super cheap way to lose weight which anyone can easily afford--avoid eating out as much as you can. The daily cheap lunch you eat at a popular fastfood store which your budget can easily shoulder keeps adding extra weight and fat to your body.

Even food you eat at your favorite cheap street-corner eatery or karinderia on a daily basis makes you gain weight as well without you noticing it. One day you just see yourself in the mirror or in a picture posted on FB looking fatter, and you wonder what happened. Well, it's the meals you eat at the fastfood store or karinderia.

What's wrong wrong with these foods?

They contain more preservatives, artificial flavors, salts and probably cooked in recycled cooking oil. To make food tasty, most of their recipes contain a lot of pork and fattening mixtures, like flour for thickening sauces. You never know how they cook food inside their kitchens. And we often think that popular fastfoods are good foods cooked properly--that's one of the pitfalls to being overweight.

We assume fastfood companies are concerned about our health.

Moreover, fastfoods and restaurants offer fattening beverages, pastries and sundaes that are hard to ignore. Even if you try them just 3 times a week, they do damage to your weight. A lot of people fail in their weight loss efforts not realizing it's due to their eat-outs.

So, what can you do about this?

Avoid eating out.

Eat home-cooked food most of the time to get health and fitness with middle income budget. Home-cooking is when you can control what goes into your food--and control the cost, too. You can have everything fresh without any preservatives or artificial this and that. You can opt to always use oil in minimal amount and always use fresh cooking oil.

You can also opt to bring packed lunch to school or work to make sure you eat good food daily. But if you really can't avoid eating out in cheap eateries--as majority of us middle income folks do--then at least prefer cheap karinderias to fastfoods. There are karinderias that do home-cooked meals. All you have to do is take note of what they serve. If they look and taste like your good food at home, then go for them.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

HEALTH BENEFITS OF PATOLA: Don't Judge a Veggie by It's Rough Look

trekearth.com
"Pulis patola" is a term popularized in Filipino movies on supposedly lousy cops. It denotes an inept policeman trained in a far-flung province where cops know nothing except probably to eat and sleep. But in the Filipino movies, the rustic "patola" cop turns out to be a good and skillful cop who manages to ruin a powerful syndicate singlehandedly.

travelphotosfoodandlife.wordpress.com
Thus, "patola" or sponge gourd is a common rough-looking vegetable almost nobody pays attention to (some even smirks at the sigh to fit) and considered low class vegetable. Why "sponge" gourd? The core of the fruit looks like crude sponge, but it sure doesn't taste like one. Patola is  often mixed in soups, especially plain and ordinary miswa soup to add some sweet flavor to it. It's also cheap--just perfect for anyone aiming for health and fitness with middle income budget.

Here are some of its health benefits:
  • It's low in calories. If you're trying to lose weight, eat more of this to feel full and yet gain almost zero calories.
  • Has pro-Vitamin A and Vitamins B and C
  • Contains Beta-Carotene
  • It has a potential anti-cancer property and is especially anti-lung cancer
  • The seed extract is anti-ulcer
  • It protects the heart and anti-diabetic
  • It has antioxidants
  • Very rich in dietary fibers which you need for digestive health
Mind you, I love patola. My wife knows it. My family doesn't show a special fondness to it but I do. I love it in miswa soup, chopped suey or mixed in thick miki noodles. It sweetens soups and saucy vegetable dishes with a subtle watery sweetness that you know is healthy--almost like sweet coconut juice.

And for more patola health benefits, see the video below!

If you want to be healthy but doesn't have the budget to buy costly health supplements, well, eat more patola or sponge gourd from now on.

PURE KALAMANSI THERAPY DID IT AGAIN: Got Rid of My Body Weakness and Kicked Out Flu


I was feeling weak the other week (see the rhyme?), was about to get the flu virus (sudden changes of weather seem to trigger the virus), when I remembered about the pure kalamansi therapy. So I asked my dear wife to buy me some pieces of fresh kalamansi and made myself a kalamansi puree. I drank that, without water or sugar.

And you know what happened?

Instantly my body condition changed. I felt much better and felt stronger, too. It was like magic. I was able to do my regular activities. In effect, it was a powerful bombardment of alkaline and natural Vitamin C that boosted my immunity and detoxed my system.

It worked fast because I'm regularly detoxed with the lifestyle I'm living. I do daily water therapy, exercise regularly, drink a lot of water and fruit juices, and eat healthy as often as I can. So, when I did the kalamansi therapy, it worked easy without much hindrance.

It will be different if you live an unhealthy and undetoxed lifestyle. You will have to take more kalamansi therapy to fight more toxins and free radicals. But sure enough, it will work in time. Just keep at it. And it's cheap--perfect for health and fitness with middle income budget.

How do you do a pure kalamansi therapy? Just slice 15 or 20 pieces of fresh kalamansi. Well, the ideal is 35 pieces or more. Squeeze them in a glass and drink that as it is, before 10 minutes after slicing the fruits. Take it first thing early in the morning, and do it daily--of course, with your doctor's approval. In my case, I didn't need the approval because I'm a health and wellness consultant trained under Dr. Jose M. Oclarit of Vital-C.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

PUSH-UP VARIATIONS: Have a Wide Range of Options to Work Up Different Muscles


The more the better the merrier. Push-up variations help you workout different areas of your arm, forearm, shoulder, chest and back muscles. The more you do per day the better. And there are variations to help you advance for more complex muscle workouts.

I always start with shoulder-width push ups, doing 30 repetitions of 4 sets. After that, I try more variations. Here are some of the most popular push-up variations you may want to try:

1. Shoulder-Width: You stretch your arms against the floor at shoulder width.
2. Diamond: Shoulder-width arms with legs widely spread apart.
3. Wide: Your arms are more than shoulder-width apart.
4. Shoulder Tap: As you rise up from the floor, release one hand to tap the opposite shoulder.
5. Crucifix: Hands are at the sides with fingers pointing sideways instead of upward.
6. Shuttle: After you lower yourself on the floor, you move your body a bit backward and rest your weight on your flat forearm.
7. Floor Triceps Extension: You put your hand further up and support your lowering body with your forearm.
8. In and Out: You alternate your arm distance from shoulder-width to chest-width, and so on.
9. In and Out Cross: You do the same as in number 8, only this time you cross your hands instead of change arm distance.
10. X-Taps: It's like doing number 9 but you lift your body and release both hands to do an X in front of you.
11. Leaning: Do a regular push-up but with your fingers pointing to your back.
12. Pike: It's like a military press. Push up with your torso way above from the ground and your head between your arms. Push your hands up and down sending your head on and off the ground.
13. Spiderman: As you lower your body bring one leg to your side.
14. Knee Tap: After raising your body up, release your right hand to tap your left knee, and vice versa.
15. Double Knee Tap; "Jump up" as you raise your body from the ground and tap both knees with both hands.
16. Archer: Bring your weight down to only one arm while stretching the other as if pulling a bow.
17. Typewriter: With hands spread apart on the ground, move your body left and right as you keep one elbow bent while the other is stretched, and so on.
18. Aztec: it's like doing number 15, but this time you tap your toes.
19. 180-Degree: Push yourself up as hard as you can and then turn your body 180 degrees.
19. Clap at Your Back: As you push up, release your hands to clap behind your back.
20. Assisted One-Arm: Push up with one arm while the other arm is stretched assisting it.
21. One-Arm: This is number 20 without the assisting arm.
22. Hindu: With your body up and away from the ground as far as possible, Tilt backward a bit and then swoop down with your whole body with a circular movement. And then raise your body circularly to starting position.
23. Chest Tap: Simply "jump" with your hands as you push up and release both hands in the air to tap on your chest.
24. Assisted Lalanne: The assisting arm is about the level of your torso while the other, stretched above your head, is pushing up.
25. Lalanne: With both arms stretched above your head on the ground, push up.

To see all the push-up variations in action, watch the video below:


Now that you've seen everything, do 2 to 3 variations a day, doing it on a regular basis. no need to spend a dime doing these exercises--perfect for health and fitness with middle income budget!

WHAT CAN I SUBSTITUTE FOR RICE? Or, Do I Really Need To?

blogs.discovermagazine.com
A lot of overweight people look for rice substitute. So they eat bread instead. I can't help but smile when I see this. It's better to eat rice than bread. At least rice isn't processed and have some fibers in it. But if you're looking for an effective rice substitute, you don't need to look far and wide. Just visit your local wet market or talipapa.

The best substitutes are corn and sweet potatoes, especially if you want health with middle income budget. I prefer sweet potatoes because corn sometimes give me troubles. Sweet potatoes are perfect for me. I love them boiled or mixed in food. And I particularly love them in the morning as a substitute for rice and bread. For a big-enough size you get it for only P12 or P15. Simply boil it and eat it, you get enough carbs, fibers, plus vitamins and minerals. If you get the violet, red, or orange ones, you get a bonus antioxidant.

You can eat that with a boiled egg and a glass of soya curd or taho if you need some protein. So, P15 plus P6 (egg) plus P20 (taho) and that's just P41.00 for a really healthy breakfast. I often boil the egg with the sweet potato to save on LPG and water, too.

If you don't have P41.00 (it happens with lower middle income people), then you can boil an egg and eat it with leftover rice. You don't need to substitute rice everyday. Sometimes, you have no choice but to eat rice when you're middle income. Just make sure you don't eat too much and you burn it afterward by keeping active (not too active, though). Do brisk walk breaks now and then or climb up stairs. I often do pushup or pull-up breaks, sometimes with matching squats.

A Slight Transformation

healthcareguaranteed.org
You'd be seeing a slight transformation of Choy's Cut from now on, from being a BLOGazine to being a blog on health and fitness--well particularly health. And it's not just on health--it's health with a middle income budget. That's what majority of us have, right? We want to be healthy and fit but we don't know how to do it with our middle income budget.

We see lots of health and fitness recommendations online and they're all ideal. The problem is, we can't see how to fit them into our budget. Though we know how important health is, we simply can't prioritize it over other expenses--bills, tuition fee, insurance, education plans, etc. We'd like to, but we can't. So, in the meantime, what do we do?

I was thinking of that when I remembered Choy's Cut. I decided to focus on that here--how to keep healthy and fit while staying within a limited budget. And that's what I've been doing all my life--from high school to the present. I've been praying for a real financial breakthrough, though God really has been faithful to us, including our finances--though I've still been a bit struggling in this area.

But the miracle is that, through thick and thin, I've managed to stay fit and healthy! And that no doubt is God's grace to me. Because truth is, it's so disheartening and discouraging to stay healthy and fit when you don't have the money to do it. You're apt to forget about it for a while and spend more time trying to improve your income (if any)--and eating junk food like processed meats, canned goods, and instant this and that.

I managed to keep out from all that. And that's what I'm going to share with you here on Choy's Cut. Middle income or even lower middle income doesn't have to get in the way of health and fitness. I'll show you how. So now, I have a specific niche---health with middle income budget.

Well, all the other articles on different topics are still available here. Just search for them in the blog archive. And do visit my No Diet Slim Plus Blog also found on the menu here.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

HOW TO EASILY HONE YOUR VOICE: You Want to be a YouTube or FB Singing Sensation?

Asia's Got Talent
It's incredible how talent shows online, like Asia's Got Talent, have opened up opportunities for even simple folks of various age levels to have their talents discovered--especially in singing. Others simply tried their luck on YouTube and got a million followers--and that started their careers then and there.

I've been meaning to produce several video demos and lessons on SIMA streetfighting techniques but can't find enough time these days because I have lots of blogging deadlines for clients. But I'm eagerly planning to, soon. Who knows--I might end up an online streetfighting self-defense tutor sensation.

You may feature your fire-breathing or sword-swallowing talent, but the safest and most popular is singing. It's for general patronage--you can build a following from people from all walks of life. Some talents attract only a small segment of viewers, especially talents that are more stressful than entertaining. In this field, singing is unbeatable.

Do you know how to sing? I can sing well, owing much to my love for it in my younger years (I learned by simply following songs on the radio, and God also gave me a pair of ears sensitive to notes) and my choir activities in church in college. But I'm not much into taking videos of myself singing as I am of myself teaching self-defense.

But you can improve your singing (or start developing a skill for it from now on) through the easy availability of singing tutorials online. The Internet has made a lot of things easily possible in our time. And you can start preparing for a singing career (or just make it a worthwhile hobby) by learning online. No need to go out of the house to a singing workshop and be pestered by traffic and exhausting travels. Just learn in the comforts of your home.

If you're serious about this, try seeing this FREE video and get some ideas!


Wednesday, June 10, 2015

WHY CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMERS? What Shall It Profit You If You Get a Big Headache Everyday?

theaffordablecleanteam.com
I know--lots of businesses would sell to anyone just for the profits. And they'd laugh off ideas about choosing who buys from your business. "Why choose your customers? You should sell to anyone who pays!" Perhaps, yes, but it depends on the nature of your business.

I teach martial arts as a physical workout and business. But I just do it on the side. I really don't care if no one enrolls. I'm particular about teaching only a few select. I don't want clients who'd just give me a big headache--it's not worth what they pay me.

I hate students who don't take the lessons seriously (just there to brag about being enrolled in a martial arts class), who don't give enough effort, who don't want to get hurt but wants to become an expert, or who do nothing but take rests during sessions. I mean, what are they doing in my class? "I didn't ask you to be here."

Noticed my last phrase? "I didn't ask you to be here." I need to be able to say that to my clients. That's why I never advertise or push people to buy from me. I spread the word a round--I share about the health benefits of martial arts or the health supplements I take and sell--but I never persuade or urge them to buy from me. The moment I do that, I give them control of my life and freedom.

I see that happening in so-called top sellers or top earners in businesses or selling. Yes, they get fat profits and have a huge clientele (they even get to be multi-millionaires), but I watch how they have no peace of mind and freedom. They say business is for time freedom, but frankly, I never see that in them. Their customers and prospects dictate their time, mindset and lifestyles. They even dictate their family lives. The thing is, they don't see this. Money has blinded them to see truth. They think they have freedom.

I sell good though I don't sell much. When I say I sell good, I mean I make money without any strings attached. I don't feel obligated to "be of service" to my clients or feel I owe them. Others become indebted to their customers, though they won't admit it. They'd insist that it's just part of customer service. But frankly, it's because they sell to anyone with paying capacity. No, they forced them to buy. You do that and you soon find yourself at the mercy of your customers.

The moment you stopped being subservient to them, they leave you to look for other sellers who'd treat them as masters. Then, customers left to you are those who really need your product--not your subservience. And that's what I like--customers who are really helped by your product so they take it upon themselves to pursue it, by hook or by crook. I'd gladly help these customers--not because it's my duty--but because I'd like to see them succeed.

Top sellers, especially in network marketing--help their clients not because they choose to but because THEY MUST. The sustenance of their businesses depends on how they please or pamper their clients. That I hate!

Sure, you earn big money if you sell to all--if you make huge efforts convincing, persuading, urging, forcing people to buy from you or begging them to "just try" your product. No, I won't ask them to "try" my product. It's take it or leave it. If you don't think you need my product, fine. There are 6 billion plus people on the planet, and it's easy to reach them today online. No problem for me.

And anyway, I have God to supply all my needs. I don't have to have a rope tied to my business and around my neck just to survive. I don't need to make huge money and live the life of a billionaire. But if God wants me to have that, why not? But without much effort. He did make Manna to simply fall from the sky, didn't He?

WORDS HAVE WINGS: Action has Jetpacks

blog.psoda.com
If words have wings so that word spreads around and gets to places fast, action moves even faster. And this can either be good or bad news for you. It can work powerfully well for you for advertising or the principle can work against you--one wrong move and the whole community knows about it even before it actually happens.

This morning while taking an easy walk around the neighborhood, people asked me if I teach arnis--or Filipino sticks martial arts. I don't advertise--I just do martial arts regularly as part of a fitness workout--and people see me doing it and assume that I teach. I don't advertise the way other businesses do--heralding banners and claiming my product is better than other products. I just do my own thing around my place--not to show off but to merely train outdoors--and simply talk about it and share some tips on FB.

It's a cliche but it needs stressing here--action speaks louder than words--especially if you're a bit choosy about who buys from your business. Choosy about customers? Well, I will talk about this in another article. It's been my business principle--choosing about who buys from my business--and yes, it doesn't make my businesses that profitable. And I have a good reason for it.

And how action has jetpacks to make it travel faster than words with wings do is a vital principle on choosing your clients well. I choose my clients because I hate getting headaches from stubborn and unreasonably demanding clients. Peace of mind to me is lots better than profits.

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