A Personalized Feet Regimen

Blog post made some time April 2009

One day you stare at your feet and notice that they are not nice to see. And then you are determined to improve them.

Feet are the most overused part of the body. They take us to any place at any time. Yet some people always overlooked them. So let's give them the proper treatment that they rightfully deserve.

But first you will have to prepare what you need:

• calamansi/lemon
• basin
• warm water
• soap
• brush/toothbrush (ones that you don’t use)
• Small towel
• Dry towel
• lotion/foot lotion

We now move on to the next steps:

Second step: THE CALAMANSI/LEMON SCRUB
Using a calamansi/lemon, scrub your feet gently. Pay attention to the darker areas and leave it for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Third step: CLEANING TIME
Put warm water in the basin and soak your feet in it. Clean your feet using warm water, soap, small towel and a brush/toothbrush. Brush your toe nails meticulously. Rinse with clean warm water.

Fourth step: PAMPERING TIME
Pat your feet with a clean dry towel and put some lotion to it.


You can apply petroleum jelly on your feet and put socks on it before you go to sleep. I do this 2-3 times a week.

On Diabetes: Type I and Type II

On Diabetes: Type I and Type II

Blog post entry made sometime Oct 2010

Diabetes? Once you've got it, you'll have to deal with it for the rest of your life. But this may or may not apply to the third type.

To begin with, there are 3 kinds of diabetes: Diabetes mellitus type I, Diabetes mellitus type II and Gestational diabetes. But I'll focus more on the first two.

The first type of diabetes calls for an insulin. Hence, they are insulin-dependent. This type is usually inherited. The body cannot produce enough insulin or there is no insulin at all so they have to administer insulin for the rest of their life.

The second one is more related on lifestyle. This type of diabetes is actually preventable. In this type of diabetes, the body (particularly the pancreas) is producing insulin but there is a resistance to it. The people who are vulnerable and are most likely to be at risk are those who are obese or overweight and more often than not, those that lead a sedentary lifestyle. Do you know that it doesn't mean that if you look a little chubby, you are already considered overweight? You can be slim-looking but remember that looks can be deceiving. In order to check if you have a normal weight, you have to compute for your body mass index (BMI) and check what category do you belong. Normal? Underweight? Overweight? Obese? I remember my professor telling the class that her BMI was normal in the United States but was overweight in the Philippines. So I guess, the BMI range for each country/race differs.

As we age, our body's ability to produce insulin decreases. Insulin makes energy and glucose metabolism possible. In simple words, insulin enables the body to use glucose. Now, how do these connect with the development of Diabetes mellitus type II? For every carbohydrate that we consume, there is a corresponding insulin necessary in order for the body to utilize it.

There is a saying that goes "Anything more or less is bad." If we eat carbohydrates that goes beyond the amount of insulin produced, the first thing that the pancreas will do is to compensate. It will try to produce more insulin. And more and more insulin until such time that the pancreas will be exhausted. When that happens, there will be no glucose metabolism. Afterwards, there will be a lot of glucose in the blood. If there is a lot of glucose in the blood and this goes on for a long period of time, then... taadah! Congratulations, you may have acquired diabetes.

But of course, diabetes does not happen overnight. Diabetes type II is lifestyle-related. So before you have it, take it to heart that prevention of diseases is always way better than cure.

Hurray Hurray! I'm proud of you YOUNGER SELF!

It baffles me today on how did I manage to write *these articles in my spare time. But I'm very much proud of you YOUNGER SELF. Whenever I reread your entries, it makes me wish that I could turn back and be my younger self again. I realized that though I'm lacking self-confidence at that time, I was not afraid to try out things.

I could say that today, I'm a bit more confident that ever. I'll do better what I did before.

*these - referring to blog posts that I did way back when I was younger. I'll be reposting my old posts. Feel free to read. Thanks in advance!

• On Diabetes: Type I and Type II
  
• A Personalized Feet Regimen
• I Have a Fever, Now What?
• 
  

Note to Self

Note to Self

Things are getting brighter and interesting every day. It may take a while to get where you want to be, but you'll eventually get there, self. Trust in the process. I'm confidently rooting for you. It's your time to shine. Keep up with the positive vibes. Remember, it all starts with envisioning and mindset. You did it before, how much more what you can today? -Sanegeal Farmhear

Weki Meki's Tiki-taka (99%) and Beautybox's Rat A Tat

Part of unwinding is listening to music. I've been listening to other artists. When I heard Beautybox's Rat A Tat, some of the beats is quite similar to Weki Meki's Tiki-taka (99%). Don't you think? Nevertheless, they are a feel good music you should check out.

 Weki Meki - Tiki-taka (99%)

Beautybox - Rat A Tat

Ponder points 1

 Ponder point

"Whether we like it or not, we thrive in the kindness of others. So be grateful every single time. When you have the opportunity to help, do not hesitate to send help because it is a privilege to be in that position." - Sanegeal Farmhear

Cooking Tip: How to Cook Rice in a Gas Burner Style # 2

 Cooking Tip: How to Cook Rice in a Gas Burner Style # 2

And so here it goes. As I've promised, I would be sharing another style of cooking rice in a gas burner.

Weeks before, I was scrolling on social media about home improvement and found out that people were having conversation about cooking rice. They said that this style was taught to them in elementary by their teacher. I was baffled but at the same time amazed as I didn't know this before. And today I decided to experiment and test out to see if it really works. So here are the steps.

After washing the rice, you let the pot boil even in high heat whatever it is your preference. When the pot boils, without opening the lid, turn off the heat. Do not open the lid. Wait until the water is seeped in to the rice (probably about 10-15 minutes? ). Open the lid and put on low heat. I added a bit of water as I find it a bit dry and wait for another 10-15 minutes. And then your done!

My mother actually noticed that there was something that I did with the rice and I told her what I did. The rice was what people call "buhaghag" and there was no brown crust in the rice. Yay! It works!

Cooking Tip: How to Cook Rice in a Gas Burner Style # 1

One thing that I learned when I was in middle school is how to cook rice. This is very much a common and basic skill that every one should possess. Rice cookers weren't as much rampant and popular as way back then and people would usually cook rice typically using their gas burners or if none, cook rice traditionally with wood.

When cooking rice, what I learned is this procedure: After washing the rice twice and then put water as much as the rice using your finger as measurement, you let the pot boil and then open the lid when it is boiling. When you haven't yet open the lid you will notice that there is liquid coming out. That's the time you open the lid. You mix in the rice in the pot and wait until there is no more water. Cover then the lid and set the heat into low until the rice is cooked. One tricky part of cooking rice in the gas burner is that if you forget that you are cooking rice, the rice might turn brownish/blackish crust which we call itip and usually in our family we avoid this crust. That's why after several years of attempts, I could say that I'm confident that I could cook rice without the crust. How? Start off with a medium heat rather that high heat. After the part where the rice dried out for a while (I'm talking about cooking 3 cups of rice), cover the lid of the pot and wait for 15 minutes in lowest heat. After that, turn off the heat and wait for another 5-10 minutes. It wouldn't have the crust.

If you want to know about another technique on how to cook rice. I'll be making another entry about it. See you again soon.

Cooking: My Menudillo recipe

Yesterday, I was asked by my mother to cook the ground pork in the refrigerator for our dinner because although she would love a soup-based viand like a fish stew, my brother however, does tend to be picky with food and might not eat if I'll go with cooking the fish stew. I told my mom that though this recipe calls for probably most sautéing and simmering, it is my first time making this and with the use of tomato sauce at that. She said it is just "tantya-tantya lang" (guessing the amount depending on your gut instinct). I sometimes reiterate that not everyone is not like her blessed with the gift of taste and can turn around a bad dish into an acceptable one that's why for a first timer in cooking, I think a recipe should be necessary as a guide. But she retorts back that the recipes found are usually salty. And so with that I rest my case. I told her that because of that no one will complain with the result of my cooking because every time she use this line, I feel that it's as if "tantya-tantya lang" is easy breezy which is not. Disclaimer: I apologize for the "tantya-tantya lang" stuff later. XD

Ingredients:

• About 1/4 kilo of lean ground pork
• 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (We use canola for our household)
• 4 cloves medium sized garlic, crushed with  a garlic crusher (I tell you, this tool is simply amazing and life changing!)
• 1 medium sized violet onion, minced
• 1 large tomato, minced
• 1  large singkamas/turnip, minced (My mom thought my sister had bought potatoes and mistook turnip for potatoes but proceeded with it anyways)
• 1 medium sized carrot, minced
• 1 large red bell pepper, minced
• 1 pouch DEL MONTE Original Tomato Sauce 200 g
• 1 pouch filtered water using the empty DEL MONTE Original Tomato Sauce 200 g
• 1/2 pouch of Mama Sita's oyster sauce
• Around 2 teaspoons of sugar
• Pinch of rock salt
• Dash of black pepper

Procedure:

1. Put around 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce and a dash of black pepper. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. My mom forgot to tell me she also puts some crushed garlic in this.
2. Set your fire into medium heat and put the oil in a wok or non-stick pan.
3. Sauté the garlic until it turns into light brown then the onions until translucent. Put the tomatoes next and sauté for around 30 seconds. Put a pinch of rock salt (I observed that me doing this brings out the sweet taste of the onion and tomatoes) 
4. Put the marinated pork into the pan. Saute until a bit cooked. You will no longer see pinkish/red in the meat and it will turn into light grey.
5. Add the turnip, carrot and bell pepper. Mix and saute for around 15 seconds.
6. Empty 1 pouch DEL MONTE Original Tomato Sauce 200 g into the pan, mix it a little and using the empty pouch, fill it with filtered water and add it again into the pan.
7. Cover the pan and let it simmer for around 5 minutes or up until it boils.
8. Add the oyster sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Adjust according to your preference. Let it simmer again for around 2-3 minutes and then your done!

FINAL RESULT: I asked my mom the next day how was the menudillo and said it was okay. My mother approved! Yey!

How to Transfer Your Funds from BPI Express Online to CIMB digital Bank?

How to Transfer Your Funds from BPI Express Online to CIMB digital Bank?

If you're looking for a safe place to park your funds with a higher interest than your traditional banks, you can try out digital banking. And with this, I recently tried out CIMB digital bank as the interest payment can go up to 4 percent depending on their promo conditions.

But how do I get to transfer my funds from BPI Express Online to CIMB digital Bank?  Did you know that you can do it without incurring any fees? It's possible. But you should have a Gcash account and a Gsave account.

When you open your Gcash application, Select Cash In and then click your linked  BPI account. Proceed with the details and then when you successfully cash in, the funds will reflect in your Gcash account. Click the Gsave (The one with the piggy bank image). Click the Deposit button and enter the amount you wish to deposit for CIMB bank. A SMS message will notify you regarding your transaction. And then that's it. When you open your CIMB application on your phone, your funds will be credited in real time.

 

Book Reader apps

Book Reader apps

If you are a book fanatic like me and would like to consume books as a digital form like those in epub format, here are some applications I'm currently using to read my electronic books.

* Calibre - If you are using your desktop computer or a laptop, I recommend this software.

* Moon reader - If you are always on the get go, I recommend this application.