Indian Woman Nearly Hit A Child At The Curve Pedestrian Crossing!

I got so mad at this woman this morning. She didn't stop at the pedestrian crossing between The Curve shopping center and Ikea, and because of that, she nearly hit a little girl. This Indian woman, driving a station wagon with a red diplomat car number plate, never blinked an eye, and just kept cruising, nearly slamming into that little girl! Horrifying!

This really makes my blood boil!

It's a pedestrian crossing!

So, I did what I learned at Money and You program. Take a stand and do something about it.

I reached out and smartly rapped at her window to warn her (luckily she wasn't moving fast or else my fingers would have been severely injured I would think). But goodness, she had the cheek to get out of the car to yell at me.

Some people are just mean and selfish aren't they?

It's really time we share some love!

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

10 Easy Stuff You Can Do To Improve Your Health

Got this from one of the Eat Raw Food Today readers. Thanks so much to Stephanie Roundtree.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants; eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Obviously, I love No 3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

PUT YOUR T-SHIRT TO GOOD USE! MANY WAYS TO MAKE USE OF IT

I just came across a blog that had a contest getting girls to come out with multiple ways to wear a simple white t-shirt. And the outcome? Awesome!

This is the way it should be. Not opening the closet and moan that there's nothing to wear.

Hope you guys have a good look at it, and maybe you too can come up with creative ways to jazz up your outfits!

Reuse, reduce and recycle

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

ps coming up next, I will show you how to carry a baby inside your shirt, in case of disasters. In crisis situations following a natural disaster, contact carrying is more vital than ever. You may not have access to a vehicle, and sometimes, must hold on to a child for hours. Having a carrier will not only make the child feel safe, but it will relieve your hands to carry other essential items. If you ever had to carry a 25 pound (11kg) toddler for more than 5 mins, you will appreciate a tool that will help you make life easier. Truly, if you have a good carrier, it will save your back, shoulders and arms from pain.

Baby carriers are always handy to learn to use.

But enough of serious stuff, please scroll down to view some really creative pictures of how to wear your white tees in various ways! These pictures were from http://projectmuffstit.blogspot.com/2008/11/contest-tee-up-results.html

YOUR NEW YEAR TO-DO LIST?

Year after year, at the start of the year I make it to check my new year to-do list. Stuff that I need to do once a year or once every couple of years.

At the start of the year, I will check my driver's license to see if it needs renewal. I also do the same for my passport, otherwise, I can't travel if it's expired! I look at my important documents because these puppies only get renewed roughly every 5 years, and I tend to forget about them. I tried to make reminders inside my phone calender or email calenders, but ya know, phones tend to break down roughly every few years and email addresses with calenders do get cancelled because somehow, insidious spammers will find ways to attack these email addresses, yada, yada, yada, and when that happens, all the reminders are gone. So I make it a point to just remember these stuff in my head and to tackle them head on at the start of every year.

The other thing I do is visit my dentist at the start of every year. I dislike visiting dentists, because I hate pain, and the thought of having something drilled or pulled out just make me nauseous. Luckily, I only had one teeth pulled, and that was when I was 7. My teeth has been in excellent condition, touch wood! But having said that, I like my dentist because he is really gentle. I go there, have a thorough check up, have my teeth cleaned, get rid of all the unseen, can't reach plaque and then go home and floss my teeth carefully for the rest of the year.

What's your yearly to-do list? Might as well do it now. The present time is always the best time. All the better if you are still on holiday from work.

Jasmin
Come join my "Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

ps forward this email to your loved ones as a reminder to update their to-do list as well

BABY EATS VITAMIN C!

Yummy sweet melons. Aren't they just gorgeous?

Yesterday I bought a whole big yummy hunk of honeydew melon from Tesco, and it only costs RM2.10. Feed the entire group of 5 adults, 2 toddlers and a baby. Not bad, not bad at all.

Honey dew melons are really good for everyone because it has lots of Vitamin C. I fed my baby the soft part of the melon, cut into really small pieces for him to "chew" as he has only 2 front teeth.

Honey dew melon also has potassium, good for people who has high blood pressure, and certainly good for my mum, because then she has other alternatives to cucumber that helps bring down her blood pressure. (Click here to find out how we help control my mum's high blood pressure with the help of a daily dose of cucumber juice)

Honeydew melon is a good source of folate as well, so it is good for pregnant women. Some Chinese women may not want to take it because they may believe it is a "cooling" fruit. I believe it's ok to take everything in moderation. The unborn child and the mother certainly needs the vitamins and the enzymes. I always believe a natural source of food is better than some synthetic pills any day!

Scooping out the melon seeds to be dried and eaten another day

The raw melon seeds. It's edible but gotta remove the seeds from the slimy pulp.

Here's a cool recipe for a honeydew melon milk. It's a very good milk alternative for children. It has lots of good fat in the seeds, lots of good enzymes. Good source of calcium too.

Raw Honeydew Melon Milk

- Blend the seeds from one honeydew melon with 3 cups of water.
- Strain as you would for nut milk, meaning strain the liquid in a nut milk bag, or use a very clean old pillowcase.
- Then put the liquid back in the blender with about 1 C of honeydew melon flesh, a bit of good vanilla extract (I use just a few drops for a hint of flavor), and 1 T of honey or any raw sugar (maybe not necessary if your honeydew melon is peak summer sweetness)

- Blend.

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Tips to reduce blood pressure

• Cucumbers help reduce my mum's high blood pressure
• Lower blood pressure by keeping things in the right place!
  
• Jicama reduces blood pressure
  
• Cats love lemongrass, dogs hate it
  

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TRY THESE UNCOOKING RECIPE

I love mushrooms. And my personal favorite mushroom is the shitake mushrooms, also known as the Chinese mushrooms.

Now, mushrooms have been found to help cancer patients in a very, very big way (read about it here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/29068.php.

Eating mushrooms, it seems, helps cancer patients strengthen the immune system. Now, if mushrooms can help cancer patients, think of what it can do for you if you are one of those who are always tired from work, who easily catch illnesses from your co-workers and so on.

Recently, I found a new uncooking recipe that calls for raw mushrooms as the main ingredient.

Is it possible to eat mushrooms raw?

Is it tasty?

The answer is yes.

And what’s more, eating raw mushrooms has tons more health benefits than eating cooked mushrooms. Try the recipe shown below.

Raw Mushroom Steak

6 large Shitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon Nama Shoyu or soy sauce
2 teaspoon cardamom powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

- Mix oil, soy sauce, cardamom, garlic and onion powder in a bowl and blend well.
- Dip each mushroom slice into the sauce. Marinate for about half an hour in the fridge.

Cheeze Sauce

1 cup cashew nut
2-3 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup water

Blend all Cheeze ingredients in a blender until creamy.
Place some marinated mushrooms on a plate, top with finely sliced Granny Smith apples (I like the contrasting flavors) or crisp salad leaves and then pour some of the Cheeze on top.

Jasmin
Eat Raw Food Today Facebook group

MY GRANDMA KNEW

Last night, over dinner, my husband's old schoolmate asked me about my giving talks on herbs. I was suddenly embarrassed and stammered some stupid answer about it.

Back home, I started wondering why I was embarrassed. Maybe it was a cultural attitude, I'm not sure. I do know I worry about appearing to be overbearing trying to stuff info into peoples' throat (tell me if I'm doing so and I will stop!).

I remembered me and my maternal grandma (Ah Ma) sitting on the grassy lawn at my house, and she educating me on all sorts of edible weeds sticking out between the blades of grasses. I was nine at that time, and Ah Ma didn't tell me she was dying slowly of 2nd hand smoke lung cancer, and she was trying to cramp all her knowledge of herbs into me before she had to pass away. At that time I just thought it was play pretend, you know, like the way we kids have picnics outside in the open air. My Ah Ma would pluck some leaves and flowers and asked me to chew on some of them, and she would explain what they were good for. Meanwhile, I would pretend my dolls and I were having cakes and cookies and tea. If I was just a bit older. If only I paid more attention. If only I knew what she was really trying to impart. I could have learned so much, much more from her.

Plant knowledge and healing are apparently in my genes. I had a great-great-grandfather was a healer who used herbs extensively. We call a guy like him a bomoh over in this neck of the woods. How cool is that! And my paternal grandma has the greenest, green thumb I know. She made me spend hours in the hot sun, carefully wrapping fruits in newspapers to prevent worms from getting to it, made me do lots of gardening, earning rough callouses on my hands and getting bitten by thousands of mozzies! (Oh man! What teenager like to do this, tell me, when they can spend fun time with their friends at the mall). My mum was a nurse. Our fridge was like the neighbourhood pharmacy. What a minute, it still is. We have stacks of pills and liquids of various colors and sizes inside the fridge and in cupboard drawers. We have people calling my mum at all sorts of hours consulting her when someone is sick. Mum made me read medical books like they were story books. No mum, they were not.

I really shouldn't be embarrassed.

This IS knowledge. And boy, if I don't share what I know, share the joy of plants and good health, I'm doing my Ah Ma, of all people, a great disservice.

I treat food with great respect. It wasn't that way when I was a teenager, which resulted in me being fat and saddled with a multitude of health problems (more about that later). Now, I treat my food like medicine. It heals me, keeps my "motor" in good condition. My body is my temple. It's the only one I have! So I better take good care of it.

And by sharing all these information, I hope you too will pass this knowledge to your friends, your family, your future generation.

Sharing love.

Jasmin
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

LARGE FOOD SERVINGS AT RESTAURANTS

Today is Malaysia's 51st National Day.

To celebrate this holiday, we joined hubby's old schoolmates at TGIF for a scrumptious dinner.
Food was excellent, but boy, oh boy, oh boy, was the servings huge! By now, most of you are aware of studies saying that eating less is actually better for our health right? If that is so, why are servings still such a gigantic proportions at the restaurants, and what can we do about it?

For starters, we can share. We can also just order an appetizer instead of the main course. We could also just eat half, and doggy bag the rest of it back home. There's no shame in eating less, but if anyone asks or if you feel judged for doing these stuff or you are on a date or on a business dinner, just look at your dining companions in the eye, give a wide, genuine smile and say, you are dieting for health reasons; not lying, for sure.

For me, I have to consciously remind myself to eat less instead of just mindlessly wolfing down the entire 3 course dinner because I luvvv food.

Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Jasmin Choy
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group

HOW MALAYSIANS DETERMINE WHEN THE RAMADAN MONTH STARTS

My dad used to work at the Land and Survey department for the government when I was a little girl. And every year, the guys at my dad's office will take a long drive down to an island to see if they can see the new moon (the month is determined by the Muslim calender). If they can see the new moon, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the paramount Royal ruler of Malaysia) will announce the next day to be the start of the Ramadan month.

It was very exciting for the children because we get to follow our dads to the beach and play in the sand while we wait for our fathers to do their thing.

The people, irregardless if they were Muslims, Buddhists, Christians or Hindus, in the office enjoyed going on the field trip as it was a fun outing for all.

I remembered, they would buy food from the villagers, and the mummies would put the spread on a table. You know, swimming and running can make a kid real hungry. All those clean air and salty water was heavenly. My mood was not dampen even when my mum forced my brothers and I to wash ourselves from the icy cold well water. *Brrrrr*

I remembered sitting cross legged on a beach mat, eating rice on a banana leaf, as a plate, with plain boiled shrimp, roasted fish from the barbeque pit and raw vegetables (called the ulam) with my hands .... all these food, a kid would normally thumb their nose at, at the dining table, just tasted exotic and absolutely delicious.

You know, when we try to eat healthier, sometimes we tend to focus on the yuck aspect of what we consume ... like less salt, less sugar, less of everything. We need to remove ourselves from this mindset and make meals fun. Go out and have picnics with your kids. Meet friends at a restaurant for a meal. The meal you consume may be simple, but your friends will distract you with fun conversations.

Break out and enjoy!

Jasmin "Who Thinks Ramadan Will Start on 1st Sept 2008" Choy
"Eat Raw Food Today" facebook group