Ahaworks

Halloween - The Big Candy Push

Wynn Tran — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:09:53 +0000

It’s twenty days before Halloween and there’s a huge marketing campaign to remind us to buy treats for the kids. I had a chance to browse the shelves at Target, and I’m amazed by the colorful packaging. The costume section is a lot of fun to see, but I’m interested in the Halloween treat which means CANDY! How can we resist chocolate, gummy and sucker eyeballs, candy corn, finger suckers, lemonheads, Snicker bars, and my favorite Receese peanut butter cups. Check out these festive packages.

It’s not just the candy manufactures who are trying to excite us into a buying frenzy. Doritos, Cheetos, Oreos, and even cupcake pans and cookie cutter manufactures are getting into the act.

With all these temptations, it’s good Halloween come once a year. Can you imagine if candy was being pushed every holiday, hmmm I guess we don’t have to imagine . Haha, they are trying to break our will power one holiday at a time .

Hopefully you will give out all your candy to the Halloween Trick-or-Treaters this year because you probably won’t want to waste the candy and end up eating them yourself. Just as a reminder, it’s about 200 calories for 2 to 4 piece of treat size candy. These bite size seem so innocent because we can take one small bite, but we normally end up having 5 or 10 to feel satisfied.

Persimmons - My Brother’s Giants

Wynn Tran — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 05:46:17 +0000

I love persimmons, especially when they are ripened on the tree and become soft and gooey. It’s great because I can hack off the top, and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. It’s delicious and so fun to eat. I got a chance to see my brother’s giant persimmons this year. Wow! They don’t call it giant persimmons for nothing! Take a look at the size of his persimmons. It’s a little hard to appreciate the size when I’m holding the persimmon. So, I took a picture of it next to my dad’s persimmon as a comparison. It becomes clear that these are no ordinary size persimmon. This is the big daddy of persimmons. It’s so amazing to see. Persimmons should be in season soon. Make sure you get your share. It’s a delicious fruit whether eaten crunchy or soft. I definitely prefer it tree ripened soft.

Forget candy, this is nature’s candy! Happy eating!

Ingredients to Avoid - Are You Strong Enough to Stop Using?

Wynn Tran — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:55:05 +0000

You probably have heard of Dr Mehmet C. Oz, the co-author of You The Owner’s Manual. He has made a few appearances on Oprah and each time, it was entertaining and educational. One message that I like was the five “Ingredients To Avoid”. These ingredients are probably the cause of most diseases in the US, and we should avoid eating products with these ingredients. It’s simple to follow. Just turn to the back of the package and look at the ingredients section. If the first few ingredients listed has any of these five things (hydrogenated Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Enriched Flour, or Bleached), then you want to put it down and back away. It’s simple to follow and a great way to help improve your health.

The hardest part of this exercise is whether you are able and willing to give up your favorite treat if it uses these ingredients. Give it a try the next time you go shopping, you’ll be amazed at what packaged foods are left in your shopping basket.

Five ingredients to avoid:

Hydrogenated Oil
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Sugar
Enriched Flour
White Foods - bleached flour

Donut Treat - Price of a Jumpstart

Wynn Tran — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 15:40:17 +0000

I forgot to write what I noticed after eating the donut on Friday. The first thing is that it made me feel “oiled out” as if I’m overloaded with oil and I wouldn’t want another bite. The other thing is that I felt extremely hungry at lunch. It felt like a “there’s not enough food in the world to satisfy me” type of hunger. I normally snack on fruits during the same time, and I barely feel hungry during lunch time. Hmmm, is there a correlation between the donut, and this hunger? Is this the effect of Sugar highs and lows?”

I will have to try it again and see. I can eat one more donut next week just as an experiment. It’s a big sacrifice but I will do it in the name of personal knowledge and health science. Yes, that’s it! I’ll do it for health science .

Donut Treat - Good Morning Jumpstart

Wynn Tran — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:27:20 +0000

I was told today that every Friday is donuts and coffee day at the office. It’s a nice treat to start off the last day of the week. An injection of sugar, oil, and caffeine should help jumpstart the tired body for the long day ahead. I had a glazed donut with roasted coconut topping. I have not had a donut for years, so it’s a nice treat. I wouldn’t want to make it an every Friday habit. It tasted very good though; hopefully my will power is strong enough to limit it to once a month! I was curious to see what this tasty snack packed in terms of calories and nutrition. This is what I found for Dunkin’ Donuts.

Serving Size: 1
Calories: 180
Calories from Fat: 70
Total Fat: 8 grams
Saturated Fat: 2 grams
Trans Fat: 4 grams
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
Dietary Fiber: 1 grams
Sugars: 6 grams
Protein: 3 grams
Carbohydrates: 25 grams
Sodium: 240 milligrams

Percent based on 2000 Calories
Vitamin A: 0%
Vitamin C: 0%
Calcium: 0%
Iron: 4%

I think I can eat about 2 or 3 donuts easily because it’s very airy. So, if I don’t limit myself that is a 360 to 540 calories snack. It’s a “heavy weight” in calories and very little nutrients. Ok! one each month or one every other month seems like a good idea now. I have to admit, it is a fun treat once in a while.

Cold and Flu - Stop It In Its Tracks

Wynn Tran — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:30:57 +0000

Hate getting sick? Here’s a good trick you can use to avoid getting sick this cold and flu season.

We all know and maybe even used tricks like:

1. Holding our breathe when someone coughs or sneezed in front of us
2. Avoiding people who has a cold or flu
3. Wash our hands often
4. Avoid touching our face with contaminated hands

Despite our best efforts, most of us still catch a cold or flu at least once during the year.

I have noticed when I catch a cold or flu my body goes through a cycle.

THE CYCLE:
1. Mild Sore throat
2. Painful Sore Throat
3. Fever or chill
4. Runny nose
5. Cough
6. Recover

Depending on my immune system, each step will vary in length.

I noticed that if I can stop the mild sore throat from moving on to the next step, I am able to stop the cycle before it gathers strength and knock me out for a week. Once it passes the Painful Throat step, I am doomed to run the entire cycle.

I have tried many things to stop the sore throat:
1. Lozenges
2. Airborne
3. Cough syrup
4. Fisherman’s friend
5. Vitamin C
6. Cold medicine
7. Cough medicine

All these products seem to be a hit or miss. Sometimes it works, but most of the time the sore throat is temporarily relieved but the cycle continues. I needed something stronger.

Finally, I tried alcohol, and it worked like a charm and it works every time. It will even stop the Painful Throat step, which is normally the point of no return for catching a cold.

The trick is to sip the alcohol (whether it is Brandy, XO, Vodka, wine, beer or whichever alcoholic drink you have) and coat as much of the throat as you can. You want to keep it there for as long as you can. You continue to sip and coat every three to four hours. Alcohol is great for killing germs. In our case, the germs that will make us suffer if we don’t stop it early enough.

It works beautifully. The next time you feel a cold or flu starting, pour yourself a shot of your favorite alcoholic beverage, slowly sip and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you are saving yourself a few weeks of suffering.

Cheers!

Hopefully we will never have to suffer from a cold or flu again!