Valen’s Vanity Square

Whether you like the idea of colon cleansing or not, many people are doing it right now, mainly for health reasons, to get rid of toxins piled up in the body (a process known as detox), so that one can feel healthier, feel more energized, their skin looks better, and probably could also lose a few pounds!

There are quite a number of colon cleansing products in the market. I haven’t really researched any of them coz I personally don’t favor this idea. But if you have come across a colon cleansing product called Colonix, then you might be interested to read this colonix review before you decide if it’s what you’re looking for. Other brands include Colonetix and Cleansonix. Basically these products contain ingredients to help cleanse and purify the colon.

If you don’t like to take tablets and pills, you could also use juice fasting to detox your body. This is a more natural way to detox coz you’ll use fresh vegetables and fruits to prepare your juice beverages. Of course, the downside of this is inconvenience and time consuming.

Ouch! It hurts! Both my left knee joint and my wallet, haha!

Walked for several hours yesterday coz was shopping for clothes. Spent several hundred bucks on a pair of jeans, a skirt, and 5 tops for myself, plus 2 polo t-shirts for hubby. I think I have spent all my clothing budget for the first half of the year. So, no more shopping for clothes in another 6 months, haha!

Oh, and how age is catching up. Felt so exhausted after spending about 5 hours in the shopping mall, and my left knee was aching slightly after walking so much on my heels. I was in One Utama shopping mall, walking to and fro the old and new wings. I thought I would take it as the exercise of the day, but ended up moaning about knee pain.

Now, I can’t help to wonder if it’s time for me to start taking some joint health supplements. Oh, may be I also need some supplements to prevent white hair and hair fall, to sooth fatigue eyes and improve vision, for stronger nails…

Argghhh…. getting old!

Just recently I came across a piece of news saying that Malaysians in general have poor oral health problems. Well, may be most of us (perhaps it’s just me) don’t like to visit dentist, and hate dental check-up!

I don’t know, I just can’t stand listening and FEELING the machine buzzing in my mouth during the teeth cleaning process. And isn’t the dentist supposed to clean my teeth, not my gum?

It was also mentioned that the dentist to population ration in our country is very low. Okay, perhaps that is one of the reasons why many Malaysians (including me) have tooth decay problem. So, our country should train more dentists, whether they are general dentists or specializes in cosmetic dentistry.

The dentists can then advertise their services online, just like with dental implants Plano. But what they need to do to ‘entice’ a big bunch of dentist-phobic people to visit them is to give great discounts and good after-care to calm down traumatized patients (such as ME). Oh, perhaps they should also provide some counseling before any dental procedure to reduce the patient’s anxiety level.

Well, may be all of these won’t tempt me a bit to visit the dentist. Simply put, having a needle poked into my arm and have my blood withdrawn is better than seeing the dentist.

I’ve been sleeping a lot these two days. Went to bed by 10.30 pm, woke up 10 or 11 hours later, and took a 2-hour nap in the afternoon. I don’t usually sleep this much, but because I’m having a flu, I just feel so tired all the time. The more accurate term for this form of ‘tiredness’ is ‘malaise’ actually, which is a symptom of flu.

I do feel much better now, although I have this phlegm that makes my throat itchy and makes me cough from time to time. But I started to feel this ache on my shoulder and back. Is it because I slept too much or what? Or may be it’s because I’m not used to sleeping on my sister’s mattress and her pillow? Or may be I tossed and turned too much while sleeping?

Anyway, I bet all this ache and pain will disappear when I get to sleep on my own bed. (Well, that’s another two nights to go!) As long as it’s not a spine or shoulder joint problem, some stretching and massage will heal the aches in no time. If you have frequent backaches, on no matter which bed/mattress you sleep, then it might be due to some spine problem. You can either go to a chiropractitioner or specialist in spine surgery Mexico (if you are in Mexico, that is) to find out the real problem and have it corrected.

Nothing is more blissful than waking up feeling refresh and healthy from a good 8-hour quality sleep!

Hubby has gone to JB for meeting, and will only be back after a few days.

Before we got married, hubby had also been traveling quite a bit. And when he was out of town, I knew that he missed me the most. But now, after being married for 8 years, I guess he misses his favorite exercise equipment - an elliptical cross trainer - more than he misses me. Haha!

Hubby will be stranded in meetings after meetings these few days, he won’t have time to exercise. He has been enjoying working out on the elliptical exercise machine a lot since we bought it. Even just 30 minutes on the machine makes him feel healthy. (He’s a guy who is very conscious about his waistline. :P) It would be a great torture for him not to be able to exercise.

That’s why I said he will miss the machine more than his wife! Let’s bet, the first thing he does when he comes back this Friday, would be to spend some precious time with his beloved elliptical machine. Haha!

While some people prefer to lose weight taking fat burner pills or tablets, my husband’s favorite ‘fat burner’ is the new X-training machine at home.

Since we got the machine last week, hubby has exercised on that machine for almost every day. And every time he got himself soaked in sweat. Oh, more than soaked actually, his sweat was literally dripping! And he is oh-so enjoying that kind of feeling.

As for me, I have been on that machine only once, haha! I think I should work out on it more often, say 3 times a week. I will set the calories to be burned at 200, then slowly step my way while watching TV at the same time. May be 200 kcal is too little if I want to lose weight fast, but that’s better than not burning any calories at all!

Wonder how long will it take me to shed 2 kilos with my slow-motion exercise?

Hubby’s new ‘toy’ is here - an elliptical cross trainer machine from AibiGym! (So sorry that I had always called it a stepping machine, haha! Well, this just says how much I’m into sports…)

This cross trainer machine was not the one we saw initially, this is double the price of what we had in mind earlier. The monthly installment is still cheaper than signing up for a gym membership though. And just like you have to read up an adipex review before you decide to try the diet pill, we asked many questions and tried ‘pedaling’ on the machine before we made the purchase decision.

The first cross trainer that we saw was cheaper, but it uses a belt-driven system, which may start to break down after 1 year of regular usage. The warranty period for this is only 1 year. The machine is lighter, so when a heavy person (such as hubby) pedals on it, the machine tends to be a bit ’shaky’. Moreover, the gliding is not smooth; it will be quite harmful for my left knee, which is prone to knee pain after climbing stairs (oh no, sign of aging!).

The elliptical cross trainer that we bought is built on a magnetic system. The gliding is smooth, it will last longer than the belt-driven system, and the supplier is giving 3 years warranty for the magnetic system. The size is slightly bigger than the previous one, but still much less bulky than those you see in the gym centres. It is stable and sturdy. There is also a small digital setting device to help monitor the calories burnt, the pulse rate, and the speed of pedaling.

The machine was delivered before lunch time. I haven’t started using it as I was rushing to meet a project deadline, and now I’m catching up with all my blogging activities. Oh well, since this is hubby’s toy, I will let him do the ‘official opening’ and be the first one to ride on it. Haha!

When we were in the shopping mall yesterday, we went into a couple of fitness equipment shops to check out the price for stepping machines. Hubby is still undecided - to sign up for a gym (which he may not have time to go and waste paying the monthly fees) or to have an exercise machine at home.

I made it clear that I don’t allow bulky treadmills in my house, but I can accept a stepping machine, which takes up much lesser space than the former. And I can use it too! I don’t like doing treadmills coz I tend to slip or lose balance on it, haha! Stepping machine is suitable for me, because it’s gentle on the knees. It would be quite enjoyable to watch TV and exercise at the same time, haha! Furthermore, I heard from hubby that there may be a trip to Mount Kinabalu in the first quarter of 2010! So it’s time to start some physical training, including strengthening up the muscles of my legs!

We did see one stepping machine that looks sturdy and has a reasonable price tag, but we didn’t buy it yet. At least we know how much it cost and if hubby gets his bonus next month, he knows how much to allocate for the purchase.

(Another reason that hubby wants to have an exercise machine at home is so that I can use it too, coz he said I have already ‘expanded’ in my waist and butt, and wants me to lose weight! Grrrrr!)

I have been passing out gas a lot these few days. I think I ate too much steamed sweet potatoes, haha! While the gas is coming out so freely, the poops are not. Perhaps my irregular bowel movement is also partly responsible for the gases and my bloated tummy.

I believe many people are experiencing this similar problem. That’s why many are turning into detoxification or colon cleansing programs, which are meant to help clean up our internal system by removing all the solid waste materials that have accumulated in the body (including those sticking on the intestinal walls). Those waste materials produce toxins, if we do not eliminate them from our intestinal system, the toxins will be absorbed by our body, causing many health problems.

It is important that, before you decided on a specific program, do take some time to go over colon cleanse reviews available on the internet or magazines. You want to be sure that the program or product you chose is safe and has a plan that can fit into your daily schedule conveniently. If I am going to do a detox program to cleanse my intestines, I will make sure I stay at home all the time and just rest, not going to do housework even. Haha! But, do I need to?