Twisted My Ankle

1003 days ago

Poor old me, got my ankle twisted badly a few days ago.  Not surprisingly, as I have constantly twisted my ankle since I was young. Yes, during those times, I was...

Poor old me, got my ankle twisted badly a few days ago.  Not surprisingly, as I have constantly twisted my ankle since I was young. Yes, during those times, I was quite active. I did sports like Basketball, Swimming, Taekwondo and even cross country running. Ahhh…..those were definitely the times! Now, I basically sit at home and blog.  But of course being active has its own share of problems – like getting injured. One of the main reasons I quit sports is my ankle. I once injured my ankle constantly for about a year. My doctors told me to give my ankle a “break” or I might face problems when I grow older. So I quit the sports in my school and joined the Chess Club. And that is my life. I once was someone very very active, now I am someone very very dead.

Anyway, I twisted my ankle when I was chasing my nephew. I missed a step and my feet landed on the wrong side, causing my ankle to get  twisted badly. Although it has been a while since I got injured, I can feel that my ankle isn’t that strong anymore. But getting injured at my age is no joke. I am very shocked to see that most people don’t even bother going to the doctor for examinations to check when they get injured. They think that a few rubs here and there will heal everything. The problem is we are not medicial trained and we have no idea what is happening underneath our skin. If the bone is not set right, it might not heal right. And sure when we are young, nothing seem to get us down. But once you grow older, you might find that problems will creep up on you. So my advise is to go see a doctor. In Singapore, we have those Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors, and their specialty is to heal and set injuries. It is my opinion that if you twisted your ankle, knee or some part of your body, you should go see the TCM instead of western doctors. However, if you were to fracture your bone, you should see western doctors with more modern technology (like X-ray) to set your body right. Then after the bone is properly set, you should visit the TCM and get the doctor there to give you some more therapy and make sure all the bones, muscles and ligament are properly and completely healed. It is better to spend some time with your doctor now rather than a lifetime of pains and aches in the near future.

I went to my brother’s area and there is this very good TCM Practitioner. In less than 30 minutes, he managed to relief most of my ankle pain. Of course, I don’t expect miracles from anyone, but I think he did a good job. I am not limping that badly now. And all it takes was 30 minutes of my time (and 1 hour of waiting). But do note that for more serious injuries, it would require more than just one visit to the doctor. In fact, he encouraged me to come back for another consultation even if my ankle feel fine.

I am no fan of doctors or the current medical profession in general. But my problem with the medical profession is with the curing of diseases and not with injuries. No amount of good nutrition is going to help you when you dislocate your shoulder. Only your doctor who is trained can help you there. I think TCM offers Singaporeans a very good alternative as well. A lot of Western countries do not have this alternative and they are stuck with “Western” styled medicines.

First Choice California Natural Raisins

1004 days ago

Boring? Definitely! Tasty? Hell yes! I mean in Singapore, dried raisins are a common sight. When we browse our local convenience stores and supermarkets, we are bound to see those little...

Boring? Definitely! Tasty? Hell yes! I mean in Singapore, dried raisins are a common sight. When we browse our local convenience stores and supermarkets, we are bound to see those little red packets of dried raisins. But now they have a direct competitor. Not only do they produce dried raisins, they are packaging the raisins exactly the same way – in small convenient packets. Actually, I think small little packets make more sense. It is convenient to carry around and you are not forced to finish a huge bunch of dried fruits.Of course, they might a be a price increase when you compare small packets and big bags of the same dried fruits equal in weight. As I mentioned countless of times, this is business and we only seek to live in it.

Anyway, I bought this set of 6 packs from Shop N Save. You can only find First Choice brands at either Shop N Save or Cold Storage as it is the housebrand. I am quite impressed with the quality of their housebrand actually. Much better than the housebrand of NTUC. Yes, it might not be cheapest but at the very least, it is not the most expensive. Do note that this product is made in the United States. Most American products in Singapore comes with a very heavy price-tag.

The pack of 6 First Choice California Natural Raisins. Yummy!

Yes, it seems that they have packed one of the packets wrongly? No, I believe that they did in on purpose. You can check out the ingredients and the nutrition information easily without opening the wrapping. It is very important for any consumer to look for the ingredients when purchasing foodstuff. Unfortunately most Singaporeans don’t even bother at all.

Hmmmm……raisins! How do they get from nice looking green grapes to disgusting purplish raisins? I have absolutely no idea.

The net weight is 42.5g. The raisins are naturally cholesterol-free.

Check it out, the ingredient is just California raisins! And take a moment to check out the nutrition information. This is as accurate as it gets because there are no other ingredient in this product other than the raisins. As mentioned, this is a product of the United States. And packed in Malaysia. How about Singapore? Please pack your stuff in Singapore as we need jobs.

As with all dried foods, store in a cool, dry place and keep away from direct sunlight.

Ahhh….there you have it – the raisins themselves. Not actually very attractive to most but delicious nevertheless. I started eating dried fruits when I realize that these fruits actually contain more antioxidants than their fresh counterparts (depending on how they are processed). And I seriously lack fiber in my diet. The fruits I eat are mostly from juice. The dried raisins would definitely help add quite a good amount of fiber. And fiber, as you guys know is very important for our bodies.

I don’t know why I opened the packet from the bottom though.

Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Juice Drink

1004 days ago

Well, finally we got something new in the market – it is the Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Juice Drink, available in most local supermarkets. But it still seems to me that...

Well, finally we got something new in the market – it is the Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Juice Drink, available in most local supermarkets. But it still seems to me that our local supermarkets don’t have much new varieties coming in. Everyday we see the same old boring stuff on the shelves. Perhaps it is because these supermarkets are meant for necessities and not for new products or even for anyone a little more adventurous like myself. Anyway, it is good. If not, those supermarkets will have the easy excuse to raise prices of foodstuff and necessities. Like the prices of goods in Singapore isn’t high enough already. That is what happens when you don’t have an open market and there lacks competition among the big supermarkets.

I always enjoy trying out new drinks. But do understand that this is not a real fruit juice. Think of it as a soda drink, nothing more. You should not drink this Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Juice Drink and believe it to be a substitute for fresh fruits. It is not even a substitute for fresh fruit juice. It is a sugar-filled carbonated drink meant for your enjoyment. However, I have to admit, it does taste much better than the other Apple Juice Drink I have tried. Not too sweet and the apple flavour profile is just right. However, the Fuji Apple taste is a bit lacking though. I had expected this drink to have this awesome Fuji Apple aroma when I open the can, but I was disappointed. Too bad. But still this does taste better than that China Brand Sparkling Apple Drink.

The can of the Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Apple Juice Drink. Tedious name. But as with most Japanese inspired packaging, this can is appealing. Will definitely attract the younger crowd once they look up when they finish texting on their mobile phones.

Nice right? The sweetest and most delicious apples are still the Fuji Apples. Kudos to the Japanese. And hey, this drink comes with real juice! This is just amazing! Never did I ever expect an apple juice drink to come with actual apple juice.

Rich in Vitamin C. No Preservative. No artificial Colouring. But do they need artificial flavours to this drink? Of course they do.

Enjoy a refreshing moment with Pokka Fuji Apple Sparkling Juice Drink! With Vitamin C and no preservative, it is the perfect enjoyment for a cool fun time. Savour its delicious real apple juice taste today! Hmm…..I expected more flowery words than this. I guess the marketing guys at Pokka are busy with something else.

The ingredients that goes into making this delicious drink are – carbonated water, sucrose, apple juice, ascorbic acid, flavouring and natural colouring. See, told you got artificial flavouring. If they don’t add any flavouring to this drink, most consumers will never consume this again. We are just too spolit by the artificial flavourings that we expect the real thing to taste like that.

Anyway, this is made in Malaysia.  Hooray for Malaysia!