Hypokalemia caused by too much cola intake?

I was reading on the internet when I came across the Yahoo Health article "Too Much Cola Can Cause Muscle Problems". It talks about experiencing weak muscles or even paralysis when a person's potassium level drops due to too much (between 2 to 9 liters) intake of cola per day.

Having read it made me think about my cola drinking habits. I listed some of the occasions when I excessively (but not reach the 2 to 9 L threshold) drink cola. I identified the following:

1. When we dine out or when we are in a place where we are not sure about the safety of the available water. (Should we start bringing a bottle of clean water every time we go out?)

2. When we eat fried and junk food. (Cola is the best match that I know for these but maybe I should cut on the junk to avoid its match.)

3. When it's too hot or when I'm tired or I feel down. (I realized that I won't have this on the list if I don't put cola in the fridge in the first place! LOL.)

Whether Hypokalemia or diabetes or high blood pressure or any other health issues, I think the cause is mainly the decision that we take when it comes to the food and the amount of it that we intake. As the old saying goes, anything in excess is bad.

Potato with mushroom and cheese?

I cooked something yummy last night. I don’t know how to call it. I just thought that I wanted to eat young potatoes with cheese and mushroom. Here’s the ingredients and how I prepared it.

1 tsp butter
3 tsps chopped garlic
1 medium sized white onion, chopped
¼ bar quick melt cheese
½ can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup water

¼ kilo young potatoes

1. Boil the young potatoes.
2. Saute the garlic and onion on the melted butter.
3. Add cream of mushroom soup and water. Leave for a couple of minutes.
4. Add potatoes and cheese.
5. Leave for a few more minutes until mushroom soup is thick.

I served it with fried chicken, rice and iced tea. It was really lip-smacking.... healthy... and not at all expensive.

P.S. Maybe this is not an original recipe. Perhaps someone has already prepared this before. But as I said, I don’t know how to call it. I just imagined the flavour and decided to cook. If anyone knows how this recipe is called, please let me know. So that next time my husband asks, I will not answer potatoes with mushroom and cheese. :-)

change.. it always comes

a lot of things will change during the next few weeks. change, as many people would say, is very painful. it entails a lot of guts to face the differences. it becomes very stressful to some... and for others, change simply becomes a challenge that they have to beat.

i can't say now how i'm actually going to face it (i have some plans that i hope will work). but sure it will hit some part of me. and sure as i am, i'll deal with it in the best way that i could.

yes i agree, change is painful... but we just have to live with it... it always comes.

heart attack

just finished chatting with a friend and found out that his mom was rushed to the hospital few days ago due to a heart attack. it was not a long chat but i felt how sad and stressed and tired my friend was. he told me he's been on leave for a few days now attending to her mom/family's needs. i've known this person very well and i'm sure he's been sleepless since that day. having this kind of situation is really emotionally, physically and financially stressful.

sometimes, when i hear news like this, i also get scared. i want to be as healthy as i could for myself and my family. and i want my family to be healthy too.

i know that to prevent conditions like this, one should have healthy diet and enough exercise. maybe i should start looking for better recipes to cook. i'm afraid our diet now is not really that healthy. i should be searching for more recipes with vegies and beef and white meat.

can you help? :-)

and perhaps i should also start walking.... with my family.. for fun and for health.

if it's the truth, you'll naturally remember it

i was checking for online friends on my messenger list when a status message caught my attention. it says, "always tell the truth so that you don't have to remember what you've said."

makes sense, right? you don't have to worry and recall what you've said and how you've said it if it's the truth. because if it's the truth, you'll naturally remember it.

nice one... she's brilliant. i found her status message very realistic.

just in time

I went to the dentist yesterday. I had oral prophylaxis.

I used to live with an aunt who always dips her mouth piece (ehehehe) in a glass of water every night. That led me to think that maybe, just maybe, if I cared for my teeth enough, then I can avoid having to do what she does every night.

Since I started working, it has always been the dental benefits that I consume first when our health cards renew. Since I stopped working and got a card from my husband’s employer, it’s still the dental benefits that I always consume first. And since he resigned from his work, and they just got the card renewed last month, I decided to use up the dental benefits before our cards get cancelled.

The dentist told me that they’ve covered all the teeth that need to be restored. Thank God I had them covered just in time. I hope that later, I won’t have to dip something in a glass of water. =)

God really gives us what we need just in time. =)

true friends are friends for life

two of my best friends visited us last weekend. since i stopped doing a full time office work, i learned to appreciate visitors more. =) it's always as if you're a very important person that even if your house is some few hours away from them, they still will go there to see you.

we spent long hours of updating and telling stories and eating and joking. and it's as if i did not stop seeing them for more than half a year. true friends are really a treasure. you don't have to see them often to feel the warmth and closeness...

true friends are friends for life. :-)

We’re so happy today...

My husband and I got up early excited to see someone who’s going to make life easier for us... someone who will share the weight with us. It’s not a robot, we’re not that rich (yet :-))... We went out to fetch the new “ate” in the house.

She’s young. She’s pretty. She’s always smiling. She plays with our baby.

Since Manang left, we had a hard time. We don’t really need someone in the house to do everything for us because we (my husband and I) are used to doing household chores on our own. But, we have a baby now and he can’t be left playing alone while I cook. We have a baby who can’t be left drenched and freezing for hours while I do the laundry (because he plays with water and pretends he’s also washing the clothes every time he sees me doing the laundry). He can’t always come with me in the CR; not when I’m not giving him a shower.

I remember one of my mentors telling me that I should learn to delegate. I used to think that given enough time, I can do them all by myself. Then I was told that I should delegate and multiply myself. I should ask help with the things that I’m not good at, to have more chance of doing those that I can do best.

Like maybe cook for my husband after a tiring day at work instead of doing the laundry (for almost an entire day while leaving everything else in chaos).

Then I obeyed. And since then, life got less complicated.

How about you, is there anything you need help with? Just ask. Someone out there can do it for you. :-)

simplify, it works.

i read the book again. since i realized that my financial life was in a really bad shape some few years back, i started reading books. and, one book that truly helped me was this book called simplify by bo sanchez. since i read this book for the first time, i told myself that i'll read the book as often as i could so i can be reminded that there's something that i should do/change about the way i live.

one favorite part of the book that i read again and again is "live on less, and delight in it more"
the author said "relish, taste and immerse yourself in the divine and ordinary! because if you develop the capacity to suck all the joy that life has to offer, you don't need expensive entertainment"

as a teenager, i thought that if i can buy things that my classmates and friends can buy from their baon, i can be happier. when i grew older, i realized i was wrong. before i grew older, i did not realize that there's a way to cut the expenses. and so again, when i grew older... i was faced with problems. can you still follow the order of events? :-)

after reading the book again, i did some review and i realized that i was doing great so far. i'm 85% accomplished. deadline is december 31, 2009.

if you are in trouble, read the book. if you don't have any troubles (yet), read the book.

simplify. it works.

getting used to doing the laundry

i spent half an hour lesser time when i did the laundry today. i'm not sure if i'm getting used to it or i missed something. hahaha.

i wish i have a washing machine that takes care of the laundry from start to finish. it's so expensive but i'll have one of it... soon... on my album. hahahaha. i'll admire the picture while i get better in doing the laundry using my primitive washing machine... with dryer. =)

What is a mother?

I received this very nice e-mail yesterday. As a newbie, I have not much of an experience when it comes to being a mom. But, I'm sure that what's written below is true. I experienced them from my mother and I hope to show the same to my child (or children in the future). =)


What Is A Mother?


A mother is someone to shelter and guide us,
To love us, whatever we do,
With a warm understanding and infinite patience
And wonderful gentleness, too.
How often a mother means swift reassurance
In soothing our small, childish fears,
How tenderly mothers watch over their children
And treasure them all through the years!
The heart of a mother is full of forgiveness
For any mistake, big or small,
And generous always in helping her family,
Whose needs she has placed above all.
A mother can utter a word of compassion
And make all our cares fall away,
She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter
And make life delightful and gay.
A mother possesses incredible wisdom
And wonderful insight and skill -
In each human heart is that one special corner
Which only a mother can fill!