The Misconception of Infertility

By Jessica Lim

THE flood of advice from self-appointed fertility experts can frustrate childless couples who are desperate for the truth. JESSICA LIM finds answers to five common fertility treatment misconceptions.


CHILDLESS couples have heard it all. Have sex in the morning. Have sex at night. Do not move your bed. Do not paint the house. Do not do plumbing. Do not hammer nails into the wall.

Eat lin zhi. Eat ginko. Eat dong kwai. Go for traditional massages. Ask that sinseh. Try in vitro fertilisation. Take hormone drugs. Do not take hormone drugs.

Mr and Mrs Chandra, who have been married 13 years and were childless, had heard such advice and more.

My 22nd Marriage Anniversary Free Link

June 6, 2011 is my 21st marriage anniversary to my beloved wife Zakiyah. I am in a very good mood right now, so I'm offering free links to 50 great blogs.

Your blog's link address will be added to the list as long as it doesn't related to gambling, adult content or sex related tips.

All you have to do is, just leave me a nice comment to make me feel happy.

If you want to make me feel happier, you may click the Plus One Button, or subscribe to my rss feed by clicking the rss feed button above or you may follow me through google friend connect, and then leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your blog or site address for me to link you here.

This will not be going on forever though, so comment now. Feel free to tell your friends, hopefully you will get more new friends through this link in the future.

Thank you.

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CONGKAK - Secret Steps To Win

by Roshidan Rashid

AMONG the ancient games that have evolved through time, congkak was played by digging holes on ground and using tamarind seeds for points. Congkak was found in Jordan back in 5000BC and is played under different names in India and Ethiopia.

In Malaysia, congkak is believed to have originated from the Malacca Malay Sultanate more than 600 years ago and has spread throughout the region as foreign traders leaving Malacca port brought home the popular game to their loved ones. 

Congkak is believed have originated from the word congak, which in old Malay means to count (mental calculation). 

Congkak boards are made of wood and are shaped like a traditional Malay fishing boat. As the congkak board is shaped like a boat, it is believed to be based on the legend of a fisherman. Unable to go to the sea in rainy seasons, he created the game to pass time.

Congkak is a very simple game that can be played alone, or usually, with friends.

The congkak board has 14 pits in two sets of seven, with an additional pit (home/store) for each player to place their winnings.

Each player controls the seven pits on their side of the board, and his score is the number of seeds at the end of the game. The aim of the game is to capture more seeds than the opponent. The player who empties all the opponent's pits and captures the most seeds in her home at the end of the game wins.

At the start, seeds are distributed equally into all pits except the two end pits (home/store), one of which belonged to a player. The player who starts the game will take all the seeds from one pit and distributes them one by one in each pit, going clockwise and dropping one into his/her end pit. When the last seed in hand is dropped into a pit containing other seeds, he/she picks all up and starts the distribution again. He/she loses her turn when the final seed drops into an empty pit as the game progresses. Then the second player starts his/her turn.

How To Beat Your Opponent

Here are the secret steps how to beat your opponent when playing congkak until your opponent has nothing left. These steps were thought to me by my grandfather through his experience of practicing by playing alone for many years. The numbers shown is the pit number that we have to start collect the seeds and distribute. The last seed of every step should finished at our end pit before we could go to the next step. Be very careful in distributing the seed, because you may drop the seed in a wrong pit and may result an error.

However since it is still hold as a secret, a further instruction on certain point (number) is unexposed. Unless you are really interested to know, please let me know.

Please try the 5 vs 7 situation, which has no further instruction to see for yourself, the proof that these steps are winning steps.


7 vs 7

7-1-3-5-3-1-4-5-4-3-7-2-3-1-2-6-4-2-5-1-7-6-1-2-3-6-4-6-2-6-1-3-4-5-6-3-4-2-7-2-5-2-4

7 vs 6

1-3-5-1-5-1-2-3-2-4-4-1-2-5-4-6-5-7-7-5-3-7-3-4-1-3-7-4-2-1-4-6-5-1-2-4-3-1

6 vs 7

1-3-5-1-5-1-5-4-1-1-2-1-5-3-3-1-2

7 vs 5

2-4-6-5-3-4-4-2-1-2-7-3-2-6-3-4-3-1-1

5 vs 7

2-4-1-4-5-4-3-2-5-2-4-3-1-3-5-2-4-3

7 vs 4

3-5-3-7-2-3-2-7-3-4-2-4-7-4-3-5-1-2-7-6-1-2-3-5-7-2-1-4-3-2-5-2-3-3-6-4-3-1

7 vs 3

4-6-4-4-5-4-5-4-2-2-5-1-2-4-7-2-6-4-2-1-6

7 vs 2

5-7-1-7-3-4-3-6-6-2-5-2-3-4-3-2-6-2-5-1-7-6-2-5

7 vs 1

4 -stab (tikam)-1-2-4-2-5-4-3-1-6-2-1-2-4-5-2-1

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When an Extra Chromosome is One Too Many

By Dr Zilfalil Alwi


CORRUPTION to genes passed down to the baby from his parents can cause a myriad of problems. Having that additional chromosome 13, 18 or 21 can make a whole of difference, writes DR ZILFALIL ALWI.

AFTER trying for almost three years, Aishah and her husband, Samad (not their real names), were thrilled to find out that she was pregnant.

However, their happiness was shortlived as the baby had gross deformities of the face and hands. The baby also has gross brain and heart defects and doctors told them it would not live long.

Blood test for chromosome analysis revealed an abnormality on chromosome 13, a condition called Trisomy 13 or Patau Syndrome.

Trisomy 13 is a condition in which a patient has three copies of chromosome 13 instead of the usual two.

This results in the body having 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46.

A baby with Trisomy 13 has gross cranio-facial abnormalities. The middle part of the face and brain fails to develop resulting in an empty space.

Is your Drinking Water Healthy or Merely Safe?

By Michael R. Long


ALWAYS know what you are drinking. A common misconception is that safe water equals healthy water but certified water specialist MICHAEL R. LONG explains the difference.
In the US, it was reported that traces of pharmaceutical drugs were being found in treated drinking water in countries all over the world. This fact has raised many concerns among the Malaysian public, particularly because contaminated water does not necessarily look murky.

Drinking water that is crystal clear can contain numerous contaminants that are odourless, colourless and completely invisible to the human eye yet are potentially dangerous and harmful to human health.

DRINKABLE WATER FROM THE TAP?

In most countries around the world, water is treated before being piped to consumers. In some countries, people actually drink water straight from the tap. This implies that the water is "safe" or, to use a more technical term, "potable".

Consider that here in Malaysia, even though I don't know anyone who drinks water straight from the tap, almost all of us swallow small amounts of tap water each time we brush our teeth. Since we don't suffer immediate sickness or health problems, we can conclude that the mains water which is being supplied to our homes is "safe" or "potable".

Why Rice is Worse than Sugar

By Rajen M.


RICE and other grains like wheat and corn can actually be worse than sugar. In fact, if you go by the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) studies, white rice is almost equal to white sugar.

Indeed, white rice has an index of 92 versus 100 for sugar. The glycemic load is 30 - in excess of the 20 that it he upper limit per "good carbohydrate" serving.

However, there are several reasons why rice is worse than sugar:


Rice becomes sugar

This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny: rice is chemically no different from sugar. Remember the experiment in school where you chewed on some cooked rice for a while. After a while, it turned sweet!

Actually, one bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. It does not matter whether it is white, brown or herbal rice.

A bowl of brown rice is richer in fibre, some B vitamins and mineral but it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar.

To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you need to consume to lots of kangkong (Ipomoea aquatic or water spinach) - 10 bowls of it.

Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar, within half an hour - almost as quickly as it would if your took a sugar candy.

Rice is also lacking in the "rainbow of anti-oxidants". This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary for the effective and safe utilisation of sugar.

Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However, they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed with a whole host of other nutrients that help its proper assimilation and digestion.

Rice has no fibre

The fibre of the kangkong fills you long before your blood sugar spikes. This is because the fibre bulks and fills your stomach. Since white rice has no fibre, you will end up eating lots of this "calorie dense" food.

Brown rice has more fibre but still the same amount of sugar.

Rice is tasteless while sugar is sweet. There is only so much you can eat at one sitting. How many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you feel like throwing up?

How many bowls of rice would you eat at lunch in a banana leaf restaurant today?

Another point worth noting is that rice is always the main part of the meal. While sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal. You could eat maybe 2-3 teaspoons of sugar at one meal.

However, you could easily eat the equivalent of two to three bowls, which translates to 20-30 teaspoons of sugar, in one meal.

I am always amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls of rice (50 teaspoons of sugar) at a banana leaf restaurant and then ask for teh tarik that is kurang manis!

There is no real "built in" mechanism for us to prevent overeating rice. How much kangkong can you eat? How much fried chicken can you eat? How much steamed fish can you eat?

Think about that. In terms of just quantity, where will you eat more - at a banana leaf restaurant where rice it the bulk or a western restaurant serving grilled fish and broccoli?

You eat more salt

As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more salt - another villain when it comes to high blood pressure.

You tend to take more curry which has salt to help flavour the tasteless rice. We also tend to consume more ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich is salt.

Eating rice causes you to drink less water. The more rice you eat, the less water you will drink as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating of rice.

Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up in other substitute foods like rice flour, noodles and bread.

Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest. It is "heavy stuff".

If you have problems with digestion, try skipping rice for a few days. You will be amazed at how the problem will just go away.

Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins and minerals. When taken in bulk, it reduces the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron and the B vitamins.

Actually, you were not meant to eat rice. You see, our genes have hardly changed in more than 30,000 years.

However, our food and lifestyle has changed dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognise our food or way of life.

Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you can eat without treatment with or by fire.

The stuff that he ate were fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs, nuts and meat.

Yes, even meat. You can even eat meat raw if you were starving in the forest. You have the necessary enzyme systems to digest meat.

However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be eaten raw. It must be cooked. Even if you are starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the raw form. This is because we do not have the system of enzymes to break rice down.

Thus, the caveman never ate rice. As you share the same genetic code, you shouldn't too. To make matters worse, you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of your food. In some parts of Asia, rice forms up to 85 per cent of the plate.

Even if you take rice, keep it to a minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue, not your body.

Rice is actually vitaminless, mineraless, colourless, flavourless, fibreless and useless.

Can you rely on rice to keep you healthy? Eat a colourful and varied diet.

Are you addicted?

Going rice-less may not be easy but you can do it. Here are some strategies that you can pursue in your quest to eat less rice:

* Cut your rice by half. Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises "eating rice like spice".

Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables. Take more lean meats and fish. You can even take more eggs and nuts.

* Have rice-less meals - take no rice or wheat at breakfast. Go for eggs instead.

* Go on rice-less days - go 'western' once a week. Take no rice and breads for one day every week. That can't be too difficult.

* Appreciate the richness of your food - go for taste, colours and smells. Make eating a culinary delight.

Enjoy your food in the original flavours. Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup. You will automatically eat less rice.

* Eat your salads before your meal. You many even eat your fruit dessert before your meals. The fibre rich fruits will "bulk up" in your stomach.

* References: www.mendosa.com/gifactor.htmGlycaemic index and glycaemic load values of commercially available products in Britain, C. Jeya, K. Henry, British Journal of Nutrition (2005), 94, 922-930.

KEY POINTS

* Rice was never part of human nutrition for some 3.8 million years

* We adapted rice to our diets just 8,000 years ago

* Only in the 1920s did rice processing technology make it possible for Asians to consume large amounts of rice cheaply

* One cup of white rice is the calorie equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar

* This causes blood sugar to rice quickly (glucose shock for your body)

* Rice digestion begins in the mouth itself

* As rice is tasteless, you can overeat, and we normally do


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