Three Weeks After Parasite Cleansing

It has now been three weeks since I've embarked on this parasite cleansing journey...which means that I've also gone beyond the half way point! 10 more days! So, what interesting things happened this past week?

That, my dear friends, is not a rash under my armpit. I suddenly spotted it one day after my shower and was wondering what that was. It didn't hurt nor itched. I suspected that it's my lymph nodes flaring up and when I did some online research as to the positions of lymph nodes, I did hit the nail on the head.

My skin on my arms are still itching and I see more rashes coming up, which isn't fun. The most irritating thing that has occurred so far is the mucus production in my sinuses. I've always had sinusitis and now I can feel a lot of drip back to my throat but my nostrils aren't clogged up. Weird. However, this is affecting my sleep. I've started to snore instead of my usual heavy breathing and I'm breathing through my mouth while I sleep, causing a very dry mouth in the mornings.

Again, all these are typical detox features. Flaring up incredibly since it's my first real detox/cleanse.  Good news is that I haven't noticed any more critters in my stool during my trips to the loo. That probably also explains why the symptoms of the cleanse are now mainly on my skin and sinuses, because the herbs are now taking effect and helping to get rid of residual endotoxins.

What I find the most interesting thing now is that my appetite has gone down. I no longer crave for oily, fried foods such as fried chicken and french fries. Both of them used to be my biggest indulgences but during the week, I did buy a fried chicken wing and when I bit into it, it no longer tasted as wonderful as I thought it would. Also, I find that I'm eating less than my usual and that's helping with maintaining my weight loss. I'm half surprised but yet rationally, I was expecting this to happen. Why? Parasites feed on your food and they are known to be the ones sending signals to your brain to eat more sugar and oily foods because that's what they like to eat. And in large quantities. Now that I've finally gotten rid of them from my body, I don't have these aliens telling my brain to feed my body with junk food. Furthermore, the hormones controlling the signals of sugar levels in the body etc can now work properly. Thus, I'm eating the amounts that I really require.

A lot of doctors and nutritionists poo-poo detox programmes saying that the body will naturally detox itself. Which is true. However, the body doesn't naturally get rid of parasites and that is why after  starting this parasite cleanse, I've been recommending people to do it. Another problem with the modern diet is that we eat too much processed foods and then there's also external pollution that's messing with our skin. There's just a lot for the body to process and it's natural for the body to just detox as much as it can without overloading itself. What a herbal detox does is that it helps the body deal with the daily detoxification process. Best to think of it as banging down the previously small doors of the detox centres to become floodgates. Whoosh! Suddenly the body is processing a lot more toxins a day than it normally does and when it comes to a parasite cleanse, the body has to deal with extra endotoxins released from these dying parasites.

What I'm trying to say is that all these cleanses and detox programmes are a bit of a misnomer. The herbs or juices aren't really the ones cleaning out the waste from your bodies. Your body itself is. What is going on is that these herbs and teas are supporting your body's natural detoxification and allowing more toxins to be processed. Should you then go on a detox programme or parasite cleanse? It's really up to you and what you're comfortable with. If you do choose to go on one, do note that you'll need to stick to it for at least 3 days to see any effects. It may not be easy the first time you do it but if you press on and carry on, the results are worth it. 1.5kg and counting!!

To learn more about the 30-day ClearStart or Paraway Plus, go to:  https://shop.swagguide.com/collections/unicity.

Get Fit In Style!

We've teamed up with Rumi Yoga Wear to give Pásshen members great discounts! We looove Rumi's  eco-friendly shorts, capris and leggings are made 100% of recycled plastic bottles and are super stretchy. They even have a maternity range with an expandable waistband that can be folded down when baby is born!

Comfy and with excellent wicking, you'll remain cool and dry even after an hour's hot yoga session. We should know as we passed a couple over to Amanda Koh, a yoga instructor, and she used them during her pilates AND hot yoga sessions.

To get your hands on a lovely pair of leggings, head onto http://www.rumiyogawear.com/ and don't forget to use the promo code "PASSHEN" to get your 10% off!

Quite loving these colourful capris from Rumi Yoga wear... made from recycled plastic bottles! Meanwhile my cheapo ikea rug makes excellent padding for headstanding hahaha! @rumiyogawear @passhensg #rumilove #sgyoga #singaporeyogis #yogacapris #cny2016 #inversion #headstand #sirsasana #iloveyoga #yogaeverydamnday #practicepracticepractice

A photo posted by Amanda Koh (@amandakohkalariyoga) on Feb 8, 2016 at 5:25am PST

Tribute to Everyone Who Has Been Shamed For Being Fat/Skinny

I don't feel fat until people tell it to me in my face and that's when I'd usually feel bad about myself. There was a period of time where I'd even get depressed. As in clinically depressed, bawling my eyes out and feeling crappy kind of depressed. It has been many years since then and thankfully, I managed to crawl myself out of that hole but I do know that a lot of people are still suffering similar situations.

A friend of mine posted once about how she knows that she has put on weight but she's frustrated at how some people are asking her whether she's pregnant again or offering her all sorts of solutions to lose weight. Another friend of mine had accidentally brushed against an old auntie on CNY eve in the supermarket and was rudely scolded with a "Fat slob! Too greedy and rushing to eat like a pig ah?", thus ruining said friend's mood and made her go back to her own hole of self doubt.

It's not just the fat people who get it. The skinny ones often will get people wanting to feed them (myself included) and people joking about how a wind would blow the skinny people off their feet. Oh my favourite one is probably "you're so skinny that you use a Cheerio as a hula hoop".

Why do women do this to ourselves and to fellow females? Sure, we are all blaming the media for giving us an ideal body weight to conform to. However, the media does not tell us to insult each other. This, unfortunately, is a societal thing. How many times have we been told that fat=lazy? And then of course we see images of starving people who are stick thin and that's where we feel that skinny but healthy people are that size because they're not eating enough.

I watched an episode of "Extreme Makeover" and for the first time, it was a skinny man who was undergoing the makeover. His issue wasn't that he wasn't eating enough. It was that he wasn't building muscles as he didn't go to the gym.

As for lazy, I know a lot of people who are fat but are the most hardworking people. There are many other reasons why the weight is piling on and most of the time, it is some emotional reason and not because they don't have the willpower. Sure, they may say that out loud but if you've watched enough makeover shows or read sufficient articles on inspirational weight loss stories, the actual reason a lot of obese people pile on the weight is because they turn to food for comfort and they went on a spiral where they couldn't get themselves out.

When I look at my old photos, sure, I was much slimmer then but right now, at this moment, the heavier me actually feels happier and more assured about myself. Sure, some of it came due to age but it is also because of an epiphany that I had - my weight does not determine how I feel about myself.

As I said to my friend, we choose how we react and feel. Although insults may make me angry and feel bad for a bit, I tell myself that whatever the insult was isn't me. I determine who I am and I'm growing stronger and healthier with time and on my own terms. I'm not encouraging obese people to remain obese or underweight people to remain stick thin. What I'm saying is, don't judge. If you're judging others, what makes you think that others aren't judging you? Instead of judging, just work on yourself and help others feel better about themselves. Remember, the over eating is often a symptom of emotional problems.

Which is why, when I went through a workshop and we were forced to really think about WHY we're setting up our businesses and WHAT we actually are selling, it reminded me that I want to help everyone be body confident. That is why my company's motto is "Be The Best Of You". Now that I've been reminded of this fact, you'll see a lot of changes with SWAG Guide soon where it'll be more in that direction and become a platform for holistic plans, advice and solutions to enable you to be more confident about yourselves.

Two Weeks After Parasite Cleansing

It has been 2 weeks since I started my parasite cleansing with Paraway Plus and the healing crisis is hitting me really bad.

As mentioned in last week's post, I developed a fever and a bad sore throat. It got so bad that I went to see the doctor last Wed and was put on a course of antibiotics, paracetamol and anti-inflammatory meds. I started feeling really good until day 10 of my cleanse where I had to up the number of pills from 2 to 5. On Day 10 itself, I started having a sore throat in the evening. On Day 11, I woke up with my throat more swollen and I even had a mild fever in the afternoon. This meant more paracetamol and anti-inflammatory meds going into my system. Moreover, I had such bad insomnia that I did not sleep till 6am the following morning. I was soon up 2 hours later and that's when I messaged Su Lee for advice.

This is the full symptoms of my healing crisis:

• fever
• sore throat
• semi-blocked sinuses with drip back (probably causing the sore throat)
• pimples
• raised goose pimples on my arms
• slight itching on my arms
• thicker coating on my tongue
• body aches
• diarrhoea (only once)

Su Lee confirmed that it was a healing crisis and told me that if I stopped the cleanse for more than 3 days, I'll have to start from scratch all over again. Thus, I'm pressing on with loads of chlorophyll water as suggested by her. She also suggested taking probiotics as the released toxins may also cause an increase in bad bacteria in the gut so the probiotics will help combat this. Killing two birds with one stone, I mixed the chlorophyll powder with my yoghurt drink and had that for lunch since I wasn't up to swallowing any whole foods.

As per research online, Su Lee mentioned that a detox or cleansing healing crisis will cause underlying conditions to flare up more than before as they haven't really been cured. It's no wonder then that I have blocked sinuses and itching on the arms since I've had sinusitis and eczema since young. Since this is also my first proper cleansing, my body is probably not used to the sudden flood of endotoxins which explains how bad my symptoms are.

Trips to the loo have been some sort of exploration session for me as I tried to look for wriggly stuff or white things that resemble seeds. I 'complained' to Su Lee that I haven't seen any but now that I think about it, I did pass out some parasites. Instead of white ones, mine were dark brown ones! I did find them unusual and was wondering whether it was due to the spinach salad that I had the day before but then I went to do my research and I think its a type of rope worm. I did not take any photos of my stool (I think that's a little gross) but here's a photo that I found online which closely resembles what I saw in my toilet bowl.

On Day 13, I saw quite a few white things in my stool that resembled the size and shape of rice. I thought back to what I ate the previous day and the only thing that I could think that resembled that would be the brown rice that I ate plus okra. But okra seeds are smaller and rounder than those. Plus I've been eating brown rice for years and they've never come out whole like that. They didn't wriggle. Conclusion:  another type of parasite.

I'm hoping that I've gotten rid of as much as possible but from what I read and think, the increased dosage may mean that I'll be seeing more of such parasites in my stool in subsequent weeks. Oh well, better out than in!

I'm still in shock over how much parasites are in my system. Sadly, having parasites in your gut is more common than you think as these little buggers are on vegetables, grains and other types of foods. I'm just glad to be able to get rid of them. Although I really do not like going through the healing crisis. A good side effect is that I've since lost 1kg!

To learn more about the 30-day ClearStart or Paraway Plus, go to:  https://shop.swagguide.com/collections/unicity.

A Tea A Day To Keep The Blues Away

I've been down with the flu for the past 2 weeks and it has been quite miserable with the blocked nose and sore throat. This flu is my healing crisis from my parasite cleansing and when one is sick, one reaches for comfort and for me, one of that is tea.

 

Since Hi-Tea has a special blend of teas called "Health Series" I thought that it would be perfect to drink it while I'm under the weather. I love how each bag is individually wrapped so as to maintain its freshness. This is important because Hi-Tea teas are all natural and made with dried flowers and fruit with no preservatives.

As they come in bags, it's so easy to pop one into a mug, add hot water and let it steep for 3-5 minutes before sipping the brew. The Health tea is made with jasmine, lemon grass and dried lemon which is why the resulting brew was both refreshing in terms of taste and smell. Love how it was mildly sweet, which I was not expecting since there's lemon inside. It really helped to clear up my sinuses and relieve some of my sore throat. If you want, you can add honey to the tea and it'll be a naturally sweet and healthy drink.

For bulk brew, I used a tea pot and as mine is pretty large, I added 2 tea bags and steeped it for 5 minutes. In this case, I brewed Hi-Tea's Beauty blend. This is a blend of French Rose, jasmine flower and apple flower.

Beauty tea blend

The dried flowers themselves look so pretty so hopefully drinking the tea will help maintain my youthful skin...after all, roses are supposed to contain vitamin C. As with most flower teas, the taste of the Beauty Tea was very light, with the dominant rose flavour and ending with a subtle green apple note.

Left to right: Relaxation series, Health series, Beauty series

What I really like about Hi-Tea is the design of the boxes. I could open up the lid, bend it back and now it's like a having a tea display in my kitchen! Don't you think the teas look so pretty on my kitchen counter top? Now I know exactly what the boxes contain and can easily pick up a sachet whenever I feel like drinking a cuppa. Two thumbs up for brilliant design!

Since it's going to be Chinese New Year, I can't wait to just display the teas on my dining table so that my family and friends who are visiting can just choose whatever tea they'd like. Personally, I can't wait to try out all their flavours because they do have quite a few others to choose from:

• Fruit teas (peach, apple rose & blueberry)
• Anti-aging
• Slimming
• Relaxation
• Stevia
• Lemongrass
• Peppermint
• Flower teas (chamomile, chrysanthemum, ginseng flower, osmanthus, rose hip, rose, lavender and French rose)

To view and purchase any of these delicious and natural teas, head onto  http://shop.passhen.com/collections/hi-tea

Is Vitamin Injection Good For The Skin?

A 2014 article in Harper's Bazaar mentioned "VitaGlow" to be the hottest trend in skincare, where vitamins are injected directly into the skin and supposed to have a pronounced anti-aging effect. This type of injection is commonly called 'mesotherapy' and it has caught on in Hollywood, being endorsed by the likes of Katy Perry and Jennifer Aniston.

Here's a video of someone having mesotherapy done in front of a TV audience by a cosmetic surgeon and she explains more about what mesotherapy is and it's benefits.

A quick search online showed that in Singapore, the few aesthetic-clinics that provide this service are:

• Parsons Medical (Yishun)
• Pacific Clinic & Surgery (Orchard Paragon)

Interestingly enough, in Asia, mesotherapy and even Vitamin IV procedures are marketed to women for whitening their skins whereas in Europe and America, it is more for anti-aging. Only goes to show what women in these parts of the world care about. Nonetheless, one cannot deny that the effects of vitamin injections are akin to getting a face-lift minus the down time.

These injections do not come cheap. On average, they cost about S$300 each jab and you have to go for regular sessions in order to see the effects and maintain them.

As with relatively invasive procedures, if you're interested to do mesotherapy, please ensure that you look for a qualified dermatologist or professional to ensure that you are getting actual vitamins injected into your skin. Talk to them to find out what side effects may occur and what exactly the treatment entails.

We reckon that if you can't afford these injections, applying vitamins onto your face through facial masks or facial mists or serums will produce similar effects, albeit less dramatic. Do what you feel comfortable with and can afford.

Vote and Win!

I had the honour of meeting Elim Chew, founder of 77th Street and other famous brands in Singapore, where she was our mentor for the day during my workshop. As suggested by her, Pásshen will be undergoing a name change but our core mission remains the same.

Some of you would probably be wondering what Pásshen is all about in the first place. To break it down, it is essentially about enabling everyone to be Body Confident. Does not matter what shape or size you are at, just as long as you are comfortable and take steps to becoming healthier and feeling great.

Thus, we've created a poll and that's where we'll need YOUR help. There have been so many ideas that I can't decide which name to choose. There's also that irritating thing called domain which we had to cross check for availability whenever a nice name popped up.

Please help vote for your favourite name and one of the lucky ones who pick the winning name will also win a bottle of red wine (worth $80)! To vote, please click below: