Health & Home (September-October 2018)

CONTENTS

September-October 2018

15 16

God Has a Plan for That?

The beauty of sex in the right context Hands-on Grandparents

By Nathanlie M. Baldoza

Grandparenting round the clock

24 Is Healthy Aging Possible?

By Minerva Zaniebeth G. Cailao

You are never too old to get into action

36

Bitter Melon for Better Blood Sugar

By Sue Radd

Why it's sweet for diabetics

6

Would You Rather Spend on Experience or Possession?

8 10 12

Welcome to Kule

By John Jay M. Bacon

Appreciating the T'boli culture

26

Three Post-it Marriage Memos

By Mark L. Lastimoso

Marital prompts to further fortify the relationship

By Rose Fres Fausto

Taking into account the cost of happiness Hope in the Crowd

28

A Closer Look at the Eyes

By Rudy F. Yap

Eye care tips to keep our eyes healthy

By Britt Celine Ordebraten

Seeing a Rohingya refugee camp for the first time TAG Me

By Danielle Audrey G. Ban

Fresh impressions first thing in the morning

32

Pain: The Inside Story

By Rowena R. Antemano and Armi P. Montilla

What our brain tells about pains

34

It Takes a Village

By W. S. and Wilma Lee

When grandparents parent their grandchildren

Contented Kids?

By Karen Holford

Raising real happy children

38

Letter from my Korean Jagiya

By Andrea Jakobsons

20 18

You Are my Answered Prayer

By Dana Fe A. Conopio

Ennobling the Noble Profession: Teaching in the Twenty-first

Century

By Teofilo C. Esguerra, Jr.

Modern challenges, old-school duties

43 46

Glue-y Flower Headband Craft to liven up one's day and hold every girl's crowing glory in place Anxiety: Excess Future

By Julián Melgosa and Michelson Borges

Nipping worry in the bud

Coming up… • My Mother’s Gift • 8 Things You Can Do When You Have No Money • Christmas in Another

Land • The Turning Point • Presents vs. Presence • Delightful Dill • Behind the Forehead

SUBSCRIBERS SECTION

COLUMNS

By Liza D. Villamarzo

3 Subscribers Section

By Liza D. Villamarzo

A Collection of Blessings

A Collection of Blessings

4 Passion and Purpose

By Lucile B. Tañalas

The Grandness of Grandparenting

5 iContact Compiled by Dexter O. Quiñones and Bianca G. Sagana

By Atty. Silvino L. Sumagaysay, Jr.

Intestate Heirs

30 Personal Answers

By Arnold C. Serra

What's Wrong With Me?

31 Dear Doctor

By Linda L. Varona

Liver Abscess

40 Echoes of Life

By Bianca G. Sagana

41

Career Choice: Who Has the Final Say? Word for the World

By Michael T. Dalida

More Than Power

42 Food for the Family

By Miriam R. Estrada

Eggless Mayonnaise

44 Children’s Corner

By Janet R. Tolete

Why Do I Don't Look Like Mom or Dad?

ABOUT THE COVER

PARENTS TWICE OVER. Building a lifetime of memories and lasting relationship without overstepping parental authorities.

Cover photo by Aldrin Rae Climaco Galang Photos and illustrations in this issue are from shutterstock.com unless otherwise credited.

Photo courtesy of Liza Dumaop-Villamarzo

22 Consult Your Lawyer

I

have been subscribing to Health & Home for 37 years now.

The magazine was first introduced to me by my good friend, Luz Onsana, way back in 1981 when I was still a college student.

My interest in reading Health & Home all started out of curiosity. I was just mindlessly browsing through its pages one day but eventually ended reading its articles. After that, I began grabbing a copy of my own.

Ever since I started flipping and reading random pages of Health & Home, I have come to look forward to the next issue.

I love reading all its articles and passages. They become useful as I get to channel them to my classes and coteachers in a God-centered way, without being religiously overwhelming.

I’m also happy to say that my students of all ages are as engaged as I am in learning

something new from Health & Home. I often share the articles to my grades 9 and 10 students whenever I can.

Even my own children enjoy reading and learning a thing or two about medicinal plants, bugs, and some trivia in the iContact section, even after they have graduated from college and are now jump-starting their careers.

If there is one major thing that I have learned after years of subscription, it is the realization that blessings can spread like wildfire and consume everyone with the heat of God’s loving kindness. His endowments can come in various forms and different media.

I feel blessed to be able to share to others what God has given me through this magazine. Whenever I’m asked to give a spiritual message in our church, I get a lot of practical spiritual advice and nourishment from its articles as a supplement to my Bible readings and devotions.

There are times when my churchmates would seek my guidance and I would often refer to the lessons I’ve gleaned from Health & Home.

Reading this magazine can take you to places you’ve never been before and teach you some things in life you’ve probably never thought of learning. But most importantly, it gives you a chance to be a blessing to others in more ways than you can ever imagine.

Liza Dumaop-Villamarzo is a Master Teacher 1 at Tanza National Comprehensive High School in Tanza, Cavite.

Health & Home September-October 2018

3

You Rather Spend on Experience or Possession

Would

By ROSE FRES FAUSTO

M

oney is a tool that helps us attain happiness.

And because it’s a finite resource, we have to allocate it properly to “buy” us as much happiness as we can for ourselves and our family.

The question is, Which gives us more happiness— buying experience or buying stuff?

Although it may seem intuitive to answer that buying possession is a better “investment” because ownership is tangible and lasting, while an experience is intangible and fleeting, this is not the case.

In various studies done by Cornell University Psychology Professor Thomas Gilovich and his colleagues over a span of decades, it was concluded that happiness is derived more from purchase of experiences versus purchase of stuff.

The happiness derived from buying things fade quickly because of the following: 1. We get used to our possessions.

What used to give us a thrill goes away and we sometimes stop appreciating them. This is called hedonic adaptation.

6 Health & Home

September-October 2018

?

2. Our expectations tend to keep increasing.

Because the initial thrill is gone, we sometimes look for more utility/satisfaction from them.

3. We start to compare our possessions with the possessions of others.

On the other hand, happiness derived from experiences last longer because of the following: 1. Anticipating an experience brings excitement and enjoyment, while anticipating the possession of stuff causes impatience.

Imagine planning your vacation versus waiting for the gadget you ordered online to arrive. There’s a difference, right?

2. Comparisons don’t really matter when it comes to experience because the happiness you derive is more personal.

Contented

Kids?

By KAREN HOLFORD

K

ayley lies on the floor, throwing a tantrum because she only has pink flashingheel trainers and she wants a blue pair to match her new jeans.

John sits on the floor, happily playing with a few blocks of wood. His dad found them lying on the street, brought them home, and sanded them smooth. Yesterday he stacked them up to build a castle. Today they are cars, racing down a sandy road.

One child has everything and is miserable. The other has nothing and is happy. Children who learn to be content with what they have are much happier than children

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September-October 2018

who think they’ll only be happy if they have everything they want, right now.

Intentionally countercultural We’re surrounded by messages telling us to keep buying the latest things if we want to be successful, popular, and beautiful. Many advertising campaigns specifically target children and teenagers, tempting them with expensive goods, and eroding the distinction between “needs” and “wants.”

Some parents borrow hundreds of dollars each year to buy their children the latest “must-have” gizmos, fashion boots, designer jeans, and computers. It’s hard

to be countercultural and fight against these powerful voices.

“Why can’t I have a new phone like Lara’s? You’re so mean! Everyone else in my class has one!”

“Hey, Dad, I really need some new shoes. These ones are so last year!”

“If you don’t get me a laptop like Tom’s, I’ll be a total failure because I won’t be able to do my homework properly.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

We don’t have to bow down to the mega-gods of money and materialism. But it won’t “just happen.” We have to be intentional, and it has to start with us.

Is

Healthy Aging

Possible?

By MINERVA ZANIEBETH G. CAILAO

L

ife expectancy in the Philippines is projected to reach 69 years for men and 74 years for women by 2015-2020.1, 2 Though it is not a straightforward correlation, it can generally be expected that life expectancy in the country may continue to increase as the Philippines is projected to have a continued positive economic growth in the future.3 With this trend of a longer lifespan, a lot of the elderly are also living longer with concurrent medical conditions.4 Since “getting old” is inevitable, how then can we achieve “healthy aging”? Is healthy aging even possible? The answer is a whopping YES! In fact, only 30 percent of aging is based on genetics (primary aging) and 70 percent of this process is based on lifestyle (secondary aging)!5 Dr. dela Vega4 went on to recommend the following “anti-aging” lifestyle choices: 1. Don’t smoke 2. Limit alcohol intake 3. Keep learning new skills 4. Less often snack 5. Stay socially connected 6. Be optimistic 7. Sleep 7-8 hours a day 8. Eat breakfast 9. EXERCISE! 10. Keep your weight down to less than 25 kg/m2

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September-October 2018

Having been practicing geriatrics for six years now, most of my clients often tell me, ‘I don’t need to exercise anymore; I’m too old (and I don’t have the muscles or energy) for that!”

For sure I’m not the only physical therapist who has heard this from their “seasoned” clients. But what older people don’t realize is that physical inactivity and sedentary behavior have been found to have deleterious effects on health comparable to smoking and obesity.6 Physical inactivity has also been found to be a significant contributor to accelerate the secondary aging process which can lead to early death.7 Increasing physical activity and engaging in exercise can reverse lifestyle chronic diseases such as diabetes because exercise coupled with healthy food intake improves insulin sensitivity.8 Additionally, exercise or increasing physical activity alone can attenuate age-related muscle loss and decrease risk for falls in older adults.8, 9, 10 Exercise or increased physical activity can also help maintain cognitive function and prevent dementia in older adults because of the protective effects on brain structural changes that occur with aging related to memory, attention, and task completion.5

Hands-on

Grandparents

By NATHANLIE M. BALDOZA

Photos/Aldrin Rae C. Galang

T

his year, September 9 will be Grandparents Day, which is observed every second Sunday of September here in the Philippines and in some countries.

Others, however, celebrate the occasion on various days of the year to recognize the importance of grandparents in the family as part of the basic unit in the community.

Grandparents Day is a time for families to spend the day out with grandparents, give them gifts, enjoy a meal with them, or share some of their favorite activities.

The occasion also invites families to appreciate the impact and contribution of grandparents in the lives of their children and grandchildren.

On this occasion, we feature a couple who, despite their demanding schedules as entrepreneurs, get to be hands-on grandparents to Xavier Gabriel (11), Joachim Aidan (6), Yeleighna Anne (1). Day by day, these grandparents help the kids grow up surrounded with positive influences and family love.

Meet Granddad Danny, 63, and Grandmom Nilda, 58. He’s no less than the president of Marky’s Prime Bake Corp., a family-owned and -operated food factory that delivers world-class-quality baked products. She’s the corporate secretary.

Three

Post-it Marriage Memos

BY MARK L. LASTIMOSO

R

enowned love and marriage experts and award-winning authors, Drs. Charles and Elizabeth Schmitz, once said, “The relationship between husband and wife trumps everything else in a marriage. Get it right and good things follow. Get it wrong and lots of bad things often happen!”

A fulfilling marriage is, indeed, a conscious mental effort to do what’s essential for husband and wife. The Bible admonishes, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. . . . Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:22, 25, King James Version).

Post-its and marriages What about those sticky notes? What do they have to do with our marital relationships?

Post-its remind us to do the essentials and put in all effort to achieve positive results.

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September-October 2018

They help us organize our lives and prioritize things. They prompt us to take action on matters that cannot be taken for granted.

To have a successful marriage, we must be intentional in doing things that will pep up our married life. That means, we should be actively working as a couple to improve the bond and the unity of our marital life.

CHILDREN'S CORNER

By Janet R. Tolete

Why Do I Don’t Look Like

S

Mom or Dad?

ome girls look like they are their moms’ smaller versions. Some boys walk and talk like their fathers. Others are a mix of features from Mom and Dad. A child may have Mom’s brown eyes and flat nose, but have Dad’s long eyelashes and dimples. The same kid may even have Grandpa’s ears and Grandma’s curls.

How does this happen? Where do we get our looks from?

Soft ladder Our looks are mostly the result of what is inside the center or nucleus of almost every cell in our body. Inside the nucleus is a long list of instructions or codes called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

If DNA in a human cell is stretched out, it will be almost 10 feet long. Yet, it fits into a size smaller than the point of a sewing needle.

How does it get so small?

Because of its shape.

DNA is usually shaped like a soft ladder that curls or is twisted.

This twisted ladder or thread

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September-October 2018

winds around balls, spirals into something like a beaded necklace, curls like a telephone cord on top of each other, and bundles into socalled chromosomes.

A little DNA can be found outside our nucleus—inside the mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) only comes from the mother. The father’s mitochondria is usually destroyed during fertilization.

Your mtDNA comes directly from your mother, your grandmother, your greatgrandmother, and so on. The mtDNA is a direct line between women of different generations.

For males, the same line can be traced using the Y chromosome.

Four important letters Perhaps the most important part of the DNA are the steps or rungs of the ladder. Each rung is made up of a pair of bases.

There are four kinds of bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G).

A only pairs with T; C always matches G. So if one side of the ladder is missing, it is easy to say what makes up the other half of the ladder.

Many, many letters Do you know how many As, Ts, Cs, and Gs are there in the human DNA? Three billion!

The specific arrangement or sequence of these letters dictate many of our traits. These include whether we will be light or dark skinned, with or without dimples, freckled or not, with curly or straight hair, left- or right-handed, or can roll our tongues or not.

Each DNA sequence that tells of a specific trait is called a gene.

Family ties DNA is like a manual or a recipe book for how living things are formed, grow, multiply, and live.

It has 46 chapters: 23 from your mom and 23 from your dad.

Your mom and your dad are also halves of their own fathers and mothers. This means that your grandparents each contributed ¼ or a quarter of your DNA. You also share DNA with most everyone in the family. So, you may look like a distant uncle or a great aunt.

Exactly which of the family’s genes you inherit, however, is random. Only you have that specific DNA.

Spicing up the taste buds has never been this healthy!

Stock up on herbs and spices and have a natural pharmacy right in your kitchen. Or, better still, grow your own edible garden—a garden of herbs!

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