Tuesday, February 19, 2008

some health tips

You are what you eat, so eat well. A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called 'The Doctrine of Signatures' was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater. Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes


A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.


Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.


A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.


Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.


Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.


Eggplant, Avocados and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weigh t and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).


Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.


Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

(picture here didn’t come through so I deleted the red x)
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.


Grapefruits, Oranges , and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.


Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Sibling Heirarchy

In many Filipino homes, a certain hierarchy denotes sibling nomenclature. The eldest brother is called Kuya in many Tagalog homes. The eldest sister is called Ate. But are these terms Filipino? Arsenio Manuel, states that the word Kuya came from two Chinese terms: "ko" to denote elder brother, and "a" as a word modifier that denotes kinship. Thus what we believe to be a honorific Tagalog kinship title is actually derived from Chinese.

Respected Eldest Brother: Kuya
Many families retain strong Chinese influences and these are seen in how family members address each other in specific terms denoting gender and birth order. Kuya is reserved for the oldest brother. However, nowadays, with the widespread use of honorific kinship titles, Kuya has become a generic term for an elder brother, not necessarily the eldest.

A study of many Filipino families with Chinese antecedents can be very informative. For example, former President Corazon Aquino was born a Conjuangco. Her great grandfather was an eldest brother as discerned from the honorific title "Co" in the family clan name. For that matter, any Filipino Chinese patronymic name that begins with "Co" as in "Coseteng" or "Cu" as in "Cutiongco," indicates a family branch from the eldest son.

Respected Second Oldest Brother: Diko
The second "di" brother "ko" becomes Diko. Names and nicknames do not follow these kinship terms because they are self-explanatory and superfluous. Filipino Chinese patronymic names that begin with "Di" indicate a clan that derived from a cadet branch of the family belonging to the second son in a Chinese clan. Examples from my own circle of friends are "Dichoso, Dyliangco, and Diyco." Come to think of it, these friends of mine indeed have stereotypic Chinese features: porcelain skin, almond eyes, sharp nose.

Ordinal Counts in Chinese
By now we have learned the units of ordinal counting in Chinese. It is Co for first, Di for second, and now we have Sang, for third. Therefore, Sangko is third older brother. Fourth elder brother is Siko. Co, Di, Sang, Si. The "ko" at the end of the ordinal count for second, third and fourth stands for the modifier "brother."

For the females, Ko is simply replaced by Chi. Thus the eldest sister is Achi or atse (as used in Pampanga) or Ate as used in Tagalog provinces. The second older sister is "Di" plus "Chi" or Ditse. In my family the second elder sister is called Dete. The third elder sister is Sanse, and the fourth elder sister is Sitse.

In a Filipino family with nine children of four brothers and four sisters plus the bunso (also called the runt), there is a sociologically structural kinship implication of who has clout. It is abundantly clear who kowtows to everyone else and who carries the commensurate power and prestige among the hierarchy of siblings.

The Youngest Sibling
In Filipino families, the elder brothers and sisters are to be respected always. The amount of deference and respect is directly proportional to his/her ordinal position in the sibling constellation. But there is something disarming in all these Kuya and Ate syndrome. The youngest in the family is seldom punished. Instead, he or she is benignantly tolerated to the point of being spoiled.

While there is a title reserved for the eldest child, these is also a Chinese term reserved fro the youngest boy:totoy. The literal translation for this term is "the foolish son." Several variations appear in the Filipno family: ato, atoy, toto, ito, itoy, doy. As the term Kuya infers authority and responsibility, the term totoy infers a license to boyish mischievousness. Among the girls, the youngest term is nene, in Chinese, the literal meaning is "the dull one." Variants are neneng, ineng, ine, inday, day.

Make no mistake. Filipino families do not call their youngest siblings the foolish one or the dull one. These name handles are in fact terms of endearments. The youngest kids normally get away with everything. Heck, once you have produced that many children, taught them deference to authority through an accident of birth and honorific birth-order titles, your best bet is on the youngest one, who is expected to shower the parents with loving care in their doting years.


The following article is written by Penelope V. Flores, Ph.D. - San Francisco State University professor.

Monday, January 14, 2008

The Giving Tree

Once there was a tree……
And she loved little boy.
And every day the boy would come
And he would gather her leaves
And make them into crowns and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
And swing from her branches
And when he was tired,he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree…..Very much..And the tree was happy.
But time went by,
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone.
Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said:
–”Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be “happy”
–“I am too big to climb and play”said the boy. “I want to buy thing and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?”
–”I’m sorry” said the tree,”but I have no money. I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in city. Then you will have money and you’ll be happy”
And so the boy climb up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.
And the tree was happy..
But the boy stayed away for a long time…… and the tree was sad.
And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy, and she said:
–”Come, Boy come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be “happy”..
–“I am too busy to climb trees,” said the boy. “I want a house to keep me warm,” he said. “I and want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house. Can you give me a house?”
–“I have no house” said the tree.The forest is my house.” said the tree “but you may cut off my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy”
And so the boy cut off her branches and carried them away to build a house.
And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time……and the tree was sad.
And when he came back, the tree was so happy she could hardly speak.
–“Come, Boy” she whispered, “Come and play”
–“I am too old and sad to play.”said the boy. “I want a boat that will take me away from here. Can you give me a boat ?”
–“Cut down my trunk and make a boat,” said the tree. “Then you can sail away…… and be happy.”
And so the boy cut down her trunk And made a boat and sailed away.
And the tree was happy…..But not really.
And after a long time the boy came back again.
–“I am sorry, Boy,”said the tree, “but I have nothing left to give you— My apples are gone.”
–“My teeth are too weak for apple,”said the boy.
–“My branches are gone,” said the tree.”You cannot swing on them—”
–”I am too old to swing on branches” said the boy.
–“My trunk is gone,” said the tree.“You cannot climb—-”
–”I am too tired to climb,” said the boy.
–“I am sorry” sighed the tree. “I wish that I could give you something… but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump. I am sorry…”
–”I don’t need very much now” said the boy. “just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired”
–“Well” said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, “well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down…and rest.”
The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.
And the tree was happy..