MunFitnessBlog.com

This post is contributed by one of MunFitnessBlog.com readers, Jenny.  Through a casual e-mail conversation, I invited her to write a series of topics on pregnancy and she has gladly accepted.  Jenny shares her experience when she was preparing for motherhood years ago.  She is a full time housewife, mother of 3 healthy kids and currently resides in Singapore.

The healthier a woman is, the more likely she conceive and give birth to a healthy baby.  So, it is important to woman to start have plans to get healthy way before she wants to have baby.  Many only start thinking about getting healthy, but it may be too late.  In fact, one may not know about her pregnancy until 3 or 5 weeks later.  During that stage (which is already a critical phase of development), baby’s organ begin to form.  So, it is important to get yourself eating the right supplement and doing the right things before too late. (more…)

When you get out of bed in the morning and and have pain in your arch or heel after stepping on the floor, you may have plantar fasciitis. The pain is in the middle of the heel or along the arch. Plantar fasciitis is caused by inflammation of the tissue (which is called planter fascia) connecting the heel bone to the toes. The pain is like a “stabbing” pain but slowly goes away once your foot has warmed up. However, after sitting or standing for a long period of time, the pain may return.

The reason the pain is obvious and severe in the morning because the foot is trying to heal itself in a contracted position overnight. The first step causes sudden strain on the bottom of the foot.

Under normal circumstances, plantar fascia is like a shock absorbing bowstring supporting arch in your foot. If tension becomes too great, it create small tear in the fascia. Repetitive stretching and tearing may cause the fascia to become inflamed.

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Below recipe is shared by one my blog readers who suffered from cardiac ischemia. Cardiac ischemia is caused by inadequate blood supply to heart muscles, which in turn could be caused by mild blockage in the coronary arteries. Mild blockage is often caused by long term accumulation of cholesterol rich plaques in the coronary arteries.

This reader used to have this coronary artery disease (CAD). He shared that he often had discomfort feeling under his breastbone. Whenever he walked up a slope or walked slightly faster, he had shortness of breath with chest pain. He decided to try on this traditional Chinese soup – Black Fungus, Red Date Soup.

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A good night’s sleep is so essential for your health and well being. It is so difficult to sleep well on a poor quality mattress. When it comes to protecting your back and getting a good night’s sleep, the mattress that you choose is key. A poor mattress can have a negative impact on the health of your back and spine. (more…)

When my wife was pregnant, we have decided to let our first baby to go on breast milk.  Though my wife did not have enough milk for the baby’s need and we have to do mixed feeding with infant milk, I will still think breast feeding should be the first choice for babies.  I have spent some time doing research on the net on the good and bad about breast feeding and here is what I have compiled.

Advantages of Breast Feeding – Top 12 Benefits

1. Breast milk contains many nutrients. The nutrients in the breast milk change over time automatically to provide what the baby needs.  It has antibodies that help protect your baby from infections.   If the baby is born pre-term, breasts milk will have a different composition, specifically suited for a premature infant. In fact, for premature babies, breast milk can make the difference in life and death. (more…)

I have mentioned about Body Mass Index (BMI) and Body Fat figures.

That is another figure that you may be interested to find out. It is the Weight-To-Hip ratio (WHR). WHR is the ratio of the circumference of the waist to that of the hips. It measures the proportion by which fat is distributed around the torso.

Why bother to know this ratio? What is the big fuss about it? (more…)