Ten Things To Do to remain Fit and Healthy

Macrine(my spouse of 56 years) and I relaxing at the balcony of the Chateau Du Mer Beach House in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines last year.

In my article the other day, I wrote the difference between my chronological and psychological( mental) ages. I am in my late 70's but I feel my mental age is of a 40 year-old man. However, in a few rare moments my mind goes to a blank state, I called senior moments. However, most of the time (99.9%) my mind is clear and sharp, in spite of some aches and pains in my joints and other body parts.

Here's my ten tips to all senior citizens or senior citizens to be reading this article. I believe if you follow these ten items rigorously, you will remain healthy and maintain a sharp memory and perhaps even delay or prevent the dreaded Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases.

1. Quit smoking if you are a smoker. The earlier you quit, the longer your life and hopefully dementia and Alzheimer's disease will not be in your future. I have never smoked in my life, but I know nicotine addiction is hard to break.

2. Join clubs or organizations that need volunteers. If you start volunteering now, you won't feel lost and unneeded even after you retire. In my case I do volunteer work as a medical mission volunteer sponsored my Marinduque International, Inc. in the Philippines.

3. Develop a hobby or two. Hobbies help you develop a robust brain because you're trying something new and complex. In my case I play bridge and other computer games on-line.

4. Take dance lessons, yuga or tai chi. In a recent study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all. My wife and I were dance champions in the 1980s.

5. Start gardening or have daily walks for at least 30 minutes per day. Researchers in New Zealand found that of 1,000 people, those who gardened regularly were less likely to suffer from dementia Not only does gardening reduce stress, but gardeners use their brains to plan gardens; they use visual and spatial reasoning to lay out a garden. I have a big garden at Chateau Du Mer in Boac, Marinduque and I did all the landscaping plans and plantings in the beach resort. I walk for at least 30 minutes daily here in California or in Marinduque.

6. Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process and store information. Likewise, writing stimulates many areas of the brain as well. I have ten blogs that I maintain daily and I read about 3 hours per day. I also write articles for http://pu.blish.us and I have a page in www.squidoo.com.

7. Listen to classical music. A growing volume of research suggests that music may hard wire the brain, building links between the two hemispheres. Any kind of music may work, but there's some research that shows positive effects for classical music, though researchers don't understand why. I have several collections of classical music both in my blogs and my CD collection and I listened to them at least twice a week.

8. Pray, meditate or go to church regularly. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system. People who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report happier lives according to a recent study. My wife and I attend Catholic mass every Sunday rain or shine.

9. Be sure you get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted sleep and dementia. I sleep between 8 to 10 hours every day. Take also a short nap whenever you can. I usually take a power nap of 15 to 30 minutes in the afternoon after lunch. Last but not least,

10. Eat more foods containing omega-3 fatty acids: Salmon, sardines, tuna, ocean trout, mackerel or herring, plus walnuts and flax seed. Flax seed oil, cod liver oil and walnut oil are also good sources . Eat more fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants in fruits and vegetable helped repair some of the damage caused by free radicals, one of the leading killers of brain cells. I am not a vegetarian, but I consumed a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and sea foods in my diet.

Do you have additional tips? I will love to hear from you.

FILIPINOS are Special People except on Election Time

FILIPINOS are special people, except during elections, when the politicians turn into liars, rumor mongers, voters intimidators and greedy mongers for the pork.

There is an article circulating in the web listing ten items that Filipinos are special people. I could identify with the article since I am a Filipino- American. But during election time, Filipino politicians turn into vote buying, voter intimadators, goon employers, liars, and rumor mongers. There were two premature ejaculations (oops, I mean premature proclamations) in my second home, the province of Marinduqe- which of course in now under protest because the winner is an American citizen. In Marinduque, a candidate claims that his opponent is a drug lord and a pedophile. SO AT ELECTION TIME, most politicians turn into rumor mongers and liars, definitely not a special group of people.

But before you cry foul, I like to repost the ten items that makes Pinoys special if not "stupid" as posted in one of the articles circulating in the Internet.

Here's the article listing ten items why Filipinos are special. I received this from a friend ( via e-mail) from the Philippines. She does not know the author. However, I feel sharing it in order to alleviate my feeling of shame of the shenanigans of most of the politicians, during this year election. I also know that there are some honest and not corrupt politicians in the Philippines.

1.Filipinos are brown. Their color is at the center of human racial strains. This point is not an attempt at racism, but just for many Filipinos to realize that our color should not be a source of or reason for an inferiority complex. While we pine for a fair complexion, white people are religiously tanning themselves, under the sun or artificial light, to approximate the Filipino complexion.

2.Filipinos are a touching people. We have lots of love and are not afraid to show it. We almost inevitably create human chains with our perennial akbay (putting an arm around another's shoulder), hawak (hold), yakap (embrace), himas (caressing stroke), kalabit (touching with the tip of the finger), kalong (sitting on someone else's lap), etc. We are always reaching out, always seeking interconnection.

3.Filipinos are linguists. Put a Filipino in any city, any town around the world. Give him a few months or even weeks and he will speak the local language there. Filipinos are adept at learning and speaking languages. In fact, it is not uncommon for Filipinos to speak at least three: his own local dialect, Filipino, and English. Of course, a lot speak an added language, be it Chinese, Spanish or, if he works abroad, the language of his host country.

4.Filipinos are groupists. We love human interaction and company. We always surround ourselves with people and we hover over them, too. According to Dr. Patricia Licuanan, a psychologist from Ateneo and Miriam College, an average Filipino would have and know at least 300 relatives. At work, we live bayanihan (mutual help); at play, we want a kalaro (playmate) more than laruan (toy). At socials, our invitations are open and it is more common even for guests to invite and bring in other guests.

5.Filipinos are weavers. One look at our baskets, mats, clothes, and other crafts will reveal the skill of the Filipino weaver and his inclination to weaving. This art is a metaphor of the Filipino trait. We are social weavers. We weave theirs into ours that we all become parts of one another.

6.Filipinos are adventurers. We have a tradition of separation. Our myths and legends speak of heroes and heroines who almost always get separated from their families and loved ones and are taken by circumstances to far-away lands where they find wealth or power. Our Spanish colonial history is filled with separations caused by the reduction (hamleting), and the forced migration to build towns, churches, fortresses or galleons.

7.Filipinos are excellent at adjustments and improvisation, managing to recreate their home, or to feel at home anywhere. Filipinos have pakiramdam (deep feeling/discernment). We know how to feel what others feel, sometimes even anticipate what they will feel. Being manhid (dense) is one of the worst labels anyone could get and will therefore, avoid at all cost. We know when a guest is hungry though the insistence on being full is assured.

8.Filipinos are very spiritual. We are transcendent. We transcend the physical world, see the unseen and hear the unheard. We have a deep sense of kaba (premonition) and kutob (hunch). A Filipino wife will instinctively feel her husband or child is going astray, whether or not telltale signs present themselves. Filipino spirituality makes him invoke divine presence or intervention at nearly every bend of his journey.

9. Filipinos are timeless. Despite the nearly half-a-millennium encroachment of the western clock into our lives, Filipinos-unless on very formal or official functions-still measure time not with hours and minutes but with feeling. This style is ingrained deep in our psyche. Our time is diffused, not framed. Our appointments are defined by umaga (morning), tanghali (noon), hapon (afternoon), or gabi (evening). Our most exact time reference is probably katanghaliang- tapat (high noon), which still allows many minutes of leeway. That is a how Filipino meeting and occasions are timed: there is really no definite time. A Filipino event has no clear-cut beginning nor ending. We have a fiesta, but there is visperas (eve), a day after the fiesta is still considered a good time to visit. The Filipino Christmas is not confined to December 25th; it somehow begins months before December and extends up to the first days of January.

10. Filipinos are Spaceless. As in the concept of time, the Filipino concept of space is not numerical. We will not usually express expanse of space with miles or kilometers but with feelings in how we say malayo (far) or malapit (near). Alongside with numberlessness, Filipino space is also boundless. Indigenous culture did not divide land into private lots but kept it open for all to partake of its abundance. The Filipino has avidly remained 'spaceless' in many ways. The interior of the bahay-kubo (hut) can easily become receiving room, sleeping room, kitchen, dining room, chapel, wake parlor, etc. Depending on the time of the day or the needs of the moment. The same is true with the bahay na bato (stone house). Space just flows into the next space that overhead arches of filigree may only faintly suggest the divisions between the sala, caida, comedor, or vilada.

So what makes the Filipino special? Brown, spiritual, timeless, spaceless, linguists, groupists, weavers, adventurers; seldom do all these profound qualities find personification in a people. Filipinos should allow - and should be allowed to contribute their special traits to the worldwide community of men - ah. . . but first, they should know, like & love themselves.

Heads Up! MI, Inc Next Medical Mission-January, 2014

Macrine and the Pharmacy Section Volunteers, Marinduque International, Inc Medical Mission, 2011

Our last medical and dental mission to the province of Marinduque was held on February, 2011. The next mission is scheduled for last week of January, 2014. You are welcome to join us. For details, visit the website, www.marinduqueinternational.org

The previous Medical Mission of Love in 2011 was not different from the other previous past missions that Macrine( my spouse) and I had attended since 1998. More than six thousand of the poor and the needy from the distant barangays in the province of Marinduque lined patiently from 4 to 6 hours just to see A PHYSICIAN and obtained free medicines ( cough syrup, multivitamens, pain medications, anti-acids and maybe antibiotics) for their aches and pains true or imagined.

At the end of the day in each f the six towns, there were always about 200 to 300 more patients that have to be sent home since we do not have enough physician volunteers. This is the same case in our HOSPITAL operations. Last year's mission we had only 3 surgeons and 1 anesthesiologist. Thus we have to send a lot of patients home along with their disappointment and hopes that maybe in our next mission, they can be accommodated.

An example was the hospital case that touched my heart and that made me mad: A patient was already in the operating table after the preliminary tests had been done the day before was sent home because of one basic instrument not available. I heard from the surgeon who stayed at Chateau Du Mer, that instrument he needed for the operation is a basic instrument, but the hospital does not have one. So where is the priority of our provincial and health officials?

In the town of Buenavista, I helped in the repacking area section of the Pharmacy Department. At about 2PM, there were still about 200 to 300 patients waiting in line. The patients were told to go home, since there was already 200 in line and our physicians will not be able to see them. However, about 100 did not go home in the hope that multi-vitamens and cough syrup, and Paracetamol will still be given to them at the end of the day.

One middle-aged woman with her 2 kids ( Ages 3 and 5 )started begging to the two of us working in the repackaging area very closed to the lines. She said her 2 kids are coughing and had fever and asked us if we can give her Paracetamol and cough syrup. I looked at her and the two kids and my heart melted and I shed a tear or two.

I stood up, talked to the Pharmacist-in-Charge that day and she told me "NO". She told me that If the others in line saw me giving the drugs only to her, if might cause a RIOT. I whispered to the woman to wait until closing time. By 4:30PM there were still 10 patients waiting. At around 5:00PM there were still a couple of patients hanging around.

But, I called the woman aside, give her a bottle of Paracetamol;, cough syrup and multi-vitamens along with the usual instructions. She thanked me and gave me a SMILE that still lingers in my mind today. During this mission, my heart melted and I cried again!

My Mental versus my Chronological Age

Today I feel that my mind is still in my 40's but my body tells me I am over 75. Actually, I am 78 years old and 5 months as of today.

Aging is a natural process. But with a good diet and exercise, the aging process can be slowed down, I believe.

Last March, while I was still in Marinduque, I did " hands-on gardening" such as weeding, fertilizing and watering my plants. After 30 minutes of actual gardening that is fertilizing my more than 50 potted plants, my back started to ache. I had a hard time standing up. It ached so much that I have to take a pain killer( Celebrex).

This tells me I should do only gardening by mouth. I have one permanent gardener and two temporary helpers, especially if there is an event in the resort. However, there are times I like to do "hands-on" gardening since I really enjoy gardening and it is also my exercise.

However with regards to my mind, I still have a good memory. I could still remember the unit prices of all building materials, such as cement, tiles, hinges, hollow blocks etc., that I purchased last year. I STILL play duplicate bridge and still remember almost all the 52 cards based on the bidding. For those of you who do not play duplicate bridge, you only see 26 cards. The other half is hidden, but based on the bidding, and of your memory of how the bidding went and the discarded cards, you actually can guess the location of all the 52 cards. I am proud to say, my memory is still good.

But I noticed that my memory is not as good as when I was in high school. In high school, my teacher in world history wanted to give me 100, since all my tests were all 100, but the highest grade he could legally gave me was only 95. I had a photographic memory then. But today, that photographic memory is gone.

So my dear readers, can you tell me where to find the fountain of youth? Do you have a formula or a lifestyle that slow down the aging process? Do you believe that a good diet and daily exercises can slow down the aging process? I will be posting an article on the ten items I do rigorously to stay fit and healthy in the next couple of days. Watch for it and have a Good Day.

The Reyes-Velasco Election Fiasco in Marinduque

Remove the Pork Barrel System in the Philippines and Eliminate Corruption
I attented a Filipino-American Party today here in Northern California. The most popular topic of conversation is the recent election in the Philippines. Topic number #1 is the Time magazine article stating that Filipinos are stupid for having elected a 20-year old Pinay with no experience in government with the name of Nancy Binay. The other topic was the local congressional election in Marinduque- The Reyes versus Velasco Election Fiasco. Vote buying, threat of goons and pork barrel as the main source of corruption were also discussed at the party.

Here's a sample of conversation that I recalled at the party.

Guest #1; So you are from Marinduque? I heard that the voters elected an American Citizen for your representative in Congress. Is this against the Law to run for an elected position in the Philippines if you are a US citizen?

Guest #2: Yes, I am from Marinduque. I am so ashamed of what is happening now in my Province. Gina Reyes the daughter of the reelected governor, Carmencita Reyes, garnered more than 3800 votes against the current representative Lord Allan Velasco. The Reyeses had been a political dynasty in the Province for the last four decades starting from the Marcos regime.

Guest #3: If you have been reading the Philippine News, it was published that Comelec ( Commission on Elections) had disqualified Gina Reyes as a candidate because of her citizenship and other lies in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) regarding her date(s) of brith, names and marital status.

Guest #1: Today, I read in the news that the Board of Canvassers in Marinduque defied the decision of Comelec by proclaiming Gina Reyes as the newly elected congresswoman representative of Marinduque. Of course, Velasco protested and questioned the authority of the Boatrd of Canvassers. Since Reyes is a disqualified candidate, he should be the one proclaimed having garnered the second highest number of votes. Do you have an idea when will this moro-moro and fiasco end? Will this case go to the Supreme Court? Here's a video of the true to life moro-moro on the Reyes-Velasco fight for Congress.



I joined the group and gave them my personal opinion on how to solve this problem immediately. I suggested that perhaps, the 4 years term of the representative in Congress be divided between Reyes and Velasco( 2 years each). Along with this decision there will be an equal allocation of the millions pesos of pork barrel. This money will have to be spent on a defined project. ( not to be placed in their personal bank accounts). In addition in the next election in 2016, the two co-representatives will pledge that there will no more vote buying in Marinduque or goons hired during the election campaign.

The group gave me a dirty look. I was embarrassed and went to another group of guests not discussing politics.