The humble truth of genes (1)

Gene has become one mysterious or even 'mystical' term
that often get misunderstood/abused
in nowadays wellness circle.

It's likely that
one may have come across health and anti-aging wellness companies
which claim that their products could target the root of the problem
from the genetic level.

Very often over a dining table,
we may also hear friends and relatives reasoning that
their diabetic/cardiovascular problems are due to genetic predisposition.

In academic field,
we definitely sees pharmaceutical companies
researching around the clock
to screen for the "Obesity" genes and targeting drugs.

While it's a good sign that
the general public is getting more exposed and used to the terms:
gene, DNA, chromosome, heredity and many other synonyms,
I feel a little bit more of proper education is needed
to let the public properly understand what gene truly is.

In an over-simplied manner (for easier understanding),
gene is, physically, a long chain molecule,
which is folded up and slotted into the nucleus
(a compact compartment usually in the centre of a cell).

DNA/Gene/Chromosome/Chromatin (interchangeably in some sense)
are likened to the brain of a cell
which commands all the functions of cells.

This is one reason why the wellbeing
of a cell or a person
is always related to genes, in one way or another.

However, this very fact is often misinterpreted by public
and subsequently affects their attitude/behaviour
towards management of their diseases/wellness.
Sometimes, it's even abused by commercial companies
to mystify/glorify the functions of their treatment regime/supplements/drugs.

How it is misinterpreted could be due to two reasons:

(A) the public is not informed enough that a disease is actually influenced by
      50% genetic predisposition and 50% environmental perturbation
       -o- a same gene in two different people, will result in two very different outcome,
             due to their diet, upbringing, lifestyle etc.
       -o- two different genes (one good and another bad), could also result in very similar outcome,
             given that the environmental factors are adjusted accordingly.
       -o- with little knowledge about the participation and significance of
             environmental factors in our wellbeing,
             there are biased views that our health is overall fated
             and not much could be done,
             and hence there is no need to manage health,
             as our body will self adjust according to preset condition dictated by genes.

(B) the public is confused (mainly by media) that genetic code can be altered
      or diseases could be rectified at gene level
        -o- there is such an approach as genetic engineering to modify genes to rectify a condition,
              but this can only be done topically to repair a specific tissues
              with the involvement of virus to deliver the modifying genes.
        -o- little that people know, this approach is merely done in animals in R&D settings,
              not yet in human clinical setting; as the success rate is not high (+safety concern),
              also, not all diseases can be treated this way.
        -o- with this knowledge, we know that in the market now,
              theres is no treatment regime/supplement/drugs
              that will solve a health problem at gene level.
             

More clarification on genes to come...


Sincerely,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

The true life force behind Biogenic Cuisine

Biogenic Dinner in preparation

Exactly a week ago,

I held my very first premium Biogenic Workshop

at ONAKA.

That was one very significant event to myself,

as I feel,
that was a rare and precious opportunity,

to pass on the true essence of what I have learnt in the past 8 years.

I also consider that as a fulfillment
of my promise to Ms Sim years ago,

to pass on her concept of biogenic living.

Hence, I pay the utmost tribute to Ms Sim for being
the true driving (life-)force of this successful Biogenic Extravaganza!!

In the Biogenic Workshop held successfully on 17 July 2010,
I had a very quality discussion and theoretical teaching session
with the students, before we started to do the hands-on (ie food preparation).
This was usually not doable with a typical 2-3hr cooking demo session.
-- the cooking extravaganza lasted 6 solid hours!

In the theoretical session,
a lot of health food topics were discussed.
Notably, we elaborated on the meaning of "Biogenic".

According to the doctrine of Biogenic Diet,
food could be divided into 4 categories:

1st category is Biogenic Food [also life generating food]
-- defined as food which are organic, raw and actively growing
-- this is food that generates life-force and provide us with vital nutrients
e.g. organic sprouts with actively growing cells and
      organic miso with actively dividing good bacteria

2nd category is Bioactive Food [also life giving food]
-- defined as food which are organic and raw
-- this is food that provides good nutrients but less life-force
e.g. raw organic celery and raw organic apple

3rd category is Biostatic Food [also life slowing food]
-- defined as food which are either cooked or non-organic
-- this is food that provides only nutrients but no life-force
e.g. cooked organic corn and raw non-organic beetroot

4th category is Bioacidic Food [also life decaying food]
-- defined as food which are processed, fried, artificially synthesized or refined
-- this is food that deprives us of our life-force,
   provide little nutrients and a lot of toxins, causing our blood turn acidic
e.g. canned food, synthetic vinegar, fried potato chips

Ideally, we should be only taking Biogenic Food,
which is the best food.

However, with constraints of modern living,
we could sacrifice a portion of Biogenic Food
for Bioactive food and a little Biostatic Food.
Bioacidic food should be avoided by all cost.

Incidentally, by looking at the proportion of
each of the food category one takes in everyday,
it's not hard to relate to the vitality of a person
or even to reason why a person fall sick easily.

After the theory session,
students were involved hands-on
in preparing the 10 biogenic dishes with upclose guidance.
To name a few:
Biogenic Spinach Soup, Vegan-sour cream mushroom (POPULAR!),
pumpkin pickle, Bioactivated Beetroot Rice etc..

At the end, students were invited to sit in together
to enjoy the fruits of their labour
in a classy dining ambience, just like what the video below depicts =)





Gratefully,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Biogenic-Cuisine
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

How real are food nowadays...

Last weekend,
I was at Organic Living meetup
at Real Food Cafe @ Central.

The cafe was a cozy cafe with homely ambience
that serves good quality organic food!

And, a dozen of us, the organic goers,
had a good chat about what really are
Real Food.

Human beings nowadays have led lives
where indulgence and money come the foremost,
to the extent that,
even food can be compromised.
-- I mean, the real value or the intrinsic quality of food.

There are so many TV shows these days
that glorify the taste and creativity of food
which is just the surface.

That's exactly how we live our lives in this era:
we put so much emphasis on
appearance and sensual stimulation
that we forgot about the core or the original intention.

Real food is meant for sustaining lives
and maintain a healthy body.
However, when civilisation evolves,
people consciously and subcousciously sacrifice
the real meaning of food,
under the name of taste, art, cost and convenience...

In many food preparation out there,
in order to make food taste tantalising,
sugars, salts, fats, artificial flavours etc are abused
like they should.

To pursue artistic display and crafting of 'beautiful' food,
incompatible ingredients are blindly mixed,
nutritional parts are discarded during processing,
and some foods are even served in unsafe ways.

In order to maximize profits and minimize effort,
the modern agriculture utilises
harmful hormones, toxic pesticides, artificial fertilizers
and many "funny" chemicals...

Foods today are
foods with just the form
but without the soul.
These 'frankeinstein' foods
are not only deprived of life force, nutrients and natural taste
they are also foods without sincerity.

Like I mentioned in my recent class, Vegetarian Healing,
we have been, in the past few decades eating lot of soul-less foods
no wonder we are all sick (be it cancer, diabetes, cardio-diseases etc..)

Seriously,
we should wake up from the illusion that
we think have abundance of food.

We are actually eating matters
that look like food,
that fill our stomach;
but provide toxins,
deprive life force and
give little nourishment.

There is no better time to go real,
start organic today!


Sincerely,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com



{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Supporting Baby Vegsenz

Recently, I visited Vegsenz,
one of the best organic cafes in town.

The owner, Mr Gan told me that
Vegsenz may not be able to sustain long,
as the business hasn't been good since their opening earlier this year.

Mr Gan said he may be forced to close down Vegsenz
within the next couple of months,
as he has been owing the management a few months of rental!

Anybody who has been to Vegsenz knows that
it does very tasty, healthy, >90% organic food,
on top of the notable hygiene, comfy ambience and excellent staff service.

Vegsenz is only in its infancy stage.
It doesn't deserve this prematured termination which is saddening.

My personal experience with the organic cafes and retailers
is that their survival is always tough,
due to the lack of education on
the importance of organic food among the general public.

This is one very major reason why
Cielo Sereno and Organic Living Meetup
were set up to support the fragile organic industry in Singapore.

I would like to appeal to all compassionate friends,
to support Vegsenz before the situation really become irreversible.

Visit them as frequent as you can,
bring your family and friends and colleagues,
or do whatever you could do
to let Vegzenz know that we need Vegsenz to stay and to be strong.

Mahatma Gandhi said: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Here is the change to overturn Vegsenz's fate, if you will.


Vegsenz is located at

2, Serangoon Rd,
#01-24/25, The Verge (ex-Tekka Mall),
Singapore 218227.
Tel: 63920369.

Closed on Mondays.

Their never-let-you-down dishes:

Portobello Burger
Rainbow Millet Rice
Assorted Color Cold Noodle
etc...

Price range SGD5~9.



Saddened by the news,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com




{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (5)

It's expected that on the path of raw veganism,
there may be some hurdles and bumpy rides.

At first, one may complain the limited food variety,
problem eating out/socialising, temptation by junk food etc...

To ensure a smoother path towards raw veganism,
a holistic approach embracing aspects of
body, mind and soul improvement
may be necessary to cushion those distress mentioned above.

For example,
MIND:    Meditation to tame the temptation from junk food
SOUL:    Prayers to fortify the faith constantly challenged by unfounded negative remarks
BODY:   Qigong to facilitate thorough oxygen/nutrients distribution to avoid Yin-yang imbalance


For some people, they may not want to go totally raw.
That is equally good -- at least raw food is taken everyday.

However, for partial raw foodist,
if possible, try to keep raw and cooked meals separate.
-- our gut will get confused & deprived when both cooked and raw food are mixed.


Lastly, I would like to share one of my favourite raw recipes
which guarantees vitality and clarity to sustain your day :)

Sproutie Smoothie
(serves 2-4)

Organic Ingredients:
- 1/2 mango or 1/2 dragon fruit or 1 big banana
- 1/2-1 cup of filtered water (chilled)
- 10pcs of soaked almond
- 2 heap spoonful of sprouted lentils, chickpea, mung bean or combination
- optional: 2g of spirulina (pills or powder)
- optional: 2 pcs of pitted medjool dates

Methods:
- blend all ingrdients in a super blender (e.g. Vitamix / Blendtec) until smooth
  [add chilled water to adjust the consistency needed]
- serve immediately

This is a complete raw meal exploded with
enzymes, proteins, vitamins, minerals, good omega, fibre, complex carb, phytonutrients..
ie everything!


Enjoy =P
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

p/s: due to the rich nourishment, Sproutie Smoothie is good in busting cravings for junk foods!


Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (4)

Getting started with raw diet,

need a bit of preparation,
on top of fullfilling the 3 pre-requisites.

As one may see in most raw vegan recipes,
a lot of juicing and blending are required.
Hence, preparing the relevant kitchen equipment
would be a logical next step.

They are:

Juicer:
Basically any decent juicer will do;
altho a press juicer is preferred over a centrfugal juicer,
as there is less damage done when juice is pressed out.
A good durable press juicer
may cost SGD600-1000.

Blender:
Often people get this mixed up with juicer.
A blender is one that blends everything of a fruit,
a long with fiber and seeds.
The outcome is usually a thick liquid.
A good blender is required to make
the blended food smooth and fine;
also to save ingredients and cost.
Nothing get sieved out and wasted.
A favourable super blender
may cost SGD1000-1600.

Food processor:
This is not essential, if a super blender already exists.
But, this equipment may help to make
a lot of healthy salad cream, nut butter or even raw cakes!
-- to cheer up our life =)
A normal grade food processor
may cost about SGD100-250.

Yes, after the 3 pre-requisites,
it's investment.
They are inevitable.

Going raw isn't an overnight affair.
If one is not well educated, well prepared, well equiped,
any diet regime simply won't work.

That is why there is no need to rush.
As a start, perhaps one could go through
a year of transition,
slowly increase the portion of raw food
and decrease the portion of cooked food.

That will give one ample of time to
get educated (e.g. attending raw cooking classes),
restructure one's lifestyle,
and save up to buy those expensive equipment!!

So, get prepared!


Happy learning,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


p/s: Incidentally, I will be conducting a Biogenic raw food worshop on 17th July @ Onaka . Enquiry @ 6464 2007.

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Raw Food with the OMMH! (3)

Like many things in life,

things don't come easy and
things come with a cost or are tied with 'terms and conditions'.

It's true that going raw vegan
isn't a diet as complicated as rocket science,
but it's important that one abide by certain 'rules'
when participating in 'the game'.

Exactly why some of my students asked:
would raw diet be sufficiently nutritious/nutritionally balanced?

The answer is yes, if one plays by the rules =)

Rule 1:
Remember always that
one should not be selective with their food,
given any diet/regime they are undertaking.
Being selective about food, will obviously deprive
one from getting full spectrum of nutrition from the already limited
choice of raw food sources.
This is the #1  pre-requisite one needs to fulfill
before plunging into raw food diet.

Extended from the principle above,
it's also important to have easy/ready access to
wide variety of fresh produce
to ensure comprehensive nourishment.
(special note: Singapore which imports 90% of her food, may pose a bigger challenge to go totally raw)


Rule 2:
Access to organic food.
Raw food, is not just about eating non-cooked food.
It's actually about life-force and robust nourishment
(when eating right).
Organic food provides higher nutritients and life force
compared to chemically grown ones.
Hence, in order to ensure optimal nourishment,
organic food source is essential for raw foodists.

Many raw amateurs/beginners simply do not meet the first two pre-requisites,
hence the concern of balanced nutrients when they go raw.


Rule 3:
Dedicated to do sprouting and fermantation on weekly basis.
From TCM point of view,
fruits, leafy vegetables (as frequently seen in salad and raw smoothies)
are cooling.
These food groups are even more cooling, when eaten raw, generally speaking.
In order to counterbalance the Yin element predominating in raw diet,
it's important to take seeds which are of Warm/Yang.
Seeds are usually toxic (to different extent) when taken raw.
Hence, the only way to eat seeds raw is by sprouting
to do away the toxin.

Also, sprouting offers tremendous life-force in the raw food
(sprouts are not just alive but actively, robustly alive).
This consequently will provide raw foodists with
vigour, stamina and dynamic speed.

Fermented food (e.g. rejuvelac, raw vegan cheese)
which comprise of actively dividing live bacteria,
offers the similar benefits as sprouted seeds.

If the 3 pre-requisites above are fulfilled,
one will be on smoother path towards raw veganism.



Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Raw-Food-with-the-OMMH


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}