Health & Home (November - December 2017)

The 2017 Book Cover Models

contents

November-December 2017

18 Casino Peak: One of Cebu’s

Photogenic Mountains

6 Mental Exercise

By Arlene R. Taylor and Sharlet M. Briggs

How to stay young at heart and in mind

By Aldrich Y. Infantado

Green chocolate hills

22 Cinnamon: Cancer’s Bitter Enemy?

8 What Is the Price We Pay for “Free”?

By Arlene May G. Corpus

Powerful, popular spice

By Rose Fres Fausto

The marketing strategy that takes more than money

24 Life Sweeteners

10 Refreshing Solo Serving

By Leah G. Malunes

26 When God Made You

Cool ideas from mason jar blender to egg cartoon laptop cooler

14 Survivors: They’re Not Just Game Show Contestants

ABOUT THE COVER

What happens in mommy’s tummy

By Marlo Schalesky

Burning lesson from a jalapeño

17 Comfort Eating Over Christmas?

By Rowena R. Antemano and Dony Lynn E. Lacuna

28 Nooooooo, Don’t Do It!

By Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz

Navigating safely through domestic violence

By Lebni T. Bernardino, Jr.

Acts of love and service

31 Team Kramer: Faith and Family First

By Janet R. Tolete

By Sue Radd

Scent of Sweetness: May our life be a sweet-smelling aroma and a pictue of loveliness like this stuffed apple delight.

Photos in this issue are by rogeRGSabio unless credited otherwise.

Cover photo from 123rf.com

Doug and Cheska on “discipling” children

Celebrating for those alone at home

35 Endless Card

By Elvie R. Salibio

Paper folding without limits

36 Helping Little Ones Cope With Death

By Anna B. Agoncillo

26

A moment to grieve together

40 Heaven for Us

By John T. Baldwin, L. James Gibson, and Jerry D. Thomas

What is heaven like? It’s beyond imagination!

44 Health & Home 2017 Index

Columns 3 Passion and Purpose

By Lucile B. Tañalas

Sweeter Than Honey!

4 iContact

Compiled by Dexter O. Quiñones

11 Dear Doctor

By Linda L. Varona

21 Subscribers Section

38 Share a Thought

By Joresa Dainty E. Aseron

By John Spencer B. Tañalas

Inheriting Mama’s Crown of Loyalty

Shielding Myself From Using Drugs

30 Personal Answers

39 Word for the World

By Arnold C. Serra

Will We Send Mom to a Christians and the Nursing Home?

Homosexual

My Foot Wound Is Not Healing 34 Food for the Family

12 Consult Your Lawyer

By Silvino L. Sumagaysay, Jr.

Custodial Investigation

By Miriam R. Estrada

By J. Grant Swank, Jr.

42 Children’s Corner

Fun and Healthy Holiday Treats

By Janet R. Tolete

Why Do Stars Twinkle?

Coming Up...  Time to Let Go  Dr. Hans Diehl and

Lifestyle Medicine  Is Decaf Good Enough?  For a Stronger Willpower  Homework or No Homework?  Sprain and Other Pains  The Brain and Spirituality

Text and photos by ALDRICH Y. INFANTADO

fter a healthy dose of “vitamin sea” (from chasing a sardines run in Moalboal to exploring Carnaza’s untouched beaches), I thirsted for a hiking adventure. After scouring the web, I found the ultimate inspiration and solution: Casino Peak in Lugsangan, Dalaguete, Cebu.

This peak, as of late, has been wowing travel junkies with its breathtaking and lush chocolate-hills-like scenery. I instantly penned it on Team Bang’s* list of mountains to hike in Cebu. We wasted no time! We packed our bags and scaled the peak.

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November-December 2017

I saw little information about Casino Peak in the Internet. Thankfully, Team Bang met Ms. Laham Zozain Rain Zozobrado of Dalaguete, who gave us tips on how to reach the peak.

The Team Bang members who joined me were Aiza, Beth, Carl, Cherwinn, Gelique, JP, Lieve, Marzi, RJ, Sheng, and Wilfred.

Our hike started at the foot of Osmeña Peak (although one can ride the habal-habal to Casino Peak base) for a more thrilling adventure. We asked locals how to get to Casino Peak using

When God Made You

By ROWENA R. ANTEMANO and DONY LYNN E. LACUNA

T

he egg, small as a grain of sand, turns into a hollow ball of cells. The inner surface flattens into a disc then rolls up into a tube. It is amazing how it knows exactly which side is front and back, which end is the head or tail.

The head of the tube forms into a shape of a cane handle then balloons out to develop into a brain, while the tail forms into the spinal cord.

Complicated? It’s just the start of your journey—when your brain is shaping up three weeks of life inside Mommy’s tummy.

Your “inside story”

After Mom and Dad make love, the restless hundred million sperms know what to do—hunt for the egg!

Like glamorous micro speedboats on cold waters, they swim through Mom’s reproductive tract toward either of the fallopian tubes where the egg, freshly pushed by the ovary, is waiting. Of hundred million sperms that start out, only a few hundred get close to the egg and only one gets in. All the rest die and disintegrate.

Wow! Inside the egg, the sperm head releases its genetic contents and fuses them with that of the egg, completing the whole set of chromosomes. This is fertilization!

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November-December 2017

Instantly, the egg surface becomes impenetrable. No other sperms are allowed to enter in.

The single-cell embryo is called zygote, meaning “yoked or joined together.” It has the ability to become a beautiful and healthy baby—YOU!

Nooooooo, Don’t Do It!

By MARLO SCHALESKY

photo/123rf.com

T

he room was crowded and the night sweltering as we took our family to Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant to enjoy an evening out. Before long, a sizzling platter of chicken fajitas was placed before us with a mound of sour cream and guacamole heaped to one side.

And there, perched high and proud on the top of the pico de gallo, was an enormous jalapeño pepper.

Becky’s eyes lit up as she saw it. Soon, her chubby hand reached across the table to grasp the pepper in her fist.

“Pickle!” she exclaimed as a huge smile spread over her face.

I gasped. “No, no, Becky,” I admonished. “It’s not a pickle.

Here, give it to me.” I reached over and tried to pry the vegetable from her grip.

Immediately, she shrieked her disapproval. “Pickle! Mine!”

“Listen to me.” I attempted to remain calm. “That is a jalapeño pepper. It’s very hot. You’ll burn your mouth if you eat it.”

Her forehead furrowed in consternation. Becky loved pickles. And, to her young eyes, the pepper looked an awful lot like her favorite kind.

“It’s very hot,” I repeated.

In a fraction of a second she made up her mind. She knew better than I did. It was a pickle. So, with one swift movement, she shoved the pepper into her mouth and bit down.

Sure enough, a moment later, her eyes watered, her mouth burned, and she was crying for water. “Waa! Hot!” she hollered, her hand grabbing for the closest glass in sight.

Gulp, gulp, gulp, she guzzled down the water. But her mouth still burned. I shrugged my shoulders. It was too late for my advice now.

Team Kramer: Faith and Family First

photo/NicePrint Photography

Studio/The Concept Room

W

ith millions of followers on social media and several product endorsements,the Kramer family is quite popular.

Cheska Garcia and Doug Kramer enjoyed the limelight in show business and professional basketball while still single. Their stars, however, shone brighter when they got married in 2008 and later had children: Clair Kendra, 8; Scarlett Louvelle, 6; and Gavin Phoenix, 3.

Known as “Team Kramer,” this family of five can be seen traveling to prime destinations, posing as models, or going to a party. Cheska and Doug also have videos and photos of their kids doing chores, throwing tantrums, or simply hanging out.

By JANET R. TOLETE

Health & Home recently had the privilege to talk to Cheska and Doug firsthand about their convictions as Christian parents and the spiritual training of their children. Here are highlights of the interview.

Growing up, what was your religious life like?

Cheska: My dad’s a Catholic and my mom’s a Born-again Christian.

I would go to both churches. We sometimes have Bible study at home.

Doug: My mom’s a Catholic. She and my grandma showed me how powerful prayer can be. My Christian foundation, however, was rooted in my high school.

Cheska: The faith was planted and he brought it with him. In college,

he found a way to find a church and a Bible study group. Later on, he invited me to join him and set up a Bible study group for us as a couple.

Doug: Late in college, I started inviting my teammates to short Bible study sessions with my mentor. Then we’d invite some friends over until we opened our house to Bible study.

Is it DIFFICULT being a Christian?

Doug: Yes, because now we’re aware of a lot more things. We always want to please God, but we're not robots. We make mistakes, but we try and improve ourselves.

What about being a Christian parent?

What is the biggest challenge?

Cheska: Your children are your

Health & Home November-December 2017

31

Children's Corner

By Janet R. Tolete

T

winkle, twinkle little star...”

Most kids know this song. You may have sang it, too. Yet, many people— even adults—are not quite sure how stars twinkle.

Big but small

Stars are actually balls of fire like the sun.

But unlike the sun, stars are very, very far. This makes them look like small dots in the sky. At daytime, when the sun is shining, we can hardly see them. But at night, that’s when stars become diamonds in the sky.

When we look at them, they seem to get bright then dark then bright again. They may even look like they’re dancing. We call this twinkling. Scientists call it scintillation.

Lines of light

Star or planet?

Aside from stars, we can also see planets in the sky. Stars and planets may look the same at first. But when we stare longer, we will realize that planets don’t twinkle. They have a steady glow and a more circular shape.

As with the stars, light from the planets also pass through the atmosphere. But because planets are nearer, they give off more light. We see them as many points of light coming our way. Some of these points also get bent, but since they are many, the light generally remains steady.

Infinity and beyond Aside from the moon, stars, and planets, did you know that some of the glittering objects in the sky can be planets, galaxies, nebulae (clouds of dust and gas in space), clusters of galaxies, and more?

Some single stars are even made up of a pair or more of stars moving together.

Groups of stars

A big group of stars is called a constellation. Humans have been studying them for thousands of years. Our ancestors, particularly the Greeks and Arabs, gave them names and identified them as characters in stories or myths common during their time.

Today there are 88 recognized constellations in the sky.

photo/123rf.com

Light coming from each star is actually steady, like a straight line. This line of light travels through space, passes through the earth’s atmosphere, and is then picked up by our eyes. Something happens in the atmosphere, however, that causes the twinkling.

The blanket of air surrounding the earth has different layers. Some are cold, some are hot.

The air also moves.

When light travels through these layers, it can experience a bumpy ride. The light may pass one area smoothly, but then get slightly bent at another. This makes it appear like a star changes in brightness and position.

The bending of light is called refraction. This is the same thing that happens when light passes through a window or a body of water.

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November-December 2017

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November-December 2017