I am really convinced that Baby is indeed a health freak. We were at the hotel having buffet style breakfast for 2 days and Baby had not the slightest interest in cakes, buns or other tasty junkie but when I gave her a slice of RAW red capsicum from the salad section of the buffet counter, oh my, she grabbed it from me instantly and nibbled on it as if she knew that she’s munching on good stuff!
The other item that she was interested in was rice bubbles and she survived on breastmilk, Pediasure, rice bubbles, a little scrambled eggs, a little fish and plain porridge during our 3-day 2-night stay in Penang.
About 2 months ago, I stumbled by chance on a nutritional food supplement that many people swear by its effectiveness in preventing and treating UTI. This nutritional food supplement called D-Mannose is a simple sugar structurally related to glucose, that is found in many fruits, including peaches, apples, oranges, cranberries, and blueberries. It is also produced in your body. D-Mannose is considered a safe and natural nutritional food supplement. Since it isn’t metabolized, it doesn’t interfere with blood sugar regulation, and is therefore safe for diabetics.
I immediately did a Google search on D-Mannose and from my research, it really did sound convincing to me. As there was still bacteria detected in Baby’s urine then (3 months ago) despite the Ureteral Reimplantation surgery, I was really devastated and was really determined to find a way to help keep my Baby free from UTI. I immediately emailed the owner and manufacturer of the product to inquire if it was safe for a toddler to consume D-Mannose. The owner replied me promptly and told me that even infants can consume D-Mannose. I was quite convinced that D-Mannose would work on Baby too and emailed the owner/manufacturer of the product in the U.K. to order a tub to try. The owner responded and wrote something that I had least expected to read. She said she did not want to make a fortune out of my baby’s misfortunes and would send me the D-Mannose for free but I would have to bear the shipping charges. No problem, I immediately paid the shipping charges by credit card and within a week, I received not one but THREE tubs of D-Mannose from the manufacturer/owner. The owner requested that I keep this to myself and not publicize to the whole world that she sent the D-Mannose to me at no cost as she cannot afford to do this to every Tom, Dick and Harry, though she would really love to. I am really grateful and thankful to the owner for her act of kindness.
According to researchers at the Washington University (WU) School of Medicine in St. Louis, most UTIs start when Escherichia coli (E. coli)—a microorganism that lives in the digestive tract and is found in the anal area—invade the bladder and penetrate a protective coating of the superficial cells that line the bladder. In most cases, urine flow washes out bacteria from the bladder. But the cell wall of E. coli bacteria has tiny finger-like projections that contain complex molecules called lectins on their surface. These lectins are cellular glue that binds the bacteria to the bladder wall so they cannot be easily rinsed out by urination.
The chemical structure of D-Mannose causes it to stick to E. coli bacteria, maybe even more tenaciously than E.coli adheres to human cells. Although the mechanism of how it works is complicated, theoretically, if enough D-mannose is present in the urine, it binds to the bacteria and prevents them from attaching to the urinary tract lining
E. coli cells coated by D-mannose in the urine become unglued and get flushed right out of the body. And the beauty about D-mannose is that you can take it year-round without any side effects. You don’t have to wait until symptoms appear. From what I have read, D-Mannose only works on E-Coli and Klebsiella bacteria, the 2 most common bacteria that cause UTIs. So if you have other types of bacteria in your urinary tract system, the bacteria would not be ‘attracted’ to D-Mannose and cannot be flushed out from your body.
Baby has been taking D-Mannose for almost 2 months now and with God’s blessings, she has not gotten any UTI attacks for 3 months. The Ureteral Reimplantation surgery has been a success too and I was told by our surgeon that the ‘dirty’ urine that I’ve been seeing on and off for the past 3 months could be the ‘debris’ from the urinary tract system as Baby has had bacteria in her urine from day 1. Our surgeon knows that Baby is taking D-Mannose and he has no objection to it since D-Mannose is just a type of sugar that is found in many fruits, including cranberries – the most popular fruit known to help prevent UTI.
Disclaimer : This is not intended to be a medical advise. If you have urinary tract infection, please consult your doctor.
My dad bought us 2 salt-baked chicken from the popular Aun Kheng Lim Salted Chicken, Ipoh when he came to visit us 2 weeks back. Though really tasty (I love the taste of the herbs), I find the chicken a tad too salty. Since we could not finish the last chicken a few days ago, my mil dumped the chicken into a crockpot and made a huge pot of porridge. She also tossed in some pork ribs. No salt were added. The porridge turned out really tasty. Even I for one who does not fancy porridge liked the porridge and whacked a few bowls (ate more meat than the porridge.). Baby who has gotten fed-up of her own bland porridge liked this porridge too coz it was a little salty. The meat from the pork rib was so soft that she could also swallow it without spitting it out.
I was at Caring Pharmacy yesterday to get a bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wet wipes and stumbled on some Del Monte cranberries. My 2 older gals who previously didn’t fancy raisins or dried cranberries have recently started to love nibbling on these dried fruits. I got them a pack of Del Monte cranberries and they tasted good, albeit a tad too sweet for my liking. Even Baby likes nibbling on them. I hope dried cranberries have the same components that can ward off UTI as those found in cranberry juice. If they have, then it would be a great idea to feed Baby with dried cranberries as a healthy snack.
The big, plump, juicy and sweet dried cranberries.
My visiting parents from Ipoh bought a few kilograms of raw peanuts from the wet market for us. I’ve not bought raw peanuts for aeons and I miss eating them. Each time I see a vendor hawking boiled peanuts on a bike or tricycle (which is pretty rare in KL these days), it reminds me of the time about 20-30 years ago. Those days, my papa would bring us to the movies occasionally. Going to the cinema was a luxury and one of the very few entertainment outlets for us back then. Before going into the cinema, papa would often buy us boiled peanuts wrapped in newspapers twirled into a cone shape. Thinking back, how dirty it was to be eating from newspapers eh? There were no pop-corns then. Only boiled sweet corns, boiled peanuts, kacang putih (also wrapped in newspapers twirled into a cone shape), Ramly burgers (I still love them!) and light snacks / junk food.
When I saw my mil boiling the whole bag of peanuts, I thought we would not be able to finish them but I was wrong. They tasted so soft, so good and so fragrant that all of us whacked the few kilograms of peanuts in 2 days! We snacked on the peanuts throughout the day! When we could not finish the peanuts on the first day, we kept them in the fridge and the following day, we ate cold boiled peanuts! Still tasted good! Even Baby had a try and liked them but after eating quite a bit, she spat them out coz she couldn’t chew them properly with only 3 tiny teeth.
Food For Thought :
Health benefits of eating peanuts :
Eating peanuts is a good preventive measure for those who frequently suffer from nose bleed.
Recently, research showed that it helps in reducing heavy menstruation for women who suffer from heavy periods.
Very good for our heart, which in turn helps to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Full of mono-unsaturated fats, which are beneficial to the health. Diets consisting of “good fats” control weight better than low-fat diets, thus making groundnuts a great source of weight management. Studies have shown that eating peanuts lower a person’s risk of weight gain and promotes good heart health.
Groundnut contains 13 different types of vitamins and is also rich in 26 essential minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, amongst others which are beneficial to building and maintaining strong bones.
Bursting with anti-oxidants and they help in reducing the risk of heart diseases and cancer risk.
Helps in anti-aging thus keeping the body fit, young and trim.
Regular consumption of peanuts actually reduces a lot of ailments. They also provide protection against cancer, obesity, diabetes and Type II diabetes.
As with other food, intake of peanuts should be taken moderately as over consumption can still lead to weight gain. Many people also believe that eating too much roasted peanuts can cause sore throat and zits because of the ‘heatiness’.
I bought a huge bunch of watercress veggie the other day to make watercress soup and for my mil to make dumplings (kau cee). Since there was also an apple that has been sitting in the fridge for quite some time, I toss in the apple as well as the watercress into the crockpot of porridge meant for Baby. When it comes to food, I really love to experiment. And here’s the watercress-apple-pork-fish porridge for Baby :
Verdict : It tasted really good – sweet and fragrant but Baby didn’t quite like it coz she has gotten really bored of porridge. I found out today what she liked and I’m glad I experimented that food on her. Now, I shall feed her with that everyday until she gets bored of it hahaha…..
I bought some red pears some time back from the fruit stall beneath Babyland @ PJ SS2. This stall often carries a wide variety of fruits and rare fruits. I’ve never seen red pears before, thus I bought them to try but after trying just one, everyone in the family disliked the taste and texture. It was hard and tasteless. I decided to keep them in the fridge until they turn soft as I liked soft pears but even after a month, the pears were still rock hard!
The other day, I finally double boiled the red pears with some snow fungus and mat joe (dried honey dates). This concoction is supposedly nourishing to the throat and lungs as well as good for one’s skin. My kids didn’t quite like them and my mil and I finished off this pot of good stuff.
Even when Baby’s down with a bad cold with phlegm and is avoiding most solids, including fruits and biscuits, she surprisingly still likes her veggie – celery, french beans, leek flowers, you name it! She’s indeed a health freak baby, just like her mummy haha!
Here Baby is munching on some leek flowers. I am really surprised that she likes veggie with pungent tastes like celery, red and yellow bell peppers and leek flowers. I must try bitter gourd and petai (stinky beans) on her one of these days! Oh yeah, she also likes the king of fruits – durian!
This is the applicator with mask for the Ventolin inhaler for Baby to clear her chest of the phlegm. This applicator and Ventolin cost almost RM200. This gadget looked really complicated and I had to study the instructions and the gadget for almost 15 minutes before I knew how to use it. Though the pharmacist had demonstrated once to me, I wanted to be doubly sure that I used it correctly. Spraying meds into a baby’s nose and mouse, which eventually gets into her lungs is no playing matter right? The first time I used it, I think I didn’t administer the Ventolin quite right. The mask was supposed to stay longer on Baby’s face but I removed it after a few seconds as Baby was struggling. Baby still hates this gadget and would struggle the moment she sees it.
Whenever my gals have constipation, the first thing that comes into my mind to help them move their bowel is the red dragon fruit. I always have stock of the red dragon fruit in my fridge and my gals and I eat this fruit at least 2-3 times a week. But not Baby coz she seems to have loose bowel quite often, no thanks to the prophylactics antibiotics that she’s been eating daily since she was 7 weeks old. In fact, I hardly feed Baby with fruits coz she poo poos just too much. Baby takes Nutrifresh from E.Excel instead, a nutrition powder which consists of fruits, berries and veggie.
Baby could not poo poo for 2 days early this week. She hardly ever has constipation. On the 2nd and 3rd day, I gave her some red dragon fruits and as effective as it has always been, on the 3rd day, she finally poo pooed, though not as explosive as I’d expected!
Baby enjoying her red dragon fruit, which she had for dinner. Her tummy was so bloated that she had no appetite for her porridge.
I am a WFHM with 3 beautiful girls - Alycia, Sherilyn and Cassandra. I quit the job that I love to stay home with my 3 angels as that's what I've always wanted to do. I am a health freak, fitness freak and a clean freak too. I love to eat and live the clean and healthy way; I want my kids and hubby to do the same too.
I always believe that your health is your wealth and if you have good health, that's the best gift you can ever ask for from God.
I have been writing product reviews, food reviews / restaurant reviews and product advertorials since 2007. Please email Shireen at shireenyong@gmail.com to inquire if you are interested to place an advertorial or review in this blog.
