Mental Awareness and Vaccination – Healthy Life 10

Fig 01- A tree with purple flowers

Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts related to my post about Mental Illness.

- First Important Step to Know Mental Illness - Healthy Life 5

I appreciate it.

We are still in May, the awareness of mental illness month, so it is a good moment to be aware about our daily living activities and behaviors that affect our mental health

Prolonged isolation and prolonged restricted activities can lead to discomfort and depression.

Over a year we feel like live in the box, and now we can take a little “fresh air” since more people have been vaccinated.

Louisiana is less number of percentage of vaccination. In Louisiana, the number of people fully vaccinated is 1,438,154, and the percentage of population fully vaccinated is 30.94%.

Fig 02- The clusters of flowers

The rank of Louisiana from 51 states is 48/51. The highest percentage of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is Vermont, 54%.

On May 15, Governor Bell Edward mentioned, “Following the new CDC guidance and in consultation with the LDH, I have revised the current proclamation to give anyone who is fully vaccinated the option to no longer wear a mask while indoors in most places.”

Fig 03- Flowers in the end of branches

But the restrictions are still the same in some places, such in government buildings and hospitals, wearing mask mandatory and distance.

Most Baton Rouge residents still wear mask even though in the places that mask is not mandatory anymore and the outdoors.

Governor Bell Edward brought up, “A growing number of studies on the COVID vaccines have shown the following:

-More than 90% effective in real-world settings at preventing mild and severe disease, hospitalization, and death.
-Effective against the variants currently circulating in the country and state.
-Those who are vaccinated are less likely to spread the virus.”

At the last, if prolonged isolation and prolonged restricted activities can lead to discomfort and depression, better get COVID vaccination. It might prevent our depression; vaccinated persons have more options for their life.

Green Bean and Papaya Delight – Food 4

Fig 01- Green Bean and Papaya Delight.

I went to the store and so happy to find the green papaya. This green papaya could be good to make Thai papaya salads, but the green papaya in coconut milk seemed a great choice.

I got a medium size green papaya and a can of leche de coco (coconut milk).

I kept the green papaya in the fridge.

Two days later, I was ready to cook the papaya. The green papaya was still green, and the skin had not changed color.

I peeled the skin; the papaya was still hard. I cut it into half. Oops, the flesh inside was turning to yellow-orangish ☹

I was thinking this papaya looked better for mixed papaya, cucumber, and jicama salads with crushed peanut sauce.

Unfortunately, I have no cucumber, jicama, or other vegetables to make that salad.

Fig 02- Cut green beans.

Okay, just kept it as a plan, the green papaya in coconut milk.

I sliced the flesh papaya thinly, put them in a pan.

Fig 03- Leche de coco

Fig 04- Slices of green papaya.

Then I added:

-water,
-crushed ginger, onion, and garlics,
-chili peppers (optional),
-and laurel leaves.

Bringing them to boil.

The color looked like more dessert than vegetable to me, so I added some frozen cut green beans and mixed all of them.

Looked better then!

I added leche de coco (coconut milk), a pinch of salt, and simmer for a while. Lastly, garnish with mint leaves! Looks great and tasty 😊

Have you ever tried this kind of food? What do you call it?

In Philippine, this recipe is called Ginataang Papaya, but the flesh of green papaya must be white color.

I showed this photo to the best chef in this town, Chef James, he called it, Green Bean and Papaya Delight.

Grass in Our Yard during Hot Summer

Fig 01- Lawn mower is starting to work

Type of grass that grew on our lawn seems tolerate to:

- heat
- drought

The grass also need low maintenance only.

We cut grass down almost routinely:

- every three weeks during spring
- two weeks during summer.

You may know that higher temperature together with length day light causes grass grow so fast.

Thus, we need to increase frequency to mow our lawn from every 3 weeks to every two weeks or even every 10 days in the middle of hot temperature.

Because of too heat, F 106 or C 41 degree, we delayed to cut our grass at front and back yards for a while.

41 Celsius degree is not only too hot, but also might dangerous for our health.

Fig 02- Thick and tall grass, but covered by wild weed.

Then, storm and hurricane came. We faced windy and rainy for more than a week.

Fig 03- Our front lawn after grass cut.

Branches fell down everywhere.

Blackout made live inconvenient.

Grass grew uncontrollable.

Grass looks thick and tall than usual.

We observed our grass covered by wild weed. Ugly looking. After finding a proper time, then we clean our lawn.

By the way, how many times a month that your grass cut during summer?

Do You Know about Golden Kiwis Fruit? - Food 3

Fig 01- Golden kiwi

I familiar with green kiwi fruits for long time, but recently, I saw yellow or it is said as “golden” kiwis.

What make me to pay attention is about its skin. Compared to green kiwi, the golden ones have no hair, quite smooth.

When I bought it, few characteristics of the golden kiwi fruit are:

- Flesh is yellowish
- there are seeds, but not so many
- sweeter
- smaller core in the middle

Don’t worry so much, both green and golden kiwis are identical in respect to:

- amount of calories (110 calories)
- protein
- fat
- carbohydrates

Fig 02- Kiwi fruit brand

However, since golden kiwis are sweeter, thus, sugar content little bit higher compared to green ones.

Fig 03- Slices of kiwi fruit

Both green and golden kiwis grow well in the New Zealand. Kiwis, we consumed here in the USA, come from this country.

It is said that both green and golden kiwis are non Genetically Modified Organism (GMO).

They are natural cross breeding. So, it is a great news.

Interestingly, I hardly find green kiwis in groceries such as Wall Mart and farmer market recently.

I wonder whether the golden overtaken the green kiwis. I eat both, actually.

If you ever taste, what do you prefer: green, golden or both kiwis?

Is Strawberry Greek Yogurt Good For Health? - Healthy Life 9

My own menu, strawberry Greek Yogurt

I make strawberry Greek yogurt for my own purposes, for breakfast or for small dessert in the middle of day.

Breakfast is combination of yogurt and strawberry, while mixture of yogurt, ice cream and strawberry for middle of day for dessert.

Strawberry is one of my favorite fruits. Its riches of:

- antioxidants
- fiber
- and vitamin C.

It is good to regulate blood sugar, lower blood pressure and improve immune system.

I believe that most of us consumed yogurt, but you might not notice the different between Greek yogurt and Others (regular yogurt).

Greek yogurt involves the process to take out the whey, a lactose liquid (a natural sugar).

Greek Yogurt contains lower sugar, suitable for diabetic patients.

More strawberry than yogurt

Just to let you know that 150 gram (5.3 oz) of Greek yogurt is an excellent sources of:

- 150 calories
- 11 gram of
- Calcium
- Vitamin D

Some health benefits of consuming of Greek yogurt are:

- Calcium improves bone health
- Lower blood pressure
- Lower risk of type 3 diabetes.

In addition that Greek yogurt has probiotics that good for gut health. Probiotics from specific bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei could improve digestive functions by balancing presence of bad microorganism or bacteria.

Bad bacteria in the gut responsible for diseases such as constipation or diarrhea, skin conditions, weight gain and other health conditions.

Have you tasted Greek yogurt or mixed of Greek yogurt and strawberry?

Oyster is One of Favorite Seafood in Louisiana – Food 2

Fig 01- A Louisiana oyster dish

Marine products contributed US$ 1.8 billion in to Louisiana state economics. The products include:

- sea foods
- fisheries
- shellfish

In term of production, Louisiana is second largest after Alaska. Louisiana catches 1.3 billion pounds of marine creatures, while Alaska produced 5.3 billion pounds of seafood.

Oyster is one of my favorite seafood. Louisiana oyster has different taste compared to other oysters.

Louisiana oyster is quite like meat texture with “fresh earth” (earthy) flavor. Just to remind you that Louisiana oysters are harvested from Gulf of Mexico.

Other oysters which live in the ocean let’s say Pacific and Atlantic are different in tastes than Louisiana oyster.

The tastes could be saltier and sweeter.

Fig 02- Oyster just harvested from public sea in Louisiana

Prices of Louisiana oyster dishes are range from US$ 9.00 to US$ 12 per six oysters, depend on kinds of restaurants.

I think price for raw oysters is quite cheap, US$ 30 for a 100 pound. It is mean that US$ 0.3 for 1 pound, contains 2 to 3 oysters per pound.

I often eat oysters in US$ 12 restaurants where I can eat everything available menus: fish, oyster, chicken, noodle, pizza, fruits, cake, ice cream and etcetera.

Fig 03- A fishing boat to harvest oysters

Public may harvested oysters from Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana in certain seasons. Oyster could be found in the areas such as:

- Shallow tidal zones
- Sub tidal zones.
- Estuaries
- Brackish water

Open season starts in September and closed in April. Louisiana authority in this case “Wildlife and Fisheries Commission” may decide to close or open the areas based on biological data.

Finally, have you taste an oyster?

What do you think about th taste: sweeter, salty or earthy?

Do You Know a Sign of Bipolar Disorder? - Healthy Life 8

Illustration of Bipolar Disorder,

credit to Cleveland Clinic Health Essential

Bipolar disorder is “a brain disorder” relates to daily activities where moods may swing highly from low to high. Lower level refer to depression periods, while higher mood refers to mania periods.

In addition to moods, irregularity in activities and energy lead to unable cope with difficulty in daily live.

The exact caused of bipolar disorder is not known yet. However, the causes are suspected from internal and outside factors.

Hormonal imbalance in the body could trigger this mental diseases. Outside or environmental factors that may cause disorder include mental stress, abuse and traumatic events.

As reported by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in 2017 that “The average age-of-onset is about 25, but it can occur in the teens, or more uncommonly, in childhood.

The condition affects men and women equally, with about 2.6% of the U.S. population diagnosed with bipolar disorder and nearly 83% of cases classified as severe.”

Flowers in the garden

How many of 2.6%?

The number should be: 2.5% x 350 million = 9.1 million of USA population affected by bipolar disorder illness.

When the people ever experienced depression, mania and Hypomania, then they might develop bipolar disorder. Many signs of people enter early bipolar disorder such as stop (difficult) sleeping and loss focus.

They might not know, but the patients stop sleeping day by day will face severe conditions later on.

If patients or family bring the patient to see a doctor (family doctor), then the doctor may refer to the psychiatrist for treatments.

Reference

NAMI. 2017. Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved From:
Www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Bipolar-Disorder