Fennel Tea



Image Credit: Britanie Faith


Get ready to leave your green tea leaves on the self & embark on this new love of mine! Fennel tea! Yes, I have started falling in love with this new fennel tea. Having drank consistently for the past 1 month, I have noticed some improvements in my overall health, especially my eyes. This drink was recommended by my naturopathy practician and i bought it from him in fact.

Fennel has been historically used for medical & culinary purposes. Recognising the benefits of fennel tea, it is not surprising to see fennel seeds still being used in culinary dishes such as Malay & Indian cuisines in Asia. For Chinese cuisine, I rarely see my mother prepareing her dishes using fennel.  Fennel has this slightly sweet & savoury taste when you sip it, with a slight bitter aftertaste.


Benefits of Fennel Tea

• Neutralises stomach acid, prevent heartburn.
• Ease digestion especially when you have a full meal
• Alkaline the blood
• Improves eye conditions (something which i can strongly attest to. I have not experienced bloodshot eyes for a long time)
• Anti-inflammatory
• Menstrual cramps

There are also countless benefits if you do a google search on the internet. Some benefits include "promoting lactation etc" which I, unfortunately, am unable to attest to that (young adult with no kids, unmarried). Therefore, I did not list them down on

When do i usually drink it?
For the past 1 month, I have been drinking fennel tea first thing in the morning. It awakens my liver and kick starts my bowel system in the morning. A common ritual done by many people has been to drink a warm glass of warm water with half the lemon. I find it harder to start my day with half the lemon. Just like any ordinary human being, I always wake up with my eyes half-opened. Groggily, i would walk to the kitchen, grab the sharp menacing knife & try to cut the lemon into half. Having realised the risk involved, i decide to search for the alternative. It has been recommended for fennel tea to be drank on an empty stomach. What good timing it would be to start drinking in the morning where your stomach is grumbling, hungry & empty? Simmer the tea bag/seeds into the cup of water while you shower & get ready for the day!

I would also drink the tea before i sleep. It helps to ease my digestion & helps my liver to function & heal well for the night. According to TCM, the liver and your eyes have a close relationship. Therefore, caring for your liver is the utmost important thing to do.

Of course, too much of a good thing may do you harm. Therefore, though i drink two cups of fennel tea a day, coupled with my chrysanthemum tea in the afternoon (how did i do that? i will explain next time), i will at times take a break. Some days, i will reduce my consumption. Or perhaps on one single day, i would not drink fennel tea at all. It takes some time to figure out what is best for you!

I got my organic fennel seeds (grinded i think) from Sebestian Liew Centre (naturopathic & phytotherapy centre). I forgot the price, unfortunately (Sorry!).

Hope that this post inspires you to start drinking fennel tea. Get going!

Do let me know if you have found other good benefits of drinking fennel tea!

Beautiful Day of My Life: Each day, I take positive step to improve my life.

This week at a glance (Haze & Job Hunting)

I apologise for not actively posting lately for I have been busy with my job interviews and preparations. I have planned entries such as posting a recipe on osmanthus jelly, updates on my eye health, fennel tea etc. I will post them soon over the next few weeks. Do bear with me.



Taken from my bedroom window

 


Image credits: Channel NewsAsia



These few days, the smokey haze situation in Singapore has been really bad. The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) exceeds 100, which is considered unhealthy, at certain times of the day in different parts of Singapore. This is partly a result of forest fires, caused by deforestation, in Indonesia. Burning the forest fire is known as the quickest way to clear the land for agricultural or commerical purposes.
Of course, though i mention that my eyes are still healed, it is always on the road to recovery as i can feel my eyes irritated by the haze very easily. I am still taking note of the things i eat. Will definitely share more once i found the perfect formula.

Tips on how YOU can cope with haze:

1. Drink more herbal tea such as chrysanthemum tea/honeysuckle flower tea/green tea when you feel dryness at the eyes, nose & throat
2. Boil herbal soups for detoxification (green bean soup, radish soup, watercress soup)
3. Eat more vegetables to build up your immune system.
4. If necessary, wear a mask when you head outdoors. (if it is really bad)
5. Cut down on outdoor activities for now.Good time to invest in more yoga or pilates activities.
6. If your eyes are irritated, wash your eyes with Optrex Eye Bath often. If not convenient, just grab a bottle of eye drops.

Recently, I have been preparing my job interviews to get into my dream industry. I was almost so close to getting it when i received a rejection email yesterday. It was kinda sad for me as I was the final 2 candidates shortlisted but eventually they chose the other candidate over me. I guess it was all right. Every moment has its ups and downs. I know it is never easy to get it but i will still try. All hope is not lost yet. Various interviews have taught me what and how to prepare for interviews and i am truly grateful for the experiences different interviews have offered me.

I also noticed that there are many silent viewers on my blog page over the past weeks. If you have any eye concern (especially dry eyes/red/itchy), i welcome you to talk to me. I have gone through the emotional turmoil with this chronic eye problem and I cannot again emphasise the importance of talking about your struggles with your loved ones and friends. You can email me at josieeprt@gmail.com if you have any issues. I look forward to reading your emails.

Beautiful Day of my Life: I have the courage to climb up again with every failure/rejection i receive. 

Eye Health Assessment

My Happy Purchase of Contacts! (Have regained optimal health for eyes!)

I went for an eye checkup a few days ago, but I did not have the time to write down my experience and the results of my eye health assessment on that day.

I constantly experience a slight stinging feeling when i insert my Acuvue Trueye into my eyes (oh yes, have recently started wearing contact lenses). After reflecting my concern to Acuvue, a kind lady from their Professional Affairs Department contacted me very soon via phone and email. They asked me some questions and recommended that I go for an eye examination to check my eyes. It is definitely a logical step to check one's eyes to exclude the possibility that my eye condition influence the comfort of wearing contact lenses.

The eye health examination was quite long. I am truly grateful for the extensive examiniation procedure provided by the optometrist - measured the curvature of my eyes, my overall eye health using the instruments & tried ways to wear contact lens comfortably. Alas, I managed to find out the way of wearing contact lens comfortably into my eyes.

Results of everything:

1. My eyes are in perfect health!
2. The possible reason for contact lens discomfort is due to the strong buffered saline solution Acuvue used to store their dailies. Therefore, people whose eyes are sensitive (like mine), will likely to experience some discomfort.  A solution to cope with the possible discomfort was to always rinse my contact lenses with fresh contact lens solution before inserting into the eyes.

I was truly over the moon when i heard that my eyes are in good health! I will continue to maintain my myopia degree and make sure my eye health does not deteriorate! Happily purchased another 2 boxes of Acuvue Trueye since my current supply is ending soon. The optometrist was very kind to insert extra pairs of contact lenses for me, with a small sample bottle of Opti Free Pure Moist.  They also allow this flexibility for me to change my contact lense boxes if my eyesight were to improve or deteriorate. In the meantime, i also vow to myself that i would go for annual eye-checkup.

Note: Today, I have tried wearing contact lenses for 9 hours. It feels all right. But i did not have any mirror to check my eye health. My friends say my eyes do look slightly tired, with slight redness. I guess it takes time for my eyes to be completely healed. I look forward to that day!

Beautiful Day of My Life: I feel excited living a fresh new life.

Holding onto my dreams

Have you ever felt like giving up something when you firmly believed that you could achieve it somehow? Have you ever experienced the feeling of worthlessness - that nothing you do seems to go your way?

Have you ever felt that you were drifting far from your dreams?

Dreams - they always seem so near, but when you take a step forward, it seems to drift further than you can imagine.

I caught myself brooding over these questions, wondering what is beyond my life.  Sometimes, I realise I have lost the ability to appreciate the present.

Perhaps, there are many factors in place - friends who have found a job and it makes me want to get a job too, friends who travel to many countries & you wonder why is your life so pathetic, friends who find purpose in life yet you seem to be wallowing in self-pity & living life aimlessly ... the list goes on. You start to have self-doubt on your ability and that nothing seems to go your way.  Life totally sucks isnt it?

The feeling of envy made me lose my directions and even my dreams. For example, the eagerness to get a job may just made me eager to grab any job that comes along the way. However, in my heart, I know pretty well what I hope to achieve. I have paced myself, took deep breaths, and put myself back on the right track. Everyone lives his/her life differently. Our lives are defined strongly, by ourselves. Therefore, there is not a need to get on the bandwagon and follow what everyone is doing. What matters most is that you enjoy the present moment and know that what you are doing is the right thing, regardless of what others say.

I have caught up with the politics of envy which is something I strongly abhorred (yet i am now circumscribing to it). I have been training myself to do the followings things to deal with envy:

• Start writing 5 things that you are grateful for or blessed with each night.
• Appreciate the notion of living in the present
• Embrace the negative feelings with a pinch of salt (part of life, dont keep harping on it)

Recently, I have been busy preparing for job interviews for my ideal job industry. I mean, I could have just applied for any government jobs and be settled with it.  No matter how much time it takes, I hope to pursue my dream industry.  I always remember this quote, " the slow & steady wins the race".


Beautiful Day of My Life: My dreams are important and are coming true.

Friends or Foes?

I decide to list down the type of medications that I have used to cope with my dry eyes. Though these medications may be seem as friends to some, unfortunately, they are my foes. 

• Zylet
  "Zylet is a topical anti-inflammatory corticosteroid and antibiotic combination for ophthalmic use. It is indicated for treatment of steroid-responsive inflammatory ocular conditions for which a corticosteroid is indicated and where superficial bacterial ocular infection or a risk of bacterial ocular infection exists." (Bausch & Lomb) Long sentences blah blah blah. In other words, it is an antibiotic and you can use it whenever you have sore eyes, conjunctivitis etc. I was prescribed this medication when I told the doctor I had itchy eyes feeling which wouldnt go away. Sometimes, I would have red eyes and this was meant to make them go away. However, after using for one week (the recommended period of treatment), the itch/redness returned with more gusto. I would have dry eyes which would get worse at night.


 
• Refresh Eye Drops
  "Instantly moisturises and relieves dry, irritated eyes with a fast acting, long-lasting formula for sensitive eyes." (Refresh)
  Refresh Eye Drops did provide temporary relief. However, when my dry eyes got worst in 2012, this did not help at all. In fact, my dry eyes got worst. I recalled one TCM lecture which I attended in school, the TCM professor highlighted how we should not always wash our body or with soap more than once a day. He highlighted how it would strip the body of its natural ability to produce the natural layer of oil to protect our skin. Similarly, upon my research on TCM treatment on dry eyes, it is commonly recommended by the TCM doctors to use less conventional eye drops less. A common risk is that you will strip the eyes of its ability to produce oil & tears to moisturise your eyes, and it will take a longer time for your eyes to heal itself.

• Genteal Eye Gel
  "Genteal Gel is a long acting eye gel for lubricating the surface of the eye for all patients with ocular discomfort." (Full information here)I have used this for quite a few times. It did moisturise my eyes for a longer time but my eye conditions did not improve. Same philosophy as TCM. Each morning as I wake up, I would encounter itchy eyes.

• Hialid Eye Drops
  "Relief of burning sensation, irritation & discomfort due to dry eyes & to enhance wound healing of ocular surface (Sjogren's & sicca syndrome)."  (Hialiad) This offers the best relief among other eye drops. After a few drops, my eyes are nearly moisturised. However, the healing capacity of my eyes is not as great as experienced during food therapy.


Beautiful Day of My Life: I am truly thankful to the blessings I receive each day.