Optimising efficiency through health and wellness

look for the answers. And we're also exploring ways to enhance your physical and resilience as we delve into nutrition, medicine, fitness. I mean, they're all intertwined and we all could use a little bit more education when it comes to that. So here we go with our speakers here. Today, we're very, very honored to have them take time out of their busy schedules to join us. Please. Welcome first Dr C Hui,

senior consultant, medical oncology at Parkway Cancer Center. Now, doctor C was a medical oncology consultant at the National Cancer Center and KK Women and Children's Hospital. So specializing in the adult breast and gynecologic cancers as well before pursuing internal medicine training at Singapore General Hospital. Now, currently, she is a member of multiple very very prestigious societies, International Gynecologic Cancer Society, American

Society of Clinical Oncology and many more. So let's say hello to Dr C. Good morning, everybody up next, we have physician Eric Tan T MC expert at Yu Yan Sang Singapore. I've always been very curious about traditional medicine as well. So a very good chance for us to ask many questions here. Physician Eric graduated from Beijing University of Chinese Medicine with a degree in medicine. And he furthered his academic journey by earning a degree in biomedical science and

traditional Chinese medicine from Nanyang Technological University as well. So let's say hi to physician Eric. Hi.

social media too. And youtube, she specializes in women's weight loss and strength training while also positively impacting diverse individuals on their journey to a healthier lifestyle. She was formerly a bodybuilder and a top five finalists in the Miss Universe Singapore competition too. But she's really shifted her focus to championing the importance of exercise for mental health too. And she's coc created something called No Sweats.

It's a groundbreaking personal training app which I'm sure she'll tell you more about in just a little while. So, hello, Tian. Welcome. Wow, that was such a kind introduction. Thank you so much for that. Good morning. Everybody. You look fresh as always did you already put a workout in before you joined us this morning? Um Maybe I might have. OK, I'm sure she did. Uh welcome to our three wonderful panelists for joining us today for taking the time out to really have this discussion. Now,

there's some fascinating studies going around. I'm sure you read a lot of uh articles and a lot of information out there so much available out there right now. Now, in this fascinating healthcare study, recently, it uncovers attitude shifts post pandemic. So out of the 1100 Singapore respondents and it's a total of like 9000 worldwide, 88% of Singaporeans are reassessing their lives. So this is higher than the global average of 79%. Now, material possessions are no

longer the be all and end all. Now, we are actually actively thinking about non materialistic aspects, you know, things like time spent with family and friends, physical emotional resilience and I think all of which were also born from the pandemic in some way, you know, we had to adapt, we had to acclimatize and learn a lot about ourselves too. Now, 31% of Singapore respondents are also considering more natural

approaches to diet to well being. And I'm sure this is music to a lot of professionals ears because we've been trying to encourage healthier lifestyles to a lot of people. Right. However, on the other end, 41% are more worried about illness, about falling sick. This is the second highest population in the survey just behind Hong Kong. So I think it's very obvious that we are reassessing our priorities and how everything has affected us and influence our choices

in our lives too. Right? So we're going to address this with our speakers. But before anything else, let's get into a poll first. Now let's get to that slide, the first poll in question for you here today, which we would love for you to answer so we can get a better sense of our listeners and our viewers here today is your work desk bound. So the definition of it is, do you spend at least 6 to 8 hours sitting down daily? All right, we have, we have the results is your work desk bound.

86% of you said yes. Wow. Only 14% of you are saying no at this point. Ok. Um I'm part of the 14%. So even though I am in the studio early in the morning, 6 to 10 a.m. please tune in by the way, on 987. I drive you to work, ah, shameless plug. Here. I sit down for maybe like, 34 hours. But the rest of my day I'm spending walking around doing shoots, you know, I'm quite active and on my feet most of the time. So I'm not really des bound,

but 6 to 8 hours is very common. A lot of my friends, my peers, you know, um, maybe even your family members, your parents uh will be doing that as well. So we're going to dive straight into it uh, with the next question too, to get a better sense. What topics are you most interested to talk about and find out more about today. Here are your options, food and nutrition, physical fitness, TCM or holistic medicine, mental wellness and resilience. Here are your four choices you

are able to select. Now, let's see what the results are in just a moment. I love these polls. Ok. Here we go. Quite even I must say, um, food and nutrition in and I would say mental wellness and resilience kind of almost tight at this point. Physical fitness as well. Um, TCM and holistic medicine. I would say everything is quite evenly spread. Um, food and nutrition and mental wellness and resilience are at the top of the list right now. Ok. Let's start with doctor C. Welcome back. Yes. Yes. Ok.

So let's start with you now. What is the role of nutrition? Not just in health but also in mental well being at this point, you know, I think we, we, you know, as, as Singaporeans, we're all foodies, but it is very clear that we need food to grow and, and to be well, um you know, as we all know that the food is always divided into the three macros and all the micros, it's probably more important, but the micros, it's easy to get carbohydrate to get fat, to get protein.

But what is it in our food that really makes us healthy? It is really the micronutrients. If we have too much sugar, it is, it is well known to play around with our mental well being, it can cause a mess up in the the hormones in the brain and that can, can kind of cause us to have a severe hyperglycemia and hypo which can create depression. And of course, all this doesn't help us to, to distress. And therefore, you know, I'm a medical oncologist, so distress

and therefore reduce the risk of cancer. So in a way, too much sugar will lead to the risk of increasing cancers. Um too much fat fatty food can also lead to the increased risk of cancer. And with all that, of course, that reduces mental well being. So food is very linked to mental well being. So, I mean, I know you're a medical professional and there was a lot of big words that you also used early on can I just um simplify a little

bit perhaps. Do you have any suggestions? Like, what are some foods that are good to encourage that kind of, you know, better balance in our, in our mental state and well being, I think if there's one thing that we have to focus on and that will be protein, protein is number one fat is number two and carbohydrate is number three. Interestingly, we have a lot of vitamins that and minerals that require fatty acids to be absorbed in our body. So if we don't have enough fat in our diet, we

won't be able to absorb those. And of course, protein is the building block of a body. If we don't have enough of that, then definitely we can become malnutrition or relatively malnutrition. Nothing to do with how much we weigh. We can be big. We can be heavy but very malnutrition because of sarcopenia or the loss of muscle mass. That's a, that's a very good point. But when you say fat, do you mean good fat, like avocados and stuff? That's a good one, right? Please say avocados. Yes. Yes.

I mean it's essential fat, basically mono unsaturated fat, poly, unsaturated fat, learning a lot already. And it's only been a few minutes into the webinar. Ok. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions sometimes surrounding nutrition. And you know, now with our easy access online, there's so much information out there, there's tiktok, there's Instagram there's whatever it is that you read out there, that could be fake news as well. What is one myth or misconception that you keep hearing

from your patients? I know doctors probably have a lot that they hear. What is one that you recall off the top of your head? Actually, there's only two primarily. Number one, eating meat is bad and number two eating fruits are good. So this is the myth. I, I like to, to, to have it on record that too much fruits is bad and too little meat is bad. So is everything

is about in moderation between meat and fruit. I'd rather my patients eat meat than to eat fruit because they can overeat fruit and never overeat meat. Interesting. I'm taking notes right now, like I'm taking notes, but there are some things that we hear as well. Um And I know this might sound a little crazy but uh I've heard things like, oh, you can burn fat from like eating grapefruit or a cabbage soup diet. You know, that kind of stuff. Like, what's all that about?

Have you heard of these, by the way? Yes, of course. I mean, with all I have personally tried the cabbage food diet and the great food diet myself. But as far as we're concerned, as long as we are fueling our body with external sources of food, we will probably never really burn fat. We can only burn fat when we have exhausted the food that we've eaten in our stomach, the glycogen in our liver before we start to burn fat in our body. So we, we, there isn't any really

any food that helps to burn fat. Um, but there are foods which can help us to tap into the, the stored glycogen in our liver and our muscles, we use it up and then we can begin to burn the fat in our body. So if I end up taking a lot of simple sugars, then I never reached the fat in my body to burn it. But if I have relatively little sugar and I need to tap into my body's reserves, then we begin to burn fat. So that's the myth that most

people have. OK. Yeah, that's a very good perception but just to clear the air as well, when you say protein is good, you know, meat is good, not like a five w you all the time, right? It's got to be something, something more more healthier, right? That's what you, well, actually beef is probably the best animal protein one can afford on earth. So if I can eat like 50 g of wagyu beef every single day and keep it to 50 g, that's actually a super source of protein. Wow.

But I think the problem is we can't keep the 50 g. So we start, we start the Yeah, the similarly, we also cannot keep to say two fruits a day. Or two servings of fruits a day. I always tell my patients if I were to present them with a plan of drumsticks, chicken wings, they will look at it and go that's too much. But if I present them with a whole platter of fruit, um three times a day, they will say, oh, that's really lovely. If the doctor say I can eat it, I'll eat it and they

will eat it. But that's almost equivalent to 200 g of sugar if they were to eat three platters of fruit a day. So everything is in moderation. The important thing is to equip ourselves with knowing how much is too much and how much is enough. Yeah. No, that's a good point because what we might be doing like what we think is right, could be damaging our, our health instead. Yeah. Well, I will get our Tian and Eric to jump in in just a little while. One more question for you. Doctor C before I,

I move on intermittent fasting. I've heard so much about this. You know, so many of my friends have tried it. Um Some people swear by it, it's supposedly good for metabolism to lose weight faster, to get your everything back in check. It is true or false. I must know. Yes, it is true. There are multiple studies that show that fasting is good for the body for longevity. Um

Essentially it's caloric restriction. It doesn't really matter how long, a person intermittently fast to some people, 12 hours of not eating is already fasting to some people. 24 hours of fasting is what they do normally. So intermittent fasting just means that this person omits one meal when the body is still digesting the previous meal and that they let the body have some chance to digest and to utilize whatever they've eaten in

the previous meal. So that will ultimately hopefully lead to a caloric restriction, which will slow down the metabolism and therefore reduce the risk of cardiovascular and health cardiovascular diseases as well as prevent cancer. But the key here is caloric restriction. Um ok. So what you're saying is also you have to be very well read and well informed before you make any sort of decision to do any form of

intermittent fasting, follow your friends. Yeah, there's no point in fasting, fasting for say 20 hours and then go out and eat 4000 calories worth of food. It isn't going to help at all. I'm not gonna lie. If I am not eating for 24 hours, I'm definitely gonna eat like two pair of Hokkien me, you know what I mean? So that's just, that's in the assumption you can, you can actually accept that your body can accept it most of the time. You can't, you will feel very sick after that.

That is very true. Thank you so much, Doctor C for very insightful. Last couple of minutes, please stick around. Um, Tian and Eric, I just want you guys to jump in quickly as well. Um How does your diet look like after hearing everything that doctors had to say, Tian, do you kind of practice some of these things that were mentioned earlier? Well, I'm so, I think we're really blessed today to

have doctor C sit in the best way. Um, really driving home the scientific perspective of these diets because intermittent fasting keto dieting, you know, it's all the rage and I think it's really important to look at the signs of it and I joking behind you. And we also find that, you know, it's also great that um people have now debunked those misconceptions about having, you know, high food diet and about, you know, having high amounts of protein or whether that's

good for you. I completely agree. I'm on, I'm with her in that high amounts of proteins is so important. I think it's really essential for you to fill your body with the protein because that is the building block of muscles. And I'm going to talk a little bit about copia a little bit later, but it's so true that after the age of 30 it's a known thing that women start to lose muscle mass and the muscles

start to atrophy. So what's really important is to fuel your body with that protein to make sure that we have that muscle because it's so important.

And also, you know, debunking that misconception of having a high carb diet and why, you know, people are all about eating less carbs, which is really good for your body because I think having less carbs and less sugar is going to allow your body to put, to delve into those, those sugars and then delve into your fat and then use that as energy, which is actually a more efficient source of energy for your body.

And I, I also believe that once you take your first bite of carb, it's like, wow, there's no turning back, you just keep going. It sparks off that something in your brain, right? I mean, I'm no, I'm no professional, but that's how I feel. Um Just a quick one. I've got a question coming in for doctor C. Um I heard that red meat is bad and white meat is good. How true is that? Doctor C directed to you? Generally speaking, red meat has more fat and more uh

unsaturated fat. So generally speaking, if we say that we eat a lot of red meat, especially if it's Chargrill, then studies have shown that um anything more than 500 g a week can be associated with certain cancers, such as breast cancer, uterine cancer, and colon cancer. Um But if we think about it, not many people, we're gonna eat 100 g of red meat every single day. Uh Most of the time we eat it twice a week or so. Now, white meat, which is uh breast meat,

uh chicken breast meat has less um unsaturated fat. And therefore, it's supposed to be healthier from the fat point of view. But overall, there is only that amount of protein that we need, which is calculated at probably approximately a gram per kilo of body weight for any sedentary person. So, as long as we don't exceed that, a moderation of a mix between the red meat and white meat would

be ok. Certainly, something that we can talk about it here on a webinar isn't going to be the same as a personalized um kind of nutritional advice that one can give for any particular person, especially if they have high cholesterol and diabetes and other issues. Well, actually, that's a very good question because for patients with high cholesterol and diabetes, this is actually a question coming from Adrian. Would beef and fruits be a no, no in the diet?

What's an alternative besides, you know, exercising clean water and so on if you could answer Adrian? Yeah. So he's absolutely right. So um if, if those who knows me, all my patients know me to be very anti fruit, I tell patients um if possible never to eat any fruit because even when we say no fruits at all, you manage to squeeze some fruits in. So we say go ahead and eat fruits and vegetables. It will be

nine servings of fruits and one serving of vegetables. So um if there are any fruits to be eaten, it is I just stick to the berries. The blueberries, strawberries, the blackberries, the raspberries, um the mulberries, all these are very low in sugar and it is known not to like the the the sugar of the diabetic patient that much. But again, we have to be doing in moderation no more than perhaps 100 g of all these berries added together for

the whole day. But in terms of beef, again, if beef is the best source of animal protein, in order to get the same amount of protein, we would have to eat a lot of vegetables and sometimes the intestines cannot deal with so much fiber. So um in moderation control the amount of beef and control the amount of sugar in the fruits. Of course, we are not asking people to just go out and

exercise and drink clean water. Even when there's prolonged fasting, we call it the fast mimicking diet where we permit a person to take approximately 300 to 400 kilo calories of food in order to keep and sustain the body's normal function. So everything in moderation and know how much is little and how much is too much. Thank you so much for that doctor C and thank you for your question so far. That's exactly the way to go. If you ever have any questions at all,

drop it in the chat box. We'll address them as we move along as well. Ok, so up next, we have t now earlier on you told us a little bit about, you know, an insight into your diet. And of course, everything is always very enlightening when we find out more about the nutrition from our professionals and our experts as well. So Tian over to you, now we're talking about the holistic approach to well being and I know that you really champion that you're really big on, on wellness, on

mental health as well. But Tian, in your opinion, is holistic well being and wellness, something that you feel like you still have to explain to people. Like, what is that all about? Do people still ask you, how do I take care of my wellness? How do I do this? Yes. So I think for a lot of people, they come to me as a personal trainer, a lot of them are here with the intention of OK, I need to lose weight or I'm trying to lose fat and

I want to look a certain way. So I think that actually comes as the main motivation for a lot of my personal clients. But I think what it has evolved into is that there's been a big shift into people wanting to exercise as a habit just for their mental well being and for the mental health because they've realized that OK, yes, there is that aesthetics purpose to exercising. They want to

look good, they want to lose weight. But then I think now that there's a rise in this importance, mental health, mental wellness, working out as a foundation for a healthier life or for a happier life. I think that now people have started to realize that they feel the difference, not only see the difference, but they feel the difference. And once you feel that difference, you become kind of

addicted to this fitness lifestyle. And I think that this has been such a encouraging shift that I've seen in the fitness industry that people are not just focusing on aesthetics, looking a certain way, they actually want to do it for the health, for their mental well being.

No, I think that is so important to bring up because the more that we're exposed to so much different content nowadays on social media, we keep thinking like, oh, this is my ideal body or like, oh, I need to take a picture of this model and pin it on my wall. And this is my resolution for this year. And sometimes it's unreal realistic because we're just not born this way or we don't have access to certain, I don't know, treatments or

whatever it is. These celebrities are doing unrealistic goals. And that's what I like about you because you're very real and you show us that, hey, you know, as long as you're healthy in your mind and your body, I think that's definitely the most important. But, you know, above all you are, of course, very

fit as well. And there are many myths, I'm sure that you have heard about, let's talk about some of the other exercise, fitness myths that we hear about sometimes cardio versus weight training now, which is more important to keeping fit or is your answer going to be, we have to have a bit of both. Ok. So I think you've answered that we do have to have a bit of both. But I also think that in the past people used to come to me and go. Ok, how much do I need to run

in order to lose weight? I need to run. I need to do as much cardio as I can sweat it all out because I'm sweating my fats out. And this used to be the misconception that a lot of people used to have. But I, but I think what's important as a personal trainer now is I'm trying to champion more women lifting weights in the gym or just doing more strength training. The misconception used to be that cardio was for fat

loss and that strength training was for muscle building. So a lot of women don't want to go to the gym. They don't want to lift weights because they, they fear looking bulky. And I think that was something I really had to debate against, especially when I was doing body building or, you know, being a female trying to lift weights in the gym. But now I think more women are starting to realize the health, the really positive impacts of weight training in terms of fat loss in terms of

building muscle. And I would argue personally that strength training is actually more important than cardio. Yes, you do need to have a cardio for your heart health. But strength training just has a long list of benefits that just outweighs the benefits of cardio with strength training, you build muscle.

So as I talked about copia just now doctor c mentioned it after the age of 30 especially women, we start to experience muscle atrophy and that's when every year on year, your muscle density starts to decrease and that can lead to injuries. There has also been science, scientific research that has proven that it leads to a lot of chronic diseases and a lot of other illnesses in the future. So I think what's really essential is that all people should start doing some form of strength training.

Yeah, and I would say definitely there has to be a balance because when you go to the gym, OK, I myself, I'm quite petite. So I don't want to also look bulky as you mentioned earlier on, but there is a balance that you strike that you just don't do such heavy weights or you don't do such heavy intensity. Is that, is that right? Am I right to say that? Ok? So I think that it's true because I do have a lot of clients who they also still tell me yes, I want to

lift weights but I don't want to get too big. You, I think the misconception comes is that we are going to get very bulky. You only get that bulky when you eat in a caloric surplus. So, if you're eating too much, that is actually when your body becomes a lot bigger. And I think, you know, to a lot of women when you don't, you shouldn't feel that so much, you should live as heavy as you want. It's not about lifting lighter weights. You actually want to lift as heavy

as you can for as much as you want. And I think it's not going to lead you to be bulky. What leads you to being bulky is your diet? So, lift as heavy as you want, go as intense as you want in the gym and just watch your diet, you won't get bulky, go as intense as you want. But also with a professional with you, if you're not, you're not used to some of that. Ok, we've got a question coming in, Tian.

What's your advice on 10 minute workouts? This is coming in from, um, one of our viewers do these 10 minute quick, you know, hit workouts work because I have to admit I do it sometimes when I have zero time, I'm like, ok, I'm going to do like, I don't know, seven minute kettlebell swing or something, something like that. What's your advice on that? These quick workouts? Ok. Can I just say that Sonia, I've seen you work out at the gym and can I also tell everybody here on

the floor that Sonia works really hard. She actually lives really heavy and she is pretty intense in the gym as well. But I want to say that yes, actually, these 10 minute workouts, I do them myself and I, I personally encourage my own clients to them. They are just as effective, not sorry. They just give you a really good workout for 10 minutes. If you want to just feel strong, you want to do a couple of compound movements or push ups, squat

and planks. These are my three main compound movements. I call them power moves. So squats, push up planks. You want to do them in seven minutes. I think that's better than nothing. And I know for all the busy professionals, it's sometimes really hard to get that one hour in every single day. It's Google go the whole day. So if you can just get five minutes, 10 minutes of move to really feel your muscles to feel strong, I think

that it's better than nothing. So yes, I would say they are completely effective and I encourage everyone to do them. It compounds, it adds on and you know, eventually you will see some results, but also um spot reduction of fat is something that I've heard of like, for example, if we are maybe a little bit more pear shaped or like, you know, I want to work my inner thighs more and all that. If you work that specific body part, will it really reduce the fat in the area or how do you

do that? Because there are certain part, please, I mean, I think we've got like 70 participants here. I'm sure some of you are going to agree. Some parts are just impossible to lose. So how do we, how do we get to that? Yeah, I get that question a lot. How do I spot, reduce fat in my belly? That's the number one question, belly fat, um arm fat, back fat, f leg fat. So I think that this is like

a huge misconception. You cannot spot reduced fats. If you want to reduce fats, you're gonna have to reduce your overall body fat percentage. And that is done primarily through your diet. So, going back to what doctor see said about caloric restrictions and caloric um eating a caloric negative that's going to help you to lose your overall body fat. It's just, I know it's, it's we're all not really born equally. You know, we have storage in different parts of our bodies fat. Some people

have more fat cells in the upper body. Some people have more fat cells in their lower body. So if you want to reduce any area, you're going to have to reduce your overall body fat percentage. What you can do is that you can spot build. So if you want to tone a certain area, you can spot spot treat to that. So if you want to build your arms, yes, you can do more upper body exercises. You want to build your lower body, you can do more lower body exercises. So that is my way.

You cannot reduce that, but you can spot those areas. Thank you for the reality check because sometimes we might be a little lost and confused with so much, so much information being thrown at us. And I'm sure if you want more advice, you can definitely drop Tian AD M or anything at all. If you know you have any further questions on that. Thank you so much, Tian for sharing with us. If we have any other questions,

we'll address them as we go along. Now, I want to move on to something a little interesting because I, I believe I have not much information when it comes to this because I myself have not really dabbled in this before. Physician Eric. I'm gonna bring you up on the panel right now. Very interested to hear from you in the world of TCM, the balance of the Yin and the Yang, the importance of maintaining good health. Can you give us a quick explanation on what is

this Yin Yang theory? And the importance of staying strong and healthy.

the body heat, the temperature. So sometimes when people say you feel body heat is also due to the component of Yang and also uh fire, sometimes heat, sometimes the body warm when you feel warm in the body, then you in like maybe tropical countries or this is also part of a component of yeah, anything that got to do with heat and also uh when we move, when we are exercising and doing work and we are thinking a lot we are like uh like uh our, our muscles are working and our minds

are working. This is a form of a yen and one of one of it is also like we can say it as a kind of a battery. So Yang is a kind of battery, it provides the energy for us to uh to do our daily work and uh and to perform our daily task. So uh on the, we can actually say in one word, what is Yang Yang is a passive passive form of our body. Sorry, it is an active form of a body, active form of passive. You will go into another component which is the in the in is a passive form which

is the quieter form. So for in it involves like the resting, your sleep, uh your uh your relaxation sometimes when you do meditation. Although this is also a component of this ink and another very important component parts of this ink is also the hydration part like the water and the cooling part because uh even though like let's say we say the body cannot be like extremely cold, we will feel like

uh very frozen, very chill. But a certain amount of this uh this this uh this coldness is very important because it in TCM, we need the balance of Y and Y just now we are saying that the uh some parts of hess is caused by the excessive yang at this cooling part is supposed to balance up so that you won't feel like these symptoms or body warm or too, too much. It will lead to like what you say fever or those those extremely uncomfortable feeling of this warm. So uh just

now mentioned food, right? In TCM, we even food, we classify in a in a different way. So we have, we have food, like we classify according to the nature of the food which is also part of Ying and Yang, which we have this warm food, we have cooling food and uh and also uh these are new neutral food which is more or less ac means that it doesn't cause a extreme heating or like cooling ah this property. So, so one example example of warm food that will boost the yang we have because in TCM,

we don't go straight. A lot of us also have this misconception. TCM must be herbs, must be a treatment must be, must be like a form of a form concoction, all those. But in, in TCM, actually, we focus also part of a prevention is a very important part of M and food is a main focus for this, this prevention. No, that's

reduce blood pressure. But this is this blood pressure is due to like, say stress or if you don't sleep well, maybe at the borderline case or maybe you get very angry or those you can slightly reduce the by, by, by lowering your stress level and cause your relaxation. But it doesn't feel like if your blood pressure is like let's say 100 and 60 100 160 to 100 that the one below this is too high you cannot use, cannot say I think TCM that you, you will have, you have to

compliment. So most of the time TCM is a very good complementary methods. Treatment for the Western western western treatment. Yeah.

like Tua with acupuncture? Do they serve as alternative treatments. Can I replace them? Because I've never tried Tua, I've never tried acupuncture. I've heard great things about it, but maybe you can enlighten us about that. Yeah, actually,

production of iron. You still need to get a source somewhere. So, acupuncture, maybe it will help in circulation and and the production of this red blood cell, but you need a source. So it is a is important to have a balance of both diet exercise and also ah treatment like form of acupuncture. So for example, let's say like calcium, calcium, if you take in calcium alone without exercising the absorption and without the vitamins, it is also not not, it also would work that way. Yeah,

risk factors for strokes. So simply by just controlling the high blood pressure but not controlling the diet, not controlling the cholesterol, not controlling the stress. Of course, the stroke can still happen especially vessels in the brain. So with, with regards to that, I think needs to be a very holistic kind of manageability controlling all these

risk factors because they are not obese. So when they not be, they tend to allow into thinking they are extremely healthy when actually their blood vessels are in terrible condition. And the first thing they need to realize is how much stress can actually increase the blood pressure despite the high blood pressure medicine. So it has to be a holistic care. The second issue is about supplementation which means that a lot of people think well, I don't have time to eat healthy. Can I just take

a supplement for that? So, a supplement basically are molecules that are manmade into a tablet. And we wish that these manmade molecules can um improve our health. Unfortunately, micronutrients, vitamins and minerals are absorbed at different times in different ways into our intestines into our body. I can take a lot of calcium by getting it can pass directly through to my urine, back out into the system. I can take lots of vitamin C but it's just going to get passed out.

So there are certain foods which will help the absorption of nutrients and certain foods which are anti nutrients. So it's important to educate ourselves such that we know that by simply taking a supplement doesn't replace the evident, uh, the, the, the presence of good food, it's better to spend the money on good food, relaxation and taking all our nutrients through food without supplementation. That's a good point because I know some people who

have a whole handful of supplements every morning. So I was always very curious whether it is super effective or not. But thank you for clarifying that it's still very good to go through the food and your diet. I think that is still the number one thing that you are emphasizing on here today. Uh We've got a question coming in for Eric to TCM treatments. Does TCM cupping help to disperse body toxins and help weight loss? How regularly should that be done?

And are women's bodies more damp than male bodies? I, I need an enlightenment on this too because I'm not entirely sure about this question. Physician Eric, you want to jump on for this question from our listener. Yes. For

or they always feel like sore throat or body. He all this, they are actually not very suitable because they are applying. If let's say cupping, there's two kinds. One is the fire kind and one is the normal suction. Personally, I feel that the fire one is more effective. But for fire one sometimes because for those with body, he it may increase the body heat. So it will end up the person like maybe they have this body

throat dryness or few these signs of heating. So it's not very suitable for this kind of people to have it regularly. And also this TPP it involves a suction. So uh it will cause some tissue damage around the localized area. And so it is not recommended to do it. Like I said, I feel because some people may have, oh I see. II I enjoy seeing the the the scar ring. Yeah, but it is not, it is not recommended to do it very often like that say every

a few days or 23 days. That is if you like it or it is best to be like at least one week. Yeah, once a week or like more than or further a separation. The have no, I'm

talked about earlier too. I want to get a point of view from all our speakers here today from Tian Eric and Doctor C because I'm sure all of you take some form of supplements in your, in your daily lives. Ok. Um Do health supplements help reduce the risk of diseases? Are there any natural remedies for things like headaches, migraines and are dietary supplements safe for weight loss? Maybe let's address the first one, Tian. I'd like to know from you first. Do you take any supplements? And do you

feel that that helps you reduce anything at all? Ok. So I want to say that I used to work with a supplement company long ago and I've just realized that, you know, a lot of the supplements has to do with the marketing because I think people are just trying to find short form that like short solution, easy solutions to big problems. And the problem is that I wouldn't say that all supplements do not work. I would say that some supplements do help. Some supplements are not worth

the money. But I think at the end of the day, if you are eating well, if you are supplementing your body with good food, whole foods and the nutrients that you need from foods, then there's actually not much need for supplements supplements is only because, you know, it's very hard to get those nutrients, micro nutrients in from food. If you're very busy, you know, it's very difficult. So I do think that, you know, things like protein shakes,

they can be supplements but they're not new replacements. And I think overall, and that comes from like dietary supplements. You know, people are trying to supplement different vitamins because they can't get it from food. But on the other hand, I also think that weight loss supplements is a very big discussion as well and my argument would be that weight loss

supplements might, some of them might work. However, in the long run, if you do not address the problems of losing weight through exercise and eating properly, then these diet supplements are actually going to cause more negative. I have a more negative impact on your body instead. So I would actually focus on the proper foods first. And then if you need supplementation, medical grade supplementations from prescribed from doctors, I think, then, then you can open yourself to the

possibility of taking them. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I think I can imagine with weight loss supplements, for example, I mean, this is not to say what is right and wrong because I think everyone has access to information to determine their decisions, but there would be like a bounce back kind of situation, right? Like if you go, it's not sustainable is what I'm saying, sustainable. That's the word. Maybe first we can jump to Eric to jump in

on this question as well for dietary supplements. Like is there anything that's different in traditional Chinese medicine that you would like to address?

Mm. You don't recognize that in TCM for the herbs to work. Sometimes it requires the combination and the effect for certain herbs to react to have react chemically like through maybe brewing or maybe even a fusion of tea, the heat and the mixture and the way you consume it for it to be effective. So for anything that is synthetic, it is not really a TCM.

the internet, it can actually cause severe intestinal obstruction. It can actually cause even blindness and lots of other side effects A L or alpha Lapo acid. Again, is a very good supplement for nerves. Proven to help with nerve problems. Again, at higher doses can cause some really toxic complications. So medications and supplementations um need to be, we need to be extremely, extremely careful. So just to wrap things up with all our three panelists here today, um to

thank you all for joining us here today. How can achieving a physical and mental well being benefit the workplace and boost productivity? Let's go with Tian first. How can achieving physical and mental well being benefit the workplace and boost productivity? Let's start with you. Oh Tian, I believe you're muted. I think that it's so heartening to see. So many companies invest in their own companies like mental well being and wellness. I've seen so many corporate wellness programs coming up.

So I think that there is something there in investing in your people's mental well being. And I think that it's also very encouraging to see more people starting to prioritize fitness and exercise as the foundation for mental health and for mental wellness. So all very encouraging and if you're just starting up small, remember, start with the compound movements, start with your squats, your push ups and your planks. These three moves, strength training

moves are going to take you very far. And once you have reduced your stress levels, I really talked about, I really like how the other speakers talked about reducing stress levels, reduce your stress, reduce your cortisol levels. That is going to make for a lot a healthier and more productive work environment and less angry people around as well, less angry people on the road in the office. Plenty of that everywhere, everywhere. Thank you for that. A wonderful way to wrap up Eric.

Would you like to add on to that physical and mental well being? How does that benefit productivity and boost the work environment?

Yes, we can. All right. So basically don't supplement, if you can have the chance of eating properly, supplements can be toxic. Just know how to balance out, eat well, exercise adequately, don't do under do or overdo anything. Um Guys, thank you so much for joining us here today. Can we have a virtual applause for all three panelists? Um And a big thank you to all our participants. I think we had over 70 people join us here today on this webinar. We, we really, really enjoyed it.

Thank you, Tian. Thank you, Physician Eric. Thank you, Doctor C.