Calorie Restriction to Improve Vision

Did you know that eating less may even improve your vision?

Studies have repeatedly shown that calorie restriction, which means eating less, or less frequently, have long-term benefits in animals with respect to extending their lifespan. That is, animals are given less food (about 40 to 50 reduction in calorie consumption). In humans, a 20 percent reduction (e.g. reducing from  2,000 calories to 1, 500 calories a day is doable) may benefit diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and nearly all age-related degenerative diseases, including vision loss.

Likewise, many eye disorders are due to aging; therefore, calorie restriction may hold the answer to many age-related eye issues.

You can accomplish calorie restriction by simply eating less gradually; such as, fasting once a week; eating twice a day, instead of three times a day; intermittent fasting, which is eating only after an 8-hour period of food abstinence. Calorie restriction is a conscious effort to eating less, first by eliminating all junk foods that give you nothing but empty calories, making you fat. Then slowly focus on nutrients that benefit your health. You can slowly and gradually change your taste buds.

Calorie restriction can effectively repair your DNA, increase your antioxidant defense system, lower your blood pressure and inflammation (the underlying cause of physical and joint pain), improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. In addition, calorie restriction is instrumental in boosting your brain health. Don’t forget that your vision health is closely related to the neurons in your brain.

Stephen Lau     

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Wisdom in Living

Do you always feel good about yourself?

Wellness is feeling good about self with respect to the body, the mind, and the soul. Wellness may be synonymous with happiness. 

Are you happy? What makes you happy? A successful career, satisfying relationships, good health, or material possessions? Which one, or all of those? No matter what, wellness is what makes you feel good about yourself, and what makes your life meaningful. If your life is without a purpose, and you are always drifting from here to there, you won't feel good about yourself or life in general.

Feeling good about oneself requires wisdom -- wisdom to know who you are and what you want in life. Without wisdom, you will not experience lasting well-being. Without wisdom, your living is like like chasing the wind, without any direction.

Wisdom is essential in the art of living well. It involves wisdom of the mind, the body, and the soul. They are all inter-related and inter-dependent on one another. For example, if you have satisfying relationships but your health is rapidly deteriorating, you will not feel well; or if you have a successful career but are emotionally distressed, you will not be in good spirit. Therefore, the overall wellness is contingent on the holistic wellness of the body, the mind, and the soul. To cherish and nourish this holistic wellness, your need wisdom, which holds the key to happiness and well-being of any individual.

Which is wisdom? Where does it come from?

Wellness begins with the mind first, and not the body or the soul. After all, you are what you have become by reason of your thinking. You are a summary of your thoughts, which make you who you are or what you have now become. Your past experiences and your perceptions of those experiences have "preconditioned" how you currently think. In other words, your background, and upbringing predetermine how your mind perceives your present life experiences. Given that your past exposure might not be telling you the whole truth, you, therefore, need wisdom to "empty" your mind and re-define your current mindset. That is to say, you must learn how to rethink your mind. Thinking is never easy and that is why so few people do it, according to Albert Einstein.

You are living in a physical world, and your life experiences are perceived by your body through the five senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching). But these sensations may be positively or negatively interpreted by the mind, which stores past experiences of those sensations of body in both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The former voluntarily accepts or rejects those sensations, while the latter involuntarily includes whatever the subconscious mind is exposed to. True wisdom is the capability of the mind to know what is real and what is unreal. 

Tao wisdom is the ancient wisdom from China that shows you how to have an empty mind first to rethink your mind in order to separate the truths from the half-truths or myths.

Tao wisdom is the essence in the art of living well, It is the profound wisdom of the ancient Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, the author of the immortal classic Tao Te Ching, one of the most translated works in world literature. The book has been popular for thousands of years due to its wisdom, which is simple but controversial, profound and yet intriguing. To fully understand it, you need to get all the essentials of Tao wisdom. Click here for more details.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Understanding Biblical Wisdom to Live Longer

Understanding Biblical wisdom may not be as easy as you think: it requires wisdom—human wisdom to seek knowledge to understand the role of man in this world, such as finding out his self-worth, and his contributions to humanity. Reading the Bible may not lead you anywhere unless you have an open mind with spirituality to believe. Reading Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the ancient immortal classic from China, may be the way to Biblical wisdom.

Michael Crichton, the best-selling author and acclaimed film-producer, said in interview with Amazon that if he were stranded on an island the only book he would take with him would be Tao Te Ching. If you have not read Tao Te Ching, it is time you do so.

 TAO: The Way to Biblical Wisdom

The interpretations of "Tao Te Ching" are as many as its translations. Each author is looking at Lao Tzu's immortal classic from his or her own perspective, and this is also one of the many reasons why "Tao Te Ching" is eye-opening and thought-provoking. The Bible and "Tao Te Ching" are among the most translated and extensively read books of all time, and for a good reason: one is about God's wisdom, and the other is about human wisdom.

The author's own translation of "Tao Te Ching" is based on his belief that Lao Tzu's masterpiece is about the Creator of the universe, and that with true human wisdom man sees not only the manifestations but also the mysteries of His creation.

The book is about true human wisdom without the "conditioned" thinking of contemporary wisdom. Without the "reverse" mindset of Lao Tzu, man may have difficulties in understanding the wisdom of God expressed in the Bible.

The book is divided into four parts.

Part One is about the author’s reasons for writing the book, and also why "Tao Te Ching" is a "must read" for anyone who seeks real human wisdom.

Part Two is the author’s own translation of the 81 chapters of "Tao Te Ching" with respect to the Bible; each chapter is followed by some selected Bible verses for further reflection on what Lao Tzu has said.

Part Three is about the essentials of Tao wisdom with detailed explanation in plain English and with everyday life examples to help the reader understand the profound wisdom of Lao Tzu.

Part Four is an explanation of how Tao wisdom may help the reader understand God's wisdom in the Bible. Tao is the Way to Biblical wisdom.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau