Faith Lee, mrbrown's oldest daughter

A few days ago, my firstborn turned twelve.

Twelve years old: One cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The number of years it takes to make a single malt whiskey. The year for Primary School Leaving Examination.

Twelve years ago, my child was born. Sixteen years ago, my wife and I got married. And twenty-four years ago, my wife decided she would go steady with me.

Little did we know where our journey as a couple would take us. Little did we know of the challenges, and the joys, ahead.

But here we are. With three children. And the first one just turned twelve.

It wasn't what we envisaged for our firstborn, to be honest.

My wife looked forward to shopping for clothes with her. Maybe pick out some nice dresses together. Maybe argue over things like whether she is allowed to wear makeup or have her ears pierced.

Or maybe fret over her exams. How she is doing well in English but just getting by with Maths. Or whether all those hours she spends on the phone with her best friend was affecting her

Got a bad skin rash? You could have eczema. (Thinkstock photo)

Itchy, swollen, dry skin, fluid-filled blisters, a red rash… does this sound familiar? These are the common symptoms of atopic eczema or atopic dermatitis, a skin condition which affects nearly 21 per cent, or one in five people in Singapore.

Atopic eczema is the most common form of eczema, an itchy skin disorder that can occur at any age. It is particularly common in babies and young children and can be caused by a combination of factors including a genetic predisposition, skin irritants, allergies, the environment and stress. Eczema is not infectious or contagious.

“The rash may appear red, wet and weepy or dry, thickened and scaly. Scratching often aggravates the rash,” says Dr Pang Shiu Ming, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of Dermatology, Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

“The skin thickens and becomes darker after repeated scratching and rubbing. The rash can affect any part of the body, particularly the elbow bends, back of the knees and the neck.”

What are the different

If blood test results go conjunction with an exercise program, it can be quite normal. (Getty Images)
I think it's an awesome thing when a person makes a decision to make healthy habits a priority in their life. Often, a person who has made that choice does several things at once.

They...

• Start an exercise program
• Change their food choices
• Take a blood test so they can track some of their health markers

All of these are good. But there are several times each year when a "shocked" patient tells me that:

"I started a training program, changed my food as you suggested and my blood test results (taken a week after the changes) were terrible! I think I should go back to my old lifestyle..."

Hey! Before going back to the fast food, beer and fried kway teow that got you a soft tummy and sagging butt in the first place, there are several reasons why a blood test, when done soon after a change in habits can give you incorrect information.

The key "problems" that show up usually come from the following readings. It is true that if these readings are high in normal situations, there can be

In "The FlipSide", local blogger Belmont Lay lets loose on local politics, culture and society. To be taken with a pinch of salt and parental permission is advised. In this post, he talks about how Our Singapore Conversation has stopped talking to the people.

For the uninitiated, we're officially at the halfway mark of Our Singapore Conversation (OSC), a year-long chit chat to get Singaporeans to open up and say what they feel.

And for those who think like me, OSC has always appeared kind of redundant because I thought the Internet has all along allowed Singaporeans to wear their hearts on their sleeve.

Anyways, the second phase is about to be rolled out in late March. It will zoom in on what makes Singaporeans feel like they belong here, and it's expected to take another six months to complete.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, here's a recap of how swimmingly well the national conversation has proceeded so far.

Insights galore

After six gruelling months of getting participants

So you know the sage office advice never to date colleagues in the same office?

Well, apparently that doesn't hold true for Singapore workers any longer.

A new survey has revealed that 8 in 10 Singapore office workers gave the "thumbs up" to office romances.

Given that office staff spend most of their waking hours in the office, employment firm JobStreet.com Singapore recently conducted a survey to find out if the workplace is a viable option for singles to find love.

A new surveys says 8 in 10 S'poreans find it okay to date a fellow colleague (Graphic from Jobstreet.com)

Here are the results: 8 in 10 office staff surveyed agreed it was easier to find a partner within the workplace and felt that office romance should be allowed between single co-workers.

32% of them admitted to dating a co-worker at least once in their career while 13% admitted to dating co-workers at least twice.

But here's the catch: 75% of office staff surveyed admitted to keeping office romance under wraps.

Only 17% felt comfortable enough to be opened about the office romance with their direct superiors from the

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Skin often clears up after training for a while. (Getty Images)

One pleasant surprise that I get working with my clients is that they almost always have improvements in the quality of their skin once their lifestyles improve.

As I always preach, "what appears on the outside, is a reflection of what is going on on the inside". Therefore, skin condition is a good indicator of overall health.

I too used to have terrible acne, and it was not until I changed my habits to the ones listed below, that the problem resolved itself for good.

A healthy body burns fat easily; gains lean, firm muscle easily; and in almost every case, results in good quality skin.

Unfortunately, when most people have acne, they head straight for the creams and lotions that can be placed on the "problem area". There are two concerns I have with these solutions.

1. They tend to exfoliate and dehydrate. This makes the skin "defend" itself from this abuse by excessively increasing oil production and thus the risk of acne.

What you should be doing instead is trying to control oil

Lower your risk of colorectal cancer significantly with 7 easy lifestyle changes. (ThinkStock Photo)

We don’t know what causes colorectal cancer, a deadly disease that will affect about one in every 20 men and one in every 30 women in Singapore. However, many risk factors have been established. For instance, if any member of your family has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer before the age of 45 years, you are considered at high risk.

Other non-modifiable risk factors include:

• A history of familial adenomatous polyposis
• Ulcerative colitis, a disease which tends to run in families
• Two or three immediate relatives diagnosed with colorectal cancer at any age

However, that does not mean that most colorectal cancers are hereditary in nature. “Less than 10 per cent of colorectal cancers are due to inherited gene defects,” says Dr Choo Su Pin, Senior Consultant at the Medical Oncology Department, National Cancer Centre Singapore.

Related article: What are the symptoms of colorectal cancer?

In other words, you can actually do something to reduce your colorectal cancer risk.

The 7 most