Meal

Mind Your Body on Thursday had this article on eating many small meals a day and why it does not help to loose more weight than a typical 3 meals a day. The typical meal for most people is breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, the latest fad is the several small meals (usually 6) a days. The idea behind this is that the frequent meal will stimulates the metabolism and burn more calories as opposed to the 3 main meals.

I don't know about which is better but being typically kiasu, I combined the two together and ended up with this daily meal routine:

6.30am - A sandwich and a kopi-o kosong
9.00am - A cup of bean flower water er I mean soya bean and another sandwich or a piece of kueh from the hawker centre
11.30am - A piece of fruit
1.30 pm - Lunch (usually 2 bowls of porridge with 3 side dishes or thunder tea rice or sliced fish soup with rice) Very boring hor?
5.00 pm - 2 or 3 pieces of fruit including 1 banana
8.30 pm - Dinner (usually home cooked; rice with whatever Mum cooks)
9.30 pm - Fruits
10.30 pm - Lots of mixed nuts; cranberries; raisins or chocolate or ice cream (depending on whatever is available; usually have one or more)

And that is for weekdays. Weekend is free for all which means pizza, noodles, burgers and whatever nice.

So a lot or not? Sounds like a lot but believe it or not, even though I have been eating roughly along this line for the past few years I have not put on much weight even though I really wanted to. Maybe it is due to my daily exercise regime? Maybe I burned more calories than I take in? Cont'd here:

Diet Plans

There are all sort of diet plans. In fact, the list is mind boggling. Expensive even weird but most of them not workable. May be it is determination or the lack of it but most time it is because the plans are so troublesome and difficult to adhere to that most weight watchers simply give up halfway.

Like the Cambridge Diet which was personally endorsed by the then CEO of Income, Tan Kin Lian and sold at the Fairprice supermarket. Who in the world can endure such low calorie intake?

Then there are the more famous diet like the Atkins diet which is a low carb high fat diet plan; the Zone diet and the South Beach Diet. While all these seem effective enough with its make sense plan, it is complicated like hell to follow.

Of course, there are easier options like popping pills or taking those appetite suppressing supplements or meal replacement thingy but these come with risk, like the Andrea De Cruz's case.

So why am I rambling away about diet? Do I need one? Possibly if I continue with my current low rate of exercise and high intake of food. Or is it because I looked like a 'bak chiang' when I tried on a tri-top recently?

Nah.. although my weight has indeed been creeping up slowly (from 74 at the beginning of the year to 79 now), it is still no cause for alarm, yet.

But was reading this article in the Reader Digest and there was a feature about Mark Bittman and his Simple till Six plan. Note that I don't use the word diet because there is no diet. It is to put simply a rather sensible eating plan where nothing is forbidden. Now this is what can be a healthy and successful way to loose weight. Try it out if you are planning to lose weight!

NB: I am not paid or have been asked to endorse the Simple till Six plan or any other plan. I am just a kaypoh who busy body who likes to look out for things to share. Also because run out of things to post this week:)

Bottled Water

This morning at the petrol station opposite our temporary office, saw a colleague buying a bottle of mineral water. I know she must be cursing and swearing at me inside. Last week when we first came to this temporary office (safety precaution in view of the H1N1 thingy), I told everybody that we will not be replenishing the stock of bottled water once the stock finishes. So since then some of them have been buying their own bottled notwithstanding that the temp office is a fully furnished office with a pantry, kettle and fridge. Call me kiamsiap or what but why waste money to buy water when it is available freely from the tap?

Bottled water comes in 2 forms - either mineral or purified. First purified water - they are either known as drinking water, purified water or distilled water but whatever it is, the true fact is - it is just plain tap water that has been filtered to remove the chlorine, flouride and other chemicals (purified or distilled water) or worse, just normal tap water (drinking water) repackaged and bottled. So why pay money to drink something that is free?

The other water is spring or mineral water. Apparently, this water comes from mountain springs or rivers and is supposed to contain traces minerals and good for the health. But really has anybody ever seen a really clean river or spring anywhere in the world that you can drink straight from? In all these case, the water from these sources still has to go through a filtration process which means they still come out as distilled water. So why pay a bomb for it?

Okay if money is not an issue and environment concerns is not on the top of one's priority - here some perfectly good reasons* not to buy bottled water.

1. In a 1999 test, one sample of a third of the 103 brands tested were found to contain bacterial or chemical contaminants including carcinogens in levels exceeding industry standards
2. 2 brands contained phthalates exceeding approved standards. These chemicals used to make plastic softer are found in most products and are endocrine disruptors (meaning they block or mimic hormones) affectng the body's normal function eg deformed reproductive organs in foetuses, low sperm count etc
3. In 2007, China (yes China) had to block import of water from Europe citing unsafe bacterial levels. Evian one of the brands affected claimed it was a matter of conflicting local and international health regulations. Seriously, I can't imagine China to have a higher standard than Europe so for China to say the water is no good, something must be seriously wrong here
4. Between 1990 and 2007, bottled waters were recalled about 100 times with the manufactuers citing contaminations with mould, benzene, coliform, microbes and even insects! And these are manufacturers in America who have a higher standard than countries in Asia. So can you imagine the state of the water manufacturing plant in say Indonesia or China?
5. And of course there always the problem with the bottle itself. The manufacturing process of the bottles involves chemcial such as antimony which can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea; BPA which can cause neurological and behavioural problems in foetuses, babies and kids. Taken over a prolonged period, who can tell what the cumulative effects of these will be?

But of course that is not say I do not drink from bottled water at all. In countries where tap water is unsafe, there is no choice. Likewise when on the move and tap water is not available, then there is not much choice but seriously before reaching for that bottle of water, ask yourself. is there a cheaper, safer alternative nearby and save yourself some money and maybe some hearthache.

*Reader Digest March 2009. Read the full article here (membership required)

Getting Ready....

After the funeral on Tues, Mum asked us to follow her out on Friday morning. Where did she bring us to? The temple where she usually goes. Her purpose? To show us where she wants the wake to be held and the place for the ancestral tablet to be placed when her times come. Gross?

I guess the death of somebody who is her peer had rattled her much more than we realized. Should have known when after one visit to the wake, she refused to go again citing tiredness. Not like her.

Maybe it is better. At least when the time comes, we know what to do. (hands firmly on woodJ) but hopefully that will be a long long time in the future.

Right to die

Much has been said in the papers and debated hotly over the right to die. Most time, most people argued passionately about it and usually the pro camp are those who have been in a situation before whereas the against camp are those with strong religious beliefs and those who have not been in such situation before and do not fully comprehend the impact of the right to die.

Let me said that I am pro life but I am also pro right to die. My views like many people however applies only to myself – ie if I am so sick and suffering from an incurable disease, I rather be allowed to die with dignity than suffer for long period and in the process drag loved ones into misery. The pro life part of me said that life is precious, a gift from God and we should treasure and nurture it to the best of our ability and not destroy what God creates. So what happened when something like that occurs? 

I have never actually thought too much about it but yesterday at CGH, I found myself contemplating this as I visited a relative who has been warded there. She was already ‘brain dead’ and apparently being kept ‘alive’ for 2 to 3 more days. I am not too sure what are the reasons for keeping her alive. Is it that none of the children was willing to make the decision to pull the plug preferring to just let her go on her own or they can’t bear to be parted? Thank goodness, the call was not mine to make. But as I stared at her and looked at her children standing watch, I could feel the dilemma, the burden they carried as they struggled with the decision of when to let her go. And I wondered……..

No Meat Day

While on the way to work yesterday, out of the blue, have this insane thought that I have been having too much red meat in my daily diet and decided this was the day to do something about it. So resolved henceforth to reduce my intake of red meat starting from the same day by having a no red meat day at least once a week.

So the food I took for the day:

Breakfast = Cup of black coffee w/o sugar, egg mayo sandwich
Morning snack = 1 cup less sugar soya drink & 1 fragrant pear
Lunch = Thunder Tea rice (the greeny soupy thing taste horrible!)
Afternoon tea = Chinese tea and 1 banana
Pre dinner snack = 1 apple
Dinner = (was going to be tricky since it was communal and Mum cooks for everybody but fortunately it was) fish, vege, fried egg with the small ikan bilis and pork rib/carrot soup = so took everything except left the pork rib alone but dammed it look so tempting!
After Dinner = 1 banana & 1 pear
Supper = 4 cups green tea & 4 homemade (by Alicia) milo cookies

Talking of pork, while having lunch was sitting next to this lady who was eating a mean looking dish of pig trotter. Was wondering where she ordered it since wasn't aware there was a stall selling it. And then discovered that it was the fish soup stall! A fish soup stall that sell braised ter kar......... hmmmm must go try it out...

1-2-3

That's not the finishing position of a run but the number of people in the house who are down with gastric flu since last Friday.

Not together but one at a time - Friday - Alicia, Sun - Mum and Tue - M.

Who's next?

Following the pattern  - Thu - ????  Sat - ????? 

Hope not!

Dengue

A colleague is down with dengue. This is the 2nd time somebody in the office has come down with it - the last was a few years ago.

Last year, my estate was in the affected cluster when 2 cases were reported. This mosquitoes thing is damn annoying. I called the NEA to complain of mosquitoes and those buggers actually came and checked my house. As if I was going to breed mosquitoes in my house and foolish enough to invite them to come and catch me! But the mosquitoes threat is real enough for me to discard all my potted plants rather than take the risk.

Hopefully nobody else I know will come down with it.

Mute

Totally down with a bad throat. Can't even croak now. Have not been hit with this for a long time. Guess the kids will be happy not to have their old man nagging at them to study and the folks in office as well - nobody to shout at them:) But how to answer phone calls?