Health Blog by YinTeing

ADEQUATE EXERCISE + HEALTHY EATING= LOSING WEIGHT

• pounding off many extra calories by mindless eating- grab a bit of doughnut while walking past the pantry, nibble off partner’s/kids plate, nibble on food while watching TV/surfing the net- most of the time, we can’t even remember eating the food.
• have trouble resist second/third food helpings or eating at restaurants with far larger serving size
• eat until you uncomfortably full
• stretch the truth when it comes to how much we eat
• forgo fruits and vege in favor of fries
• make execuses for not exercising
• drown our sorrows in chocolate or chips
• waste calories on soft drinks and cocktails
• consider yourself “on” or “off” diet instead of adopting a healthy eating habit as part of our lifestyle.

She emphasize that it is very important to have a good breakfast- it should be a healthy one and not something filled with white bread or food in high fat. If we skip meals, especially breakfast, we will tend to eat more later of the day.

So if you seemed to be following a certain type of diet but not losing weight, you will need to examine closely if you have done anything at the side to unknowingly sabotage it. For instance, if you are a mother and cooking for your family, you will be tasting the food or maybe finishing the food off your kid’s plate. Or maybe help yourself to a chocolate easter bunny that you found while cleaning up your daughter’s room. These may be unconscious eating that will never make it to your food journal but can translate to an additional 700 calories to your daily intake.

About a year or two back, I had always thought that my food consumption were not high and wondered why I was always overweight. Till I notice my clothes getting tighter and my weight were balloning way out of my control. Then I realise that those white butter bread, nyonya kuih (made with santan and sugar), packed tea (with milk and sugar) taken during breakfast and snacks had increased my sugar cravings (which had me mistaken as real hunger) and contributed to my sluggish metabolism and weight gain. The food were not even filling so I was not aware of my increased consumption. After learning more about food’s interaction with our body, reading books on diet, nutrition and exercise, I live my life feeling more healthy and energetic that I had ever felt in my life.

Investing in your health will be one of the best investments that you can ever made for yourself.

This morning I woke up with an itchy throat. Mom made some honey lime to soothe that irritated throat, which I drank, on an empty stomach.

That does it.

After about 15 min, all I want is to eat and eat- and the food that are running in my mind are not exactly the wholesome ones – I wanted something crispy, sweet, processed and fried. It was not even 8am and my food cravings had started- how am I going to survive the whole day?

Initially I gave in (as mentioned, still going thru that adjustment phrase that happens everything I travel to anywhere with sinful food). So I toasted my remaining wholemeal bread and ate it with a bit of peanut butter (no sugar added type), took some kacang putih (not the good ones but those coated and salted), fried seaweed and 1/2 cup of Nescafe breakfast. And still do not feel satied.

Then, I finally decided to take some fruits- longans and a grapefruit. Almost like a miracle, the series of craving that is bothering me goes off. I actually ate the grapefruit slowly coz I was peeling it slice by slice.

So this morning, I learned a new lesson- if you are suffering from cravings, take food that is low in glycemic index. If you must indulge, eat mindfully and a little bit. Then follow it by citrus fruits such as grapefruit, green apple and oranges as soon as you can. It will help to cure the surge and dip in blood sugar level that you experience when you are taking pure sugar or refined/highly processed food (high in Glycemic Index).

The honey lime drink honestly cured my throat. But next time I do suffer from sugar blues, I’ll eat some citrus food because I start putting in unwholesome food.

Next>> I have similar attacks:

• Low Sugar Attack/ Hypoglycemia
• What Giving in to McDonald’s Choco Top Did to Me

I am not going to like what I see but heck, I’ll be honest with it:

Breakfast

• 1 cup of Nescafe 3-in-1 breakfast
• 2 toasted mini wholemeal bun – one with reduced fat cheese slice and another with a little peanut butter.
• 4 small slices of fried seaweed.

At work,

• Ate 1/2 mini bun with cheese
• Took some fruits that I take everyday- today was some small cubes of cut mango, grapefruit and orange.
• 1 Hershey’s kiss chocolate that my boss put on her table for visitors who dropped by her place.

Lunch

• 1 pc of fried chicken
• Some sambal sotong
• 3 pcs of yong tau foo with kangkung in soup

After lunch

• Took small bite in the nutty bar that i brought from Guardian
• 1 small Hazelnut latte (can’t resist coz feeling tired)
• Offered 1 pc of chocolate and some dried nuts from my friend
• My daily fruits
• Then in the evening, my colleague offered me some mooncake (extremely fattening): I took about a quarter.

Dinner

• fried omelets with fish paste
• vege in soup
• 4 pcs of fried seaweed
• one serving of longan (one small bowl)

Those in blue indicates that it should not be in my diet.

Not sure it is because my sugar intake had increased or due to yet to recover from my travel, but I do feel tired. Today had running nose and felt that I was running into a fever. Also, with the rate I am eating, I will soon gain back the 2kg that I had lost during my trip to Thailand in no time.

Will see how it goes.

Just came back from Thailand. I noticed that the Thais take lots of rice and refined sugar. Almost every dish, and even fruits are flavoured with sugar. Even if you buy can drinks or 3-in-1, the drinks taste sweeter than the Malaysian equivalent. A lot of meat dishes are served sweet. Guess many Thais have sweet tooth.

Yet, majority of Thais are slim. You get on the BTS (skyway train), shopping malls, markets- you will see majority of men and women there are slim. Makes me wonder why…

Then I noticed the food portion that they take. Most of the time, they are contended with eating rice with just one dish. Or a bowl of soup noodles (portions are served small). Yes, they take sweet stuff but not to the extreme. Most food are taken with small portions- and they walk a lot and take lots of public transport. They use bridge to cross busy roads and you seldom see anyone panting as they are climbing the stairs. They do it effortlessly- meaning, Thais are physically fit and that would translate to a higher metabolism. They may have the obesity gene but it is dormant.

the typical Thai diet- with low to medium Glycaemix Index

In Thailand, I could avoid rice but not the sweet stuff. Because there I normally do not eat solid food after noon, I could take more sweet stuff and get away with it
But of course, I still limit my intake and try to eat more fibre (in fruits and vege).

Still, despite eating sweet food there, I do not feel tired or lethargic. Which convinces me that our state of mind play a very important role in our success of food control. In Thailand my mind was calm and at peace because I was on holiday and away from work. Therefore my positive state of mind was able to override any hunger signals and tiredness. At work, stress is common and as such, I (and many others) tend to turn to sweet/fried stuff to divert our minds away. The challenge is how to maintain a peaceful and positive mind in all situations.

Also, after taking sweets, I am having problem weaning off them when I am back….

4 important steps in a proper workout.

Step One: Start with a warm up.
Warm-up is not stretching, as what I had been taught during my school days. It consists of light cardio work to warm up those muscles. Maybe 5 to 10 min of lighter workout at the bike or treadmill.
When you stretch when your muscles are cold, you may end up spraining it.
After the warm up cardio, you may stretch if you wish.

Step Two: Actual Workout
For me, I prefer to do more intensive cardio first. After my muscles are really warmed, I do a bit of weight training.

Step Three: Cool-down- (light cardio)
When you do intensive cardio or weight lifting, lactic acid may accumulate in your muscles. The only way to get rid of it from your muscles- is by movement & circulation- so, just like your warm-up, you do light cardio for 5 to 10 mins.

Step Four- Stretching.
Previously, I never stretch after my workouts. Most of the time I need to rush to somewhere after the gym so I never really allocate any stretching time. And I remember always feeling my knees or thighs a bit tensed. One day, I felt my body needed a stretch and no matter what, I must spare time for it (you must learn to listen to your body).

So I took about 8 min, started with leg and hamstring stretches. Some sun salutation, triangle post, spinal twist, followed by waist and arms stretch. And I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER. My tired muscles do not feel so tensed after workout. It also dramatically reduces muscle ache and tension the days after.

Now, I always make sure I spare at least 5 min to stretch after a workout. Stretching is really important- it elongates your muscles (when excessive workout had contracted it) and it greatly reduce your chances of muscle injuries from workout.

Yesterday, I wore a pair of jeans that was 2 inches smaller. And it fitted- comfortably.
I had actually brought the jeans about at least 3 years ago- and even then, it was a bit tight. Actually I had bought it as a motivation to drop a little weight but I could hardly remember ever being able to wear it comfortably. And after I started gaining some weight, even the butt, thighs and waist area was so tight that I left the jeans mostly in the cupboard.

In terms of weight, I only dropped about 1.5 to 2kg but my colleagues told me my clothes fit much better and they really notice the change (these are good pals coz they also tell me when I gained weight). So it’s true, if you workout, you will look firmer at the same weight compared to if you do not work out.

My stamina has also increased. Previously at the treadmill, I started with the speed of 5.6, then move to 6.4. At jogging speed, on good days, I could maintain 7.3 for about 10 minutes at most. Since I cut down sugar and do a bit of resistance training, a ‘good day’ jog is 8.5 with an incline of 0.5. If not, normal is from 8.2. I can maintain that speed for about 10 to 12 min.

My favourite machine is still the stepper. Experts would say that it looks pathetic to slouch over at the machine and support your body weight with your arms. Also it is detrimental to your posture and could result in wrist injury. Well, initially I place a lot of my body weight on my arms and find that actually it did firm up my arms an itzy bit But nowadays, I place most of the weight on my legs and use my arms to help out when my legs are tired. I sweat the most using this machine, more than the treadmill. Initially when I started, my legs screamed at effort 4 but now I can maintain at 7.

That’s why it is so important to eat right and add a bit of resistance/ weight training. Also after an intensive workout, eat some ‘good carbs‘ and protein for the muscles to rebuilt themselves. And don’t over exercise- because it will cause injuries and insufficient time for muscle to repair themselves.

When you are trying go get more fit or lose weight, don’t compare yourselves with others. Go at your own pace- gradually, your stamina level will go up. The inner motivation has to come from within you, because you want to care for your body. Not because you want to win.

I recently read in Men’s Health magazine (actually the mag got surprising lots of useful tips) about Brandon Walford who had managed to reduce his weight from 374 pounds to 192 pounds.

What made him change
He was always overweight from young. The turning point came when he went for checkup and the doctor told him with his high colestrol (300) and blood pressure, he would probably need to go for gastric bypass (cut out a part of your stomach so that it can no longer handle large portion of food).
He declined the suggestion and decided it was time to lose weight.

Beginnning
Eliminated bread and deep fried foods.
Walked 2hrs on treadmill everyday.

Lifestyle Change

• He now walks 5 miles a day
• Drink lots of water
• Typical meal: breakfast consists of oatmeals; Lunch- salad; Dinner-baked chicken.
• It’s all about balance- if he happened to eat a big lunch, he will have a small dinner.

Rewards

• He can enjoy things/ activities that he loves.
• No more blood pressure and colestrol medications.

Tips from him

• Lift weights as you lose. Even if you lift light weights, it helps to tighen your skin.
• Food is an addiction. You need to identify and resist the triggers
• Set small goals. Try to drop bit numbers is impossible at first.
• Discover new cuisines.

In today’s “Second Opinion” in Discovery H&H channel, the second opinion of losing weight is being discussed. I just managed to catch the show halfway. It’s really interesting, especially the part on obesity gene- and I want to type it down before I forget.

What is the recommendation of effectively lose weight?
A: Eat before 7.30pm
Eat ‘real’ or unprocessed food like vege.
No whites like refined sugar, starch & milk.
Note: A mother tried that program and her weight dropped from 187 pounds to 167 pounds in 5 mths (dropped from size 16 to 10)

Exercising
If you are very much overweight, which cause you knee pain when you tried the treadmill, or just tired you out, you have to eat well first. With nutritious food, you feel better, lose some weight and then can start exercising.
Still, a bit of activity is better than nothing at all. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator and lift, instead of parking at the entrance- walk a short distance. Perhaps do some exercise while watching TV or during commercials. Activity really helps.

Athletes/ Body Builders have BMI of a Obese Person. Does it mean that the person is having health risk?
Joel Furlmon, author of “Eat to Live” thinks so. Eating to maximise muscle growth is not healthy. It’s better to be leaner than bulky. Biological “cause and effect” will not simply allow a person to eat abnormally and get away with it. For instance, studies have shown that people who go on Atkins diet for a year have 40% less blood flow to the heart. This would subsequently lead to heart disease.

Are there such thing as the obesity gene?
In countries such as Laos and Cambodia, it is not common to find someone who is obese. However, if the Laotian or the Cambodia were to migrate to America, the person would likely to subsequently become obese and be at risk of various health problems. In the evolution of our species, a person who has the obesity gene ironically can survive longer than the one with high metabolic rate when there is less food. Why? Because of slower metabolic rate, the body is able to hold on to whatever scarce reserves.
But with the typical American diet is so terrible- so much of junk, and calorie dense food, the person who is obese now stands a higher risk of heart attack, high blood pressure and diabetes. It’s scary to think how food now is so calorie dense as opposed to whole foods like vege which has low calories per volume.

Avocado is a natural fruit. Does it means that we can eat it in any amount?
Avocado is packed with many nutrients but like nuts and sunflower oil, it contains higher number of calories per volume (same with durian).

You can eat green veges like broccoli and lefty vegetable in almost any amount because your stomach gets filled up very fast and you feel full. Also, it contains low volume of calories per volume. But food like avocado and nuts, it’s good to eat them but not too much. For purposes of losing weight, one should not eat more than half an avocado a day or more than an ounce of nuts. However, if you are an athlete or having regular workouts, you can take more (but not unlimited amount).