Ramadhan Tips for Pregnant Women

Allah has mandated fasting for every post-pubescent person who is physically fit to fast and has promised an abundant reward in return. However, relieved those with sound excuses and exempted them from fasting, permitting them to break their fast until the reason for which they have been exempted is gone. 

Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are examples of such people whom Allah has exempted from fasting. The following is some general health advice that would help such mothers with the approach of the month of Ramadhan: 

• Consult the doctor to decide whether or not are able to fast during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. The doctor will check you and assess the case accordingly. 
• If a pregnant or breastfeeding mother fears harm upon herself because of fasting, then it her religious right to break the fast. 

A pregnant woman who may face problems if she fasts must have a well balanced meal at the time of breaking fast. The meal must include starches (carbohydrates) that supply the body with the required calories, like rice, bread, mee, mee hoon or pasta. A pregnant woman usually needs around 2250 calories daily, and these calories must come from food sources that are rich in vitamins and minerals, such as iron and calcium. 

A pregnant women are advised to: 

• Drink a large glass of fruit juice immediately after breaking fast. 
• Stay away from meals that are difficult to digest, like deep fried foods, as this may cause indigestion. 
• Avoid overeating because this may cause difficulty in breathing. 
• Advised to eat a light meal between Iftar (the meal at sunset) and Sahur (the predawn meal). 
• Take a good rest during the daytime. 

A pregnant woman must consult the doctor before fasts to decide whether or not she is physically able to fast. This is because in the first months of pregnancy she must eat balanced meals which the fetus needs in order to grow normally, otherwise, she may endanger its health as well as hers. 

Any pregnant woman who suffers from complications during pregnancy, like high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney infections or heart problems must refrain from fasting because her health situation does not permit to fast, as these complications risk the health of the fetus. 

While a pregnant woman who intends to fast - and whose fasting will coincide with the last months of pregnancy - must be careful as this period is more critical than the first few months, unless her pregnancy has been normal throughout the first period. 

If a pregnant woman needs to exert more effort than usual to care for her children or take care of the house, that can cause exhaustion makes her thirsty and hungry, then it would be better not to fast. Otherwise, if these things do not cause any abnormal physical stress, then she can fast.

As a bottom line, a pregnant woman must have a basic knowledge and knowing their physical abilities before committing the fast.  

Preventing Minor Discomfort During Ramadhan

As Ramadhan approaching the second half, there were certain peoples might experience some minor discomforts. The following measures can help prevent these common conditions:

Constipation — Constipation can cause discomfort and indigestion, making you feel bloated. This can be caused by eating too much refined food, drinking too little water and / or not eating enough fibre. To avoid constipation, avoid refined foods by eating foods rich in fibre like whole grain cereals and bread. Increase your intake of high fibre carbohydrates such as daals, dried beans, fruits and vegetables. Drink lots of water.

Indigestion — Indigestion can be caused by over-eating or eating too many fried, fatty and spicy foods, or foods that produce gas. Fasting can also cause increased acidity, leading to the feeling of indigestion. To avoid indigestion, try not to overeat. Be sure to drink plenty of water and include foods rich in fibre to neutralise acidity and promote a feeling of fullness without overeating.

Headaches — Headaches while fasting can be caused by caffeine and tobacco-withdrawal, doing too much in one day, lack of sleep, dehydration and hunger. Headaches can occur as the day passes and can worsen by the end of the day. To avoid headaches, prepare for Ramadan by decreasing caffeine and tobacco consumption slowly, starting a week or two before Ramadan. Start drinking caffeine-free teas, coffee, unsweetened juices and water. Also, don’t forget about sleep. Prepare for Ramadan by reorganising your daily schedule to ensure a good night’s rest.

Low blood sugar — Low blood sugar can occur because of the length of time between meals. and Symptoms of low blood sugar need to be watched for carefully. These can include weakness, dizziness, tiredness, poor concentration, perspiration, feeling shaky, an inability to perform physical activities, headaches and palpitations.

Among non-diabetics, having too many refined carbohydrates like sugary foods, sugar-rich beverages like cola especially at sahur can cause low blood sugar during the fast. Low blood sugar can also be caused by not eating at sahur. To avoid significant low blood sugar levels, be sure to eat at sahur and limit intake of sugary foods and drinks. Make sure to eat nutrient dense foods including proteins, such as chicken, grilled lean meat, and eggs; fibre-rich carbohydrates, like whole wheat roti, and fruits; and a large glass of water.

As a bottom line, do remember a meal should be a meal and not a feast. Please always remember to consult your doctor in advance if you have any of these conditions already, so that you can experience a rewarding and healthy Ramadhan.

Good and Bad Foods During Ramadhan

During Ramadhan you need to put extra effort into including foods from all five food groups to ensure variety and a well-balanced diet. These foods include:

• breads, cereals and other grain products

• fruit and vegetables

• meat, fish and poultry

• milk, cheese and yoghurt

• fats and sugars (these contain very little nutrients and are high in calories and therefore their intake should be limited).

The most commonly consumed foods by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were milk, dates, lamb/mutton and oats. Healthy foods mentioned in the Holy Quran are fruit and vegetables, such as olives, onions, cucumber, figs, dates, grapes as well as pulses such as lentils.

Complex carbohydrates are foods that will help release energy slowly during the long hours of fasting and are found in grains and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millets, semolina, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour and basmati rice. Look out for foods labelled Low G.I.

Fibre-rich foods are also digested slowly and include bran, cereals, whole wheat, grains and seeds, potatoes with skin, vegetables such as green beans and almost all fruit, including apricots, prunes and figs.

Foods to avoid are the heavily processed and fast-burning foods that contain refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour or fatty food like cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets. It may also be worth avoiding the caffeine content in drinks such as tea, coffee and cola (caffeine is a diuretic and stimulates faster water loss through urination).

What Foods Should I Eat at Suhoor and Iftar?

Suhoor

The pre-dawn meal should be a wholesome, moderate meal that is filling and provides enough energy for many hours. It is therefore particularly important to include slowly-digesting foods like complex carbohydrates. Drink fluids to keep you hydrated during the day and assist with digestion.

Iftar

The meal that breaks the day’s fast could include dates, following the Sunnah. Dates will provide a refreshing burst of much-needed energy. Fruit juices will also have a similar, revitalising effect.

As a bottom line, properly plan food intake during Ramadhan would determine your 'freshness' during the day time when completing your daily routine.

Ramadhan and Physiological Changes

Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and in Muslim tradition is a time of heightened commitment to piety and purification. Fasting is among the special observances that Muslims undertake, in which they refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

For many people, the key question regarding fasting is whether it is good or bad for your health. The answer to this requires a quick overview of what happens inside the body during fasting: the physiology of fasting.

The changes that occur in the body in response to fasting depend on the length of the continuous fast. Technically the body enters into a fasting state eight hours or so after the last meal, when the gut finishes absorption of nutrients from the food. In the normal state, body glucose, which is stored in the liver and muscles, is the body’s main source of energy. During a fast, this store of glucose is used up first to provide energy. Later in the fast, once the stores of glucose run out, fat becomes the next store source of energy for the body. Small quantities of glucose are also ‘manufactured’ through other mechanisms in the liver.

Only with a prolonged fast of many days to weeks does the body eventually turn to protein for energy. This is the technical description of what is commonly known as ‘starvation’, and it is clearly unhealthy. It involves protein being released from the breakdown of muscle, which is why people who starve look emaciated and become very weak.

As the Ramadan fast only extends from dawn till dusk, there is ample opportunity to replenish energy stores at pre-dawn and dusk meals. This provides a progressive, gentle transition from using glucose to fat as the main source of energy, and prevents the breakdown of muscle for protein. The use of fat for energy aids weight loss, preserving the muscles, and in the long run reduces your cholesterol levels. In addition, weight loss results in better control of diabetes and reduces blood pressure. A detoxification process also seems to occur, as any toxins stored in the body’s fat are dissolved and removed from the body. After a few days of the fast, higher levels of certain hormones appear in the blood (endorphins), resulting in a better level of alertness and an overall feeling of general mental well-being.

Balanced food and fluid intake is important between fasts. The kidney is very efficient at maintaining the body’s water and salts, such as sodium and potassium. However, these can be lost through sweating. To prevent muscle breakdown, meals must contain adequate levels of ‘energy food’, such as carbohydrates and some fat. Hence, a balanced diet with adequate quantities of nutrients, salts and water is vital.

The fasts of Ramadhan can improve a person’s health, but if the correct diet is not followed can possibly worsen it! The deciding factor is not the fast itself, but rather what is consumed in the non-fasting hours. To fully benefit from fasting, a person should spare a great deal of thought to the type and quantity of food they will indulge in through the blessed month.Overeating can not only harm the body but it is thought also to interfere with a person’s spiritual growth during the month. A diet that has less than a normal amount of food but is sufficiently balanced will keep a person healthy and active during the month of Ramadhan. The diet should be simple and not differ too much from one’s normal everyday diet.

As a bottom line, perhaps this Ramadhan will bring more successful story for those who are set their objective to have healthier lifestyle and quality food intake towards Syawal.

"Ramadhan Mubarak"

Skinny to Muscular Diet Tips

A lot of people who are skinny wish they could gain weight and a muscular physique, but don’t know where to start. And going to the gym can be intimidating when you’re a beginner. Let's look at the biggest reason people are skinny, and how to begin to build muscle, the healthy way. If you’re skinny, you might think you eat a lot. But you probably don’t. The number 1 reason people are skinny is because they don’t eat enough calories. Even if you have a high metabolism, you’ll need to eat more to gain weight. Couple that with strength training and you’ll go from skinny to muscular. Here’s how.

1. Eat More. 

Skinny people claim they can eat everything they want without gaining weight. The truth is, you can eat everything you want without gaining weight because you’re not eating a lot. But you can change that.

Track Calories. Track your calorie intake for a week using FitDay. You need to eat your body-weight x 20kcal daily. You’re probably hardly getting this right now. This is why you’re skinny.

Eat Body-weight x 20kcal. If you weigh 140 lbs. (63kg), that’s 140 x 20 = 2800kcal daily. You’ll need about 2 weeks to get used to eating this amount of calories. Keep tracking calories using FitDay.

Add Calories. After 2 weeks, add 500kcal per day. You won’t feel like throwing up if you ate the same amount of calories the previous 14 days. At 140lbs (63kg), switch from 2800kcal to 3300kcal after 2 weeks.

Track Weight. Weigh yourself weekly. Keep eating the same amount of calories if you gain weight. If you don’t gain weight: add 500kcal per day the next week. Repeat this until you have your goal weight.

2. Eat 6 times a Day.

No more kicking off the day with coffee, then nothing until lunch time, then a big dinner, then some late-night snacking. Build the habit of eating 6 times a day, without forgetting in-between meals.

Eat Breakfast. Your body will use muscles for energy if you don’t eat breakfast. You want to go from skinny to muscular. Get calories from the first hour. Build the habit of eating breakfast.

Eat Every 3 Hours. Set times to eat and stick to them. Breakfast 7 a.m., snack 10 a.m., lunch 1 p.m., snack 4 p.m., dinner 7 p.m. and before bed snack 10 p.m.

Alternate Meal Size. If you eat 3000kcal daily, try 600kcal for breakfast, lunch and dinner and 400kcal for snacks. This isn’t an exact science — what counts is the calories per day/week/month, not the calories per meal.

3. Eat Calorie Dense Food. 

Veggies are healthy but don’t work well if you want to go from skinny to muscular. 250g broccoli for example has only 100kcal. You need calorie-dense food.

Whole Grain Carbs. Oats, rice, breads, pasta, potatoes, yams, beans, etc. 200g whole grain pasta is 700kcal.

Milk. If you don’t fear gaining some fat, go for whole milk. Else use skimmed milk. 1 liter whole milk is 500kcal.

Nuts. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts, etc. 100g peanuts is 500kcal. Also try peanut butter.

Healthy Fats. Flax oil, liquid fish oil, olive oil, etc. 1 Tbsp. of each gets you 300kcal daily.

4. Build Strength.

The stronger you become, the more muscles you’ll have. Get into strength training. Do exercises that hit several muscles at the same time: Pull-ups, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Deadlifts and most importantly, Squats. Start with an empty barbell. Learn how to do the exercises first. Increase the weight progressively.

5. Prepare Food in Advance.

Nobody has time to cook 3 times a day. Preparing your food in advance is easier. When it’s time to eat, take it out of the fridge and put it for 2 minutes in the microwave. And you’re done.

Morning. Wake up 30-45 minutes earlier and prepare your foods for the day including breakfast. Let it cool down in the fridge while having a shower.

Evening. If you have trouble waking up early, cook your meals for the next day when coming back from work.

This isn’t as much work as it sounds. You have to make breakfast anyway, prepare your other meals in the meanwhile. Make double rations. Keep leftovers for the next day. You’ll get used to it.

6. Take Food With You.
Avoid situations where you don’t have access to food for more than 3 hours. Built the habit of taking food with you.

Work and School. Prepare food in advance and take it with you to work or school. Ask if you can microwave your food at the cafeteria.

Movies. Take a bag of peanuts with you instead of the usual things like popcorn or ice cream. It’s healthier, calorie dense and saves you money.

Going to Town. Eat before you leave. Take a bag of mixed nuts or a protein shake with you in case you get hungry.

Don’t care about drinking protein shakes in public. Don’t care about eating the food you prepared at work while colleagues go out eating junk food. Care about gaining muscle and being healthy, not about what people think.

The Skinny to Muscular Diet.

Some inspiration to get started. 

Use FitDay and the bodyweight x 20kcal rule to know how much you need of each food.

·         Breakfast. Scrambled eggs. Oats with raisins and milk. Granola with milk.

·         Snack. Quark with apples. Peanuts. Protein shake.

·         Lunch. Can of tuna with rice. Turkey sandwich. Pasta bolognese.

·         Dinner. Meat or poultry with rice and legumes. Fruit as dessert.

·         Before Bed Snack. Cottage cheese with flax seeds and berries. Glass of milk.

Do What it Takes. You’ll sometimes have to force yourself to finish your meals. And yes preparing your food is more work than buying food on the road. If you really want to lose your skinny look, you’ll do what it takes. Else, you don’t really want it after all.

Power of Walk

Walking can promote weight loss, and it is often quite easy to maintain a walking program, especially since the cost is minor, and a walk can begin as soon as one steps outside one’s door. The amount one loses depends upon metabolism, consumption of calories and the type of walking. A ten minute walk daily will not likely result in much weight loss. Walking an hour, five days a week, at a pace of about 3-6 kph can, however, burn quite a few calories.

If you don’t plan to change your diet, walking may still allow one to lose weight. Studies usually find that a combination of reduced calories and walking are most effective in promoting weight loss. Walking alone may still provide some weight loss benefits, particularly if your calorie consumption is not overly high to begin with. If you add calories to your diet because you are walking, you may not see weight loss benefits.

Walking at 3 kph, a relatively slow pace, burns about 30 calories per 10 minutes. In 30 minutes the benefits increase and the average person burns about 90 calories. Walking at least thirty minutes is considered better than taking three ten minute walks a day because greater time spent walking means elevating one’s heart rate. As one’s heart rate increases, more calories are consumed.

Picking up the pace and walking about 4.5 kph almost doubles the benefits of a half hour walk. One burns about 125 calories in a thirty-minute period. As one gets more comfortable walking at slower paces, one can begin to burn even more calories by including a few minutes of extra fast walking to increase heart rate. When one can walk 1.6 km (4 x 400m track) in 15 minutes, one burns about 370 calories in an hour.

Walking more quickly and for longer time periods also contributes to greater calorie burning abilities for the rest of the day. Any type of cardiovascular exercise that gets the heart pumping at maximum heart rate for your age and health means the body treats calories differently for the rest of the day. Generally, even if one is sedentary after a walk, one burns calories at a higher rate.

Most fitness experts and I also recommend beginning a walking program slowly, and further, most say it helps to use a pedometer to measure speed and distance. The first week, the only goal is to walk thirty minutes a day, five days a week, at a comfortable speed. Week two should include a minute of fast walking each day in one’s thirty-minute workout. Week three should include two minutes of fast walking or jogging. One continues week by week to build ability to walk very quickly to increase calorie burn. As fitness increases, one can also increase time of walks, with an ideal goal of one hour of walking, five days a week.

easy & comfortable

30 minute per session, five session per week

Keep it fun for your client!

Don't forget to stretching first!

Even without diet changes, walking is likely to result in some weight loss, particularly when one walks regularly. At the very least, regular walking is likely to help one not gain any weight. For best results, it helps to reduce calories as well as increasing activity through walking.

p/s: The red shirt guy in this photo named Iqbal Tariq. He start his lose weight with me since the first week of 2012. Until now (his 11th week) he lose 10 kilos! Congratulation to him! You want this result applicable to you? Owh please ask me how..

Why We Should Love Dark Chocolate?

Dark chocolate: It’s not just about the taste, it’s actually healthy for you! There are numerous benefits to eating dark chocolate, according to the experts. The following are some of the greatest dark chocolate benefits:

• Can decrease blood pressure
• Studies have also shown that chocolate can improve a person’s sensitivity to insulin. (Good news for millions of diabetics.)
• Dark chocolate balances certain hormones in the body.
• Chocolate contains epicatechin, which in studies on mice that had strokes helped them recover and improve. Other mice that also had strokes and were not given the compound, died. It is thought that dark chocolate helps improve blood flow, and dissolve platelets. Epicatechin is also found in grapes and green tea, but in larger quantities in cocoa.
• Dark chocolate contains a fair amount of antioxidants, which are known to help prevent cancer, diabetes, excessive skin aging, etc.
• Dark chocolate can also help to lower ldl (bad) cholesterol by up to 10%.
• It contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant.
• It contains the obromine and caffeine, both of which are stimulants.

Which one is your choice?

The key is that the more bitter the chocolate, the more epicatechin, or antioxidents there are in the chocolate. When the process is used to make white chocolate or milk chocolate, all of the beneficial epicatechin is removed. So when it’s specified that dark chocolate is healthy, it really is only dark chocolate, and not white or milk chocolate.

Now the not so good news about dark chocolate: It has a lot of calories. One regular sized dark chocolate candy bar contains about 400 calories, and depending, some fat that isn’t good for your either. But back to the good news – you only need to eat about 3.5 oz. or ½ a chocolate bar a day to gain all the benefits listed above.

So the moral of the story of dark chocolate benefits: Eat (in moderation), drink (in moderation) and be happy (very happy)!

Obesity & Associates

Sound like a lawyer firm huh? A lawyer firm full of overweight lawyers working together without caring their healthy life style, busy to sue & fight each other for the money. Haa, that is not main issue here, there is many more jobs out there requiring or sucking our quality time to pampering our own body & the time to loving our family in real time. That is why our Malaysian tend to pass Obesity Gateway as early as their marriage, after deliver a baby, after got a job or after passed 40 years old, which ever come first.

The obesity epidemic among Malaysian is on everyone's mind lately, as it should, given that the number of people battling the bulge has doubled in the last 30 years. Unfortunately, most of us are more concerned with how those extra kilos make us look instead of what those extra kilos are doing to the health of our bodies. In fact, scientists are consistently discovering new facts linking obesity to many different health problems. Generally speaking, men whose waist circumference exceeds 40 inches, and women whose waist circumference exceeds 36 inches (and mine still 29 at my age nearly get 30) are at increased risk of getting these diseases:

Heart Disease and Stroke

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a symptom of developing heart disease, and is a risk factor for having a stroke. One-third to one-half of all individuals with high blood pressure are overweight. Your blood pressure rises as you gain weight, and usually begins to drop as you start losing weight. Once you reach the ideal weight for you height, your blood pressure usually stabilizes at a normal range..

Breast, Endometrial, Gallbladder and Colon Cancer

Post menopausal women who are obese have a 50% higher risk of getting breast cancer, and obese men have a 40% higher risk of colon cancer. Men and women have five times the risk of getting endometrial or gallbladder cancer if they are obese. Most recent research is beginning to indicate a higher risk of kidney, pancreas, rectum, esophagus, and liver cancer also.

Type 2 Diabetes

Although the exact mechanism behind it is not yet known, it is known that over 80% of patients with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Reduce your risk of this chronic illness, which can cause blindness, amputation, kidney and nerve disease, by walking at least 30 minutes everyday. Daily exercise has been proven to decrease the risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Osteoarthritis

The most common form of joint disease in the United States (with over 21 million people suffering), osteoarthritis is a major cause of disability in people over 55. Obesity is one of the top ten causes of osteoarthritis, and makes healing more difficult should joint replacement surgery be required.

Sleep Apnea and Respiratory Problems

Sleep apnea (also known as obstructive sleep apnea) is a diagnosis that within the last 10 years has been link to obesity or being overweight. In the past, many patients who snored loudly and stopped breathing during the night were simply considered to have nasal irregularities. It has been shown that many of these actually have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea and are therefore at a higher risk of stroke, heart disease, insomnia and mood disorders. They also usually have high blood pressure. Most people diagnosed with sleep apnea are overweight, and in many cases, losing weight reverses the condition.

Unfortunately, knowing about the risks of being overweight Malaysian may give impetus to the decision to lose weight, but it does not make losing weight any easier. There is good news though; research shows that losing just 10% of your body weight reduces the risk of these diseases significantly. So whether you are 10 kilos overweight or 50 kilos, losing just 10% of your total body weight is enough to decrease the risk of these top five diseases. Keep that 10% goal in mind for whenever you begin to feel discouraged about how slowly the pounds are coming off. In the end, it is not what you look like that counts, it is how healthy you are, and it only takes a 10% weight loss to significantly increase the odds your future will be a healthier one.

Original article cited from: Kerry-Ann Crawford

http://www.deliciousdieting.com

Drinks More Water to Lose More Weight

I have been questioned by one of the my own designed as my UN Humanitarian Mission called "Claim Your Supposed Body Program", about the relation of drinking more water to aid burning more calories and lose their weight. Since that, I keep on researching the articles and also reading a forum regarding this matters. After a few reading, finally I found an idea to elaborate and to explain from the 'scientific' side for public readers. 

Substitute your 'favorite' drinks with plain water
If you replace soft drinks with water, guess what, less calories.  There is no more coke, carbonated drinks, dispenser drink, 'air ceduk', the drinks from vendor machine, the drinks from late night supper at mamak's stall etc. But who is from us can replace all that 'flavorful' drinks with only plain water? I'm suggesting you replace with a tea, the leaves/herbs that can be your antioxidant as well as a good natural 'radiator fluid'. This recommendation can be more beneficial if you to take Herbalife Tea Concentrate product, which are playing as antioxidant and thermogenic to an optimum level.

                                     NONONONONONONO                                        YES! YES! YES! YES!


Water as essential for an effective weight-loss regimen


In fact, water speeds the metabolism causing the body to burn calories faster, it helps breaks down food enabling it to digest better, it cleases the colon of built-up waste allowing it to digest fats adequately and promote regular bowel movements. This combination of attributes directly aid weight loss making water essential for an effective weight-loss regimen.

If you are trying to lose weight, chances are you’ve read or heard that drinking more water is a great way to kick off your weight loss attempt. You may know all the benefits of drinking more water: your metabolism shuts down if you aren’t drinking enough water; drinking water aids in digestion; you’ll feel fuller if you drink more water; and your body will retain less water (therefore weigh less) the more you drink. But no matter how much you know about the weight loss benefits of drinking more water, you struggle to guzzle it down. These tips will help make it easier for you to get enough water in your day and shed those pounds!

How much is enough?

A good place to start is by figuring out just how much water you should be drinking each day in order to boost your weight loss. A good rule of thumb is to divide your current weight in half and then drink that many ounces of water per day. For example, let’s say your current weight is 180 pounds. 180 divided by 2 is 90. Therefore you would want to try and reach a goal of 90 ounces of water each day (this formula I found it from overseas article, so as a metric unit users, we need to convert Kilos to Pounds, from the result please convert Ounces to Liters). Don’t worry if your number is high and seems unattainable! By following these simple steps you’ll soon find you are drinking all the water you need and your weight loss efforts will be that much easier.

Keep it close

If you buy bottled water by the case, pop one in the fridge every time you take one out so that you always have a chilled water bottle at the ready. Keep a bottle or glass of water at your desk while you work. If you have a water cooler in your office, try keeping a small Styrofoam cup on your desk and refill every time you drink the contents. You will be surprised how that little bit adds up to help the weight come off! Bring a big bottle or travel mug full of ice water with you in the car, and sip away at every stoplight. The point is, if you always have a bottle, mug, or glass of water to drink nearby you’ll begin to reach for it without even realizing it.

Sip it up

How many times have you mindlessly sipped a drink through a straw, not realizing you were finished until you heard that obnoxious slurping sound? Keep a package of drinking straws at the ready, or get hold of a fun mug with a straw built into the lid. You will be amazed at how easy it is to get those water ounces in once you’re sipping away. 

Make it fun

As with all your weight loss efforts, the more drinking your water feels like work, the less likely you are to do it, so do whatever you can to make it more fun! Pick up a travel mug with a bright design or humorous phrase. Start a friendly competition with fellow weight watchers: challenge a coworker to see who can drink the most water throughout the day; make a house rule that whenever a certain word is used, everyone has to drink up; race a friend to the bottom of a (water) bottle!

Good taste

Although certainly nothing tastes as good as a crisp, cold glass of ice water on a steamy day, sometimes you are simply in the mood for something different. Add flavor without adding inches to your waistline by flavoring the water. Try low or no calorie additives such as slices of fresh citrus fruit, sugar free drink mixes (many come in single serving sizes), or a small amount of fruit juice.

Set short term goals

Just like with your other weight loss efforts, the task of drinking more water will be less daunting if you set small, easy-to-reach goals. See if you can drink 20 ounces during your morning commute. Set out to drink a certain amount of water by lunchtime.

Keep Track

If you are guessing at how much water you’re drinking each day you may be underestimating and hindering your own weight loss! Don’t let that happen. Find an easy way to record how much you drink each day. Get a large mug that holds 30-40 ounces and fill it two or three times a day, depending on your daily goal. If you refill the same water bottle several times throughout the day, wrap an appropriate number of rubber bands around the bottle and each time you empty it remove a band. Who knows, you may be drinking more water than you imagined!

Watch for results

Once you have begun to incorporate some of these ideas you will find that it is easier than you thought to drink enough water. Get ready to watch those extra kilos melt away like ice cubes on a summer day! 

As a bottom line, to lose weight drastically, you must get an extra liter(s) of fluid in addiction from your daily fluid intake and tea leaves is the best to add on a flavor to your drinks.

Decreasing Metabolism vs Slowing Down Metabolism

I write this post after I was asked by one of my friends from my childhood till teenagers. He asked about how to increase his body weight but at the same time decreasing his metabolism rate. With physiological knowledge at have and from my reading, below I share some opinion how to decreasing metabolism and how to slow down metabolism. It slightly the same but it carry a difference concept when the application phase take part.

Decreasing Metabolism

Though most people attempt to raise their metabolism to stay in top shape, sometimes you might need to decrease your metabolism. You may find yourself in an emergency situation where you need to conserve all the energy you can or you may desperately want to gain weight and don't care if you lose muscle doing it. Here are ways to increase metabolism.

• Move as little as possible. Exercise of any sort raises your metabolism, even small, nervous gestures. To slow down your metabolism, find things to do that keep you in one place. Also, when you must travel, drive and park as close as possible.
• Stay away from any muscle-building activities when you move. Muscle burns calories quickly and efficiently, while fat burns fewer calories and so keeps your metabolism lower.
• Eat less and space your meals further apart. The less you eat and the longer your body needs to wait for food, the more your body decreases its metabolism. The lack of food sends your body the message that food may be difficult to get, so it burns energy more slowly.
• Keep warm with loose, insulating layers of clothing and a warm environment. Though it doesn't have an especially large effect on metabolism, your body needs to burn more energy when it's cold to generate enough heat to keep your body temperature stable.

Herbalife special blend shake

Slow Down Metabolism

Most people know that the effectiveness of their metabolism can have an impact on how well the body burns calories. Few understand, however, how the metabolism really works or what can help to speed it up or slow it down. Answering those questions is no easy feat. Metabolism involves a number of factors and chemical reactions. What works to speed up or slow down one person's metabolism doesn't necessarily work the same way for someone else. But if you want to slow your metabolism, some specific techniques are likely to help.

• Reduce your exercise level significantly. Activities that lead to muscle development can increase caloric burning by as much as 50 to 75 calories per hour. Less muscle means fewer calories burned.
• Avoid metabolism-activating foods. Adding spices to food can help jump-start the metabolism, and foods packed with protein are believed to have the same effect. Oriental cultures believe in the medicinal, therapeutic and metabolism-boosting value of green tea. Under these theories, spices, high-protein foods and green tea should be avoided if you want to slow down your metabolism.
• Eat foods that stall the metabolism. Just as some foods jump-start the metabolism, others slow it. These include foods that are high in carbohydrates, along with fatty foods.
• Increase caloric intake. The body can't burn them off before the fat is taken in and stored.
• Eat before bedtime. Those who trying to lose weight avoid this practice for a reason. The body metabolizes food much more slowly when you're sleeping. Therefore, the more intake of food, the less likely it is to be properly burned rather than stored.
• Decrease sleep. A proper amount of sleep is required for the metabolism to work correctly.
• Consume caffeine. While some believe that a little bit of caffeine can speed the metabolism, a lot of it can actually have the opposite effect.

Blackopoulos & his gf cought in action during
Powerman Malaysia 2011 last Nov in Manjung, Malaysia

Perhaps, people out there who are preferring to gain some weight to be good looking for your next photograph session, please choosing the healthy way to gain weight. Take an extra calories to top up your daily meals with a weight gain product such as Herbalife with some consultation with your friend here, who are willing "to help the people love to see themselves in front of the mirror".

here is the link from my FB post, discussing about this matters. Click here

Obesity Among Malaysian

Suddenly I was called to give an opinion about obesity among Malaysian, and perhaps last month news in major local newspapers can be the kick start for my series of writing about obesity and weight management.

Lets have a look and understand the major contribution factor which drive most Malaysian to obesity and unhealthy life style. So what can you contribute to overcome this phenomena? Could we just keep saying obesity is a genetic factor, obesity occur from our traditional food, obesity is normal for modern life style?

Rakyat Malaysia paling ramai ada masalah obesiti di ASEAN

14/11/2011 2:00pm

KUALA LUMPUR 14 Nov. - Malaysia menduduki tempat pertama di kalangan negara ASEAN dari segi paling ramai rakyatnya memiliki obesiti dan tempat keenam di kalangan negara Asia Pasifik, Dewan Rakyat diberitahu hari ini.

Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin berkata, perkara ini perlu diberi perhatian semua pihak.

"Kita serius diancam dengan pengambilan gula berlebihan yang menyebabkan pelbagai penyakit termasuklah diabetes,” katanya semasa menjawab soalan Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong). - Bernama

Read main article here

Obesiti: Malaysia nombor satu

KUALA LUMPUR 14 Nov. – Dewan Rakyat hari ini diberitahu Malaysia berada pada kedudukan pertama di kalangan negara-negara ASEAN dan keenam di rantau Asia Pasifik yang berhadapan masalah obesiti di kalangan penduduk.

Timbalan Menteri Kesihatan, Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin berkata, antara punca masalah itu adalah kerana pengambilan gula berlebihan di kalangan rakyat.

“Justeru, semua pihak perlu mengambil perhatian serius tentang isu ini,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika menjawab soalan tambahan Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) dalam sesi soal jawab di Dewan Rakyat, hari ini.

Menyentuh isu sama Rosnah berkata, Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) sendiri menyarankan pengambilan gula tambahan tidak melebihi 10 peratus atau bersamaan dengan 200 kalori daripada jumlah tenaga harian.

Sehubungan itu katanya, pengambilan gula tambahan yang disarankan untuk orang dewasa adalah tidak melebihi 10 sudu teh sehari yang bersamaan dengan 50 gram.

“Berdasarkan kajian pengambilan gula di kalangan orang dewasa pada tahun 2002 dan 2003, didapati jumlah pengambilannya mencecah 51 gram iaitu 21 gram gula pasir dan 30 gram susu pekat manis di dalam minuman.

“Jumlah minuman ini sahaja telah melebihi saranan WHO dan panduan diet Malaysia. Untuk itu Kementerian Kesihatan telah menjalankan inisiatif mengurangkan pengambilan gula melalui kempen cara hidup sihat yang dimulakan sejak 1991,” katanya.

Menjawab soalan asal yang dikemukakan oleh Datuk Md. Sirat Abu (BN-Bukit Katil) Rosnah berkata, berdasarkan Akta Makanan 1983 dan Peraturan-Peraturan Makanan 1985 selain daripada gula pasir, terdapat 12 bahan pemanis lain dibenar digunakan dalam makanan.

Beliau berkata, bahan pemanis itu terdiri daripada bahan pemanis semula jadi dan tiruan.

“Bahan pemanis semula jadi yang dibenarkan ialah seperti stevia, sorbitol, malitol dan mannitol manakala bahan pemanis tiruan yang boleh digunakan di dalam makanan ialah aspartame, sucralose, saccharin dan acesulfame potassium,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, semua bahan pemanis tiruan yang dihasilkan secara kimia itu telah menjalani penilaian keselamatan dan disahkan selamat berdasarkan piawaian antarabangsa.

Read main article here

Nutrition Aspect for Ramadhan

Muslim started for fasting month last 22nd Aug. They cannot eat and drinks during day time. In Malaysia, fasting start at 5:30am and ending around 7:30pm. It is mean most Muslims fast around 14 hours, the time without any food and water can be consumed.

There are a lot of benefits or "hikmah" while a person fasting. Physiologically, human organs such as intestine, kidneys, pancreas, and much more can reduce their work load, it is time to 'rest': the load that they carry since we were born.

As preparation to fasting during day time, we need to consume a same amount of calories as normal day. But it must be consume between 7:30pm to 5:30am around 10 hours. Daily calories intake for normal people is around 1800-2200 kilo calories (kcal) perday. As an athlete it is depend on the value of energy consumption for activities planned to do. Normally around 2500-3000 kcal perday.

Normally, people breakfast at 7:30pm with heavy dish same as normal day dinner meals. Dish such as white rice with chicken curry, ‘asam pedas’, meat, vegetables, fruits and specialty food during Ramadhan like a murtabak, bubur lambok, and traditional cakes or kuih-muih. Not to forget a dates to break a fast. The very best kind of fruit that high in calories.

Then at 4:30am, people start to wake up and eat 'sahur'. It seems like eating late dinner or very early heavy breakfast. At this time, people always take a same dish like break a fast early before. Sometime, people preferred fresh meal and of course hot, such as fried rice, fried mee hoon, soup and bread and as simple as a glass of milk and dates. It is depend on how your appetite or stomach can adapt a new time to consuming heavy meal during this time.

So that, people must not forget to drinks a lot of water; at least eight glasses of water perday. There are a lot of water that become a specialty during Ramadhan; Kathira, Bandung Cincau, ABC Rock, Cendol, Air Tauhu and a lot to name it. But not to forget to drinks more plain water or mineral water instead drinking more tasteful water to avoid high glucose in blood or maybe worst in urine. Furthermore, drinking a lot of water is to make sure that nobody will feel dehydration symptoms such as dizziness, 'black eyes', and worst come to worst faint; of course cannot eligible to proceed the fasting.

Carbohydrate sources as simple as white bread, white rice, mee, mee hoon, kue teow, spaghetti, pastas, etc are the main source of fuel to energize the fasting day. Major intake of carbohydrate foods can make sure most of people's day stays fresh and energetic until the last minutes before break a fast.

Protein sources cannot be forgetting. Consume a two to three portion of chicken, fish, meat or taufu can be great for body recovery and tissues development. Plus, protein can make sure level of hormon remains stable.

Finally not to forget to take micro nutrient food that provides vitamins C, calcium, antioxidant, sodium and potassium. The food such green vegetables, carrot, tomatoes, fresh fruits, milk and eggs can be taken regularly.

As conclusion, there were no any major issues regarding of meals during Ramadhan. As long as everybody know what to eat, what to drink and what is should to avoid to consume. Perhaps when everybody can manage their daily caloric intake and the quality of each meal taken, during Aidilfitri there were zero percent of sickness or discomfort happen; that may disturb your Aidilfitri happiness.

"Eat right, for a quality Ramadhan day"