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.

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..

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.

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

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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.

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