There's alot of information here so bring along
your memory box as I take you for a ride.
Click on the puzzle pictures at the left
to navigate around my blog. The middle picture links to the blog contents.
I am a petite girl living in my own world.
This will be the place where I share information
about my life and health.
Join me for a ride into my little world
to get to know more about me.
I'd also like to share the knowledge that I've gained throughout my three years study
ofFood Science and Nutrition.
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Exercise to sculpt body and burn calories
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Preventing too much indulgence from settling on your waistline comes down to simple calorie math: If you want to indulge in a few extra calories, you'll have to sweat off a few more than usual. Your muscles will work hard, and you'll blast fat.
Do 12 to 16 reps of each move, resting for 15 seconds between each exercise. When you've finished all four, rest for a minute or two, then repeat the circuit two more times. Do this calorie-incinerating workout three times a week, or anytime you need a little damage control.
Runner's Lunge to Knee Skip
Start in a pushup position, then bend your left knee and place your left foot between your hands.
Push through your left foot, raise your torso, and drive your right knee and left arm into the air, hopping off the ground. Return to start, then switch legs and repeat on the other side. That's one rep.
Plie Jumping Jacks
Stand with your hands at your sides and jump into the air, bringing your arms overhead and your feet wide, knees and toes turned out.
Then lower into a squat. Quickly jump back to the starting position. That's one rep.
Quarter-Turn Squat Jump
Lower into a squat.
Then jump up, swinging your arms overhead and rotating 90 degrees to the left while in the air.
Lower into a squat, then jump up and rotate to the right. That's one rep.
1:58 pm
Eating to lose weight
Monday, 30 January 2012
Overall, a big number of population in Malaysia are in the category of being obesed. This would reduced our health and life quality, as well as the nation's productivity as a whole. So, I'd like to stress on the need to lose weight. Losing weight isn't really difficult if you put your mind to it and find a way that suits you well. Here's a video on how to set your table for weight loss:
Extra - a video on power foods for great skin! Remember to read the description for more info:
Here, Clarins shows us how to achieve a youthful V-shaped facial contour with the help of its Shaping Facial Lift Lipo-Drain Serum accompanied by its Manual Auto-Lifting Method:
Click to enlarge!
This serum contains:
Caffeine with increased bioavailability (thanks to sunflower phospholipids,escin from horse chestnut and blue button flower) and baccharin extract - refines the face by encouraging the elimination of excess fats and slow the formation of new fats
Caffeine and escin from horse chestnut - activates drainage and microcirculation.
Oat sugars - instantly and gently lifts and firms features.
Alchemilla extract and a vitamin C derivative - helps to control hyper pigmentation.
4:31 pm
Top 10 Reasons to Smile
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Smiling is a great way to make yourself stand out while helping your body to function better. Smile to improve your health, your stress level, and your attractiveness. Smiling is just one fun way to live longer. Read about the others and try as many as you can.
1. Smiling Makes Us Attractive
We are drawn to people who smile. There is an attraction factor. We want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away -- but a smile draws them in.
2. Smiling Changes Our Mood
Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There's a good chance your mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood.
3. Smiling Is Contagious
When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. A smiling person brings happiness with them. Smile lots and you will draw people to you.
4. Smiling Relieves Stress
Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. The stress should be reduced and you'll be better able to take action.
5. Smiling Boosts Your Immune System
Smiling helps the immune system to work better. When you smile, immune function improves possibly because you are more relaxed. Prevent the flu and colds by smiling.
6. Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure
When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. Give it a try if you have a blood pressure monitor at home. Sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. Do you notice a difference?
7. Smiling Releases Endorphins, Natural Pain Killers and Serotonin
Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together, these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug.
8. Smiling Lifts the Face and Makes You Look Younger
The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don't go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day -- you'll look younger and feel better.
9. Smiling Makes You Seem Successful
Smiling people appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently.
10. Smiling Helps You Stay Positive
Try this test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It's hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling.
So, always remember to smile, because smiling makes you beautiful! =D
3:41 pm
2012, Year of the dragon
Friday, 27 January 2012
Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the
first day of CNY. I got up early to get ready – make up, bath, hair, clothes.
My first ‘angpow’ came from my mom. Then I went to grandma’s house and received
more ‘angpow’s. CNY is usually boring for me because there won’t be many people
coming to visit. Plus, my cousin from Singapore didn’t come back this year due
to overseas studies. So, it was EXTRA boring. After lunch, grandma’s brother’s
family came to visit. There were kids around my age who are my dad’s cousin’s
kids. I only meet them once a year during CNY, so I never really talk much to
them. But every year, our parents would put us together and make us talk to
each other. Although we are family, what are we supposed to say to someone who
we see only once a year? I don’t even remember their names! Plus, we’re all
grown up, so it’s not like we can talk about toys or games. Oh, the awkward
moments!
We ate at home for dinner. Grandma cooked
her usual special hakka dishes. It tasted really good, as usual. Those are
dishes that I could only taste once a year. And honestly, grandma’s not
going to be able to cook for us for a long time. I told myself to stuff as much
food as possible into my stomach. After all, CNY is all about angpow’s,
catching up and eating. Later that night, we reminisce the past while looking through old
photographs. It went as far back as my grandma’s wedding. And everybody
looked different now than when they were kids. One of my aunt said that she’s
planning to arrange all the photographs according to chronological order
and then put them up online so that everyone can see them. Here are some of the old photographs:
Baby Valerie
Me and papa
Grandparents and cousins
Me, grandma, mama and lil sis
Guess which one is me!
Second day of CNY! That just means another
boring day to me. We went visiting in the afternoon, then had dinner at Hu Jing
Ge again. This time we ordered for a different dinner package. But the service
tonight was horrible. It could be due to the massive amount of tables they have
to serve. Our dinner was supposed to start at 8.30pm, but they didn’t serve us
until it was 9.30pm. Besides that, they served us the same set of dishes that
we ate on reunion night. Everyone was getting really impatient. In the end, we
just changed our set to the same set that we ate a few nights ago. And I was
quite tired from lack of sleep at night. I just felt like going home. I didn’t
enjoy the dinner at all.
On the third day, my family and I went to Georgetown, Penang to visit my maternal grandma and uncles and aunts. We started out early because we planned to come back to Taiping early for dinner as this was a one-day trip. The traffic that day was alright. There was a small jam, but it was nothing to worry about. Crossing the Penang bridge and looking at the massive amount of water made me want to go to a beach. I haven't been to a beach in a long time, so I miss it a lot. We had lunch with my mom's family at a nyonya restaurant called Mama's. The food was good, but the price was a little too high, probably due to the CNY season.
One of my uncle was struck with stroke a few years ago. And we've never seen him since that incident until today. It was like looking at a different person. In my memories, that uncle used to be healthy and happy and active. And he was a really nice person.But now, he's sitting in a wheelchair, barely able to give any response or talk, and he was very skinny. He has trouble swallowing food and he eats very slowly. I felt really sad to see him like this. He still remembered us even after so long and was happy to see us. I wish I could do something to help him get better, but I don't know how. After lunch, we headed back to Taiping and had dinner at a nearby restaurant. We had to wait for an hour plus for our dishes to be served. By the time the food came, everyone quickly ate. I, too, was famished and forgot about taking photographs of the dishes. But the best dish was the curry prawn wrapped in fried bread.
I came back to Kuala Lumpur the next day.
Bonus - my favourite CNY commercial of the year (because I find it really touching):
4:38 pm
Back to my origins
Thursday, 26 January 2012
As you all know, Chinese New Year (CNY) is just around the corner. Every
CNY, I would go back to my dad’s hometown in Taiping, Perak. For
those who don’t know about Taiping, I would like to introduce this place to
you.
Taiping is
an old town located in northern Perak and it is the second largest town in
Perak after Ipoh. It is also known as The Heritage
Town, or Bandar Warisan. The heritage town has many of the first in Malayan
historic records, but also one of the least developed towns in Malaysia today.
The
name Taiping comes from the Chinese word ‘太平’ (tài píng),
which literally means great peace, hence, called the ‘Town of Everlasting Peace’.
Taiping also receives some limelight for being the wettest town in Peninsular
Malaysia. Its unusual rainfall has also led to a fertile collection of flora
and century-old rain trees in the Taiping Lake Gardens.
My grandma’s apartment
is located just opposite the lake garden. When I was young, my parents would
take me to the lake garden for walks. The whole area is filled with greens. The
rain trees are unique because they grow from across the road which is parallel to the
lake towards the lake water. It looks almost like the trees are drinking from the lake.
I always feel peace and calm whenever I go there.
Its tranquility makes it a good place to rest and relax.
Other attractions in Taiping are the Taiping prison, Taiping museum and Taiping zoo.
Built in 1879, the Taiping prison
is the first prison and oldest modern prison complex in Malaysia.
Taiping zoo is located in a lovely natural setting in
Taiping Lake Gardens close to the foot of Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill). The
beautiful natural setting with streams, lakes and abundance of flora gives the
zoo a unique advantage of being able to use nature to its best. Sometimes, I
would see unordinary birds flying nearby my grandma’s house. Recently, I saw a
hornbill flying nearby.
The Muzium Perak (Perak Museum) was completed in 1886, and subsequent additions were made in 1900. The country’s
oldest museum has displays of almost 3000 artefacts on zoology, pre-history,
economy and ethnology. It contains an impressive collection of archaeological
treasures like ancient weapons, aboriginal implements and ornaments that
reflect Perak’s rich historical heritage. Besides that, the admission is free!
It is Chinese New Year’s (CNY) eve.
My uncle’s family from Singapore came to our house last night, and today, we
drove back to Taiping together. This year we started our journey a little late.
But the traffic wasn’t bad. We heard that the traffic on Saturday (yesterday) was worse. We managed to reach Taiping in about 3 hours. The usual time we take to drive there was 2.5 hours, so there wasn't much delay. I was feeling quite tired because I did not sleep well
last night due to packing. Also, this year we didn’t stay at the usual hotel (Flemington)
that we usually stay at because it was fully booked. Flemington is located just
behind my grandma’s house. It’s really convenient that the hotel is just behind
my grandma’s house as we can just walk over between the hotel and the house.
But this time, we had to stay further. And the other hotel, SSL Traders, isn’t
as good as Flemington. The basic services such as
tissue rolls, shower curtain and newspaper need to be requested as it wasn’t readily
prepared.
Front view of SSL Traders Hotel
Our room in SSL Traders
The room in Flemington
Flemington Hotel (left) and my grandma's apartment (right)
Flemington Hotel (left) and my grandma's apartment (right)
Grandma' house
You can see the hotel building from the backyard of the house
It is a tradition for Chinese to
have reunion’s dinner on the night of CNY eve, where family members get together. We had our dinner at
Flemington’s Chinese restaurant, Hu Jing Ge. We had the usual 8-course meal.
First, there was Yee Sang. It is a raw fish salad, said to bring good luck.
To find out more about the concept behind Yee Sang, click here. Then we had shark’s fin soup. There was shark’s fin, crab meat and dry
scallop in the soup.
The other dishes were:
Roasted chicken drumstick
The roasted chicken came with crackers and it didn't look or taste like it was roasted, but fried.
Braised dry oyster with vegetable
The braised oyster dish was the best in my opinion. There was oyster, broccoli, mushroom, abalone, ‘fu chuk’ (beancurd sheets) and ‘fat choy’(a type of black hair-like algae). 'Fat choy' actually sounds similar to wealthy in chinese.
Pan fried prawn with sauce
The prawns were good. They were big and the sauce was tasty. But it took me a lot of effort to peel the shell off the prawns since I used chopsticks which I'm not good at using.
Steamed garoupa
The fish meat was a little hard and dry. It might have been overcooked.
Fragrant meat rice
The fragrant meat rice was the last dish. There was chinese sausage in it. The portion was a little small in my opinion.
Double sweet delight
Lastly, the dessert was a combination of hot and cold dishes. The hot
dessert is the lotus paste-filled fried pancake while the cold dessert tasted
like sweet mooncake with salted egg yolk in it. We
took about two hours to finish our dinner before walking back to grandma's house.
3:34 pm
CARROTS – more than just a rabbit's food
Friday, 20 January 2012
Carrots are known as the vegetable that is easy to
grow, tasty and high nutrition. The carrot is an herbaceous plant containing
about 87% water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins. Both children and adults
like carrots because of its sweet taste and crunchy texture. Carrot plants can
grow in almost all seasons. There are more than 100 species of carrots ranging
from not only in colours but also its size from as small as two inches to three
feet.
The carrot has been called the poor man’s ginseng
as it contains more than 490 phytochemicals (plant, or fruit derived chemical
compounds). No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots,
which the body converts to vitamin A. It is indeed amazing that a mere 100g of
carrot supplies around 11,000 mg of vitamin A. The high level of beta-carotene
gives carrots their distinctive orange colour. Although carotene is a strong
antioxidant, carrots also contain other phenolic compounds that are
antioxidants. They are rich in antioxidants beta-carotene, alpha-carotene,
phytochemicals and glutathione, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A, B1, B2,
C, and E, which are also considered antioxidants. Many people do not
realize that numerous phenolic compounds are located in the skin of fruit and
vegetables, many of which are removed.
Carotenemia
Consume too many carrots or drink too much juice
and your skin, mostly the hands, will turn yellowish-orange. This is a
condition called Carotenemia. Carrots are a boost to your health, but
like everything in life, consume in moderation. However, the yellowing of the
skin from indulging in a heavy dose of carrots is seldom serious and will
disappear in a few days.
How
would you like your carrots served?
Carrots can be prepared in many ways – raw, juiced,
boiled, steamed, roasted, baked, stir-fried, microwaved, chargrilled or in
salads. Clearly a raw carrot has more goodness in it when it is raw and
therefore you would assume it is the healthiest way to eat it. But the body cannot
break down the goodness because of the cellular nature of the carrot. So,
carrots are more nutritious when eaten cooked than eaten raw. The body is able
to convert less than 25% of their beta carotene into vitamin A because raw
carrots have tough cellular walls. Cooking, however, free up nutrients by
breaking down the cell membranes. The beta-carotene found in carrots
has been shown to be surprisingly heat-stable. In fact, carrots' beta-carotene
may become more bioavailable through steaming. It has been proven that boiling
and steaming better preserves carotenoids in carrots than frying. Of all of the
cooking methods, steaming would be the best way in my opinion. I think that it
provides the greatest flavor and is also a method that allows for concentrated
nutrient retention. But no matter what method you choose to serve your carrot, it'll always taste great!
Foods made with carrot:
Pickled carrots
Carrot cake
Carrot soup
Carrot cupcake
Carrot muffin
Carrot cake ice-cream (looks delicious!)
Carrot milk jelly
Carrot milk - my favourite!
Now, people may have told you that carrots will make your eyes sharper, but that's not the
only power of carrots.
Anti-cancer benefits
Raw carrot contains beta-carotene, a strong
antioxidant that can prevent cancer. Research has proven that getting the
proper level of antioxidants into our bloodstream will reduce the risk of
cancer. Consumption of carrots increases the level of key antioxidants in the
bloodstream, which may help reduce a wide range of cancers. Carotenoids provide
protection from the damages of free radicals that have been linked to cancer.
Recently, researchers have isolated a compound called falcarinol in carrots
that may be largely responsible for anti-cancer benefits. Falcarinol is a
natural pesticide found in carrots that protects roots from fungal diseases.
Preventing heart disease
Our cardiovascular system needs constant protection
from antioxidant damage. This is particularly true of our arteries, which are
responsible for carrying highly oxygenated blood. A recent study from the
Netherlands has given us some fascinating information about carrots and our
risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In this study, intake of fruits and vegetables
was categorized by color. The researchers focused on four color categories:
green, orange/yellow, red/purple and white. Out of these four categories,
orange/yellow was determined to be the most protective against CVD. Within the
orange/yellow food group, carrots were determined to be the single most
risk-reducing food. Because anti-oxidants are important in the fight against
heart disease, studies have found that high doses of beta carotene may lower
the risk of heart disease by as much as 45%. Carrot is an excellent source of
calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fibre that has been found to have
cholesterol-lowering properties.
Improving vision
Both vitamin A and beta-carotene are known to lower the risk of eye disease,
hence the carrot's association with eyesight. The retina of the eye needs
vitamin A to function. Lack of vitamin A causes night blindness. In the retina,
vitamin A is transformed into rhodopsin, a purple pigment that is necessary for
night vision. In addition, beta-carotene helps protect against macular
degeneration and the development of senile cataracts. Vitamin A derived from
carrots helps to form the inner lining of the eye. Dietary carotenoids along
with a consistent long-term use of vitamin C were shown to reduce the risk of
developing cataracts severe enough to warrant surgery. Carrots were used
in World War II in aerial training schools to improve the eyesight of the
students.
Did you know?
Carrot juice is used for many things
besides drinking. Ed Ruscha, who is a master printer and artist uses
carrot juice instead of printer ink.
The World Longest Carrot recorded in
2007 was 5.839 metres and The World Heaviest Carrot recorded in 1998
was 8.61kg.
Carrots were first grown as a medicine
not a food.
The Japanese word for carrot is
"ninjin"!
Carrots flowers are also called Birds
nest, Bees nest and the Devils Plague.
Carrots are considered to be a fruit.
Carrots contain more sugar than any
other vegetable, with the exception of beets.
How I came to choose Food Science and Nutrition (FSN)
is a long story, but I'll make it brief.
So, my ambition since young is to be a doctor.
I'd feel good if I can heal a person and keep them
healthy. I think that it's a noble thing to care for
others' well-being. But unfortunately, I wasn't
good enough to enter the medical course. The reason
why I chose the FSN course is that through this course,
my future career would be along the lines of a nutritionist. As a nutritionist, I'm able to help
others with their health too.
Nutrition is the cornerstone of good health. As we go through
life, there are so many illnesses that could have
been prevented with consuming appropriate nutrients.
The difference between a nutritionist and a doctor is that
I help them by improving their eating habits, while doctors
treat diseases and illnesses. In the end, both aim to
improve a person's well-being. Therefore, this blog is
inspired by the thought of helping people and bringing them
awareness by sharing my knowledge here.
About The Girl
My name is Valerie.
This shall be my short introduction.
I love carrots and therefore, I am a bunny. But I wear glasses.
I am also a
kpop-holic, future nutritionist, dog lover, food lover, procrastinator, almost-perfectionist with no sense of direction.
