It's the New Year! What is your NY resolution?

After days of partying and merry-making with family and friends, it is time to head back to planet Earth. Some of us may have packed on a few pounds during the festive seasons and watched in dismay as the number on the weighing scale went up a notch.

Since it is unheard of or rather impossible for many of us to exercise on a regular basis, here i am forwarding some tips on ways to keep yourself healthy and fit (no need to purposely dress up for the occasion), especially for all of us city folks, as I am sure many of us make health (or losing weight) as one of our NY resolutions.

1. Walking
Health experts recommend 10,000 steps a day for a healthier you. This is easily accomplished if you walk to work (many Singaporeans do) or walk to practically anywhere else. However, many of us in Malaysia, due to poor public transportation, rely heavily on self-driving. If this is the case, try parking further away from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Skip the elevators/lifts and use the stairs instead. Some people use a pedometer to ensure that the 10,000 steps/daily are achieved.

2. Juicing and salad days
Experiment with different types of vegetables and fruits when come to juicing. Vegetable juices are great as they contain fewer calories but they are hard to stomach (bland-tasting). Add some fruits such as beetroots, apples and oranges to make the juices more palatable. Try having salads on certain days rather than a fatty meal. Besides being low in calories, they also offer plenty of vitamins, minerals and fibre. You can be more creative by adding strips of salmon or grilled chicken for protein. Beware though, many of us use too much mayo/thousand island and these can offset the benefit. Remember, 1 tsp of the dressing contribute to about 45 - 50 kcal. If you are not careful, a wallop of thousand island in your salad can equal to a plain 'nasi lemak' bungkus.

3. Be mindful when socialising
Many of us consume the most calories when we are with family and friends. With plenty of 'makan' outings and drinking sessions, it is not surprising for one to consume extra 1000 - 2000 kcal a day. The best is to control portion size and limit number of drinks. Remember, alcohol has more calories than carbo. If you love clubbing, make sure that you dance more than you drink. This will at least burn off some of the excess calories from the hard liquor that you've just gulped down.

4. Snacking
We all love to snack and it is not wrong. Indeed many nutritionists/dietitians do encourage people to eat small frequent meals which include snackings rather than 3 big hearty meals. The thing is the choice of snacks. Chewing on fruits and vegetable sticks is better than chomping on crackers and biscuits. Drinking tea/coffee with less sugar is better than adding extra condensed milk. However, i will still advise on the occassional chocs and cakes as eating should be pleasurable, but do so in moderation.

5. Get physical.
This is ext from item (1). Get involved in hobbies that encourage you to be out and about. Rather than playing PSP the whole day, why not go jungle trekking with friends and enjoy the nature? Malaysia and Singapore have many nature spots that we could enjoy (e.g FRIM, KL and Hortpark, Singapore). It will definitely channel our minds away from food and also a sedentary lifestyle (especially important for those who are emotional eaters)

6. Cooking
Many of us do not have the time to cook these days. Eating out has become the norm. Thus, we do not have much say what goes into our bowl of curry mee or 'cheng teng'. Very often, the food handlers add a tad bit too much salt (including from soy sauce), sugar and oil but not enough vegetables. The same goes for beverages and convenience foods. We should exercise our rights as consumers by requesting for more greens, less sugar, less oil and even less rice the next time we order food. Cooking is still the best option as we are completely in control of what goes into our dish. Just remember to use salt, oil and sugar sparingly.

Recently, MOH reported that the average Malaysian consumes about 26 tsps of sugar, about 120g a day. Recommended intake is about 10 tsps = 50g. Try measuring that in a bowl and you will be shock to find out that we are consuming that much sugar. Where did the sugar come from?

It is hard to just put the blame on us, the consumers, as we are not made aware of all the hidden sugars found in processed foods (e.g cereals, soft drinks, desserts, foods from the hawker/mamak stalls). Say we go 'yum cha' with friends and the choice of drink is the usual 'teh tarik'. Teh tarik contains 6 tsps of sugar. Stay a while longer and you see most of us ordering another round of teh tarik. That is 12 tsps of sugar in total. The authority should work closely with food manufacturers/handlers on this matter. Reducing sugar subsidy is one way but is definitely not the solution.

7. Will-power
Nothing beats determination and self control when it comes to health. Many people do not have the determination neither the self control to do what is needed. Most people have a mental block when it comes to exercise (no time, no motivation and etc...) and may live to regret it later. Lifestyle and eating changes have to start from within and nobody can motivate you but yourself. Taking mini-steps today may result in big improvement in the future.

Money does grow on trees- A visit to Carey Island

I had a rare opportunity to visit Carey Island last Tuesday, which is a short distance away from Teluk Panglima Garang. Carey Island is about 80 km from KL and is actually a restricted area. It is owned by Sime Darby and if I am not mistaken the natives of the island, the Orang Asli (I was told that there is an Orang Asli settlement in Carey Island). Carey island is 1/5 the size of Singapore and 1/2 the size of Penang Island. The visit was necessary as we needed to understand more about palm oil and the extraction of tocotrienol (vitamin E family) from the fruit.

The island is named after the founder, a British named Mr. Edward Valentine Carey. Many crops had been introduced to Carey Island since then, namely coffee, tea, tea tree, basically commodity plants, till the introduction of the oil palms from West Africa, which later transformed the whole island (well about 80%) into an oil palm plantation.

Mr. Carey also built more than 10 colonial houses (still standing) in the island which are currently maintained by the staff of Sime Darby. We visited one of those houses called the 'Hatter's Castle'. The person-in-charge told us that the reason it is called 'Hatter' is because the house was originally built with a hat-shaped roof till they renovated it sometime back. The rooms in 'Hatter's Castle' are huge with secret passage ways that double up as a closet......hehehh i guess that's where they hid the mistresses back in those days......

Since the island is rather far from civilization, the management has built a small but sustainable community facilities and religious houses such as a temple, a small church and a mosque. There's also a small petrol kiosk, hospital or rather clinic and a school for people living in the island.

The plantation manager took us on a walkabout and demonstrated the different stages of the palm fruits. The 'male' and 'female' part of the plant that eventually meet via wind and insect pollination will form bunches of fruits (unriped being the dark-coloured fruits to the ripe ones being bright red). It is also interesting to note that 70% of the entire plantation is made up of 'female' trees and the rest 'male' trees.

"When is the best time to harvest the fruit? and how can one tell whether the fruits are ripe?" one of my curious colleagues enquired.

"Oh, simple, just look at the ground......if you see loose fruits on the ground (1-2 loose fruits), that means that the particular bunch of fruits are ready for harvest" replied the plantation manager. "And after the worker has harvested the bunch, he needs to carve his staff ID onto it, so we could trace back if the fruits were harvested too early, just nice or waited too long until they are over-riped. Then there goes the KPIs. The supervisor will also be held responsible if any bunches of fruits were left out and turned rotten".


What fascinated us was the fact that the management does not use any chemicals to rid the plantation of pests and insects. Instead, they planted many types of shrubs that are beneficial to the survival of certain insects and these insects, in turn, are the ones that keep the the population of pests such as bagworms and catterpillars in check (biological population control). This is because, the pests devour the fronds and this may affect the yield of the fruits by up to 30%.

Not only that, the number one pest in any oil palm plantations is the mouse/rat and this, the management has cleverly welcome the barn owls by building small houses for the owls to live and rest during the day (99% of the diet of the barn owls are rodents). These methods are effective in keeping pests at bay, ensuring high quality yield and does not damage the environment. How clever is that!


We also visited a mill and was given a short briefing on the extraction of crude palm oil (CPO) from the yellow-orange flesh (mesocarp) of the fruit. All parts of the fruit are used; to produce cooking oils, supplements in the form of vit E (beneficial for the skin, heart and certain types of cancer), in food ingredients and as biodiesel. The endocarp (the white centre) can be used to make soaps and cosmetics and the kernel (the black ring surrounding the endocarp) can be used as fuel for machineries.

I guess we Malaysians are truly blessed for having oils from both the ground (petroleum) and trees (oil palm) and we should never take these commodities for granted. We are indeed one of the top two CPO producing countries in the world.....thanks to the British people who brought the trees into Malaysia. They originally had the intention of using the trees as ornamental plants! who would have guessed?



As for me, the oil palm holds much potential in the future. Think about it......oil can finally be grown to run vehicles, machineries and even generate power someday.......Malaysia will stand to gain alot! No wonder Sime Darby is treating these trees like babies......money does grow on trees......literally-speaking....