Want to quit?

Have you ever had the feeling to quit when you just started the exercise program? Have you ever said, "forget about the calories" when you are so tempted with your favorite high calories foods? Have you ever feel so bad for not able to control your food intake? It's all about your mindset, your thought and your belief.  Get rid of all those negative thinking and try this.


Summary:
You can try to watch this short movie clip every morning to motivate yourself.

Fry, barbecue or turn Paul the 'Psychic' Octopus into a seafood salad or paella?

Many people threaten to fry, BBQ or turn Paul into a seafood salad after his predictions which were 100% (8/8) correct for the 2010 World Cup.  If you ask me, I would prefer a set of octopus sushi. Hehe.My interest is how heavy is Paul the Octopus?

Whole Frozen Octopus (85g/piece)
Calories: 140kcal
Fat:2g
Protein:25g 
Carbohydrate:4g 
Cholesterol: 80mg
Sushi, Octopus (85g)
Calories: 70kcal
Fat:0.9g
Protein:12.7g 
Carbohydrate:1.9g 
Cholesterol: 41mg





 Summary:
Please don't eat him.  He looks so cute and innocent.

Pisang goreng

A lot of people try hard to reduce their weight by doing all kind of exercises.  But after the workout at the gymn or jog for an hour, they really think they have burn enough calories.  So, they drive home happily and stop at one of the hawkers' stall to grabs some favourite pisang goreng.  In Matang Jaya Kuching, you can get up to 7 pieces for RM 1 only. Cheap hah?

Pisang goreng (Net Weight: 65g/piece)
Calories: 126kcal
Fat:1.3g
Protein:2.9g 
Carbohydrate:24.4g 







Summary:
7 pieces will give you 882 calories and 20.3g of fat.  60 minutes jog on treadmill at 5 meter per hour will only burn half of the calories that you have just consumed. 

Chicken Rice

Whenever I went to SCR, hubby and I would love to order 2 sets of roasted/steammed chicken rice. It comes with a drink and this time is the ice lemon tea.

Chicken Rice (1 plate)
Calories: 476kcal
Fat:14.5g
Protein:20.2g 
Carbohydrate:66.5g 
Ice Lemon Tea (1 glass) with 4 teaspoons of sugars
Calories: 80kcal
Fat:0g
Protein:0g 
Carbohydrate:20g 


Summary:
Luckily I don't drink tea.  I let hubby had half bowl of my chicken rice and both glasses of the ice lemon tea. So, his calories intake for dinner was 874 calories.  Haha.  He really needs to put on more weight.

Sugar contents in some of the foods-part 2: healthier choices

Not all are high in sugars. Of course there are many healthier choices out there.

Sugar contents in breakfast cereals

Sugar content in fruits and vegetables

Now, let us compare the sugar contents in those foods with the natural sugars in carrots.

Summary:
Really eye opening for me when I look into the sugar contents in these foods.  Thanks to Dr. Chew who requested this information. Although these foods are not commonly found in Malaysia, but you will be able to find them on the imported foods' shelves like in Ta Kiong at The Spring. (Reference: www.sugarstacks.com)

Sugar contents in some of the foods-part 1

I believe some of you are aware of this already.  I find this information quite useful and easy to understand. Some of the food labels actually say "Naturally sweetened with sugars" or "Less sugars". But, have you ever wonder how much is the content of sugars in it?

Sugar contents in beverages

Sugar contents in cookies

Sugar contents in deserts

Sugar contents in snacks

Sugar contents in shakes and smoothies

Sugar contents in sauces and condiments

Summary:
One cube of sugar here represent a teaspoon which is equivalent to 4g. (Reference:www.sugarstacks.com)

J&J's Roti Canai

If you ask me whether I still remembered the time when we had our meeting till 3.30am in the morning continuously for a few nights with our boss in SUKMA Contingent Camp? I would say, "Oh, hmmm....yeah...".  All I can remembered was the tasty roti canai from J&J Cafe at Tabuan Laru. The curry tasted fantastic with the roti canai especially when we were starving while listening to the old man.  I just can't remember what was he nagging about.....Ha.  If anyone of you who were there remembered how I drained the oil from its gravy? And guess what was his facial expression and how he responded? Ha.  I don't think I could ever forgotten that.  And he even shouted, "Hey...what a waste!" Wakakaka.

After almost 2 months, I went back to J&J yesterday for breakfast. Plain Roti Canai with chicken curry and Horlicks O.  Let see how much calories have I consumed, huh?





Nutrients contents:
Roti Canai (Net Weight: 95g/piece)
Calories: 301kcal
Fat:10.3g
Protein:6.7g 
Carbohydrate:45.5g


Gravies (Net Weight: 80g-1/2 cup)
Calories: 58kcal
Fat:2.2g
Protein:2.5g
Carbohydrate:7.2g
Chicken curry (Net Weight: 65g-1 small piece)
Calories: 98kcal
Fat:6.6g
Protein:8.2g
Carbohydrate:1.4g
Horlicks (Net Weight: 50g)
Calories: 177.5kcal
Fat:1.6g
Protein:5.3g
Carbohydrate:35.6g

For those who like roti telur....

Roti Telur (Net Weight: 135g/piece)
Calories: 356kcal
Fat:13.5g
Protein:12.4g
Carbohydrate:46.2g

Summary:
Oh My Lady Gaga......That's total of 635 calories with 20.7g of fat for just a breakfast!!!  That's two times of my usual intake, man. It's all J&J's fault lah.....

Karate Kid Vs Nutrition.

I have just watched the movie with hubby last night. I like it when the kid got frustrated and said, " Be respectful, I got it. I put on my jacket a thousand times and I took it off a thousand times." "You don't know Kung Fu." And Jacky Chan replied,  " Kung Fu lives in everything we do. It lives in how we put on the jacket, how we take off the jacket. And lives in how we treat people.Everything is Kung Fu"

This is what happen in our daily life. We repeatedly eating everyday almost the same foods. We eat a thousand meals and shit a thousand times.  And sometimes, we get frustrated about why are we eating a healthy balance diet and what's next?  Then, we end up indulging in foods.
So, when you met a friend of dietitian or nutritionist like me, the first and the only concern is not to get to know me, but to ask, " How to lose weight?" When you do not get the answer that you want from me, you will only say, "You don't know nutrition."
All I can say is, "Nutrition lives in everything we do.  It lives in how we eat and drink, how we shit and how we exercise. And lives in how we treat our body with the foods." Nutrition is all about how to apply what we already know in our life everyday. So, next time when you are undecidable about what to eat or drink, or whether to exercise or not, think about what Jacky Chan said in the movie.....

Skin or skinless chicken?

Whenever I go to fresh market, I will always request the skin to be removed.  No doubt, skin makes the chicken taste better.  Removing the skin is to just to help me to reduce the temptation to eat them. If you are concern about your cholesterol intake, take a look at the difference between chicken parts with and without skin.

Cholesterol content in Kampung Chicken:
Drumstick (Weight: 91g)
with skin: 64mg                without skin: 39mg
Thigh ( Weight: 210g)
with skin:108mg               without skin:30mg
Backbone (Weight: 125g)
with skin:25mg                 without skin:8mg
Wings (Weight: 127g)
with skin:85mg

Cholesterol content in ordinary Chicken:
Thigh (Weight:175g)
with skin:101mg
Tail portion (Weight:16g)
1 whole:25mg    


Summary: 
You can easily reduce your cholesterol intake as much as 50-75% just by removing the skin.  Easy, isn't it?

Which part of chicken to choose?

People always like to ask me this question.   Honestly, I love the ribs and chicken wings. Hahaha.   When I compare the nutrient contents for the different parts of chicken, I will prefer to use household measurement rather than 100g.  Coz, nobody will eat 200g of wings, right?

Nutrients contents:
Chicken breast meat:
Weight:132g (1 piece)
Calories: 198kcal
Fat:10.2g
Protein:24.2g
Carbohydrate:2.4g


Chicken thigh:
Weight:125g (1 small)
Calories: 215kcal
Fat:16.5g
Protein:16.6g
Carbohydrate:1.2g

Chicken wings:
Weight:170g (2 small)
Calories: 172kcal
Fat:13.2g
Protein:13g
Carbohydrate:0g

Chicken feets:
Weight:154g (10 feets, deboned)
Calories: 178kcal
Fat:9.8g
Protein:22.6g
Carbohydrate:0g

Summary:
If I am to compare per 100g, then chicken wings and thigh are higher in fats which is two times the breast meat. Breast meat has the lowest calories of all other parts. So, make your wise choice.  

Go for lean meat...

Lean meat or meat with medium fat?  "Fat marbling is the one which taste good...." Let's compare the nutrient content of the two.

Nutrients content per 100g lean meat:
Calories: 189kcal
Fat:21g
Protein:17g
Carbohydrate:0g
Cholesterol: 50mg


Nutrients content per 100g meat with medium fat:
Calories: 527kcal
Fat:53.8g
Protein:10.7g
Carbohydrate:0g
Cholesterol: 63mg

Summary:  
The calories for meat with medium fat is 3 times higher than lean meat due to its high fat content.  Next time, try to go for lean whenever possible.  Don't worry, you can still enjoy some fatty meats if cholesterol and weight issue are not your major health concerns.  Just reduce the frequency will do.

Home made dumplings

Last Sunday, our pretty Sports Masseur invited us to taste her home made dumplings.  The recipe origins from her hometown, Shen Yang, China.

All she used were flour, meats, eggs, a lot of chives and some salt to make up to 70 dumplings. Ya, that's a lot, and you can eat as much as you can. I had 8 dumplings with vegetables and soup. "Why 8 only? It doesn't taste nice?  You don't like dumplings?" She asked. "No, 8 is always a lucky number. Ha ha. Just kidding." I answered. I am not really fancy about numbers. 8 dumplings are just enough for me.
She prepared 2 types of cooking style; cooked in soup and steamed. Both are very healthy.   Personally, I prefer the one cooked in soup rather than the steamed.  Hmmm....So full and that's all for my dinner.

Nutrients content per dumpling:
Calories: 57.2kcal
Fat:3.2g
Protein:2.1g
Carbohydrate:5.1g


Summary:
A bowl of 8 dumplings with soup will provide 457.6 calories, 16.8g of protein, 25.6g of fat and 40.8g of carbohydrate.

Sometimes, when we look at its healthy cooking style, and its vegetables content, we tend to overeat.  Always remember, 'healthy' can be high in calories too if you indulged in it. So, again, be moderate. By the way, I did not pre-calculate what ever foods in front of me before I eat. Ha.