Thursday, May 25, 2017

3 Days Healthy Eating Challenge

“Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper”. This is an old saying but how many of us actually follow them? Even I don’t, to be honest.





What does a clean eating means? It is a deceptively simple concept. To make it short and simple (maybe not so sweet, sorry), understandable, eating clean means a big NO to processed or junk food, deep fried chicken or fries, less sugar intake, more vegetables and fruits. Be sure your meals are high in protein, vitamins and fibre but also remember to take less carbs as overindulgence in carbs can cause weight gain and bloating.

We’ve been stepping out of healthy zone for a long time already as we’re driven by unhealthy midnight snacks and fast food outlets everywhere. Including myself, I’m not denying it but I do eat clean whenever possible. Being a student with limited $$$, I can’t do much. I am grateful that I was initiated by a friend of mine on Facebook to accept her challenge in #3daysfood4thought in order to spread health awareness of eating clean to keep ourselves healthy. So how did my three days go?

Day 1: Breakfast


Day 2: Lunch


Day 3: Dinner



I believe we are more likely to maintain our health if we eat this way all day, every day. And there’s a lot of research that backs this up, particularly on not skipping breakfast that has a positive effect on weight. It’s a valid advice. If you don’t skip breakfast, you will have all the nutrients and energy throughout your day. So you’re better off consuming more calories including extra protein in the morning and do not skip your breakfast! 

I made up my mind to post a meal of all three days and started with breakfast followed by lunch and teatime or dinner, you name it. There were plenty of you keen to know on those meals particularly on my second and third day meals. Here’s how:

Day 1: Boil eggs, scramble them with minced garlic (or a spoon of milk if you want) and spread them on your bread. Top it with sliced tomatoes, cabbage, cucumber or any other raw veggies that you like. Have your breakfast with milk as a great source of protein.

Day 2: Most of you were asking on pan seared chicken breast and mashed potatoes. It’s very simple actually. Use things that you have. Marinate chicken with herbs, soy sauce and a pinch of salt then using just one, I repeat JUST ONE spoon of oil to pan fry your chicken. It’s more like a grilling process so make sure your chicken is fully cooked. By the way, I just used a rice cooker so nothing is impossible you see. For the mashed potatoes, get potatoes peeled and bring it to a soft boil with salt added. Add on few spoons of milk and smash them until you get it the way you want it to be. I did not use butter, only milk. This might not be resulting as KFC’s mashed potatoes but it is way healthier. *winks*

Day 3: Simplest form of smoothie bowl made of mashed bananas (you may steam or blend bananas if you want it smoother), oats and milk. No sugar was added as bananas were already sweet enough. I had my smoothie bowl with rose buds tea (you can get rose buds at stores) as I wanted to make it a different kind of combo. Not bad, it was good anyway.

Besides feeling healthier, I had more energy as well throughout the day. By eating clean on time, I've learnt a lot on self discipline and consistency. This will boost your confidence level and interest in preparing meals too with more ideas. However, a research before starting any assignment would not harm, right? 

I hope I’ve provided ample of information here on eating clean and staying healthy. Let’s motivate each other and stay inspired. Food is life! And oh yes, don't forget to workout! 




Sunday, May 14, 2017

Blessed To Have One, Not Because You Are Not One - Happy Mother's Day!

First of all, apologies for the late post as I was meditating since my last blog post. 

Jokes apart, I was only inspired and got my brain working back after watching several movies and truly honoured to be writing back on this amazing day of the year again! 






Everyone is busy updating about their moms but guess I didn't see much thanking their dads for selecting the right woman to be their mom, right? So here I am, taking this opportunity to thank my dad as well for getting the perfect woman for him and us which brought togetherness as a family because without you, I wouldn't be able to have Amma so cheers to you, Appa.

Adding another year of healthy and happy life where I shall emphasize more on Amma as it is her day to be celebrated today though I am miles away, you are always in my thoughts and prayers. I am eternally grateful to have you, Amma. Thanking will never do any justification to all those sacrifices you've encountered since the first day we were in your womb (yes, I've included my siblings too because I'm not the only suffering she had to go through, no?). We are forever grateful towards your never ending love, care and support you've been providing without sighs. Declaiming about everything she has done for us here makes no sense I know because she might not read this so I am stopping my gratefulness towards my mom at this paragraph as I know I shall pour more love and gratitudeness in real when I see her in person.  

This year has been, still being an amazing year to me. Of all these 23 years living on this planet, I received and still receiving Mother's Day wishes from people I know for the first time in my entire life. I am honestly speechless upon those wishes not knowing how should I react because I am still a child you know so these messages are really wrecking my head. However, I pay heed to the replies knowing that these are some of the advance wishes that I might probably receive in 10 years time from now? LOL. It feels good to have friends who actually venerate me more than a friend and exalt the power of being a woman. Thank you to all of you. I am overwhelmed with your wishes.

Motherhood is indeed one of the greatest blessing a woman can have in her life. She is selfless yet so strong, and the most beautiful woman I've ever known; my definition for mothers in a sentence. But, my definition for mothers do not verify only on those who have gone through a pregnancy test or given birth to a child or more. Being a mother or entering a motherhood is not an instant gratification. It takes time and in terms of unfortunate, there are unlucky ones who unable to go through such a phase in their lives. 

Probably I am not the right person to talk about this as I don't have much knowledge on this particular topic yet (I've mentioned earlier that I'm a child) but scientifically, we have many reasons for one not being able to carry out a pregnancy test on her own such as endometriosis, tubal factors, polycycstic ovary syndrome, male factor infertility and so on but let it be whatever reason(s) it is, why do we need to neglect them? Do we really need to condemn or criticize on those females who aren't able to perform as a mother? Society has been and still being judgemental till today and I hope this will stop one day. Let people be whatever they want to be and for once, stop judging. Ladies, you are always a warrior and a winner in every battle you have gone through. When society has decided to neglect your sufferings and feelings, that's the day when you should not be bothered about society anymore and whatever criticisms they have to offer you. Believe me, your life would be brighter and happier when you have your only family and loved ones who understands you better than anyone else could. Afterall, you're the one who is going to live your life right?  









Not forgetting unmarried women and single parent be it a mother or a father. You are already a winner as you can lead your life towards a betterment in bringing up your kids and family on your own. You've risked your lives to stand out of the society and stand on your own feet. What else could I be proud of? Soon-to-be-mom, congratulations! Adding another responsibility towards your life and you are no longer in the center of your universe. I know motherhood isn't going to be easy but trust me it'll be rewarding. The list goes on and on. I have so many women on my list who have inspired me in every aspect of my life. I might not get an opportunity to thank each and every one of you in person so this is the best platform I could use to convey my wishes. To my grandaunt(s) who never failed in making sure our stomachs are full whenever we drop by; friends who treat me as a family; cleaners who smile and greet without fail or sighing and not letting us to know the meaning of dirt; and to every women on this earth, you are truly a magic and please remember to feel blessed that you are privileged to have one, not because you can't be one. Happy Mother's Day! 

Always remember, you are forever a winner. Never a loser even for once. (: 

Sunday, May 7, 2017

I Write To Express Not Impress

I hope my title above could justify today’s blog post because the ability to think and write is an art. Everyone can think intelligently and write amazingly but what most of you are not aware is that writing is meant to express your feelings, rebuild ideas and combine our thoughts together to create a new family through our readers. My utmost apology playlist for using flowery vocabularies at certain sentences as I think I need the urge of applying them since the last time I used them is when I was seventeen or eighteen which has been five years now. Oh, how time flies!

We often tend to overlook at things we do not understand instead of trying to understand them so towards the end of my post, those bombastic words would probably had enough vacation in the Oxford dictionaries and I'll define the meaning of the vocabularies I have used throughout my post. I am saving your energy as well (Or probably you're not going to look after those words anyway). I am here to share my knowledge because I strongly believe we should grow together! *winks*

Why did I choose writing to express instead of impress?



Not a Tumblr pict. That's me yo!

The surest stairway to frustration is to write to impress. You are not going to have an interesting depth as you might want it to be if all you want to have is just a really good story in order to impress your readers. Inadvertently, hopes and dreams are connected to the reaction of those who read your work where you will only focus on your readers, not your story. When you write to express, you look inward towards your life, your story, your characters, your feelings. Potentially, a genuine relationship will be bonded among your readers and you, yourself.

I am not hoping for my readers to be dazzled with my sentences. My ultimate goal is to express my thoughts inwardly so that I’d get a chance to look at myself beyond any limitations that possibly could be. I tended to listen more than I spoke by enjoying far more interesting stories from other people’s lives. I have experienced vicarious pain through the stories of others but here I am today, to share a story of mine.

Just like some other ordinary human beings, I do have many failures in life particularly in studies. I have never been a school topper or even the smartest in family among my siblings. I have never been the favourite student of any teacher(s) or lecturer(s); I don’t wish to be one too. I never excelled in studies as outstanding as others do but language has been my most favourite subject of all since I was a kid. I did not produce excellent results in my both major examinations, PMR and SPM but I had a strong passion which made me to obtain an A in my languages without fail for the love I had, which I will continuously have on Tamizh, English and Malay of course. 

As I stepped into Form Six, obtaining Band 3 for Malaysian University English Test (MUET) was and is still an unexpected result which I could never forgive myself. There were many people who believed I can but no, they were all wrong. I was tormented by frustration when my dad said he thought I’d get Band 4 at least. No, he did not scold me. No one said anything but that particular moment, I shed tears. My concentration was shattered. I’ve never felt so bad for not obtaining good results in any other subjects as I felt for MUET. At that very moment, I realized I was constrained from applying any English related courses majoring in Education.

I am clearly stating here, it took me months or to be rigorous, years to overcome my failures and avert all those heart wrenching drama(s) from revisiting me again and again. But today, I am writing this with so much gratitude and gratefulness knowing that intelligence is not measured by grades but with the knowledge I am able to transport with pleasure.






Happiness comes in various forms and mine comes when my friends look for me to check on their assignments for proofreading or Facebook statuses for grammatical or spelling errors. I might be an International Marketing student but I am still an English teacher to some of my friends, they say. I truly believe that the joy and satisfaction which I get now is to sit and write articles on a proper language without making silly mistakes. Little happiness like this are beyond inexplicable which I look forward to in my life. Undoubtedly, I am still living in a language platform, broadening my knowledge. I still have a long way to go. I am still in the progress of developing myself. I have my flaws too. I do make mistakes but hey, what is a life without mistakes?

I wrote this with an utterance and mixed feelings flowing through to this Universe. I believe I have expressed whatever I felt through my writing. To whoever reading this, no matter what, be courageous and confident in life. Do not feel remorseful or shamefaced of your failures. You don’t bring it along with your life, you grow with it to become a stronger person than who you used to be.

Signing off,
Your not-so-good advisor :P



VOCABULARIES:

Inadvertently - Without intention/Unintentionally
Dazzled - Amazed
Vicarious - Experienced through the action/feelings of another person
Tormented - Experiencing severe physical or mental suffering
Rigorous - Exact/Accurate
Avert - Prevent
Utterance - A spoken word or written language
Remorseful - Filled with sorry or regretfulness





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