10 really weird methods used by Malaysians to ‘jaga badan’

When we ran this contest (‘What are the weirdest ways ugaiz stay healthy?’) for AIA, we asked if ugaiz consider yourselves healthy. From about 410 voters, the results were….

Actually right, Malaysian are one unhealthy bunch la. Not only are we the most obese country in South East THE WHOLE OF ASIA, 2.6 million Malaysians aged 30 and above are diabetic and about 75% of us don’t exercise! (And that includes 80% of us in the office. Bad CILISOS!)

 

But there are those who want others be healthy

And that’s exactly what our sponsor, AIA, wants to emphasise with their ‘Health Report Card’ campaign. Knowing that we all have a loved one that may not be living the most brilliant lifestyle, this report card lets you evaluate their health so you help them realise and hopefully improve! (BTW check out this video of kids candidly scoring their own parents… and parents promising on camera that they’ll stop smoking and all ?#awkwardbuttotallyunscripted)

So while we try our best to raise our own grades, we asked our readers about the weirdest ways they stay healthy or fit. Looking at these answers, ugaiz surely didn’t disappoint…

 

1. Spend all your money on DotA

“When I first entered college in KL from a small town, my parents gave my allowance based on small town prices. Torn between wanting to play and needing to eat, I choose to play.

I refilled my bottles with the free drinking fountain water in college and ate plain bread to save money and play at the cybercafe every other day. RM 1.80 for 1 loaf lasts 3 days and this continued for about 2 months.

My parent’s jaw dropped when i went home for holidays after two months. I lost about 10kg and my parents gave me more allowance… then I started eating fast food and I got fat.” – Alex Lim Siu King 

OK first off, we know what ugaiz are thinking…. Woi not healthy la! Buuut if you think about it, Alex was in college and see la what he ate when he had money 😛 obviously bread (that actually expires) is 237423x healthier than fast food, k. But even so, maaaaybe you wanna look for something better than plain bread. Check out this article by HealthWorks.my for healthy Malaysian recipes on a budget 🙂

(Oh and mebbe save some money for rainy days too, k? Even if you’re training to be a professional DotA player like this awesome Malaysian dude…)

 

2. Order burgers in a fast food restaurant… but only eat the buns

“Literally by and I kid you not, by going to McDonald’s and ordering a Filet O’Fish and just eating the buns after a workout. When asked why my friend goes “I only need carbs bro!”. He gives the fish part away because he has his protein shake which he drinks with the buns. Smh. As for his results… not bad wei! He bulked up.” – Austin

We Googled this super unconventional (and wasteful – just buy la Gardenia bread woi!) method, but most of our sources have suggested skipping the bun and have the patty instead as the white-bread buns contain refined carbohydrates which are essentially bad carbs! So if you want to get healthy, or bulk up, maybe try whole-wheat or a pita wrap! If you really like your roti, but don’t know which are good or bad carbs, here’s a list to sort it out. 🙂

 

3. Schedule exercisey work after lunch

“I will find reasons to move around in office after lunch. In front of my photocopying machines (which are all in an isolated room), I would do my squats cos nobody usually comes to the photocopying room until the last hour… THAT IS, until people walk in on me, and I pretend like I’m rising from a seat.

Currently, I’m glad to say I have the trimmest waist among my other male colleagues who despite being younger, have all developed fleshy love handles. The legal profession sucks this way.” – Alex Lim

There are many ways to stay active in the office, and by this we don’t mean having a shouting match with your colleague. While CILISOS does it through violent toys and dancing to weird music, there are other exercises that are more conducive for a workplace that isn’t messed up.

BUT! If your workplace is as serious as Alex’s, and if you don’t have an Alex-levelled determination to sneak in workouts at the copier, why not try the century ol’ trick of parking your car far far away? 🙂

4. Eat lots and lots of chilli

“Apart from drinking a small glass of cold water in the morning, eating spicy stuff during lunch or dinner helps my metabolism. By spicy I mean chopped chillies, not cilisos. Learn from the Thais, you hardly find any obese people there and it’s all thanks to their spicy diet.

For 20 years I’m still in good shape, no six packs but just small love handles (thanks to my weekly Sat beer drinking sessions). At age 32, I’m 5 feet 10 and weighing 72kg. Used to be a smoker for over 13 years and quit recently thanks to vape.” – Kenny

True story: our assistant editor’s great grandma used to only eat cili tumbuk + rice (they were very poor), but yet she had the energy to walk from KL to Klang and scold people while at it.

Anyway, according to Greatist, a few scientists from Purdue University ran a test on spicy food and its effect on appetite and metabolic rate. So 25 folks (half spicy food eaters and half were not) ate chillies (which are rich in capsaicin, the badass ingredient that puts the pedas in them peppers) and it was found that yes, there were changes in metabolism.

Hold that thought, and before stuffing yourself with cili potong, this worked only for non spicy food eaters. The body apparently has a way to be desensitised to the metabolism boosting effects of hot peppers. So to those that can handle high-levels of spicehhhh, you might want to skip this or else…. #RIPbekside 

 

5. Brush teeth IMMEDIATELY after dinner

“Everyday I brush my teeth at 7pm after dinner to avoid eating supper coz I tend to crave sweet things at night. It also indirectly encourages me to sleep early. I lost 2 kg after 2 weeks and my dark eye circle is fading away.” – Jean

For those with an urge to snack, especially post-dinner, this might actually work. Might only lahhh. Besides the good practise of maintaining ’em pearly whites, Popsugar here says that while you can sneak a bite or two, it will be super mafan to repeat the brush-floss-rinse ritual.

A medical expert pointed out an interesting fact about having sweet things after brushing your teeth. The sodium lauryl sulfate compound in toothpaste suppresses the tongue’s sweet receptors and makes the bitter receptors more sensitive. Konklusinya, your midnight sweeties will taste bitter and that’s a waste! Let’s not even go into why fridges have lights if we’re not meant to have late-night snacks…..

6. Get your wife to check your health homework

“I have a daily checklist which I am attached to on daily basis to correct my morning ritual. And it is closely monitored by >>> MY WIFE.. So you know what is the price I gotta pay if I were to miss any of it.

It’s been working for me and it’s now a habit. After about 1 month plus, my weight has gone down (used to be 88kg) and I’m more productive in the morning. Win liao….” – Kaviarasan Murugaya 

If you want a checklist on your own, here’s one that Lifehacker.com made which you can download and save. It’s fairly simple, but at least it reminds you about the 8-cups-of-water-a-day thing you keep ignoring.

7. Keep your baju for years

“My friend was a student in a health college so she needed to wear a uniform. The college made a point that students aren’t allowed to change sizes until they graduate, so my friend took the chance to use her uniform as a discipline tool, saying “I can’t get fat or else I won’t fit into my uniform and will be told to shed some weight.”

It was a good motivation for her to keep fit, or at least to keep her in the same size since the first semester hehe.” – Mimi Adzha

Ooh…. we’ve heard of another trick for people to control their food intake, such as tying a string to the waist before they start their day. But whatever you do, just don’t do something unhealthy like popping slimming pills (which have killed) and putting fingers down your throat, ok?

8. Makan in front of a mirror

“My friend eats right in front of the mirror, daily! She puts a mirror right in front of her food and watches herself eating. After a few bites and mirroring, she’ll stop eating. It’s quite successful though – she has lost almost 7 kg in few months time without exercise.” – Catherine Khor

Is there even science to back this up? Well whaddaya know… We found this study where the presence of a mirror made participants eat less, and spent more time observing one’s own behaviour. It’s like when you pass a mirror reflection, and it’s almost an instant check-self out. Lift doors, other people’s car rear view mirror, and the list goes on! The self-awareness “can act as a catalyst to feeling secondary emotions” such as “maintaining self-esteem”. It’s like by looking at ourselves eat sends a Nokia 3310 alert to not overeat.

 

9. Stick nose into people’s food

“There was once when my ex-boss was on a no-carb diet and would only smell the aroma of delicious food. My colleague, who brought nasi lemak once, offered her a bite, but she said “No no no… I just wanna smell it.”

It worked well, I suppose… she kept to her diet and was quite happy with the results. But not everyone would let her stick her nose in their food la, so she’d get a bit bummed.” – Nikki Khoo

This is a real tough one… There is a theory, more like a food trick for the brain to think you actually ate something-something. And then there’s a story here (from Mirror nonetheless, so viewer’s discretion is advised) about a woman who turned sniffing food into a dangerous obsession and became anorexic.

But there are certain kinds of food in which the aroma may lead to greater feelings of fullness. Fennel is a crunchy, celery-like vegetable that can function as an appetite suppresant. Sniff away! Just remember – if you’re inhaling someone’s food, don’t exhale on it….

10. Eat A LOT of bananas (so you can pangsai more)

“I eat countless of bananas everyday, hoping that the fibre content of the pisang would make my digestion process super good. I don’t workout though.

In terms of my weight, I’ve been fluctuating between 92kg to 86kg, but that’s also because I eat too much when I’m stressed out la haha.” – Zaidi Sarifuddin 

Bananas! The health benefits of eating bananas are endless; it’s more easily-digestible compared to other foods, and the high fibre content helps to restore normal bowel movement so you won’t need to clench your fist and try to pop a brick in the morning. But be warned – bananas are also super high in calories (105 kcal @ 118g!) so it’s not really good for weight loss. Try papayas instead – it’s also high in fibre, but has half the calorie count of a banana (67 kcal @ 157g)!

 

*BONUS*

11. Freeze fried chicken… and make chicken soup

“One day, my mom graciously mailed me a KFC voucher. I was conflicted cos that’s good protein (never let protein go to waste), but on the other hand there’s so much untrimmed fat under the dry crisp skin.

I decided to redeem the voucher and ordered only the breast cut. Went home and let the chicken rest in the freezer. Freezing effectively locks and solidify the fats for more efficient removal.

The following morning, I ran my chicken under the tap, undressing it from its coat of crispy crusty fat. I threw my chicken into the pot and started making a pot of watercress veggie soup. Yumz. My mother never knew or she would have driven straight from Penang to deliver a good beating on me.” – Alex Lim (again) 

Give it up for Alex Lim, who sent us not one, not two, but THREE weird ways to stay healthy! This is by far the weirdest way we’ve heard, but apart from that, it’s also incredibly impressive. We honestly don’t know anyone who is able to resist a piece of golden, crispy fried chicken… 😛

We’d love to give Alex something else, but since he already has a winning entry, we’re gonna give him 2 x movie tickets anyway 🙂 (See, ugaiz! For future contests, send in as many entries as you want!)

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How? Weird or not?!

Congrats to all our winrars!! Your weirdness have won yo’selves a health check voucher from BP Healthcare (worth RM200) and a complimentary 14-day pass at Fitness First! Faster go say #tenkiuAIA on their FB page or take the Health Report Card and evaluate the people around you 😀 (P/S: we’ll be contacting you via email by Friday, 23rd Oct 2015)

In the meantime, we at the CILISOS office have been taking small steps to improve our health too. One guy switched from nasi lemak to overnight oats for breakfast, another one has started to actually eat breakfast. One more is sleeping earlier nowadays by going to bed 10 minutes earlier each night.

We can’t be freaking Arnold Schwarzenegger overnight la, so just make healthy, realistic goals and find ways to reach them lor…. even if it’s as weird as jogging in the shopping mall cos there got no haze 😛