Surprising reasons why we overeat!

I was cruising through the tv channels on my comfy sofa when I stumbled upon Dr Oz Show. I love watching Dr Oz on the Oprah Show but I have not had the chance to watch his own show. I know it has been around long but I can't find the time to watch it. He was talking about why people tends to overeat, which is always the case with me. He listed 3 surprising reasons why we do it. I had all the answers wrong so there you go why I'm so FAT right now :-)

1. Confused on portion size

Dr Oz showed 2 sizes bag of chips, one was supersize bag and another was a snack size. Mostly, I would grab a snack size bag of chips, it's a no-brainer. The chip company had nicely packed a snack size so I  don't have to think about the calories anymore. But, that's where we tend to overeat. The snack size bag is normally for 2-3 people and not for one. We would not feel guilty munching away the whole snack size bag as compared to the supersize bag. If I had a supersize bag, I would not open it until I know I could share with other people to finish it otherwise it'd go stale. I'd also looked closely at the label and measure the portion size accordingly. 

2. Group eating situation

We would normally think that we'd not eat that much when we go out with friends. But, it is normally THE situation where we tend to overeat. Why is that you might think? I had the same thought as well but Dr Oz explained that we normally would lose track of what we put in our mouth when we were excited or having fun. This is especially true when booze is involved. 

3. The colour of your plate

There's a reason why restaurant serves their food in white or fair coloured plates as compared to dark-coloured plates. On a white plate, we can see clearly the food that we're eating and it looked more appetising. In this case, Dr Oz demonstrated with spaghetti carbonara served on a white plate and another on a blue plate. Yes, I do agree, it looked more appetising on a white plate. So, if you're on a diet, buy dark-coloured plates to stop you from overeat! But in my case, the colour of my plate will not be able to stop me from eating delicious food!

There you go some health tips I gathered from Dr Oz. I have not been able to update this blog as frequent as I want as I'm also maintaining another blog in Malay language. It is hard work maintaining 2 blog at once. Do visit my other blog, if you can understand Malay that is at Contengan Rasa. Will try to update this blog as much as I can.

~XOXO~

Mini get away - Johor Bharu

My brother and his family were in town last week, so we decided to take a mini family get away to Johor. There were 7 of us so we need to rent an MPV. Yours truly was in charge of booking a suitable MPV. It was my first time trying to rent an MPV and I was overwhelmed with the choices online. I used mudah.com.my website to find a suitable rental firm. I decided on Exora as it can fit all of us comfortably plus luggage.  I booked the car quite early, almost a week early. The rental rate is  pretty reasonable of RM180/day for 2 days and their pick up point/office is quite near to my house which is a plus point. So I happily thought everything was settled but the night before the trip, I received a call saying that my car was not available due to engine failure. They offered a replacement car,  Alza, which is a class lower than Exora and the rate remained the same. I was desperate so I had to agree. But in my heart I know that I've been duped. I guess it's a tactic they used on unsuspecting and desperate customers like me. I tried to be positive and believe that the original car was really not available. But I don't want the car drama to ruin our getaway so I put it behind me and tried to enjoy the rest of the trip. Apparently, the car was not that bad but poor hubby had to squished at the back with the luggage, sorry honey!

The day was nice, not too hot nor raining, so it was perfect for a road trip. We took our own sweet time, stopped at two rest areas along the way. We arrived in Johor Bharu at 4pm and headed straight to Plaza Angsana as my mom really wanted to eat the famous Mee Rebus at one its food court stall.

We had bowls of mee rebus, yong tau foo and rojak singapore and the prices were reasonable. But I don't get the hype for its mee rebus, though. I had better mee rebus here in KL and my mom's of course.

Then, we headed to our uncle's house who was paralysed from a stroke he suffered months ago. Looking at him lying there helpless made me sad as he was a bubbly person. At that moment, I was thankful to Allah that I still got to enjoy my mom's non-stop lectures and my dad moving purposely around the house, Alhamdullilah. You have to be thankful for those little moments as you'd never know when it will be taken away from you. 

We stayed at Hotel Seri Malaysia Johor Bharu for a night. We checked-in into the hotel quite late, around 8pm. But the reception just fell short of my expectation. I know it was late and maybe the receptionist just had a long day but I was quite put-off with it. But I had a long day and the only thing I wanted was a hot shower and a bed. The room was clean and a reasonable size but there were water leaking from the room above in the shower room. I hope the water was clean and I don't want to imagine where it comes from.

Started the next day with a hearty breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast buffet spread was good with variety of options of food such as nasi lemak, fried noodle, curry noodle, noodle soup, porridge, & toast. Yes, there were a lot of food and they did re-filling it non-stop during the serving period which is from 7am to 10am.

We checked out from the hotel and the process was quite fast and fuss free. So, no complaint there. We planned to visit Legoland, Hello Kitty Town and Johor Premium Outlet, so off we go. 

It was a 25 minutes ride from JB, perhaps it should be shorter but we did got lost a bit trying to find our way out of the city. The parking lot was a long walk from the entrance. Luckily, there was a covered walkway otherwise all of us would have fainted from the heat. It was so hot that I feel like my face was melting (my makeup did come off a little bit, time to buy new makeup I guess).  We didn't go into the theme park as we have not time. But the entry price was quite steep, RM170 for both theme and water park for adult. By looking from outside the entrance door, there were not many attractions/games that would interest me as I don't have any kids yet. Perhaps its target market is more of family with kids. But the pricing is too steep for a normal Malaysian family. It was quite empty even though it was a weekend. Maybe it was an off-peak season :-)

Next, we went to Puteri Harbour where the Hello Kitty Town was. It was just a 10 minute drive from Legoland. Again, we did not enter the attraction as I guess it was for kids and the entrance price is RM80/adult. My nephew is too small to appreciate such thing so we ended up taking pictures and off we go.

We were supposed to stop at Johor Premium Outlet (JPO) next, but missed the turn and too late to turn back. So we head straight to Melaka to have an early dinner there. When we say Melaka for dinner, of course it must be Ikan Bakar! Our favourite ikan bakar place is at Alai, Melaka. The price was reasonable and only cost us less than RM200 for 7 people. My favourite dish are mussels cooked with chilies and grilled stingray. After all that delicious seafood, it's time to head home. I slept like a baby in the car and woken up when we reached home. Wow, what a day! But favourite part of the trip  is the food we ate along the way. Oh oh, time to hit the gym!

Food hunting around London

It's going to be Ramadan month soon. For muslims, we can't eat and drink from sunrise till sunset. As now is summer, we have longer daylight hours, which means we have to fast for 17 hours everyday for 30 days. :-(

So, I thought why not go and search for interesting eats in central London while I can still eat during the day. I've always wanted to visit Cereal Killer cafe and have a look at the different kind of cereals there. It has two branches, one in Brick lane and another in Camden Stables. I decided to go to the Brick lane branch as its nearer to my place. Took the Overground towards Highbury and Islington and stopped at Shoreditch High Street station. It's my first time being in this area of London and was amazed with all the mural paintings around the area. There's also a line of shops just beside the station. It's really a 'hipster' place. So, I walked happily along the Bethnal street and taking pictures along the way. But then I felt like I'm being followed. It might be nothing but I got the hell out of there as fast as I can. Its better to be safe than sorry. Female travelling alone must always be vigilant and trust your instinct. A reminder to myself!
ps: I didn't even get to see the Cereal Killer cafe! 

Now that I was relatively safe in the Overground, I was thinking where should I go next. I decided to go to where the tourists are, Oxford Circus! I walked along the Regent Street to find a nice cafe to have some coffee and cake. Stopped by a cafe on Regent Street and bought iced coffee to go, my it was boiling hot outside. I continued walking till I reached Piccadilly Circus junction. Now, I'm hungry!

I felt like having a lobster roll today, so I headed to Bond Street to the Smack Lobster Roll deli. I bought the Seven Samurai Lobster roll, which has tempura lobster, Japanese mayo, Japanese cabbage & pickles. It cost me 10 pounds. It was quite cheap considering its a lobster, duh!. But oh my god, the lobster roll was really good. The buttered brioche was to die for and the tempura lobster was nice as well. Done with my late lunch now off to do some window shopping.

Laduree macaroons in Burlington Arcade!!

Walked towards Bond station and saw this new shop in West One Shopping Centre - Simit Sarayi. It's a Turkish based franchise that sells various types of bagels, breads and desserts. The smell of warm bagels was so enticing that I bought one (to go) even though I was still full with lobster roll. I was on my way to the underground that I saw Wasabi - my favourite sushi place. Bought my favourite dish - pumpkin croquette for dinner. Wow! That's a lot of food to be eaten in a day. But no worries, I always have my husband to finish it all off at home.

I really wish that I had a chance to visit the Cereal Killer cafe, though. Maybe next time with my husband as a company. Not going to that place alone again anytime soon.