Food blues

What would you do when practically everybody’s been telling you that you look a little, er, chubbier (they’re just being nice, aren’t they) since the previous couple of months and you yourself knew it was useless to indulge yourself further in self-denial as the weighing scale would not fib on the fact that you have just gained 2kg in a short couple of weeks (and counting, you can feel it somehow) and that there must be a fair reason to the fresh stiffness you experienced every time you tried to button up your jeans? Alright, you know that I know you know the answer already (don’t mind me, this is the after-effect of one of my midnight blues), but here goes anyway: you go on a diet.

I was never one to be obsessed with my weight and all, but sincerely speaking, I myself am quite alarmed by my present eating pattern. I’ve always been a big eater since the dawning of days, but nothing quite prepared me for this sort of food rampage I am on ever since my arrival in this foreign land. My theoretical conviction concerning the root of this problem lays in the truth of me terribly missing local Malaysian food- more specifically, traditional Malay delicacies. And oh, let’s prod deeper and be more explicit about it, why not. I’m specifically talking about ikan bakar (preferably fresh-water ones) with kuah asam, telur ikan masak lemak, udang harimau masak merah, sayur pucuk paku, pucuk manis (dan segala pucuk lah) masak lemak/berlada, sayur rebung masak lemak, sambal belacan, tempoyak, cencaluk, and practically every kind of ulam that ever existed on this good earth, especially………. Haha, it’s no big secret, my dear family members will spill the beans (note the pun later on! Lol) in the comment box anyway… good ol’ petai.

Aha, I can see your face contorting with unreserved disgust already, but don’t be too hasty in passing bad judgment on their already moldy reputation. These fellas augment your appetite like no other, and I brush my teeth like, three times after eating them, so no harm done, really! I daresay that those who do not eat these yummy (even if a tad unusual) beans are missing out on one of the incredible wonders of life. Yes, they are that good. And oh, how could I simply forget to mention my all-time favourite breakfast meal, nasi lemak? My mouth happily watered just at the measly thought of it (and the picture of nasi lemak at the stall nearby our house my dad sent me yesterday did not help to lessen my cravings at all ;p) and don’t even get me started on other cultures’ dishes like briyani and chicken tandoori (super-duper yummy!) and char kuey tiaw (Planet Curry’s ones are the finest!), we might never finish this entry by dawn.

So the theory goes that I tried to make up for the lack of scrumptious halal food (note that it isn’t merely halal food I’m talking about) in this part of the world by scraping off every halal ones I could get my teeth on to the shameful extent of licking off pots and pans (don’t imagine the sight in a gross way). I drank a lot of juice, piled up on chocolate, chips, and cookies, and ate at least two platefuls of rice every night. Hunger pangs seemed to strike me all the time and the pain was double the ones I had had back in home. I noticed at some point that I wasn’t eating healthily and of proper quantity, but I secretly blamed it on the cold weather. Hehe. Moreover, green vegetables are extremely difficult to get hold of in this season and the closest thing we could get to bayam and sawi are… carrots and potatoes. I’m not really sure how these whole facts correlated with one another, but they relayed the same outcome- I was splendidly on my way to the realm of high blood pressure and diabetes and spare tyres. Helloo there.

Therefore, with great courage in hand, I set on a mission not too long ago (in fact, the day before yesterday) to prevent the swift increase of my cheeks’ circumferences and superfluous adipose tissues and blood pressure and so forth, which consists of tricky steps quite difficult to be accomplished for my part. Nevertheless, I will step forward without fear… (I know I sound soo fake).

Step 1: Eat one round of rice daily, instead of two, three and four (sorry abah, I can’t talk on spoonful terms yet)
Step 2: Do daily sit-ups
Step 3: Stop buying chocolate and chips
Step 4: Perform puasa sunat more often
Step 5: Do face exercise (hahaha, my father taught me this one)
Step 6: Eat more cereals with fibre and wholemeal bread
Step 7: Never forget to take my vitamins

Any more tips? =)


Waiting for mashrudka (public transport in the form of a van) to go home at 4.30pm from nearby the academy