Diet during Ramadan month (fasting)

This month is a fasting month for all Muslim friends. Diet during this fasting period is important and therefore I am taking this post to discuss about it. Although fasting period ends next week, the diet advice can be a good reference in future.


For early breakfast (or name as "sahur" in Malay, Malaysian often treat it as lunch too), I suggest to make a simple sandwich, 2 to 3 slices of wholemeal or wholegrain bread with a cup of salad (tomato/cucumber), and half boil egg or 2 tablespoon of tuna/sardine. This can provide you adequate amount of carbohydrate, vegetables and protein sources. Vegetable is a need due to its fiber content to slow down the absorption of glucose into blood stream. However, Malaysian usually take heavier set of breakfast such as rice/noodles with vegetables and chicken as an alternative choice.


I would take this opportunity to remind people with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus patient is allowed fasting but under supervision of a physician by adjusting your medicine time and insulin injection. If he/she needs to take an insulin injection around 10 o' clock, it is necessary to take a light supper after that. It can be few pieces of high fiber biscuit or a cup of milk with 2 tablespoon of milk powder. This is a step to avoid hypoglycemia. Whenever hypoglycemia occurs (blood glucose level<3 mmol/L), there is a need to break fasting. The best time to check for you blood glucose level is before "sahur" and after 2 hours meal time. Hope my post did give you hints of diet plan during fasting period. I will explain further on another post tomorrow. Cheers.


这一次，我会谈谈斋戒月期间的饮食。这个月是所有穆斯林朋友的斋戒月。空腹的时间是从黎明开始到日落的晚上7时30分左右才享受晚餐。


首先，他们是必须吃早餐的。这时候的早餐是必须均衡和适量的。例如，他们可以自制三文治，放入2至3片的麦面包，加上1杯沙拉，西红柿，黄瓜和一颗熟蛋或2汤匙金枪鱼/沙丁鱼。摄取足够的碳水化合物，蔬菜和蛋白质是非常重要的。您可以准备饭菜肉类成为一餐。这包含一杯蔬菜，一条鱼或2片鸡肉，在加上碳水化合物食物如1碗饭/面/ 米粉/ 粿条。在这个斋戒月期间，早餐是一定要吃的，不可不吃，以防止长时间禁食引起低血糖。

如果有糖尿病病患在10时左右再注射胰岛素，那么是建议食用宵夜的。这宵夜可以是3片饼干或高纤维饼干或2汤匙奶。这样可避免午夜或清晨时低血糖发生。每当有低血糖发生（血糖水平<3 mmol / L的），就不可禁食了。检查你的血糖水平的最佳时间是还未进食前（早餐前）或开斋前（空腹）和进食后的2小时。 

Simple knowledge on prebiotic and probiotic

As mentioned on previous post, prebiotic is a type of non living things (special form of dietary) that act as food sources for good bacteria (pro-biotic). Then, what is probiotic? Probiotic is a type of good bacteria that intend to protect gut system. Further, probiotic is a living bacteria that can’t survive in heat/acidic environment. 


Prebiotics are nondigestible substances that pass through the stomach and small intestine unchanged. Prebiotics enter the colon where they promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. On the other hand, Probiotics are supplements that contain living bacteria. Take note that if these living bacteria dead before entering your gut system, they cannot provide your body any benefit.

If you are parents who are taking care an infant or young child, you will realize there is a lot of infant formula that mention the importance of prebiotic and probiotic and why they are included in formula. Infants and young children tend to have immature gut system, thus these prebiotic and probiotic can help improve their immunity of gut to prevent sickness.

如果你是照顾婴儿或幼童的父母，你会发现目前很多婴幼儿配方奶粉会提到益生元和益生菌被包括在内。婴儿或幼童往往有不成熟的肠道系统，因此这些益生元和益生菌，可以帮助提高免疫力，防止肠道疾病。

Why do we need Prebiotic & Probiotic?

Even through Littlediet isn't updated for 2 weeks but I have no doubt many readers are still accessing my site and search for information. Thanks for all. It is due to I was over-busy involving in a research project that I personally felt is beneficial for community. I definitely will share my experience with you all in future.


Recently, some of my friends facing health issue like stomachache or constipation during vacation or during their travel to another places for work. Most of them face this problem when they are eating different kind of foods and different habits in a new place. Of course, if only for two days, it won't be a big problem. However, if you are continuously face constipation during the whole week of outstation, I think this will not only make yourself suffer but influence your work performance as well.


What does the above situation means? It means that vegetables and fruits consumption is very important in keeping your gut healthy. Constipation is related with bowel irregularity which I have mentioned in previous post. If you need further information about this topic, you can find it in my blog. But, prebiotic and probiotic is the key to maintain your gut function well. Let's study prebiotic before probiotic, prebiotic is defined as  "non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and/or activity of bacteria in the digestive system in ways claimed to be beneficial to health". But, what is it actually?


When you are lack of good bacteria in your gut system, your body is unable to fight against pathogen (bad bacteria) and this causes either stomachache or constipation. Thus, we need prebiotic to help us prevent from pathogen attack. Speaking from my view, prebiotic is a type of non living things (special form of dietary) that act as food sources for good bacteria (pro-biotic). It helps in increasing numbers of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. The example of prebiotic are oligosaccharides and inulin. Therefore, if your health product claims to contain prebiotic, please read if any several terms of prebiotic are mentioned. The full list of example of prebiotic is availble from here. I don't want post this article long, I will explain prebiotic and probiotic in details for next post.


很多时候你到另一个地方时（旅行，工作），迫使你改变饮食习惯，你仍然需要保持平衡和健康的一餐。这意味着，蔬菜和水果的食用对保持肠道的健康是非常重要的。便秘与排便的问题在以前的帖子提到。这一次，我将会讲解益生元和益生菌。实际上，它们可以保持你的良好肠道功能。


当有些人的肠道没有足够的益菌时，是无法对抗坏细菌病原体，将导致肠道问题。因此，增加益菌是非常重要的，以帮助我们防止病原体攻击。益生元是一种非生活的东西，益菌的食物来源。它能够帮助双歧杆菌和乳酸菌的数量增加。益生元的例子是寡糖和菊粉。如果你的健康产品有益生元，请注意是否有真确的益生元的例子。

Bring your own lunch to work?

Hi working folks. Hereby I would like to share few tips which I encountered before, bring your lunch box to work. Many of us who work in offices may feel lazy to go out for lunch, they might prefer to bring own lunch box and prepare foods before coming to work. That was a nice move but beware of food safety.

Definitely we need a refrigerator (cold storage) and microwave (heat) in office, this will help us to retain the freshness of the food you prepared and minimize the risk of food poisoning. Also, do seal your food well. Secondly, you should separate your dishes and rice into two different container. Mixed meal can lead to a higher possibility of bacteria growing. Vegetables is a good choice for our meal for nutritional balance but as I mentioned many times, fruits are important too. Meat, eggs and soy dishes are better to be considered as these kind of foods can last longer compare to fish or seafood.

At last, I hope every dishes are completely fry, stew in order to kill the bacteria and can withstand a longer storage time. Happy DIY lunch. Cheers.

现在，很多上班族自带午餐， 自带午餐，只要没有腐败变质食物，不论你带什么，肯定比到街边食店或者预订快餐公司的盒饭要好一些。这个好，不仅仅指节省 金钱，更指营养安全。

要注意的是最好办公室有冰箱（冷藏储存）和微波炉（加热）。自带盒饭最好放冰箱冷藏，并在食用前加热。饭和菜肴分开盛放，不要混在一起。饭菜混合更有利于细菌繁殖生长。肉类、蛋类、豆制品菜肴都比较耐存放。鱼类菜肴放置时间一长，腥味就会加重。.菜肴要彻底炒熟，或者干脆炖煮，以彻底杀灭细菌，延长安全存放时间。所以，大家应该多注意才能开心DIY.

Do you know how much you need to drink daily?

Hi, good day. It is another week where people keep poking on haze issue and the importance of drinking more water. But, I would just suggest you should drink until a level where you don't feel thirsty. Below is a list showing fluid requirement for a person according to age.

AGE	Fluid requirements (ml/kg)
0 – 6 months	150
6 – 12 months	120
1 – 3 years	90
4 – 6 years	80
7 – 10 years	60
11 – 14 years	50
15 – 18 years	40
>18 years	30 - 35

Adults, if most of time he/she is working under hot weather, then he or she might need extra fluid requirment. The fluid best to be consumed is plain water or mineral water. A normal adults usually need minimum 1800 ml/ day which is 8 glass of water per day. This include all kind of beverages consumption and others high water contents foods (fruits). Meanwhile, high sugary beverages, coffee, carbonated drinks, alcohol are not encourage to be consumed as water replacement after a heavy exercise. It is due to beverages that will not help in release your thirsty might cause dehydration level worse. For example, coffee and alcohol has diuretic effects that can trigger fluid loss through urination. In the end, you are not replacing water consumption but out of your body. A kind note for all readers is that high sugary beverages can add calories in body, increase body weight gain problem and others health related problems such as diabetes mellitus. Think twice when you are looking for drinks when you feel thirsty.

对于成年人，如果大部分时间在炎热天气下工作，那么他或她可能需要额外的水分补充。最好的水分是白开水或矿泉水。一个正常的成年人，若是60公斤重，那可能需要至少1800毫升即是每天8杯水。这包括所有类型的饮料和其他含水量高的食品（如蔬果类）。含高糖饮料，咖啡，碳酸饮料，酒精其实是不鼓励替代白开水饮用，尤其是在大量出汗后或剧烈运动后。这些饮料不会舒缓口渴问题，反而帮助促使脱水程度。例如，咖啡和酒精，可以通过排尿造成更多的水分流失。虽然含高糖饮料可以补充体内更多的热量，但会造成增加体重的问题，如糖尿病等相关问题 。请多加注意。

Littlediet is back - Water to fight against HAZE

Littlediet has been not updated for two weeks. The busy life just doesn't end and weather in Malaysia is below healthy level due to haze. Therefore, water is a appropriate topic to start with.

Have you ever realized that water can give you power or energy too? Can you feel the recharging or refreshing after a mouthful of water? Of course, water do not have any energy, at here which means calories free. It is such a natural precious resources for human, animals, plants and eventhough our lovely planet.

70% of our body make with water. It can conclude that everyone also make from water as water almost occupied ¾ of our body. Water is the most important nutrient for life and has many important functions including regulating temperature, lubricating joints and transporting nutrients and waste throughout the body.

Fluid requirement for each people is different according to age, weight and activity level. Most of the infants since born is able to drink maternal milk only. Maternal milk actually already contains all the nutrients and fluid need for a newborn baby and usually they do not need top up with others fluids such as plain water. Some parents might worry their baby might have inadequiate fluid intake, but actually no worries on that. A newborn baby can easily get adequate fluid intake just from maternal milk where their immune system is not yet being fully develop, thus not strong enough against bacteria in water, better avoid plain water directly like what adults take. After a few weeks, when theie immune system is fully developed especially gut system (being the largest immune system of body), there will be no problem for drinking more amount of plain water. 

你有没有意识到，水可以给你力量或正能量吗？你能感觉到喝水后那滋润感和被充电的感觉吗？当然，水是没有任何卡路里的。水是属于大自然恩赐于人类，动物，植物和滋养了我们的地球的珍贵东西。我们应当好好珍惜它，不应滥用。

你知道我们身体内大部分都是水？这几乎是我们的身体大约70％。每个人都是由水组成的，由于它在我们的体内几乎占据了三分之四。水是生命中最重要的营养物质，并已包括调节温度，润滑关节和全身各处运送营养物质和废物的许多重要功能。

其实每个人的水分需求是根据不同的年龄，体重和活动水平。婴儿自出生只需喝母乳，这是因为产妇乳汁实际上已经包含了所有的营养物质和所需液体。有些家长可能会担心他们的孩子可能摄取不够的水分，但实际上他们没有必要担心。新生婴儿可以很容易地就从母乳摄入足够的液体。新生婴儿的免疫系统尚未充分健全，因此不易对抗水中的细菌。几个星期之后，当他们的免疫系统正在全面健全，尤其是肠道系统（即人体最大的免疫系统），那就不会有问题了，应该给予适量的水分。

Low calorie diet for Diabetes Type B Patient?

July is really a busy month, we should all take good care of our own health on the meanwhile of huge workload. Here is a recent article I read and found interesting. Scientists at UK's Newcastle University revealed that type B diabetes condition could be reversed by following an extreme low-calorie diet. They claim that this finding can transforms our thinking on the disease. Eleven people took part in a clinical trial reversed their diabetes by cutting their food intake to 600 calories a day for two months, and seven remained free of diabetes three months later.

Professor Roy Taylor, who led the study. "This is a radical change in understanding type 2 diabetes.


Type B diabetes is caused by an excess of glucose in the blood that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. This research aims to remove fat which was clogging up the pancreas, allowing normal insulin secretion to resume. They believe about type B diabetes is all about energy balance in our body.


I found their research interesting and may change our thought on treating diabetes type B patients. But, I do have questions regard this research such as how can we assure patient's determination on having an extreme low calorie diet?, how this method can 100% works in others population? I am looking forward to their next result with a larger clinical trial. Cheers.


英國紐卡索大學一項研究發現，病人只要接受2個月的地獄式低卡路里飲食，有望不藥而癒。研究人員要求11名二型糖尿病患者連續8個星期，每天只攝取600卡路里，這個攝取量只相當於一個午餐。這種“地獄式”節食療法的確對糖尿病患者有效，11名患者在實驗結束後回復正常飲食，3個月後再進行測試，結果當中7人沒有復發；到現在18個月後，5個仍有跟研究員聯絡的病人中，4個都再沒有糖尿病跡象。


虽然如此，我还保留了一些疑问。这种方法可以在每一位病人实行吗？每一个国家都有不同的饮食文化，暂时还不可以肯定这方法可以广泛使用。期待他们下一个报告。