Tips on Weight Management during Ramadhan

It was another day in the SKO Office, but this time its Ramdhan month. Life in Miri during Ramadhan not much of a difference back in Keramat. People throng to Bazaar Ramadhan after office hour and at night muslim congregate to nearby mosque for Solat Terawih. It was a last day of the week and as usual my intention of coming to work on Friday was to publish many reports and update the boss on the inititaives.  Furtherore I'm heading back to Keramat that evening and I am doing necessary arrangement for my flight back home.

Over the SKO PA system, I heard announcement that a Session on Diet Rasulullah and how to lose 10-15kg during fasting month will be conducted in the morning. I took it just another in-house training course to occupy our time in the office. At first I was instigated by Fairuz, my fellow colleague to join the session and hesitantly I gave him lame excuse of meeting datelines for me to skip the session. But the fact is, I did not see any benefit of attending the session as I was already loosing my weight coming to the end of the first week of Ramadhan. I assumed that there will be nothing new coming from the words of the trainer and having worked in the Nestle before, I think i know everything related to nutrition at the back of my hand. So I just continued doing my work lazily, checking in on line, printing the boarding pass and planning the rest of the day ahead.

As time went by, I managed to get my jobs completed earlier than i expected, and I felt nothing else to do much. Then came Hidayah asking me to join him in the session. I thought, why don't I give it a try since Hidayah, having the size of me was very eager to go.There must be something special about this session, so I walked my way to Dining Hall where the venue of the event took place.

When we reached there, the session was already started with aerobics exercise . At that  time it was  a different scene from the one you could see in a gym or any aerobic class. I could see the exercise was being done with the participant sitting on the banquet chair. With energetic music and a lovely instructor, immediately I got into the mood and rhythm. I sat at the back of the room, joining with the rest. It was a very simple exercise to follow, you just have to do bench press, stretching your arms outwards, to the side and upwards while thumping your feet to the floor at the same time. And repeats that for a few rounds. Not bad for a novice like me as compared to the Poco - Poco dance I joined during the HSE Day. I can see that the exercise can be done anywhere especially in the office. We did a few rounds and after 10 minutes I could feel the difference. The good things was, I did not feel exhausted. Wow, it's gonna go into my routine exercise that I can do in  my room,but not in the office just yet.

The session become more interesting when the trainer move into discussing the topics. The first trainer, Ms Ayusandha, the training instructor gave some tips on exercise that can be done during Ramadhan especially before sahur. Simple yet effective, the exercise just focus at the thigh position. Ms Ayusandha (the alter ego name of the instructor) mentioned that we need to take coffee prior doing any exercise, as it will strip off the fat from your body if you practice it.

Then came the instructor, Benjamin Redza to further excited the audience. Having experience as the nutritionist for Kelantan Footbal Club and once served in Istana of Johor, he definitely a person you will took every advice that you hear from him, and he is also a cancer survivor He shared many interesting topics which very practicable to anybody. Below are some pointers and tips that I managed to put down in the interest of those who accidentally bump into my blog.

1.We must differentiate between hunger and appetite. In malay both mean lapar, and this switch your brain giving signal to the body that you are hungry. What we require is the use of word balance diet.

2.There are two ways our body giving the signal in relation to how much food the body want to consume. Control these two signals, you are one step closer in managing your body weight properly.

First signal is a signal from your stomach to the brain. When this signal being transmitted your become hungry instantly. This signal goes very fast as compared to signal the brain sent to the stomach when you are already full. Generally it will take 20-30 minutes for the second signal to be transmitted. He advised us to spend time less than 20 minutes for each meal. If you are taking more than 20 minutes, you are taking more than what your body needed. Chew your food 20-40 times to prolonged the time.

3.The type of blood determine the pattern of food intake. Me, a group B type, is people with less vulnerable to virus because we have better antibody system. We can do exercise like brisk walking, swimming to control our weight.

4. How to "service" your intestine by flushing. Take Nata de Coco(soluble fibre), 5-6 teasponful every day, and you will see the different in the stool after 3rd day. The intestine, after being flushed will ensure your digestive system work effectively. You will not become hungry easily, and the nutrient can be transported fast if your digestive system working well.

To complement this, take yakult

 5.Take Yakult, instead VaiTOGERN, as yakult has more bacteria count than the latter. Yakult works  better for the same quantity of serving.

6. Sign of toxin accumulation can be seen in the colour of your finger nails.

    Pink-you are in a pink of health

    Purple-you are in danger, that is the sign of toxin accumulation in the body.

7. Sign of high cholestrol - dark mark in the neck,around  armpit and thigh

8. Dates, honey, and raisin is the most effective source of carbohydrate/glucose. It will go into the blood stream faster than any other food source. The faster it turn into glucose, the faster your body energized.

9.Drink lot of plain water before and after sleeps. Gargle you drinks in the mouth before consuming. It will collect in the amylase enzyme in the  mouth that help in the digestive system.

10. Effective body weight Management, S.E.S

      S-Ah damn...I forgot what S stand for, something to do with food intake

      E-Exercise Regularly

      S-Sleep, get enough rest and sleep in between exercise

Memorable years in Nestle Shah Alam

The date 14th December 2011 is a day of remembrance for me. It was the last day that I after enduring 3 years 11 months and 14 days of fond memories with The People's Company, never had I thought I will be leaving the company with heavy hearts leaving behind all the familiar and friendly faces.

During the early year 2008, It was the time that I get myself familiar with the new working environment. A shift from working in a Japanese  company to a Swiss company and into the world's biggest food producers took me quite some time for me to acclimatized. From doing hands on job of operating Plating machine to managing a processing plant operation, it was the biggest change that I had gone through in my career. It required me to have a leap of faith knowing that the environment and system are different and far apart
The first Boss whom I reported to was Azmin Ahmad, the Production Manager who I would say the most smart guy I have ever worked with as a boss. Two years younger than me but showed great maturity in  managing almost 100 staff and a complex manufacturing operation . Heard from senior staff how good he was when doing troubleshooting in UHT plant and filling operations as he himself is a very technically competent. He was one of a few Nestle selected staff who was being groomed to take a management position later in their carreer.

This was a photo taken during our secret mini party to celebrate Azmin's 32nd birthday in the Daily Operation Review Meeting room. The party was carefully planned by Liza and Balan so not to allow the cake being "sniffed out" by Factory Manager. The FM set a ground rule not to bring any kind of food into plant and knowing how strict he was, we did manage to finish the cake together with some chilled MILO refreshment taken from production.
Looking at the cakes with admiring looks were Mustafa Kamaludin,fellow Line Manager, Aishah our lovely planner and Bathumalai the Plant Technician
I had the opportunity to work briefly with him  for 5 months when he announced abruptly that he would resigned from Nestle. The news came as a surprise to all of us knowing that we saw that he was indeed in the right direction career wise. None of us had expected that he was going to leave Nestle. His reputation was on high at that time, as RTD has been transformed into a high performing plant. Under his stewardship, RTD once were called Ready To Die plant, described by the FM, like a chicken running without head as a result of many operational issues, changed into the most efficient plant in Shah Alam complex. We produced the biggest volume with high filling machine efficiency. Our MSA was the best in the region, a feat which has never been repeated until these days.
Surely we had to accept the fact people with good credential will not stay long at the position and admittedly Azmin was indeed that person. For reasons known only to him, he left the company in June 2008 but definitely with his head held high.

Group photo taken in front of RTD plant to capture our last moment with Azmin Ahmad, the Prod Manager. Here Azmin standing next to Mutalib



I also had the opportunity to work with another outstanding person, Mustafa Kamaludin my fellow Line Manager.Just like Azmin, he showed potential to become a leader as he was always been asked by Azmin to deputize him, especially in his absence. 1 year elder than me, married to a Doctor he definitely the person I look to when i need advice. An avid Marathon runner, the only thing that I found it hard to follow. Just look at the photo how lean he was as compared to the guy next to him,me. In this shot, we were waiting nervously for incoming cable car in Langkawi
Just the same with Azmin, he resigned as Line Manager after working for 3 years in RTD, one month before Azmin tendered his resignation. He had accepted an offer that hard to resist by anybody, a work at MARS,chocolate making company in Dubai.
The departure of both these guys were greatly missed by us especially the Bumi staff as they were among the few outstanding bumiputra staffs who had showed potential to go further (as in MILO motto) up the ranks. At the time of the departure, A Non Dairy Creamer plant was in construction and both the guys were rumored to be involved in reorganization of Shah Alam Complex Management. Azmin would be promoted to move to the plant while Mustafa would be promoted to head RTD plant. Of course it did not happened as what have been planned by the FM.

4 years working in Nestle was indeed a joyful and interesting journey. We had a lot of activities and initiatives, I mean really a lot of activities . My time was well spent on endless training, countless show and tell session, vacationing during Departmental Goal alignment, meetings and many more meetings. I had also joined such trip organized by the operators themselves during plant shutdown. The first and only self-paid trip that I joined was a trip to Langkawi. I joined the trip in last minutes as I was very hesitant to go at first. Not that I am an introvert person, it was that time i was unable to fork out RM200 over for the flight and hundreds more ringgit to spend over there to buy cutlery sets, chocolates, minyak gamat and many more. But due to some pressure from Azmin, i finally listed my name for the trip and the rest as they said was history. At the end of the trip, it was money well spent because I got to improve my rapport with the staff and together with it, I managed to get their trust on me.







Boarding Fire Fly Turbo prop at Subang Airport. Langkawi here we come



Scenery around Airport runaway. First photo we shoot once arrived in Langkawi. We rented a van a took a round trip around the Island.
Next to me Boimen, Abang Ismail, Abang Huri
Seated from Left: Khardiaman, Apek and posing a la "Jeans model" Awe









Breathtaking view from top of Gunung Mat Chincang. Photo taken after a nervous 15 minutes trip in cable car to reach the top of the mountain

Yachts docking at Awana Porto Malai







Few of the guys taking some pictures. Mazlan, Tok Moh, Rohisha, Khardiaman (squatting)


As Line Manager, one of the tasks that I had to take was developing our staff by involving them into some small projects. They need to pick a project related to work improvement and presented the project in front of panel of jury consisting IP Managers
I was assigned by Azmin to coach one team to undertake a project in Process area. After carefully selecting team members, we came out with a project on improvement of lifting procedure in Tipping operation. The team was named DC - Double Care, DC is also an acronym for one of RTD product sku which is Milo Double Concentrated.
The project took more than one year to complete as the Project met with lot of roadblocks. All the proposed actions by team were neither feasible nor did it bring major benefits to the operators.
After bringing up the issue to Jeffrey Lawrence, our new Production Manager, he proposed the vacuum lifter method which he claimed being used in his previous plant in Chembong. With support from Jeffrey in getting the money from Engineering (costing us RM52000), the system was setup and operational in 1 month time






The improvement project of vacuum lifter - to automate lifting of raw materials bag during tipping. Mazlan going through training session with the supplier

To close the project the team had to present their project in SGIA Convention where they tip their project presentation skills against 2 other teams. The prize was great but the guys were very nervous as the preparation was done only 1 day before the presentation day. With lack of preparation, the DC team managed a runner up to Nescafe team due to some technical error done in underestimating the benefits of the project, and I had to admit that it was me to blame for the error. We should have won the competition as we have better project management and execution, but kudos to the team for completing the task and have the courage to present it.











Participating teams cheering in the last photo session

Makan time at Tanjung Pengharapan using the prize money we received as a runner up in the SGIA Convention. Awe, the Team leader and Apek(in photo) were joined together in the dinner with Shahila and Nora

Dinner, free lunch, refreshments was overly rich in Nestle. If one needs free lunch, he just needed to go to the canteen after 1 pm and look out for food spreads leftovers inside the dinning room. It was almost everyday that Shah Alam Complex hosting function and training for Nestle employee as we have a nice Conference room named Skyroom. The room has a nice location with window screen to the side of the room overlooking green surrounding of Nestle Complex. It also has a mini garden outside the room where you could have a feeling at home whenever you need to stretch your legs,  Most of the time the organizer cater outside foods for the participants and surely they have more than enough to serve the participants. It was then you could see scavengers "flying around" to take a bite on the leftovers, enough to make who came late to the cafeteria for lunch.

One of the Goal Alignment I attended where we have a brainstorming session to line out programmes covering area such people development, Quality, Process Improvement, Project execution among Plant Executives.
I had a discussion with Daphne, the QA Exec and being joined by Mohana(QA Exec) and Thamil(FLM)

Business Contingency Plan training with Syed, the instructor.









Together with soon to be the next batch of Competency Based Training Trainer. Yoong, my best buddy cracking his head in one of the activities. Looking on Bahau (Cereals FLM). Joelle and Nurul doing their business.Most relaxing and enjoyable training I have ever attended. We got to throw and kick balls around  anytime to anybody during the class
See that box of Cake. We pull simple birthday party for Koay, NDC FLM



Looking back at those years in Nestle, make me wonder whether I could get the chance to experience it again in the future. Those memories is still vivid, though I will forget some of the names,but i will never forget all the moments. It will remain in my mind and definitely in this blog entry as I opened a new chapter in my next career journey and life.Thanks Nestle for the good and everlasting memories.

                                         

Last group photo for Jeffrey and my farewell dinners.
Till we meet again