My personal tips on eating healthily during the holidays 

Happy 2017!

As I write this post, we're heading into the 2nd week of 2017. It's still a brand new start to the year, if you've spent the last week doing pretty much nothing (like me... lol!) Well, it's time to kick myself in the butt and get my body moving! I've not been watching my diet and have been eating almost everything and anything since our Bali trip in November 😜

While Christmas and New Year's festivities are out of the way, here in sunny Singapore and in most Chinese countries, we've got the Chinese New Year (CNY) coming round! The old me would have simply said 'let's just get CNY out of the year before I start my diet!' Or how many times have we heard someone else say 'my diet starts tomorrow' and tomorrow never comes? 😏

Is it possible to eat healthy or watch what you eat during festivities without feeling like you're missing out on lots of good food? Definitely!


Here's how I control my diet during festive seasons and a couple of tips for you newbies too!

1. Stay hydrated
   The keyword here is WATER. Not soda, diet sodas, sweetened tea or coffee. The good old plain water. I always carry my 1l bottle around, whether I'm home or out. And during visiting to relatives' homes during CNY, I'd ask for water instead of the packet ones. It is also important to hydrate yourself so as not to fall ill easily.
2. Refrain from snacking (as much as you can!)
   It's extremely tempting when you have lots of CNY goodies around like bak kwa, pineapple tarts, kueh bang kit, etc. It's okay to have one or two tidbits/snacks here and there while visiting. But to eat lots of it is a huge no-no. Not only does it make you put on the pounds, these CNY snacks tend to 'heaty' too and you will get a sore throat or get a fever if you have too much of it. I don't usually buy lots of such for the home, as my husband doesn't fancy them and I restrain my kids from having too much too. So we only get some during our visiting (mostly on day 1) and none for the rest of the CNY period, or should I say, the year?
3. Avoid carbs  
   Well, this is essentially the holy grail of all people who are watching what they eat. Carbs doesn't just include rice in our Asian culture, it also includes noodles, bread, certain vegetables and fruits. In my family, we almost always have fried noodles as it symbolises longevity. I'd only have a small portion (about 1/4 portion) and keep to all things meat and vegetables. 
4. Avoid gravy & steamboat soup
   I come from a Cantonese family and we love to braise our food, as it was a form of food preservation in the past. While the gravy is full of flavour and oh-so-yummy, I do my best to not put them into my food. Why? These gravy are full of fats rendered from the meats that are cooked. You definitely don't want those to mess up your diet, unless you don't mind working out every day during the CNY period.
   Same goes for the steamboat soup too!
5. Have small bites 
   It's tough to decline any food offers especially when our elders spend the day cooking up a storm. Have small bites here and there. This helps to prevent you from overeating too, as you won't know if you'll be late for your lunch or dinner. Having small bites will keep your metabolism up. Personally, I'd travel with one or two servings of protein shakes. These help to fill me up and I don't have to feel guilty too! 
6. Keep moving
   Well, this is pretty self explanatory. No matter what you do, keep moving! Most of us drive around now, and it's quite easy to keep sitting from one house to another. I'd typically try not to sit too much, especially after a meal. Anyway, you can always say you're letting your elders have the seats - score point right? 
7. Probiotics 
   After a few days of non stop eating, it's pretty easy to feel bloated by day 3. Having probiotics every day helps keep my gut healthy, and as the saying goes, a healthy gut, a healthy you! 

With some mindful considerations, healthy eating is definitely possible during the holidays. Let's aim to grow fitter this 2017! 💪

I've got a thing for lippies, I love them! I used to buy all kinds of lip sticks, lip glosses, lip balms, etc, but only to throw most aside after a few uses. Why? Some colours end up not lasting on my lips, some just did not match my skin colour, even though it looked nice when I swatched it on my hand. I've bought all types of brands, from drugstore brands to high end brands. None of them seemed to last long on my lips, until I found Artistry.

I fell in love with Artistry just over a year ago, when I discovered its skincare and makeup ranges use all natural and organic plant and fruit extracts, all grown and harvested from their own certified organic farms! I'd grown to love their lipstick range, as the lip colours NEVER bleed AND as a someone who's always on the go, very little touch up was required. The colour just stays on my lips all day long.
So when Artistry launched this lip gloss range, naturally I was excited and quickly picked up my first one. My oh my, what a life changing moment it was! Isn't this just any normal lip gloss, you might ask?

Hwa you, at any point in your lives, encountered 1 or 2 occasions where you struggled to apply your lipstick or lip gloss but unable to find a mirror or was just too dark to do it? Well, I have. And this is the perfect solution - a light up lip gloss complete with a built-in mirror!

In-cap LED spotlight

Built-in mirror

Its in-cap LED spotlight illuminates onto your lips providing light as you glide on the colour. Use it with the built-in mirror and you can now apply/touch up your lips anywhere, be in in the car, on the airplane, at a dinner or even in the dark!

Check out this video below, where I was applying it in the dark:

And our holiday has finally started!

Despite some hiccups with our flights, we finally made it out of Singapore and landed in beautiful Bali!

Oh yeah, we gotta climb those stairs!

The views from the lobby

Enjoying the welcome drink

On checking in, we were told that they got us an ocean view suite. This, I suppose, was an upgrade for us as I recalled our package was a garden view suite. When we got to the room, we were extremely surprised by the enormity of the suite! I'd done my fair share of Googling before the trip and I've read that the rooms were huge. But to see it and realise it's THAT huge, all we could say were 'Wow!' As you can see from the picture below, the sofa in the living room can already sleep 2 people extremely comfortably. This was where our helper would sleep, and where my hubby decided he'll sleep as he just did not want to squeeze on the bed with me and the kids.

Look at the size of the sofa!

The bedroom and balcony areas

One thing I absolutely love about going on vacations is the his-and-her basins in the resorts' bathrooms, it really is something I'm unable to recreate here in sunny Singapore (due to lack of space in our apartments, and of course, not effective cost-wise).

His basin with the shower area

Her basin with the toilet area

Trying to do a 180 tour here:


Tell me you don't want to wake up to this gorgeous view everyday! I certainly didn't mind waking up before 7am, just to sit in the balcony and enjoy the lullaby of the waves and the refreshing cool winds, before the kids woke and disturb the peace.



Other amenities given are the Nespresso coffee machine and its free coffee capsules and its abundant choice of teas:

Throughout our stays with Anantara, I've realised that their housekeeping will come to turn down the bed in the evening. And they will leave a local snack in the room for you to enjoy too!

A little intro of this Balinese glutinous rice snack

My little photo bombers <3

Trekking the steep slope instead of the stairs

Fishing fishing!

View from infinity pool

The other infinity pool below

Next to the pool is Sea.Fire.Salt, one of Anantara's signature restaurant

My kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly

A little digging led me to Sundara, a non-profit organisation that does soap recycling and thus provides training and employment opportunities for the local women in developing countries.

Unlike other hotels/resorts I've stayed in, Anantara changes your towels every 2 days. Of course, if for some reason you'd like it to be changed daily, you can always inform the housekeeping staff by placing the used towels on the floor in the bathroom. By changing the towels every other day, we are doing our little best to help conserve the planet we live in.

We were definitely pampered by the luxuriousness of the Anantara resorts and truly loved our stay at Anantara Uluwatu! Would we be back again? Definitely, perhaps not with the kids the next time round!


PS: I was not paid in any way to write this post 😉

Christmas is just round the corner! Gosh, how did time fly by so fast?!

For the past couple of years, we've been organising a small X'mas gathering with them and the in-laws at our place. We'd order some roast chicken/turkey/lamb from Cold Storage and I'd put together a salad, some sides and a cheese platter. However, the roast food which we ordered from Cold Storage often came cold and uncooked, and I'd still have to slave in the kitchen making sure the food is cooked. And not forgetting, it's rather expensive too!

So this year, I thought why not roast my own chicken? This isn't your typical throw-in-the-oven-and-roast chicken recipe that'd end up with overcooked, dry and tough chicken. This easy roast chicken recipe promises to be healthy, juicy and succulent! I used my trusty Thermomix (aka German helper) in this recipe, but have also included the steps for conventional cooking.

A heartwarming dinner for the family!

• A whole chicken (I'd used a small sized chicken bought from NTUC) 
• Fresh/dried herbs (I used dried rosemary, thyme and smoked paprika) 
• Sides whichever you fancy (I used baby potatoes, baby carrots, red capsicum, zucchini and broccoli)

We're nearing the tail end of 2016. Do you remember what you've enjoyed, what you may have disliked or even the celebratory occasions?

Well, I've got it all down in my trusty Passion Planner!

What's so great about this planner, you may ask?
It does what a planner should do, and much much more! I came across it just after Chinese New Year this year after someone posted it in a Facebook group I was in. Intrigued, I went on to find Passion Planner's website. At that time, they had found sufficient investors to back their Kickstarter to continue the business and it touched me that they continued to give those in need through their programs found here: www.passionplanner.com/giving/

There are 2 versions, the one I currently have is the dated version in compact size. Meaning? It is in an A5 size, ideal to bring it anywhere you go, and obviously, it has months and dates already printed. However, as I write quite a fair bit, the compact size was just a little too small for me. I often find myself squeezing my schedules into the given slot/page. Perhaps it's my handwriting that's too big? 😂

The one I bought for 2017 is the undated version in classic size - A4 sized planner with no months or dates printed.
However it still works for me as the features remain the same. Not to mention, I got this at 50% off in October 😜 Besides, doesn't it look pretty? 😍

What I like about Passion Planner:

• Passion Roadmap: this is found at the beginning the planner where you map out your wish list from 3 months, 1 year, 3 years and lifetime. 
• Passion GameChanger: on the next page is where you'll decide one or two wishes from the Passion Roadmap page and map out your timeline and the actions you need to take, making you accountable for your own goals! 
• Passion Roadmap and GameChanger will appear in the middle of the planner, where you check if you're on the right track to your said goals. 
• Monthly pages: I love it as it helps me see what I have going on at a glance. I often use it to chart my fitness progress and even as a meal planner at times 
• Weekly blank space: It helps me to focus and keep track of what I need to get done for the coming week 
• Monthly reflections: This is a feature that most planners out there do not have. 7 questions are printed in these pages, and I am 'forced' to think back the progress I've made or have not made. 

Now, I've never been quite a journal person myself. As a work-from-home mom, I used to often find myself overwhelmed with endless to-do things for the family and the business. I used to put my schedules into my phone's calendar as they come in. Of course, there are times where I get distracted by the kids and I forgot to note down the appointments or double book meetings! 😨
But with the Passion Planner, it was the perfect journal and planner for my family's priorities, business appointments and blogging schedules! I would take 30 minutes of quiet time on Sundays to plan out the week ahead. I use different colour highlighters or pens to mark which activities are for the business, family or the blog. This is how I ensure there's always a good balance of work and family, and there is always time for me to unwind/keep my sanity! 😉

Note this isn't a paid review. This is purely my honest opinion and how I've liked using the Passion Planner. I hope it'll benefit many more, just like how it has benefitted me! 😃

For more information, do visit passionplanner.com. They also have a strong community in their FB and Instagram accounts where users share how they use their planners.

Have a great weekend ahead!

Diastasis recti... what the heck is that?! That was the question I asked myself when I first came across these 2 words. It wasn't until I googled why I just can't seem to lose my mummy pooch that I read about this condition.

Photo taken from Google images

'Diastasis' means separation and 'recti' refers to the abdominal muscles called "rectus abdominis".  It is essentially the separation of the right and left abdominal muscles, as seen in the above picture.

Many of us know October means Oktoberfest right? Drink lots of beer and eat pork knuckles!

But do you also know that October is the month of breast cancer awareness worldwide? Before you ask what this has got to do with you, well, let's just say it's always better to know more than less doesn't it?

As a busy parent, I am often putting my family's priorities before mine. This includes a trip to the salon, fitting in a mani/pedi slot into my planner or even making a trip to the gynae! It's been more than 3 years since I last got my annual check (guilty as charged!). Ever since I got pregnant for 2 years consecutively, I've only been to the gynae for the monthly prenatal checks and thereafter, the 1 month postnatal check.

Although it's an uphill task to fit in a gynae appointment, I do my own self-exams at home, ensuring that all is well with the 'ladies'. Being a breastfeeding mom (still), I do sometimes get paranoid when I feel an abnormal lump and it's never easy to tell which is an anomaly and which is just a clogged milk duct 😂

Remember, as moms/daughters/wives, we need to first take care of ourselves before we can continue caring for our loved ones. I've booked myself an appointment with my gynae (while writing this post). Wait no more and book yours now! 😉