How To Know If There Are Added Sugars In Your Children's Milk?

I have revealed how the (wrong) milk that our children drink might be increasing the risk of them becoming obese. It is a shame to know that certain companies are willing to make more profit at the expense of our children's health. And we parents are indirectly helping them in their mischief. :( So how should we know what growing up milk is healthy for our little ones? This is where labels become very instrumental. In my previous post, I talked about How To Choose The Right Milk for Our Children by reading the labels.

Daddy~I want to drink nian~nian. :D

Why read the labels? Because we can get all the information that we need from the labels. Then again we must be alert and  We parents, should be aware that corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids and sucrose are all in fact, types of added sugars under the guise of different names. So we mustn't be fooled by these fancy "nicknames" of theirs. These added sugars are nothing but empty calories that can lead to overweight and obesity. Yes! These added sugars have zero nutritional value and they are not needed by our little ones.

Now go grab your children's milk and read the labels. Go now. Got it? See if you can locate the name(s) (corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids and sucrose). If one (or more) appears near the top of the ingredient list, then the milk that your children are drinking contains ADDED SUGARS. *sigh* Very disappointing right? Why would they want to sell these milk with all those added sugars for our children to drink? They want our little ones to have decayed teeth and become obese? Beats me...

MAKE SURE the milk your children are drinking has no added sugar.

Here's another reminder to all parents. We should be very aware of claims such as "no added sucrose" or "sucrose-free", because it simply means there are other types of added sugars. They can be very tricky huh! :/ So what we parents can do is find milk which has no added sugars at all. It is very important for our children to be drinking nutritious growing up milk instead of one full of added sugars that can be detrimental to their health.

Think that I am too worried about these added sugars? Don't take my words for it. Watch these 4 videos to decide:

Watch what Professor Peter Davies and Dr. John Monro
have got to say about added sugars in our chidlren's growing up milk

I told you that I am going to share with you what growing up milk my baby Jordan is drinking right? It is Anmum Essential. So far ANMUM Essential is the only growing up milk powder with NO ADDED SUGARS. Have you seen or heard any other brand of milk powders claiming that theirs are without added sugars as well? I don't think so right? I don't want to be fooled and I am not going to risk my children's health in those sugary milk powders! I have made the right choice for my little ones. How about you?

Jordan boy is drinking Anmum Essential which has no added sugars. :D

Walking On Green Green Grass For The 1st Time

Recently my baby Jordan had the opportunity to walk on green green grass of someone else's home on the second day of Chinese New Year. Ha :D This is his very first time walking on a green pasture. Why is that? You see usually I will only bring him out for a stroll in our neighborhood on tarred roads. I have never allowed him to walk on the field near my home as I am afraid he would trip and fell down. So the other day when we visited our relative's home with huge compound, I gave Jordan boy the green light to roam of that green pasture. Did he enjoy it?

War...where are you right now~Jordan boy?

Slowly~walk slowly.

What are you looking at?

Of course he enjoyed it very much. He kept on walking back to the grass-filled compound after I carried him away from it. Perhaps he was excited to be able to step on those green green grass? Jordan boy did fell down on the grass but he was all smile when I anxiously reached for him. Being seated, he happily hit the grass with his hands. Guess it felt good to land on the grass huh?

So you like walking on the grass?

Eat Rice (爸吃饭)-The Best Chinese New Year Advertisement That Makes Me Cry

All of you MUST WATCH this brilliant tear-jerking advertisement from Bernas. This has got to be one of the BEST commercials I have ever seen in my life. It warms my heart and touches my soul. After watching this Chinese New Year advertisement, I cried...each and every single time. It has been a long time since we Malaysians get to watch meaningful commercials after the demise of Yasmin Ali. So this TV commercial-Dad~Let's Eat Rice or "Ba Sek Fan" (爸吃饭) is timely to wake us up from our ignorance, especially the younger generations. This serves as a wake up call for people who have always taken their loved ones for granted.

The broken bowl of rice...

Even though the theme of the commercial is about reunion dinner...IMHO it revolves around a father's unconditional love for his son. The commercial started off by showing how the spoiled son showed little or no respect towards his father and family. For example, he didn't mind his table manners; he didn't ask his dad's permission before flipping the channel which his dad was watching; All hell break loose when the son came home late one night and he angered his father. His infuriated father of course scolded him and this prompted the son to leave the house and found a job at the construction site which almost robbed him of his "freedom" (mobility) until his dad stepped in and help in again. Watch the heart-warming commercial now:

The most heart-warming Chinese New Year TVC ever!

Click HERE to download this brilliant TVC from Bernas!

So what do you think folks? Were you touched? Did you cry? The climax of the commercial was when the father stormed into the room and carried his despaired son whose legs were "paralyzed" onto the field. The father then piggybacked his son and said, "Son, step by step...you can do it!" So the father did this with his son every single day until he was able to walk again. Watching how the father devote himself to help his son really touched me. The flashback where the father grabbed both the son's hands, teaching him how to walk when he was young really makes me cry. I really cannot stop my tears from streaming down my face at this point. Can you?

Daddy will always hold your hands...

For those who are working away from your parents...when was the last time you call them or even go back to have dinner with them? For those who are studying elsewhere away from your parents...when was the last time you rejected invitations to go clubbing and partying with your friends to spend quality time with your parents? Your parents might say that they don't need you to accompany them...and you can go ahead and join your friends...but deep down inside...they want you to be by their side all the time.

How easy it is for us to forget what it was like,

when we were once family;

The times we shared,

How easy it is for us to forget our love;

How easy it is for us to forget how to smile,

It is easy to forget...

But it's even harder not to love.

Family is forever.

This meaningful commercial is not only about filial piety....more importantly it is about treasuring your loved ones which is none other than your family. We should not take our family for granted. Spend more time with them. No disrespect to anyone...but friends (most of them) come and go...but family is FOREVER! I hope my son and daughter will read this one day. I wanna let both Jordan and Jasmine know that, "Daddy will be very stern with the both of you, but no matter what...daddy will always love the both of you!"

Family is forever!

Yee Sang Must Be Tossed With Lots of Salmon!

Unlike the year of Rabbit, this year I have only tossed Yee Sang once. Last year, I have tossed this so-called raw fish salad thrice in 3 different locations with one of them being in Taiping. Too bad we couldn't travel back to the City if Rain this year. How about you folks? How many times have you tossed this must-have Chinese New Year dish? Surely most of you tossed this prosperous Yee Sang which signifies abundance in fancy 5-star hotel with those attractive ivory chopsticks right?

Our very own DIY Yee Sang set. :)

What's inside of our DIY Yee Sang set?

Make sure you take note of the ingredients, so that you can make
your very own DIY Yee Sang, which is more DIY than this! :p


Coloured " pickled vegetables"?


"Poh Chai" crackers.


Groundnut & Sesame Seed.


Ouh...didn't know we need pepper and 5 herbs powder as well?


Aww...no yee sang tossing is complete without these orange salmon fillets. :p

As for me and my family who are poverty-stricken. We had our "Yee Sang" tossing moment in our humble, little shack. Yupe! We bought our DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Yee Sang set from Jusco. Of course it didn't come with the must-have Salmon fillets. So I bought 2 different packs of Salmon fillets and slices on Chinese New Year eve to be tossed with my family. Although it looked rather simple, all of us love it. We enjoy mixing, tossing, hurling and jumbling up all the ingredients together while uttering those "auspicious" phrases and idioms to usher our brand new (lunar) year.

Unpack your vegetables and "Pok Chai" crackers.

Then arrange your salmon fillets beautifully. :p

Sprinkle the groundnut & sesame mixture.
And those white stuff-dried noodle? LOL :D

And not forgetting...plum sauce?

So now what?

Remember that when you toss your Yee Sang with your chopsticks, make sure you toss it as high as you can...but don't~lar toss it until they hit or stick on the ceiling. Ha :D I think the preferred raw fish for Yee Sang is Salmon. That is why I insist that my family's Yee Sang must be tossed with lots of Salmon. How about you? Then again...I was the only one who happily ate almost all of the raw salmon fillets and slices. Guess my father, brother and wifey couldn't stand the rawness of the Salmon huh!

Toss the Yee Sang!

Lau~lau~lau (means toss~toss~toss in Cantonese I think)

Yes. This whole bucket of Yee Sang is mine. Huatt~ar!!
Really "Nian Nian You Yee" aka Every year filled with fish (abundance)!

Best Auspicious Day To Start Working After Chinese New Year In 2012

By now I am sure a lot of you are eager to know when is the best (most auspicious) day in 2012 for you to start working again (开工日) after this Dragon Chinese New Year right? They say it is important for us to start working again on an auspicious day after Chinese New Year, so that our whole year will be a prosperous, smooth-sailing year filled with all the luck and wealth that we need. So if you had a bad year last year, it was probably because you started working on the wrong day after Chinese New Year! So don't make the same mistake again in this new Dragon Year.

When should you start working again after Chinese New Year?

As you know there are 12 different zodiac animals in the lunar calender, hence each zodiac animal has different best day(s) to start working again. You need to know you are born on which year to start working again! It seems that those who were born in the year of Tiger, Rabbit, Horse, Goat, Dog and Pig have BEST days to start working again (refer to the chart). This Dragon Year certainly belongs to both the Tiger and Pig as both as not 1 but 2 BEST days to start working again after Chinese New Year. Not fair at all right? LOL :D

The best day to start working again after Chinese New Year for:
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon & Snake.

The best day to start working again after Chinese New Year for:
Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog & Pig.

As for me, a raging bull...I don't have any BEST day to start working again after Chinese New Year. I do have several so-called GOOD days to work after my break. Unfortunately I have to resume my work on the 30th of January (Monday) which will be a BAD day for me. So how? My whole year will be ruined? Well...I guess I can't help it then. I am sure I can control my very own destiny in the year of the Dragon. :/ Hopefully you guys are able to start working again on your very best day. :)

Pick the BEST cut-out working day for yourself. :)