Blogger Events – HEALTH FREAK MOMMY

Vitacare’s ‘Food For The Soul’ Event @ The Gardens Mall, 20 April 2018

I love attending Vitacare Pharmacy’s events and always look forward to receiving invites for its events which focus on healthy eating and living. I never fail to learn something new at each of its event.

The latest Vitacare event that I attended was held on 20 April 2018 at The Gardens Mall. Titled ‘Food For The Soul’, we were given tips on the preparation of easy yet wholesome meals using only natural and healthy ingredients. We were also introduced to several healthy beverages made from superfoods carefully designed for the health of our guts and overall health of our body.

Good Morning brand range of nutritious beverages from V Grains 18 Grains purple beverage, V Halia 18 Grains ginger beverage, V Quinoa healthy snack and Amazin’ Graze granola (my absolute favorite brand of granola!) :

There was a demo on how to use V Grains purple powder to blitz up a delish snack / dessert, which provides so much sustenance that it can be eaten per se as a meal replacement for those on a diet.

Everyone was given a cup of V Grains power-packed snack concocted by the team from Good Morning to bring home, together with a recipe book and CD. I was amazed to see how V Grains 18 grains powder can be used in so many creative ways to whip up an endless list of mouth-watering desserts and dishes.

VGrains 18 Grains is made up of 18 types of premium whole grains with 5 colours of phytonutrients. It is also added with 7 unique ingredients including purple sweet potato, blueberry, lutein, calcium, soya lecithin, prebiotic inulin and water soluble fibre.

A speaker explaining the importance of incorporating plant protein into our diet:

Beans, peas, nuts, seeds, soy and lentils are some of nature’s treasures. They are a powerhouse of good nutrition, a good source of plant protein, loaded with disease fighting phytonutrients, cholesterol-lowering fiber and naturally low in cholesterol and sodium. A diet focusing on plant-based protein sources can be beneficial for helping to prevent diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality.

This nutritionist concocted a delish smoothie composed of plant protein powder + organic rolled oats + green leafy vegetables + a pinch of salt (blitzed together), flavored with raw cacao powder and raw nuts.

I was given the privilege to try the smoothie, right out of the blender. Though it’s thick and some thought it would taste yucky but surprise surprise, it was pretty good! Nutty, oaty, chocolaty, milky and refreshing from the raw vegetables. This is a balanced cup of meal complete with carbs, protein and fiber, all in one. And it’s super low in calories and fat too. I had a cup of this and it filled me up pretty well, so much that I wasn’t even hungry when it was time for lunch.

This V Quinoa 18 grains crunchy bars healthy snack from Good Morning got everyone raving about how delish it is. We were passing the bag of snack around and everyone just couldn’t get enough of it. This product will only be officially available at selected supermarkets and pharmacies in June 2018. It’s made from healthy legumes and grains and tastes like pop corn. Our girls were fighting for the snack and it sure isn’t enough for the 3 piranhas haha!

Fibre Cleanse and Actizyme from New Morning ~ something for the health of your guts.

“You are what you eat” Agree with me on this popular adage?

Yes and no.

It’s actually “you are what you digest and absorb”. And this means you need to have healthy guts for good digestion, absorption and elimination. This is something that I learnt at the event from the nutritionist.

ActiZyme from New Morning is a premium, all-encompassing blend of digestive enzymes formulated to optimize the digestion of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, dairy, legumes, cruciferous vegetables, cereal grains and other foods. ActiZyme is an advanced digestion supplement that combines DigeSEB with a proprietary blend of 22 natural and bioactive fruits and vegetables and concentrates. This product is recommended for those who suffer from weakened or inflamed stomachs, pancreas or GI tract, the elderly who face declined digestive and absorption functions and for those who need the extra help to promote digestive and gut health and overall wellbeing. If you’ve had a very heavy meal and need aid in digesting your food, ActiZyme might just be the solution 😉

For those of you who need a little nudge in your bowel movements, New Morning FibreCleanse Forte might just be the answer. It helps to promote bowel regularity, promote healthy gut microbiata balance, healthy GI tract, better gut health and is 100% laxative with no laxative. Made from 11 fruits, 11 vegetables and Moringa Oleifera extract, FibreCleanse Forte also helps to promote internal cleansing and detoxification.

Celebs and bloggers taking part in an experiment with ActiZyme:

It’s amazing to see that with ActiZyme added into a thick oat paste, the paste gradually melted and liquefied. That’s how the enzyme in ActiZyme digests food in our guts.

A group picture to conclude the Vitacare event. Can you spot me? 😆

VIPs at the event include Sarah Lian, a local and international actress and other celebs.

As with previous events, Vitacare is extremely generous with their goodie bags. I always look forward to receiving it. All the products promoted at the event were included in the goodie bag, yippee! And an awesome bottle of high grade MGO 250+ Manuka honey from New Zealand too, which costs over RM100 a bottle!

Thank you very much once again Vitacare for having me at the event. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it and can’t wait to attend the next event 🤗

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Vitacare’s Health & Wellness Discovery Journey – Bloggers’ Event (Friday, 17 Nov 2017)

I was privileged to be be invited by Vitacare Pharmacy again to attend their Health & Wellness Discovery Journey bloggers’ event last Friday. The topic this time is on essential oils, Udo’s Oil, handmade natural soaps and some beauty tips. This is just the kind of event that I love attending, over and over again.

Did I tell you that I just love to step into Vitacare Pharmacy @ Mid Valley? I’ll be like a little girl in a candy shop whenever I’m at Vitacare Pharmacy. Organic snacks, honey (they have such a good range), supplements, quality beauty products, organic essential oils, these are just some of the products that this pharmacy offers. Their range of products is pretty complete.

We had the honor of having Prof. Dr Lim Lit Sing (Hong Kong) to explain to us what essential oils are and the difference between aromatherapy oils and essential oils.

Did you know that an aromatherapy oil is usually a 2% dilution of an essential oil in 98% almond or grapeseed oil which is usually extremely poor value for money? In reality, Aromatherapy Oil is just a massage oil presented in a 10ml bottle that looks exactly like the ones normally containing undiluted pure essential oil.

Prof. Dr Lim (in white shirt below) then introduced us to Florame organic essential oils, from France.

Florame’s certified organic essential oils are botanically and biologically defined. No synthetic ingredients, no dilution with other essential oils and no modification made to their natural composition, Florame’s certified organic essential oils are guarantee to be of the purest and highest quality.

Essential oils can have a healing effect mentally, physically, and emotionally. Technically, essential oils aren’t oils at all, as they lack fatty acids. Rather, they’re highly concentrated plant components. It can take a huge amount of a plant to get out even a small portion of essential oil, thus they are very expensive.

Being a sucker for essential oils, I was extremely delighted to find a bottle each of organic sweet orange and organic tea tree essential oil in my goodie bag! I’m so happy to have sweet orange essential oil added to my collection of essential oils now. As for tea tree essential oil, my family and I use it every single day for just about everything. I find tea tree essential oil a very handy first-aid oil to keep in your home, office and bring along with you everywhere.

Next up, Ms Faith Chong (in yellow picture below), co-founder of Sensenique Natural gave an interesting talk on natural soaps. For those of you with eczema, sensitive and dry skin, you would have already discovered that commercial soaps will cause dryness, itching, tightness and multiple issues to your skin. For someone with ultra dry skin, I can never apply soaps with harsh chemicals on my skin. Thus, natural soaps with essential oils are my skin’s savior.

Sensenique Natural handmade soaps are free from SLS, Paraben, Phathalates, synthetic color, animal fats, petroleum based chemicals, synthetic fragrances and preservatives. They are made using natural extracts and ingredients with a traditional cold process method which helps retain and preserve the goodness of natural ingredients used in the soap. Cold process soaps are also rich in glycerin. Glycerin is naturally formed in cold process soap making method. It is a humectant and emollient, thus hydrating skin and making skin soft and supple to the touch.

Clockwise from top left: lemongrass and orange, cinnamon coffee, charcoal and benkoang and ginger peppermint natural bar soaps.

Sensenique’s natural soaps are made from quality vegetable and fruit oils such as olive oil, palm oil, sunflower oil and coconut oil which are great skin protector due to its calming and moisturising properties. The added pure essential oils provide the soap with natural fragrances.

Below: Mix FM deejay Linora Low (on the right) and her friend in a guessing game. I first got to know Linora at an Ikea bloggers’ event about 5 years ago.

Wrapping up our interesting session is an enlightening educational talk by a nutritionist on Udo’s Oil 3-6-9 Blend.

Udo’s Oil 3-6-9 Blend consists of 100% sustainable, organic flax, sesame, and sunflower seeds, as well as organic oils from evening primrose, rice germ and oat germ. It contains omega 3, omega 6, and omega 9 fatty acids – all of which have been shown to boost cardiovascular health, brain function and promote radiant skin. After ingesting the fatty acids, your body turns those fatty acids into countless different compounds: fats are needed by almost every cell in the body. When you ingest fatty acids in the right ratio, your body can function in its most optimum state.

Towards the end of the session, there was a simple recipe demo, after which the bloggers were treated to a yummy DIY healthy snack comprising of corn flakes, almond milk, fresh and dried fruits drizzled with Udo’s oil.

Best of all, we were given 2 complimentary bottles of Udo’s 3-6-9 Blend oil! As the oil has to be kept chilled, the 2 bottles of Udo’s oil were stored in a bottle filled with ice cubes. How cool is that, eh?

As with previous session, we were given a big goodie bag filled with all my favorite things!

From my goodie bag: Florame organic sweet orange essential oil and organic tea tree oil, a pack of 4 Sensenique homemade soaps worth over RM160, Breton gluten-free biscuits, Perskindol, lunch box and a Relish healthy cooking recipe book.

Celebrities at the event:

You can purchase Florame organic essential oils, Sensenique Natural handmade soaps and Udo’s oil from Vitacare Pharmacy.

Once again, I’d like to say a big thank you to Vitacare Pharmacy for having me at this fun-filled event. I can’t wait to be at the next event! 😉

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Vitacare Health & Wellness Discovery Journey Event (The Gardens Mall – 14 July 2017)

This is one bloggers’ event that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. What would interest a health freak more than a health event, eh? From start to end, every moment of the Health And Wellness Discovery Journey Event organized by Vitacare Pharmacy was filled with discovery of informative health information.

The most exciting part of the event was a life demonstration of “Live Blood Analysis” (LBA) – a test using high-resolution dark field microscopy to observe the life blood cells to provide information about the state of the immune system, possible vitamin deficiencies, amount of toxicity, pH and mineral imbalance and other areas of imbalance. This test was complimentary to all the bloggers, with instantaneous results of our LBA. I opted to be the first volunteer to have my blood tested and I was really amazed and pleased with the results.

Below: my LBA results, projected onto the screen for all to view, with the pharmacist explaining the results…
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As accurate as a lab blood test done, the pharmacist could tell that I am anemic. As I had eaten a bowl of red beans sweet soup and peanut butter toast for breakfast, the microscopic test shows several slightly acidic blood cells (peanuts and red beans are slightly acidic). Overall, my blood analysis shows good blood profile with healthy blood shown.

After the first LBA of my blood, I was given a cup of Rin Enzyme to drink. Half an hour later, another LBA test was done to see the changes in my blood cells.

RIN Enzyme is a premium phyto-enzyme drink from Japan, fortified with more than 36 kinds of vegetables, fruits, grains, algae and greens. It is the perfect enzyme supplement for today’s hazardous environment and hectic lifestyle.

20ml of Rin Enzyme a day can help to enhance digestion and nutrient absorption, promote metabolism, increase body immunity, reduce blood acidity, normalize hormones, improve skin complexion, assist weight loss and promote general well-being.

Below: blood cells of my 2nd LBA, which according to the pharmacist appear ‘healthier’. Normal and healthy blood cells are roundish in shape and nicely spread across the field. They are sometimes touching or even slightly overlapping, but they’re not all piled up on top of each other. There are occasional small empty spaces.

After viewing the specimens of blood from about 5 volunteers among us bloggers, we were all “experts” already in differentiating healthy and unhealthy blood cells! Ha ha! When the microscopic images of subsequent blood smears were projected onto the screen, we could already tell which looked healthy and which didn’t.

Below: blood smear sample from one volunteer who told us that she’s a Thalassemia carrier. As you can see here, her blood cells are not roundish. They look beat up, clustered and piled together. They deviate from a perfect round appearance.

The LBA from another volunteer showed a bad overlapping of cells. The result interpreted that she has gout, is very stressed, has acidic blood and some other health issues.

I find the LBA very interesting. It’s a ‘fortune telling’ of sorts of our blood and health under the lens. I am now contemplating bringing our girls to have their blood analysed too. At least I know how healthy or unhealthy their blood cells are and how they can be remedied.

Vitacare normally charges a fee for the LBA but on some special occasions, like the event that I attended, they offer complimentary tests. Below is the special LBA microscope costing a whopping RM30,000 each!

Below: one of the founders of Vitacare, Mrs Yap.

30 years ago, in a quiet neighborhood mall in the Klang Valley, Vitacare was born. A long-held dream of two pharmacists, the vision then, of putting the customer first by providing the best top-quality health and well-being consultation around continues today as it did way back then.

Below: the owners of The Good Co., giving a short talk on their set up and products after distributing very yummy energy jars to us.

After the talk was over, the bloggers had a group photo session and refreshments of healthy snacks. We were each given a HUGE goodie bag (I’m SO HAPPY!) bursting with healthy goodies inside!! And gawd, the bag was really heavy with bottles of good stuff! I had to lug it around to get takeout lunch and then lug it to the car park.

I so love the bag…

… and all the contents inside…worth RM500!

Health freak’s delight in a bag: a bottle of Rin Enzyme, a bottle of tonic consisting of a concoction of ginger, lemon, celery, honey and apple cider vinegar, Breton healthy crackers, 123 Easy health drink powder, homemade mushroom powder, granola and nuts from Amazin’ Graze (my favorite – they sell really amazing and tasty granola), Lifestream Asta Zan supplement, wild honey and a very pretty gift tied with a gorgeous ribbon over an elegant box.

What could be inside the box?!

Cass was more excited that I was. I gave her the honour to unwrap the gift. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the bottle of Trilogy organic rosehip oil antioxidant and Trilogy firming body lotion! Trilogy is New Zealand’s no. 1 skincare brand and they are pretty costly here.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the health event and wish to thank Vitacare for inviting me. Please count me in should you have future health events 😉 I don’t mind being an ambassador of Vitacare as I’ve always been a loyal fan of this pharmacy. Vitacare carries an impressive array of health products, supplements and natural products.

For more information on the Life Blood Analysis offered by Vitacare, Rin Enzyme and other health products, do drop by Vitacare at the following address:

FARMASI VITACARE THE GARDENS
Lot LG-220, Lower Ground Floor The Gardens
Mid Valley City Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel / Fax : 603-2282 4641

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Expedition At Aquaria KLCC

It was definitely a day for my family to spend time together bonding and sharing love across. Our 2016 father’s day was well spent at Suria KLCC. But prior to our trip, we attended a sumptuous lunch party, courtesy of our condo Management as get-together for the residents.

While the hubs brought our 2 older girls to watch Warcraft: The Beginning, Cass and I went for a fun-filled expedition at Aquaria KLCC organized by Wyeth Nutrition to reward their S-MAMA Club members.

In this family-day outing, we were treated to a tour around Aquaria KLCC to learn about the underwater world and how we should preserve it, followed by catching ‘Finding Dory’ at TGV Cinemas. To begin our journey in Aquaria, members of the S-MAMA Club gathered for a group memento taken with LEX the Lion.

Can you spot Cass and me? We donned on mother-daughter outfit with matching flower hair ties too, heeeh!

It was Cass’ first visit to Aquaria and she was really excited! What a great opportunity this is.

Below – we found these Moon Jellyfish really fascinating as the body is translucent. With the interchangeable neon spotlight above the water tank changing colors and highlighting the jellyfish every few seconds, these sea creatures look really magical.

Cass and I did some good exercise at KLCC yesterday. I believe we chalked up at least 3km walking to and fro the KLCC shopping mall to Aquaria, walked around Aquaria, then walked to TGV cinema, did some window shopping and then walked back to the car park. No wonder we were both unusually hungry yesterday as we had burnt so much calories. And guess what? We whacked 2 regular sized cups of caramel popcorns to subdue our hunger pangs and saved some for Alycia and Drama Queen! The popcorns were complimentary too. They were really addictive. Cass and I couldn’t stop stuffing them into our mouths, ha ha! It was really an experience to have with my youngest baby.

After the expedition at Aquaria, we adjourned to TGV Cinema for another round of photo session (with hand held prop signs this time) and were given hard copies of the photos (complimentary too!).

After the photo session, we were treated to the cinema to watch Finding Dory.

Through this one-day journey, I learnt that S-MAMA Club strongly encourage cultivating family bonds that helps to develop positive familial relationships. Also in our trip getting to understand more about Wyeth Nutrition, I noticed their much efforts in supporting children’s Multiple Intelligence in 3 areas of Smarts – Brain, Body and People. This is accurately important in our children’s growing development where parents are most concerned for.

I’d like to thank Wyeth Nutrition for the enjoyable expedition, addictive caramel popcorns, photos and movie (Finding Dory). Cass and I had a great time at the event together! 🙂

Website: https://www.wyethnutrition.com.my/en

Facebook:

WeChat: WyethNutritionMY

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Lego Nexo Knights Launch 2016 @ Mid Valley Megamall KL

Lego Nexo Knights has finally landed on our shores!

LEGO Malaysia proudly and grandly launched the Lego Nexo Knights at the Mid Valley Megamall on 12 March 2016. It is Lego Nexo Knights’ maiden appearance in South East Asia and you know what? We are the first few in South East Asia to own a few boxes too. The girls, especially Cass is SO happy!!

The LEGO Nexo Knights, depicting a medieval kingdom set in a futuristic world, where five young brave knights “download” special powers to their shields in order to battle the royal court’s evil Jestro and a cast of monsters to restore peace.

The LEGO Nexo Knights set enables children and LEGO fans of all ages to relish an augmented play experience in both online and offline realms as they immerse themselves in the world of Knighton to be the best knights!

Can you spot Cass in this picture?

It was an event of great fanfare with attendance by a converge of media and bloggers, including yours truly, ahem!

This unique multi-platform product line which integrates a modern story line and technology with the timeless enjoyment of building blocks, should capture the imagination of children and parents alike, empowering them to learn together in a new fun way through play.

To extend the story and increase playing fun, more than 170 unique LEGO Nexo Knights powers represented as knight shields, have been scattered across the kingdom of Knighton. The powers can be found existing in both physical and digital forms, including building sets, print ads, books, comics and even the new LEGO Nexo Knights animated television series using the LEGO Nexo Knights: Merlok 2.0 apps which is now available for free via App Store and Google play. Once added to a digital power collection, children can creatively and continuously find new ways to join the knights to defeat the enemy with their ‘power ups’.

You can help your child to register at the NEXO Academy website at . Cass registered herself on our iPad and obtained some shields / POWER UP when she scanned the shield sticker on her Lego toy shield and Lego card bearing a shield using the iPad.

The media and bloggers were treated to lunch at Olive Garden. Cass’ eyes lit up instantly when she saw more complimentary Lego Nexo Knights on the dining table awaiting her! She was tickled pink!

While waiting for the food to arrive, Cass managed to assemble all the complimentary Lego Nexo Knights miniature sets. I must say that Cass is really GOOD with LEGO. She must have inherited the genes from her daddy, who is a big fan of LEGO. And it’s no wonder he so patiently waited for the entire event to be over. I think he enjoyed himself more than us!

Below – Yummy Italian food, courtesy of Lego Malaysia.

In under 1 hour, Cass managed to fix these Lego Nexo Knights.

After lunch, we were brought to a Virtual Battle Tour, where the kids had the chance to play with the Merlok 2.0 App game on iPad.

Below – Cass all soaked up in the Merlok 2.0 game on iPad at the Battle Zone while totally oblivious that she was being filmed by the media!

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Below – Cass trying her hands on the LEGO NEXO Knights SKU interactive game in the Power Zone @ the Center Court, Mid Valley Megamall yesterday.

Check out the shield she’s holding to obtain ‘power ups’.

From 8 March through 20 March 2016, these limited edition LEGO NEXO Knights 3D/hologram cards are exclusively yours when you make any purchase of the Lego Nexo Knights. There are 5 characters, available on different days.

Below – Cass waiting for a free print-out of her photo, which I posted on Instagram.
If you post a picture of yourself/kids/etc at this event on Instagram, you’ll get a FREE print out too!

Below – Our free print-out photo posted on Instagram, courtesy of Lego Malaysia.

Below – Cass receiving her new Lego Nexo Knights! She’s one very, very happy missy!

Back home, Cass was glued at the table and within 2 hours, she managed to assemble the entire set of LEGO Nexo Knights Beast Master’s Chaos Chariot (314 pieces) on her own.

Below – Cass is scanning a toy shield from her Lego Nexo Knights set with the iPad to obtain ‘power up’ for her Merlok 2.0 game.

Below – Macy (a female knight) now has more ‘power up’ to fight off Jestro and the monsters!

Cass thoroughly enjoyed herself at the launch of the Lego Nexo Knights as well as assembling the Lego and playing with the Merlok 2.0 app game on iPad.

That’s the sweetest thing to hear from your child when you know that you are only an imperfect mom!

Well, I must say that I enjoyed myself at the event too 🙂

The Lego Nexo Knights launch event is happening at the Center Court of Mid Valley Megamall from 8 March through 20 March 2016. Since it’s the school holidays, do bring your kids to check out the range of awesome products while letting them try their hands on the free interactive games, while getting some cool freebies too!

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