L is a middle aged single lady who is 5ft. tall (152cm. ) and weighs about 90Kg. She has a Body Mass Index of 39 which is incontrovertibly in the morbidly obese zone. L however thinks she is merely a little plump. Her main passion remains eating and she has no social life to speak of. She is still not married and has no relationship with the opposite sex. When you observe her closely she is far from ugly and bringing her back to her ideal weight of 53 Kg will unlock her svelte figure from underneath the lard and allow her to truly live again.
Aesthetics aside, L doesn’t realise the implications to her health which obesity poses. Every 0.5 Kg above ideal weight reduces your life expectancy by 1%. She is 37Kg overweight which means her life expectancy is already hugely compromised by 74%. This only is good enough reason to do something drastic. What more the impact on her social life. Ms. L is still holding onto the deluded idea that any man who is interested in her should love her despite her excess weight and consequent poor health. It is proven by much research that when a man chooses a woman he instinctively looks for good health and fertility. This translates to a slim figure.
Ms. L. is in denial about her weight, her health and her desirability in the social scene. What’s more she may be in subtle ways discriminated in many more ways. No one will tell her in her face that she has a problem but she may lose out in a job interview, be denied entry to a club or just not invited to certain parties. It is a cruel World after all and those that are less than perfect have a hard time.
People in denial may give the following reasons for not making a determined effort to fix their weight:
1. I am comfortable with my size. People like me this way.
2. I don’t have time to exercise or diet
3. I love my food and can’t give it up
4. I can lose the weight anytime. I have great willpower.
As you can see, these are all weak and invalid excuses.
Most times the fat person is afraid to lose the weight because it may remove one of his chief excuses for under achieving in life. What if you didn’t have that excuse. How would you then explain your failure.
The good news of course is that L can be fixed. Like a master sculptor, the bariatric surgeon can bring forth the new, slim and beautiful L just as one brings out a work of art from a slab of marble.
She needs however to get out of denial, see the light and embrace the solution!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Turkish Food at Home
Turkey is truly a cradle of human civilization. For more than 5000 years it was home to one wave after another of different tribes and nations. There were Hittites,Phoenicians, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonions, Greeks, Macedonions, Romans and finally the Turks themselves. The history of this part of the world is truly amazing and this is reflected in a vibrantly rich cuisine. In my last blog I mentioned my old friend Selcuk and that led to a somewhat fusion Risotto. Today I want to do something really Turkish and fortunately I have the help of a delightful Turkish delight.
Demet looks like an Egyptian princess. She could pass for a Nefetari, or Cleopatra in some Hollywood movie. Maybe she’ll get a role in Mummy 4 when they decide to make it. Whenever I am with her I always try and get anyone we meet to try and guess her nationality and hardly anyone ever gets it right. She comes from Adana actually. Yeah. Where’s that??? It’s actually at the south-eastern corner of Turkey near to Syria. Anyway, the only claim to fame is the Adana kebab. “What’s that as well?” It’s rather delicious actually so worth looking up on Google.
Anyway Demet is my stock broker and not my girlfriend. We got together nevertheless to make a Turkish dinner. Our only guest was a rather large Viking from Sweden named Peter. Peter the Viking! He didn’t bring his Viking longship along.
Kofte and Tzazik
This combination was inspired by several meals I had at the Sultan Ahmet Koftecisi in Istanbul, a really famous meatball restaurant near the Blue mosque which has been there for decades. A competitor started right next to it with almost the same name but everyone knows which is the original.
I suspect the original meatballs are made of ground lamb but this is not easy to find in local supermarkets and lean ground beef seems to work just as well.
I decided to make a lot of them so I could eat for a couple of days and feed my two hungry teenage sons as well. So, let us start with 1Kg of ground beef. Mix this with 2 chopped onions, several cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, a dash of cumin and several handfuls of chopped parsley and mint.
I also chopped up two slices of bread and mixed it uniformly into the meat. Drench the mixture with the juice of one whole lemon.
Make the meatballs into the shape of American footballs or Stewie’s head in “Family Guy”. They should be about 4 cm long and 2 cm at the widest diameter. Coat a ribbed iron grill with olive oil and then melt a knob of butter over the grill. You can omit the butter if you prefer a healthier but less rich version. Lay the meatballs individually over the grill and brown each side of the meatballs. One has to be somewhat patients about this as it is best not to do too many at one time so that you can brown them just right. For practical purposes I prefer to consider each meatball a 4 sided object so that each meatball has 4 sides to brown individually. If you do about 10 at a time, you can turn them one at a time and once number 10 is turned it is time to turn number one again. It takes about 15 minutes to grill the lot.
Now for the Tzazik which is the sauce. Puree a handful of garlic cloves. Chop up a whole cucmber. Mix the garlic and cucmber together with a tablespoon of olive oil with a cup of yoghurt. Mix well.
Eat this with Turkish pita flat bread and a glass of Chianti.
Demet looks like an Egyptian princess. She could pass for a Nefetari, or Cleopatra in some Hollywood movie. Maybe she’ll get a role in Mummy 4 when they decide to make it. Whenever I am with her I always try and get anyone we meet to try and guess her nationality and hardly anyone ever gets it right. She comes from Adana actually. Yeah. Where’s that??? It’s actually at the south-eastern corner of Turkey near to Syria. Anyway, the only claim to fame is the Adana kebab. “What’s that as well?” It’s rather delicious actually so worth looking up on Google.
Anyway Demet is my stock broker and not my girlfriend. We got together nevertheless to make a Turkish dinner. Our only guest was a rather large Viking from Sweden named Peter. Peter the Viking! He didn’t bring his Viking longship along.
Kofte and Tzazik
This combination was inspired by several meals I had at the Sultan Ahmet Koftecisi in Istanbul, a really famous meatball restaurant near the Blue mosque which has been there for decades. A competitor started right next to it with almost the same name but everyone knows which is the original.
I suspect the original meatballs are made of ground lamb but this is not easy to find in local supermarkets and lean ground beef seems to work just as well.
I decided to make a lot of them so I could eat for a couple of days and feed my two hungry teenage sons as well. So, let us start with 1Kg of ground beef. Mix this with 2 chopped onions, several cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, a dash of cumin and several handfuls of chopped parsley and mint.
I also chopped up two slices of bread and mixed it uniformly into the meat. Drench the mixture with the juice of one whole lemon.
Make the meatballs into the shape of American footballs or Stewie’s head in “Family Guy”. They should be about 4 cm long and 2 cm at the widest diameter. Coat a ribbed iron grill with olive oil and then melt a knob of butter over the grill. You can omit the butter if you prefer a healthier but less rich version. Lay the meatballs individually over the grill and brown each side of the meatballs. One has to be somewhat patients about this as it is best not to do too many at one time so that you can brown them just right. For practical purposes I prefer to consider each meatball a 4 sided object so that each meatball has 4 sides to brown individually. If you do about 10 at a time, you can turn them one at a time and once number 10 is turned it is time to turn number one again. It takes about 15 minutes to grill the lot.
Now for the Tzazik which is the sauce. Puree a handful of garlic cloves. Chop up a whole cucmber. Mix the garlic and cucmber together with a tablespoon of olive oil with a cup of yoghurt. Mix well.
Eat this with Turkish pita flat bread and a glass of Chianti.
Healthy Fusion Risotto
Selcuk Mercan is an old friend from Istanbul. I haven’t seen him in years and was pleasantly surprised when he suddenly showed up in Singapore with a new wife no less!
I had always though he was a, sort of, bachelor with a vengeance. We had dinner at a fine Singapore restaurant hosted by the famous S.S. Ngoi no less. I was fortunate to get the seat right next to this legendary gentleman. Not only is he a famous Turkish surgeon but also quite a chef.
I pleaded with him to teach me his favorite Turkish recipe hoping to learn something exotically Ottoman from a descendant of the fabled Seljuk Turks. To my amazement he said his favorite dish was Risotto. He spent the evening teaching me the finer points. Actually I have never ever made Risotto before and this dish has never been on the menu in my busy kitchen. Well, there was that one time when my Belgian ex-girlfriend Lucie tried to teach me to do it. Being Belgian, cooking was somewhat in her genes. The Belgians were renowned for their cuisine since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Gaul(55BC). In fact he remarked on it in his Gallic Commentaries. It is also a known fact that some of their warriors fought stark naked in those days. I do remember that Lucie’s rendition of this famous dish turned out reasonably well.
Risotto with Japanese mushrooms
Although a famously Italian item, this dish is beloved internationally. In keeping with all recipes in this blog we will keep our version relatively healthy.
Put one knob of butter in a pan and heat. When the butter has melted put in a handful of chopped garlic and onions. Once they are seared for a few minutes pour in 160g of Italian risotto rice. The rice has a somewhat starchy quality. Fry the rice for 2 or 3 minutes then add chicken stock 150 ml at a time letting the liquid absorb into the rice before adding the next 150 ml. The rice would need about 650 ml of liquid to reach the right consistency. After reaching about 450 ml of stock, simmer for a while then top off with about 200 ml of dry white wine of your choice. Finally stir in a handful of chopped fresh Shitake mushrooms, a handful of chopped parsley and finally a handful of grated Parmesan Cheese. Switch off the fire and stir well for 30 seconds.
Sauté the rest of the Shitake and Inoki mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Pour the Risotto rice into a casserole and level the top of the rice.
Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few sprigs of the remaining parsley.
The dish will feed 4 people easily giving everyone about 600 Kcal. This repast is best washed down with some chilled Frascati wine. Who says you can’t eat well and be slim!
I had always though he was a, sort of, bachelor with a vengeance. We had dinner at a fine Singapore restaurant hosted by the famous S.S. Ngoi no less. I was fortunate to get the seat right next to this legendary gentleman. Not only is he a famous Turkish surgeon but also quite a chef.
I pleaded with him to teach me his favorite Turkish recipe hoping to learn something exotically Ottoman from a descendant of the fabled Seljuk Turks. To my amazement he said his favorite dish was Risotto. He spent the evening teaching me the finer points. Actually I have never ever made Risotto before and this dish has never been on the menu in my busy kitchen. Well, there was that one time when my Belgian ex-girlfriend Lucie tried to teach me to do it. Being Belgian, cooking was somewhat in her genes. The Belgians were renowned for their cuisine since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Gaul(55BC). In fact he remarked on it in his Gallic Commentaries. It is also a known fact that some of their warriors fought stark naked in those days. I do remember that Lucie’s rendition of this famous dish turned out reasonably well.
Risotto with Japanese mushrooms
Although a famously Italian item, this dish is beloved internationally. In keeping with all recipes in this blog we will keep our version relatively healthy.
Put one knob of butter in a pan and heat. When the butter has melted put in a handful of chopped garlic and onions. Once they are seared for a few minutes pour in 160g of Italian risotto rice. The rice has a somewhat starchy quality. Fry the rice for 2 or 3 minutes then add chicken stock 150 ml at a time letting the liquid absorb into the rice before adding the next 150 ml. The rice would need about 650 ml of liquid to reach the right consistency. After reaching about 450 ml of stock, simmer for a while then top off with about 200 ml of dry white wine of your choice. Finally stir in a handful of chopped fresh Shitake mushrooms, a handful of chopped parsley and finally a handful of grated Parmesan Cheese. Switch off the fire and stir well for 30 seconds.
Sauté the rest of the Shitake and Inoki mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Pour the Risotto rice into a casserole and level the top of the rice.
Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few sprigs of the remaining parsley.
The dish will feed 4 people easily giving everyone about 600 Kcal. This repast is best washed down with some chilled Frascati wine. Who says you can’t eat well and be slim!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Surviving Halloween Parties
Halloween is ultrakool. Once a year you get to live out your fantasies and be somebody dashing and exciting. This year I chose to be Zorro. Antonio Banderas in disguise. Underneath the mask, I could be the hot Latin hero which would raise the temperature of any fair Lady.
The combination of costume and alcohol is wonderful. Inhibitions disappear and a carnival mood permeates the occasion. This year I hit two parties. The first was the Champagne promotion at Mimolette and the second was a really swinging Russian gig at the Galleria Hotel.
From the point of slimming however, Halloween can be a dangerous time. I put on 1.5Kg just on the weekend. Aaargh! This time it’s not about the food. The problem lies in drinking calories. Amidst the deluge of endorphins and testosterone flowing around the room, no one is really in a Calorie counting mood.
Once again, the aim being to have maximum fun without the disgusting side effects, we need to look at the mathematics of the situation. The calories are for standard bar portions.
Alcoholic Drinks:
Beer (12 oz) 150Kcal, Light Beer: 103 Kcal.
Wine (per oz). Red: 25Kcal, White: 20 Kcal, Sweet : 47 Kcal
Champagne : 91 Kcal for 1.2g, Vodka Orange: 150 Kcal, Brandy, Gin or Scotch : 100 Kcal
Cocktails: 250 Kcal, Pina Colada(30g) 56 Kcal, Sherry: (50g) 58 Kcal.
It is apparent that one can not only become inebriated from drinking but can also put on several unwanted Kilograms at the same time. From the data wine seems to be the healthy and lower calorie option.
Those choosing soft drinks may also like to know that a glass of cola or lemon soda contains 150 kcal on the average and even juice would give 100 to 150 Kcal. True weight watchers would choose Perrier or Pellagrino with a slice of lemon. A cup of black coffee would be 4 Kcal and black or green tea without sugar would give about 2Kcal.
A sensible option would be to have a glass or two of wine, then switch to mineral water or ice tea without sugar. I am afraid I just took away half of the fun of a drunken Halloween but one must remember that most of the fun is in the social interaction, the flirting and the uninhibited play acting. Suspend reality and be your fantasy hero or heroine for one night!
The combination of costume and alcohol is wonderful. Inhibitions disappear and a carnival mood permeates the occasion. This year I hit two parties. The first was the Champagne promotion at Mimolette and the second was a really swinging Russian gig at the Galleria Hotel.
From the point of slimming however, Halloween can be a dangerous time. I put on 1.5Kg just on the weekend. Aaargh! This time it’s not about the food. The problem lies in drinking calories. Amidst the deluge of endorphins and testosterone flowing around the room, no one is really in a Calorie counting mood.
Once again, the aim being to have maximum fun without the disgusting side effects, we need to look at the mathematics of the situation. The calories are for standard bar portions.
Alcoholic Drinks:
Beer (12 oz) 150Kcal, Light Beer: 103 Kcal.
Wine (per oz). Red: 25Kcal, White: 20 Kcal, Sweet : 47 Kcal
Champagne : 91 Kcal for 1.2g, Vodka Orange: 150 Kcal, Brandy, Gin or Scotch : 100 Kcal
Cocktails: 250 Kcal, Pina Colada(30g) 56 Kcal, Sherry: (50g) 58 Kcal.
It is apparent that one can not only become inebriated from drinking but can also put on several unwanted Kilograms at the same time. From the data wine seems to be the healthy and lower calorie option.
Those choosing soft drinks may also like to know that a glass of cola or lemon soda contains 150 kcal on the average and even juice would give 100 to 150 Kcal. True weight watchers would choose Perrier or Pellagrino with a slice of lemon. A cup of black coffee would be 4 Kcal and black or green tea without sugar would give about 2Kcal.
A sensible option would be to have a glass or two of wine, then switch to mineral water or ice tea without sugar. I am afraid I just took away half of the fun of a drunken Halloween but one must remember that most of the fun is in the social interaction, the flirting and the uninhibited play acting. Suspend reality and be your fantasy hero or heroine for one night!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Exercise and be Slim? Possible?
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clark’s three Laws.
The truth of these statements may become apparent in this blog over the next days. Today we are going to examine two relevant problems in a totally scientific fashion.
Firstly, is it possible to exercise and be slim?
Ms MC is a very beautiful lady with a small weight problem. It shows mainly around the waist and hips and also under her armpits. She is not really overweight because her BMI is within normal range but she has 34% fat content. It is agreed that taking 3 to 5 Kg off would definitely do much to solve her problem without resorting to liposelection or related melt and drain procedures.
The biggest problem is that MC is a gourmet and refuses to diet. Is it possible to exercise those unwanted adipose kilograms into oblivion. She decided to make a determined attempt. 2 hours of gym twice a week and 3 hours of vigorous dancing once a week. She also had thermage to the abdomen every week. After 6 months there was hardly any visible gains. Oh yes, she did achieve definition of the lateral margins of her rectus abdominis muscle. Two nice curvy vertical lines down the front of her abdomen. She still had love handles, a protruding lower abdomen, ample hips and lumps of fat under her armpit bulging above her bra.
Once again, mathematics gives the answer. To lose 3 Kg she needed to exercise away 27,000 Kcal. The exercise she does will burn 600 Kcal an hour. So she probably burned 3000 Kcal a week from exercise. This amount is consumed in one single rich meal. If she was willing to diet it would take her a mere 9 weeks to burn off 3Kg. But 2 rich dinners a week would negate all her efforts and more!
So to answer the question, “Is it possible to exercise alone and be slim?” The answer is yes but very tough. Serious slimming requires both diet and exercise together of which dieting is the more important component. Ms MC’s solution?
Since she is not really overweight and her fat deposits are basically local cosmetic anomalies the best solution for her is liposelection or some “melt and drain” procedure. She will solve her problem with minimal effort and regain her youthful figure. No dieting necessary and she can go back to exercise and dancing shortly.
So, in this case a solution is possible and we have the technology.
Coming up next:
1. Surviving Halloween Parties
2. Cooking and eating Risotto without putting on weight
3. Turkish Delights
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clark’s three Laws.
The truth of these statements may become apparent in this blog over the next days. Today we are going to examine two relevant problems in a totally scientific fashion.
Firstly, is it possible to exercise and be slim?
Ms MC is a very beautiful lady with a small weight problem. It shows mainly around the waist and hips and also under her armpits. She is not really overweight because her BMI is within normal range but she has 34% fat content. It is agreed that taking 3 to 5 Kg off would definitely do much to solve her problem without resorting to liposelection or related melt and drain procedures.
The biggest problem is that MC is a gourmet and refuses to diet. Is it possible to exercise those unwanted adipose kilograms into oblivion. She decided to make a determined attempt. 2 hours of gym twice a week and 3 hours of vigorous dancing once a week. She also had thermage to the abdomen every week. After 6 months there was hardly any visible gains. Oh yes, she did achieve definition of the lateral margins of her rectus abdominis muscle. Two nice curvy vertical lines down the front of her abdomen. She still had love handles, a protruding lower abdomen, ample hips and lumps of fat under her armpit bulging above her bra.
Once again, mathematics gives the answer. To lose 3 Kg she needed to exercise away 27,000 Kcal. The exercise she does will burn 600 Kcal an hour. So she probably burned 3000 Kcal a week from exercise. This amount is consumed in one single rich meal. If she was willing to diet it would take her a mere 9 weeks to burn off 3Kg. But 2 rich dinners a week would negate all her efforts and more!
So to answer the question, “Is it possible to exercise alone and be slim?” The answer is yes but very tough. Serious slimming requires both diet and exercise together of which dieting is the more important component. Ms MC’s solution?
Since she is not really overweight and her fat deposits are basically local cosmetic anomalies the best solution for her is liposelection or some “melt and drain” procedure. She will solve her problem with minimal effort and regain her youthful figure. No dieting necessary and she can go back to exercise and dancing shortly.
So, in this case a solution is possible and we have the technology.
Coming up next:
1. Surviving Halloween Parties
2. Cooking and eating Risotto without putting on weight
3. Turkish Delights
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Dr. Peter Goh's Blog
In physics we have the well known Law of Conservation of Energy. Basically energy cannot be destroyed but is just converted from one form to another. Similarly in physiology we must understand the Law of Conservation of Calories.
Mr. L wanted to know how long it would take him to lose 3Kg. He was a fit middle aged engineer who was only a little overweight. The main problem was that it was mainly around the tummy which was protruding in an unsightly way. I asked him what he ate for lunch and he said that he was a creature of habit and consumed Hainanese chicken rice everyday. He really loved chicken rice.
I told him his problem could be reduced to a simple mathematical equation. Each standard portion of chicken rice is equivalent to 750 Kcal.
The mathematics is undisputable. One gram of fat is equivalent to 9 Kcal. To lose one Kilogram would require one to reduce one’s food intake by 9000 Kcal. This is equivalent to 12 plates of chicken rice. To lose 3Kg, Mr. L would have to pass up on 36 plates of chicken rice which would take him just over a month or 36 days.
Mr. L grimaced. A look of pain swept over his face. That’s quite a sacrifice. After all we live to eat here in Singapore don’t we?
I gave him another solution. A less painful one. He could have his chicken rice everyday and still lose the weight. He agreed to eat half a plate of chicken rice, all the chicken and none of the skin. This cut the calories to about 400 Kcal a plate.
Mr. L lost his tummy in just over 2 months. He still got to enjoy his favorite food.
There are two main variables in eating. What you eat and how much you eat. If you want to continue eating the food that you enjoy you can play around with the portions. I went to a wonderful Italian Restaurant last night. It was the best in town. My host was an aristocratic English gentleman who really knew his food and wine. I had roast goose and a picture is included. The portions look really small but I calculated there were at least 1200 Kcal in this dish alone. It was difficult not to eat every shred of it. The sauce alone was undescribable!
There are two main variables in eating. What you eat and how much you eat. If you want to continue eating the food that you enjoy you can play around with the portions. I went to a wonderful Italian Restaurant last night. It was the best in town. My host was an aristocratic English gentleman who really knew his food and wine. I had roast goose and a picture is included. The portions look really small but I calculated there were at least 1200 Kcal in this dish alone. It was difficult not to eat every shred of it. The sauce alone was undescribable!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Dr Peter Goh’s Blog
Like many people in the World I love to eat but I want to stay slim. How is that possible? It would be super to literally have one’s cake and eat it wouldn’t it?
I am starting this Blog for a number of reasons.
Firstly I was crazily inspired by Julie Powell’s Blog idea in the recent movie “Julie and Julia”. If you haven’t seen it and you love food then I highly recommend that you see it at once. Don’t go on an empty stomach!
Secondly I love to cook.
Thirdly I happen to be an obesity surgeon. Yeah, believe or not! I trained in NUH, the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston and the University of Cologne in Germany. Ya ya, Ich spreche gutt Deautsch auch!
Well, I have decided to eat and be slim. Of course I am also going to use all scientific means to achieve my goal. Why let all that professional training go to waste.
So… come back and visit often as we count down 59 Days to Christmas!
I am starting this Blog for a number of reasons.
Firstly I was crazily inspired by Julie Powell’s Blog idea in the recent movie “Julie and Julia”. If you haven’t seen it and you love food then I highly recommend that you see it at once. Don’t go on an empty stomach!
Secondly I love to cook.
Thirdly I happen to be an obesity surgeon. Yeah, believe or not! I trained in NUH, the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston and the University of Cologne in Germany. Ya ya, Ich spreche gutt Deautsch auch!
Well, I have decided to eat and be slim. Of course I am also going to use all scientific means to achieve my goal. Why let all that professional training go to waste.
So… come back and visit often as we count down 59 Days to Christmas!
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