Buffets. A truckload of calories.

WHO LOVES BUFFETS???

(hanging my head low) I’m actually one of them, guiltily. I used to eat them a lot. Like, as much as 4 times in a week! *JAW DROP* That was when I weighed 58kg. Thankfully I’m not that heavy anymore! Now I probably eat it what, once in…3-4months? Or less.

But you know what irks me the most? Sometimes I just can’t shake off the Singaporean mentality of “EAT-ALL-U-CAN” at buffets. And I end up walking out of the restaurant feeling like I’m about to be rushed into the emergency ward for pre-mature delivery.

Buffets are not cheap, I can tell you that much. The one I went to was Himawari Japanese Restaurant (the Alexandra Rd branch) and this was one of the slightly more expensive ones because they also include the steamboat portion in it. So what do we Singaporeans do? We ‘make our money’s worth’. Correct?

NO! WRONG! Big fat red ‘X’ on that!

How about we try stepping into a buffet restaurant, with the mentality of enjoying the variety of food that’s available to us? And not make-sure-i-eat-my-week’s-worth-of-food-so-i-can-starve-myself-for-the-next-3-days?? 

Just for fun, I decided to calculate the number of calories that I consumed that evening. And mind you, I’m already considered a ‘small eater’. Imagine those people who are always labeled ‘bottomless pits’?!

These were the things I ate:

• 2 swordfish sushi (140kcal)
• 1 x salmon sushi (64kcal)
• 3 pcs deep fried cuttlefish (150kcal)
• 4 small pcs soft shell crab (180kcal)
• 1 cup cooked veg from steamboat (30kcal)
• Golden mushrooms (enoki) (22kcal)
• 7-8 slices beef (130kcal)
• 1 cup chawanmushi (100kcal)
• 1 gyoza (55kcal)
• 3 prawn tempura (130kcal)
• 1 golden mushroom tempura (100kcal)
• 2 sweet potato tempura (148kcal)
• 6-7 pcs sashimi (salmon, swordfish &yellowtal) (272kcal)
• 1 pc deep fried chicken wing (103kcal)
• 1 egg soup (60kcal)

Okay. *sits back and looks at list*.

THAT’S ACTUALLY A LOT OF FOOD!!!! 

Buffet at Himawari Japanese Restaurant.
The things I ate.

Thinking back, I did feel very uncomfortable after dinner. Aiya, too much food lah! I should just eat till comfortably full. Sigh!

So… grand total of all that I ate was…… *drum rolllllll*

1690 CALORIES!!!!!!

OH. MY. GOSH.

No way I ate that much! That’s even more calories than I need in a DAY!!! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh *starts frantically scribbling down exercise plans on mental notebook*

According to the Health Promotion Board, I only need 1628kcal PER DAY. And look at the amount of food I ate in A MEAL!

HPB's calorie calculator.

I am such a bad example. Don’t follow me ah!!

But what really surprised me was also the stark difference in calories between vegetables and meat (including fish). Seriously. I'm contemplating turning myself into a vegetarian (perhaps in my next life).

Anyway, if you’d like to find out the amount of calories you need in a day, check out HPB’s calorie calculator at http://goo.gl/lYnnY.

Okay. That was fun. Now I’m depressed.

Well, hope this gives you a bit more insight to how much you actually down at a buffet sitting. Beware!

   

Credits: Caloric information from www.myfitnesspal.com

Collagen Hotpot - For real?

Have been wanting to try this collagen steamboat (Bijin Nabe) at Tsukada Nojo for a while. It’s always so crowded and even if I reach at 6pm on a weekday for dinner, it’s already full and you have to be put on their waiting list!

So, since I took the day off, I made sure to go there SUPER early. (or at least made my friend go there super early since she was in town already. hiak hiak)

They open at 5pm, and at 5.05 there were already 4 tables filled. I was still on the way to the restaurant so got my friend to take a seat first. 5 minutes later she rang me saying we are only given 1.5hrs to finish our meal, and the time starts from the time our bums touch the seats.

Like, what?!

So she was forced to stand outside the restaurant to wait ‘in line’ even though there was no line, just so we don’t ‘eat into’ the 1.5hrs they restrict us to.

Well, this kind of put me off already. But I guess 1.5hrs means if someone gets seated at 5pm, and you’re on the waitlist, then you’ll probably get a seat at about 6.30pm or so. Which can be good for the ‘overwhelming’ response this restaurant apparently gets.

So I finally arrive and we order. To make things simple they have a $25-per-person set which comes with vegetables, noodles, prawns, minced chicken and needless to say, the collagen broth which comes to the table shaped like tofu, in a pot. 

The collagen is presented to you like this.

When put on the induction cooker, the ‘tofu’ melts to form this thick, white broth that looks like it’s been boiled for hours. There is chicken in it as well.

Collagen steamboat with their set for 2, at $25 per pax.

First they let you try the broth, then they put in these yuzu peels which is supposed to make the broth more ‘special’. Well, I didn’t like it la. The original broth was much better!

So the waitress helps to throw in all the ingredients and then you’re just supposed to wait for the food to cook, and eat it with the sauces that they have available for your choice. 4 choices – yuzu pepper, garlic oil negi (spring onion), red chilli oil, chilli shoyu.

All ingredients in, except prawns and noodles.

Honestly, I didn’t really think it was worth all the wait and effort and anticipation to try it. I wasn’t a big fan of the soup somehow, even though the lady seated beside me kept on saying ‘wah, so nice leh… really so nice…’. I couldn’t comprehend why. It’s quite normal. And I definitely prefer the usual steamboat broth better. Not so rich, and not so jelak especially towards the end.

Okay, so here comes the nutrition part. Everybody loves collagen right. I mean, I’ve got a friend who’s told me “anything that has collagen, I’m sold!”. So how I first heard abt collagen (a long time ago) was this collagen powder by Meiji which was a huge thing among my friends and they even ordered it online so they could get it cheaper from Japan etc… One tin cost like $50+! Well, they say beauty has a price to it, damn right it does!

And then now you’ve got Vitagen with collagen, collagen drinks, steamboat with collagen… what next? By the way, it’s only starting to pick up in Singapore ah. In Japan, it’s all over! I think if you could fortify margarine, fruit juice or instant noodles with collagen, they’d be great hits with the ladies too.

But did you know that when you consume collagen-ified (I made this word up myself) anything, which really is just a source of beautifying protein in the body, it gets absorbed by the whole body? Put it this way. The main reason why we’re consuming collagen this and that is because we want our FACE to look younger, more supple, radiant, etc etc right? But thing is, unless your internal organs practise some sort of qi gong to transfer all the benefits to your face only, it’s gonna be a total body benefit. Meaning the more you consume, the smoother your bum will be also! Try it, it’s true.

So, take all these fads in moderation, that’s what I suggest. As much as we’d like to look beautiful, there are many more ways in your lifestyle that play a part than just consuming collagen-ified foods all the time.

• Stop smoking. 
• Eat more fruits and vegetables. 
• Hydrate.
• Get enough sleep.

Fruits and veg, heard a million times before, right? But there is a reason of course. Stay tuned for more about this.

Well honey let me just give you a last piece of advice before I end off. There is no point taking in a truckload of collagen if you’re gonna continue smokin’. You’re just wasting your money.

Do yourself a favour and stub that butt. It’ll do you more good than anything, especially for your pocket.

Till the next time I write! Stay healthy!


Tsukada Nojo - Bijin Nabe
60A Orchard Road
The Atrium@Orchard
Tel: 63365003