Food
for
GAA leadership
Work-life
balance
profile
40
November 2014
A PLUS
With their hectic work schedules, busy professionals in Hong Kong can be
more prone to detrimental and irregular eating habits. Tigger Chaturabul
and Jemelyn Yadao talk to several Institute members about how they stay
healthy through careful nutritional choices
Illustrations by Harry Harrison
J
im Woods expected to gain no more
than just a much-needed break in
the sprawling Peruvian capital,
Lima, where he spent his sabbatical. Instead, the Land of the Incas brought him a
life-changing experience, and it all started
with a question.
“In Peru, I was asked: what would you do
if you knew you only had six months to live?”
says Woods, Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a member of the Hong Kong
Institute of CPAs. “I said that I wanted to run
a marathon, and with that I decided to stop
drinking alcohol. I stopped drinking coffee
and started reading health books.”
With the vast responsibilities of busy
professionals in Hong Kong, for them eating healthy can slip by the wayside. Woods
is just one of many Institute members who
manage to maintain a specific nutrition regimen as they are determined to feel good and
live healthier lives.
Health books introduced Woods to low
glycaemic index diets, which were originally designed to keep blood sugar levels
under control through avoiding sugary
treats and white bread that can lead to high
levels of insulin in the body.
For many, this diet is also a tool for eating
natural, unprocessed foods. “To me, that
means avoiding anything with white flour,
as well as potatoes, and choosing foods with
minimum ingredients – the fewer ingredients, the more natural it is,” he says. Coffee
breaks, he adds, are swapped for cups of
green tea. For breakfast, he fills his bowl
with wild oats or muesli mixed with yoghurt
and berries, while vegetables and brown rice
or pasta – both low-glycaemic foods – are his
first choice for dinner.
Woods, who started eating clean five
years ago, admits that his journey to discovering a balanced diet that works for him
involved a string of warnings. “I tried taking
out certain foods, thinking it would be better, such as dairy and all carbohydrates, but
the doctor told me this was the wrong thing
to do,” he says.
Giving his mindset a reality check was
another challenge for him in the beginning.
“I had to rewire my brain to realize that you
don’t need to go out drinking every night to
be happy, especially as an expatriate in Hong
Kong,” he says. “Now, I’m much happier than
I was before.”
Being a father-of-two has been a major
influence in his decision to leave unhealthy
eating habits behind. “In my job, I have a responsibility to be engaged all day and I also
have a responsibility to my kids to live as long
as possible for them.”
Natural nutrients
In the aisles of an international supermarket, Charlotte Hui skips over the rows of conventional produce and heads to the organic
section to fill her cart with fresh fruits and
vegetables that were grown without harmful chemicals and synthetic pesticides.
thought
November 2014
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Work-life balance
“Nowadays, some of the produce you
see in the local market are very green
and can survive up to months, so I believe
[suppliers] add a lot of chemicals to the
vegetables,” says Hui, Senior Manager of
Assurance at EY and an Institute member.
“It makes sense for me to go somewhere
pricier because even though you pay a little
bit more [for organic], you feel confident in
what you’re eating.”
Her workplace encourages its employees
to engage in a healthy lifestyle, she says. Hui
often attends seminars run by the firm and
the Professional Women’s Network, featuring doctors as speakers. “Even during the
busy season, I still attend these seminars
to understand more about what I should do
to stay healthy,” she says. “Without good
health, you cannot work.”
Hui follows an eating schedule recommended by a doctor she met at one of the
seminars, which has boosted her immune
system and left her sick leave untouched. Her
day starts off with a glass of water in the early
morning to detox. She then takes a break
from the office with a filling lunch of fruit
and lean meats such as chicken or pork, and
ends with a light dinner of boiled organic
vegetables that are unseasoned yet delicious.
“I pick quality and fresh ingredients
because I understand that what you take in
is reflected on your body and skin,” she says.
“First impressions are always important when
meeting clients so maintaining your appearance is a key part in being professional.”
Protein power
Deep Lam knows what his body needs in
order to have a clear mind for work and a
high stamina for play. As an avid football
mid-fielder on the weekends, the Audit Senior Associate at Grant Thornton and Institute member ensures he packs enough
protein, carbohydrates and vitamins into his
meals, even on a tight schedule.
“I’m a sporty person, so a high-protein
and low-fat diet helps me maintain my body
weight, enhance my sport performance and
concentrate more,” he says. “Before I started
my career at Grant Thornton, I used to be a
bit chubby and I couldn’t perform at my
highest level with the way I was eating.”
Lam takes his protein in the form of fish,
chicken and eggs to build body stamina but
also keeps in mind the importance of carbohydrates as a source of energy. He keeps
track of his calorie intake throughout the
day to keep his energy levels high for both
work and exercise.
Even when his job takes him overseas,
Lam travels with a mini cooker to help him
stick to his diet, using it to prepare breakfast
and weekend meals with his colleagues.
“Rice and vegetables are easy to cook because all you need to do is heat up the water,”
he explains.
The right way to
eat like a king
Even with an engaging career and a hectic schedule, CPAs can still
incorporate nutritious choices into their diet for a healthy lifestyle.
Lenny Wong, a Senior Manager at a global sourcing firm and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs, took his curiosity about healthy
eating online and studied a certification course in his spare time.
“The course analysed different kinds of nutrients, special needs
and counselling skills,” he says. After learning about common misconceptions about nutrition and different eating habits, Wong is now a
certified instructor in nutrition and weight management.
“We actually need much less protein than we think,” he says.
“However, most people consider carbohydrates as the devil food and
skip them even though they are actually the most important source of
energy for our living.”
Wong’s simple golden rule for any diet is: “Eat breakfast like a king,
lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.”
Tsung Chan, a practising dietician at the Hong Kong Nutrition
Association, agrees that busy professionals should pay more attention
to balancing their diets with all five food groups set out in the food
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November 2014
pyramids adopted by many national and international health organiztions. “It’s best to have three main meals a day,” says Chan. “If time is a
concern, even a sandwich with lean meat or fish and salad filling might
just do the job,” he says. However, it can be challenging for CPAs with heavy workloads
to turn away from a quick meal loaded with fat. Chan’s tips on how
to eat well amid long working hours and eating out include the
following:
• Take a coffee fix with skimmed milk to limit excess fat intake;
• Keep energy levels up for peak performance with small snacks such
as fruit, low fat yogurt or a handful of unsalted nuts;
• Stay away from fried food and dishes with cream sauce or gravy
and replace them with soup noodles to reduce calorie intake;
• Switch cream-based soups for vegetable soup to boost dietary
fibre; and
• Moderate daily alcohol intake to two standard drinks for men and
one standard drink for women. (One standard drink is equivalent to
80ml red wine, 30ml spirits or 230ml beer.)
A PLUS
Three years into his lifestyle change, Lam
has felt a noticeable change in his stamina,
speed and power especially when he competes with other football teams in a local
league or trains for competitions with his
colleagues as part of the Grant Thornton
football team.
“It’s important for CPAs to eat healthily
and exercise regularly because we have to
cope with large amounts of work and stress,”
he says.
Green peace
Romi Do, Senior Finance Manager at Sideframe, a Hong Kong-based fashion retail
operator, and Institute member, could previously never imagine herself as a vegetarian.
Do, who is also a qualified hypnotherapist, recalls feeling a sudden rush of spiritual inspiration during one of her daily
meditation sessions. “I felt a sort of oneness
between myself and the earth, and a deep
compassion for animals,” she says, adding
that it was this experience that prompted
her to abruptly stop eating meat in 2011.
Switching to a green-eating lifestyle, she
says, is not only better for her health but is
healthy for the environment. This idea has
made a positive impact on her mental health
as she now benefits from a clearer mind.
“Positivity and calm is essential to a good
quality meditation so mine are more peaceful than before,” she says.
Her diet has also helped turn down her
once “noisy” and “overloaded brain” as a
busy CPA. “At work, I feel that my level of
concentration is better and my work effectiveness has improved,” she says.
Missing the taste of meat has never been
an issue for Do as she ditches the notion that
being a vegetarian is difficult in Hong Kong,
a place where meat and seafood dishes are
famously abundant.
Do keeps a handy list of restaurants in the
city stored on her iPhone that caters to both
her taste buds and that of her clients and
friends. “It lists out places that have delicious
vegetarian food as well as normal Chinese
food,” she says. While some vegetarians may
avoid doing this, Do believes there is no reason for them to feel embarrassed to do so.
November 2014
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A PLUS
“I actually think it’s better to be more proactive and suggest to people where to eat,” she
adds. “No one will mind.”
Bearing the load
“Carbo-loading” is a familiar term among
athletes like Juni Ngai, Director of ICAEW
Hong Kong and an Institute member. It
refers to a practice of eating foods high in
carbohydrates over the days leading up to
intense sports events with the aim of maximizing the storage of glycogen – a main
source of energy – in muscles.
For Ngai, who is also Convenor of the
Institute’s Athletics Interest Group, this extreme form of dieting that was recommended by the group’s coach is a way for her to
outdo herself at every running or trail-walking event. “As runners we always want to be
faster than before,” she says, “so when you
feel like you are stuck, you think of ways to
push yourself to be faster.” While there are different methods of carbohydrate loading, Ngai’s method is to follow a strict regime starting a week before a
competition. As part of the practice, she eats
hardly any carbohydrates for the first three
days and consumes a high-carbohydrate
diet three days before the big race.
Ngai says the first three days – usually
Monday to Wednesday – of the diet can be
hard to bear and can even lead to feeling
drained. “Those are the days I have to work,
so it’s very difficult,” she says. “Wednesday
we feel dizzy, tired and have no energy at all
to train so we have to rest.”
During those first three days, Ngai steams
fish and brings it into work for lunch because
the food served outside may exceed the carbs
she is allowed to absorb. She would also take
10 boiled eggs to the office and eat the egg
white as a snack.
The second half of the diet, she says, is
less painful. “Life is much easier when you
eat more carbs than protein,” she says. Ngai
eats several bowls of rice and enjoys eating
sweet potatoes during those last few days before the race. “Technically, you are allowed
to eat the fried stuff but that’s unhealthy.”
Ngai says this method has helped increase her chances of marathon success. “It
has helped improve my speed quite a bit and
prolong my endurance levels.” However,
she recognizes that this diet is not for everyone. “It’s for those who want to push themselves to the limit and beat their personal
best.”
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