Day 6: Start of the Malaysian Dietitians' Association Conference

I slept surprisingly well despite not thinking the bed was super comfortable.  So glad I was proved wrong!

Breakfast was included with my room, so I made sure to head down and check it out before starting on my work for the day.  There were pretty typical options, but it seemed very carb heavy and not a lot of non meat options.  In order to get eggs I needed to special order them.  It took some time for someone to understand what I wanted, but once we got past that the chef was very accommodating.

Porridge...makes sense since this was under British control for so long.

Toppings for the porridge

Yogurts and fruit cup

Here is what I ended up with on my plate.  Like I said, it was super heavy with this carbs.  Nothing really sounded or looked good.

But I did get a nice place of eggs!

And I took some fruit too.

After doing my work I felt like I could relax for a little before the conference started.  I headed to the pool.  Notice the haze?  This is big news here.  Indonesia is having fires (started illegally by farmers to clear their fields for new planting) and the wind has blown the smog over to Singapore.  Malaysia is getting some of it too.  Singapore is having their worst pollution/smog every right now.  It's really sad.  Many people are becoming ill.

After my swim and a shower, I grabbed my poster and headed down to the conference.

In case you missed it, I am in Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Dietitians' Association conference.  The conference wasn't too far from me in Japan, I was able to register as a student, and the conference was in English...so I couldn't resist.

First things first, I hung my poster.  The title is "A Review of the Role and Implications of Herbal Galactagogue Use to Aid in Sustaining Breastfeeding".  It was my paper from Complementary and Alternative Medicine last fall.

I think I am just smiling so much because I found stronger tape to hold my poster up!

The conference got started and the first speaker to present was none other than Sylvia Escott-Stump.  If you are a dietitian you know exactly who I am talking about.  Not only is Sylvia known as a rock star to dietitians and nutrition students alike because she authored the most used nutrition textbook out there, but she is also the immediate past president for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (although with the new term just starting, she may be 2 past presidents now...I can't remember!).

Here is a picture of Sylvia presenting, but from my angle it is hard to see.  I really thought this presentation was fantastic and every time I hear her speak on this topic I learn more and more.  She builds on it each time because more and more is known.

If you are not as familiar with nutrigenomics, here is some info from her slides.

The next presenter was Dr. Gary Slater, talking about protein needs for athletes.  And yes, that is him pictured with the woman.  Yes, that is a woman.

He had some good comics in his slides.  I thought this was funny, so I wanted to share.  Basically, there may be a need for some for protein powders, but the majority of people are able to get what they need for what they need it for from food sources.

This is interesting.  We often cite this as a reason to not over do it on the protein.

But there is an important concept to keep in mind.  Eating a lot of protein and a diet high in protein are two different things.  People working out that are competitive athletes are likely consuming higher than average calories, so naturally their protein intake goes up (along with fat and carbohydrate).  In the end, balance is still there and the % of protein in the diet is not necessarily high even if they eat a lot of grams.  On the other hand, if their % of protein intake is actually high, as mentioned below, there can be harm long term.

It was a great start to the conference and I look forward to 2 more great days of presentations.

After the final speaker was tea time and some snacks.  I tried the veggie options.  These were spicy, but good.  They are the Malaysian version of samosas.

This was a vegetarian noodle dish.

For dinner I decided not to stray too much because I had a lot of work to do.  I ended up at the (don't laugh) Japanese buffet at the hotel.  One reason was because of the half price discount for hotel guests, but the other reason was this view.  As the sunset I was able to watch Petronas Towers go from it's daytime look to the twinkle evening look it gets once the lights go down over KL.

Here are some of the food options at the buffet.  I wasn't too hungry, but I did try a few things.

Tempura

Sushi

Shrimp

Dessert

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever presented at a conference before?  Are you familiar with herbal galactagogues?

Day 5: View From the Top (Petronas Towers)

Since I loved the breakfast buffet the other day so much I decided to go back on my final morning at that hotel.

I got a little of everything.

Some fruit too.  The white fruit with black dots is dragon fruit.  I had no idea it tasted like kiwi...and I have eaten it before! 

I tried the soy yogurt with muesli, but it wasn't doing it for me.  It was a texture thing, not so much the flavor that I didn't like.

Last was for my sweet tooth.  I tried a little of the chocolate chip muffin and a little of the custard bread (the real name starts with a z but I can't remember what it is).

As with the other day, I was stuffed until dinner time.

At least I was well fueled to be on my feet for hours.  I checked out of the hotel around noon and knew I would be out and about all day wandering around.

I love how helpful the street signs are.  It made getting around so much easier.

This is an add by my hotel, but I saw this beverage advertised everywhere.  It looks interesting and I hope to find it and try it soon.

Something else interesting I found was this juice in a bag.  I didn't try it, but I did take a look.

Here is the nutrition information, if you are curious. It's about 150 calories.

I happened to be looking at that juice because I was in a convenience store killing time while waiting for my tour time to go up to the Sky Bridge of Petronas Towers.  There are 88 floors and the bridge is half way up, at the 41st and 42nd floors.  You do have to pay to go across, but it isn't too expensive.  You also have to book in advance if you want to go at a specific time.  If you show up that day you may not get your first choice and end up waiting around.  Me, being the planner that I am, reserved this a few days before once I knew what my schedule was like.

Here I am at the Skybridge, level 41, which is 170 meters high (from the street).

I took lots of pictures from the view.  Unfortunately there are some fires in Indonesia right now and it has made a lot of haze.  Actually, this isn't so bad.  Apparently Singapore is so thick with the haze right now that it is the worst they have ever seen.  I saw it on the news here and it looked awful.  So I am glad that this was all the haze we had.  Despite this, I still think it was worth it to go up.

Some green space in the city.

Me, enjoying the view!

Hanging out on the Skybridge!

Then we headed up to the observation deck at the 86th floor.

Loved that we could see over to the other tower top.  I am a fan of this building and love the shape of the top.

Here are some pictures of the view from all the way up.

A replica.

Yes, that's me!

Here is the current tallest building, which is in Dubai.

Back in 1998 when this was built it was the tallest tower in the world.

After this I walked around the mall.  I found more of the kueh stuff and had to buy some.  I bought one of each!

By now I was getting run down, but I wasn't hungry, so a coffee seemed like a good pick-me-up.

After some walking and shopping I was finally ready for some frozen yogurt.

Lemon and chocolate with strawberries and oreos.

Then I headed over the the Pavillion Mall.  It is huge and I only walked a little of it.  I could have been in there for days!  

I also happened upon this during KL Fashion Week.

I decided to go with Vietnamese for dinner because we don't have that at home.  I ate at La Lot.

Many things looked good, but I wasn't too hungry, so I only ordered a little.  I started off with the sugar cane shrimp.

Then I had the vegetarian pho.

When I was finished the show was just getting started.  I enjoyed listening to the singer.

Not the clearest pictures, but I did get some of the models walking.

Then I headed back to my hotel, but not without looking around out front.  The Starthill Mall is also right there.  Another huge shopping center.  I have never seen so much shopping in one area!

Here is the fountain out front.

By then I was not only tired, but it was time to change hotels (sadly, the Shangri la hotel was amazing!).

I checked in to the hotel where the conference was being held.  It was a little further from the city, which is why I stayed somewhere else at first.  I ended up having an allergic reaction upon entering the lobby (extreme floral/perfume smell) and it was just bad.  Awful.  But I will say that they did try and accommodate me and make up for this by upgrading my room.  I won't comment on the state of the room (all I will say is that this is not a 5 star hotel despite being listed as such), but the concept itself was nice.  I was given a 1 bedroom apartment.  So I have a living room.

Then a bedroom.

A little kitchen.

And the highlight is this...which is why I can't really complain too much.  My hotel looks out with an amazing city view.  I can see Petronas Towers sparkle!

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever tried dragon fruit?  Have you ever been disappointed by a hotel?  Have you ever had an amazing hotel view?  Any crazy allergies (I am also allergic to mint...which is my crazy allergy...flowers isn't that weird)?