We captured some curious questions from Malaysia’s “biggest” standup comedian and debut wrestler, Papi Zak (www.thepapizak.com), to Australia’s gastroenterologist and Instagram educator Dr. Pran Yoganathan (IG @dr_pran_yoganathan) – he spoke with us on Episode 3. Dr. Pran elaborates on the expensive tissue hypothesis (ETH) which relates brain and gut size in evolution (specifically in human evolution). Listen in to the trailer below for information on gout, uric acid on a high protein diet, our gut and metabolic health.
The full episode of Ep. 4 with Papi Zak – listen below.
TV host & celebrity entertainer
Introducing Papi Zak, well known in the comedy circuit in Malaysia and the “biggest” Malaysia has to offer, states his website. For over 12 years, he’s written and performed material for his shows, and has fast established his quirky brand of humour and witty observations on the absurdities of every-day life. Zak was a former LiteFM and REDFM radio broadcaster and his comfortable presence in front of a camera has landed him screen work as the host of two television lifestyle programs – ‘The Halal Foodie’ and ‘Happy Endings’. Zak is currently the brand ambassador for Mr. Potato.
In doing our research on Papi Zak’s The Halal Foodie show, we found this bootleggish version translated and dubbed in Thai!
Papi Zak speaks to co-hosts Jasmine Low and Nikki Yeo in Episode 4 about his fitness journey – how he shed over 30kg from his 160kg stature, his childhood as a third culture kid, his mother’s amazing cooking, his new foray into wrestling and his quest to inspire others on the path towards fitness – just as he has. He also indulges us in his relationships… with food!
In the tradition of AsiaFitnessToday.com’s methods of using rhythm and movement as therapy, we introduce a comedy skit by Papi Zak at a TimeOut Kuala Lumpur show to seal off the episode. Tune in to the podcast to listen now.
Gastroenterologist and hepatologist based in Sydney, Dr. Pran Yoganathan is an extremely passionate educator, a Mathematician-turned doctor who aims to empower his patients with data that can help them on a journey of self-healing using the philosophy of “let food be thy medicine”.
Dr. Pran who has innovatively harnessed creative technology and 14,400 followers on Instagram @dr_pran_yoganathan, stresses that his educational memes are not medical advice or recommendations, simply his opinions — and rather strong science-backed opinions they are too!
In the podcast interview, Dr. Pran speaks about his diet of choice, which comprises predominantly of grass-fed steak and eggs and why that has raised eyebrows and temperatures not just in the oven, but in conversation with peers as well. We ask him about butyrate and got him all fired up and excited! Now, are WE ready to absorb the fact that we’re meant to burn fat for energy and not glycogen? Let’s save that for perhaps another conversation.
Together, we pose our numerous curious questions to Dr. Pran and have a content-packed conversation that’s science-based yet entertaining and revealing at the same time! Dr. Pran’s message is to “eat a diet that is not rubbish, move your body”, and he shares science in between some of his Instagram posts.
We ask him why he got into gastroenterology, his inspiration behind the Hippocrates’ philosophy “let food be thy medicine” and his personal dietary habits.
On the table, we discuss hunter gatherer societies in our modern world where Dr. Pran shares about the Hazda ethnic group from Tanzania and how they forage for food today.
Dr. Pran sheds some light on high fibre diets – a push by the standard Western Diet and how excess fibre can slow down gut motility, cause reflux and bloating and fundamentally IBS.
“If you’re going to deal with fibre, you need the machinery. That is why you see our primate cousins, like the chimps and gorillas tend to have a thick hind gut, a very big belly, that’s not visceral fat, it’s simply machinery to deal with rough fibrous tissue. That’s not my theory, that is a scientific fact and it’s called the expensive tissue hypothesis. It’s what makes us special in terms of our species; our brains grew in response to a shrinking gut.
Dr. Pran Yoganathan, gastroenterologist
Incidentally, on a side track, if you’re interested to deep dive into the Expensitve Tissue Hypothesis by American paleoanthropologist and professor emeritus of the University College London Leslie Crum Aiello – click here. She co-authored the textbook, “An Introduction to Human Evolutionary Anatomy”, which uses the fossil record to predict the ways early hominids moved, ate, and looked.
We hope you’ve enjoyed these bite-sized pieces of information. Keep reading below for more about Dr. Pran’s credentials and to listen to the full podcast.
Graduating from medicine from the University of Otago in New Zealand, Dr. Pran is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physician (FRACP) and a member of Gastroenterological Society of Australia (GESA). He has accredited expertise in Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Colonoscopy as certified by the Conjoint Committee for the recognition of training in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Working across the public and private sectors in Greater Sydney, Dr. Pran has a strong interest in the field of human nutrition. He practices an approach to healthcare that assesses the lifestyle of the patient to see how it impacts on their gastrointestinal and metabolic health. Dr. Pran believes that the current day nutritional guidelines may not be based on perfect evidence and he passionately strives to provide the most up to date literature in healthcare and science to provide “Evidence-Based Medicine”.
Dr. Pran has a special interest in conditions such as Gastro-oesophageal Reflux (GORD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and abdominal bloating. He takes a very thorough approach to resolve these issues using dietary manipulation In conjunction with an accredited highly qualified dietician rather than resort to long-term medications.
Ready to digest the podcast episode with Dr. Pran? Listen here:
In this BONUS edition for Spotify Listeners only – In the tradition of AsiaFitnessToday.com’s methods of using rhythm and movement as therapy, we introduce a song to seal off this episode. We have selected a mash-up song made popular by Yohani De Silva – a Sri Lankan singer songwriter and rapper, a social media star herself. Yohani did her Masters in Accounting at a Queensland university.
AFT TV selects this Chinese New Year story, Nian – a legend reimagined as a contemporary coming-of-age story. Shot on an iPhone 12 Pro Max, this short film was directed by Lulu Wang and created by the team behind the Golden Globe nominated film, The Farewell which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2019, with the original score by Alex Weston.
The making of…
https://youtu.be/9pHO5hpgj7k
This heart warming story by award-winning producer/director – Lulu Wang reminds us of the reunion dinner to welcome in the Chinese Lunar New Year. 2021 welcomes the Year of the Ox.
We’ve also selected another heartwarming film surrouding reunion dinners. This one’s from Singapore, it’s short and sweet.
Livestreamed Interview with Datuk Nicol David, World No. 1 Squash Champion, named The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time.
The Malaysian retired professional squash player is currently in her second base Colombia, South America and met with Asia Fitness Today co-hosts Nikki Yeo in Kuala Lumpur and Jasmine Low at the studio in Sydney on 5th February 2021.
With a huge total number of votes, 318,943, Nicol David 🇲🇾 was voted as the greatest of the 24 sports legends that started the race on 8th January 2021. Tug of war legend James Kehoe 🇮🇪 is the first runner-up with 113,120 votes, and Larysa Soloviova 🇺🇦, The World Games Champion in powerlifting 2005-2017, second, with her 80,790 votes. Marcel Hassemeier 🇩🇪, victorious lifesaver, with 79,760 votes got very close to 3rd place. All in all, 1,204,637 votes were cast in the poll. Read full article about The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time here: https://www.asiafitnesstoday.com/?p=8952.
Visual Highlights
The Kurang Manis Podcast, Season 1, Episode 1 (9/2/21): Datuk Nicol David
Listen to the interview with Datuk Nicol David, World No.1 Squash Champion voted The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time | Listen All Platforms
Watch the livestream interview with Nicol David on Friday, 5 February 2021 6:00am (KUL/PER +8 GMT) / 9:00am (SYD/MEL +11 GMT) / 4 February 2021 2:00pm (LA -8UTC) or 5:00pm (NYC/COLOMBIA -5 UTC). Register now.
Kuala Lumpur, Updated: 2 February 2021 / 1 February / 29 January 2021/ Originally published on 26 January 2021
Malaysian Nicol David 🇲🇾 has been named The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time! With a huge total number of votes, 318,943 she was voted as the greatest of the 24 sports legends that started the voting race on 8 January. Ireland’s Tug of war legend James Kehoe 🇮🇪 is the first runner-up with 113,120 votes, and Larysa Soloviova, Ukraine’s and The World Games Champion in powerlifting 2005-2017, second, with her 80,790 votes. Marcel Hassemeier of Germany, victorious lifesaver, with 79,760 votes got very close to 3rd place (Source: The World Games).
The retired professional squash player, Datuk Nicol Ann David DBPJNDSPNKMNAMN (born on August 26, 1983) spoke to AFTNNand when asked if she had a message for the young players, lifting inspiration from how she went from zero to hero, this is what she said:
“Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for their support, their help and encouragement. For the youngsters out there, give yourselves a chance, go out and try whatever you want to do and take care of yourself,”.
Nicol David
Standings at our last report on 1 February 2021
Nicol David MAS (squash) 304909votes (29/1: 227208)
James Kehoe IRL (tug-of-war) 109655 votes (29/1) 81076
Marcel Hassemeier GER (life saving) 78032 votes (29/1 65295)
Sofia Olofsson SWE (powerlifting) 67057 (29/1 52355)
David won three gold medals as well as a bronze at The World Games between 2005 and 2017. She also won eight World Championship titles and had an unprecedented nine-year reign as World No.1.
Birmingham, Alabama USA will host The World Games in July 2022 – photo twg2022.com
Career milestones
In 1997, 15-year-old David became the youngest woman to win a World Junior Championship. In 2001 she defended that crown, becoming the first woman to capture the junior championship title twice. David received international attention following her success in 2005, and in January 2006 she was officially ranked the number one female player in the world—a status that was never before held by an Asian woman.
President Zena Wooldridge of the World Squash Federation says: ”Nicol has beaten a number of distinguished athletes to first place and her victory is recognition of a wonderful career that saw her break numerous records and win everything there was to win in the sport.
David was appointed as the UN Development Programme Ambassador for Malaysia in 2002, and she has since set up her own foundation to enable young girls to take up sport, as a tool to help them establish their values.
When AFTNN reached out to find out how she felt on being nominated for the Greatest Athlete of All Time, Nicol said,
“It’s a huge honour to be nominated by the World Games for the Greatest Athlete of All Time and to gain so much support from everyone in Malaysia and the squash community. It came as a surprise to see me amongst these other top athletes and I’m grateful for this,”.
Nicol David
Video by the Professional Squash Association in May 2020
The World Games (TWG) is an international multi-sport global event since 1981 and takes place every four years after the summer Olympics. TWG features sporting events which are not contested in the Olympic Games such as aikido, billiards, dancesport, kickboxing, orienteering, parachuting and paragliding, squash, surfing, muaythai, tug of war and water skiing.
Voting began on January 8th with nominees from all editions of The World Games from 1981 until 2017 representing 24 different sports as nominated by their International Federations. What is common for all of them is that they are extraordinary athletes who have succeeded in an extraordinary way at one or more editions of The World Games.
The public could vote daily, once per 24 hours, for their favourite. “The first candidate they choose gets two votes, and the second candidate one vote. We started with this initiative a year ago, in order to get The World Games family to know each other better; after choosing your favourite, you will choose a candidate from another sport too. This way you will get to see who else is there and with what kind of background story,” TWG communication officer, Anna Jacobson explains.
“Normally we have a vote for the Athlete of the Year in January. This year, to celebrate the 40 years’ anniversary of The World Games, we wanted to do something special. When we decided to look for The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time, we did not realise we would find 24 such legendary athletes, and it has been a true pleasure for us to follow the vote as well. Nicol David truly deserves her victory! All the 24 candidates will be promoted throughout this year, as they are all legends in their own sport,” said Jacobson, also Head of Communications IWGA.
“If I get a chance to win this it would be amazing for me just to have the recognition through playing squash and hopefully it can elevate the attention for the future of squash and a proud moment to represent my country and Asia,”.
Nicol David
The voting ended on February1st and three best athletes will be awarded a trophy and a branded gift from the official sponsor Protective Life.
This article has been researched, compiled and written by the team at Asia Fitness Today News Network (AFTNN); Sneha Ramesh – Intern, Monash University (Sunway campus), Syuhada Adam – Editorial consultant, Nikki Yeo & Jasmine Low – Director/Producer.
Register and get notified about the live streamed interview with Datuk Nicol David on the Asia Fitness Today KURANG MANIS PODCAST. *AFTNN would like to shout out a word of thanks to Nicol who is currently in Colombia, her second base, TWG & PSA for making this interview possible.
This performance by Ryuichi Sakamoto was commissioned by the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and streamed live via the Kuaishou app, which has over 300million users. Entitled “Voluntary Garden Online Concert: Sonic Cure”, nine musicians were selected to perform. They all had various styles and differences in their art and included Sakamoto (b. 1952) to Liu Yucao (b. 1995), multimedia artist Feng Mengbo to suona master Guo Yazhi, all coming together to give an improvised concert, performing in relay via the Kuaishou app.
The UCCA website shares that this performance on 29 February 2020 featured musicians Feng Mengbo, Huang Jin, “Two Chamber Quarters” Pang Kuan, and Xia Yuyan who are in Beijing; Zhang Meng in Shanghai; Feng Hao in Hefei; Liu Yucao and Guo Yazhi in Boston; and Ryuichi Sakamoto in New York. The seven solo performers and one duo each performed an unprecedented musical conversation broadcast to audiences across the world. In this featured post, we showcase Mr. Sakamoto’s act.
A renowned keyboardist and songwriter attached to the Haruomi Hosono’s Yellow Magic Orchestra, he is a synth pop pioneer and famed for solo experiments that collaborated with global genres and classical impressionism that led to him scoring over 30 films including Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky, and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. In the past 20 years alone, he’s written a multimedia opera, turned a glass building into an instrument, and travelled to the Arctic to record the sound of melting snow. That exploratory spirit runs through Sakamoto’s 2017 album, async, which paints an audio portrait of the passing of time informed by his recovery from throat cancer. “Music, work, and life all have a beginning and an ending,” said Sakamoto in early 2019. “What I want to make now is music freed from the constraints of time.”
Mr. Sakamoto wanted to share this with you who are in isolation.
Here is another performance, dedicated to the isolated: https://youtu.be/X6td9KUZMfw and a fan-produced playlist from his album Energy Flow.
Coming up…
Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound hearing time
M WOODS is presenting an exhibition devoted to Ryuichi Sakamoto. The exhibition is Sakamoto’s first institutional solo show in China. It includes work in various media from the last thirty years and new outdoor site-specific installations made especially for M WOODS.
Exhibition Dates: 5 March 2021 – August 8, 2021 M WOODS HUTONG
With collaborative works by Shiro Takatani Daito Manabe Zakkubalan Apichatpong Weerasethakul Curated by Sachiko Namba, Victor Wang, Zhang Youdai. (Source: Instagram)
Editor’s note: AFT has dedicated 2021 to raising awareness about non-communicable diseases. Diagnosed with stage three throat cancer in 2014, Mr. Sakamoto told Thailand Tatler in an interview that even listening to music was “too hard for me—maybe because music is too important to me. To enjoy it requires a certain amount of energy, and I lost a lot of it during [that time]”. On behalf of AFT, we wish him continuous improvement in his health and deep appreciation for his art. Thank you and take care, Mr. Sakamoto.
The Novel Coronavirus nCoV or COVID-19 has been one of the most widespread diseases so far. With a death rate of 1.52 million people, many believe that this pandemic is the greatest challenge in history. But there is a bigger and far more dangerous disease that has been in our lives for longer.
Photo via Pexels Alex Green
What are NCDs?
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the leading causes of death in the world. They contribute to 71% of global deaths each year. This invisible pandemic causes more death and suffering than COVID-19, year after year.
NCDs kill approximately 41 million people every year. This is more than the population of Malaysia and Singapore put together! Unfortunately, many people remain unaware of this pandemic that has been wreaking havoc for quite a while now.
NCDs are diseases which are non-infectious, meaning that they cannot spread from one person to another. They tend to last for a long duration and occur as a result of a combination of:
Genetic – Certain diseases such as diabetes, asthma and cancer are genetic, meaning that they can be inherited from parents or ancestors. (We will investigate how certain interventions have shown positive effects in disease management in another feature article later – Ed.)
Physiological Factors – These are factors that are related to a person’s body and can be influenced by genes, lifestyle and other factors. For instance, obesity and high blood pressure are physiological factors.
Environmental Factors – These include factors such as access to clean water, air pollution, sanitation and poverty.
Behavioural Factors – These are factors that are related to an individual’s actions and lifestyle such as smoking, drinking too much alcohol and lack of physical activity. These can be reduced through changes in lifestyle.
Cardiovascular diseases (e.g. heart attacks and stroke)
Cancer (lung, breast, skin and the like)
Chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma
Diabetes
An indiscriminating disease
Just like COVID-19, NCDs do not discriminate but the most vulnerable are those living in developing countries. Poverty is closely linked with NCDs and increases the risk of death and disability from NCDs.
Each year, WHO reports that 15 million people between the ages of 30 and 69 years die from an NCD, and over 85% of these “premature” deaths occur in developing countries. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a leading voice and repository for facts and information on U.S. health-care issues shared in a post published on 29 Jan 2019, “The U.S. Government and Global Non-Communicable Disease Efforts” that chronic diseases in developing countries are not given the importance and attention it deserves (Ed.)
According to WHO (2018), NCDs account for:-
26.6% of all deaths in Taiwan,
63% of all deaths in India,
68% of all deaths in the Philippines,
73% of all deaths in Indonesia,
74% of all deaths in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand,
More than 80% of all deaths in Fiji, and
89% of all deaths in China.
The rate of deaths caused by NCDS are extremely high in Western countries with NCDS accounting for: –
74% of all deaths in Brazil,
89% of all deaths in the United Kingdom, and
91% of all deaths in Australia and Italy.
It has been predicted that by 2030, the global average NCD deaths from the total number of deaths would be 75.26%. That’s a whopping two-thirds of total fatality.
Ann Keeling, Chair NCD Alliance and IDF CEO stated “90 million avoidable deaths from NCDs will occur worldwide within the next decade if nothing is done. We’re angry and we want action!”
The risk factors that increase the chances of NCDs include the person’s lifestyle and environment.
This includes age, gender, genetics, exposure to pollution, lack of physical activity, smoking tobacco and drinking too much alcohol.
The rise of NCDs poses devastating health consequences for individuals, families and communities, and threatens to overwhelm health systems. However, most NCDs are considered preventable because they are caused by modifiable risk factors. Having an healthy and active lifestyle such as regular physical activity and nutritious food reduces the likelihood of getting NCDs.
Countries and other stakeholders have to support a holistic approach to health, which promotes good health and healthy behaviours, prevention of NCDs and accounts for the early detection, diagnosis, management, and treatment of NCDs.
This article has been researched, compiled and written by the team at Asia Fitness Today; Sneha Ramesh – Intern, Monash University (Sunway campus), Syuhada Adam – Editorial consultant, Nikki Yeo & Jasmine Low – Director/Producer.
Asia Fitness Today has embarked on MISSION 2030 — to halve NCD rates in the Asia Pacific region by 2030. If we could ask if you could please share this article on social media or with someone you know and care about so we can perpetuate this ripples of awareness in the community. It begins with a whisper, a drop in the ocean and slowly, change can happen. It begins with us. Learn more: www.move8.org.
References:
World Health Organization. (2015, October 5). NCDs, poverty and development. https://www.who.int/global-coordination-mechanism/poverty-and-development/en/
Benham, B. (2018, April 5). Poverty Increases Risk of Non-Communicable Diseases in Lower Income Co. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2018/poverty-increases-risk-of-non-communicable-diseases-in-lower-income-countries.html
World Health Organisation. (2019, June 12). Noncommunicable diseases. https://www.who.int/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases#tab=tab_1
World Health Organisation. (n.d.). World Health Organization – Eastern Mediterranean Region. http://www.emro.who.int/noncommunicable-diseases/causes/index.html
“Blinded By Sugar” tells the story of Neil Hansell, a man who woke one morning blind in both eyes due to neglect of his diabetes. In this confronting 20-minute keynote presentation, Dr Muecke discusses why type 2 diabetes is a growing worldwide epidemic and explores a number of strategies to curb the toxic impact of sugar on our health.
Source: James Muecke’s YouTube Channel
An in-depth interview
We’ve been researching the work by ophthalmologist Dr. James Muecke earlier this year, having come across an article about his Australian of the Year 2020 award presented by the PM Scott Morrison. Dr. Muecke made headlines recently following his speech at the National Press Club on 1st December 2020. In that memorable speech, he speaks about a possible sugar tax as a solution to reducing the alarming rate of millions Australians presenting type 2 diabetes or are pre-diabetic. Rachel Clun of the Sydney Morning Herald summarises it well here.
AFTNN will be conducting a special interview with Dr. Muecke in the coming months and we really look forward to bringing his message to more people in the Asia Pacific region – home to two-thirds of the world’s population, sharing his ideas and proposed solutions on curbing the disease.
We’re reporting live from Sydney this year. Watch this other angle on AFTNN’s twitch account from our friend’s balcony! Shirl is a 75-year old pioneer client and muse of the Move8 MoveAID movement. We joined her and her carer as they enjoyed the fireworks from home.
Sydney’s fireworks usually attracts over 1 million people around its foreshore. This year, with only 5 visitors are allowed per household, most of us will be watching it from our own homes after a #stayathome plea from the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian.
Wishing you a Happy New Year from all of us at AFTNN!
— Lee Se-dol, South Korea’s professional Go player
When one man is pitted against the machine, one that is AI-powered with algorithms and permutations in its favour, there’s no other resolve than to fight until the end.
With more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe, the ancient 3,000 year old Chinese game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence.
On 9th March 2016, Lee Se-dol began playing a five-game match, broadcast live, against the computer program AlphaGo, developed by a London-based artificial intelligence firm Google DeepMind, for a $1 million match prize. He said “I have heard that Google DeepMind’s AI is surprisingly strong and getting stronger, but I am confident that I can win at least this time”. In an interview with JTBC Newsroom on February 22, 2016, he showed confidence in his chances again, while saying that even beating AlphaGo by 4–1 may allow the Google DeepMind team to claim its de facto victory and the defeat of him, or even humanity. In this interview he pointed out the time rule in this match, which seems well-balanced so that both he and the AI would fairly undergo time pressure. In another interview at Yonhap News, Lee Se-dol said that he was confident of beating AlphaGo by a score of 5–0, at least 4–1 and accepted the challenge in only five minutes. He also stated “Of course, there would have been many updates in the last four or five months, but that isn’t enough time to challenge me”.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history.
His competing against the AlphaGo computer drew comparisons to Garry Kasparov’s chess matches against the Deep Blue supercomputer in 1997.
On 19 November 2019, Lee announced his retirement from professional play, arguing that he could never be the top overall player of Go due to the increasing dominance of AI. Lee referred to them as being “an entity that cannot be defeated”.
He lost 4-1 to AlphaGo in that five-round tournament but still remains the first and only Go player to beat Google’s algorithm.
The 36-year-old officially stepped down from competing by submitting a letter of retirement to South Korea’s Go Association.
