Healthy Vegetarian Eateries in Kuala Lumpur

There are more than 50 entries
for KL Healthy Veg Eateries
in TVS Veggie Map

Often,
I have veg friends visiting from overseas,
asking for recommendation of
healthy veg eateries in Kuala Lumpur.

Usually, I would suggest them checking out
The Veg School's Veggie Map which enlist
more than 50 healthy veggie outlets in
Kuala Lumpur + vicinity area.

But my friends would ask me to distill down the list further
so that they can "go straight to the point"
for they haven't much time during their short stay.

And the distilled creme de la creme
veggie places that I personally prefer,
would look like this :)


#1 Woods Macrobiotics
AG-8, Block A, Ground Floor, 
Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13, 46400, 
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel: +603-7958 5795

Fax: +603-7958 2188

Website: http://www.healthyfoodmalaysia.com/

Email: info@macrobiotics-malaysia.com

Operating Hours:

Mon to Fri: 9am to 6pm

Sat: 9am to 1pm

Closed on public holiday

Comments:
This is my Number-1 favourite place when I have to eat away from home.
Woods Macrobiotics has been around for more than 2 decades.
The owner, Mdm June Lim is a sincere buddhist and also
a well respected veteran in organic F&B in Malaysia.
I trust her putting the best organic ingredients into every dishes.

As June has dwindled down the scale of her F&B catering recently,
to focus more on culinary courses and organic groceries business,
WM is only serving one set meal per day.
The number of sets is also limited,
so it's a must to call in prior to visit
to ensure there are enough set meals left.

Woods Macrobiotics also have 2 other franchises
Woods Bio Marche @Bukit Bintang
Ground Floor, Wisma Bukit Bintang, 
Jalan Bukit Bintang, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2143 1636 . Open Monday to Sunday 10am - 9pm.

Woods MacroB @SS2
54, Jalan SS2/72, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: +603-7960 0260. Open Tuesday - Sunday 11am-9pm .

They are also worthwhile to visit!


#2 Green Meadow Health Cafe
62-62C, Jalan SS2/67, 47300 Petaling Jaya
Tel: +603-7873 0366
Website: http://www.facebook.com/GreenMeadowOrganic
Open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-8pm

Comment:
Green Meadow is one of a few rare and precious
healthy veg eateries in KL.
The food that they served are not only healthy
but also nourishing.
The owners, Mr Teay & Mdm Chin
are knowledgeable holistic health veterans
who insists on the purest and nutritious organic foods for their customers.

Whenever I am there I will always first consider their
Lei-Cha, of proprietary blend of herbs and tonic!
If you haven't tried their Lei-cha, you haven't been to Green Meadow!


#3 Simple Life 
Simple Life @Lot 10
S12 & S31, 2nd Floor, Lot 10 Shopping Centre, 
50, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : +6012-351 7273
Website: http://www.simplelife.com.my/
[To view other locations: http://www.simplelife.com.my/inner_location.html]

Simple Life is one of the largest healthy vegetarian chains in Malaysia.
At Simple Life, you get a myriad of set meals, local delights, noodles, juices and titbits.
A friend of mine, along with her hubby and kid, visited Simple Life 5 times during her 3-day stay in KL, and didn't get bored with the food at all!

My personal favourite at SL is "Organic Mee Hoon Kueh with Organic Black Bean Soup".
Noodle soup lovers, this is Must x3 try!


#4 BMS Organics 
BMS Organics @One Utama, 
LG 310, One Utama Shopping Mall (New Wing)-1, 
Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
(next to Cold Storage)
Website: http://www.bmsorganics.com
Tel: +603-7725 0828 
[To view other locations: http://www.bmsorganics.com/outlets.html]

Comment:
BMS Organics is yet another large healthy vegetarian cum organic grocery chain in Malaysia. The variety of organic foods at BMS is also very inviting, ranging from their semi-raw Lei Cha, to local delights like Nasi Lemak and veggie version of "Bak Kut Teh" etc

My personal recommendation is their Laksa Noodle which is more delicious than normal non-veg versions!!!

*note that not all BMS branches offer meals, some of them are just selling organic groceries.


#5 ECO Organic Choice
No 16, Ground Floor, Jalan 14/149L, 
Bandar Baru Seri Petaling, 57000, 
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-9058 7133 . Mobile: +6012-378 6530

No 22, Jalan SL 1/12, 
Bandar Sungai Long, 
43200, Kajang, Selangor. 
Tel: +60 3-9010 4303
Open Monday - Saturday 11.30am - 6pm 


Comment:
This is a family-run organic grocery business complemented with organic kitchens that serve home-cooked style healthy set meals and noodles daily, along with organic juices. They champion purity of ingredients as well as the nourishment for customers.

I will usually order the set meal of the day whenever I am there, and they have always tasted so good, for I know pure real food doesn't come easy these days.



Hope the above recommendations are of some help to many who would like to explore the healthier side of Kuala Lumpur ^.^


Well regards,
Kee Yew


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Digesting The Core of Wellness (5)

Leafy greens are easy to digest
but doesn't actively improve
the digestive system

In the course of
maintaining or improving digestive wellness,
often,
we encounter the following pitfalls
in which people sometimes get trapped unconsciously:

(I) Eating more fruits and leafy veggies can improve digestion

The statement doesn't seem wrong generally,
but technically, it should have been stated this way:

"Eating more fruits and leafy veggies can relieve the digestive system"

The pitfall here is that
many people think, fruits and leafy veggies are easy to digest
hence it should improve digestion.

But the fact is that these foods
only help to reduce the burden of the digestive system
and do not enhance the performance of the digestive system.

If the digestive system is already weak to begin with,
eating more fruits and leafy veggies
only masks the weakness
as the digestive system is not required to do much work.
-- if any benefit for the digestive system to be claimed at all,
it's minimal and passive.

The worse situation is
when people over-eat fruits and leafy veggies
which are generally Yin in trait.

Over consumption of fruits and leafy veggies
easily put off the digestive fire
rendering a weaker digestive system
instead of improving it!

This is commonly seen among the slimming community
and vegetarians who do not know how to balance their diet.

In view of the issue above,
some of the solutions suggested are:

- to eat fruits and leafy vegetables moderately
(Exactly how much fruits and leafy veggies to eat,
please refer to http://TheVegSchool.net/Veg-Pyramid.pdf)

and

- to pay special attention to stimulating digestive fires
when eating a lot fruits and leafy veggies in a meal.
(E.g. adding spice mix powder on cut fruits, or sipping hot soup when eating a lot of leafy vegetables)

(II) Eating raw is beneficial for digestion

This is another pitfall which shares similar drill with the fruits and leafy vegetables.

Again, raw vegetarian food,
does help reduce the burden of the digestive system,
because of the active enzymes content.
But it doesn't really actively improve
the digestion system.

In contrary,
raw diet which is extremely Yin (if one doesn't know how to balance) ,
constantly suppresses the digestive fire,
due to overdosing of alkaloid
(a group of heat-sensitive natural plant compounds that interfere with digestive enzymes)

Long term suppression of digestive fire
will render the digestive system susceptible
to bad bacteria infection (e.g. H. pylori that flourishes under weak gastric juice condition)
and
incomplete transformation of nutrients.

Hence, long term raw diet should be considered prudently and
practical solutions should sought immediately if one is already on raw food:

Suggestions:
- to avoid taking raw diet in morning when the digestive system is weak (for semi-raw/cooked foodist)
- to increase intake of citric juices in raw diet, so that alkaloid could be neutralized.
- to deploy digestive aids like pungent spices, warming herbs and hot water sipping

To improve digestive health, remember to take on a holistic approach which often has to via the path of overall life force improvement, as explained in the previous posts.

Hope this series of articles on digestive health have been beneficial to readers :)

Should you like more information about dietetic and nutritional wellbeing,
dp consider joining one of The Veg School's courses which are very elaborated and comprehensive =)

Till then, may health and bliss be with all ^.^

Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Digesting The Core of Wellness (4)

Spices have been used
for thousands of years
to improve digestive wellness

As digestive problems
are getting prominent in our society nowadays,
we see more and more people
taking digestive drugs, antacids, laxatives and kinds.

Medicinal approaches to digestive issues
generally do not cure the conditions.
They just suppress the symptoms.

Also, these digestive problems like
peptic ulcers, gastritis, flatulence, constipation etc
may haunt the victim for his/her entire lifespan
despite long term medication.

Coupling with the recommendations for lifestyle change
mentioned in the previous posts,
specific dietetic and nutritional management
would be able to resolve digestive issues
and bring about a rejuvenated body
without side effects:


(B) Digestion-oriented diet, nutritionals and herbs

1. pre-digest food prior to eating
so that our digestive system carry less burden and perform more efficiently with partially digested/disintegrated foods.

Pre-digesting food means:

i. blending our food, e.g. almond milk, creme of pumpkin, fruity smoothie (non-cold), sesame powder etc  [mechanical disintegration by a blender]

ii. fermenting our food, e.g. vegan yoghurt, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut, idli etc  [bacterial/fungal digestion]

iii. sprouting our food, e.g. mung bean sprouts, germinated brown rice, buckwheat sprouts etc  [biological enzymatic digestion]

iv. cooking our food for long hours* e.g. stewed mushroom, stewed lotus roots, double-boiled soup etc  [heat-mediated degradation]

* some nutrients may be lost, but other nutrients become easily absorbed as they have been broken down into fine molecules after prolonged moderate heating

2. maneuvering with specific flavours and spices to stimulate digestive fire

i. The 3 flavours that stimulate digestive fire
namely, Sour, Salty and Pungent
increases one's appetite and
hence renders a higher chance of complete food digestion.

ii. Many common spices
e.g. cinnamon, coriander, curry leaves, long pepper, black pepper, cumin, basil, ginger etc
can improve digestion when incorporated into daily dishes or taken in powder form prior to meal.

In Ayurvedic system, healers often make a blend of spices and digestive herbs incorporating the black Himalayan salt, to be served just before a meal for digestion improvement.

In TCM perspective, one may also consume 1 glass of ginger-molasses drink (hot from thermal tumbler -- never drink cold), 9-11am or 3-5pm daily to rectify digestive issues and overall life force condition.

3. consuming sufficient calcium to boost life force

Due to generally stressful lifestyle in modern days,
people has high tendency of leaching calcium on daily basis.

When calcium leaches, the communication between the digestive system and the brain,
become significantly compromised,
in turn affecting proper digestive activities,
including proper gastric juice secretion and peristalsis.

Taking foods high in calcium (e.g. pre-soaked whole grains/nuts)
or supplementing with good quality calcium pills
can prevent digestive issue caused by stress.

4. consuming probiotics and soluble fibre 
so as to regenerate good flora of the gut, in turn
- reducing bad germs in the gut
- repair internal gut lining
- nourish digestive system

The probiotics or fermented foods consumed must contain clinically-trialed strains,
otherwise the benefits above are not achievable.

Also soluble fibre (ie prebiotics, food of Probiotics) has to be consumed concurrently with probiotics, to ensure better survival and blooming of good bacteria in the gut.

5. administering common herbs to protect and rejuvenate the digestive system

In Ayurvedic system,
there is this popular herbal mix of 3 types of dried fruit powder,
called Triphala,
which is very beneficial for proper digestive functions.
1 teaspoon of Triphala with 20ml hot water daily
is sufficient to maintain belly happiness.

In TCM perspective,
licorice would be a very good herb to rejuvenate the spleen and stomach.
Simmer 3 slices of ginger with 1 slice of licorice  root in 400ml hot water for 20min,
will make a very simple but potent digestive tea.


In the next post,
we will reveal some common dietetic pitfalls regarding digestive wellness.


Blessings,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com



{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Digesting The Core of Wellness (3)

Yogic Vajrasana pose
improves digestion

Improving the digestive system
can be a long course of rejuvenation.

It involves an overall revival of one's vitality
(ie Life Force Building as taught in Advance Nutrition and Healing Course)
in the perspectives of
- wholesale changes in lifestyle
  and
- management of diet, nutrition and herbs.

When one's vitality is revived,
the digestive system naturally improves.
A good digestive system will also
improve one's overall vigour
which in turn kicks off a spiral up effect.

Hence, we discuss here,
a spectrum of measures to improve digestive system,
that targets both the digestive system specifically
and the overall health generally.


(A) Lifestyle Improvement

In line with life force building and hence the revival of digestive life force
it's recommended that one:

1. sleep latest by 10.30pm daily
to harvest the benefits of human growth hormones (hGH) designated to secrete 11pm-1am every midnight. hGH is a versatile hormones that repair, reverse, regenerate, restructure in our body. It is the ultimate holy grail in medicine, that preserve youth and rebuild life force. Failing to sleep in time every night, is likened to missing the pay cheque of the day, causing a lot of destruction to our body including our digestive system.

2. do kneeling yoga pose after meal
to increase the blood flow to the digestive system, for improved digestive fire.
How to do kneeling yoga pose (Vajrasana):
http://www.yogicwayoflife.com/vajrasana-the-thunderbolt-pose/

3. perform abdominal exercise 3-4 times weekly
as abdominal exercises like crunches, sit-ups tone the muscle of the digestive tract, prevent stagnant gas in the channel.

For beginners, crunches is a better option because it is less risky in term of physical injuries.
How to do basic crunches:
http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Crunches

Other than crunches and sit-ups,
trampoline rebounding exercise also helps massage digestive tract internally.

4. empty the mind during meal
so that the communication between the digestive system and the brain is not disrupted.
It is an established textbook-fact that we actually digest under the command of the brain. During a meal, the stomach senses the degree of softness of the food and 'consult' constantly with the brain, which command on how much gastric juices and enzymes to secrete. When we are eating with a troubled or occupied mind (due to work, stress, TV etc), the communication between the stomach and brain will be compromised, rendering improper digestion.

5. nurture pro-digestive eating habits
e.g.
i. sipping hot soup or hot water
     before, during and after meal,
     to help up-regulate digestive fire.
     But there is a restriction of maximum ~80ml.
     Larger volume of soup (that will put off digestive fire)
     can be taken 30min before or 1hr after the meal.

ii. chewing foods slowly and thoroughly,
     to improve digestibility of foods in the gut.
     Chew at least 30times on each side,
     until saliva lubricates the bolus in the mouth
     (and amylase begins to work).

iii. eating with hands (as per Ayurvedic teachings)
     to invite digestive agni (fire).
     This is because the hands can sense
     the softness/hardness (digestibility) of food
     and send signals to the brain
     for it to justify how much gastric juice will be needed
     before food arrives in the stomach.


Next, we will discuss about the dietetic and nutritional maneuvering
in order to increase digestive power and
to maintain a high performance digestive system.



Happy digesting =)
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Digesting The Core of Wellness (2)

Watering on digestive fire
which is meant to
transform nutrients
is one common mistake.

Now that we know
the digestive system
is crucial to our bodily health,
we will discuss here
on how to implement digestive wellness.

But, prior to doing the right things
to nurture a strong digestive system,
there are a few "Don't-s"
that need to be observed.
Otherwise, whatever good that we do
to improve our digestive system
will be futile.


(I) Avoid consuming cold water or ice-cold foods

Yes, we have heard enough of this advice
on and off.

But once the hot weather sets in,
people will start to get excuse for
cold drinks, chilly smoothies, ice-creams and icy desserts.

Obviously, they do not understand how dreadful
the digestive tract is compromised
in order to resist the temperature shock
and to "digest" the foods under non-permissive condition
(ie the wrong temperature for the digestive enzymes to work)


(II) Avoid untimely drinking of fluids

This refers to inappropriate habit of drinking fluids
within 30mins prior to a  major meal,
during a major meal,
and
within 1 hour after a major meal.

Water is a source of life force which is good,
but it also harbours a Yin trait
which can be mismanaged to do harm to our body.
Drinking water along with a major meal
will reduce or even put off the digestive fire
(ie diluting the gastric juice and enzymes)
and in turn cause improper/incomplete digestion/transformation of nutrients.

The fluids here refers to water or any type of beverages,
except small amount of hot soup (which will be elaborated in the following posts).

* The above time restriction also applies on showering/bathing and physical exercises.
** Individuals with digestive issues may consider no fluid 1hr before, and 2hr after meal.


(III) Avoid untimely eating

This means:

a) Eating without appetite -- when one is lack of appetite, it already means that digestive power is lacking. If food is forced into the digestive system, we are only going to get incomplete digested foods turning into toxins.

b) Inconsistent daily eating time -- this confuses the digestive system when to start up digestive fire, when not to; rendering a risk of incomplete digestion.

c) Eating at late night -- the digestive system slows down substantially after sundown. Putting in food into the digestive system late night, is asking for incomplete digestion.


(IV) Avoid over-eating

When the digestive system is overloaded, digestion will naturally become inefficient.
In such a case, life force will be drained, toxins will be formed, complications follow...


(V) Avoid mixing raw and cooked foods in a meal

In ideal situation, raw and cooked food should be eaten in different meals.
Both raw and cooked foods are digested with different amount of enzymes and "protocols".
When mixed, the digestive system gets confused,
rendering less efficient digestion.
If occasionally, raw and cooked have to be taken in one meal,
limit either raw or cooked portion to less than 20%,
so as to mitigate the negative effect.



Next, we will elaborate on the "Do's" to nurture a healthy digestive system
and some tricks to improve the digestibility of foods :)


Well wishes,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Digesting The Core of Wellness (1)

Digestive fire
is of paramount importance
but often neglected

Along the years of learning a holistic lifestyle
I gradually come into realization of
the pivotal role of our digestive system
in our overall wellness.

The realization gets more prominent
when I do cross referencing
among ancient wellness teachings and
modern medicine.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine,
by the perspective of the 5-elements theory （五行）,
the digestive system (stomach+spleen) behaves like "Earth" （脾胃属土）
which is claimed to be the mother of all entities （土生万物）.
Hence, the wellness of our body
relies significantly on the wellness of mother "Earth" ie the digestive system.

In Ayurveda,
digestive fire (Agni) is heavily emphasized on day-to-day basis,
to ensure all meals are fully digested and transformed properly.
Otherwise, any left-over undigested food in the digestive channel
will form into toxins (Ama)
in turn kicking off a cascade of detrimental effects in our body.

In modern settings,
we see a zillion daunting diseases
-- be it among the young, the old, the weak or even the strong;
many of which
could be prevented/cured via a good digestive system.
Simply, the digestive tract is
  a major gateway to administering proper nutrients and medicine
  and also
  an easily accessible interface to intervene any organ/system in the body.

While many who are veterans in the wellness circle
may not find this topic new,
certainly, there are still substantial crowd out there
  who do not appreciate the potentials of a good digestive system in preventing diseases;
  who do not understand the pressing need of maintaining a peak performing digestive system
  who do not foresee how the a poor digestive system brings about the wilting of wellbeing

With a good digestive system,
one does not only nourish one's body
but will also be able to specifically transform nutrients
to serve specific functions appropriately in the body.

For example,
if one were to build body mass,
proteins will need to be consumed
-- no doubt.

However, in the course of body mass building,
there is a pre-requisite
that these proteins are digested properly
and specifically transformed in muscle.
This renders a good digestive system very critical in the process.

If one's digestive system
were to be under-performing (e.g being low in digestive fire),
not only that the proteins consumed do not get transformed into muscle;
the undigested proteins will stay in the digestive channel
and get putrefied into toxins,
causing liver, kidney and allergies.

This is why, very often we hear some people complaining
not achieving the desired results
after consuming certain prescribed foods/nutrients.
It always seems that these prescriptions
will only work on other people,
but never on themselves...
-- The clue is with digestive system.

Exactly how to maintain a peak performing digestive system
we will discuss a myriad of strategies and techniques
in the next post :)

Toast to a better digestive health in 2015!

Many blessings,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Nurturing Vegetarianism

2014 was a fulfilling year
propagating vegetarianism.
2015 will be just as meaningful
in nurturing veggie wellness =) 

2014 was a remarkable year
for The Veg School.


It was an exciting year
The Veg School first established
vegetarian education in Kuala Lumpur
and unexpectedly expanded veg teachings
to other cities in Malaysia,
namely, Penang, Melaka, Kota Kinabalu
as well as Shenzhen (China):

Veg Nutrition Course, KL	VNC Intensive, KL	VNC Intensive, Penang
Life Force Nutrition, Kota Kinabalu	Organic Shopping Course, KL	Advance Nutrition Class Gathering
Organic Rejuvenation Camp, Titi	Veg Nutrition Course, Melaka	VNC Intensive, Shenzhen

The Veg School was also very blessed
to be invited to teach healthy veg cooking
and to deliver veg awareness seminars
for Tzu Chi Buddhist Society
at multiple branches:

Tzu Chi Kids Camp, B.Bintang	Black Sesame Sandwich	Tzu Chi Ai-Sa event, Sg. Long
Veg Seminar, K. Kinabalu	Tri-colour coconut milk	Organic Seminar, Kepong

It was also a blessing that
The Veg School organised an
Ayurveda Study Tour
at the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine
(of Trans Disciplinary University, Bengaluru, India)
where students learnt about
holistic lifestyle and herbal care:

Ayurveda Theory Class	Making of herbal care products	Excursion to Ayurveda Hospital
On-the-spot teaching of herbal functions at Herbal Garden	Ayurveda Practical Class	Ayurveda Course Graduation Dinner

In 2015,
The Veg School will continue
propagate vegetarian awareness,
by teaching vegetarian nutrition and holistic healing
in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Tampin, Melaka, Kota Kinabalu and Shenzhen.

The variety of courses is enlisted in the followings
and hope more sentient beings will be benefited
from the good will of The Veg School's team:

*Veg Nutrition Course @ SG 
http://TheVegSchool.net/VNC-HY2015.pdf

*Advance Nutrition & Healing @ SG
http://TheVegSchool.net/ANH-HY2015.pdf

*Vegan Culinary Certification Program @ SG

http://TheVegSchool.net/VCCP5.pdf

*Organic Rejuvenation Retreat @ Titi, MY

http://TheVegSchool.net/tours/OrganicDetox2015.pdf

*Ayurveda Study Tour @ Bengaluru, India

http://TheVegSchool.net/tours/Ayurveda2015.pdf

*Veg Nutrition Course & Advance Nutrition Course @ KL
-- kindly obtain info from kee_yew@TheVegSchool.net


While The Veg School continues to nurture vegetarianism,
we wish all sentient beings
a blissful and peaceful 2015!! :D

With deep gratitude,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}