Waking up at 4.30am in the morning for running event has been a norm for me nowadays but yesterday I woke up early for a meaningful purpose. I was going to be a part of over 3,800 Malaysians to walk a mile for the 15th Nestlé Omega Plus Walk-A-Mile event.

Heart disease is the number one killer in Malaysia especially with all the high fat content in our food. No doubt food in Malaysia are among the best, however did you know that there is one death caused by heart disease in every 15 minutes? Many Malaysian still ignore the fact and continue to indulge in unhealthy food and carry on with their unhealthy lifestyle because sadly many still assume that heart disease only affects the elderly. Here is a wake up call for you. Research shown that Malaysians in their thirties suffers from ageing arteries similar to those in their seventies due to their lifestyles. Now it is time for you to take a step back and think about what you can do to prevent any health and heart diseases.

This year is the 15th year that Nestlé Omega Plus in collaboration with Yayasan Jantung Malaysia held its annual Walk-A-Mile event. This year also marks the 15 years of partnership between Nestlé Omega Plus® and Yayasan Jantung Malaysia. Despite having this annually for the past 14 years, this year would be my first participation. The walk was held at Taman Perdana Botanical Garden (Lake Gardens), which was also the first time I stepped into the famous park. Knowing the lack of parking spaces at the park, the organizer was thoughtful to map out the parking area nearby and even prepared shuttle van to coach us to Lake Garden. I parked about 10 minutes away from the park so I was more than happy to hop into one of the shuttle van. I thought it would be chaos and I need to elbow with other people to get a space in the van but to my surprise, I get a van quite easily 😀 . Even going back to my car after the event was fairly easy. No elbowing required lol.

Yayasan Jantung Malaysia or YJM in short also had a booth to spread awareness to the public on heart health.

Nestlé had a few booth right opposite YJM. It is also where most participants and myself had our quick breakfast fix.

There are 3 key factors to holistic heart health management – physical activity, medical check-up and a balanced diet. All three key factors are covered by Nestlé Omega Plus at the event. We start with balanced diet. Besides offering Nestlé Omega Plus Oats and Cheerios cereal to participants, there are also free flow of Nestlé Omega Plus milk. It is also what I had the most for breakfast at the event mainly because it is not sweet and not too heavy for an early day. And when I say free flow, I really do mean free flow. Nestlé was so kind to offer this up until the end of the event. Guess how many mini cups I had? 😛

Nestlé Omega Plus Walk-A-Mile official mascots are probably the busiest that morning as many rushed over to take a photo with this huge smiley heart. Adults included.

Besides the food, drinks, and games activities at the event area, there are also complimentary Heart Screening offered to everyone. All 3,800 participants at the event not only “saved” their lives by joining the Walk-A-Mile to spread awareness, they also saved double and triple that amount by sharing their experience on social media. That sharing alone reminds other people why it is important to start managing heart health from now on. Remember, heart disease does not happen overnight. It is accumulative. But it is never too late to start taking care of your heart now and prevent the accumulation and wait for the symptoms to develop.

Games and Engaging Activities

To keep everyone moving and not just sitting down while waiting for the flag off, there are loads of games and activities all around Lake Garden. The CPR learning booth is the most interesting one. I notice that there are a few different dummies including an infant dummy for participants to use and learn on how to conduct proper CPR and other life saving method for emergency times. We should have this at all other running events don’t you think so?

All the games queue line are so long except for this one. Hula hoop challenge. None the less it is the one game I wanted to try because I cannot remember when was the last time I hula hoop haha 😀 . All the aunties before my turn make it look so simple. It is not as simple as I thought!

Yeap! I had fun hula hooping 🙂 . No I did not break my back 😉

Nestlé Omega Plus Walk-A-Mile 2016 was officiated by a few key VIPS including Datuk Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Seri Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz; President of Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM), Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Abdul Hamid; and Executive Director, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad, Chew Soi Ping. Notable representatives from Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM) also participated in the event, including Tan Sri Dato’ Kamaruzzaman Shariff, Datuk Dr. J.S. Sambhi; Dato’ Gurbakhash Singh. Other guests included Dr. Ng Wai Kiat from National Heart Association Malaysia (NHAM),TV hosts Gary Wong from Ho Chak! And Naz from Jalan Jalan Cari Makan.

Before the official flag off, Chew Soi Ping, Executive Director, Sales, Nestlé Malaysia presented a cheque from Nestlé Omega Plus amounting RM30,000 to Yayasan Jantung Malaysia (YJM) towards their continuous support on the efforts and dedication from YJM to educate the public on heart health matters.

Nestlé Omega Plus Walk-A-Mile flag off and lead by all the key VIPS.

Throughout the entire one mile walk, we are reminded and educated with numerous healthy living tips.

I was REALLY SURPRISED to see water station even for one mile walk! I don’t even get 2 water station for a 10km run on one of my last registered run. Okay, let me rephrase. It’s a milk station! Even better 🙂 . One mile or 10 mile, we still need to hydrate and keep fluid in our body especially during this hot weather.

One quick way to reduce the risk of heart disease is to manage your cholesterol levels. How easy? As easy as adding plant sterol into your diet. You may find minimal amounts of plant sterol in grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds. However the amount is very little so you need to consume a large amount in order to meet the daily 1.2g requirement for it to work. Nestlé Omega Plus milk is one of the most convenient and easiest way to input 1.2g of plant sterol into your system. Two servings is all you need.

Along the way there are various challenges for participants to have some fun with.

In no time we have reached the end of the walk. Easy peasy 🙂

I cannot stress enough how easy it is to change your daily lifestyle and diet to live healthier. You can pick up brisk walking or even running if you like. Otherwise simple activity such as walking for 15 minutes a day can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease symptoms such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. You many not know but by being active, it could potentially save your life and heart from accumulating all the symptoms. Nothing ever happens overnight.

Nestlé Omega Plus, as Malaysia’s heart health advocate never stop urging Malaysians to stay physically active through this year’s the 15th annual Walk-a-Mile in collaboration with YJM and on coming years. If you have missed this year’s Walk-A-Mile event, fret not. There will be next year and the year thereafter. Now that I know there is such an event to raise awareness for heart health, I will make sure I keep my eyes open for next year’s Walk-A-Mile event announcement and register myself again. See you next year at Nestlé Omega Plus Walk-A-Mile!