MY NUTRITION

I was sitting in Prof Maughn’s lecture in UM last Thursday. As I was listening to his speech, I realized that this could be the last seminar on Sports Nutrition that I might attend to. Looking around, I see familiar faces, faces that I have known for 4 years and 8 months. It does feel different and weird, knowing that I will leave this field soon and I will not be able to meet this group of people as frequent as before.

I did my undergrad study in Nutrition in UPM for 3 years. It was not not a course that I chose (I chose to pursue law, can you believe that?). But, Allah knows the best. Not only He gave me something that I was capable of doing, He also gave me opportunity to the chosen job as soon as I graduted (while some of my friends were strugling to find one).

1st November 2007, I reported duty to Sports Nutrition Centre, ISN and this month marks my for 4 years and 8 months here. So, in total, I have been with nutrition for nearly 8 good years. Such a long time and I felt time flies so fast. Not only I make my living with it, I have basically live and breathe with it. From applying it to my Malaysian Archers, to publishing papers, oral and poster presentations, to attend to various seminars and conferences to debate the importance of nutrition with Dr Mohd Hazeman by saying that medical will become a small field if nutrition is being practice as a whole as a protective mechanism to obesity and nutritional related diseases, to giving lectures and talks. Owh yes! I live with it. I even have applied to further my post grad study in Nutritional Science for the September intake in UPM!

I am proud to be their Sports Nutritionist

Working with Malaysian Archers was fun. Not only it makes me feel young because the archers were very, very young, but they made me feel at home. I am the eldest in my family, and the rest of achers had me as if I was their big sister. I listened to their personal and athletes's stories. I learn that I can't go into their lives and tell them what to eat. Everthing started with a small minor step, to slighly bigger one. Until they understand that it is the most important to keep consuming energy snack during their FITA long duration competition.

I don't work alone, of course. I have strong group of people that I can always refer to. My knowledge is limited, thus these are the people that I look up to for support. My dearest collegue of sports nutritionist and dieticians in Sports Nutrition Centre. I was mould here, groomed, brushed, you name it! From 3 months education class, to Journal Club, to yearly anthropometric projects, to one community pameran to another, to monthly work plan, everything under one roof! How can you not develop after 4 years in here? Confirm meletup-letup kalau pergi interview ;p

And after 4 years 8 months, Allah stores something else for me. Something which different from nutrition and I guess it means a new field to me. I never thought it will be so difficult for me to make this decision, I thought with the benefits and advantages it offers me, it will be as easy as packing up and leave. I am wrong. To say goodbye to people whom I know so dearly is not easy. I've been through ups and downs with them. The Hanie you see today comes from here. I am not who I am today because I am great, but it is because of the process and opportunity that I owned while I am here.

Dear my Sports Nutritionist and Dietician collegue,

This is not a goodbye. For what I have been through, I owe it to all of you. Thank you for your kind help and the greated friendship that I have ever had.