Category: Information

Tamdeen are developing a new residential project called Tamdeen Square which will be located near Messilah on the Fahaheel Expressway (rendering above). They’re betting on the fact that skyrocketing house prices, a huge waiting list for government-issued houses and their distance from the city centre means that many Kuwaitis will prefer the convenience of apartment life. But how much will these apartments cost? They’ll start from KD265,000. Is it me or does nearly a million US dollars for an apartment in a huge complex that really isn’t in a prime location sound absurd? And that’s just the starting price so it would be the smallest apartment on the lowest floor.

Source

Many of us turn to salads when thinking of a low calorie meal option, yet we neglect to realize that some additions to our salad could actually sabotage the caloric amount in that salad. I thought it would be interesting to look at ways we are adding extra calories (perhaps unnecessarily) to our salads.

Going nuts with healthy fats
I’m guilty for this one. Just because olive oil is a healthy fat that does not mean we can add an abundant amount to our salads and still stay low in calories. Always keep in mind that 1 tablespoon of olive oil does has about 120 calories, adding more tablespoons could easily sway your salad to a 500 + calorie salad. Choose a nut or an avocado (not both) and limit the oil in your salad to control your calories and still get some healthy fats.

Romaine is your green of choice
With salads it’s important to discover other greens that could be added besides romaine. Many of us rely on romaine lettuce due to its availability virtually everywhere, which is a great source of vitamin A; but mixing up your greens will make sure you get plenty of fiber, feel fuller and get a variety of nutrients. Think of using rocca, baby spinach or even kale every once in a while.

No chicken please
Many of us avoid sources of protein in our salads, and we tend to get hungry again within an hour which could lead us to overeating. It’s always a good idea to add protein to any of your salads, and keep in mind that protein doesn’t just mean chicken or steak; you could also add eggs, low-fat cheese or even salmon or tuna as sources of protein.

Croutons and toppings
You’d be surprised how many added calories croutons and other toppings could add to your salad. Most croutons or breads have been deep fried to give you that crunch in your salad – and to me, crunch always means one thing -HIGH CALORIES! Beware of these added toppings even if you are having your salad as a main course. The same goes with toppings like dried fruits and nuts, yes they may be healthy but if we’re not careful with the amounts in our salad the calorie amount could go overboard. Instead, measure out your toppings and make sure you have more veggies and greens to feel full.

Extra dressing please
Now we all don’t want to have a dry salad, but dressings could increase the caloric amount of your salad to be the same of a huge burger. Really watch what dressing you choose to add to your salad. Creamy dressings are a big no-no and filled with calories, the same goes with balsamic vinegar. Unless you are buying expensive aged balsamic vinegar, most of the ones found in restaurants or even the grocery store are actually loaded with added sugars. My tip, ask for your dressing on the side, this way you can measure how much is added to your salad. Also, always aim for vinegar like apple cider vinegar or even lemon to enhance the flavor of your salad minus the added calories.

I hope you enjoy these tips, just remember that with any food – healthy or not – portion size is key.

Post by Hyatt Al Sayegh, a Clinical Dietitian and Dr. Sears Health Coach.
Founder of Fork Fed.

Completely random location to open up but they’re open daily from 10AM to 10PM even on weekends. They’ve got English and Arabic books, magazines and some stationary items. They also have a little seating area but it didn’t seem that cozy. Right now they’re running an offer where if you buy 3 books you get the 4th for free.

Here is their location on [Google Maps]

I can’t believe I’m actually saying this but it looks like malls are finally starting to enforce the no smoking law. I know this sounds like a broken record but I think they’re serious this time around. I was at The Avenues over the weekend and didn’t catch anyone smoking outside the new glass smoking rooms they’ve installed. Also the restaurant I sat in made it clear from the start that smoking wasn’t allowed even though we were sitting outside the restaurant overlooking Grand Avenues. Last week while having lunch at The Cube food complex in Salmiya, I was also told smoking wasn’t allowed anymore as soon as I sat down. Finally this morning Al Hamra Tower sent out a notice to everyone in the building saying smoking was no longer allowed in the mall and tower.

I’m impressed Kuwait.

The World Happiness Report was recently released by the United Nations and Kuwait once again dropped down the list from the previous year. When the list originally came out in 2012, Kuwait was ranked 31st under the list of happy nations. But, since then, Kuwait has been falling back every year and in the latest report Kuwait is now ranked 41. The scoring is based on answers submitted by people who were asked to evaluate the quality of their current lives on a scale of 0 to 10. In comparison, the UAE came in 28th place while Saudi Arabia came in 34th. Let me repeat that one more time. Saudi Arabia came in 34th place. No clue how that happened.

The happiest country in the world? It’s Denmark. Download the full report from the World Happiness website [Here]

Once a year Arabian Business releases a list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women” and every year I go through the list and find all the Kuwait based women and list them on the blog. Last year the list was the smallest since I started keeping track of it with only 5 women making the list and 2013 had the highest number with 11 women making the list. This year things have improved slightly with 7 women making the list including a few new comers like Noor Al Qatami, the owner of SaveCo. Shaikha Al Bahar is also back on top as the most powerful Kuwaiti woman after losing that spot last year to Maali Alasousi, who went from 25th most powerful Arabi women to no longer being on the list. Here are the most powerful women in Kuwait for 2016:

48- Shaikha Al Bahar (-27)
56- Maha Al Ghunaim (-5)
74- Sara Akbar (+20)
76- Eaman Al Roudhan (New)
83- Elham Yousry Mahfouz (New)
89- Noor Al Qatami (New)
94- Rasha Al Roumi (-48)

Note: The (-) is how many spots they dropped from the previous year, (+) is how many spots they’ve moved up and (New) means they weren’t on the list last year.

For the full list of most powerful Arab women, click [Here]

Update: Changed the post title to reflect the fact not all the powerful women in Kuwait are Kuwaiti.

Yesterday the Kuwait Towers officially opened to the public for the first time in over 4 years. Here is everything you need to know in case you’re planning to visit it.

Entrance Fee
There are two main areas in the Kuwait Towers, the restaurant’s sphere and the viewing sphere. If you want to go to the viewing sphere it’s KD3 per person. If you want to go to the restaurants there is no entrance fee. If you eat at the restaurant then you can go to the viewing deck for free as long as you keep your meal receipt. Children under 4 go in for free. If you’re going to the restaurants you can also park inside the Kuwait Towers parking lot.

The Viewing Sphere
This sphere is located in the top most part of the Kuwait Towers. It’s split into two floors with the top floor having a rotating platform and a small food stand. It’s open from 9AM to 11:30PM.

The view from the top is spectacular and better than before since we now have a beautiful city skyline because of all the new skyscrapers like Hamra Tower.

For a closer look, they’ve kept the original coin-operated binoculars.

The only issue I had with the viewing deck is that it smelled of popcorn because of the food stand. The food stand really should have been a Starbucks since right now it reminds me of those small dodgy food stalls located under the stairs in old Salmiya. They have drinks, a few cold sandwiches, soft serve ice cream and popcorn.

The Restaurant Sphere
There are two restaurants and a lounge in the restaurant sphere which is also divided into two floors. The first restaurant is called Horizon (pictured above) and is located on the top floor of the sphere. It’s an open buffet and they’re open from breakfast to dinner, here are the details:

Breakfast Buffet 8AM to 11:30AM for KD7.5
Lunch Buffet: 12:30PM to 4PM for KD14
Dinner Buffet: 7PM to 11:30PM for KD14

For reservations, you can contact them on 22081999 or 1806806

There is a second restaurant (pictured above) which as of this post hasn’t opened yet. Its located on the lower floor of the sphere and it’s called Le Cafe (but it’s going to be a steakhouse). It looks slightly more fancier and instead of being a buffet it will have an à la carte menu. Once it’s open the timings will be 8AM to 12AM (midnight).

Right outside the second restaurant on the lower floor is a small lounge. You can order beverages there but it’s a fairly small lounge with only three seating areas similar to the one pictured above so good luck trying to find an empty one.

Finally, if you’re taking a guest to the Kuwait Towers and they were hoping to leave with a souvenir well they’re going to be disappointed. According to an employee at the Kuwait Towers, the souvenirs shop that was originally located on the ground floor has been closed down and will be converted to a prayer room.

If you’ve never been to the Kuwait Towers I would highly recommend going. If you’ve been to it before I’d also recommend passing by just for the nostalgia. It’s still by far one of my favorite places to take visitors who come to Kuwait.

Update: I added a bit more information to the post, specifically the reservation numbers and information regarding souvenirs.

Update2: Le café Steak House doesn’t exist anymore, the restaurant is now Japanese instead and called Amimoto. The gift shop was also not converted to a prayer area, it remained a gift shop.

Vapers can rejoice, according to the official customs instagram account, it is now legal to import vapes and their juices into Kuwait. Not sure if this means vape bars will start popping up all around Kuwait but at least current prices of vapes and juices should drop since it’s a lot easier now to bring the stuff into Kuwait.

Also who knew customs had an instagram account? And I love how they posted a picture of a shipment of vapes and juices they had confiscated and then a few hours later post that its now legal. Check out their instagram account [Here]

Thanks Salem | Image Source

Last April I managed to sneak in and get some photos of the Boulevard while it was still under construction but on Thursday I was given an official tour of the project along with some new information.

A couple of months back I posted that Boulevard in Salmiya was going to be opening up in 3 months time but that is no longer the case. Originally the plan was to open the park on National Day and the rest of the project (the mall and outdoor restaurants) would open by the end of the year. Now though the plan is to have the whole project open up at the same time around Q3 or Q4 of 2016.

While touring the mall I managed to find a list of all the stores that are currently due to open at Boulevard and I’ve listed them all down below. Some interesting ones to note are Sears, Sultan Center and Jarir Bookstore. Oh and the old school Iranian restaurant Baba Taher is planning to open there as well.

Check out the full list of stores below.

Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is now coordinating with popular drone manufacturer DJI in outlining no fly zones around Kuwait. DJI drones have a safety feature that would stop drones from accidentally entering no fly zones and their map now includes different locations around Kuwait. The no fly zones around Kuwait are mostly military zones, oil fields and VVIP locations. You can check out the map of no fly zones by clicking [Here]

Thanks Abdulwahab

Henley & Partners released their Visa Restrictions Index for 2016 and the list hasn’t really changed much from last year with Kuwait still trailing behind UAE as the second best Arab passport with visa free access to 82 countries. Here are some highlights:

1 – Germany (177)
6 – Canada (172)
38 – United Arab Emirates (122)
57 – Kuwait (82)
60 – Qatar (79)
65 – Bahrain (73)
67 – Oman (71)
69 – Saudi Arabia (69)
85 – India (52)
88 – Egypt (49)
90 – Jordan (47)
96 – Lebanon (39)
104 – Afghanistan (25)

So glad I have the Canadian passport and not the Lebanese one! If you want to see how powerful your passport is, check out the full list [Here]

via Exotic Kuwait

For many years we’ve heard our parents tell us to have our breakfast, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Don’t have dinner and sleep, you’ll get fat! Are all these claims really true? Well, that’s the beauty of research and science – we come to new conclusions everyday! The current research shows that when you choose to have your meals is not really correlated with your weight. I found that to be quite interesting because I, for one, hate having food when I wake up and could usually satisfy any hunger I may have with a coffee and banana.

So, you’re probably thinking what nutrient timing is really about? The idea really started with athletes and body builders to be more specific. Nutrient timing mostly referred to the anabolic window also known as the 15-30 minutes post workout where one could load on carbs and protein to replenish their muscle stores. Research has later on shown that we do not all need to be consuming a high carb high protein meal post workout to replenish our stores within 15-30 minutes, and we can actually do it within an hour or more. Again, this is RESEARCH and research is ongoing. As for consuming a meal before working out, that is only necessary depending on the intensity of your workout. Many research papers have shown that exercising in a semi-fasted state can actually help burn more fat. Again, timing your meals will all depend on what your goals are.

Let’s take a look at breakfast. Have people that changed their habits and consumed breakfast lost weight in comparison to those that opt not to have breakfast? The quick answer is it depends. The idea behind having a meal “breakfast” before lunch is to be able to better control your portion at lunch. If I choose to not have breakfast then by the time lunchtime comes around I will probably overeat and/or make wrong dietary choices. If you are not used to having a meal for breakfast and can somewhat control your hunger by lunchtime then having breakfast may lead to an over consumption of calories. Therefore you might not necessarily lose weight.

As for having dinner before going to sleep, no science has shown that it can lead to weight gain. While completely eliminating carbs at dinner or night time has not been associated with significant weight loss either. On the contrary, some research has shown that consuming carbs can actually help with relaxation and the release of serotonin at night.

So you’re probably thinking what could we further do to enhance our lifestyle and lose some weight? It all boils down to the number of calories you eat! Of course quality is important, but when it comes to weight control specifically, it doesn’t really matter when you have certain foods. As long as you stay within a certain caloric requirement for weight loss (food in is less than energy burnt) then you’ll be losing weight. Now, to stay on track and avoid falling of the bandwagon, it is important that you focus on whole grains and lean protein as well has healthy fats with lots of fruits and veggies to stay full all day! It’s not when you eat your food, it’s how much you choose to eat that will really make an impact.

Post by Hyatt Al Sayegh, a Clinical Dietitian and Dr. Sears Health Coach.
Founder of Fork Fed.

Image Source

Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living rankings were just released and it’s not that much different from last years. Nearly everyone in the region dropped a couple of spots but Kuwait managed to move up one point to 124th place world wide. Regionally though Kuwait still trails behind UAE, Oman and Qatar.

1 – Vienna, Austria
75 – Dubai, UAE (-1)
81 – Abu Dhabi, UAE (-4)
107 – Muscat, Oman (-3)
110 – Doha, Qatar (-2)
124 – Kuwait City, Kuwait (+1)
133 – Manama, Bahrain (-3)
164 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (+1)
165 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (+1)
230 – Baghdad, Iraq

Check out the full list over [Here]

Photo by Mohammed Al Sultan

The Kuwait Towers will be reopening next month to the public on March 8th with the actual opening ceremony (which will include fireworks) on March 5th. Oddly though, according to the general manager of the Kuwait Towers Mubarak Al Anezi, the refurbishing of the restaurant and observation deck took only two months to complete. So why were the towers closed for 4 years?

[YouTube]

Thanks Sala6a

A smoking ban inside malls will be implemented this week, a source at the Environment Public Authority (EPA) said, reminding that smokers indoors would have to pay a fine ranging between KD 50 and KD 100.

The penalty would also apply on those who smoke electronic cigarettes inside restaurants or cafes, the sources said. Meanwhile, an owner of a restaurant or cafe that allows smoking inside his or her facility risks paying up to KD 5,000, the source added.

An office for environmental police has been allocated in malls around Kuwait to monitor and make sure that the anti-smoking law is applied, the sources said, adding that the officers would intervene instantly should customers refuse to cooperate. Mall administrations were allowed to set up special cabins for smokers. [Source]

Sounds like déjà vu.