43-year-old Ruby Siu (Xiao Xiao) doesn’t look a day older than 20. What’s her secret?

No, we are not playing tricks on you. This woman is 43 years old, and she’s Ruby Siu a.k.a Xiao Xiao (蕭蕭). Fans of C-pop back in the day would probably recognise her, and so do current RED netizens.

That’s because the Chinese singer-slash-actress, who is most famous for her popular songs such as Love Must Be Magnificent (愛要坦蕩蕩) and Can’t Hold Him (握不住的他) back in the Y2K days, has been trending on RED thanks to her youthful, baby face, and slender silhouette.

43-year-old Xiao Xiao has not released works in recent years but it seems like she’s turned into a club DJ now, and remains active on social media, frequently documenting what she’s up to these days as well as her beauty tips on Instagram and China’s Weibo and RED.

Ahead, we’ve done the legwork to gather all of Xiao Xiao’s tips that she’s credited to helping her achieve her flawless complexion and slim figure.

1. She drinks a cup of nut soy milk in the morning for skin and hair nourishment

We often drink a glass of beauty drink every morning to maintain our skin’s beauty.

For this entertainer, it’s a glass of soy milk with nuts that she says is very good for the skin and hair as they are high in protein.

Xiao Xiao prepares her own concoction too instead of relying on store-bought ones.

She soaks the soybeans and nuts separately the day before she needs to drink it, and her choice of nuts are walnuts, cashews, and hazelnuts.

In the morning, she’d drain the ingredients, add water, and put the mixture into the soymilk maker.

Sometimes, Xiao Xiao would also drink coffee with her nut soy milk, saying that espresso with 700ml nut soy milk is her favourite coffee ratio.

2. She likes her nutritious breakfast, says avocado nut salad is her favourite breakfast recipe

 

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A post shared by Ruby Xiao Xiao (@rubyxiaoxiao)

In addition to drinking a cup of soy milk with nuts every morning, Xiao Xiao likes whipping up a salad with full nutrition too.

Her favourite is the avocado nut salad, and she pairs fresh ingredients like avocado, apples, and blueberries with butter lettuce – she prefers this to the regular lettuce because it’s sweeter and more tender.

For this nutritious and healthy bowl, you’ll need to first stir butter lettuce, avocado, apple, with the juice of half a lemon and a spoonful of honey.

Then, add red kidney beans, blueberries, nuts, and chia seeds into the mix and stir briefly.

Finally, sprinkle quinoa brown rice cakes on top – she cautions against putting this ingredient in too early as it will become soggy when wet.

You can also add in dried cranberries if you like, but Xiao Xiao says that those who want to lose weight can opt-out of this ingredient.

3. She jump ropes on an empty stomach, says it helps speed up slimming

To maintain a perfect posture, Xiao Xiao exercises every day and according to her, the fastest and most effective way to lose weight is to skip ropes on an empty stomach in the morning.

Drinking some water before the workout is fine, and the key is to skip 800 to 1,000 times a day for a week to see results.

She goes on to share that beginners can do this workout at intervals of 100 for the first three sets, have a 15-second rest between each set before completing the rest of the routine.

4. She enjoys eating chicken breast, and shares her tips for making the poultry cut tender like a chicken thigh

Chicken breast is the most common weight-loss dish thank to its low-fat, high-protein content, but cooking chicken breast isn’t exactly a walk in the park.

Xiao Xiao, who loves this poultry cut, shares her secret that will turn dry, bland chicken breast into one that’s moist and tender like a chicken thigh.

Here are her instructions:

1. First, prepare the marinade by mixing salt, baking soda, black pepper, a little rice wine, and some ginger in a zipper storage bag.
2. Wrap the chicken breast with fresh cling wrap. Gently tenderise the poultry, paying special attention to the sides of the meat so that you don’t end up mincing the chicken breast.
3. Add the tenderised meat into the zipper storage bag containing the marinade. Spread the marinade onto the meat evenly, add some black pepper, and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Heat the pan to medium heat, pour in olive oil, and fry the chicken breast. Open the lid and fry for 1.5 minutes on one side.
5. Close the lid and turn off the heat for one minute and 20 seconds.
6. Open the lid and turn the chicken breast over, fry for 1.5 minutes, then close the lid and turn off the heat for another one minute and 20 seconds.
7. Take the chicken breast out of the pan, and serve.

5. She blends her own vegetable juice for lunch when she wants to cut down on calories

Xiao Xiao says that this “reduced-fat vegetable juice” consisting of kale, banana, and lime is also good on days that you’ve eaten too much and want to reduce your calories the next day.

To increase the fat ratio without the calories, Xiao Xiao adds hemp seeds into the mix – she says that this also makes the vegetable juice much smoother and easier to drink.

The DJ also advises drinking the juice with the fruit and vegetable fibre altogether.

Here’s the full ingredient list that Xiao Xiao uses for her green drink:

• 40-50g kale
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp hemp kernels
• 1-2 small limes
• 3-5 ice cubes
• 120ml water

6. She maintains a simple skincare routine with drugstore finds

In several skincare routine videos that she’s put online, Xiao Xiao divulges that less is more when it comes to her skin maintenance.

“Don’t complicate simple things – more steps or products doesn’t mean they’ll make your skin better,” she shares.

Surprising, the products she loves are not expensive items either – many of them are actually drugstore finds recommended by dermatologists.

For example, she uses La Roche-Posay’s Thermal Spring Water (RM53.90 from Watsons) on her face, and likes CeraVe’s Moisturising Lotion (RM125 from Zalora) and Vaseline Petroleum Jelly (RM5.90 from Watsons).

She mindfully chooses not to use scented skincare on her face, saying that she only relies on her perfume for fragrance.

In short, Xiao Xiao remarks that her beauty routine is probably really boring to others as she prefers to keep her routine fairly simple and straightforward.

7. She massages her neck 200 times a day to keep it free of wrinkles

Xiao Xiao reveals that her mother is in her seventies this year, yet her neck is practically wrinkle-free – she then shares that her mother’s secret is to massage her neck 200 times a day, and it’s a beauty tip that Xiao Xiao has come to practice every morning.

After washing her face, she would apply a cream-like moisturising mask, and then massage her neck with the remaining essence while waiting for the mask to dry.

The gesture is simple: with your thumb at the front of your neck and the rest of your fingers at the back, massage your neck by sliding your finger pads in a downward motion.

To complete the ritual, gently press the acupuncture points near the neck under the ears.

8. She believes in self-discipline, says to keep doing what you should do until it becomes a habit

You may have heard this one before, but it’s definitely Xiao Xiao’s key to looking not a day past 20 when she’s really 43 years of age.

According to her, it’s important to continuously supervise your progress and challenge yourself to the next level, saying “self-discipline is to put aside your likes and dislikes, mood, feelings, and any excuses, and just insist on doing that one thing anyway.”

“Be it exercise, diet or anything in your life, you don’t necessarily have to like it but you should definitely do it until it becomes a habit.”

We’re definitely going to heed Xiao Xiao’s wise advice.