Swimming up an Appetite

Can you see me? I'm the speck off in the distance, making my way out to the pole. Had a beautiful swim in the bay this morning and gained a lot of confidence in the water. I'm guessing I swam close to 700m but the aim over the next few weeks is more to feel comfortable in the open water rather than setting any records.

I returned home with a mega hunger and thought I may as well make the most of a lazy Sunday and cook a Sunday-worthy breakfast - French toast with berries and chia yoghurt. It did not disappoint. Its a great source of low GI carbs with protein, zinc, 'good' fats and calcium. Whilst this dish sounds decadent, its still very healthy and certainly able to be eaten safely by those who are trying to shift some weight.

French Toast with Blueberries and Chia Yoghurt

Serves 1

2 Slices rye bread
1 Egg
2 Eggwhites
1T Soymilk
1/2c Blueberries (frozen are fine, just allow to defrost)
3T Goat yoghurt (or any plain yoghurt you like)
1t Chia seeds
Stevia or honey to taste

In a bowl whisk eggs, eggwhites and soymilk. Soak bread in egg mix for about 20 seconds on each side and place in to a hot pan. Cook until golden on each side.

While the toast is cooking, mix the chia with the yoghurt and add stevia or honey to taste.

Arrange the toast on the plate and scatter berries on top. Yoghurt can be served on the toast or in a little bowl.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Happy (Belated) Australia Day!

What a day it was! And how was the day spent by most in Melbourne? Well, by doing the activities that we do best - eating, drinking and not working. Followed by 'chucking a sickie' the next day. Quintessential Australian stuff.

The other activity that hundreds and hundreds of people partook in on Australia day? Riding. It was great fun to be part of a massive and varied group of people out on the road from the moment the sun rose.

I set off at about 7am with the plan to ride a 60km circuit that was 2/3 flat and 1/3 small to mid size hills. This was my longest ride to date so whilst I did have a general speed in mind (over 25km/hr avg), I was really wanting to see what my body could do. As I was grabbing all my gear to head out the door, my Garmin, in typical Garmin style, which I had put on the charger the evening before, was dead.

An open letter to Garmin;

Dear Garmin-makers,

Your charger is sh*t.

Regards,
Emma

So once I got over the Garmin-rage it was time to just get over it and get out the door. The ride conditions were pretty ideal - sun shining, about 20 degrees, light to med wind. What was not pretty ideal was that I started having problems with my gears again where I can only be in either the lowest or the highest gear and nothing in between. So helpful. After swearing for 5 minutes I used all the zen I had to assure myself that my legs would be getting mighty strong as I rode up hills in the most difficult gear my bike had to offer. I don't know if I believed myself. I don't know if I was right.

The other thing I trialled was using fruit pouches instead of 'gels'. Anyone who has done a lot of long riding or running will be familiar with gels. They are a hideously sweet, gooey, manufactured source of carbohydrates to ensure you don't 'hit the wall' or at least that you don't hit it so early. I used them a lot in marathon training and they are just horrid - not only do they taste bad but when I have one it feels like a little bomb has gone off in my belly. Yuck. I have been trialling using, of all things, pureed fruits in pouches that are made for babies.

They are great because you can get organic varieties that have nothing but fruit in them. They have a screw cap on them so you can have as much or as little as you want, they are inexpensive and taste quite nice. They are mostly carbohydrate and most importantly they are REAL FOOD. Now if you are into sports nutrition you will likely be saying 'but they are mainly fructose and glucose is easier to break down'. And you might technically be right, but lets look at the commonsense of it. Your body knows what to do with real food. K.I.S.S.

They worked a treat. I had energy all the way till the last 10 minutes of my ride.

Now I just need to get my bike fixed...

Sunrises, Insanity and Soup

The weather lately has been spectacular. This morning was no exception. Spectacular sunrise. Bug stuck in my eye for half my ride. Magic.

I set out to ride my usual 'before work' little 20km ride with the intention of doing 1km intervals. When I ride of late I just try and ride as hard as I can for as long as I can and I have gotten a bit 'stuck' in terms of my progress. So what do we do when we stall? Do something different! Because some smarty pants once said 'Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result'. A-men. So i'm going to spend the next 3 weeks doing 1 long, steady ride and 2 smaller interval style rides and see what happens. I'm expecting great things.

I have to say I really like the interval style training, I love me some recovery kilometres! I averaged about 26km/hr on my recovery kilometre and 31km/hr on my work kilometre. My legs were still a bit sore, despite a recovery day so next session I am hoping to average 32km/hr.

Now, I am very aware that it has not been soup eating weather in downtown Melbourne of late, but I had me a craving for my favorite soup. This Spicy Carrot soup is just so easy to make. If you have bad circulation its sure to warm you up, it is anti-inflammatory and it freezes well. There is next to no protein in this soup so make sure you have it with a protein source. You could add lentils to it if you wanted to increase the protein.

Spicy Carrot Soup

Serves 4

3-4 Large carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
2c Vegetable stock
1 Can lite coconut milk
1t fresh grated ginger
1-3t curry powder (depending on your preference)

In a pot place carrots, ginger and curry powder and cook for 2 minutes until spices become fragrant. Add vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer until carrot is cooked through. Add coconut milk and more water, depending on how thick you like your soup. Blend until smooth. Garnish with coriander or parsley and natural yoghurt.

I am aware that I owe you guys 1 x photo food diary. Stay tuned, it's coming.

Until next time...

These Noodles be Mighty Magic

Ok, as promised, my Vietnamese Chicken salad. I'm not going to lie, Asian food is not my forte. I don't understand the 'balance' between sweet and sour or salty or hot or...see I can't even remember which one is meant to oppose which, let alone how to actually achieve it. So, never fear, if you fall in to this category too then you will very easily be able to make this salad.

I actually made this salad because ages ago I bought Konjac noodles. They are sometimes called 'Magic Noodles' and I think the 'Chongs' brand now makes their own version too. They are basically noodles made out of the Konjac root that are most often used when people are trying to lose weight, as they have the ability to keep you feeling full for a very long time due to their fibre content. They are almost calorie free, high fibre, low net carb and gluten free. They can be purchased from some supermarkets and all Japanese deli's.

Now. I need to warn you. These noodles have a funky smell, actually, phunky with a 'ph' . They are packed in a fluid which contains Kelp and it smells mighty fishy, but once rinsed thoroughly and boiled in fresh water for 5 minutes, they are right as rain.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad

Serves 1

150g Chicken breast, poached
1/2 Packet konjac noodles rinsed well
1/2 Carrot, julienned
1/2 Zucchini, julienned
1/2 Bunch Chinese broccoli, shredded
1/2 Cup bean sprouts

10mls Fish sauce
10mls Apple cider vinegar
1/2-1t Chopped chilli (alter to taste)

To poach the chicken, place chicken breast into small pot and cover with cold water. Place lid on pot and bring to the boil. Once the water has boiled for a minute or two, turn off the heat and allow to sit, covered for at least 10 minutes to finish cooking. Drain water and shred chicken with hands and set aside.

In another pot boil noodles in fresh water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a bowl combine carrots, zucchini, chinese broccoli, bean sprouts, cooled chicken and cooled noodles and toss.

To make the dressing mix the vinegar, fish sauce and chilli and pour over the salad. Serve

NB - I forgot to add the Chinese broccoli to the dish above, so yours should have more greens in it!

This dish is so fresh and crisp as well as being high in protein. The perfect Summers dinner.

Junk Miles

Junk Miles. A quaint little term that uber serious runners/cyclists give to time spent on the road with no specific training purpose or benefit. I suppose 'Junk Kilometres' doesn't really have the same ring, does it? I digress.

It is funny how when we start out exercising, new to whichever sport or activity we have chosen, just getting out there is enough. Bothering to haul your ass out of bed when it is still dark and just get something done for an hour is worth a pat on the back. But, as many a weekend warrior can attest, as you start to progress in your chosen activity, human nature wants more. We want to be faster, stronger and able to go for hours. And at this point, as we start to employ training regimes and rules, speedwork and lactate threshold work and core stability exercises and lots of shoulder exercises because who doesn't want nice shoulders right?, it can be really easy to lose sight of why we started this journey in the first place. To feel good.

Sometimes it takes 5 glorious 'junk miles' on a sandy trail, Garmin still at home, sun shining, sea glistening, enough breath to say hello to passers by and the chilled tunes of Jack Johnson to realise that they can't be junk miles when they feel so damn good.

Do you know what else makes me feel good? Delicious food. (you liked that segway didn't you?!) It seems to me, from the questions and comments I get from people on a daily basis, that whilst people understand the concept of eating well, they don't quite know how to fit it in to their lives. So I thought I would give you an example, in the form of a photo food diary, of how I manage to incorporate healthy food into my busy life.

The photo food diary I am posting today features almost exclusively home cooked or prepared food. This method is great because it means you can have great control over what you eat and generally save money. The recipes for the foods in this have been posted in previous blogs (apart from the salad one which is to come). The other photo food diary I will post in my next blog will be almost exclusively foods that have been purchased at small supermarkets or local cafes etc. This will give you an idea of how to put together a days worth of healthy food when you haven't been organised or are travelling etc. Ok here goes.

A Choco-nana-nut smoothie & Slice of gluten free toast with Avocado

Fresh mixed berries with goat yoghurt and a soy latte

Kumera, chickpea and kale tart with a tomato, onion, fetta and balsamic salad and a few big chunks of raw capsicum.

Raw brownie with a glass of Swisse green powder-stuff in water

Vietnamese chicken salad with fibre explosion noodles (not their actual name, but all will be explained in my next post)

So, apart from the poor photo quality and lack of styling on my part (they were taken on my iphone at work and various other places) you can see that eating well does not mean bland, boring foods. I can tell you without a lie that every single one of these meals were delicious and satisfying!

Stay tuned for the salad recipe and my next photo food diary...

Todays message is brought to you by...Mother Nature

I often endeavour to try and learn lessons in life by observing the universe and the way that it works. Sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. Last Thursday I got to learn something that I will take with me for all my years to come.

In this day and age of we Gen Y-ers filled, with the 'me me me' genes and the lack of respect for authority, its little wonder we live lives that we believe to be separate and above the universe and its beautiful balance. We have Garmins to give us factual run splits, highly detailed weather forecasts to tell us if we should ride north or south first, sweat-wicking anti-stinking fabrics ... the list goes on and on.

Bear with me here.

One very windy, very rainy run last week that felt like it was uphill with a headwind both ways, I had somewhat of an epiphany. As I was running along the Brighton breakwater, concentrating relatively hard so as not to be blown in to the bay, I noticed something about the water. On one side I had the raging bay, waves crashing, white caps as far as the eye could see. On the other side of the break water it was almost dead still. Barely a swell. As calm as a crystal clear day. It dawned on me. You can't stop life, you can't change what will happen with your friends or your family or if people get sick or if you have a shitty training session, but each of us is given an awesome version of a breakwater - our brains. There, sitting in front of me was a perfect example of what can be done on every tough run, every steep climb, every swim drill. Employ your brain to be the buffer between the chaos that is the pain and the calm that is your body. You just gotta put that breakwater up.

Thanks Mother Nature. Message heard. Over and out.

Weight Loss the Smart Way

Oh the madness! The insanity that is Crash Diets. It is that time of year again when every second advert on TV is about a diet company or meal delivery company or a fat loss series or the latest 'miracle weight loss product' oioioi. What is it about summer that turns logical, intelligent people into the kind of people who try and negotiate with the laws of physics, try to fight biochemistry and try to laugh in the face of commonsense? Note: any time now commonsense will laugh back, for the 351 remaining days of year!

So how do we turn unrealistic weight loss methods into achievable, smart ones? Keep it simple and have a plan. These simple, sustainable goals help work towards long lasting, healthful, easy weight loss -

Include 3 or more vegetables at both lunch and dinner
Endeavour to eat only 1 item a day that is a processed food
Aim to drink only water, herbal tea and up to 1 coffee a day
Make healthy snacks every week to enjoy when you feel like a sweet

Start simple, gain momentum, make more changes.

The most important thing about weight loss is to get your brain in the right frame. Being overweight or eating a very processed, nutrient deprived diet is a way of disrespecting yourself and your body. A big slice of cake that tastes great initially but then makes you feel sick and disheartened that you are moving further from your health goals is not a 'treat' - its a punishment. 'Treating' your body is giving it foods and drinks that make it feel good, which absolutely means eating food in moderation. Having fresh healthy foods all day and then having a little chocolate or two if you really feel like it is fine. That is balance and body respect and SUSTAINABLE.

So lets recap. Keep it simple, respect your body, make it sustainable.

And then make this delicious Kale, Kumera & Chickpea pie.

This pie is high protein, high fibre and brilliant to make and eat for light lunches.

Kale, Kumera & Chickpea Pie

Serves 6 for lunch

1.5c Chickpea Flour
1/4c Coconut oil
3-4T Water
1/2 bunch Kale
1-2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 medium Sweet Potato
2 Eggs
2 Eggwhites
100ml Soymilk

Preheat oven to 180C. Peel and cut sweet potato in to 2-3mm thick discs. Place on to baking tray lined with baking paper and spray very lightly with oil. Place in oven for approximately 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Cut the garlic finely and shred the kale. Place in a pan and cook until wilted. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

To make the base combine coconut oil, chickpea flour and water with your hands. You may need to add a little more water or flour depending on consistency. It will be quite crumbly but should easily be patted and pushed into a pie dish. It should be like cheesecake base mixture. Lightly spray with oil a 23cm pie dish and evenly press chickpea mixture onto base and sides. Prick base with a skewer a few times and place on bottom rack of oven. Cook for approximately 20 minutes or it just starts to brown.

In a bowl combine egg, eggwhites and soymilk with a fork.

Now - time to assemble the pie. Place sweet potato so that it covers the base of the pie and then scatter kale mixture over the top. Pour egg mixture slowly on top of vegetables. Press down any kale that may be uncovered by the egg and place in the oven. Cook for approx 25 minutes or until egg is cooked through.

This recipe is a little bit more labor intensive, but the processes are all really simple and the taste makes it well worth it.

A new addition to your simple, sustainable, respectful lifestyle. Enjoy!