A New Favorite

There have been a few requests that I post some healthy recipes up on this blog and I've always held back because really, I don't make anything original. Everything I make comes from I recipe I spotted somewhere (although I almost never stick directly with the recipe... I tend to measure in... well, handfuls and pinches and sprinkles and a-bit-ofs...). Oh, that's another reason why I've found it difficult to write a recipe post, I don't measure things! It's not very useful for someone trying to recreate a dish.

However, I just made a soup that I am in love with. It's from one of my favorite food websites "SkinnyTaste" and is super healthy. For anyone who knows me, I love soup but I do not love carrots. Well, this is a "Carrot Ginger Soup" and it is YUM.

I recommend you check out the actual recipe and see the lovely pictures that accompany it, however, I made a couple changes for my own purposes and basically did this:

*saute onions in a pot with a little olive oil
*add some chopped ginger
*throw in some chopped carrots
*add boiling water and chicken bouillon
*boil till the carrots are soft
*puree with immersion blender
*add in a dollop of plain low fat yogurt
*mix, salt and pepper to taste, serve with some fresh herbs of choice

SO EASY!!!

Here are a few pictures from my attempt:

Such a beautiful orange color! This is after I already pureed it with my immersion blender.

I topped mine off with a dollop of yogurt and some dill because that's what I had on hand.

Hayley's Herb Garden. I've been getting a little wild with my kitchen-garden attempts recently, just call me green fingers, and my dill plant has been growing out of control so I decided to use it as a topping on my soup. (Those seeds with the toothpicks sticking out the sides are avocados), there's also mint and basil.

I hope you give this soup a try and love it as much as I do. If you have a nice healthy soup to recommend, please share! It's been rainy for days here in HK and soups are the perfect comfort food (accompanied by a nice slice of roasted garlic bread from Costco... brought in to HK specially, courtesy of my Dad... precious precious bread, it's well spent beside a good soup!)

Not Chocolate!!!

I love chocolate. I always have. Even throughout my strongest health efforts I have never managed to give up chocolate completely and you know what, I don't think I have to. Chocolate in moderation is a-okay in my books. I repeat: in moderation

Have you seen the movie "Ever After"? First of all, it's adorable. Second of all, there is a scene in which the prince offers one of the girls, Marguerite, a piece of chocolate. Her reaction to the delectable substance is wonderful. When he asks if she likes it, she says something like "Like it? Why it's positively sinful." Haha! It is. Positively. I often feel this way about chocolate.

Sadly, the next article I have to share with you does not bode well for my love of chocolate.

CHOCOLATE'S CHILD SLAVES

It seems we need to look a little deeper into where we are getting our sweet treats from, and I don't mean "are your Belgium chocolates from Belgium?" I mean, where are your chocolate suppliers getting their beans from? Last year, when I was in Utah, my mother-in-law took me to this fantastic chocolatier place that did all their chocolate production themselves. From growing and gathering the cacao bean itself, to shipping it, to breaking it down to create the most divine truffle chocolates or baking chocolate. Stopping by their store was a great way of learning about what goes into making chocolate and learning how the quality can be affected. 

I won't be able to watch this documentary when it airs because we only have local television channels here in HK but I would love to know what your reactions are. Perhaps an effort to buy chocolate more conscientiously will not only help draw attention to this disturbing issue of child slaves, it might just help with the "in moderation" part of my "chocolate is a-okay" plan. 

Healthy Kickstarters

Happy New Year!

Whenever we begin a New Year I, like most people, enjoy getting into the spirit of having a fresh start, refocusing, re-energising, re-committing to my health goals, work goals, life goals. I love this time of year.

This year has already been very busy in my household so what I really want is something quick and easy to boost my health and get me in a good place to approach the year.

I found this post on one of my friend's blogs. She's a super healthy gal and always has lots of interesting thoughts to share. This post just hit the spot for me and I thought I'd share it with you to see if it does the same, or perhaps it will inspire you to find your 3 quick fixes for the new year. If you have some fun suggestions I would love to hear them!

Quick Fixes for the New Year by Anne Brown

Run-Walker

I bookmarked this article from the New York Times some time ago and wanted to share it with you all:

Better Running Through Walking 

So, I think I've mentioned in a couple posts now (here and here) that in training for the Macau Half Marathon I used a run-walk-run strategy. What interested me most about applying this method to long distance running was a) minimizing risk of injury and b) surprisingly increased pace. This was not just a method for newbies, oldies and out-of-shapes... it could be of use to veterans. Real runners. Runners who have thirty races already to their name. People who think a five mile run is like taking a Sunday nap. I am NOT one of these "real" runners. I think a Sunday nap is like taking a Sunday nap. I think running a five miler makes me a conquering hero. Still, when you only have to run 3 minutes at a time, the game changes. Thoughts like "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die" start to sound more like "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can". It's incredible. So to all you runners, non-runners, thinking-about-being-runners out there, I say give this method a try.  I thought it would take a lot of work to convince my husband that this was a method worth investigating but actually, when it came down to it, I simply stuck to my guns, got over my ego and let the walking do the talking. Results friends. My pace improved by about a minute and a half per mile (bear in mind I also increased my miles from 2 to 13) and I have a committed training partner all lined up for the next race. Plus, I completed the race completely injury free. I was nervous about getting in the way of other runners and I was worried that by adding in walks my run wouldn't be "legitimate". I thought maybe I should stick a sign on my back, you know, like you sometimes see on the back of buses "Beware, makes stops unexpectedly" or maybe just "run-walker" but in the end I decided I didn't need to worry so much about what I looked like or seemed like to anyone else and of course, it turned out that nobody cared at all! My worries were all self made and 13.1 miles is 13.1 miles, run, walk or crawl, it counts! 

Macau Half Marathon

On the 4th December 2011 I ran my very first half marathon. I would never in my life have considered myself a "runner" but after Derrald ran his first marathon last March he has been slowly convincing me that you don't have to be a "runner" to "run" a half marathon. He set the challenge for both of us - a half marathon in Macau at the beginning of December and we had 10 weeks to train.

What I want to talk about in this post is how important it is to have a team mate. A supporter. A friend. The road to health is not always an easy one but surrounding yourself with people who are just as interested as you are makes things a lot easier. Derrald and I are our own best and worst support team. We both love to get healthy and we both love to be devilishly unhealthy. This often takes us to the extremes on both ends of the scale.

Right now we are back in health mode. In fact, Derrald is joining me on the Take Shape for Life plan and we are treating the next two weeks as a kind of "detox" in preparation for the Christmas season and to help "lighten our loads" for the new year. It is SO much fun being able to do something like this together. Just like the half marathon training, it puts you both on the same page and helps create a bond between you. It gives us something to talk about everyday, we get to check in with each other and help each other.

One of my favorite patterns that we started this year was our commitment to running together every week. We started back in January when we still lived in North Carolina. We were very fortunate to have such easy access to the trails in NC. They are beautiful and the weather is often perfect for being outside.

We continued our pattern even while on our cruise in April:

And after moving to Hong Kong, when we decided to run the Macau Half Marathon, our dedication increased... we even got up before the crack of dawn one day to make sure we could get our run in.

in the a.m.

And like rebel teenagers we scaled the fence...

We didn't begin running with any particular goal in mind. It was just a fun way for us to workout together. I was concerned that it wouldn't work out because we run at such different paces. I think to make this work both partners need to be reasonable. I always told Derrald he could run ahead and we'd meet at the end and he always made an effort to run slower for a few miles so we could chat and run together. Best of both worlds.

Now we have medals. I love our medals because they signify our dedication. A challenge accepted and overcome. I would be so excited and proud of myself had I run the race alone. My achievements are my own, but to have a friend there, hollering my name at the end of the race as I entered the stadium only 8 minutes behind him,  wondering what obstacles he had to overcome and looking forward to sharing our race stories, that sweet readers is awesome.

For the full story and more photos of our half marathon, click here. 

With a new year approaching I invite you to find your own "race"and to challenge your partner. Whether that means challenging them to support you in your own race or challenging them to accept a race you can support them in.

Failure

Failure. Possibly not the most uplifting title for a blog post intended to be inspiring, however, it's something we all must deal with at different times in our lives and something I'd like to address as we clear the temptations of chocolate covered, heart-shaped February and head straight into April Easter(egg) madness.

I've been doing really well on the program so far but my journey, the road to health is definitely a journey, has not been without bumps in the road. Bumps, thankfully, not mountains. It's easy to think "But I'm the health coach! I need to be perfect! I'm setting the example!" However, this isn't necessarily the right approach. After all, I am only human. (even if my husband would try and convince you I was half dragon...) 

I'm the same as you. I have the same temptations and I will, on occasion, make choices that I know aren't in my best health interest. The key is knowing what to do when those choices have already been made. 

DON'T PANIC and DON'T GIVE UP

Acknowledge your mistake, your moment of weakness, your indulgence but don't beat yourself up about it. Use this time as an opportunity to check back in with yourself. Remind yourself why it is important for you to eat healthy or stick to your eating plan. Something I recommend to all my clients right at the beginning of their weight loss journey is to write out a list of goals and, perhaps even more importantly, the reasons WHY you want to reach these goals. What positive changes will you be making in your life? How will these inspire you when the going gets tough?

Refocusing on these things will put you back on track when you temporarily derail. The real failure would be if you gave up completely. So, have faith in yourself and remember that you're only human (unless you're half dragon), and if I can do it, so can you!

American Waistlines

"The U.S has a weight problem" - a quote from an interesting article I read on Bloomberg.com the other day. 

I highly recommend you check out the link here: "American Waistlines Expand at Fastest Pace Among Rich Nations, Study Finds"

Turns out, Americans have the highest BMI average among rich nations in 2008. Followed by, wait for it, New Zealand! I love it when both my countries are represented... I just wish it wasn't for these particular statistics!!

Don't let yourself become just another sad weight statistic. Get yourself a health coach, adopt the habits of health and then start being part of the solution. We can change these numbers by changing our lives and educating others.

Happy Monday.