One Week Challenge: Week 3 - Eliminating Alchohol Dependance

Just before I left for Bali I went to visit my family GP for a check up and possibly vaccinations. Whilst I was there we were chatting about my weight and thyroid condition - since starting to take Thyroxin a few years ago I haven't really found it any easier to loose weight.

And over the last month as I have been exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy (although with a few drop out days) I haven't lost any weight and my doctor suggested maybe it is an insulin problem. So I need to go and get a blood test and if I have a high blood glucose level then she has prescribed Diabex help maintain lower blood glucose levels.

I want to make my weight-loss part of a total lifestyle change, not just a "diet," so I'm worried that by simply taking a tablet will I continue to yo-yo for the rest of my life or will I be stuck taking another lot of tablets for the rest of my life.

Of course I will get the blood test because I am interested to see what my blood glucose levels are like regardless, but as far as lowering those levels I want to try and do that naturally first. And I have two ideas about how I can get this ball rolling.

Idea One: One Week Challenge - Eliminating Alcohol for One Week

I know that although I try to eat well and exercise, I can do these things a lot better but what really sets me back is the amount of alcohol I drink. I don't drink soft drink or have sugar in my tea or coffee, but I will easily consume a bottle of wine in an evening!!

After a long day of frustrating work all I can think about on the bus trip home is glass of wine, and it starts whilst I make dinner. The first glass goes down far too easily and soon I'm on to glass two before I even get dinner finished. And so it goes on and on and before I know it the bottle is gone.

I was just doing some reading and there are about 2340kj in a bottle of white wine.... That's almost like having a disgusting, fatty MacDonald's burger on top of my dinner every night!!! That's insane! No wonder I can't loose weight. Not to mention that drinking makes me lazy and I often get emotional or angry (and my poor fiance cops the brunt of that).

This week (starting today until next Sunday) I will abstain from drinking any alcohol. Difficult in the advertising world - but I am hoping with my new nutritional career focus to be less reliant on alcohol for dealing with my stress levels.

Idea Two: 5 Days of Low Glycemic Eating with Meghan Telpner

Thank you Universe! Meghan Telpner is running a 5 Day Low Glycemic Eating Challenge, SO completely appropriate for me right now! This starts on November 5 so I will undoubtedly I will end up doing 2 weeks alcohol free and learn a lot more about low glycemic eating.

Very excited about this, I have low G.I. cookbooks but I think this will be a fun and supportive way to try and make low G.I. part of my everyday life.

I will try to organise my blood test to be done early this week, and maybe I can even re do it in a week or two to see if these two challenges have helped me improve my overall blood glucose levels! If I can avoid having to take Diabex at the end of these two weeks of trial this would be ideal.

So focusing on this week's adventure, I hope to research and look at topics such as:

• Adverse effects of long term consumption of alcohol;
• Methods and tips that may break my drinking habit;
• Alternative recipes for a relaxing evening drinks;
• Effects of Alcohol on Insulin levels; and
• General review on how I have been feeling plus the usual update on weight and measurements.

Going to be a big week!

Cheers!

Tropical Getaway in Bali - Part Two

"So what can we do about the craziness of the world"
"Nothing." Ketut laughed, but with a dose of kindness. "This is nature of world. This is destiny. Worry about your craziness only - make you in peace."
- Eat Prey Love 

I mentioned in previous posts that I wanted my second Weekly Challenge to be Meditate every day for 1 hour. I realise now that this was a pretty ambitious task, not really having spent too much time doing meditation and also being on holidays with all the distractions.  

I did try a couple of times. One attempt was thwarted by sheer sleepiness. Not realising how much I needed to just give myself a break - my head kept nodding and rolling before I even noticed I had drifted off.

The second time was literally chased back inside by a teeny-tiny bat!! I had gotten myself all settled, looking rather like a tipi wrapped up in a blanket to hide from the mozzies, I closed my eyes and tried to settle into a mantra when I was suddenly aware of something zoooooooming back and forth over my head. I opened my eyes, but it had gone.. so I tried to regain focus, but then there is was again!

A little bit worried at this point so I sat in stillness with my eyes open - there it WAS!! A little bat. It would go out into the trees at the back of the yard and then zoom in right above my head and back out.

Not having had any of my vaccinations before coming to Bali, I freaked out and ran inside.

Of course I started beating myself up - can't even focus to meditate, only week 2 of my challenges and I had already failed. During the day I was reading Eat, Prey, Love and I came across the quote that I started this blog with today. It really struck a chord with me.

I had noticed how hard it can be to enjoy your holiday when surrounded by so many tourists of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs and everybody wanting to make their own vacation the best it can be, sometimes people can come across as rude or belligerent in trying to achieve this for themselves and their families, but I realised you can either get swept up in a flurry of negativity and let it ruin your holiday or can just let it go and focus on your own behaviour.

So, I decided that for this week I would instead focus on this one little idea all week. With the hopes of bringing this feeling back to Sydney. And even just practising it once or twice you realise how good it feels to not spend the next hour complaining because someone pushed in front of you at the exhibit, but instead to just let it go and to instead by mindful of other people around you.

Also Balinese temperament makes this easier to achieve, they come across as incredibly easy going not vengeful or aggressive. As one of our drivers, also called Ketut (this would be mind-blowingly coincidental if I didn't know that 'Ketut' just means 'Number 4 Child') spoke to us about the thing that makes Hinduism a wonderful religion to him is the fact that you are supposed to practise giving, rather than just taking or asking for something. Little offerings are put out the front of shops and taken to temples several times throughout the day.

Ketut incidentally also things this is what keeps Bali safe from natural disasters - of which Indonesia had earthquake, volcano eruption AND tsunami all in the one week whilst we were over there. Bali didn't get effected by any of it. Anyway, I digress...

It was a really nice feeling to practice especially when sometimes my family (myself very much included) can all get swept up in reactionary, emotional responses to (often unintentional) negetive energy. And this response can be just as bad, if not worse, than whatever it was that upset you in the first place.

So this one I will definitely be putting practice, now that I am back in Sydney. I think we would all be a lot happier working on our own "craziness" rather than focusing on what other people should or shouldn't be doing. And I haven't given up on the idea of making meditation a weekly challenge either, I think attending the local Satsang a few more times and a bit more self-education. Soon to come.

Balinese Cooking Course

Two blogs in one night! Goodness!! I just have so much to talk about from the last couple of weeks, I want to get it all noted down before I start to forget everything.

On Thursday I did a Balinese Cooking Class at the Anika Guest House in Kuta, Bali and I cannot recommend it enough. It was such a fun day full of new discoveries and the most delicious food I came across in my whole trip.

We started the day off at the local markets in Kuta. I must admit they were quite confronting. I've explored food markets in other countries, in India where we had to cover our faces with a wet cloth to get through the Spice Section with out choking on the chilli and find my way through Morocco's dense medina's with camel heads and stinky dye baths. But the Bali market was not pretty or clean, it was really dark and cluttered, with rotting vegetables, old offerings and rubbish littering the uneven floor.

I didn't take any photos of the meat and seafood section because it was quite horrible. But aside from the mess and grime the people, as always, were lovely and accommodating letting us look at produce and ask questions. Our guide pointed out things we may never have seen before and gave us medicinal purposes for everything.

We then jumped back into the vans and went to the cooking school. Everything was already prepped and chopped (which was very lovely) all we had to do was absorb information about the ingredient combinations. Even then a lovely booklet was supplied detailing information on all the ingredients and recipes.

The recipes included:

• Balinese Beef Satay
• Grilled Fish in Banana Leaves
• Chicken Curry
• Water Spinach in Tomato Chilli Sambal
• Gado-Gado
• Nasi Goreng
• Tempe Curry
• Pickled Carrot and Cucumber Salad
• Fresh sambal
• Green Pancakes with Coconut
• Black Rice Pudding

It was fresh and delicious and extremely well organised. The head tutor Komang was happy, laughy and very knowledgeable. And his right hand lady, Nyoman, was amazing calm, collected and talented chef. I'm sure I'll be using the cooking book that they gave us for years to come.

I think the only criticism I had of the day was that it semi-outdoors and extremely hot. (But it could possibly have been even hotter if it was in doors). Just be prepared and have a breakfast before you go and keep hydrated, because you're standing in hot, hot, heat and don't really eat until 10-11am after a 6am start!

I will be looking at adapting some of these recipes soon and when I do I'll post the photos and recipes - I was going to post one of my favourite recipes that we did during the course, but it just didn't feel right to post something that's not my own.

If you're going to Bali, definitely check this out.

Tropical Getaway in Bali - Part One

So for the last 9 days I have been over in Bali, and I thought I'd better do a bit of a round-up! Last week's challenge was to do something active everyday, I think I completed this challenge reasonably well considering I spent one full day in an 'Amazing Race' style day of traveling.

Here as the the activities I did every day:

Monday:  Resistance Training - set up for me by a personal trainer, including weights and machines for upper body and legs, ab work and 20 minutes of cardio.

Tuesday:  Pilates - 45 minute reformer pilates class.

Wednesday: 20 minutes fast paced walk 2.5km

Thursday:  We were running around airports and dealing with long flights, not really exercise but exhausting all the same, right? Right?

Friday: Spent 2 hours walking around Bali in 93% humidity - I could easily compare it to a Bikram yoga class!!!

Saturday:  45 minute Stretch class and swimming in the ocean off Lembongan Island

Sunday:  Swimming laps in the pool

When I measured myself on Monday morning I had lost 1cm off my bust, waist and hip measurements. It was definitely hard to keep the momentum of energy up whilst on holidays and I know I could have done more. I may have subconsciously sabotaged myself by forgetting my gym clothes, or maybe that was the universe just telling me to relax a little, who knows.

I have been feeling more and more like I'm ready to go without alcohol for a little while. I think that will be next week's challenge. It may also help in shifting some weight that I'm finding difficult to loose - despite eating well and exercising regularly, alcohol is one of my biggest vices.

But all in all it was a beautiful week in Bali and with the sun, water, exercise, fresh air and fruits I was feeling fantastic, and that's all that really matters in the end!

The people in Bali were absolutely beautiful, despite living in a country rife with corruption and bribes, poverty and unfortunate events like the bombings in 2002 - not to mention overrun with sunburn, drunken tourists all wearing the uniform of Bintang singlets and braided hair. They look at everything in such an optimistic and forgiving light.

They have space and time for everyone and everything.

The next week I was hoping to do meditation everyday but I'll go into that in another post tomorrow.

Sunny Spring Afternoon

What a beautiful Sunday in Sydney. The sun has been shining, I had breakfast in the backyard and meditated, we had friends pop around for a surprise visit and they brought some beautiful nougat, I re-painted some chairs and now here I am with soft music and the sound of birds chirping flowing through the open window.  I could not be happier at the moment, I feel completely at ease.

This could not be a better start for 2 new things this week: my Nutritional Medicine course begins and so does my 'weekly challenges'. AND I leave for Bali on Thursday!!

So, this week's challenge is to:

Do something active everyday.

I plan to go the gym tomorrow morning for cardio and weights, reformer pilates on Tuesday and Wednesday I will finally get to go back to the Yoga teacher who was such a fantastic inspiration for me in overcoming my fear of handstands a few weeks ago!

Then in Bali I want to make sure I do at least one of, any of the following things, everyday for the remainder of the week:

• Walking (on the beach preferably),
• Yoga (also, on the beach preferably),
• Using the gym,
• Snorkeling (which I have always been a bit scared of doing...)
• Swimming, or
• Hiking.

(A little bit of a side note here: I also really, really, REALLY want to do some sort of a cooking class, I would love to surprise my family by finding somewhere that I can take them for a bit of an un-touristy evening and wonderful cultural experience in Nusa Dua).

This week I will track how I am feeling and then, next Sunday, I will post my updated measurements and an overall review on how felt, etc.

I'm so excited. I feel these goals are totally achievable, because it is just one week and if they work their way into my every day life then that's great, but I'm not putting the usual extreme pressure on myself to achieve the unachievable.

 I already think I know what next week's challenge will be:

Meditate every day for 1 hour.

Where else would be better to do this than on holidays in Bali, huh?

Successful Goal Setting One Week at a Time.

Okay, so I've been a little quiet the last couple of weeks. I really thought that with the changing of daylight savings it would be the perfect timing to kick start a whole bunch of exercise and "healthy-living" realated goals.

But in the week that followed my diet was okay, but it was nearing the end of the pay cycle so we were a bit impoverished which meant digging up as much from the pantry as possible. (It did prove to make some creative meal planning) but also meant I couldn't get fresh and quality product that had been a part of those goals.

I also was severely hit by the fact that it was no longer light at 5.45am and being tucked up in a warm bed next to my warm fiance was just too good to pass up!

One day I missed the gym, and then one night we ordered a pizza and then I missed another day of the gym... I became more and more annoyed at myself... and then I came across Michaela Ballmann and her podcasts 'Nutritionally Speaking'. In one of the podcasts she was talking about New Year's Resolutions and how if goals are too uncontrollable and too vast then of course you can't achieve them and of course you're going to feel down on yourself. It's a downward spiral.

So from this new knowledge, I have decided to do a bit of an experiment and set a weekly goal for myself. My long term goal is still make an entire lifestyle change so I can be happier and healthier. But instead of trying to do everything at once, like I always do, "This week I will not drink alcohol, and drink juice every morning and exercise 6 days a week!!" I will do things more gradually.

No wonder it never seems to work, even if I could change every bad habit that I have all at once I would probably be a complete wreck and would definitely not enjoy it at all.

So instead, I will set myself one weekly task. Which I will endeavor to make my priority, just for those 7 days with no 'forever's and it will be interesting to see if, after those 7 days, I can start to incorporate one new thing at a time into my daily routine. Baby steps!

Where to start? Well, next week I'm off to Bali. So I think the easiest goal to set is to:

Do something active everyday.

I don't leave until Thursday so I can get my usual gym routines in early in the week. But then I want to seek out a daily activity in Bali (so I don't turn into a complete sloth on my holiday!).

I'll track the progress and how I am feeling.

I can't wait to think of fun things to challenge myself with every week!

Daylight Savings Tomato Party

To celebrate the coming of Summer I decided to give one of Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes a go yesterday. Since it was called a "Tomato Party" it seemed very appropriate for this very exciting time of the year.

I made a couple of mistakes but turned the recipe into my own adaptation! So here it goes:

Tomato Party with Crispy Couscous Croutons

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's book 'Plenty'


Ingredients
125g coucous
olive oil
1 cup of quinoa (He suggestes 150g Fregola 'Giant Couscous' but I didn't have a chance to get any).
300g vine ripened tomatoes, quartered
3/4 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
150g yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small green tomato cut into thin wedges
100g tomberries or halved cherry tomatoes.
(I couldn't find all this on the day so I bought a 'Tomato Medley' from Thomas Dux).
2 tbsp chopped oregano
2 tbsp chopped tarragon
2 tbsp chopped mint
1 garlic clove, crushed
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 170℃.

Put the couscous in a bowl with a pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil. Then cover with 150ml of boiling water, stir and cover the bowl with cling film. Set aside for 12 minutes, then remove the cling film and separate the grains with a fork. Set aside to cool.

Now here I made my first mistake - I over cooked the couscous, so it became really gluggy and all stuck together. So I grabbed a shallow baking tray, lined it with baking paper and spread the couscous out evenly over the tray.  I then sprinkled with rock salt, white pepper and a little olive oil and put it in the oven. Once this is golden brown across the top, remove from the oven and let it cool before chopping it into crispy, couscous croutons - which I then added to the salad for some extra crunch!

Remake the couscous by repeating the above instructions - remember not to leave it any longer than the 12 minutes or you'll be making lots of couscous croutons!!

Next cook the Quinoa - this is the best way of cooking it. Absolutely flawless. Then leave this to cool completely.

Meanwhile, spread the tomatoes over a baking tray and sprinkle with the sugar, some salt and pepper and drizzle the balsamic vinegar and olive oil all over. Place in the oven for 20 minutes and then increase the temperature to 200℃ for a further 12 minutes.

Here's where I made mistake number two. Yotam actually suggests doing the large vine ripened tomatoes for the first 20 minutes, then adding the yellow tomatoes - keeping the others raw. I just put the whole lot in, which meant there was A LOT of excess juices.... when I turned the oven up to 200℃ I emptied all the juices into a saucepan, added the crushed garlic and put it on a low heat reduce slowly for about 10 minutes. Let the tomato and garlic reduction cool.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven and set aside to cool.

Then I strained the tomato and garlic reduction from the stove into a jar and added 1:1 olive oil to make the dressing. Just season to taste with a little salt and pepper if you need - I found I didn't have to it was beautiful on its own.

Put the couscous, quinoa and chopped herbs into a bowl and toss. Then add the tomatoes and gently mix. Taste for seasoning. And add the dressing.

Et voila! A beautiful, refreshing Spring Tomato Party with Crispy Couscous Croutons!

Enjoy!