Monthly Archives

May 2014

Health

Green Tea – Part II

May 29, 2014
Green Tea - Part II

The long-awaited sequel to my first post on green tea has finally arrived!

Green Tea – Part II

Green Tea - Part II

Sorry about the long wait .. I have been so busy these past few months and I have had so many idea’s for posts which I just had to share with you. So I kept on pushing this post to the next week, and the next week .. So I do apologize and I hope you thoroughly enjoy part II of my post on green tea!

Part I focused on what exactly made green tea so healthy, and this post will focus on how much green tea we should be drinking to reap the full benefits, and my own experience with green tea consumption.

As we learned from part I, green tea contains catechins, which is a naturally occurring antioxidant, in addition to a slew of other health benefits. Green tea has a fairly bitter taste that can take a while to get used too. I never found the taste too overwhelming although I still find it a little bitter sometimes, although I honestly quite like the bitter taste of it. Which brings us to the question of ‘How much green tea do we actually need to drink to reap the full benefits?’

Good question – There have been several studies on this and it is quite confusing as they all say different things .. the only thing they can seem to agree on is that you should be drinking green tea! The studies vary greatly – an article written in 1999 stated that 10 cups of green tea a day helped delay the onset of cancer whereas a follow-up study found that patients with stage I and II cancer saw a longer disease free period and a lower recurrence rate when they drank over five cups a day than those who drank less than four cups a day. I found a more recent article written in 2012 by the same man who wrote the 1999 article which basically confirmed the idea that drinking 10 cups of green tea a day was significant in preventing cancer. The only problem with the fact that the two articles are from the same author is the fact that the author could have a bias … I mean come on, why would anyone willing refute their life’s work?

Honestly, it would be safe to say that drinking green tea, whatever the amount is better than drinking none. I would aim to have at least 3 cups a day but you know, don’t stress it if you just had one. I typically like to start my day with a cup of green tea and I have started bringing green tea bags to work so I can have some throughout the day. Do remember that green tea does contain a small amount of caffeine, so if you are sensitive to caffeine, start with one cup of green tea a day and increase it slowly and take not of how you feel.

Green Tea - Part II

In terms of steeping the green tea, I have read several (non-scientific) articles claiming that the longer you steep the tea bag, the more antioxidants will get released into the water. If anyone has links to scientific articles about this, please link me to them in the comments 🙂

All in all, I hope my green tea post series has made you want to give drinking green tea a go and/or has educated you about its health benefits. I love drinking green tea and I have found that it helps me control my cravings to a certain extent and because it is a diuretic, it does help debloat me if I have eaten a little bit too much! Any feedback or comments would be much appreciated!

Honestly yours,
Alice

References

Cooper, R. (2012). Green Tea and Theanine: Health Benefits. Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 63(S1), pp.90-97.

Fujiki, H. (1999). Two Stages of cancer prevention with green tea. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 125(11), pp.589-597.

Fujiki, H., Imai, K., Nakachi, K., Shimizu, M., Moriwaki, H., & Suganuma, M. (2012). Challenging the effectiveness of green tea in primary and tertiary cancer prevention. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 138(8), pp.1259-1270.

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Game Plan

May 26, 2014

Hey everyone!

For all of you who are in America, I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoy this long weekend for Memorial Day. For everyone else, I still hope you had a fab weekend 🙂 I totally had this post all ready to go last night but I went to Kokkari Estiatorio (a really nice Greek restaurant in San Francisco) and it was so late by the time I got back that I just went to bed haha.

Anyway, I want to be really honest with you all in this blog post. Even though I did see progress and improved muscle tone, I did not get the results I wanted after completing Kayla’s bikini body guide. I am extremely proud of the progress I have made and the fact that I can now do a bazillion push ups, jumping lunges and all the other extreme exercises buuuut … I still have a long way to go. I have been musing about what it is exactly that is making it so bloody hard for me to lose the last 5-8 pounds. I exercise smart and I watch my portions and eat healthy foods. I suppose I tend to go overboard whe I eat out and have the mentality of ‘oh it won’t hurt if I take a small bite …”.

Therefore, even though my mantra is about balance (which I am STILL for), for purposes of eliminating the extra few pounds once and for all, I believe I have to be rather strict and reflective with myself. Going crazy when I eat out and having those extra few bites does make a difference in the long run. If I was at a happy weight and body composition then no, being a little silly at times would not matter. But the fact of the matter is that you have to be smart when embarking on a weight/fat loss journey. Eating for weight/fat loss is not the same as healthy eating, and that is something I really need to just tattoo into my brain.

Which is why I am creating a game plan for myself! As part of a year long process of reforming my eating habits I will be keeping an eye and trying to implement the following:

  • Do not nibble mindlessly – this is my biggest problem, because even though I am full, I tend to pick at food if it is in front of me. This will prove to be hard at restaurants so I will let you all know what works for me (usually drinking loads of water helps)
  • Incorporate more veggies throughout the day
  • If hunger pangs strike at night, drink tea and make some veggies such as celery sticks with a dip such as tzatziki or hummus
  • Stop buying lattes! During the semester time I genuinely need some coffee to tide me through my late classes, but I should probably just stick to plain coffee or an espresso. Or at least only drink latte’s on days when I have class and not otherwise.

I am going to stick with these for now. They are not rules but more of a general guideline. I have also been working on decreasing the amount of alcohol I drink (which is not much at all, usually no more than once or twice a month) and eating out less. For the most part, my friends are incredibly supportive of my lifestyle and do not peer pressure me to eat differently at all which I am SO grateful for. The people who surround you have a profound impact upon you; if they are eating crap, chances are you will tend to eat worse than you normally are.

I genuinely look forward to the future. I have come a long way in the past few years and I am proud that I have become someone who genuinely craves healthy foods and loves to exercise. I can only improve!

What is your biggest obstacle in your quest to be fit and healthy?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Friday Fare

Friday Fare – Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

May 23, 2014

Well this is exciting! Not only do I get to share a lovely Thai recipe with you all, I get to show you a way to put a spin on this classic recipe. Rather proud of myself for thinking of this if I must say so myself. Get ready to make Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls!

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Okay so for all of you who are unfamiliar with Thai cuisine, laab moo (ลาบหมู) is essentially a minced pork spicy salad containing shallots, lots of lime juice, cilantro, mint, chilli flakes and garlic. The herbs and lime juice make for a delicious and healthy recipe, and the minced pork means that it is a meal high in protein. In a traditional laab moo recipe, you will find that they add toasted sticky rice but I omitted that in this recipe to keep it lower carb and to keep the recipe easy as pie.

The addition of rice paper rolls is a great way to enjoy laab moo and a way to get some more veggies into you. I really don’t like lettuce all that much but hey, put it into a rice paper roll and I will eat it right up. Rice paper rolls have some magical properties to make things I don’t like edible I guess (no, it’s because then I can dip it in yummy peanut sauce … shh).

However, I added spinach to this recipe because I seriously have a love affair with spinach – it is high in antioxidants, fiber, protein (3g for 2 cups of raw spinach), and plenty of minerals including but not limited to vitamin A, C, K, calcium and so much more.

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Alice Williams
Experience the taste of Thai with these refreshing yet tangy fresh rolls!
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 rice paper rolls
  • 4 oz lean minced pork
  • 1 1/2-2 cups spinach
  • 1/4 cup vermicelli noodles not necessary but the rolls are a bit wet without them
  • 1 shallot diced
  • 2 garlic cloves mashed
  • 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 5-10 cilantro leaves
  • 5 mint leaves
  • 1/2 tsp-1tbsp chilli flakes please adjust to YOUR spice levels

Instructions
 

  • 1. Get your minced pork and squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime onto the meat and let it marinade for 30 mins to 1 hour. Prepare you vermicelli noodles while you wait according the directions.
  • 2. Get a frying pan/wok and put on high heat for 1 minute. Now, get 1tbsp of water and splash onto the pan. It should start sizzling and evaporating, and if so your pan is hot enough. Add the pork to the pan (be careful!!) and cook until the meat turns a grey color and there is no more pink. Once the pork is done put it into a bowl.
  • 3. Add the diced shallot, mashed garlic cloves, fish sauce, cilantro leaves, mint, chili flakes, and juice from the remaining 1/2 lime into the pork mixture.
  • 4. Get your rice paper rolls ready. If they are dry, then run them under hot water for 30 seconds - 1 minute until they soften. Lay the rice paper rolls out and put 1 cup of spinach on each roll followed evenly distribute the vermicelli noodles.
  • 5. Sieve the pork mixture (save the juice in a separate bowl) and now add the pork mixture on top of the spinach. Roll everything up.
  • 6. Enjoy and use the juice from the pork mixture as a tangy dipping sauce!
Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

Yeah. not an expert at making rolls but I will be with practice!

Thai Laab Moo Fresh Rolls

I hope you enjoyed this meal as much as I did! I added way way WAY too much chilli flakes (being in America has weakened my ability to handle spice) but hey, apparently spicy foods boost your metabolism …

Honestly yours,
Alice