Tag Archives: weight loss

Veggies in a Nori

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I’ve been craving spring rolls for two weeks now. I even got my sisters to eat vegetarian spring rolls last time I was home. I was so amazed that they ate them — all veggies, no meat at all! Finding spring roll wrappers back home is not a problem. You can find them in the supermarkets or grocery stores.

I find it ironic that I am having a hard time finding them here in China. So today at the supermarket I bought nori instead! It you ask me why I won’t just eat the veggies without wrapping them, the only answer I can give you is — I just want them in a wrap!

Today I had stir-fried bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, cilantro and king oyster mushroom wrapped in nori. It’s not sushi, but has the taste of one without the caloric content of rice.

It was a filling and healthy lunch. 😊

Have a wonderful week!

T.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

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I had a quite filling yet inexpensive lunch today — two pieces of vegetarian spring rolls.

Ordering these spring rolls before grocery-shopping at Walmart-SM Mall has been a habit of mine for years now (Walmart-SM is on the island, so I only go there once or twice a month.) A friend of mine introduced the restaurant to me at least 10 years ago, and I’ve been going to that restaurant for their spring rolls ever since.

  • These spring rolls have dried tofu, cabbage, celery, cilantro, carrot and peanut sauce.

    • A very simple yet filling and healthy meal.

    There are a number of spring roll recipes online. You can try making your own.

    Apart from finding time to exercise, it isn’t very hard to lose weight. Stick to a healthy diet.

    Good luck!

    T.

    Dumplings for vegetarians

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    Egg and leek dumplings

    I am not a vegetarian, but I try to eat more vegetables than meat. Yesterday I had my first (and last) meat dish for the week, so I wasn’t so keen on having dumplings for supper.

    But my husband wanted to have dumplings in a Dongbei 侜挗 (northeastern) restaurant. Most dumplings have meat in them. Thankfully the restaurant serves leek and egg dumplings (éŸ­èœéžĄè›‹æ°Žé„ș.)

    Soy sauce + vinegar + red pepper sauce

    Last week I did my dance workout one hour every single day and also did planking and lifting weights and really watched my diet.

    I lost 1 kilogram.

    Though I tend to eat more during weekends when my husband and I eat together, I know if I really want to, I can lose one kilogram again this week with exercise and a vegetarian diet.

    Optimism and discipline. đŸ’Ș

    T.

    Coconut Water

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    When I was a kid, we never had to buy coconut or coconut water as my late grandfather had a farm and we could have all the coconut water we wanted. The tenants’ sons so expertly climbed the tree and got us young coconuts which they then as expertly cracked open with the blunt edge of a bolo.

    Those were the days.

    Now we have to buy young coconuts for the water. I’ve only tried the coconut water sold in stores once, and that was it. It didn’t taste like coconut water at all. Luckily for me, I come from a country where it’s in abundance so it’s pretty inexpensive. I was quite surprised to find the price of one here in Jimei is 15RMB (2.15 USD). For that price back home, it’s served in a restaurant and you don’t have to open it yourself! Lol.

    Coconut water is supposedly rich in potassium, richer than bananas even. It is also low in calories and free of fat and cholesterol.

    I had kidney stones as a kid, so my mother often encouraged me to drink more coconut water. Back then I didn’t know why but having read about it more, coconut water is supposed to help dissolve kidney stones because of its richness in potassium which helps prevent formation of kidney stones.

    I honestly think it helped me back then, especially as I don’t remember taking medicines for my kidney problem.

    However a few articles online also said that if you have chronic kidney disease, you should limit your potassium intake which means coconut water may not be best for you.

    Like most “findings” these days, it’s hard to determine which one’s right or wrong. One day “experts” say something is good for you; later, another group of “experts” say it’s bad for you.

    I guess the best advice is: moderation.

    But one thing I can assure you: fresh coconut water is healthier and more refreshing than an ice-cold soda!

    Happy weekend!💕

    T.

    Bitter (Gourd) Memory

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    This is what I had for lunch today: bitter gourd with egg, sprinkled with black pepper and cumin.

    I loved it. But I haven’t always loved it.

    When I was a child, my mother often prepared a bitter gourd salad which I could not even chew because of its bitterness. In high school, our Practical Arts teacher told us this vegetable (or vegetable-fruit) was a blood purifier. That really stuck with me. Several times I tried to like this vegetable, but it wasn’t until only a couple of years ago that I could finally appreciate the bitterness of the bitter gourd.

    And am I thankful that I like it now!

    It’s supposedly packed with nutrients and can help reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels. And as it is rich in fiber and low in calories, it’s great for weight loss as well.

    Did I enjoy my lunch? I sure did! (I learned from my Korean friend that this is not cheap in South Korea. However, there’s an abundance of bitter gourd in southern China where I am now and in my home country as well. So, lucky me!)

    Have a healthy week!

    T.

    Diet and workout update

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    Steamed spinach with tomatoes

    Yesterday I decided not to use oil when cooking, so instead of having stir-fried vegetables for lunch, I am opting for steamed ones. I just added fresh tomatoes and onions to the steamed spinach and a bit of salt, pepper and soy sauce, and I had a really tasty lunch.

    I’ve been serious about losing weight for almost 2 months now, and though I find it a bit slow I’ve lost 3 kg and my waistline is down by 2 inches! Yay for me!

    A week ago, I was only doing 20-30-minute dance workouts confident that I would lose weight because I am on a 1000-calorie diet. But I’ve read several articles that said if you want to be healthy, a 15-20-minute exercise daily is good enough. However if you want to lose weight, you need at least an hour of exercise! And I’ve found out how true that is. Eating healthy and an hour of exercise daily for a week can surely show you positive results.

    As for planking, I can hold a plank for a minute but after reading an article about waiting until you have really trimmed down before doing strengthening exercises, I just do it once a day.

    It’s tough, but I am hopeful I can reach my goal. 😉 I’m sure you can, too!

    Have a good week!

    T.

    A healthy and enjoyable lunch

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    Spinach with dried scallop soup

    I went to the island today for some errands and stopped by to see a friend. She was glad to hear I’ve been trying to eat healthy food, and we agreed to have a healthy lunch together. I told her I was OK with whatever she ordered, and I was not disappointed. Two of the dishes she ordered were so good, I just had to take a picture of them: the spinach and dried scallop soup and stir-fried mushrooms.

    Lunch with my friend is always enjoyable as I enjoy listening to her talk just about everything. She is several years oder than I am, and I always feel I learn something new every time I have lunch with her as she can explain so many things to me about economics and politics.

    I had a wonderful time, and I was happy I was able to enjoy lunch without ruining my diet!

    Have a lovely Monday!💕

    T.

    Got a table by the window, but … buildings

    On fake and real hunger

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    Celtuce and King Oyster Mushroom

    Yesterday I had a pretty good lunch and snacked on a banana after a couple of hours. Around 5 o’clock as I was preparing to go food shopping, I felt hungry. Then I thought, “How could I be hungry again?” But I decided I was not going to eat anything until after I got back home. And that’s exactly what I did and actually forgot the feeling of hunger while shopping.

    From what I’ve read, there is actually such a thing as “fake hunger. ” We may feel “hungry” even just an hour after lunch, but this may be because that cheesecake just looks so tempting (I swear I can hear cheesecake calling out to me every time I see one!) Or perhaps we are stressed and need to comfort ourselves with food that we like; or we may be surrounded by people we like and to spend more time with them, we order more food.

    Next time you feel hungry, ask yourself if it’s real or you are just dealing with something that can be solved not by increasing your calorie intake, but by doing something healthier — drinking more water, doing exercise, talking with people, etc.

    Webmd has a good article on checking whether you are truly hungry or not.

    Stir-fried tofu

    Have a lovely weekend! 💕

    T.

    Another week of healthy eating

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    Celery, Cucumber and Apple Smoothie

    Normally I try not to talk about my little achievements if I have not reached my ultimate goal yet. I have this superstition that it will be jinxed if I talk about it. But last week I wrote about my diet, and the weekend passed without me ruining it. So here I am writing something more about my diet.

    Some vegetables I used to ignore have become interesting in my eyes, simply because I am looking for variety. Before I came to China, I seldom ate vegetables. This is true of most Filipinos. We love our lechon and meat too much. So one thing I’m truly happy about coming to China is learning to love and cook veggies. And fungi!

    I had never eaten mushrooms before I came to China, but these days one of my favorite ingredients for cooking is the king oyster mushroom.

    king oyster mushrooms

    I use this kind of mushroom to replace meat, and I just love it! I cooked it with celery the other day, and today with eggplant.

    King oyster mushrooms are abundant in China, but I have never seen this kind in my home city in the Philippines. I will surely miss this when I go home for good!

    This evening I tried the cucumber, celery and apple smoothie after coming across this recipe. It’s not my favorite smoothie, but it’s good enough for variety.

    I hope I can stick to my healthy diet (and silly dancing) so I’ll be strong and healthy for a busy but fun summer with my son!

    Have a healthy, happy Monday!

    T.

    Losing Weight: Inspiration + Discipline

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    (This is about my experience, and I know not everyone has the same experience. But there are people like me out there, and this is for them.)

    I’ve been trying to lose weight for as long as I can remember, but it has been on and off as my weight fluctuates. I started gaining weight and actually became a little overweight on my last year in university and my first year working. Then I went to study Latin dance and lost weight and was my ideal weight for a couple of years until my heart was broken and I became depressed and resorted to stress eating. Then I had the opportunity to move to another country. When my husband and I first met he was so thin and I was overweight, but he liked me anyway. I tried to lose weight, and I did and was quite happy with how I looked in my wedding gown three years later. After 4 years I had a baby and since then I have not been successful in reaching my target weight. My son is now 8 years old.

    Looking back, my recipe for losing weight back then was: inspiration/challenge and discipline. I was inspired to lose weight because I wanted to look nice for my then-boyfriend. I was challenged to lose weight after I realized I couldn’t wear the dress I liked because it wouldn’t fit me. There were times I was challenged to lose weight because a guy I liked, liked a girl who was so skinny! As an older person now I find those inspiration/challenges seemed really silly but they helped me lose weight! The point is we need something to inspire us or drive us to want to lose weight.

    At this period in my life, my first and most important reason for wanting to lose weight is to be healthy. As my son is on the Autism Spectrum Disorder and has several delays in most skills yet growing taller and heavier everyday, I need to stay healthy to still be able to handle him even when he becomes taller than I in a couple of years. This is real and serious inspiration.

    Next comes discipline. Discipline means exercise and diet. Those times I lost weight I was either going to dance lessons, dancing in front of the TV (there are lots of dance workout videos available) or running almost everyday. The important thing was I was physically active. Apart from exercise, I also went on a diet. Diet did not mean not eating, but reducing the portion. I have always believed in Aristotle’s idea of moderation in everything.

    I put exercise and diet under discipline because these two indeed demand discipline. There were times when I became lazy or tempted to eat more than what I needed, and it took a lot of self-control to get myself to workout or say no to more food. Again, that inspiration/challenge helped me stick to discipline.

    And as once again I am trying to lose weight, I am also trying to stick to my recipe of challenge + discipline. So far I have been doing well as I am not home yet (I always put on weight when I go home to the Philippines, where everything, especially eating, is more fun!! The real challenge will be spending the summer back home.)

    Right now I have started shedding a couple of pounds, and I have to thank my husband who has also become health conscious when he reached 40. Like me, he realized how important it is for both of us to stay healthy for our son. Though he does not exercise as much as I do (I dance in front of the TV everyday) as he is always busy at work, we both try to eat healthy by eating more vegetables and fruits and less meat and bread/rice.

    Like I said, so far so good. I hope you find your inspiration and add lots of discipline to achieve your goal.

    Good luck!

    T.