Category Archives: health

Mustard Pork & Other Food

Tonight’s pork marinade is German Mustard Sauce with some cumin seeds, just to give it a spicy kick to the pork. Added to that were strips of ginger and garlic. But I think I should have added in 2 tablespoon of garlic, rather than just one only.

The mustard that flew all the way from Germany. Ok, it didn’t fly on it’s on but rather carried in the bags of my German colleagues early last month.

So this is tomorrow’s meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner :

  1. Stir fried spinach (different variety from the chai sim) with sake and mirin sauce
  2. Mustard Fried Pork : need to find a better way to cook this without frying
  3. Sweet food : Dragon fruit. Granny’s plant is giving out small fruit every once in awhile and it’s a bit of a challenge to try and finish them all. Think I’ll try making some iced dragon fruit drink one day

Tomorrow is a fish day. Not sure what kind of fish I will be Β cooking but it will be some bounty from the sea.

Nasi Ulam Revisited

It’s nice to have a revisit of the Nasi Ulam that Granny made for me awhile back.

A new ingredient we added in was the bunga kantan or rather, torch ginger, to give it a different taste. Also, this time, instead of salted fish, she added in dried prawn.

Herbs for Nasi Ulam

The herbs as well as the torch ginger (in pink) / bunga kantan on the upper left of the picture.

Continue reading Nasi Ulam Revisited

My bookshelf

For 2009, I read a lot of books on getting my health together and learning more about high blood pressure as well as lifestyle effects on it.

So this is what is in my bookshelf. It’s not a lot of books listed as some are locally printed books from Malaysia.

http://astore.amazon.com/mummumeateat-20

In any case, do enjoy perusing it. πŸ™‚ There is also a link to this store on the sidebar to the right. Just scroll down a wee bit and you should find it.

Step-by-Step Drop on the Chart

One thing that I frequently had to remind myself as I went out throughout 2009 was that it was a step at a time. That I wasn’t to hope for a miracle drop in weightloss. That there will be uphills and downhills as I went on this journey.

So the key tool that help me to monitor the weightloss (and manage my moodswings when things didn’t go well) was my scale. I remembered going out during a Sunday on the same week I got diagnosed with high blood pressure and bought a digital scale. I also made the affirmanation that I will be steadfast in my goal to reach my ideal weight, no matter how long it took but that I aim to lose 1 kg a week. That I was going to be brave enough to tell people how much I weigh and that nothing will dedract me from my goal, even if it meant having to put up with a lot of people’s comments.

Chart

*Click on the chart for bigger picture.

It’s been now 10 months since I started. And there has been big mountains and I mean gigantic mountains. But I found that as soon as I went back onto the right track, everything came down again very very easily.

My new goal is to lose another 15kg by 1 Feb 2010 so that I can get off the high blood pressure medication the next time I see my cardiologist. It’s annoying having to swallow a little white pill all the time. But I’m definitely going to make it.

Why? Because I want to. πŸ™‚

Weight Loss Tip : Stand up!

Amazing as this may sound, one of the major weight loss impact throughout my journey this year, has been the fact that I’m standing up a lot more than I used to. Before I had my slipped disc re-injury, I was sitting down a lot and that included slouching my shoulders.

home_standing_laptop

This is my current setup at home with my 15″ laptop. A lot of people had something to say about it. Like it’s too high or too far away from my eyes that I have to squint. I actually don’t have to squint at all since I always did make sure that my specs were always the correct prescription. So it’s not so bad. πŸ™‚ At the same time, my eyes got the necessary rest away from the monitor so that helps too.

Since I started standing up when using the laptop, my body has become smaller. It takes a lot more energy to stand up for 2 hours than it is to sit down for 2 hours. Plus, it helps my back by putting less pressure on the herniated disc that I can now stand for long hours with no problems. Of course, proper shoes also helps a lot.

I have a similar setup at the office where my standing workstation helps to reduce the pressure on the spine, especially the discs pressure. It’s interesting to be working while standing and I do get a lot of feedback from people. But ergonomically, it is definitely more friendly than sitting down for 8 hours. And trust me, I became smaller. πŸ™‚ That was definitely a plus.

Status Updates

Yes yes, it’s been quiet here but only because I’m in the process of recovering from the back and life.

Yes, I’m still making bentos although the food is a lot simplier now as I am now on a 4-day rotation diet which is interesting. I don’t eat as wide as variety of food in one day as I used to as I’m cleaning up my body. I’m keeping track of how food effects me as well as how much sleep and water I’m drinking.

This Friday, I am going to start going to the gym regularly for some back strengthening exercises. Now that is going to be interesting. πŸ™‚

In the mean time, I’m in the middle of sorting out my wardrobe of big size clothes. It’s not a good idea to keep them because it may mean that I don’t have the willpower to stay thin! No way am I getting big again.

Up to today, I’ve lost a total of 24 kg and there’s another 22 kg to go. That’s how much I have left to go. Then we’ll see if Rowena will be in a bikini. πŸ˜‰