Frozen Bananas

What would you do if are home alone for the next 1 week

and you have a whole bunch of freshly riped bananas (Del Monte) lying on the table, but it is impossible to finish everything in one go, or rather, you do not wish to finish everything in on go.

and if you wait for a few more days... it will turn to...

rotten bananas!




so what i did was to peel all the bananas and freeze them in the freezer!

and here you are... Frozen Bananas!

This was experimental, and surprisingly, it taste quite good! It taste like banana ice cream if you ask me to describe it... cold and chewy... chew and chew until it melts! Expecially when this few days the weather is soooo hot... this is a good snack to snack on...it cools you down.

PLUS

this is definitely a good snack after your run or workout to replenish ur carbs!

Actually my intention was not to eat it as it is (frozen). I have another use for it...




Stay tuned!

Muscles vs Fats

The picture says it all

How to increase you HDL levels?

Training September 28th - Run to Macritchie - what does 700 calories look like?

Skipped my gym for a morning run to Macritchie

Distance: 10k

Calories consumed: 722Kcal

Equivalent to either:




5 cans of Cola8 Tbsp of Peanut Butter


1.5 BigMac


36 White Rabbit Candy
2 Aunt Annes Almond Pretzel


1.5 Serving of Mcflurry

7 Medium Bananas


2.5 Donuts


2 Medium French Fries


1 Mooncake

BBQ food and Vitamin C

I came across this article, and believe it or not is up to you! But there are so little research done, as to what is the minimum qty that one needs to consume for it to be considered carcinogenic, what is the half life of the carcinogen? (if there's any) etc. But knowing more is better than knowing less... so here it goes...

extracted from Testosterone Nation July 09 2008

When you cook meat, fat drips off and hits the coals. The hot coals form a carcinogen known as benzopyrene, which floats up in smoke and embeds itself in your burger. Likewise, when the hot grill comes into contact with the meat, other carcinogens known as heterocyclic amines are formed.

To make things worse, if your host is grilling hot dogs or some other preserved meat, they're soaked in nitrates. Once nitrates are eaten, they combine with amines in the mouth and gut to form nitrosamines, which are yet another class of carcinogen.

Put them all together and you've got...well, bad news. Granted, the odds of developing esophageal or gut cancer from just a few servings of burnt meat are very low, but why take a chance, especially since it's summer and you'll no doubt be eating more charred meat than a hungry Neanderthal?

Soooo, when you know some charred meat is on the way, eat something high in Vitamin C before so much as touching your lips to a burger. Foods that are high in Vitamin C that might reasonably go with a barbecued food include red peppers and broccoli.

Barring that, pop a Vitamin C tab before you chow down.

Dressing/Toppings/Seasonings

Why consume unnecessary Fats and Calories? Making a right choice on the type of Dressing/Toppings/Seasonings for your food can save you from gaining those xtra lbs!

- Fat Free Dressing (but look out for hidden fructose corn syrup)
- Use herbs, peppers and other spices
- Vinegar
- Mustard
- Salsa
- Lemon Juice
- Cottage Cheese
- Fat Free Ranch
- Fat Free Yoghurt
- Fat Free Sour Cream
- Sugar Free Maple Syrup

20 ways to lose the disgusting thing called FATS

1. Drinking tea daily will hydrate you and makes you feel full.

2. Eat until you are 80% full and eat slowly, because it takes the brain about 20 min to register that you are filled.

3. Replace your half and half creamer with skim or 2% milk, such as HL or Daisy high-Low.

4. Eat An Apple Before Dinner so as to fill your stomach with fibre to keep you full so that you eat less for dinner. The calories from an apple is only about 80Kcal, so it will be a good tradeoff for the fullness it can sustain you.

5. Get creative with your favorite cheat food. For me, I love anything that goes with cheese, so i use low fat cheese with anything to go along with. If you like chips, look for the low in fat ones!

6. Cut Out The Colas, and replace it with the diet ones ( only when you are craving for coke)! why sustain that unecessary 100Kcal for that can of cake when you can get one at 0Kcal?

7. It has been proven that music boosts your mood. Therefore use it to your advantage. Add your favorite songs to your workouts to make them more effective and longer, burning more calories and having fun while you do it!

8. Don't be lazy, walk more! all the short distances adds up! It's free and keeps you agile, fit, and you can do it anywhere!

9. Replace The Candy Bowl With A Fruit Bowl. Vitamin and fiber packed fruits will fill you up without the guilt of empty calorie candy.

10. Substitutes - instead of a whole fat cheese, use low fat cheese, you will save about 3g of fats per slices. Instead of ground beef for your hamburger, use ground turkey instead. And you can do the same with hotdogs by substituting the real high fat ones with low fat low sodium turkey hot dogs.

11. The More Colourful You Eat The Healthier You Are: Well with fruits and vegetables that is! Aim to eat as many different colors that you can to make it fun and interesting while keeping all the taste without the calories.

12. Eat Healthy Fats To Lose Fat: In my previous entry i have touched on this before. Focus on walnuts, avocadoes, olive oils, and fish containing Omega-3 fats. These healthy fats will make your body work harder to metabolize the fats, but in moderation. You will shed those unwanted pounds while feeling full and not deprived.

13. Instead of butter, salt, oil, and frying foods to make them taste good, stock up on salt free seasonings and lemon to make your food taste great without all the unnecessary calories.

14. With your salad that is. Instead of the pale iceberg lettuce that has little nutritional value, switch to dark, colorful greens which are vitamin rich.

15. Chew Your Calories, Don't Drink Them: Instead of guzzling about 300-400 calories in about 3 gulps (Starbucks anyone?), enjoy chewing and tasting your calories, it keeps your chewing crave away and keeps you fuller! And just sticking with water and forgoing those expensive calorie high drinks you will for sure lose weight.

16. Just switching the way you cook or order food can save you hundreds of calories! Opt for a grilled chicken salad instead of fried and watch the pounds melt off! Steam Steam Steam everything!

17. Get Jumping - It has been proven that jumping rope is one of the most effective and efficient calorie burners that you can do anywhere! They are light to pack, fun to use, and jumping rope gives you results.

18. Stop Snacking At Night - Aim not to eat after 8:00pm or 2 hours before your bedtime. If you do get uncontrollably hungry, have a small serving of a high fiber cereal with skim milk. This will fill you up without derailing your diet efforts, and also keep your metabolism running while you are sleeping.

19. Sleep Off The Pounds: Feeling tired? Then instead of grabbing a sugary snack to get you going, take a quick 10-20 minute power nap. You will feel more energized without loading up on calories.

20. Don't Commit Diet Adultery: Instead of an entire "Cheat Day" which you could eat up to over 4,000 calories, enjoy a small treat that won't derail all your efforts.

60 min running VS 10min Sprint

I only knew about this recently, and i thought its a good training program which i should share with everyone.

High Intensive Interval Training (HIIT) is the way to go if reducing bodyfats is your goal. No more hours and hours on the boring threadmill or bicycle machine to burn those calories off... but only to load them back later on. Why not Sprint for 10 minutes, and let your body automatically burn even more calories for the rest of the day even when you are watching TV.

To put in simple terms, HIIT means training at very high intensity at intervals - Sprint for 20 seconds and jog for 1min, and perform this in sets... For beginners, you can add in walking for maybe 30 seconds after jogging then continue with the sprint again.

I came across some readings which explains what exactly is HIIT , and what are the benefits of HIIT as compared to hours of cardio.

Some articles on HIIT from MYFIT.ca, Natural Physiques, Muscle Media, Keith Scotts, Spark People

FATS!!! The Angel and the Devil

The fact is that we all need fats. Limit, but do not cut out high fat foods: Dietary fat can be stored if taken in excess, however, some fat intake must be maintained to prevent the body from storing every bit of fat it does get. And we should keep some fats in our "nondiet", as it helps get your body into a "fat burning mode"., but keep it "low to moderate fat" not "no fat".

However, when consumed in excess amount, fats contribute to weight gain, heart disease and certain types of cancer. Fats are not created equal. Some fats promote our health positively while some increase our risks of heart disease.

"The key is to replace bad fats with good fats in our diet."

When I say fat intake must be maintained, what I mean is "good" fats such as those from fish, flax oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, olive oil, peanut oil and nuts, and most importantly, the key point is in moderation. If your intake of these healthy fats contribute to an excess of calories intake per day... then that's not very wise.

(Information extracted from www.healthcastle.com)

Some Articles on "Eat Fats to Burn Fats"

http://deepfitness.com/1636/Eat-Fat-to-Lose-Fat.aspx

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson228.htm

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jessec3.htm

http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/todd2.htm

Quote of the Day

"Activity is better than Inactivity" - Gombak Camp

I remember last time when i was still an army "boy", on the wall of the gombak camp gym, there were a few quotes and one of them was the one above. It is pretty self-explainatory. Basically whenever you have nothing better to do, why not just do some activity, even taking a walk or a 1km jog is better than nothing.

Wanton Mee Soup vs Wanton Mee Dry

http://www.nutrition.com.sg/do/hnoodle.asp

Here's a simple trick to choosing the right food. The trick is "always choose soupy stuffs over the dry version."

As you can see from the table above, both are wanton mees, just that one is dry and the other soup. The Dry contains 8 more grams of fats compare to the soup one!!! Even though the serving weight for the soup wanton mee is higher (410g), probably due to the weight of soup.

Next time when you order a bowl or Dry Wanton Mee, observe what goes into the bowl. Lard! Sesame Oil. Onion Oil. Oyster Sauce! all the different lipids into the bowl and eventually into YOU!! Taste-wise, how big a difference can it get? Even if the dry one taste better...does it worth that extra 8g of fats?!! It could be more if the uncle decides to use more lard.

Worse still... Singaporeans actually eat Wanton Mee for Breakfast... =\ Wake up! Its morning breakfast!

Quote of The Day

"Do not Starve, Do not Stuff" - Terence