Thursday 29 July 2010

Post 199 - 64,4

and 6 weeks to go.

Let me surprise us all.


KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Enjoying food

Keith wrote a really impressing answer(comment) to my last post. But the highest impact had the last paragraph on me:
"When you slow down and pay attention to one thing, you do it much better, and oddly enough, you won't get bored. If you are, then you aren't paying attention. Almost everything is more complicated than first appears."

I guess he's right. Take for example blueberries and gooseberries. The inside is soft and smooth, like jelly and equally sweet. The paring is like a really thin and silky leather from texture and its taste is slightly sour. Combine the sensations and every little berry is amazing. You taste and feel even more when you close your eyes. Try it some evening or morning. Buy fresh berries on your local farmers market or grocery store and than sit down in a quiet moment (no radio or tv) and really taste the berries. It is a fantastic experience.


On Sunday Chris and I took a different route than usual (three and a half hours of biking, taking pictures and simply enjoying Leipzig together) and I fell in love with Leipzig again. That's why there is a new series of pics on my photoblog this week.

Except for that nothing new here.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Saturday 24 July 2010

Do you enjoy your life or

do you race through it?

This is the question I've been pondering for the last few days. The reason for it? Well, I fell back into the binge eating trap. I've eaten the wrong stuff without giving it too much thought and even worse in high amounts. Because eating was somehow something that I just wanted to get over with.

Wrong approach!

Now, life is special and as far as common knowledge (I don't get into any religious discussion here) goes, we have only one and I think we should enjoy it to it's fullest. Every moment is a gift and will never come back.

But I for myself don't really live in the moment. I found that most of the time I "multi-task"and therefore can't really enjoy the sensations and experiences. Okay, let me give you some examples to make it clearer.

When I eat I normally do also some other stuff at the same time, like listening to music and reading or listening to music and surfing the net or listening to music and thinking about or even writing my next blogpost.
As you can see I love music, I barely leave the house without my iPod (before that it was my walkman). But the funny thing is, I always do something else while listening. It somehow became a background noise and I rarely (I haven't done so in years) just put on my big headphones, lie down and just listen and enjoy the music.

Same goes for bodycare. It has somehow become a chore, instead of simply enjoying the smell and texture of the products and how my skin, mouth, feet feel afterwards.

And not to forget: the training. I am never really there. I think about blogposts and stuff that I have to do, but I'm not really enjoying to move and to train. What do you think about when you train?

Now, after having given this all some thought, I've decided to slow down. To really enjoy my food, to enjoy caring for my body and to cut down on multi-tasking. Sounds easy? Well, it isn't. I really had to push myself to sit down and eat lunch while not doing anything else.
Dinner was slightly better, even though my mom was around and in a really rotten mood while putting away some fresh produce she had bought. So I had to listen to music to drown out her noise. (Man, I really need to get a job and move out. This is driving me nuts.)

Really good. I'm doing nothing but writing this post for now. Wohoo.


To end this post on a high note. I did send out another application and a different company gets a look on my profile through the school (one of the Account Managers contacted me). Still, there are three more applications to write until Monday morning. But I'm finally out of this slump I've been in through the first weeks of July. No more all nighters for asian dramas. (I still watch them! *happy sigh*)

Tomorrow Chris and I will go on our usual Sunday morning ride and in the evening we first eat some ramen at the ramen restaurant and afterwards we'll enjoy a movie. (Don't know which one yet.)

The new blog design is due to the fact that the former skin provider changed its service and since their website wasn't reachable, I gave the new Blogger design builder a shot. I quite like the outcome.

Next post will probably be another Taste Bud Adventure, since I went shopping in the asia store today and got some nice new food stuff to try. First thing I tried for dinner today had ingredients such as Wakame, Soba noodles and Mikawa Mirin. It was tasty, though I really need to change the amounts. Good thing I'm going for a ride tomorrow. Oy. And I have currently a thing for cheesecake, I could eat it all day, wonder where that came from...

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Taste Bud Adventures - Chicken Stick and Summer Salad

Still hiding from the heat and the real world. Since it has been more than one week, but I did nothing exciting (does clothes shopping count in triathlon as exciting?), I've decided to give you another yummy recipe.

This is one of my spur of the moment recipes. My mom bought chicken sticks at our butcher. Since I have no love for cauliflower (which my mom made for herself after I declined to eat it), I needed to come up with something that I like. Well, as you can see in the first picture cauliflower plus chicken stick equals pure boredom (to me). Though it's way healthier than pizza or pasta, if it only would look more interesting and tastier...


So I took a good look at the stuff in the fridge and came up with this:
Chicken Stick on a bed of Summer Salad!


Looking good, huh?

Ingredients
(amounts matching your personal taste and hunger)
Chicken Stick (ours was from the butcher and made of chicken and pineapple pieces, but you can make them yourself pretty easily)
Rocket Salad
Fresh Strawberries
Cherry Tomatoes
Pumpkin Seed Oil
Aceto Balsomico Cream

Method:
1. Barbecue or roast the chicken stick.
2. While it does, wash your rocket salad and arrange it on your plate.
3. Wash the tomatoes and strawberries. Cut them and arrange them on your rocket salat. Make sure to leave some space for the stick.
4. Put the stick on your plate on the salad.
5. Dribble the oil and balsamico cream over your salad. Done.


Enjoy!

I did some core strength drills and Chris and I went on our usual Sunday ride. Today I sent out another application. I think I overate chocolate pudding (funnily this stuff doesn't make me tired. But bread does and it makes my skin really itchy.)

Hello to my new reader Muffin! It's really funny that you chose this name. Since Muffin is one of my old nicknames. Another old nickname (back in High School) was "Sandwitch", yes the "t" is right there. My friends even gave me a necklace with this nickname. I don't have it anymore.

Chris and I will probably go on another ride tomorrow evening and it's about time for my monthly swim.

Have a cool week, good training and successful racedays. (Before I look for spring tris; I have to get a job. )

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Monday 12 July 2010

Back from my Mini-Vacation

Yes, I've been on a mini-vacation. I started out Wednesday and am back this morning.

You wondering where I went?

Nowhere.

I holed myself in at home in my room and watched asian dramas galore. I only went out to buy an icecream. No training? Nope. Meeting with friends? Nope. Writing emails to friends? Nope. All I did was hiding from the heat (100°F) and watching various japanese dramas. Crazy? Yes.

Today I'm back in my new life. I started out with checking my weight, which I hadn't done for weeks, I'm down to 62,3 kg = 137,34 lbs. Another little success. The last few days I didn't eat any cereals. Seems like cereals really are the culprit of my high bodyfat. And Friday was the last day I ate something warm, I simply can't stand the idea of eating warm in this heat. So this might be another reason, combined with my high water and zinc intake. Oh well, whatever the reason is, I like the outcome. Especially since I'm not sleepy anymore. (Yawn)

Just for giggles, yesterdays Mampf Diary:
Breakfast (2PM): chocolate protein shake (fully awake)
Lunch (6PM): watermelon (fully awake afterwards and this stuff is sooo tasty)
Dinner (10PM): 1 apple and sugared strawberries with milk (fully awake)


Next step is getting rid of the papermountains on my desk. I can't think straight with this mess surrounding me. And I need a clear head for my applications. When I stick to my plan, I write 5 applications this week. Which means a new pair of earrings by tomorrow. (I know I could put this money into my tri account instead, but there is this really nice pair of earrings ;-)

Tonight, when it finally cools down a bit, I'll take Aurora for a ride. Until then: it's work and maybe some light reading, because as soon as I would start watching another drama, I'd do nothing else until 4 AM in the morning. (I've done so the last few days, therefore I know what I'm talking about.)

One word to the idea of making a end of season Sprint-Tri. I've looked into it and there is not one sprint tri in September near me. So getting to one (Austria) would go above and beyond my budget. So for this year, I stick with my main goal building a base/getting my body and dragon used to a regular workout (come rain or come shine) and getting rid of the useless bodyfat.

So this is it for today. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Wednesday 7 July 2010

First tiny success: a nightmare free night!

Good morning.

I've had a nightmare free night after my cool dinner salad last night. Wohoo.

So I thought I get back on the Mampf Diary (food diary), just to see if the food I eat is good for me or not.

Yesterdays Mampf Diary:
Breakfast: chocolate protein shake (fully awake afterwards and no more food for hours = good for me)
Lunch: 4 of my springrolls made of ricepaper, lentils, my pesto, kaki and bell pepper (I sank to my bed right afterwards and when I slept I had a nightmare = bad for me)
snack: some cheese, water melon, cherries (yummi and no immediate tiredness = good for me)
dinner: Chicken-Sauerkraut-Salad with red currants, rest of the apple, two golden kiwis (good nights sleep without any nightmares = good for me)
All over the day 2 litres of water and 60 mg of zinc = good for me.

Now I'm off to write my applications.

What kind of food makes you tired?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Taste Bud Adventures - Are you brave enough for this?

Chicken-Sauerkraut-Salad with Red Currants

After I had several nightmares (I literally get nightmares when I overeat, particularly on cereals.) I've decided to get back to my Stone Age Diet, since this was the best way of eating for my body. So no more cereals. (I love my goats cheese, you can't take that away from me!!! And nobody comes between me and my chocolate, except if you have a deathwish.)

And since I wanted to do something good for my intestines I've decided dinner would have Sauerkraut in it. It's really healthy, as long as you take the real stuff without sugar and other additives. (Yes, there is Sauerkraut with sugar!) Now, in Germany you usually eat Sauerkraut with Bratwurst (sausage) and mashed potatoes, in which case the Sauerkraut is cooked. Since this wasn't an option for me, nothing cooked in the evening for me. So instead I came up with this Chicken-Sauerkraut-Salad with Red Currants.


The taste is, mmmh, how to say it, unusual. You have to like fresh Sauerkraut and red currants (which are quite sour) to like this salad.


Ingredients

(amounts depending on your hunger):
fresh Sauerkraut (I took some that came in a bag, the rest is sealed in a box in the fridge. I have to come up with something else with Sauerkraut for tomorrow evening.)
Grilled Chicken drumsticks (I've had two, which I had bought at the Grill in our big supermarket.)
Apple (Braeburn)
Cherry tomatoes (a big one)
fresh Red Currants (What? I should have counted them for you?!)


Method
(Careful, rocket science ahead):

1. Grab a bowl and fill it with as much Sauerkraut you like.

2. Wash and cut the apple and tomato to little cubes and add them to the Sauerkraut.

3. Tear the meat of the drumsticks (With your hands! Who said you can eat it now?! Well then off you are to buy some new grilled chicken drumsticks.) and add it to the Sauerkraut, apple and tomato.

4. Wash the red currants and take them off carefully from their twigs (right word?) and put them in the bowl where all the other yummy ingredients are waiting.

5. Take a spoon and stir carefully, you don't want to smash your currants. (It doesn't look that nice and you want a nice looking salad, right? I SAID "RIGHT"? No? Well take a good look at the next picture and tell me that you don't like to eat this. AND THINK before you ANSWER!)


6. Enjoy. ;-)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Monday 5 July 2010

Schools out for summer (update)

Hello.

Okay, so this weekend we "enjoyed" temperatures of up to 100°F in the shadow which meant for me mainly one thing: Sleep. (I want to move to Scotland, they have about 50°F at the moment!!!!)

(Me on the big ride (50k) a few weeks back. Chris took this picture.)

While I stuck with my plan of taking in high amounts of zinc and water, I didn't stick with my healthy eating plan. On Saturday I subsisted on icecream. Yesterday was slightly better, since I had run out of icecream and couldn't be bothered to go to the icecream parlor. But Chris and I went for an easy ride around the Markkleeberger See in the evening (ca. 20k). And I walked 7 k today and will drive them too.

Today is my first day off. Friday was finally my last day of my project management class (Thank gawd this is over). Meaning today I could sleep in. Well I slept in until 9 because it's Auroras big day. Repair day that is. Finally the gear shift will be fixed. I'll pick her up in about an hour, we'll see what this has done to this months tri budget. (Update: Aurora gear shift is finally working again. And even better most of my tri budget is still there, repair only cost me 20 bucks. YEAH. Meaning my new Helmet is probably due for September 2010. Strike.)

For todays lunch I made a variation of my PURE BLISS PESTO, instead of the pear I used strawberries. Yummy. Tonight I make myself some nice springrolls with the leftover pesto.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Saturday 3 July 2010

OMFG - 4:0 for Germany!!!

Against Argentina. WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!


(And I don't even like Soccer!)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Maybe I found it

The reason for my tiredness in the afternoon.

Yesterday evening I read a really interesting article at strunz.com about zinc and what happens when you don't get enough of it.

Zincs role in the body is tremendously important (it's part of more than 300 enzyme systems). Here are the distilled big bangs of this article in another order

1. Without enough zinc you are literally unhappy, because your body isn't abled to produce Serotonin out of Tryptophan (essential and the rarest aminoacid) which is the matter of your brain chemicals that makes you HAPPY.
Feeling a bit low lately? Might be missing zinc and tryptophan in your food. Let your trusted doc check your zinc level and if it isn't high, get your sorry a** to the next vitamin store and buy zinc.

2. Zinc is important for your skin. Bad skin condition? Might be that you are running low on zinc. See point one how to solve this.

3. and most importantly for me: "Zinc is important for a capable immune system. You'll notice an incapable immune system, when your body wants to fight a virus and simply can't. (...) Ie the Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV), when you first get mysteriously more and more tired and later sink into a depression."

EBV is a virus most of us (98% of humanity) have and it belongs to the herpes family. Now, normally EBV lies low and if it flares up our immune system fights it down without us even noticing. (wikipedia) But for that your immune system has to be fit, meaning it gets all the essential nutrients in the needed amount and doesn't have to fight off other stuff. (Common sense, no?)

As it looks, it might be that my body was constantly fighting since last year and didn't get nearly enough zinc. This changes now! (well it started yesterday evening.)

Today I'll eat only fresh fruit, drink protein shakes and a lot of water too and I will take 60 mg of zinc. Over the last year I normally took 15mg per day, even though one apothecary told me that with allergies I could take 4 times as much. So for the next weeks I will take this higher amount and see if it changes something. And since I cut out cereals again, I hope my body will calm down and stop those darned inflammatory processes that bring out bad skin and so on.

MIND YOU I'M NO DOCTOR, so ask yours before you do anything rash.

Here's to zinc!!


KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

PS: It's 11:30AM and we've already got 30°C - 86°F in the shadow. Ugh.

Thursday 1 July 2010

What do you think?

Okay, I've put the same picture in 5 versions up for discussion on my photography blog. I'd love to know what you think about them, so please have a look.

This week is all about jobsearch and STARBUCKS Java Chip Frappucino. Jobsearch is going well, I send out 3 applications yesterday and will work on 3 more today. But it is really crazy because before I got into Steinbeis there were no interesting and fitting jobs and now they are popping up all over the place. And I'm lacking behind in writing the applications.
Never had this problem before. Funny.
However in celebration of getting into this program and sending off 3 apps on a day I granted myself 2 new pairs of earrings. Yes!

Unfortunately because of this time lack I've prioritized job over sport, so no training until Saturday.

STARBUCKS loves me now, I'm their new best customer! I've bought 3 beverages yesterday alone. And you know what is really funny? I drink the Frappucino with coffee!!! I normally don't trink coffee, but this stuff is addicting. I trank 2 yesterday one tall and one venti. Totally wild!!!

Okay, gotta go, gotta write test and then prepare some more applications.

oh yes, nearly forgot it, this months elle uk horoscope for me:

"You got to say “Hallelujah!” last fall when Saturn left Virgo after about two years of constant life-lessons. But then, in a sneak attack, Big Daddy Saturn returned to your sign again last April, just to seal the deal and make sure you got everything down perfectly. Now you’ve really aced the test, lovely Virgo, and he will be releasing you back to your own formal bond on 21 July. That’s right, babe – Saturn is truly leaving you now and won’t be back in your sign for another thirty years. Break out the Prosecco, and pour yourself a celebratory drink. But before you do, consider the intense effects of the Solar Eclipse in Cancer falling in your house of socialising, goals and wishes. If a major change suddenly develops in one (or several) of your friendships, embrace it rather than fight with it. This series of eclipses is working on balancing your relationship to the group versus your own creative spirit. It may be time to strike out on your own, or find a tribe that is more closely aligned with your true values. The real story will unfold during the next six months, but observe signs of change now, and take notes."

This month and the next months are getting more and more interesting. ;D I could certainly do with some new real life friends that have the same interests, like triathlon and career as opposed to family and kids. I'm really excited or is this the big frappucino talking? ;P

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!