Author Archive
We’re half way there
Posted by: | CommentsOver the past four weeks I’ve been working out six times a week (I’ve only missed a couple) using the Rushfit DVDs. It’s been an interesting ride with pain, stiffness and some real progress.
I actually tried this program earlier this year but had to bail out at the end of week three due to skipping three workouts in a row then breaking my foot.
Rushfit is a mixed martial arts based workout that uses “functional fitness”, or natural body motions and provided a tough workout in just 45 minutes. I’ve finally managed to do all the DVDs, one doesn’t show up on the schedule until week four, I can say that they are all tough, all challenging and all fun.
There’s a good warm up using nothing but body weight and motion, followed by five five minute “rounds” in which you work hard, then a minute’s rest in between. Two so called bonus workouts don’t quite follow this pattern, one focusing on stretches and the other on balance and agility.
My favourite is the Fight Conditioning DVD which uses kick boxing and jiu jitsu techniques to push you and more than once has left me utterly exhausted. Although I was also able to match a world champion movement for movement for three rounds which was a fantastic feeling.
I’ve found certain exercises I struggled with initially are getting easier, in fact this morning I managed to last the full 60 seconds in an isometric squat for the first time ever. I’ve also noticed that everything I do in my everyday life is easier and I feel more athletic.
I’ve still got another four weeks ahead of me but I’m really looking forward to it. Looking at the program, it looks to get a little tough from here on in, but I say bring it on!
Recipe: Tomato and vodka sauce
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve mentioned this to a few people and all are intrigued by the sound of this sauce so I thought I’d publish the recipe.
BBQ marinade sauce
- 350mL of ketchup (choose your brand)
- 1/3 cup of vodka (use the quality stuff)
- 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbsp salt
Add it all together in a pot and simmer on a low heat for 30-40 minutes. This sauce makes an awesome basting sauce for any meat on the barbecue, or as a dipping sauce for chicken nuggets. Enjoy!
Recipe: Moroccan meatballs
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a little recipe I’ve adapted over the years into a delicious and nutritious meal.
Meatballs
- 400g lamb mince
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp rubbed mint
- handful of raisins
- sesame seeds
Mix the lamb, egg, rasins and mint together and form into meatballs, then roll in sesame seeds. Bake at 180C for about 20 minutes.
Sauce
- 1 can tomatoes
- 1 capsicum
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp garlic puree
- 1 tsp mint
- 1 tsp basil
Slice capsicum, dice onion and cook in olive oil with the garlic until soft, then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve on a base of couscous seasoned with a little sumac or turmeric. Place meatballs on couscous and pour sauce over the top. Enjoy!
Some healthy snack ideas
Posted by: | CommentsWith all the rubbish food on sale out there, I’m looking at you “Fruit” Roll Ups, finding a healthy snack option can be rather difficult. I’ve come up with, or found, some good recipes that you can share with friends and you know are good for you.
Roti chips
- 6 pack of roti/chapati bread
- 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of garlic puree
- 1/2 cup of light sour cream
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of garlic puree
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of lime juice
- 1/2 cup of quality vodka (Russian Standard is my preferred option)
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 2 chipotle peppers, roughly chopped
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
Now THAT’S how you make ribs!
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve always enjoyed spare ribs ever since I first ordered them at the Lone Star Cafe over 20 years ago. In fact, they were the first meat dish I ate after two years of vegetarianism.
Tonight I decided to make some ribs myself, having bought and cooked pre-glazed ribs before, but this time I intended to make them from almost scratch. First, the marinade.
BBQ marinade sauce
- 300mL of ketchup (choose your brand)
- 1/3 cup of vodka
- 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 sliced chipotle pepper
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbsp salt
Experimental cooking
Posted by: | CommentsSo I like fooling around in the kitchen, creating new and interesting dishes. Some work, like tonight’s effort, others don’t like my Thai yellow curry with herring.
Tonight’s dish was turkey nuggets with a lime and vodka salsa with a side of chips.
Salsa
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 1 finely diced onion
- 1 sliced chipotle pepper
- 3 teaspoons of minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 3 teaspoons of coriander
- 1/2 a cup of lime juice
- 1/2 a cup of vodka
- 400g of turkey mince
- 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- seasoning to taste
It’s a straight rush
Posted by: | CommentsI haven’t blogged about how I’ve been exercising lately so I thought I’d let you all in on the secret. I’m a quarter of the way through a workout DVD program from one of my favourite UFC fighters called RushFit.
Now I’ve never been a huge fan of workout DVDs, mostly because I think most of them just gather dust on the shelves after that initial enthusiasm has worn off but I decided to give it a go. There are three 8 week programs, beginner, intermediate and advanced and the only difference is which DVDs are done on which days. It also has a couple of free cardio days where you can do what ever you like, just for at least 30 minutes.
Each of the DVDs targets a different area of what they call “functional fitness”. There strength and endurance, strength and conditioning, abdominal and core and fight conditioning. There’s also an explosive power training DVD but I don’t do that until week four.
All of them have one thing in common: they are all very difficult but still achievable. If a particular exercise is too hard for you, there’s frequently an easier alternative to prevent you from struggling. Each workout is broken into five 5 minute “rounds”, like an MMA championship fight and these rounds increase in difficulty. Usually at the end of the fifth round, I fall on the floor, drenched in sweat and in pain, but it’s a good feeling knowing that you got to train with a world champion.
So far in the past week I’ve had three people ask me if I’ve lost weight, and I’ve noticed the jeans that I bought at the end of last year now slip down to the point that I find myself standing on the back of the cuffs.
The other change that I’ve made over the past six weeks is I’ve gone completely Straight Edge. Giving up drugs and smoking isn’t a big deal, I’ve never tried either, but giving up alcohol is something a little more difficult. I like beer, vodka and absinthe (not at the same time) and have sometimes used them as a bit of a crutch after a hard week’s work but I’ve come to the conclusion that drinking alcohol is incompatible with my health goals so it’s got to go.
Does it make life less fun? Not really, I can enjoy life with a clear head and not worry about potentially spoiling any of the progress I’ve made.
Recipe: Satay chicken and vegetables
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a recipe that I’ve been working on for a few weeks and think I finally have it perfected.
- 300g of chicken cut into small slices
- 1 can of light coconut milk
- 1.5 desert spoons of peanut butter
- 1 desert spoon of soy sauce
- 1.5 cups of frozen vegetables
Brown the chicken in a non stick pan with no oil. Once chicken is cooked, add coconut milk, soy sauce and peanut butter, bring to the boil, then add the frozen veggies and simmer for 20 minutes. I like to use an organic whole nut peanut butter and reduced salt soy sauce.
While it’s simmering, cook up some brown rice or brown quinoa to serve with the satay chicken. When the rice or quinoa is five minutes away from cooked, I also like to cover the satay mixture with baby spinach, stir and leave it until the rice or quinoa is ready. This makes the baby spinach wilt just a little and adds a nice flavour to it.
As a vegetarian or vegan option, swap the chicken for tofu which also makes a delicious satay.
Book review: Skinny Bastard
Posted by: | CommentsI quite enjoy reading and often read books about nutrition so I figured I’d start posting a review or two on my site. I picked up this book, Skinny Bastard by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, from my local library after hearing UFC fighter Jon Fitch recommend it in an online video.
Supposedly this is a straight shooting book aimed at men and getting them to clean up their diet after the success of Skinny Bitch by the same authors, unfortunately it’s nothing more than a mixture of vegan propaganda, half truths and outright lies.
Some examples, the authors claim that we simply aren’t designed to eat meat because we have alkaline saliva and have lower levels of hydrochloric acid in our stomach when compared to carnivores like lions or tigers, therefore we must be designed to be and descended from vegetarians. Never once do the thought that lions and tigers are exclusive carnivores (eat nothing but meat) while we are omnivores eating meat and plants. Then again, this wouldn’t fit their agenda and narrow world view so they construct this false dichotomy.
An entire section is devoted to aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in Equal and Nutri-Sweet, and how it’s linked to various diseases. Unfortunately most of that information is pulled from a hoax email. Then they also make the claim that aspartame is metabolised into methanol, a deadly poison. This claim is in fact true, however the metabolism of natural substances like ascorbic acid, vitamin C, produces more methanol and our bodies are quite well equipped to deal with it.
The authors also seem to misunderstand many basic concepts. The define the pasteurization of milk as “boiling the hell of out it”, which is blatantly false. Pasteurization is heating milk to a certain temperature (below boiling point as this causes the proteins to denature), then rapidly cooling it, killing harmful bacteria. This process does remove some beneficial proteins and enzymes but protects us against nasties like Lysteria.
Finally an overarching theme of the book seems to be that everyone in the production of food is motivated entirely by money and therefore untrustworthy. Logically this follows that anyone motivated by money is untrustworthy and with that I’d like to ask the authors how much they got paid for this book, because their reasoning clearly applies to them too.
In summary, this book is nothing short of vegan propaganda and will tell you nothing about losing weight. In Defense Of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilema and Good Calorie, Bad Calorie are far better books on nutrition and actually contain real factual information.
My yummy breakfast
Posted by: | CommentsSo I’ve been experimenting with my winter breakfast this week, trying to find the right balance between nutrition and taste. This morning I think I hit the jackpot.
So the basis of my winter breakfast is wholemeal oats, cheap, tasty and nutritious. Instead of making it with soy milk, this morning I used water and added a little soy milk on top for flavour and protein.
The other thing I changed was swapping a processed sugar for a more natural sweetener. I used to use golden syrup, this morning I used agave nectar and it not only tastes better but I feel it kept me fuller longer.
Finally the other constant in my breakfast is a handful of dried cranberries. I’d like to use fresh berries but at this time of year that isn’t practical so dried will have to do.
It’s looking like this is the breakfast for me for the winter now and I must say I’m looking forward to waking up to this each morning.