Culinary Adventure at Newton Food Centre

This past week, Simply Nutrition hosted its first culinary adventure at Newton Food Centre with a very nice group of ladies.  The ladies varied from the relatively new to Singapore to the more experienced, but all enjoyed trying a variety of new foods and left lunch full of food and knowledge.

The menu included: BBQ stingray, laksa, duck rice and noodles, carrot cake, popiah, chendol, and tau sar piah.

There is still a few spaces left for the next adventure on May 23rd.  Contact Simply Nutrition at info@simplynutrition.com.sg or call 8298 8456.

Challenging Yourself

Now we are two months into the new year, how are you doing on your new years resolutions?  New Years resolutions often are safe and realistic, but if you are struggling with your safe resolutions, maybe an adjustment to something a little more challenging is just what you need?

For some, just the experience of living abroad may be a sufficient challenge, but for others, living abroad may be the perfect time to challenge yourself a little more.  Try new things, adjust your lifestyle, what better time to turn your life upside down when it is completely shuffled anyways?

If you are looking for inspiration, why not go cheer racers on this month in one of the various activities.  This weekend is the biggest bicycle race of the year in Singapore which takes place down by the F1 building - Friday night and Sunday morning will be the adult races.  Mid-month, there is the Aviva Half Ironman, which is a challenging race in and around East Coast Park.  I know of at least one person who was inspired by the athletes in the Aviva last year, who has picked up triathlons since.

Exercising and getting healthy are at the top of the resolution list.  You CAN do it, and there is enough time in the day if you fit in workouts if you want.  You may be surprised that working out and eating healthier will actually give you more energy and blow a fresh breath of air into a monotonous life.  Go on, give it a try and let me know how it goes.  

Pleasant surprise

One of the benefits of living abroad is for the travel opportunities.  That being said, everyone has ideas of places they want to visit and for many, this is prioritized as the length of stay abroad is often unknown or a set period of time.  You always want to get to your top places, which can vary depending on the time of year and often can shuffle after hearing stories from your friends of their recent trips.

I recently had the pleasure of going to see the Taj Mahal.  I say pleasure, and no, I'm not being sarcastic, at least not now.  If you asked me prior to my trip, I was not very excited for it.  It is not that I don't like visiting new places, but I was intimidated by India and it definitely was not high on my wish list.  I have always believed that everything happens for a reason, and this definitely was proof to continue to live by that saying.

Tandoor kitchen

The Taj Mahal was breathtaking.  It ranks among my favorite places that I have been.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the variety of Indian foods that I tried.  No, I did not try any street food, and was extremely cautious with everything I put in my mouth - I stuck to the hotels for every meal, except one was eaten at a high quality restaurant.  Looking back, it does seem that we tend to stick to more or less the same dishes when we go to Indian food, so now I know a few more dishes and can branch out a little more when we go out.

Chillies at the whole sale spice market, Old Delhi

In the end, it is a good reminder to start off the new year, to try new things, even if they are beyond your comfort zone.  Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised.

New Year's Resolution

Many people start off the year with at least one New Year's resolution.  On many people's list, there usually is a "get healthy" or "eat healthier" or "lose weight" or some activity goal.  Sound familiar?  What is your goal for this year?

A new year is a great time to turn over a new leaf and start a new activity or slightly alter your habits.  To help you stay motivated to reach your goal, make sure it is quantifiable.  Give yourself a specific amount of weight you want to lose, or a distance/time you want to reach if you have an activity goal.

If your goal is to eat healthier, make sure you have a way to measure or rate yourself on how you are doing.  Make small gradual changes instead of drastic changes so you do not feel like you are depriving yourself of foods.  It may help to make an appointment with a dietitian to get you started.

Some ideas for healthy breakfast foods:
http://www.ivillage.com/14-breakfast-foods-fight-cold/3-b-313108#313408

Happy Holidays!

We have almost made it through the holiday season.  Has the extra treats you have allowed yourself started sneaking up on you and are starting to show?

I am a firm believer that some extra treats (pie, chocolate, cookies, etc) during the holidays is acceptable.  They do only come around once a year, however remember to fit in at least a few extra minutes of activity to even out the extra calories.

Happy New Year!
 

Exercising in the heat

If you are not accustomed to working out in hot and humid weather, you may not realize the toll that it takes on your body, even if you are a conditioned athlete.  Your times are a little slower, you may seem to sweat more, it may take a lot more out of you...everyone adapts a little differently, but your body has to adapt.

One of the important nutritional elements that you may not realize is hydration.  One way the body adapts is by sweating more to try to cool your body.  Part of this is due to the increase in humidity, sweat does not evaporate off your skin as readily, thus it falls off your body at a higher rate than in drier climates.  This is part of the reason why you may require significantly more fluids than in other climates and it is important to know your sweat rate.

I recently wrote an article for the Singapore American Newsletter on hydration.  Please check it out at:
http://www.aasingapore.com/attachments/wysiwyg/15216/Pages%20from%20SAN%20JuneJuly%202011%2022-25.pdf  It is the last page in this section.

Overcoming bordeom in the gym

Are you bored going to the gym with the same old classes and equipment?  This may be something interesting for you to try. 

I admit, I am awful at going to the gym now. After years of training for sports teams, if I can avoid the gym and especially weight equipment, I do.  There is also the cost element.  Paying $100+ per month for a gym membership for a place I really do not enjoy going to, just doesn't make logical sense to me, so I have resorted to other methods of getting in shape.  This year I have started running regularly.  I realize this may not be for everyone as the weather here in Singapore plays a huge roll in your motivation.  Running in a sauna, is difficult for me too, but so far I am making due. 

A friend recently asked me about TRX, and there was a place giving free trial classes, so we decided to go.  Walking into the room, it did look a little strange with ropes hanging from the ceiling, but with a little explanation, we started the work out.  TRX is a full workout system using the priciples of suspension developed by U.S. Navy Seals.  It is portable, light, and can be set up virtually anywhere for a workout.  Basically, it is a cord that is slipped through a loop in the ceiling that has handles on each end.  For the exercises, you use your own body weight for the workout.  The great thing about this system is, anyone can do it.  The difficulty level is dependent on your body positioning, you can make the exercises harder or easier, depending on how it feels for you.  I often find with clients and patients it is difficult to recommend exercises for them to try, especially older individuals who have not done any exercise in years.  This is a possible solution for them as it can be made for beginners who cannot hold much of their body weight or it can be made really difficult for those who have been weight lifting for years.

Many of the exercises reminded me of the exercises you do on a stability ball, so it is not anything extremely new, just a new apparatus to use.  Often I find I get bored doing the same exercises - I've tried BodyPump, bosu workouts and stability ball classes.  I know the secret is using all of these methods interchangeably, but often I am limited to the gym's class schedule I am going to at that time.  Yes, TRX seems to be the new fad, it is being implemented into gyms all over Singapore, and I'm sure its becoming big in other parts of the world too.  I guess I am not the only one constantly looking for something new to spice up my workout routine.

P.S. I know I keep promising pictures.  I forgot my camera on this outing.  (It just isn't a standard thing in my gym bag.)  If you are interested in this, you can check out their website at http://trxtraining.com.