Ibyang
Ibyang

Health and Well-being

What’s for Morning Tea?

If I’m not having fruits for morning tea, my alternative is bringing a peanut butter sandwich to work.  


I make my peanut butter sandwich healthier by using multi-grain bread or wholemeal bread because it’s high in fibre and an organic peanut butter spread.
The organic peanut butter we buy is not as flavourful (read: not sweet) compared to the usual peanut butter I grew up eating but the best part is that the peanut butter we use for sandwiches is made of real peanuts.  Every bite is truly crunchy!  Eating peanut butter sandwiches is so guilt-free nowadays as I know it’s all natural.

What did you have for morning tea today?

Follow ibyang on Twitter


READ MORE

An Hour of Walking

I’m feeling great as I write as this very moment as I totaled an hour of walking today.  I usually walk an average of 20-30 minutes per day but on days when the weather is perfect, I add a few more minutes to my daily walking routine.   
Walking has a lot of benefits to our body.  If you walk on a regular basis, it burns lots of calories.  I can imagine it to something like attending several personal training courses  or applying for personal training careers for free! 
Walking does a lot of wonders to me as it is not only just a physical activity but more of a spiritual and mental activity.  When I walk, especially in the afternoons, it serves as an avenue for me to think of the things that happened during the day, be thankful for the blessings I received and sometimes think of my dreams and plans for the future.  Walking also de-stresses me and keeps me happy.
At the end of a busy day at work, it’s one of those activities that I look forward to doing.
Have a great and healthy week!

{Image Source}

READ MORE

Back to Exercising Again

At the start of the year, I mentioned that one of my immediate goals for 2011 is to get back into exercising once again.  And that’s what I’ve been doing lately.  I’ve gone back to exercising, slowly but surely.  While I think that my body is ready for more strenuous workouts, I pace myself to make sure that I’m not doing damage to my body.

I’m not aiming to be reed thin.  My goal is basically to get rid of unwanted fats I gained from the past year that I wasn’t able to regularly exercise.  I mainly want to go back to my old and normal lifestyle when my food intake is proportional to my physical activities.  

Other than going back to my usual lifestyle, getting fit would be futile without some goals and here are mine:
(1) lose 3 kilos
(2) go back to having a waistline of at least 27 inches
(3) get used to exercising regularly

And I hope to achieve all those in three months.  

There are so many exercise programs to choose from but since I know my body well, I’ll share with you some of my ways of getting fit.

Exercise Gadgets.  an Elliptical Strider, a skipping rope (not in photo), light hand weights and a hula hoop.  Everyday I get on our Elliptical Strider and lift hand weights everyday for a 10-15 minutes.  The hula hoop and skipping rope I do them once or twice a week only. 

Back To Exercising Again

Brisk Walking.  Monday to Friday, I average about 30-40 minutes of brisk walking.  I love walking!  Other than a source of physical activity, walking is also a spiritual thing for me.  


Dance Workouts.  I have a copy of the Crunch Cardio Dance Blast and I do this at least once or twice a week, usually on days when I don’t have work.  I love this DVD because the steps are easy to follow.

Crunch Cardion Dance Blast!


Wii Fit and Wii Just Dance.  I use Wii Fit for my Yoga, Boxing, and Running exercises.  For Wii Just Dance, obviously for dance exercises.  These may just be simulated games via a console but I swear, they give me a good sweat after a few minutes.  
  


So those are my basic physical activities in a week, my very own exercise programs!  I vary my routine every time I exercise because I tend to get bored easily so I find it handy that I have exercise equipments, video games and dance videos that I choose from.

What about you?  What are your exercise routines these days?

Follow ibyang on Twitter

READ MORE

Some Wednesdays Spent With Coffee

Some Wednesdays I give myself a treat.  I get out of work “earlier than early” and I go to a cafe and order a cuppa.  Sometimes I call a friend of mine to join me.  Sometimes one of my friends will find me sipping my cuppa inside the cafe and he or she will join me.   Sometimes I am alone reading an e-book or watching people pass by as I savour my coffee.
Coffee Culture (6 Nov 2010)

I stay there for an hour…an hour and a half tops.  Then my Husband will drop by to pick me up and we will go home together.

An hour of good coffee in the middle of the week.  A rejuvenating moment to give me some respite on a busy week. 

I sometimes have my affair with coffee on Wednesdays because I don’t want to wait for my “me” time on Friday.  I don’t NEED to wait.

What about you?  What reward do you give yourself on a hump day?

READ MORE

Cooking Tip: Fresh is Always Best

In cooking, it starts with the produce that you buy from the market or grocery store. There are some produce that I buy in the market and there are some that I buy at the grocery store. I’m currently lucky to have a mini-market two blocks away from where we live. Some days, I don’t have any planned meal in mind and I just figure it out when I’m in the market. I let my senses lead me to the freshest and most beautiful produce I could find on a certain visit.

I’m grateful for my mom for bringing me to markets when I was a kid. I learned about traveling inside a big market, being friends with sellers and butchers and knowing when a certain produce is fresh or not.

Here are some of the tips I follow when in I shop for fresh produce:

On Buying Fresh Produce
(1) Do the squeeze test and look for bumps and bruises before buying.
(2) Take your time. Fresh produce is vital to our diet and it is worth shopping around for.
(3) Be friendly with local grocer owner/s or market sellers or butchers. They will be of great assistance should you need help in finding the right produce for you.

On Choosing Fresh Produce
(1) The freshest produce are the ones in season–take advantage! In spring, buy apricots, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, beets, carrots. In summer, buy berries, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, figs and garlic. In fall, buy apples, broccoli, fennel, pears, sweet potatoes.
(2) Buying out-of season produce does not mean it’s not fresh. It may only mean that the produce may be smaller or weaker in taste compared to in-season produce.

On Buying Vegetables
(1) Be selective. Examine each vegetable individually. Be on the lookout for rotten pieces mixed in with the good group.
(2) Look for bright color.
(3) Check for firmness and crispiness. If you see wrinkles or wilted looking greens, that is not fresh at all.

On Buying Ripe Produce
(1) Remember that overly ripe produce is squishy and overly juicy.
(2) Check the color. If a produce has pale color, choose another one that has more color.

On Buying Fresh Fish
(1) Look for bright and clear eyes, plus shiny, metallic and clean skin.
(2) Fresh fish smells like clean water or has a scent of the ocean.
(3) The place where you buy seafood should not stink! If you find yourself in a fish market that reeks, leave.

On Buying Fresh Meat
(1) Look at the color. Beef should have reddish color, pork should be pink, poultry should be white or pale yellow.
(2) Smell the produce. Avoid buying if the meat has a rancid or strange smell.

These are some of the tips that I normally follow whenever I do my shopping at the market or grocery stores. Hope these few suggestions will help you in finding the fresh produce you need for cooking.

**This post is also in response to Fave Diets Blog‘s monthly Healthy Bite. The question for April is “What is your favorite healthy cooking tip or trick?”

READ MORE