Plain Damn Frugal Salad

I've had a bit of a grocery haul a few days back because I was out of veggies. Honestly, I just love the Chinese supermarkets because they have so much affordable produce. Here's what I managed to get :)

Exhibit 1- Some buns for my grandma, bean sprouts, green onions, zucchinis, a few cucumbers, and kelp.

Exhibit 2- Japanese yams, radishes, plantains, shallots, cabbage, kohlrabi, dutch brown lentils, and maize.

Total cost- $22.19 :D

 Boy was I happy to buy radishes because my grandpa made me some delish salad :D All you need are radishes, cucumbers, dill, and oil. That's all! Dirt Cheap, yet Mighty Good!

Ukrainian Radish Salad

Ingredients (Serves 2)

* 7 small radishes, cut in half and sliced thinly
* 3 small cucumbers, cut in half and sliced thinly
* fist full of dill, roughly chopped
* 2 tbsp of unrefined sunflower oil
* 1 tbsp of vinegar
* salt and pepper

Directions
*Combine
*Pairs nicely with some eggs and good hearty rye bread

Note: You can use other types of oils but unrefined sunflower oil is more "Ukrainian" like. I got the unrefined sunflower oil from an Eastern European store and it tastes nothing like the mass produced American sunflower oil. So be on the look out for that ;)

PS: I'm super excited about tomorrow's post. I'm thinking of starting something new for the month of May. It all began with the idea of "seduction". Yes, seduction. I'll leave it at that...

Peanut Butter Taper Time!

There have been a bunch of race recaps lately that have been making me get butterflies in my tummy about my race on Sunday! WooT!

I've had a bit of an unexpected disappointment. For my long runs I typically run over to my friend's house (about 4.5km) then we run together and then I'd finish off my required mileage on my own. Well... we've miscalculated things. We thought that the distance we'd run together was 10 km based on what we've calculated before, but apparently it was only 8km. Aaah!!!! That means last week I actually only ran 16km!

Thank goodness we've realized that once we got back to her house so I actually did a 19km run that day. Should be enough preparation for a half. Right?

It feels weird because before doing my 10km race last year, I've actually done a 12km run. This time I'm 2km short 0.0 My sources tell me that's fine and that for a half you don't actually need to go over your training distance in your long runs. It really is just a confidence thing.

What am I up to this week? Taper aka cut down on mileage time! 

Source

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be my hot yoga days.  It's funny how during training you never actually run at race speed. Speed work is way too fast, long runs too slow. Tuesday I'll do a nice 5km run on the treadmill while playing around with speed to get a feel for my race pace.I won't be doing the whole 5km at race pace, just parts of it to can see what pace feels comfortable for a half. Similar idea on Friday, but I'll try to get off the treadmill and make sure I'm going at the right pace.

Saturday I'll go down to Toronto to sneak into their expo. Honesty, who hosts a marathon on the same day in Toronto and Mississauga? You might as well just host a marathon in the east and west ends of Toronto on the same day -.- Oh well, I get to attend two expo. Hehehe! Then I'll go cheer on my friend who's doing a 10k race, then go home and sleep :D

Food wise. You don't really need to carbo load for a half the way you would for a full marathon. Just need to make sure I'm generally well fed the few days before. This is not a good time to eat little in the evening the night before :P I'll stick to my conservative peanut butter and banana bagel breakfast on race day :P It never fails :D

I sound calm right now, just wait till Saturday night lol!

Any taper tips? How do you keep yourself occupied the days pre-leading to an important event?

"Debunking" the Paleo Diet

Before I start this post is more about why it's impossible to strictly follow the paleo diet and why I don't think that grains and legumes are "evil". If you feel better avoiding grains and eating more meat then do whatever you're doing. I just don't think that EVERYONE needs to stop eating grains to be healthy.

On Friday I was on another TEDx talk roll and came upon Dr. Christina Warinner's speech. She's an archaeologist and talked about how we can't technically truly eat paleo. I'd highly suggest watching the 9:50-14:00 minutes of her speech, the rest is not very interesting.

Basically what she says is that caveman ate local food, whatever was in season, and it different on where the caveman lived. The thing is, what most people present as paleo food nowadays would not have been something that caveman have eaten.

Source

Just take a look at one of the first things that pop-up when searching "paleo breakfast". A caveman would never eat this because avocados and tomatoes don't grow in the same place and a caveman always ate locally. 

At the same time, tomatoes never existed in the caveman period and were actually filled with toxins. Through agriculture we were able to genetically modify them to favor the genetic pool of the non-toxic tomatoes. Same idea with bananas, in the caveman period bananas used to be barely edible because they contained massive seeds. Humans have genetically modified bananas over thousands of years to be devoid of seeds.

Dr. Warinner talks about a bunch of examples like this including broccoli, carrots, and so on. The truth is that everything we eat right now is GMO. That means that through agriculture we have picked out the seeds of which crop we want to plant and thus propagate its genetic information. Over time, humans have selected for our food to contain specific genes that make the food more edible to us. We have evolved our food and we have evolved alongside with it.

So would you say that carrots aren't paleo? They are a product of agriculture...

Now the other thing is that caveman were actually found to consume some grains and legumes. Recently papers in PNAS and Science (big reputable science journals) have shown remains of grains in the teeth of caveman. Yup! Honestly, caveman didn't have much choice of what to eat so they probably ate everything they could get their hands on.

What I really can't understand about the paleo diet is why people seem to think that caveman were healthy... I mean their life expectancy was like what, 18 years? Were they actually able to get all their nutrients and calories with the way that they ate? You can say that they didn't have cancer as frequently but lets be honest, most people get cancer after their 40s. Caveman never lived long enough to develop them in the first place. 

I also don't get why agriculture is blamed for out expending waistlines. People have started ballooning in the last little while, not 10, 000 years ago. Look back at pictures 100 years, no like 30 years ago, people were skinny. People have gotten fat because of processed food not necessarily because of legumes and grains. 

Soure. Obesity is a recent epidemic, not one that began when we started eating grains.

Now grains and legumes. You can read this article if you're interested and it gives a heck a lot of information about why grains are super healthy. I mean, why else would we continue to cultivate grains for thousands of years. We started eating junk food maybe 30 years ago and we've already noticed the decline in our health. If grains were truly unhealthy, why would we continue eating them... Grains and legumes are filled with nutrients, vitamins, fiber, and some protein. If you ever study metabolism, you will notice that it revolves around carbs. Our bodies were designed to process carbs, they're the easiest to digest and the easiest to metabolize. 

Chart showing percentage of obese people. Wow American has twice as much obese people as Canada, interesting. Anyways, take a look at where the Carb/ Pasta consuming Italy is at... 

All in all, I think that the paleo diet is very healthy and if properly done it's not even supposed to be high in meat. The thing is that EVERY SINGLE DIET THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE PROCESSED FOOD IS HEALTHY, period. You can eat vegetarian or vegan but your diet can still be filled with junk, but not the case with paleo. I think that some cultures have evolved to process grains or dairy better then other. Lol, I found straight up gluten in an Asian supermarket and you know what it's delicious! There's really no one "true" diet except one low on processed food. 

So you say you want to be tall?

I am 5'8" so I guess I can consider myself tall. Like I'm not a giant but taller then pretty much all my female friends. According to this chart I'm in the 93rd percentile height wise for my age. Feels weird because I'm not that tall by Ukranian standards. Anyways, girls often comment about my height and tell me how they wish to be taller. Well I thought I'd give you a bit of an insight into some pro's and con's of being tall.

Pro's

To start off, you have longer legs so theoretically you should run better :D In addition, long legs are attractive so I can flaunt them at every opportunity I get ;)

Longer legs= faster running (I'm in pink)

Tall= attractive. Maybe unless you're a giant.

You just look more powerful which I've found important for interviews. Pretty much 90% of profs I've interviewed were male so it felt nice to be at their "level". At the same time when you're around shorter people then you can seem intimidating.

At concerts and events you can see over the heads of other people :P

Girls ask you to get things from upper shelves. You can choose whether you want to do that or not depending on if you like them. <evil laugh>

You weigh much more, about 20lbs more then someone who's 5'4". If you don't mind the number on the scale, it can be quite advantageous. Your metabolism is faster so you can eat more. Also, you can theoretically lift heavier weights more because you weigh more. All in all, you should technically be stronger.

Con's


Unfortunately, not only do you weigh more but you're also wider. If you're 5'4" then being 5'8" would mean that you dress size would be your current size +4. That's just how dimensions work. Realistically you will never be less than a size 4-6, but if you do you'll look emaciated (think of models). Makes sense because a size 4 would look the same as a size 0 on an average women.

Speaking of sizes, while shopping unless the salesperson is experienced they will always bring you the wrong size. One time I almost got stuck in a dress because of that. Make sure to state what size you need and when they start looking at you funny, reassure them that you've said it correctly.

PS: have fun finding the right clothing length! I'm highly starting to appreciate dress pants because I can wear them with flats :D

Don't bother with short shorts... You'll look too slutty

You have to slouch to feed the deers!!!! Even when you're like 15!

People confuse the word "big" and "tall". At the hospital 2 weeks ago a women literally pointed at me and was like "big!" to my mom. Like really? That's not a nice thing to say to a girl in this stupid media-driven skinny obsessed world.

Your boyfriend may or may not be shorter then you. Most of my guy friends are about the same height as me.

When you wear heels, you tower over everyone. Wore a pair of 4' heels to an event one time... that was awkward... I just towered over all the girls and guys.

A lot of my friends are actually under 5'4" so I generally have to bend down when taking a picture. I've had my head cut off from the photo before -.- It's just harder to fit in.

You generally crouch down to be at the same level as other people in pictures.

Anything you don't like about your height? Fell free to vent :P

Jicama- the easiest root vegetable to prepare

This winter while in Cancun, Mexico I came across a tasty root vegetable- Jicama. It takes kind of like an Asian pear except less sweet. If you've never had an Asian pear, it's basically a fruit that is highly juicy with a bit of crunch ;)

Source

Well, guess what I found at the Asian grocery store? You got it, Jicama! It's dirt cheap too! So I bought this 2 pound beast thinking, gee what do I do now? I was scared that it would hard to clean and that I wouldn't know how to cook it. Boy was I wrong!

Jicama is so easy to clean! Although it looks tough, it is very easy to cut. It's kind of like cutting a massive apple. That easy! Peeling it is very easy too, the skin just comes off. The other beautiful thing about it is that you can eat it raw and it's tasty!

There are a bunch of way to enjoy Jicama. You can grate it and add to a salad, you can bake it, or in my case make jicama "fries".

Literally, all I've done was cut the Jicama in fry shaped strips and season. For my seasoning I added a bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Easy peasy!

Now the sneaky bonus :P These fries are great for those watching their weight because they are high in water and low in calories. This snack is too good to be true ;)

PS: Totally ate half of that Jicama in one day :P

Which vegetable do you find to be the easiest to cook?

Putting shoes back on

Putting shoes back on... just temporary though :P

Last week greengirlrunning brought up a good point that I totally agree with. It hurts to run barefoot on the pavement even in my little slippers :(

 

Most of the training I've done before hand was on the treadmill or in the park where I ran on a dirt road half of the time. Not the case when I went running with my friend. The pavement hurt and there was absolutely nothing cushiony in my slippers to make it easier on my feet. I really don't want to run a half marathon like that because it hurts and I'd rather not get injured.

So.... I decided to put my Asics-2160 back on. Just when I run on asphalt and until I finish my race. The thing is that I need to buy a proper pair of minimalistic shoes but I'm scared to try a completely new pair of shoes so close to the race. Hence, I'll just use whatever I've always used.

No, I didn't immediately start heel striking. Not at all. I continued landing midfoot but I did feel that it was a bit harder. What was amazing was the cushion like feeling everytime I landed. I definitely miss that feeling :(

I know that if I wear these shoes for too long, my gait will reverse back to heel striking and that would defeat the purpose. Yet, I'm sure that it'll take longer then 2 weeks for things to reverse especially if I keep up with my form drills.

After the race, definitely buying a proper pair of minimalistic shoes.

Anyone else have a similar issue with barefoot running? Or am I the only crazy one to pretty much run without shoes :P

Immunometabolism- The immune response behind obesity

Our immune system keep us alive. Starting from skin, the first barrier, to highly specific antibodies it gets the job done. Most of the time...

Sometimes things get out of control and the immune responses within our bodies target our own cells or are out of control. The examples are numerous including type I diabetes, lupus erythematosus, Hashimoto's, rheumatoid arthritis, the list goes on. However, who knew that metabolism could be linked with the immune system?

The truth is that our adipose tissue (fat cells) are highly metabolic. They produce hormones but most importantly adipokines. These adipokines are a type of cytokines which are molecules that regulate the immune response. Cell don't speak, but instead they use molecules to relay their messages. Thus, these adipokines are a way for adipose cells to communicate with immune cells to either get activated or repressed.

Some of the adipokines are pro-inflammatory, specifically tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). However, some adipokines are anti-inflammatory like adiponectin and interleukin-10 (IL-10). These are just some examples of adipokines. Upon weight gain or "adipose tissue expansion", the production of the pro-inflammatory adipokines increases, but the amount of anti-inflammatory adipokines goes down.

Along side the fat tissue are located macrophages, a type of white blood cells. These macrophages can get activated by the pro-inflammatory adipokines and relay the message to other immune cells. Hence, you get low level chronic inflammation within the body. 



The problem with these chronic levels of low inflammation is that they lead to other health conditions such as insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. The scary thing is that abdominal adipocytes have the most metabolic activity while lower-body adipocytes (thighs, bum) have the least. This means that having more abdominal fat puts you at risk of things like diabetes and atherosclerosis. It also explains why for women having a pear shaped is considered much healthier than an apple shape.

Pretty cool, ain't it?
PS: It snowed today in Toronto 0.o I know, it's the end of April!!! Anyone else experiencing anything like that?

NuStevia :D

Hey y'all,

Ain't going to lie but I was scared to press publish on yesterday's post. I hope that people didn't take it the wrong way. What I really wanted to say was two things. First, what happened in Boston hurt and I really can't imagine what people in areas of the world have to live with every single day. Second, I think there was too much hype about it. I'm sure something much worse happened in another country that day and much more then 3 people have died. Why is the Boston event all over the news on a global scale, but not what happened in that other country?

Anyways, about a week ago my NuStevia package came :D I actually won it as a giveaway from Erica House's site. Ooh I was so psyched to get it and boy was there a lot in that package!!!

Yeahhh... to be honest I've only had the chance to try vanilla, chocolate, and lemon pure liquid alcohol-free stevia. They're amazing because there's no bitter stevia aftertaste :D

I used to lemon stevia as an addition to water and it was nice refreshing. However, I think I'd prefer just stevia and lemon juice instead.

The vanilla stevia is my absolute favorite. Seriously, it says there're 160ish servings per bottle but it won't last or too long. It is absolutely heavenly in coffee :D I used to love getting those vanilla flavored coffees when I was younger but that was artificial flavoring. That's what I love about the vanilla stevia, it's the true natural stuff!

Now the chocolate kind. Knowing my obsession with chocolate, I surely did enjoy it :) You can virtually do anything with this stuff. Get some chia seeds, mix them in some almond milk, and add a few drops of chocolate stevia. Chop up some strawberries, and combine it with plain yogurt and chocolate stevia... Oh the list goes on... Oooh, how could I forget about oatmeal with chocolate stevia :P You know you want it ^^


Lastly I made cookies :) Yummy guilt free, sugarless, chocolaty cookies. Who wouldn't like that?

Banana Choco-Nut Sugarless Cookies

Ingredients:
(Makes 14 little guys)

* 3 ripe bananas
* 2 tbsp peanut butter
* 2 tbsp cocoa
    * 2 tbsp flax seeds
    * 4 egg whites
    * 1.5 cup of blended oats (just blend regular oats in a food processor)
    * 2 tbsp wheat bran
    * 21 drops of chocolate stevia

   Directions:
    * Microwave and mush the bananas
    * Combine all of the ingredients (Don't lick your fingers 20 times)
    * Bake for 25 min at 350C
   
Daddy (AKA the cookie monster) approves!

In case your wondering, I made some rice coconut milk cookies yesterday and some buckwheat cookies today. Dang that stevia is going to run out soon :P

Boston, worst thing ever?

Lights lit in China for the Boston Marathon

It sucked, it really sucked that something so crazy would happen during the Boston Marathon. I really don't know why someone would have something against runners, we're peaceful people! Sure the roads are blocked for that day and runners get all the attention. But why? Why? Why?

What is phenomenal is just how much press and talk there has been about the explosion over the past few days. Let's be honest... it's not the worst thing that can happen. There were 3 people who died, I know 3 lives are important but things could have been much worse.

Thesis- DONE!

Hey y'all!

I do apologize for the lack of posts these last few days. I've been full thesis and taking care of grandma mode. As of yesterday I've submitted the electronic version of my undergrad thesis report. CRAZY! I can't believe that it's done so soon. Now I still have 2 more assignments to finish, a scholarship application, an as of now 2 more interviews.

Speaking of all this work. My body has been screaming for a break. I'm not recovering well from my running workouts and yesterday's Birkam Yoga class was horrible. I would keep on losing my balance in some of the postures even though I've always felt like those were my strong ones. :(

I'd say I'm in the exhaustion phase and need to get myself back into the optimal stress zone.

Spice it up!

Life is awesome when you apply for a masters program and they ask you to contact someone to enter as a PhD student.

Life is awesome when you realize that the way you used to feel about running at 8mph is the same as today at 10mph. <3 Speedwork <3

Life is awesome when your grandma finally feels better after being in the hospital.

Life is awesome when you have exciting things to look forward to this summer.

Life is awesome when you can spice up some wheatberries and create something delish ;)

The Cloud Atlas

Over the Easter weekend I watched a really thought provoking movie called "The Cloud Atlas". It was actually released in 2012 but I somehow never heard of it. Strange because it was actually one of the best movies I've seen recently. It's very "Inception" like and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Apparently a 10 minute standing ovation followed the movie... I can understand why...

Gazelle vs Glider. How do you run?

Is there a perfect running form? From what I've noticed, everyone has their own way of running. I guess it makes sense because all of our bodies are different and that influences how we run.

There was a video that I came across that compared the running styles of two IronMen women. Both of them finished the marathon leg in 3 hours which is amazing for an IronMen, however their running style was completely different. One of them ran "Gazelle" style while the other ran the "Glider" style.

Source

How inflammation leads to heart disease

Last week I touched upon the role of inflammation in aging. There is so much more to it though...

First off, what is inflammation? It's an immune response where your white blood cells sense that there is something wrong within the body and start sending out signals to recruit more white blood cells.

Think of it as a security guard (neutrophil cell or macrophages) calling the police (T and B cells) when he/she sees a crime. If the crime is too much for the policeman to handle by himself, he will contact the police station (lymph node) to recruit a whole army of policemen (more T and B cells).

Foodie Inspirations

Woaa... Last full of week of my undergraduate career has just passed. I have two small assignments to hand in for Wednesday, a thesis presentation of Thursday, my thesis report due next Tuesday, and a reflection for another course. Really can't believe that my undergraduate career is DONE! Wish I knew where I'm going after the summer but that won't be finalized till the end of May. 

Now don't want to bore yea with chatter. Let's check out some FOOD! Today, I present you with 3 delicious meal ideas which are healthy, tasty, quick, and super light :D There really are no formal recipes as these are more or the less things I've whipped together. My family is quite busy at the moment (including me) so there hasn't been grocery shopping going on and I've been working with what I've got.

Numero #1 Blue Cornmeal!

I have made this delicious beast a while back. This time I came back for more, but for a banana version. To make 4 servings all I've done was slowly stirred in 1.3 cups of blue cornmeal into a boiling pot of 3 cups of water and 2 cups of soya milk. Afterwards I stirred in 2 microwaved bananas, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, and a dash of cinnamon. That's all ;)

Numero #2 Baby Lima Bean Wrap

This babe was an extension of last week's "Elf Wrap". I had some collard greens left over so I decided to use them up. For the filling I cooked some baby lima beans and blended them in a food processor along with garlic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano. Along side the lima bean spread, I added some chopped cucumbers and aged cheddar cheese. Roll up and eat :D

Numero #3 Mung Bean Sprouts and Raita Sauce Salad

First off sprout some mung beans. Then find that left over plain yogurt in the fridge and food process it with some onions, cucumber, and mint. Make a salad base out of tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. Top off with mung bean sprouts and pour the raita sauce all over. Dig in!

If you had $3 to spend a day on food...

If you had $3 to spend a day on food... what would you eat?

Well I saw the link to a new movie called "A Place at the Table" and apparently there're a lot of Americans who can only afford to spend $3 a day on food. Think about it, that's just 21$ a week. Reading a lot of healthy living blogs, you realize just how much some people spend on food. Think about it, can you even buy a can of protein powder for 21$? What about all of those organic veggies? Crazy ha? I see the grocery bills of those people who shop at Whole Foods, they're ridiculously high. Plus I've heard that the American Whole Foods is more expensive then the Canadian one.

This topic is quite personal for me because once upon a time I actually did spend 20$ a week on groceries. I'm not sure how did I develop this fear of spending money. I guess it was all the study loans I had and always worrying that I will need to pay those back. Thank goodness I've realized that food is not something to be cheap about. You really can't provide proper nourishment for your body at 3$ a day. Who cares if I'll be another $1000 per year in debt, it's better then ruining my health.

Back Exercises

Hey fellow plankers ;)

There is something important that I need to talk about. I should've addressed it a while ago but I got a little carried away.

Working out antagonistic muscles. I'm sure we all do it with biceps/triceps or with quads/hamstrings but I find that the back muscles get ignored. Women work so hard on their abs to show off that sexy tummy that they forget about their back. Don't! Honestly, the lower back is just as important and is a must to have a nice posture. Think about it, the back muscles stabilize your spine! Now that's something you'd like to keep nice and healthy

To Tri or not to Tri?

Nadiya <3 Bike

There's been something screaming at me from the closet. It said "wear me, wear me. I haven't been used in so long!" Something in the storage shed has now woken up from its winter slumber and screamed "ride me, ride me." My running "slippers" panicked in the corner and sadly looked at me while saying "please don't forget about me".

It's been a while since I've gone for a proper swim or have taken my bike (aka the horse) for a ride. I know bike, we used to be best friends. You were my loyal horsy and a trusty source of transportation. You gave me freedom to go anywhere I wanted without having to rely on that untrustworthy bus. You took me places and I rewarded you by keeping you oiled. My dear neon swimsuit, you know I've missed you. I...I...I… have just been pre-occupied with running. I'm sorry :(