Health and Wellbeing | Hooked on Running

Spicy Rice Paper Rolls

Sharing a conversation over a family meal is a great way to get to know what your kids are up to. We sometimes lose sight of this these days, and many families rarely sit down to eat together. Or, if you’re like me, much of the time at the table is spent correcting manners (If only I had a dollar for everytime I’ve said “don’t speak with your mouth full” or “use your knife and fork!”).

One of our favourite family meals is rice paper rolls. They’re a great way to get all the family involved in preparation, and they can be put together at the table and eaten immediately. Manners go out the window for the night, (which is good thing), and conversation flows.

If you’ve not made rice paper rolls before, don’t be intimidated. They are very easy to make-my kids have no problems soaking the rice paper and then assembling their own rolls. Have a couple of shallow dishes such as a quiche flan at the table to soak the rice paper in – just make sure everyone washes their hands before you get started!!

Rice paper rolls are a great healthy meal the whole family can enjoy, and work well as part of your family meal plan, if you’re trying to lose a few kgs.

Spicy Rice Paper Rolls

Serves : 4
Total Preparation Time : Up to 15 minutes.

Ingredients

2 tsp peanut oil
4 spring onions (approx 15g each)
4 piecechilli, red, fresh (approx 2g ea)
2 medium cucumber, lebanese, fresh, skin on (approx 100g ea)
4 tbsp mint, fresh, chopped
4 tsp ginger, raw, grated 4 tspfish sauce
400 gprawns, raw, shelled
8 pieces rice paper sheet (approx 10cm sq.)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 kaffir lime leaves

Method

Shred the chilli, lime leaf, spring onion, mint and cucumber.-
Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat.
Add the ginger and the chilli and cook until crisp.
Add the kaffir lime leaf and prawns and cook for 3 minutes or until prawns are cooked through. Set aside to cool.
Once cooled, combine with spring onion, cucumber, mint, lime juice and fish sauce.- Place a rice paper roll in a bowl of warm water for 30 seconds or until soft and pliable. Remove and pat dry.
Place a little of the chilli mixture down the center of the rice paper wrapper.
Fold over one end of the rice wrapper to make a base. Roll over the other sides of the wrapper to enclose the filling.
Serve the rice paper rolls with soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce in bowls for dipping.

Nutritional Details

Calories:219
Total Preparation Time : Up to 15 minutes.
Fat: 3.0 gms
Protein: 23.4 gms
Carbohydrates: 23.8 gms
Fibre: 1.8 gms

Very Quick and Easy Option

You can put pretty much anything inside the rolls. I often use a Sang Choi Bow mix you can buy in the supermarket – I think I usually get it from Woolies – a small packet of spices is packaged with pork mince, and you just need to add water, spices and pork and cook. I always add very finely chopped carrots and broccoli into the mix, along with some oyster sauce. Then chop extra carrot carrot and cucumber strips to add to the rolls. Make sure you let the mince cool before assembling, and you may need to drain some of the liquid off before serving.

If you like this recipe, you can download 7 more healthy dinner recipes for the whole family here

The Key to Looking and Feeling Younger

I was asked the other day what would be the one key piece of advice I’d give to someone if they wanted to “improve their fitness”. Wow. What a question. There’s so much that it can cover.

I immediately thought of “get enough sleep”, but then that’s not a particularly easy piece of advice to follow for some people.

“Exercise more” is another obvious one that comes to mind, but again, that could mean many things to many people.

I came up with a few more sage pieces of advice which I’ll probably share with you another day, but none of them hit the spot. Some of it was too running specific, some of it wasn’t necessarily easy to implement, some of it didn’t take into account everybody’s life circumstances. The one piece of advice I arrived at, the one thing that everyone can do, the one thing that could help anyone take the first step towards looking and feeling younger, was something that is sitting right under our noses, and costs next to nothing.

And that something is…………WATER folks. Simple, cost effective and something that many of us need reminding of from time to time!

So, what’s so great about water?

If you’re well hydrated, your skin will look fresh and clear – because it will help to flush toxins out of the body, and it will increase blood flow to the skin
Water can aid in weight loss, by ensuring maximum uptake of nutrients from your food. Often, your body’s cry for food is a cry for micronutrients -(vitamins and minerals) not the bulky macronutrients -fat, protein and carbs. In short, water can make you want to eat less
It helps to eliminate waste from your body in a number of ways, including through the bowel, often eliminating feelings of bloatedness
Drinking enough water helps with muscle function and improves sporting performance
Water aids in disease prevention (it has been shown to decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45% and bladder cancer by 50%)
It just makes you fell better
It’s pretty cheap and readily available

And did I say it aids in weight loss?

Water is a natural appetite suppressant. Next time you reach for a snack, think again, and go for water instead. You’ll be surprised how far a glass of water can go towards satisfying your hunger.
Enough water ensures your body can metabolise fat effectively. Water ensures your kidneys are functioning effectively, which in turns ensures your liver is able to remove toxins and waster from your blood. With your liver switched to maximum efficiency, it can better metabolise fat.
Water is a great substitute for high energy drinks such as shakes, smoothies, soft drinks, sports drinks. Swap these for a cool glass of water with a slice of lemon, and you’ll be saving calories big time.

What about fitness?

An inadequate amount of water will impair muscle function, leading to a less functional you
Too little water will cause your body to slow down, and you’ll lack energy
Dehydration leads to a reduction in blood volume, impairing performance
You won’t be able to regulate your body temperature efficiently if you are dehydrated
As your brain is over 70% water, you can expect to experience headaches if you aren’t well hydrated

If you are chronically dehydrated, leading to the impaired performance outlined above, you can’t train at your optimum level, which means you can’t realise your true fitness potential.

A few tips on staying hydrated

Water Tip #1. Drink the stuff. Even though fish do naughty things in it, you have to drink it to feel the benefits! Tea and coffee count. The caffeine in tea and coffee do act as a very mild diuretic, but the balance is overwhelmingly tipped towards hydration rather than dehydration after a cup of coffee. For caffeine to dehydrate you, you have to consume a lot of it, in a short space of time

Water Tip #2. Add a slice of lemon and/or some mint to your water to make it more interesting. The lemon will also help to stimulate hydrochloric acid

Water Tip#3. Carry water with you throughout the day. Better still, set an alarm to go off every hour. Get up and walk to the water cooler. Pour yourself some water, and drink it! Delicious

Water Tip #4. Limit the amount of water you drink at meal time. Whilst some people will recommend that you fill up on a big glass of water before a meal to help you to eat less, the water will only serve to dilute the hydrochloric acid necessary for the break-down of food.

Water Tip #5. Get into the habit of having a big glass of water when you wake up, or have some hot water with lemon juice for an extra digestive boost

Bonus Tip: For expert advice on health and fitness, train with us. Leave your details here, and we’ll give you a call.

Light English Breakfast

If you’re trying to lose weight, you don’t have to go without the yummy things completely. Try this traditional English breakfast for a great Sunday lunch which won’t break the calorie bank!

Just 10 minutes to prepare yourself a yummy 313 calories.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 313

Fat: 11.0

Protein: 23.8

Carbohydrates: 27.6

Fibre 7.2

Ingredients

60g	baked beans in tomato sauce
2	flat mushrooms,large (approx 2Sg each)
40g	back bacon,extra lean,thinly sliced
1	eggs,large (approx SOg each)
1 1slice	tomatoes,small (approx 100g each) bread,wholemeal(approx 40g each)
3 spray	cooking oilspray

Method

Arrange ttle mushrooms on a non-Stick frying pan ttlat has been sprayed witt! cooking oil spray and cook over a medium-high heat untilthe undersides are golden.
Tum over and cook ttle ottler side ttlen remove ttle mushrooms from ttle frying pan onto a warm serving plate.
Spray ttle frying pan again and add ttle bacon and tomato halves and cook until ttle bacon is golden and tomato softened.
R.emove to ttle serving plate.
Put ttle bread In the toaster and put the beans In a microwaveable dish to heat ttlrough;1.5 minutes on High (you will need to Increase this dme by approximately 30-45 seconds per additionalserving).
Meanwhile,spray the frying pan again and break ttle egg Into ttle frying pan.
Leave undlttle underside Is golden and ttlen carefully,using a wide spatula,flip the egg over and cook the other side for approximately 30 seconds.
Put ttle tDast on ttle serving plate,put ttle cooked egg on tDp and spoon the baked beans ontD the plate. Chefs suggestions:

– If you don’t have a warmed plate,heat the bacon/mushrooms/tomato on the plate in the microwave for 30 seconds on Medium before adding the toast, eggs and beans to the plate to serve.

English breakfast

Run Faster: Make sure you have enough calcium

We all know we need calcium for strong teeth and bones, but did you know that calcium is also needed for the life preserving functions of muscle contraction, (including the heart) blood clotting, nerve function and the release of certain hormones and enzymes?

Because calcium is necessary for the maintenance of life, it is leached from the bones if the amount in the blood in insufficient for these life preserving functions. You can still live without brittle bones, but you can’t live without a heart beat, so the body very cleverly prioritises the function that calcium is directed to. If there’s insufficient calcium circulating in the blood, the body takes it from it’s storage cells, the bones and teeth.

Calcium and Cola Drinks

As an aside, a highly acidic diet can cause calcium to be leached from the bones. Your body will act to maintain a blood pH of 7.4. If you have a highly acid diet, your body will draw down on stored mineral salts, including calcium, which act as a buffer to the acid and work to restore blood to a pH of 7.4. Lots of things can cause a drop in blood pH (ie a rise in acidity) including cola drinks. Therefore chronic use of cola (and to a lesser extent other soft drinks) can lead to brittle bones. And that includes the diet varieties as well! You can flush the acid away with water, but for every can of cola you drink, you’d need to take in 15-25 times that amount in water. (Then spend an awful lot of time in the loo).

Calcium and Muscle Function

Here’s the interesting bit for we exercise types. You should be sure to have enough calcium in your diet, and good gut health, to be able to contract your muscles.Below is a very abridged and simplified version of how calcium acts in skeletal muscle contraction.

The brain sends an electrical impulse to the muscle. A lot of biomechanical reactions need to take place for the message to get to the muscle safely, but, amazingly, in most cases it does.
After receiving the message, the muscle shortens. This action is explained by what is know as the sliding filament theory.
Within a muscle fibre, there are two different types of filaments, actin and myosin. These filaments are layered one on top of the other, as in the picture below.
When the right biochemical reactions take place, cross bridges form between the actin and myosin filamines, and the actin gets pulled by the myosin, so the two filaments are pulled closer together and the muscle shortens.

For all of this to happen, calcium is needed to “unlock” the active sites on the actin filament which the myosin attaches to. The myosin heads continue to reattach further and further along the actin, causing a more forceful contraction of the muscle.

The muscle stops contracting when the release of calcium ions stop. You need adequate magnesium for this, but that’s a biochemistry lesson for another day.

Suffice is to say, if you want to run fast, make sure you have enough calcium in your diet.

How Much Calcium?

Check out some calcium rich foods here

Reference: https://www.osteoporosis.org.au/about-osteoporosis

Burn an extra 160 calories a day and lose weight

foods to boost your metabolism and lose weight

Don’t obsess about what not to eat. Here are eight foods which could actually help you to lose weight by eating them! You could also take a look at other ways to boost your metabolism and lose weight.

Green Tea

Green tea will really get your metabolism firing. Chose it over black tea or coffee for it’s flavinoids and antioxidants, as well as for it’s thermogenic properties. Simply put, it will boost your metabolism. The amount of extra calories you burn isn’t huge – one cup will help you burn up to an extra 60 calories, but every little bit helps to lose weight.

Low Fat Yoghurt

Good quality, unsweetened, plain yoghurt is packed full of live bacteria called probiotics, which help your gut process food more efficiently. Yoghurt is also a good source of protein and calcium. Seemingly inexplicably, a 2005 study showed that including low fat yoghurt in a reduced calorie diet had a greater effect in helping people to lose weight, than a reduced calorie diet which did not include yoghurt. Over a 12 week period, people who were in the group which ate yoghurt lost about 1.8kg more weight than the other group, and also lost 81% more fat around the stomach than the non-yoghurt eaters.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been shown to control the spike in blood sugar experienced after eating a high sugar meal. It seems the cinnamon slows down gastric emptying, releasing the sugars into the blood more gradually. This can make you fell full for longer, helping you to lose weight. Think of it along the same lines as the difference between eating oats for breakfast vs coco pops!

Garlic

Well-known as a broad spectrum anti-microbial (kills all sorts of little germs and bugs), Korean researchers found that rats given a high calorie diet as well as a garlic supplement did not gain as much weight as rats who weren’t given the garlic supplement. When exercise was thrown into the mix, the garlic was even more effective in preventing weight gain.

To get the most out of your garlic, crush the fresh bulb and leave it to sit for 10 minutes before adding it to your cooking. This helps it to retain about 70% more of its beneficial compounds. Crushing the garlic releases the beneficial enzymes trapped in the cells of the plant. The enzymes boost the levels of the healthy compounds in garlic, which peak about 10 mins after crushing.

For best results, add the garlic in at the last minute, so it is cooked only lightly.

Hot Peppers

Researchers testing a compound related to capsaicin, found in chili and other hot peppers, showed the compound could boost your metabolism. The study found an increase in calories burned after a test meal.

The extra boost in metabolism amounted to about 100cals for a 50kg women, to about 200 cals for a 90 kg man. Not insignificant. That’s about 25% of the calorie deficit you need to find (500cals) each day if you want to lose 500gms in weight a week. I’ll take that.

Ginger

Similar to the capsaicin in chili peppers, ginger can boost your metabolism after you’ve eaten it, as well as aid digestion and decrease appetite. Add some grated fresh ginger to your stir fry, or make a yummy ginger tea by infusing in sliced fresh ginger in hot water. You can also add it to your favourite baking recipes.

Vinegar

Recent studies suggest that the acetic acid in vinegar may switch on genes that release proteins that break down fat. Participants in a Japanese study who drank 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar daily for 12 weeks, were able to lose weight, and lower their visceral fat (fat surrounding organs) and waist circumference significantly.

Dark Chocolate

No article on the magical properties of foods would be complete without the mention of dark chocolate! Someone can always come up with some reason for eating chocolate. Here’s a study by Nestle researchers which shows that dark chocolate can aid in weight loss by reducing stress hormones.

What do you think?

Running For Healthy Skin

How is it that some women have glowing, healthy, smooth looking skin?

Many of them can thank their parents for blessing them with good genes. But even if you weren’t so lucky, there’s a few things you can do to improve the look of your skin – without spending a fortune.

You can run, and you can exfoliate.

Running for healthy skin

Running helps nourish skin cells by improving circulation and increasing blood flow to them. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the skin cells, and it helps carry away waste products. By increasing blood flow, you’re giving your cells a flush out.

Running can also decrease stress, which will help to ease conditions exacerbated by stress, such as acne and eczema. The reduction in stress will help to smooth out some of those tension lines and worried looks on your face as well!

Exfoliate for healthy skin

Exfoliating helps to remove the outer layer of dead skin cells. It reveals to the world the brighter skin beneath this layer of dead cells. And you don’t need to buy expensive lotions and potions for exfoliating to be effective.

Here’s a simple recipe you can throw together from ingredients in your own kitchen.

Olive Oil Exfoliant

3 tablespoons rock salt
1.5 tablespoons olive oil

Mix together, then rub into your body in circular motion. Best done in the bath or shower as it can get quite messy.

You can try adding herbs to the mixture such as sage or basil.

For a face scrub, you should use salt that has been partially ground.

Picture: Stuart Miles: freedigitalphotos.net

Why Do You Run?

A while ago now I wrote a post entitle “The Value of Fun Runs”. It gave a summary of some of the fun runs around Sydney, their entry fee, and cost per km and a short summary of the good bits and not so good bits of each run.

Impossible to quantify in dollar terms, of course, is the overall sense of well being running in an event such as yesterday’s “Sydney Running Festival” (or the Bridge Run as the festival is more commonly referred to).

What price do you put on being able to run across Sydney’s iconic harbour bridge on a fabulous sunny morning-not too hot(unless you’re finishing the marathon at midday), sun sparkling on the water, surrounded by friends, or at least like minded people. It’s mornings like this that serve to remind you of why you run. Simply put, it makes you feel good.

From our youngest runner, to our oldest, from our novices to our experienced runners, all felt uplifted after the race. I’m not trying to turn a simple run across the Harbour Bridge into some kind of religious experience, but running in a run such as this certainly is something to remember.

Some of the comments I heard from our runners after the race will give you a sense of what I’m talking about.

“I wasn’t going to stop running because I really wanted to know I could do it” from 6 year old Saxon
“That’s the furthest I’ve run. Ever!” 11 year old Luca
“Dav and I heard there was 100m to go and we just bolted. You should have seen how fast our legs were goingD” 9 year old Wilson
“I’m wearing my number like a badge of honour” one of our nearly 50 year old first time fun runners.
“It was a spectacular day to be running across the bridge this morning” Bernice – another of our soon to be 50 year old runners
“That was awesome” – just some random person I heard in the recovery village
“Just going to brag about my 29 year old” from a friend of mine texting me about her son’s first marathon.
“Yay me” from Tara, after her first half marathon

No need for me to say any more, really, but I’d love to hear your comments on why you run.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net