the benefits of juicing vegetables and fruits

I have read somewhere that juicing veggies is the best way to remove body toxins. But of course, we cannot discount the fact that veggies have harmful pesticides present (as in the way they are farmed :) here. If you can purchase or source-out vegetables that organically-grown - so much the better. The trick still is to wash tediously before you juice.

Here are my favorite home-made vegetable juices:

Carrots (rich in vitamin A and beta-carotene) carrots are sweet so better that we just juice it solo rather than combine with other fruits.

Pineapple (rich in vitamin C) but rather sweet-er. But one whole pine-apple can already fill one big glass.

Apples (rich in vitamin ?) this is good for kidney and gall-health. Apples are known diuretics.They are recommended for gall problems.

Malunggay (moringa calcifera) can be mixed with A & B but cannot be drank solo. This is just good as a mix.

Cucumber - this can be mixed with A,B,C&D. This is rich in vitamin C and keeps you hydrated because of it's water content.

By all means, avoid to juice the following:

Watermelon, ampalaya.

I guess creativity should also be an important tool when juicing. You should also know what your tastebuds can handle. Juicing is Fun and definitely much-healthy. You may also use honey to sweeten if sweetness is rather pale.

A deadly disease (of the lifestyle)

Actually this is not supposed to be a part of this blog but nevertheless I just would want to post it. I have seen a lot of people either related to me or not who suffer (ed) from Cancer. When you really hear the word cancer, the first thought that comes to mind is that it's deadly, depressing, and is costly (in its truest sense). You hear a lot of people battle this disease...and eventually lost the battle. Only a few I have heard to have surpassed this disease and claimed to have been totally-cured of it. It's even deadlier if you have been informed that you have it in it's latter stages.
A lot of question comes to mind about cancer...is it about the food we intake? Is it about the environment that we live in? Why do people who have it battled it but eventually lost? What is the nature of the disease? How can we prevent it? These are all questions that are without any clear answers.
I just hope that science will already find a way to cure it. Current treatment options seem to do more harm than good. And I guess deep faith in the divine, determination, and a positive-attitude are what we need to battle it.
My heart goes out to a relative who has lung cancer already spread out and has traces already on the brain. May the Lord almighty heal her. May the mother of perpetual help intercede for her.

from 157 to 150 lbs

OK. so it was time for me to hit the weighing scale again and found out that I now weigh 150 lbs. Talk about 7 lbs lost in just a span of two weeks. If this is the weight I lost, then maybe after two (2) more weeks and I'll be down to 143 lbs which is getting nearer to my ideal body weight at 140 lbs.

The good news is that, even if I had some cheat days during my diet program, I still managed to lose and shed the pounds. Majorly attributed to the dieting. No major workout yet done but pure dieting and  normal activities.

This, to me, is already a very acceptable progress.

Change in diet plan: abstinence due to the lenten season

In time for the lenten season, I changed my menu plan for the week to include fish and veggies only especially during fridays. But I think I will still make fish more prevalent than chicken for this week. It's not rocket science to know that fish is a very good source of protein, similar to chicken, but much more packed with omega whatever (as what the advertisements for canned tuna says).  I brought yellow fin tuna which I marinated but not with a commercial marinate mix. I experimented on my own marinate, which included a teaspoon of honey for sweetness. I did not follow any online recipe for this, and I just hope that the taste will be acceptable. I cooked the fish in a hot teflon with minimal olive oil just to cook it right.

To pair this fish with my aunt's own kimchi recipe and two (2) small portions of orange camote which is fiber and carbs rolled into one (but still way better than rice, in my opinion).

Start of "the-simple-to-practical" workout

OK. The Good News is that in a span of one(1) week, I have lost 3 lbs. My weight right now is 154 lbs. when I started, it was 157 lbs. Note that I also did some intakes of sweet (white) coffee (once in a while) maybe limit my intake to 3 cups during this weekend. I also eat merienda (afternoon snacking), once-in-a-while. But not to the point of oversnacking on it or over-eating. These are un-avoidable habits to begin with. But the key at this moment is to "minimize".

What helped? maybe limiting white bread intake during breakfast and substituting fruits instead. Minimize, if not eliminate, white rice during the main meals. I take brown rice and in minimun servings only. If your body can also take camote (cassava root crop) - so much the better, especially the orange colored one. I guess what I ate last week greatly helped. The key, again at this point, is "continuance".

I will be beginning my routine of "aiding" this weight loss program with simple and almost practical workout to help trim down the calories intake. Again, the "word" is "practicality. I don't have to spend money to enroll at a Gym or do joining some fitness clubs whatsoever. I think what I can see and do at the house is more than enough. Things like carrying my 3 year old Toby during mall walks, cleaning the restrooms and bathroom (trust me, you'll sweat a lot doing this), simple ab trimming exercises quickly (I am used to doing rushing in the mornings). Even doing some bodily gyrating (secretly) when your favorite music plays in the background. haha!

The key to all of this is discipline and determination.

Menu plan for day 3 - camote and chili con chicken

The menu plan for day 2 will be chili con chicken and one (1) averaged-size kamote. I originally-thought to have bought the orange kamote, but instead I got the yellow-one. But regardless, as long as it is kamote - the ever-famous root-crops for dieters, and the chili con chicken for dip (with the chicken meat). Note that the chicken should, as always, be skinless. It would depend if you prefer to couple the chili con chicken with plain or red rice - just as long as it is within the half-cup or quarter-cup level of serving.

Kamote, chili con chicken and chili kangkong

The other menu, which is for day 3 will be chili kangkong (in chiu chow sauce) garlic and small tofu. This will be served with brown-rice (half-cup) serving only. As you can see, I pretty-much like chili in my food but only in tolerable proportions. It would depend on the level of chili that your taste buds can handle.

Sample breakfast for day 1

I have begun my Monday workweek-morning with a simple breakfast of poached sunny-side up egg and a small slice of papaya, and just cold water. Usually, I eat bread and whatever palaman I can grab from the fridge coupled with hot instant coffee. The egg was poached and not fried. I used an egg poacher I was able to snag in SG. Cook the egg in the microwave for less than a minute, using only minimal olive oil and water mixture, as well as a dash of sea salt (kirkland brand) to add taste. The rule is totally eliminate sugars and white bread (carbs). The cardinal rule for dieting, as what I believe, to lose weight is to eliminate the carbs and red meat.

1 small size papaya and 1 sunny-side-up poached egg.

First up in "my on-the-diet" menu

...is skinless chicken adobo. let's term this as adobo ala jojo. I cooked the chicken in less-salt soy sauce (kikoman), apple cider vinegar and pineapple chunks with whole black peppers and dried oregano leaves. First is to marinate the chicken in kikoman and apple cider vinegar sprinkled with garlic, ground pepper and crushed oregano. The chicken was marinated for a short-time only.

I used only olive oil to fry the chicken. I also put pineapple chunks to sweeten the flavor a bit, and the finished product looks a little like this:

For lunch, I will be beginning with my plan with only two portions of chicken adobo: one small and one large cut chicken, half-cup of red rice and two slices of ripe papaya. Better not to eliminate rice immediately and just reduce to a half-cup and to eliminate gradually. I did this once by totally eliminating the rice and trust me when I say, I totally got dizzy in the afternoon.

From where I began

Ok since this will be the start of chronicling this supposed health-consciousness and weight-control efforts, I have began at 157 lbs of weight and at 5'6" of height. I am not sure if my BMI is still in the ideal measures. I will figure it out later when I research on how to calculate it. My sole and only goal at the moment is to trim-down my protruding belly-fat. Currently my waistline measures between 32 - 34 inches and when sitting-down is when you start feeling in the additional weight of the fat. So that's my first target: to minimize the gut and keep it into the ideal waistline. Gut fat has been linked to so many diseases like hypertension and diabetes which are the likely diseases handed-down from my paternal family tree (read: "namamana"). I am not saying that I already have both, and I hope not yet, but the risks of having them remain high in our family. Common culprits are oils and sweets. So, I need to begin disciplining myself to minimize if not eliminate them from my food intakes.

My only concern at the moment is to find a substitute for coffee which is really already a part of my bloodstream :)

This is the weight I started with during this programme:

70 kilos / 154 lbs taken from a weighing scale

2015 is the year of getting healthy for me

I believe that eating healthy and right is the path to a good health and well-being. As we all can read in healthy articles that a lot of diseases are borne from unhealthy eating habits. Even what we consider as healthy foods or our normal foods sometimes are not really that much considered "as healthy" (read: extra rice). To be fit, we need to balance what we eat and work out to shed those unwanted fats. In a picture I saw, 70% is related to dieting whereas only 30% can be attributed to work-out, in order to achieve our desired body weight. A healthy body contributes to a sound mind and over-all well-being.

I am not a nutritionist by profession, nor am I a fitness guru. I am starting this blog to chronicle my experimentations in food intake, as well as fitness regimen to start this journey of an over-all well-being goal. This 2015 is what I considered to be the year to get fit and be healthy. I will share some "personal" recipes of meals I prepare, as well as some of what I do physically to achieve this goal.

All the best to me, and most definitely, welcome to my "new" blog.