Healthy Breakfast…Quinoa, Apples, Pecans, and Honey Bowl

Although I ate this for lunch, this is a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. This is an incredibly healthy, hearty and tasty meal.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. This one is just what I wanted today. If you are gluten free, vegetarian, or just trying to eat a little better for yourself. Try this out. You can make it vegan by omitting the honey. I would add another sweetener like stevia if you do though.

Quinoa, Apples, Pecans, and Honey Bowl

(serving size 1 serving – you can easily scale up and make more)

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole granny smith apple ~ 200 g diced washed with skin
  • 1/2 cup of uncooked quinoa, or 200 g cooked quinoa
  • 12 g honey local
  • 15 g pecan raw
  • 3.5 oz of almond milk
  • 1 tsp of vanilla
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon plus a little more for finishing
  • pinch of salt to taste
  • 1 cup or 8 oz water

Directions:

Follow directions on package. I took 1/2 cup of quinoa and added 1 cup of water. Bring it to a rolling boil, then reduce heat and cook for about 15 minutes or till cooked. I cooked the quinoa with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla in the water.

Then added the fresh/raw diced apple, raw pecans, honey, pinch of salt, sprinkle of cinnamon, and milk to the bowl. Mix together and enjoy

Stats for this meal:

Calories 557, Fat 16.1 g, Fiber 13.4 g, Carbs 95.7 g, Sodium 266.9 mg,
Protein 11.8 g

Saturday Muay Thai and Kali… update, not whining, fear of losing progress

Hello there… I did not make a Thursday post. I was concerned that it would be thought of as whining. So this is an update, hopefully not toooo whiny. Note: This was just my fear, no one said anything to me that I was being whiny.

I still have congestion and trying to give my lungs a break. Its been 10 days. I still have lingering congestion and coughing. I am still on antibiotics today is the last day. I have not had to use the inhaler in the last two days! Yay! I am still tired, but that might be a side effect of the many medications I am on. Doctor predicted that it would take 14 days to get over this cold, and ear infection.

So as I sit here not doing anything… that creeping fear is rattling around in my brain. That, you are sitting on your butt, not doing anything and you are losing muscle, you are losing your skill in Muay Thai, and Kali, you are stalling in your fitness journey and you are going to start going backwards.

So now I am doing what I always do, when my fears start to take control of my thoughts, and start making me scared. I am doing research.

Research:

https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/exercising-when-sick#1

“A neck check is a way to determine your level of activity during a respiratory illness,” adds Neil Schachter, MD, medical director of respiratory care at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. “If your symptoms are above the neck, including a sore throat, nasal congestion, sneezing, and tearing eyes, then it’s OK to exercise,” he says. “If your symptoms are below the neck, such as coughing, body aches, fever, and fatigue, then it’s time to hang up the running shoes until these symptoms subside.”

http://www.muscleforlife.com (how fast you lose muscle when you stop working out) (this link did not want to copy correctly so here is the website and the title)

“This drop in water and glycogen can cause muscle volume to shrink about 10 percent over the course of a month. This loss of lean mass returns quickly when people start lifting weights and eating more carbs.

So, even though studies have shown lean mass starts to disappear after about two or three weeks, it may take slightly longer for you to lose actual muscle.“

The take away from this muscle for life article is:

“If you take a week or two away from the gym, you probably won’t lose strength or muscle mass.

If you take more than three weeks off, you’ll lose at least a little bit of strength and muscle, but you’ll regain it quickly when you start lifting again.

You can maintain your strength and muscle mass by lifting weights at least once per week.”

So what I am reading is this.

  1. Yes I am losing some water and glycogen in my muscles.
  2. You should do the neck check, and if it is above the neck then you can still do a light exercise.
  3. With my cold/virus/sickness, I have had to have an inhaler for congestion and breathing,
  4. I am on antibiotics and today is the first day where I don’t feel like my body is just hurting.
  5. Don’t workout with a fever ever.
  6. I will regain my muscle and skills again faster due to muscle memory.

Does knowing this help? Yes a little bit.

Did I already know some or most of this? Yes

Do I often have to look up the science behind the body and working out when I have these thoughts and fears? Yes, yes I have done this many times. This is my coping mechanism.

Are the fears still there in the back of my head even though I know the science behind the body? Yes, this does not make them go away altogether but it quiets them down.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and today I am not doing Muay Thai and Kali. I am still giving my body a break. Even if the mean voices are creeping up in my head.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…on the mend, been about a week

Its been about a week. I first started having symptoms Wednesday night of last week. I did not go to Muay Thai and Kali yesterday/Tuesday. I am still coughing, but last night I slept much better, and had a stretch of night where I was not hacking and coughing up a lung. Pseudophedrine makes my skin feel weird. I have not had a fever in about 2 days now, my ear still feels weird, and has some popping sounds.

So yeah did not go to Muay Thai or Kali yesterday. I still feel really run down, and under the weather. But I feel less like I am dying and more like I have a horrible cold. I believe I am on the mend. Still on my antibiotics, and hoping that by Saturday I will feel loads better.

I have been doing no workouts at all, and to be honest for Thursday 5/9/2019- Monday 5/13/2019, I did not have the ability to do more than just lay there like a lump on a log and try to live. I am now thinking more about and am more concerned about my workouts and my loss of progress. So this seems a good thing? The rational part of my brain says its ok, you will get back into it. The irrational part says… oh my gosh, look how much down time you have had. You are going to lose all of your progress and become a giant rolly polly.

I hope your week is going well. I don’t know how I will feel tomorrow, and if I will be able to do any kinda cardio at all without hacking. I will take tomorrow as it comes.

My friends and team mates from Muay Thai and Kali sent me well wishes and a picture. =) That made me smile. I miss them and they seem to miss me. Whoda thunk it.

Thanks for reading, I am going to go sucks down some more water.

Weight lifting for the week of 5/13/2019…Workout I was supposed to do, Inhalers, Antibiotics, and Rest

Weight lifting workout for the week of 5/13/2019 did not happen today. I have an URI (upper respiratory infection), that turned into an ear infection as well. The docs have me on a cocktail of drugs to battle this horrible cold virus. It has knocked me on my tush, but I am fighting. I am staying hydrated and taking my medications as prescribed.

I was having coughing fits so bad I could not breath… so they prescribed an inhaler. I really try to avoid taking drugs, but between fevers of 102, to chest pains due to lack of breathing, to sore throat, to ear infection, I quickly decided it is time to take the meds that are needed. Namely antibiotics, cough suppressant, albuterol inhaler to open lungs, mucinex as an expactorant, and pseudophedrine to break up the congestion. Rest and hydration were in order and that is what I have been doing 4 liters a day of water.

Enough blah blah blah… here is the workout I was going to do. I may get to later this week, but certainly did not happen today. Today is the first day with out a fever all day. Yay!

Weight Lifting workout:

Run 20 minute HIIT run
2 minute warm up
10 minutes HIIT (run at fastest maintainable speed/sprint 1 minute, then run normal speed for active recovery 1 minute)
5 minute steady state run
3 minute cool down

Weights:

  1. Single leg pikes crunches Left and Right side reps – 10L 10R, 10L 10R, 10L 10R
  2. Supperman lay face down lifting arms and legs at the same time hold for 5 seconds. Do this for 5 minutes total.
  3. Reverse squat, with bicep curls 10 lbs each hand, reps – 15, 15, 15
  4. Squat and press, 20 lb dumbbells in each hand, reps – 12, 12, 12
  5. Bicycle crunches reps – 10L 10R, 10L 10R, 10L 10R

Again I could not do this today… perhaps you can do it for me and let me know how you liked it.

Thanks for reading… I am also not going to be able to do tomorrows Muay Thai and Kali training. I feel like I am falling behind. I know I need to rest, and I start having a coughing episode every time I trying to do anything more than just a walk around the house.

Saturday Bo Staff and Muay Thai… Upper Respiratory Infection, Fever of 102

So no training for me on Saturday. I went to the clinic as soon as they opened. Because that night before I had a fever of 102, which is about 103 for me cause my base temp is 97.8 F. Pain in my chest, coughing fits, and unable to breath at times.

Doc tested for flu B, and Strep A. She did not see any evidence of either, she thinks its viral/viral cold. She checked ears, nose and throat. Took swabs and prescribed an inhaler for my lungs, cough suppressant, ibuprofin, guaifenesin, and rest.

Oh other than that my BP is great, I was running a fever even though I took meds before seeing her. I am healthy otherwise.

Saturday progresses. I am resting and start having ear problems. First it feels clogged, then I have pressure, this turns into pain, but only slight pain. I decide to sleep on it, cause I figure its just drainage from my sinuses and will go away.

I wake up at 3 am with intense ear pain. It feels like a ice pick is being jammed into my ear. I can’t sleep. Husband wakes up helps me by making a hot compress for my ear and lymph nodes around ear, gives me ibuprofin for pain, and waits. It is only getting slightly better, so he runs out to get me some ear drops.

The ear drops help relieve the pressure, but now I am having weird ear symptoms. Sounds of crackling, then sounds of a river, then the sound of static on a tv… My ear has been discharging a pinkish discharge, so we are awake and waiting for clinic to open up again so can go back in and make sure ear is ok. My hearing out of that ear is a little funky. I just want to know what is going on and if this is normal.

I will keep you updated as to what happens. But for now… No workout for me. Rest and recuperation is the motto. Thanks for reading… I will be back in the gym when I can. Have a great day!

P.S. Ohh my team mates in Muay Thai and Kali have all checked in on me. Said they miss me and hope I get better. =)

Update: Doc says I have an ear infection, so now I am on antibiotics too… I have a cocktail of meds I am taking now, to try to get my body to behave and kick this bug to the dirt. I will keep fighting, but that is all for now.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…When your body tells you no.

Wednesday night I got home from work and at around 10:30 pm. I had a slight cough and then my chest felt funny. I went to bed thinking needed to just sleep. Slept horribly and woke up Thursday feeling like truck hit me and ran me over.

I was coughing and everything just felt tired and hurt. I was running a low grade fever. I had a lot of stuff to do, errands, and stuff for the family. My husband insisted I lay down and just rest for the day.

So that is what I did. I did not do any of my chores I had to do, I did not run any of the errands I had to run. I did not work out. I did not go to Muay Thai or Kali, did not pass go, and did not collect 200 dollars.

When your body tells you no in this way. You have to listen. It nearly knocked me on my butt… no wait it did. My body said nope, and I need to rest. Today I feel better. I slept better. I am still coughing but don’t feel like I have been run over by a truck. I will see how I feel when Saturday morning rolls around.

I was upset to miss training, and working on Muay Thai and Kali skills. I really wanted to go and even debated going in and pushing through my sickness. I however, did not want to get anyone else sick.

I am still on my fitness journey. This is a little hiccup. Keep up the good work. Keep being awesome, and thanks for reading.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Boogie Out, Rubbing is to Racing as Bumping is to Boxing

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. It has been a busy day, but had a fantastic time at training. We worked on boxing and head movement in Muay Thai, and redondos again in Kali.

I had so many things pulling at me for my time. I had my usual teaching my kids, and regular household things (cleaning, feeding people). I also had to work on fondant flowers due for a cake I have to make later on this week. So super super busy today. I made these flowers for the cake all by hand.

Enough jabbering, here is what we did no class today.

Muay Thai – Boogie Out, Rubbing is to Racing as Bumping is to Boxing

In Muay Thai we were working on boxing again. Mainly Kru Kristen wanted us to work on our head movement. I can tell you mine is not great. If we can move our head and keep it moving, we can possibly avoid getting hit in the head. That is at least the theory.

We started with slips. We did a slip drill. Your partner throws a jab and you slip to the right, on the cross you slip to the left. We had to do 50 of them. Then we switched up and fed for our partners.

Then we did a bob and weave drill. We would start on one side and our partners would throw a cross and touch the opposite shoulder making sure we squat, turned correctly and then stood up, only to do it again by bobbing and weaving to the other side. We had to do 50 of those as well, then we switched up and we fed for our partners.

Next Kru Kristen taught us a really cool move called the Boogie Out. What it is, is after you have bobbed and weaved out of a hook that was thrown at you, you do a shuffle turn so that you can cut the corner, or get around your opponent. Because if you can get behind or to the side of your opponent, and all of their weapons are pointed away from you, that is great for you. Then you can hit them when they are not able to block, from behind or the side. I have taken video of me doing this below. What you will notice when I focus on a new skill I am working, my strikes often times suffer. In this video I see my strikes sucking. My hooks look like caca, and I am not bringing my hands back fast enough. However, I am getting that Boogie Out move. However, if I practice enough I think I will be able to include this in my repertoire.

  1. Jab, cross, body hook, head hook, cross, bob and weave, boogie out, then strike the head.

After that we worked on shoulder bump cut corner/step out to take the back of your opponent. Here Kru Krsiten said rubbing is to racing as bumping is to boxing. In boxing bumping your opponent as you step out/cut corner, is a way to off balance your opponent. You bump them not only once but then you do it again from behind. This gets your opponent off balance, messes up their stance, and then you can hit them from behind or the side. I filmed this as well. Kru Kristen says that this is great for a short fighter like me. I can cut out/step out and still stay in the pocket. However, all the while getting out of range and away from my opponents weapons. I can then hit them after stepping out and around.

  1. Jab, cross, upper cut, cross, bob and weave, shoulder check through, then shoulder check behind, and hit again.

After this we did survivor drills. This is where we get put up against the wall and we are not allowed to do anything but avoid getting punched with our head movements. We can block or catch hits with our gloves, but Kru Kristen just wanted us to avoid the hits. She had the other half of us punching our team mates, trying to hit them not hard but trying to think around their defenses.

Kali – Redondos

Today in Kali we worked on redondos again. Kru Krysta is a great teacher. It felt good, and I felt like I knew these moves pretty well. We worked on high redondo, low redondo, low back hand, high back hand. We also worked on the figure 8, with low back hand, high back hand. I filmed us doing this as well. My knees are hurting a bit today, probably because I did to much yesterday, then we did a lot of bob and weaves today. =) Generally they don’t hurt, but once in a while they will hurt. When that happens I just baby the hurt area, and then train around it.

After that we we did the Running Saint Rafael. I was able to do it no problem when I was the aggressor, however, when I was feeding, I would keep messing up the last heaven six. If you block with the wrong stick you will be out of alignment and have to quickly reset for the last heaven six.

Anyway thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great week. I must get to bed.

Weight lifting workout for the week of 5/6/2019…missing a workout, but back on track


45 minute workout. My usual workout schedule is, Mon/Wed/Fri Running and Weight lifting. Tues/Thurs/Saturday and sometimes Wed, Muay Thai, Kali Martial Arts training. Guess what I could not get to last week. Work and family and life just worked against me. I could not get my Friday and my Saturday training in. Friday I was inundated with my family stuff. Saturday I had to teach a scone baking class to a group of adults. And I let my husband convince me to not do anything on Sunday.

So I had a mini workout vacation. I had a whole host of feelings about this. I was upset for missing out on my workouts, I was disappointed in myself, and I missed it. Also I let myself be convinced not to do a make up workout on Sunday, so some part of me wanted a break. =)

But now it is a new week, and I am back at it. Today’s workout will be what I do on Mon/Wed/Fri. I focused on core and legs today, because we are starting a boxing focused month in Muay Thai.

Workout:

20 minute Steady state run. I got a 12 minute mile in there.

Weightlifting:

  1. Pike crunches reps- 20, 20, 20
  2. Bicycle crunches reps- 20, 20, 20
  3. Bench Step up with high knee, each leg reps- 10 left, 10 right, 10 left, 10 right, 10 left, 10 right
  4. Bulgarian split squats, each leg reps- 14 left, 14 right, 14 left, 14 right, 14 left, 14 right
  5. Dumbell dead lifts 70 lbs reps – 10, 10, 10

That is all for me. I have to go get husband from the metro, get family fed and get to my second job. Thank you for reading.

Here are my final thoughts… Sometimes there is nothing you can do to squeeze a workout in. Sometimes there is just no time and that is ok. Sometimes your family needs you and that is ok. Sometimes you just don’t want to do it, and that is ok. Once you get your routine down, deviation is not a death sentence to your journey, it is part of life, and you just have to jump back on, and get the reps in.

Healthy Lunch…Coconut Sticky Rice and Cayenne Shrimp

One of my favorite things is coconut sticky rice. It is a wonderful dish most of the time a dessert from Thailand. However, today I wanted it for lunch.

I am an adult I can do what I want. Hussshhh! So dessert for lunch is what it was today.

I made this in a quicker easier way, not the traditional way it is made in Thailand, or at your local Thai restaurant. This is a quicker, more loose dish, much more like a rice pudding.

This recipe is gluten free, nut free (coconuts are not nuts, technically its a drupe, or stone fruit), and vegan.

This is my simplified quicker version of this dish. There is a more authentic way to make this but this took me 20 to 30 minutes including rice cooking time.

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango, Kiwi, and Pineapple

yield: 1 serving

time: 20 -30 minutes including cooking time for rice

Ingredients

  1. 240 g or about 8 oz Cooked sticky rice
  2. 80 g or 1/3 cup coconut milk canned
  3. 16 g or 1 tbs of honey
  4. 1 whole or 171 g mango
  5. 1 whole or 66 g kiwi
  6. 117 g or 1 cup of pineapple
  7. pinch of salt to taste
  8. Desiccated coconut for garnish

Directions

  1. Cook rice to instructions
  2. Dice the mango, kiwi, and pineapple.
  3. Mix the rice with coconut milk and honey. Add diced fruit on top, top with desiccated coconut.

Stats for the recipe as written:

Calories 644, Fat 18.4 g, Fiber 8.7 g, Carbs 117.5 g, Sodium 30.7 mg,
Protein 8.7 g

For the shrimp its really simple. No I mean really simple and really good.

Cayenne Shrimp

Yeild: 1 serving

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  1. 6 Shrimp with tail on
  2. 1 tsp olive oil or butter
  3. Sprinkle cayenne (to taste)
  4. Salt to taste
  5. Green onion

Directions

  1. Heat up the pan and add fat for
  2. Cook shrimp about 3 minutes total, 1 minute on one side and flip.
  3. Sprinkle with cayenne, and salt
  4. Serve sprinkle on green onion.

Stats for the recipe

Calories 111, Fat 5.5 g, Fiber 0 g, Carbs 1 g, Sodium 535 mg, protein 13 g

That is all… I hope you get a chance to try it. Perhaps be a little crazy like me and have dessert for lunch. Or just have it for dessert. =) Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali… Boxing/Feeding, Double Ordabis, Finding my niche?

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. In Muay Thai this month we are working on our boxing. In kali we were doing double stick , ordabis, and Saint Rafael.

Today was a mixed bag for me. I felt good boxing, and am working on my cross still. I got a compliment on my bob and weave. Conversely for Kali, I was frustrated… I kept making mistakes.

Muay Thai – Boxing/Feeding

In Muay Thai we are starting on focusing our boxing. We started with the Trigg 10.

Trigg 10: (this is a boxing drill that the feeder counts out the number and you execute the corresponding strike. Example: Feeder says 3 and you perform Jab Jab Jab.)

  1. Jab
  2. Jab Jab
  3. Jab Jab Jab
  4. Cross
  5. Cross Cross
  6. Cross Cross Cross
  7. Jab Cross
  8. Cross Jab
  9. Jab Jab Cross
  10. Cross Cross Jab

Now feeding is just as much a skill as knowing and executing the strikes. When you have a good feeder you look like a million bucks. They make you look good and can prevent injury. When a feeder is new and does not know how to provide the correct resistance with the pads you can hurt yourself. For instance when punching at a focus mitt. If the feeder does not respond with the correct force, you can hyper extend your elbow. I have had feeders that are new and go home with sore elbows. I have since learned that if a feeder is new and does not know how to feed. Even with coaching them on how, I will save myself and just not throw the punches in there with a lot of force. Better to work on form and not on speed and strength in those instances.

We worked on combination of throwing a double jab, responding to a strike with a backward u slip, then returning a cross, and then bobbing and weaving a cross. I got a good compliment on my bob and weave. Yay!

After that the more experienced students worked on a wall drill where we took turns punching at our fellow class mates while their back was to the wall and they had to move their heads to avoid the punches. Then we switched places. We had to move our heads and avoid the blows while our class mates punched at us. This is good for head movement and understanding how to avoid incoming strikes. This is all relatively light and we are not trying to take each others heads off with a punch.

Kali – Double Ordabis, Heaven Drill, and Saint Rafael

We worked on double stick today in Kali. There is a strike called the redondo. That is a strike that goes around the head. If it is a forehand strike then it is an Umbrella strike. If it is a back hand strike then it is a Ordabis.

Kali was a bit of a brain melt-er today. I have done these flow drills before, however, it was 4 or 5 months ago so I had to pull back in my memory banks and try to remember. However, towards the end I started to pick it up again. I took video of me doing the double ordabis with sticks pointed to heaven. Then the double ordabis flow drill with some standard strikes, and a heave 6 flow drill.

This was the Saint Rafael. I took video of it. I have not done this saint drill for months. I was pretty happy at how fast I picked it back up again. However, as you can see I am very rusty still.






Finding my niche?

So officially I have been studying and practicing Muay Thai and Kali for a year now. It seems that some people have their thing. That one thing that they are known for in the class to the team mates and to the instructors. One person say is fast, another is very agile, still the next has great kicks. I don’t feel I have a niche yet. It is kind of disappointing. I get compliments on my form, and on certain things. I have plenty to practice and fix. I have a long way to go before I am proficient in any one of these arts. However, I don’t have a niche yet. Nothing I stand out in.

I love kicks, I love teeps, I love take downs, and I love off balances. Kru Kristen says find something you love and work those all the time. I do and still have so far to go. I guess I am just feeling down about myself. I want to be good at something. Maybe one thing… right now I don’t feel like I have that niche. Will it come? Who knows? I will keep practicing and trying till I do get it, or find it.

That is all for tonight. I need to sleep. Have a good night. Thanks for reading.