Christmas Day Food (and Drink)

Merry Christmas!

Super busy day today getting stuff organised for Christmas. Looking forward to having a relaxing break. Merry Christmas!

Adding More In - Friday

This morning's cardio was a jog/walk in the park with Rob and TJ. My glutes and middle/upper back have been feeling a bit tight the last couple of days, so this afternoon I did some foam rolling work on my glutes, and used a bak ball on my back

physio supplies

I leant against it on the wall, and also lay on it on the ground, so that the ball parts were pressing on either side of my thoracic and upper spine. Felt SO good.

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Breakfast: crushed oat brits, lactose-free yoghurt, cinnamon, mixed berries

mid-morning: green tea

Lunch: salad with romain lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion and tofu, dressing with olive oil and lemon juice. Toast with avocado

Snack: pear, lactose-free yoghurt, walnuts and almonds

Dinner: gluten-free wrap with sliced rump steak and chimichurri sauce. Mashed cauliflower.

Snack: hot chocolate

Adding More In - Thursday

This morning started with a walk in the park with Rob and TJ. The first circuit of the park was a 'warm up', then on the next two circuits Rob and I used some of the exercise equipment dotted about the place. It was lovely to be exercising outside in the sunshine.

Breakfast: mixture of crushed oat brits, oats, lactose-free yoghurt and cinnamon. Red grapefruit

mid morning: green tea

Lunch: salad with chickpeas, romaine lettuce, beetroot, carrot, cucumber, celery and water chestnuts, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Avocado on toast.

Snack: lactose-free yoghurt, LSA, hazelnuts and blueberries

Dinner: salad with sliced extra-lean chicken sausage, romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato and red onion, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Rice.

Snack: hot chocolate

Adding More In - Wednesday

This morning I tried out a different cardio machine at the gym - the treadclimber. It's like a cross between a stepper and a treadmill:



I could feel it in my glutes straight away and it got my heart rate up much faster than the treadmill usually does.

Did 40 minutes on that first thing this morning, followed by

Breakfast: crushed oat brits, lactose-free yoghurt, cinnamon and mixed berries

mid-morning: green tea

Lunch: salad with romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, carrots, yellow capsicum, artichoke hearts, pistachios and canned tuna, dressed with lemon juice. Toast with avocado.

Snack: lactose-free yoghurt, cherries, walnuts and almonds. Green tea.

Dinner: leftover chicken and asparagus risotto with added spinach. Sliced red and yellow capsicum with salsa as dip.

Snack: hot chocolate

Adding More In - Tuesday

Feeling LOTS better today. Rob even commented on how chirpy I was this morning.

Started the day with a green tea, then a walk with Rob and TJ.

Breakfast: oats, lactose-free yoghurt and cinnamon, topped with chopped plums off our tree

Lunch: dahl, salad with baby spinach, tomato, cucumber and sunflower seeds, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. Avocado on toast.

Snack: lactose-free yoghurt, peach, almonds, pecans

40-minute hill walk on treadmill

Dinner: salmon, mixed veg, sweet potato

Snack: hot chocolate

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Got a head start on the Christmas food shopping today. Went to the Bertocchi factory shop (in Thomastown, Melbourne if anyone's interested) and got a leg of gluten-free ham, a cooked gluten-free turkey breast and a fillet of beef. A friend is dropping off a freshly caught snapper tomorrow.

At this stage we are planning to have a 'cold' lunch of ham and turkey and a 'hot' dinner of whole barbecued snapper and barbecue garlic beef fillet.

Adding More In - Monday

My sore glands are gone but I'm still feeling quite tired. Today I've been focusing on adding more antioxidants into my diet.

My day started with walk with Rob and TJ, then

Breakfast: oats, lactose-free yoghurt, cinnamon, blackberries

Lunch: salad with romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, sunflower seeds, turkey and ham, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. Toast with avocado.

Snack: peach, hazelnuts

afternoon nap

Snack: peanut butter on oat toast, green tea

Dinner: chicken and asparagus risotto

Snack: 'hot chocolate' (lactose-free milk, cocoa, low GI sugar)

Lemon water throughout the day.

Exercise is poisoning my body

I exercise because it's good for me, but it actually makes me feel sick.

When you exercise intensely, your body produces free radicals. I have a gene that causes a 50% increase in free radical production. Free radicals can attack and chemically alter DNA, and free radical damage can potentially lead to cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation and accelerated ageing. Usually the body converts free radicals to non-harmful molecules, but my body lacks the required detoxification mechanisms to remove free radicals.

For the last six weeks I've been exercising regularly, mostly hill walks, pump classes or gym workouts. This week I've upped my hill walks to run/walks and replaced my weights workout with a high intensity circuit. How does my body reward me? Swollen glands and no energy.

I'm having the day off today, and am going to pick up some GliSODin tomorrow, which helps stimulate my body's defence against free radicals. And I'll have to keep a closer eye on what I'm eating to make sure I'm getting plenty of antioxidants, cruciferous veges etc to help combat those free radicals.

This happens to me every time I start exercising regularly. You think I would have learnt by now. Frustrating!!!

TM training days 1 and 2

Yesterday I started training for the Tough Mudder obstacle course.

According to the website, I need to work up to runs of at least 8-10 km, be able to do 15-25 push-ups in a row, be able to bang out 6 pull-ups in a row, and be able to swim 45 metres without stopping.

At this stage I reckon the swimming wouldn't be a problem but I'm definitely going to have to work on everything else.

Yesterday I ran outside for time (40 minutes). Well, it was a run/walk actually. I'm just starting out slowly so I don't burn myself out (I'm good at doing that).

Today I did a modified version of a circuit suggested on the website. Each exercise is related to an obstacle on the course, and is done for 60 seconds with a max of 15 seconds rest in between:
- T push-ups
- single arm db swings
- forward lunges
- bent over db row
- db side lunge
- push up and row (renegade row)
- lunge and twist
- db squat and press
- push up (knees)
- mountain climbers
- assisted chin ups
- plank
- side plank
- dips
- squat with pause at bottom

As I get stronger and fitter I'll add more weight or change the exercise to a harder variation.

Cheeky!

I was doing some cleaning this morning and heard a knock at the door. When I answered there was an older lady there. She said that she'd noticed we had some little yellow plums on the tree out the front of our house and would it be OK if she took some. I said that she was welcome to take some, thinking she would just take a couple of handfuls, and went back to my cleaning.

About five minutes later I noticed she was still out there, reaching over the neighbour's fence to get the ones she couldn't get from the footpath. A few minutes later I looked out again and she was still there, and then I noticed she had someone helping her and they both had plastic bags and were plucking plums as fast as they could. Then I realised there were hardly any plums left on the tree. At that stage I opened the window and said "Excuse me! I said 'some', not strip the tree bare!". They quickly gathered their things and left, and I stomped around the house for a few minutes afterwards, muttering about the cheek of some people.

Bah, humbug!

New Challenge

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking about doing some sort of event next year. Vague thoughts of a marathon or half marathon have entered my head. Today Rob and I were at a friend's place and he was talking about doing a 20km obstacle course next year. He showed us the website and I started getting interested. It's on Sat 31st March and Sun 1st April, so I've got time to see how my body copes with the training.

Will start on Monday and report back!

Pumpkin Salad

My favourite meal this week

Pumpkin Salad
Roasted butternut pumpkin, sliced spring onions, goat cheese and halved grape tomatoes, drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Served with lamb chops and baked potato.