Workout training diary: Session #11, May 16th

I told Sargent that am getting lazier with my training diary...guess what, we didn't make the diary again after class.  He had a new client, a newsreader lady, she had her session right after my class and I finished late so I had to rush off to make way for her class to start - so no diary.

what I remember

a) Warm up - 5 min jog on the treadmill @ 4mph

b) pull down, 14kg x 20 reps x 1 set
then 18kg x 15 reps x 3 sets

c) bicep curls - 10 reps x 5 sets @ 9 pounds each hand

d) Superman plank - 4 sets of 20 reps

e) Sit-ups - 4 sets of 15 reps

f) lateral raise...

g) the killer...shoulder press with dumbbells, can't remember the weights, but it wasn't nice.  So nasty that Sargent had to assist me on the last 2 sets.

I have never looked at myself in the mirror this much, this obsession of toning makes me feel vain and at the same time, relieved to know that am able to face my own vanity.

I was told that the body-toning/transformation may be slower for me due to my vegetarian diet - intake of protein may not be enough...so I bought more tempeh this morning at the market.  Will add in a lot more tofu and beans in my menu.  Sargent will bring me some protein-shake samples to try at my next session - that should supplement my lack of protein for my post work-out meals.

...all in all, I do notice the tiny changes in my arms, shoulders and abs.  The indigestion and bloating situation has improved a little - am guessing it's due to my overall attention to eating and toilet schedule - doesn't look like it's the effect of the expensive probiotics that I started taking.  The improvement came after I started training in April, whereas I've started taking probiotics a month before that.

Food never tasted better after I started weight-trainig :)

Guess am a converted pain-junkie :)

FB post dated March 31st - "Talk yourself out of bad situations"

The lesson this morning is 'trust' and 'positive-thinking' - not something I instinctively subscribe to every minute of my day - you can say that it's not yet my second nature.  But after my experience this morning, I would definitely want to make it as part of my reflex :)

This is a bit of a long-winded roundabout way story but I trust that should you choose to read…you may enjoy the ride :)

I went to the wet market down the road that I have discovered recently (of course it's been there for years) - to shop for fresh goods.  The market is a lot smaller on Mondays, the number of vendors for fruits and vegetables were no more than two or three stalls each. I looked around under my hat and from behind my vintage shades, sense of self-doubt welling up: how could I make sure I would pick the freshest produces and how could I make sure these ladies at the stalls won't rip me off at prices?  I walked around looking and thinking, quite convinced that they would charge me more because I look clueless and new there.

Fortunately the will to have fresh vegetables and fruits to eat at home this week was strong enough that I didn't turn back and leave.  I bought three pieces of sweet potatoes, was charged RM 4…I thought it was expensive, but I paid up anyway. I stayed with this stall and bought more from this lady, 12 apples for RM 10, one kilo of passion fruits for RM 10 - I think these prices are fair.  At that point I have decided to trust this fruits stall lady and trust that she wasn't out to rip me off, so I bought bananas from her too - at RM 5 per kilo.

Next was vegetables.  The first item I picked up was a a packet of jagung, two fresh ones in one pack.  "How much?" The skinny elderly lady there told me it's RM 2.50.  I recall that this would cost more than RM 3 if you find them in the supermarkets - so I continued to snoop around and put more vegetables in my basket.  One bunch of Hong Kong choy-sum, RM 4. I also picked broccoli, french beans and two cuts of lotus roots.  The whole bill came up to RM 14 for all that - I was happy.  I think it's pretty good deal - RM 14 for 5 types of vegetables.

Happy with my purchase, I rewarded myself with breakfast at the corner restaurant down the road from the market.  I ordered a bowl of curry laksa noodles.  The huge bowl came, filled to the brim with cockles, curry chicken and fish balls, among the eggplant and long beans, all cramped in the thick curry soup.  I returned the bowl and explained that I don't want any of the cockles and chicken business; and that I was used to curry laksa noodles with only the noodles and vegetables and tofu.  They removed all the meats for me and served me.  The noodles looked deadly overcooked - I was convinced.  I was right, the meehoon and yellow noodles were soft and slimy.

I debated with myself on whether or not to just pay up and leave to eat at the other stall that I frequent more.  "The boss would think am such a brat to do this, with no regards for money." ...I decided to sit back and try to eat maybe only the vegetables in the oily curry soup and talked to myself, "There's no need to waste this bowl, what you could learn from this is not to order this again from this stall, or to go to other stalls if I want curry laksa.  This is just one meal out of so many future meals am going to have - there's no need to kick a big fuss over a breakfast."   The minute my mindset changed, my breakfast began to taste better - somehow the soft meehoon wasn't as slimy before and the vegetables were great.

I didn't finished the entire bowl but I finished most of it, not wanting to overstuff my stomach.  Awe consumed me the whole time - I was amazed at how quickly the quality of my experience change at the turn of my thinking.  Never before I was this convinced about positive thinking.

So there, I had a great time this morning because I learned to trust that people aren't out to con me and that things aren't as bad as they look :) If you actually read this far, I sincerely trust that your week ahead would be a rather fantastic one, if you could talk to yourself like I did this morning ;p

#living #janetwrites #trust #positivethinking #vegetarian #groceries #jalanipoh #currylaksa #wetmarkets #reflections

FOOD for your Thought

Thank you Fang for sharing the link with me.

Monday today, it's a good day to start your week by thinking outside your mundane everyday problem, by watching this documentary...to rethink your relationships with `many people' today.



a few quotes from this video..

"Animals shall not be measured by man, in a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of these senses we have lost or never attained,living by voices we shall never hear.

They are not brethren, they are not underlings, they are other nations...caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

"Surely, if slaughterhouses had glass walls, would not all of us be vegetarians? But slaughterhouses do not have glass walls. The architecture of slaughter is opaque, designed in the interest of denial, to insure that we will not see even if we wanted to look. And who wants to look?

Why I did it and never looked back...

busy, and needing my sleep like NOW...so a bit of teaser information before I continue on why, and why you should consider too.

Information on Going Vegetarian...J said I should never...well, this is what he said to me over our google chat:

J: you really shouldn't try to convert people or make them uncomfortable or inconvinent others. ok? just blog about it...we'll do this together. Also, you cannot make others feel guilty or bad for eating meat. it doesn't work - the convert has to come from inside that person.

...it started this time round with him reading a piece of news about the lifting of foie gras ban in Chicago, the news link to this wonderful clip on "the delicacy of despair".

Today I shall leave you with just this clip, it's preachy and it's extreme but unfortunate, it speaks the truth.

The link to this video embedded here




Watch more videos at PETA.org

Must see -

Meet Your Meat
Go Vege

The Killing Way

I have been a `vegetarian' for the past fourteen years. I'm a `vegetarian' and not a vegetarian because I'm quite flexible with this diet, like when I go out with friends, I could join them in practically any restaurant (when I'm in a good mood) and order my food without meat or sea food in it...

And I eat eggs, cheese and most other dairy products.

So my friends say I'm a cool `vegetarian'. Everyone asks me why, nowadays I say it's my life style and I'm happy with it and have no intention of going back to meat anytime soon.

But you see, it's more than just life style, really. I hate to see animals get killed. I grew up with a strange biasness for animals...when I was about eight or so, I thought to myself that my fellow human beings are protected because we have mom and dad and old people have their children to take care of them; but the poor stray cats and dogs on the streets have to fend for themselves.

Without knowing what God is and whether there is one, I prayed for all the stray animals I saw outside of my home. During Chinese new year when we went to my aunt's house in Ipoh, I got to see the people in my aunt's house slaughtered chickens from their own back yard, it didn't gross me out (I don't get gross out by watching blood) but I felt so sorry for the chickens.

Then came one day when my mom turned vegetarian, in the mid 80's, then me when I was 14...and then my dad, and then my brother. My sister is not a vegetarian today but she prefers the green, I think.

When I first know how to articulate my principle and my opinion I became the defensive kind of vegetarian, always ready for a debate in the issue of this diet. I'm less of that now but I'm more sure that I will always stay away form eating animals, for the rest of my life.

Sometimes my policy becomes a blur when I'm faced with more facts about the meat-eating eco systems in the wild, and the human health relating to obtaining certain nutrients from animal products.

But I think it's total bullocks to say that one can't be healthy on a vegetarian diet. It's sheer stupidity to think that we should consume more tasty meat dishes because:

1. Life is short
2. We will die one day anyway
3. Eat pig brains will make you smart
4. etc

A balanced diet is made up of food groups that provide everything your body needs to stay normal = healthy. There's nothing you can't replace with plant food that you get from animal food...even things like Vitamin B12.

Excerpts from my article To Green Or Not To Green in [Health & Beauty]- May 2003:

"...B-12 is not found in plant foods except when they are contaminated by microorganisms. Vegetarians need to obtain Vitamin B-12 from other sources. This substance is needed for blood formation and cell division and the lack of it can cause irreversible nerve damage.

Vitamin B-12-rich foods: Vitamin B-12 is added to some yeast extracts, Soya milks, veggie burgers, bread and some breakfast cereals, tempeh, miso, and sea vegetables (amount of vitamin B12 present depends on the type of processing the food undergoes)."

But apart from all that facts, I just hate to see animals get killed to become my meals. I'm very happy with my `vegetarian' diet, I'm not missing out on anything in life, if you think I'm a fool...hehe, it's more of your problem rather than mine because I'm happy the way I am.

Lately I have been exposed to a few anti-cruelty to animal campaigns on the internet. The activists' videos of the killings (for clothing and food) is heart wrenching and it really affects you.

Sealing in Canada
Fur farm in China

My parents are now vegans because they say eggs aren't too ideal for their old age. My dad and mom still argue about petty things at home but they are very nice to animals, my dad takes care of this stray dog left in his work place (a factory in Taiping). During my CNY stay my dad would take time off to check on the pup to make sure it was recovering from a cold (he fed the pup medicine the week before)...

Eating shark fin is uncool, potatoes taste better.
Vegetarian diet if done the right way, it's a great way to slim down, just look at me.

Food fools

burrrp...

excuse me. Lunch at `Unique Seafood' with new boss (he's been on board for over five months now). The rest had the typical Chinese seafood set lunch while I ordered two vegetarian dishes, the stir-fry Chinese Romaine Lettuce with fermented bean curd was good, the tofu swimming in mixed vege sauce was so-so.

Typical, there was a karaoke machine in the private lunch room.

Being a Chinese and a vegetarian (in my own right, I eat eggs and cheese), I'm generally quite disgusted at the eating style of my fellow Chinese.

Ya, I'm disgusted at you people out there. Sue me.

I can't stand the extend they go to savour seafood, exotic wildlife....you name it. They drive miles out of town to some smelly, dirty restaurants with rude waiters just to pay very high price to stuff your face in cooked (or not) animals.

Ok, helping me to further illustrate my disgust is Audi's thoughts on disgusting, expensive food that some of us love to eat, The Relenting Force of Nature. Read it and you know how I feel when one engrosses oneself in describing his eating experience of some expensive but gross seafood.

And these restaurants stink like shit. You know how it's like THE thing to do now, to display all these fucking huge and stinking tanks full of sea creatures about to be slaughtered and become your lunch or dinner.

And someone commented that in China, these exotic or seafood restaurants actually look like a zoo! He said at the entrance of these happening eating places, there are cages and tanks with monkeys, dogs, crabs, snakes, fishes....what the fuck?

Why do we eat like that? I quote ST from his article [Why We Acquire Tastes for Nasty Things]:

"Shit is an acquired taste if you feed yourself enough of it."
from Big Big Planet

And you people ask me why am I a vegetarian. Duh.

'nuf said.