Healthy take out tips

I have long been a pain in the ass when it comes to eating out and ordering take out, so I thought I’d share some of my tricks to make take out a little bit healthier.

Japanese
•    I’m not going to tell you to avoid tempura. I’ll assume you know that already.
•    Don’t have too much sushi rice as it contains lots of sugar and is high GI (meaning it causes an insulin spike, which will leave you craving more sugar not too long after).
•    Don’t have too much soy; it’s very high in salt, which leads to fluid retention (water weight)
•    Sashimi, salads, edamame, tataki, steamed and baked fish, sukiyaki, noodle soups all great options (though do be aware of high salt content)
•    Don’t have too much sweet sauce like teriyaki or miso as they are high in sugar and kilojoules 

Pizza
•    Go vegetarian
•    Ask for less cheese
•    Avoid marinated vegetables as they often have lots of oil
•    Go for a wholemeal base if they have one. Or gluten free, but I find this isn’t as nice and if you’re going to have pizza, you might as well have proper dough

Pasta
•    Add Parmesan yourself to control the amount
•    Go for red sauces (tomato based) instead of white (oil or cream based)
•    Try not to fill up on bread before the meal or you’ll end up having a carb-overload (and definitely a GI spike leading to a sugar crash)
•    Don’t overeat – eat to 70-80% full and then have a break, otherwise you’ll end up with a pasta baby in your belly (we’ve all been there…)

Thai, noodles, etc
•    Ask for less or no oil. Most of the sauces used have a little oil in them anyway, so there is no need for your stir-fries or noodles to be cooked in oil. If you’re like me, you’ll like the taste much better and it will open up a whole range of options for healthy take out
•    Rice noodles are best – easiest to digest and lower GI
•    Avoid fried rice (duh) and go easy on the Pad Thai
•    Steamed and baked fish are great options
•    Order a side dish of mixed or steamed vegetables (hold the oil please)

Indian
•    Ask for less oil and hope for the best. This almost never works with curry, so you might be on your own here…

The key when ordering is to be very polite and appreciative. Don’t sound like a madam or you’ll end up with more cheese and more oil. This happened to me on occasion until I refined my technique.

The best advice I can give you however, is to watch your portion sizes. Serve yourself the amount you think is reasonable to eat in one sitting and don’t go back for seconds. It’s so easy to have a little bit and then a little bit more and so on. Before you know it, you’ve eaten twice the amount you normally would (remember the pasta baby…).

Also, check out some of the healthy take out options in Sydney, that I mentioned at the bottom of my recent Eat for Warmth in Winter post.

Happy take out!

Eat for warmth in winter

My love for winter is simple. I like wearing boots (my havaianas are feeling jealous and displaced) and I like skiing. I like wearing scarves too. And the occasional rainy day (read: excuse to wear Ugg boots and watch DVDs all day without feeling guilty).

I also love winter foods (mmm… curry). There is something very nourishing about eating casseroles, soups, stews and roasts. And apple crumble. Oh yum… hang on, I’m having a moment.

Eat warm, stay slim 
Winter is a time for nourishing foods; it’s when we should be eating the richest, warmest and heaviest meals and cooked meals are required to support the body’s need for protection in the colder weather. It’s also *gulp* a time when we tend to put on an extra kilo or two of “insulation”. Portion control is really important during this time, remembering that a salad is probably half the kilojoules compared to a casserole or stew of the same size. If you want to avoid putting on weight in winter, I strongly recommend you watch your portion sizes, eat slooooowwwwly and maintain a regular exercise program. Exercise is particularly important to keep the spine and joints flexible, but I digress…

Eat intuitively
The extent to which you follow winter eating principles really depends on your constitution. It’s pretty intuitive and you probably do it naturally - if you have a tendency to feel the cold, then you need to eat warming foods more than someone who can get away without wearing a jacket in winter. What’s particularly important, is that you listen to your body. Don’t eat salads and raw foods if you feel the cold. It’s common sense really, but it’s all too easy to grab a salad (and feel virtuous about it) when what you really need are cooked and warming foods.

Cooking methods and meals
The general rule for winter cooking is to cook foods for longer at lower temperature with less water. Warming cooking methods include grilling, frying, roasting, searing, baking, long simmering in liquid, slow cooking, cooking with alcohol, and using hot or warming spices. Think casserole, stew, roast, soup, bakes and curry. Invest in a slow cooker if you have the time (ha!).

My favourite winter breakfast is porridge. Plain porridge can be a little boring, but add stewed fruit, honey, roasted slivered almonds and cinnamon and it not only looks pretty, but tastes delicious. 

Warming foods
Meat (if you’re so inclined) and eggs are very warming, so that’s good news for the meat-eaters. As far as vegetables go, a good rule of thumb for veggies is, the longer it takes to grow, the more warming it is. Root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot, onions, garlic) are among the most warming. Avoid cold drinks and cold foods like icecream as they have a cooling affect on the body (I can hear you saying “duh”, but I thought I’d mention it anyway).

Here are some basic lists of warming foods.

Fruit (especially cooked): apple, cranberry, date, dried fruits, grape, kiwi, mandarin, orange, pear, tangerine, watermelon
Veggies: boy choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, kale, leek, onion, parsnip, potato, seaweed, spinach, sprouts, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, turnip
Nuts and seeds: almond, brazil, cashew, macadamia, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, walnut, linseed (flax), pumpkin, sesame, sunflower
Grains (cooked): barley, corn, millet, oat, quinoa, rice, rye, wheat
Beans: adzuki, black, kidney, lentil, lima, navy, soy

Warming herbs and spices
A great way to warm up a dish is to add warming spices and herbs in the cooking process. Cumin is excellent, as is turmeric, cayenne pepper, chilli, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Chai tea contains lots of these spices and is a yummy way to warm your body. Garlic and ginger (actually vegetables) are very warming too.

Add salt for extra warmth
Salt is very warming and has the most grounding action of food. Any dish can be made “warmer” by adding a little salt (I recommend sea salt, rather than table salt, which is far less good). Good sources of salt include sea salt, soy, miso and seaweed. In Ayurveda, the traditional medicine system of India, salt is said to strengthen one’s energy. Do be cautious with the quantity that you add, particularly if you tend towards fluid retention (water weight) as I do.

Some local “fast food” recommendations
While healthy home cooking is best, you can still get food quickly and eat well, particularly in winter. Iku Wholefoods is definitely a firm favourite. As is About Life (formerly Macro Wholefoods) in Bondi Junction/Rozelle and The Health Emporium in Bondi. Iku does the most delicious porridge and tofu curry and About Life does yummy soups, casseroles and curries. I also really love Laurie’s Vegetarian Cafe in Bondi. Try the veggie burger or the lentil casserole. Yum and yum.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m putting on my Ugg boots, stretchy pants (my guilty pleasure) and a scarf.

Sources
Pitchford, P 2002, Healing with Wholefoods, North Atlantic Books, California
Haas, E M 2006, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, Celestial Arts, California

Up my what? A colonic affair

So my beautiful housemate has been RAVING about her series of colonics. Her tummy is flatter, her digestive system has improved, she’s been having regular “movements”, her skin looks amazing and she generally feels great.

Ok, so it’s my turn. I’m not particularly fond of the idea of having a foreign object put in my “sacred place” (just around the corner from my “special place”), but the benefits sound great, so I’m willing to give it a shot.

Beforehand I’m a little bit worried about it being embarrassing and my “not so nice stuff” from my “sacred place” being on display. I have visions of unflattering noises and yucky mucky stuff coming out for all to see. This is made worse by the fact that my colon hydrotherapist turns out to be a man. Oh joy.

Believe it or not, it’s actually not that bad and not really embarrassing at all (especially if you have had a Brazilian wax before and been asked by your therapist to lie on your tummy and “spread em please”).

For those of you interested in the gory details, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the process. The therapist leaves the room and you get undressed from the waist down and cover yourself with a towel. Therapist comes back and puts lubed tube in “sacred place”. This is the least fun part. I might have yelped as Marcus (lovely Marcus with whom I am now intimately acquainted, much to the displeasure of my boyfriend, who likens it to having an affair) asked if I was ok, to which I replied, “um, it’s just that I’ve never had anything up there.” He then said, “that’s too much information.” And I said, “no, too much information would be me telling you that I have all sorts of stuff up there all the time.” Ice-breaker. I feel better already. But still not happy with tube in sacred place.

Then comes the “fill” part, where 18-25 litres of water is pumped into your colon. I didn’t even feel this; it was only noticeable when there was a little “gas” to pass through and then it just felt like a slight cramp.  Then the pressure is released and stuff starts coming out. There is no sound at all (thank goodness) and it’s not like you even feel like you’re going to the toilet. Aside from the tube up the youknowwhatsit and seeing your waste travelling past a glass window in the machine, it’s actually fine.

Each treatment is a series of fills and releases and lasts for about 45 mins. Your therapist stays with you the whole time guiding you through the process, massaging your tummy to move things through and watching what is coming out. All sorts of wonderful things can come out; gas, candida, parasites, poorly chewed food, waste, toxins and adrenal fluid (caused by stress). I’m not telling you which of those came out of me, but suffice to say that most did and I am a pretty healthy person, so imagine what an unhealthy person would pass through!

After four treatments with the lovely Marcus at The Colon Hydrotherapy Centre in Darlinghurst (also in Randwick), I can honestly say that I feel amazing. One of the key benefits that I’ve noticed is reduced edema (fluid retention) due to allergenic substances being removed with the waste and I swear that I feel skinnier and lighter than I have in ages. My tummy is flat and my digestive system is much improved.

I can honestly say that combining a juice cleanse (I know of a good one…) and series of colonics is an amazing way to detox and feel light and full of energy.

The cost is $95 per session. Well worth it in my humble (nothing more humbling than having tube in sacred place) opinion. 

PS. I highly, highly recommend Marcus as he made me feel so comfortable and at ease. He’s my new best friend and I’m going back in 5 weeks for a follow up treatment.

PPS. I almost titled this post “A colonic journey with a happy ending”, but then I thought better of it.

What's all the fuss about coconut water?

Everybody seems to be banging on about coconut water lately and it looks like we’re about to see bottled coconut water on the market in Australia. It’s quite big in the US, with flavoured coconut waters becoming increasingly popular, including lime flavoured coconut water (yep, that’s lime in the coconut).

I’ll have to try it myself, but I don’t imagine that it will be as good as the real thing; that is, drinking the water from young, fresh coconuts.

I spent a few months in India last year and every morning after yoga practice, we’d all go outside and the coconut man would be waiting to lop off the top of a coconut and hand it to you with a straw. Once you had finished drinking the water, you would give it back and he would fashion a spoon from the shell and hand it back to you so you could scoop out the flesh. So yummy. There were quite a few yogis at the time who would do regular coconut water fasts and just drink coconut water for days on end. (I think that’s fine for a day or so, but I obviously prefer juice cleansing as you get a many more different nutrients packed into the juices, but I digress…)

Coconut water is delicious and quite different to coconut milk (which is made from ground coconut flesh and coconut water). It has a yummy salty sweet flavor and is very easy to drink.

So what’s so good about it?

Coconut water is a natural isotonic beverage (meaning it’s designed to replace the fluid and salts lost from the body during exercise) containing the same level of electrolyte balance as we have in our blood. In times of war and famine, it has been used as an intravenous fluid and saved many lives.

It's naturally fat-free, relatively low in sugar and carbohydrates and helps to boost metabolism, promote weight loss, cleanse the digestive system and detoxify and fight viruses, among other things! I’ll also let you in on a little secret… it’s a brilliant hangover remedy.

Basically it’s a super healthy, nutrient-packed drink. We recommend it to our cleansers as a supplement to the juices if they are feeling hungry, but you can drink it any time.

If you’re so inclined, you can buy fresh, young coconuts from health food stores and specialty fruit and veg stores for about $3-4.

Enjoy.

Get back on track after Easter

Last week we tweeted some tips on how to get back on track if your healthy living plan has fallen by the wayside (if you're not on twitter, get into it; it's loads of fun).

So if you, like many people, ate your weight in Easter eggs this weekend, you might be interested in some of our tips...

1. Get your peeps into "healthy mode". Try to find one or two others (or more) & make a health pact to eat well & exercise more.
2. Plan & prepare: Go food shopping. Make an exercise plan for the week. Simple, but it works!
3. Engineer your social life: Dinner? Go Japanese. Weekend catch up? Do a run/walk & breakfast instead of a drink. So easy & just as fun.
4. Cut out the nasties - white sugar & white flour, anything fried or too high in saturated fat. Cut down on meat. Go low fat dairy. Eat more fish and vegetarian meals.
5. Zero tolerance: If you're not so good at stopping after one treat, adopt a zero tolerance policy for your vices.
6. Move your ass. Walk, run, swim, bike, yoga, wotevz - just move it! Exercise always inspires you to eat well too so there's a bonus!
7. Eat what you want, but less of it. When zero tolerance doesn't work, try to restrict yourself to only one 500kj treat each day. For example, a snack pack of chips or 20gms of chocolate is about 500kjs.
8. Drink enough water. You might think you're hungry, but if you're not drinking enough water, you're prob thirsty. Aim for 1.5-2 litres per day.
9. Just because there's a cute m&m dispenser at work doesn't mean you need to eat any!
10. Eat an apple 30 mins before lunch. Studies have shown that people consume 15% less kilojoules after an apple. It feels virtuous too!

Hopefully this helps to get you back into "healthy mode". (At least until Anzac Day long weekend anyway!)

Weight loss and detoxing/cleansing

I can't tell you how many people ask if they will lose weight while they are cleansing. Tons of them... The answer is yes, but it's not quite as simple as that.

You definitely do lose weight, but not all the weight you lose is fat and some of it will come back if you’re not careful after the cleanse finishes.

A lot of the weight you will lose is excess fluid. Excess fluid (fluid retention or edema) has many causes including; too much salt or not enough protein in the diet, food and environmental allergies, poor circulation, and hormonal imbalances (women are particularly prone to fluid retention prior to and during their periods). Fluid retention masquerades as fat (and looks like fat) and can add up to 2kgs to even the smallest frame.

Juice cleansing can help to flush this excess fluid due the natural diuretic properties of many of the ingredients used and the cleanse’s high content of water (which actually helps get rid of excess water, contrary to what you might think).

In addition to this, because the cleanse is relatively low in kilojoules (approx 4400 kilojoules per day for a Level 1 cleanse), you will most likely lose some fat also.

It’s pretty simple, if you want the weight to stay off following the cleanse, you need to eat less salt (the main offender for fluid retention) and follow a healthy, wholefoods diet (see our blog post on Simple Healthy Eating Principles). If you can stay off the booze, takeout and sugar for a few weeks after your cleanse, you’ll do your body (and weight), the world of good.

Set some healthy goals today

Now is as good a time as any to start thinking about some goals for permanent lifestyle and habit changes.

Take a few minutes today and set yourself five or so healthy lifestyle goals. Your goals should be SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-specific

Here is an example to get you started…
1.    Eat five serves of fruit and vegetables each day
2.    Exercise for 45 minutes three times per week
3.    Have five alcohol free days per week
4.    Increase water intake to 1.5 – 2 litres every day
5.    Do an Urban Remedy Cleanse. Of course we’d say that, but it really is a good way to stay healthy and keep focused on the path of wellness

It's really simple and goals are very powerful tools to help you stay focused on being healthy, fit and well.