Always chew your food !!

This is what I ate today


It's steamed carrot, sauted broccoli and raw long beans plus Deep fried tempeh coated in batter.

After having those 2 pieces of fried tempeh on my plate and taking a bite.
I didn't want them anymore, I don't know, today I just didn't feel like eating those 2 fried stuff.
and I actually listened to my body.
Good improvements right :)

So........ about chewing.........
We all know we need to chew well, right !!!!!!!
But most of us don't chew enough.
Why ??
Why don't we chew enough ?
1. We're way too hungry, so we eat really fast
2. We're always in a hurry , so we eat really fast
3. We eat over-processed food, so they're soft and don't require much chewing.

We need the enzymes in our Saliva to help digest and breaks down food.
If we don't chew well, the food doesn't get properly "enzymed" ;p
so the whole digestion process is not "well-executed"
thus digestion problems.
Okay so I didn't really explain that in a proper medical manner,
but you get the picture.

So......... in order to properly digest and absorb the nutrients from all the healthy fresh food you eat and be Healthy and Benefit from your diet,
We need to chew 30-40 times......... even better if more.
But who's crazy enough to count to 40 at every bite hey ?

So......
How do you chew that much time, without counting ??
How do you chew well and still enjoy your food ??
Here is what I just realized today,
while eating that food in the picture above. (minus the fried tempeh)
(sauteed brocolli, steamed carrot, and raw long beans)
When I eat, I mix them together so I get bits of everything at every bite.
While I was eating my food, I noticed that I chew way longer than usual.
Why ? because there are pieces of raw fresh long beans at every bite.

Yes.... the raw long beans are tougher and crunchier, so they actually require more chewing.
And as I counted how many times I chewed, I noticed it took me more than 40 chews at every bite. sometimes more than 50. I've lost count after 40 chews.

So It doesn't matter what your diet is like,
It's a very good thing to always mix your food with Fresh RawVegetables ,
it makes you CHEW !!!
plus you get all the live beneficial enzyme from the raw Vegetables !!
It could be anything, cucumber, parsley, lettuce, etc etc whatever is acceptable to you and makes you chew.

If you think it's crazy to chew that many times at every meal.
oh my jaw's gonna get tired, oh it's gonna take a long time to eat, oh I don't like raw food, oh the food's gonna go bland while chewing it, bla bla bla
Here's the Positive points of mixing your food with raw food :
1. It makes you chew, means your healthy food gets digested well and gets absorbed well, meaning Healthy you !!!
2. Raw food has more flavours,
The long beans, oh what ? it's also called string beans ? why thank you :)
So, the string beans didn't lose it's flavours when I was chewing it.
It still has the same flavour from chew 1x till chew 50x.
3. You won't over eat = Your ideal weight
Yes you'll take longer to finish your food. Yes the jaws will sometimes get tired.
But, you don't still have the "false hungry" feeling, because when it takes sometimes to chew and digest the food bla bla bla, your brain will tell you at the right time, that you are not hungry anymore, So you don't over eat, You will only eat just as much as you actually need, and You will have your ideal weight.

So... chew for a Healthy you :)

Don't eat too much !!!

Seriously..... Never ever overeat !!!!!!!!!

So... Here's what happened :
this is what I ate yesterday....



It's actually very tasty, not a very good color tho ;p
but the beans are so yummy..........
What's on the bowl :
- beans + carrot + chayote soup (didn't take the soup water)
- blanched morning glory aka kangkung
- sauteed tempe with sweet soy sauce
Yes that seemed healthy and just about right !!!

I also ate some cassava balls.......;p
that is cassava/tapioca grated and shaped into balls
filled with palm sugar
and then steamed
I didn't take a pic because they looked messy, but so chewy and fudgy and yummy
I ate like 10 balls.

and after that I ate some of those Aloe vera cubes plus sugar water, as a dessert.
And I was too full !!!

Then at night,
I had the same thing again...
yes you're not supposed to eat the same stuff for 1 whole day...
u need fresh food !!!!
Anyhoo... I ate the same thing again, plus the cassava balls, at 10 pm
yes 10 pm !!!
Why would I do that ??

I was sleepy at around 10 pm, but kinda hungry
I should've just eaten fruits
but Nooooo........
greedy me wanted more than just fruit.....

So......... after the same food... although with less quantity,
I was left feeling way too full....
I secretly think the cassava expanded in my tummy.

So I had a bulging tummy ;p
I couldn't lie down, because I'd feel all the food wanting to come back up my throat.
ewww right ;p
It was kinda difficult to breath.
I was so sleepy, but I couldn't sleep coz I couldn't lie down
It was torture !!!!!!
Silly meeeeeeeeeee..................

I was kinda gassy....
and I passed gas, and it was stinky.....
I also burped ;(
I'm sorry for all the details !!
But this would remind me never to overeat the next time.
I should always be in control on how much stuff I eat,
I should listen to my body and stop eating.

Then after a few hours....
Yes it was like 2 hours after.
*after 2 trips to the toilet ;p)
I could lie down, but then I wasn't sleepy at all !!
So I ended up reading some books and watching some TV to get sleepy again.

So here's the Negative parts :
- Not only did I "suffer"
- I messed up my sleep pattern which messed up my whole system.
(Chaos inside - balance/homeostatis is disturbed)
- Overeating also means the digestive system is working harder, the enzymes are trying to break down stuff, or something like that.
And some of the food doesn't even get digested and absorbed and the food got turned into poison, thus the smelly pass gass and burping.

There's no point in being a so-called-Healthy Vegan if I'm still overeating and messing up the balance in my body, right ?
But on the next meal / next day, this is when I usually fall back into the trap
"Oh I'm feeling good today, I can finish all that stuff in one go"
"I so wanna have another piece of that, maybe 3 pieces"
and I forgot how miserable and tortured I felt when I overate,
and before I know it, I'd overate once again, and I'd experienced the same (or worse) rituals of torturing myself and messing with my health.
So, I promise myself to always eat well, listen to my body and Be in control !!

Fortunately, The next morning, I woke up feeling fine,
I went to the toilet and afterwards, felt "Clean"
My tummy was back to flat ;p yeay
But that doesn't mean I'm free to overeat whenever I please.
I don't think I ever wanna feel "tortured" like that ever again.

In the past,
A few times, during the weekends,
when I was staying up in our family villa up in the mountain.
I ate way tooo muchhhhh................
So...... when everybody was asleep..... I had to sit up on my bed with a bucket next to me.
Yes.... I was too full I wanted to throw up, but couldn't and didn't want to.
Sometimes I did throw up and it's the worst feeling in the world.
Your stomach just "pumps" all the food out your throat and you have no control whatsoever.
then after throwing up the first time, just right after you take a breath, it repeats all over again.
Eeewwwwwwwwwww......... yuckkkkkkkkkk...........
no moreeeeeee........ never againnnnnn..........
I'm sowwy for all the details, but this will remind me to never ever repeat the same mistake.

So, guys.... seriously.......
Never ever over eat
Always eat just about enough !!
Some people say "Stop eating just right before you feel full"
Always be in Control of what you eat and How much you eat !!
And always Enjoy your food !!
:)

Pepper Grinder 101

This is my pepper grinder
and I fill it with black pepper.

So I've never really cared about freshly ground pepper and those readily ground pepper powder sold in supermarkets.
But freshly ground pepper is way better, obviously. It's freshly ground, so the aroma is released once it's ground.
Although I can't really tell the difference ;p hoahaha

It's said that the best pepper grinder is the one with the ceramic blade.
But it's costly.
Mine is made out of glass (the transparent one) and plastic (blue top)
and the grinder inside... I'm clueless... plastic ? stainless ?
It's a cheap one I got at a nearby supermarket.
It's very handy and in a good quality to be honest.
and you can twist the top to set the grind quality of the pepper , fine to coarse.
I didn't know that was possible ;p
But I set mine to the finest grind.

It's also better to grind the pepper before you put food on your plate.
Well... at least I think it's better ;)
this way, when the food's hot, you don't get the pepper grinder all wet and misty from the heat.
But... when you're seasoning while cooking...
well.... you're gonna use the pepper grinder over heat anyway..
So, forget what I said....
But I don't cook anyway... so my trick still works...
Grind the pepper on your empty plate first, then add the hot food ;p

Wat ??
It's also called a Pepper Mill
oh okayy...

Anyhoo.........
After using the Pepper grinder for some time...
I noticed that there are some broken pieces in the pepper grinder container (inside the glass)
And the core or the inside of the black pepper is actually white !!
Is it really like that ?
Can you see in the photo below ?



Black pepper has a white core ?
or is it a conspiracy theory of a white pepper dipped in black color ?
So I have been watching too many movies.
But seriously....
Black pepper has a white core ?

Aloe Vera

So I have Aloe Vera growing all over the house...
they just grow and grow
I guess they just like the super hot weather.

So.......
I've read about the wonderful properties of Aloe.
They say it's even good for hair growth, so just rub it on your scalp..
or better.... put the aloe flesh in a blender... then rub it on your scalp.

I sometimes use it on my face as a mask...
sometimes all over my body...
sometimes it itches too on my skin ;p

How to use Aloe ?
well... you peel the skin and don't get the yellow sap
and use as you like.
I've read that Aloe has a lot of active enzyme, vitamins, minerals, proteins and amino acids.
It's just phenomenal.
There are books about how to use Aloe...
yess... you can rub it on sunburnt skin.

But.... How do you eat Aloe ?
Juicing it is yucky... I can never gulp down slimy Aloe ;p
Some people cut Aloe up to cube size and boil them to eliminate the slime
and then they add sugar water + pandan leaves
So it's like a sweet soupy dessert to be eaten hot or cold.
Which is what my housekeeper made today............



Anddddd..........
I took only the sweet sugary aromatic "soup"
oh allright, the sugar water....
and added fresh raw Alove vera sliced to cubes.
And I ate it like that.....

And as a matter of fact........
it's totally edible.
Yes you can still feel the slimy slime of Aloe when you chew.
But it's just acceptable, just chew quickly and swallow and don't eat too much of it at one time. ;p
So... it's a good way to eat Aloe Vera raw and fresh and benefit from all the amazing properties.

Which comes to my Recipe.
Wat ??? she's doing Recipe ???
heriuharuahra
oh okay, it's not an actual Recipe
but when I was eating the raw Aloe + sugar water
I just thought to myself,
Eating Raw Aloe would be nice with sweet Melon juice with some lemon squirts.
or Watermelon or Cantaloupe.
Just chuck the fruits into the blender, and they are naturally sweet so you don't need to add sugar, plus this way you get the fruit fibres as well. Then add the cubed raw Aloe Vera.
Serve cold
Yummmmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!! :)

Lunch again

So... after that supper with fried flour... crunchy yum yum....

This is what I'm eating right now....
lunch is :
chayote + carrot + cauli flower
and bean curd sheet + winter melon soup
drizzled with olive oil
sprinkled with freshly ground pepper and sea salt



although I still crave for fried stuff right now....
mmm... yup... still craving it....
but this is quite a good lunch ;)

breakfast was
a small plate full of watermelon
then
a glass of fresh fruit juice of carrot + beet + pear
and I didn't get hungry until now , lunch at 12:52 pm
*gnom gnom gnom*
;)

yes... dat picture is also dinner....
sometimes I eat the same thing for the whole day...
oh well ;D

How to detox ?

It's been a while since I do a detox.
especially since now I've been a Healthy Vegan for almost 3 months ;)

But..............
I remember doing this...
(I was still eating everything... meat, dairy, sugar, etc etc)
- So I'd reduce meat, carbs and fried stuff and eat more vegetables for a few days.
(no sugary desserts, no dairy, no coffee)
- Then I'd just eat fruits for 1 day....
All kinds of fruits, watermelon, apples, bananas, melons, oranges, etc
As much as I want, everytime I'm hungry I just eat fruits.
- Then... if I could, I'd drink only fresh fruit juice for 1 day.
- I think that's about all, that's what I did.
- then the next day I'd start eating carbs (rice, noodles, pasta etc) and more vegetables
- then it's back to normal the next day

But I've always loved eating fruits all my life.
So no matter what I eat, I also eat a lot of fresh fruits throughout the day.

Side effects of Detoxing
well, it's not really a side effect,
But.... some people experience dizzyness, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.
It doesn't mean you are getting sick,
It's a sign that your body is cleansing itself.
But as always, Don't force yourself, Listen to your body.
There are also different types of detoxing.
so Research on Detoxing.... Read read and read

Good Luck :)

ps. you've got to WANT to detox to really be able to detox your body ;)
pps. Adding Beet in your juice (carrot+beet juice or apple + beet juice) is a good way to help cleanse. you'll see that your poo becomes red ;p

How to do a Fast ?

This is my version, right now....
it might change later, but this is what I've gathered from books, the net, etc...
it may not be the best fast, but this is how I do it.

To fast.........
I need to "prepare" myself.
I Eat only "healthy" stuff,
Fresh Vegetables, raw if possible, for 1 day (or more.)
then Only Fruits for another day. (or more)
some people even only drink juice for 1 day.
(some for longer days... it varies and it depends on you.)
Then I fast, for 1 day only.
the first time I fast, (started at 10 pm the night before), I ate at 8 pm on the next day.
the second time, I ate at 5 pm.
I couldn't go on till the next sunrise and I didn't force myself.
I've wanted to fast from sunrise till the next sunrise.
But I never could hohohoho
After I fast.... I drink fresh fruit juice and eat fruits only
and if I get hungry, afterwards, I allow steamed vegetables or salad with olive oil and salt.

I do a total fast (No water - No food)
because I read that it gives a total rest to your digestion system.
But you should listen to your body and never force yourself.
You can do a No food fast and allow water if you want.
You can also do a half-day fast.
There are a lot of version of fasting.
Just listen to your body, it knows which types of fast is best for you.

But don't fast if your goal is to lose weight.... you'll only be doing yourself harm.
Fast if you wanna cleanse your system.
and Do it right !!

If you've never done a fast before.
I don't recommend you doing a fast right away.
You need to detox first
at least I think you need to detox first.
and don't drastically change your diet in 1 day, give it a few days to transition.
although you might experience nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. which is totally a normal reaction.
It's a sign that your body is cleansing.
I didn't experience those things when I did my detox.
But my sis did.

How to detox ?
it's next :)

Another Fast

So....... on the 23rd of June 2009, I did another fast...
well... simply because I ran out of food.
that... and also I was too lazy to buy food and prepare food.
and I've also been wanting to do another fast to cleanse.

But.......
it's not a good one.
I ate fried food the day before.... and the day after !!!!
To fast.... and to cleanse...
I need to eat all healthy fresh food....
which means try to eat most fresh raw food (vegs n fruits)
and maybe only fruits the day before.
But hey...........it's done....

The fast started from the morning till 5 pm
(I last had water-food at 10 pm the night before)
no water no food
It was fine... I was kinda hungry during the day.... but not starving
so I took a nap hohohoho.....
and I listened to my body, which is important...
I didn't force myself to fast for longer duration.
it was just right. ;)

How to make a really crunchy batter

I try not to eat fried stuff and hopefully I don't eat anymore fried stuff anymore...
*strong will power on*

But.... I might as well............ ;p
I've tried to try to make batter to fry stuff, but they don't turn out really crispy....
So......... this time it works !!!!!!
It's really simple !!!!

I know some people :
- use breadcrumbs or tempura crumb thingy *i'm so clueless haha*
- add beer to the batter
- add baking soda/powder
- add egg
and still have a crispy crunch result.

I've tried adding egg and/or baking soda/powder, but it didn't turn out crispy.
I've tried smoothing out the clumps when then flour's mixed with water.... nada

Sooooo.........
this is what works for me.....

How to make a crunchy batter
get some flour.... put into a bowl
(you can add salt if you want, but I always sprinkle some salt when it's done/fried anyway, so it's not necessary at this point)
add just enough water so it's not too thick nor not too runny
don't care about clumps... don't mix it too smoothly....
and it's done.... you can dump stuff on the batter and start frying
or just fry the thing as it is........

again... fried food is bad for you
but I now know how to make a crunch batter ;p

Fried Food is bad for you

huhuhuhu... I know I know...
but the crisp and the crunch.
It's just so hard to resist............
I've been really good for 1.5 months....
but lately, I've been having some deep fried tempeh coated in crunchy batter.
I knowwww.... one piece becomes 2 becomes 5 becomes everyday.

Even last time,
I was craving crunchy stuff and I didn't even have tempeh.
So I made a crunchy fried batter... yup... just that........
and ate it with salads.
Yesss... no nutrients whatsoever in that fried stuff.
It was good while eating those crunchy stuff,
but afterwards, my stomach started to have that feeling when you just ate a really greasy food, and it's not a good feeling.
And.... after day 2, I started to feel a bad sorethroat coming !!!!!!

Ugghhh.......
So I had some ginger tea and was fine the next day.

Today, at supper,
I had another fried batter with steamed vegetables. (spinach + seaweed)



Don't be fooled by the pale color.... they may not be golden brown, but they're really crunchy

Fried food are really addictive !!
well, to me they are.
and when you don't eat them, you don't want em at all,
but when you start....... you really can't stop.......
well, you can really........
Sooooooo......... no more fried stuff re-starting now !!!!
well.... every once in a while... they're allowedd....
umm... like once every month....... oh we'll see ;)

Must eat Lots of Fresh fruits and Fresh Vegetables !!

Don't eat in front of you notebook/laptop

So I was eating my salad in front of my notebook.
I usually don't , but I've been very careful lately :p and I thought I won't spill anything anyway.
Wrong !!!!
I had half of a fresh tomato on my plate, right.
Why would I have half a tomato in my salad ?
I was too lazy chopping the tomato up ;p
Anyhoo... So I used a fork to pick up the tomato and took a big bite.
and as I bit the tomato, the other half (dat's not in my mouth) squirted all over the keypad and the LED screen ..........
*panic mode*
So I started frantically wiping the keyboard and realized some of the liquid was under the keyboard.... huhuhuhuhu......
So.... I tried wiping the thing and tried to squish my fingernails in between keyboard with wet wipes.
what's worse is dat my salad was covered with sweet soy sauce !!! sugar !!!!
oh noo.............. now my notebook might attract ants and bugs and germs....... ewwwwwww
haeruaheruiahrua............
Okay... it was actually just a few drops of tomato juice and sweet soy sauce on the keyboard, and some on the screen. d'oh............ let's see.... around 20 tiny drops actually.
But still !!!!

Anyway........ I think I cleaned up my notebook pretty well....
So No ants, no bugs, no germs !!! ;)
Sooo.... never ever eat in front of your notebook/laptop okay !!! :D

Bowl of soup for Lunch

I just had my lunch....

A bowl of soup of chopped carrot , chayote and red bean.
The soup itself has sauteed shallot / one of those tiny red onions (Allium ascalonicum L) and lemongrass , plus salt and pepper.
I added nori seaweed, a teaspoon of organic olive oil and a black sesame oil.

Drink : Coconut water, which was naturally sweet.

I know it doesn't sound all that yummy, and I didn't take a pic of my soup coz it don't look all that appetizing ;p, but It was very filling and satisfying..... :)
yum