About Me

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Hello, dear viewer, and thank you for visiting my blog! I am a dedicated (and certified) Food Coach and Personal Trainer with a very individual attitude to coaching. I search to look beyond people's health issues and modify their lifestyles so that they can live a healthier life, increase vitality and longevity. Recently as a strong believer in natural healing I have published two books on Ayurveda and how to use Ayurveda lifestyle and food at home. Further, I am very much into TCM and the concept of original Chinese Food, especially after my recent stay in China. I am striving to become a Yoga expert through intense training and am practicing some kind of exercise every single day. My second blog http://thrumyeyes-kat.blogspot.com/ is dedicated to my passion to capture the world with my camera and create my own world like that. Everything you will find on these pages about nutrition and exercising is authentic and self-tested. Enjoy and don't forget to send me your comments, which are always welcome in my attempt to meet your expectations even better!

Sunday 25 March 2012

Health food - Alcaline diet


Dear readers,

lately everybody tends to talk about the Alkaline Diet! I hear it left, right and center “Oh, I started to eat alkaline food!” Then people start telling me what is included in their diet, I get a shock, and then questions start, like “what does alkaline mean actually?” and “so, what are alkaline foods?”, “what happens if my body gets to acidic?” and so on. 

So here comes a quick overview for all of you to really understand why keeping your body alkaline is so important and what it means to eat alkaline food.

A wonderful overview over alkaline food and more detailed information you can find on http://www.balance-ph-diet.com/acid_alkaline_food_chart.html

Let’s start:

What does alkaline mean?
Wikipedia says: Alkalinity or AT measures the ability of a solution to neutralize acids to the equivalence point of carbonate or bicarbonate. 

This is the scientific basic explanation. As you know, our bodies mirror the universe, so the human body in his constant work has to neutralize acids as well. Usually, the human body is slightly alkaline with a pH 7.36-7.44.  

All foods are "burned" in the body--more commonly called "digested"-- leaving an ash as the result of the "burning", or the digestion. This food ash can be neutral, acid or alkaline, depending largely on the mineral composition of the foods.  

When the body is acidic, essential nutrients tend to be depleted faster including potassium, magnesium, sodium and calcium. Harmful bacteria also breed faster in an acidic environment, producing infections and sickness, but cannot survive in an alkaline body. Some chronic conditions such as fatigue, anxiety, dry skin, back pain, depression, arthritis, gastritis, ulcers, cellular degeneration and osteoporosis are also linked with acidic diets.

Very generally said, alkaline foods are mostly raw and fresh fruits and vegetables. Our idea can be very deceptive as for example citrus fruits when metabolized are highly alkaline in contrast to what they do appear to us. There are other foods, which in their raw status are alkaline, when cooked though deliver many acids. This is the case with e.g. spinach and chard. Now you are confused, I know.

A healthy diet, which can also reverse some conditions, consists of 80% alkaline food half of which ideally should be raw.

Acidic foods that should be limited to no more than 20% of the diet include meats, seafood, dairy products, pasta and white flour, rice, coffee, alcohol and anything processed or refined.

Main alkaline foods are cucumber, wheat grass, barley grass, broccoli sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, parsley, kale, sea vegetables, avocado, bell peppers, beets, broccoli, cabbage, celery, endive, collard, ginger, green beans, garlic, mustard greens, lettuce, onion, okra, tomato, spinach. Some nuts, seeds (sesame seeds) and oils are also good sources of alkalinity, particularly pumpkin seeds, almonds, further cold pressed oils like cod liver oil, evening primrose oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, fish oil.

Please get more detailed lists from the above link or even on http://alkaline-alkaline.com/ph_food_chart.html. As with all our nutrition it is important to find a balance.

As in all diets I always give the advice to not make yourself completely crazy! The secret is to find a healthy balance. If you exaggerate one day with meat, alcohol, grains and other try to balance it out the next day by enjoying a vegetarian, mostly raw food, diet. One example are the blackberries and cranberries: you are absolutely supposed to eat them due to their high amount in anti-oxidants, but now you have learned that they are highly acidic. The solution is to combine them with alkaline food, prepare a Quinoa porridge with soy milk, add some raisins and dates and off you go!

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Healthy snacks for sporty people

Dear world-wide audience,

Sri Lanka is slowly heating up, that is humidity is hitting in. Occasional heavy rainfalls cool down the air nicely for a good night's sleep, which makes you jump out of bed in the morning hitting the treadmill or the Yoga room. Or both. Or the mat with your favorite Pilates DVD. 
Another very important contributor to a good night's sleep obviously is what you had for dinner. In all those years since I am taking extreme care of my nutrition I became more and more sensitive to this and during my exercise, which I tend to do before breakfast, I always feel the - positive or negative - impact of what I had as a last meal. 

This morning doing Yoga on a completely empty stomach (dinner cancelling the night before and breakfast only after Yoga) felt absolutely great. Even my husband had to admit that. This does not mean that you should cancel your dinner every night, but 1 or 2 times a week don't do any harm, in fact, it allows your own inner wellness center to work just on your beauty and health overnight without wasting any energy on the digestion of a heavy meal. 



When should I eat last time then if I cancel my dinner? I was a bit extreme yesterday, I did not have anything else after my lunch at 2PM, just a big glass of tomato juice and lots of water and herbal teas. For who can handle it, that works very well.

My better half for example cannot handle it as he will not shut an eye in the night on such an empty stomach.  


When should I eat for the last time then if I cancel my dinner? I was a bit extreme yesterday, I did not have anything anymore after my lunch at 2PM, just a big glass of tomato juice and lots of water and herbal teas. For who can handle it, that works very well.
 
My better half for example cannot handle it as he will not shut an eye in the night on such an empty stomach

In that case, it is advisable to have something light around latest 5PM.

Very healthy and nutritious and packed with the power to keep you going through your exercise next morning are snacks like for example organic muesli bars with lots of different nuts. You can get them from your organic supermarket, but if you make them yourself you know exactly what's in them. 


Spicy Carob Banana Energy Bars

(from Thrive Fitness)
  • 3/4 cup dates
  • 1/2 jalapeno pepper
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/2 cup cooked or sprouted buckwheat
  • 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
  • 1/4 cup salba (if available) or wholegrain flower
  • 1/4 cup macadamia nuts
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp unhulled sesame seeds
Process everything except sesame seeds in a food processor. Put the mixture directly from the food processor into a pan lined with parchment paper, shape it into a brick and freeze it before cutting it into bars. Once you have cut the bars, sprinkle them with the sesame seeds.

 Healthy Granola Bar Recipe

(from www.nomeatathlete.com)

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp natural sugar
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup whole grain cereal (like brown rice crispies)
1 cup dried fruit (like Sunmaid’s variety pack of “Fruit bits”)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
3 tbs canola oil
1 tbs ground flax seed

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix the ground flax seed with 1/4 cup warm water, set aside to thicken. Toss the chickpeas in the sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon.  Bake for 10 minutes, stir around in the pan, then back for 10 more minutes.  Add the oatmeal to the pan and bake for 5 more minutes, stirring the oatmeal once.
Stir together the peanut butter, honey, canola oil, and flax paste.
Combine the chickpeas, oatmeal, cereal, dried fruits, and remaining tsp of cinnamon.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir to combine.
Press the mixture into a greased pan. Press and pack in the mixture as hard as you can.  Refrigerate until firm, then cut into 24 bars.
 This looks like a bit of work, but the result is just amazing! Enjoy!!