Day 8: Convenience

I know I said in my previous post that I am going for interval training today but I only ran for 30 minutes due to my flu. I will probably update it tomorrow.

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Convenience can kill! I saw a colleague of mine going into the pantry to the vending machine to get a can of Coca Cola Zero and a packet of M&Ms at 3pm on Friday. Is the high accessibility of these "rubbish" food making us fat and unhealthy? 

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel very hungry and there is nothing to eat at home? So your solution is most probably to get some food outside but because of food delivery, you do not have to step out of the house to buy food. Due to this convenience, most of the food you buy from food delivery will be fast food which are very unhealthy. Even if you went out and eat, the food outside will mostly be unhealthy as well. The healthiest food is probably home-cooked food made from unprocessed foods. However, this to many people is not convenient, is not fast enough. Thus, to them, the extra time that gained from buying outside food outweigh the health benefits of home-cooked food. 

So start with cooking your own meal at home with this simple recipe I am showing you below. This meal can be for lunch or dinner and is packed with healthy ingredients. It will also make you feel full for at least 4 hours due to the complex carbohydrates in this meal. And best of all, it is simple and fast. 

Chicken, mushroom and tomato pasta (1 serving)

1 handful of dry Wholewheat Fusilli / Penne pasta

1 Tomato, diced

1/8 Onion, diced

100g minced chicken breast meat (or 1/2 chicken breast mince with food processor)

2 fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp oil, preferably olive oil if not any vegetable oil

50ml water/stock

1 tsp tomato paste

Salt & pepper to taste

1. Boil a pot of water and salt it well to cook the pasta as stated on the package. 
2. Saute the onion over hot oil till onion soften. 
3. Add in the minced chicken breast meat and mushroom and cook it till almost done.
4. Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste and water/stock. Let the mixture come up to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
5. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Mix in the pasta and you are done. 

Hope you have fun cooking your own meal. 

Bye!

|ser|

Day 3: Bring lunch to work

http://justbento.com/files/bento/images/bento_79_500.jpg

Do you always eat out during work? What do you always eat? Is there always more brown then greens on your plate? After lunch, do you feel sluggish and have no energy to work? If so, you need to change what you are eating during lunch. 

For me, my lunch is usually brought from home. I am one of the lucky few that my mom still cooks for me so that I can bring nutritious food to work. Bringing food from home instead of eating out has a lot more benefits than you can imagine. 

1. Change of menu everyday instead of looking at boring food which you will get bored of after 3 months eating at the same place. 
2. Do not have to go out and buy food when you are very busy during work and have to work even during lunch time. 
3. You can choose what you want to be place inside your meals instead of eating outside where you do  not know what they may put in your food. 
4. Cooking is therapeutic.
5. Save money $$. 

Some people may think that bringing lunch to work is very troublesome and a lot of work has to be done. However, once you get the hang of it (get super awesome in cooking), you would not want to buy lunch outside anymore. 

Some suitable lunches to bring to work are:

1. Sandwiches
   They are super easy to make and I LOVE bread. Sometimes I will make them myself when my mom do not feel like cooking lunch for me. You can put anything you want in there, like ham, boiled chicken, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. I like the combination of tuna-in-water mixed with mustard and lemon juice and topped with vegetables of my choice. You can change the flavor of sandwiches by changing the type of bread and the sauce you use. The healthier sauces are usually mustard and tomato salsa. But note that these sauces may cause the bread to be soggy so remember to pack them separately and combine them together when needed. 
2. Pasta
   For pasta, remember to pack the sauce and the pasta noodle separately as well to prevent it from being too soggy. Same as the sandwiches, you can put whatever ingredients you like into the pasta. What is different is that this requires a bit of cooking which can be done the night before. 
3. Rice with a side dish
   This is just like pasta. You can just substitute pasta for rice. Preferred rice is of course the brown rice because it will not cause your sugar level to spike and cause you to be sleepy after lunch. Although my family does not use brown rice, white rice work just as well. Just make sure you have the same quantity of protein and lots of vegetables to go with it.
   Or you can go for pumpkin rice (which I am having it today=)) that can be easily cooked inside a normal rice cooker. Pumpkin will keep your sugar level constant and to keep your hunger pangs at bay. It also contains high levels of Vitamin A and fiber which makes it a very good food for people on diet. 
4. Salads
   I know there is quite a number of people who will bring salads to work for lunch. However, I do not recommend it. I feel that there is not enough satisfaction and energy in a meal of purely vegetables or at most with a serving of protein. However, if your work do not require that much of energy, perhaps a salad will be a good choice. Remember to pack your dressing separately as well. 

So this is all, I am going to eat my lunch soon. Let me know what are your favorite lunch choices to bring to work.

Bye!

|ser|