Exercising without a gym

[Ahleon]

No wonder i dun feel hungry at all.

 

Hmm...gotta go replan my menu!

 

figs, raisins and cashews (yes, the cashew is not a nut lol) are fruits....contain sugar and carbo.

 

Vermicelli is made of rice. Doesn't look like rice, but it's rice in noodle form lol

 

[Chickenbackside]

Yes, it does take some time to figure out where to get your macronutrients from especially when eating out. After a while, it's quite easy lah.

 

For me, I just gravitate towards the "unhealthy" foods like pig organ soup (without rice), kway chap (without kway), roast pork (without rice), beef noodle (without noodle), fish soup (without rice), yong tau foo (without noodles/tau foo/sauce), prawn and pork rib noodles (without noodles), Ya Kun (just for the eggs), Cold Storage (for ribs, belly pork, pork knuckles or chicken plus cheese to compliment the meat)...etc.

 

I'm always on the lookout for fats.

 

Skunk is absolutely right, again. You have to be strict about carbs. Fat is harmless IN THE ABSENCE of carbs. So if you know you're going to cheat with the carbs, then you'd better be watching your fat intake.

 

What is cheat you might ask?

 

- 1/2 a bowl of rice is cheating. 1 tablespoon is ok.

- 1/2 box of blueberries is cheating. 12 is ok.

- 1 piece of bread is cheating. 1 bite is ok.

 

 

 

Ahleon:

 

Congrats on a great start!

 

I suggest you spend a bit of money (less than $100) and get a lipid profile done. That way, you can track whether this diet will make you HEALTHY. Stay on this diet as strictly as you can and test again in 6 months. I just went for another one today to measure my vitamin D levels, so at the same time, I'm measuring my cholesterol, triglycerides and some health markers. I'm expecting even better results than my last one which was a massive improvement across the board from the one I did before that a year ago.

 

Remember, you cannot argue with evidence. All the doctors and your friends can say that you are eating yourself to an early death, but they cannot argue with evidence. My own doctor had to shut up and listen to me when he saw my blood test results. If you can see all your lipid and health markers improve, that is evidence that your health, and not only your appearance, is improving.

 

Find out for yourself first hand if this diet is truly healthy. Losing the weight is just a welcome side effect of good health.

 

As for your diet, if you can cut the raisins, figs and cashews (technically not a nut and has a very high carb content), it would help even more to control insulin secretion. Also cut the vermicelli and bean curd. All empty calories. Try Greek yoghurt instead of plain yoghurt. The glutens are removed from it which makes it an even better product. I personally much prefer the taste and texture of Greek yoghurt to plain yoghurt.

 

Seek out more fat.

 

If eating at home, supplement with butter.

 

If eating out, I like to drop by a supermarket to buy some brie or camembert cheese to supplement whatever I'm eating.

 

Coconut cream is another food that really satisfies an appetite. It goes really well with all forms of nuts.

 

A great snack is a few teaspoons of Bulla pure cream with a handful of berries. ONLY a handful please.

 

Develop the habit of eating slowly so that you give enough time for the fat to kick into your system. You will see that you will not be able to eat as much as before cos the fat will send a signal to your brain to say "ENOUGH!".

 

Good luck! Well actually, you won't need it if you are eating the right things...

[Alechi]

fren, i'm sure you know the answers already.

 

this thread is just for you to see if there's a glimmer of hope to slack a bit ... but unfortunately, bo bian ... u still gotta clock the cardio hours and pump the necessary irons ...

 

Hello all,

 

My previous company has a gym for staff. In my present company, no such facility is available. Other than driving to SAFRA after work, I wonder if anyone here can recommend me a website or exercise routines that doesn't require a gym. My objective is to cut down flab around my abs. And I also keep my arms and legs muscles built up.

 

Thnks.

 

[Skunk]

once again, to bro CBS...camembert cheese lol all the expensive stuff...haiz....no wonder i had to give it up.

[Chickenbackside]

Yeah, it is definitely more expensive than when I was eating "normally".

 

I guess I'm one to the rare people who think it's worth the money? I dunno. It does hurt my wallet sometimes, I have to admit.

 

From not ever going to the supermarket (always eat out), to going to the supermarket once every few days, and always buying premium stuff and eating premium restaurant food, was a big hurdle. For example, I had to mentally force myself to accept the concept that: spending $13.90 on a pack of raw macadamia nuts which I'll finish in a week, or $10 on 2 serves of pork leg at the kway chap stall just for one meal, is worth my money.

 

But now, honestly, I do feel it's worth it. I'm much more productive and much more "bright" in terms of my moods, not to mention better looking, which has tangibly and positively affected my career.

 

 

[Ahleon]

CBS...what is Greek yogurt and where to get them? I was looking at the tubs of yogurt and chose the least fat % one...

[Skunk]

CBS...what is Greek yogurt and where to get them? I was looking at the tubs of yogurt and chose the least fat % one...

 

u should choose the most fat one...more fatty the better....hehe

[Chickenbackside]

Haha, Skunk is right, yet again!

 

Unfortunately, til today, I have not been able to find easily available full fat Greek yoghurt in Singapore.

 

The one I buy is Farmer's Union Greek Style Yoghurt. It's available everywhere really. Both in NTUC and Cold Storage. Although it's low fat, I like fact that it's gluten free and I also love the taste.

 

I'm still hunting down full fat Greek yoghurt. If anyone knows where to buy some, please tell me!

 

But full fat, hormone-free, regular plain yoghurt can be bought at some Cold Storage branches. They're pretty expensive at around $8 per 500ml, about double the price of regular low fat yoghurt.

[Chickenbackside]

Keep the recipes coming CBS, still trying to relate and incorporate to my carbo heavy meals (lunch eat out with colleagues, dinner eat at inlaws). Maybe also can incorporate your recipes with where you source your raw materials like flaxseeds etc

No recipes lah. I just lump stuff together that will make a convenient low carb/high fat meal, WITHOUT cooking.

 

For example:

 

- 4 half boiled eggs with a big pat of organic butter

- greek yoghurt with desiccated coconut and organic pumpkin seeds and almonds

- pure dairy cream (Bulla) with a small amount of berries

- pure coconut cream with freshly ground flaxseed and macadamias

- pre packed organic salad with canned sardines in extra virgin olive oil with pine nuts and camembert cheese

 

 

At NTUC Finest in Bukit Timah Plaza, they carry this brand called Origins Health Foods which packs a variety of organic raw nuts. They also carry a sharp cheddar cheese made from raw milk (Organic Valley brand). Also, John West canned sardines in extra virgin olive oil can be found there. There's organic butter too.

 

If you want to buy raw milk cheeses, Carrefour at Suntec has the biggest variety I have come across.

 

Ben's Foods for grass fed beef in bulk on Saturday mornings.

 

Meidi-Ya for organic butter, Lindt 99% cacao and non homogenised milk (once in a while)

 

Cold storage HV for organic full fat plain yoghurt and Ayam brand sardines in extra virgin olive oil (cheaper than John West brand).

 

 

[Topgun]

...

If eating out, I like to drop by a supermarket to buy some brie or camembert cheese to supplement whatever I'm eating.

 

...

 

What is brie?

 

[Chickenbackside]

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brie

 

Brie /briː/ is a soft cows' cheese named after Brie, the French province in which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern d

[Topgun]

Tks bro. Sorry to trouble you, could've google it myself too.

 

I'm generally very 'frog in the well' on western food. To me, cheese is Kraft Singles and steak is ribeye or t-bone! Thank you, you've been very responsive and patient! Your posts have been very encouraging. And first and foremost, health is top priority and fitness and looking good that come with it is bonus of course.

 

Back in Ipoh and it's diet out of the door! I think probably this yoyo eating pattern is not going to be good for my body I'm will have that occasional bowl of noodles (Ipoh hor fun! ). No rice and bread I can refrain. But I'm disciplined to run/exercise wherever I'm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

For people who are struggling to transit into a low carb life style, Nora Gedgaodas, author of the book "Primal Body, Primal Mind - Empower your total health the way evolution intended...(and didn't)", has a useful article: http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/blog/?p=428

 

Since the release of my book, Primal body-Primal Mind I’ve been admittedly somewhat flabbergasted by the overwhelming number of reports from people who are finding their transition to a low/no carb (no sugar/starch) lifestyle amazingly smooth and easy. I actually expected more reports of problems, complaints (whaddaya MEAN “no bread?”), lamenting and gnashing of teeth…But lo-and-behold…people are really getting it, applying themselves and finding it surprisingly easy to do away with those very things they once believed they simply could not live without.

 

 

Still–This one remains a biggie for more than a few people. Not everyone knows how to face a life without bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes and even desserts. There are even still a few that have trouble fathoming the idea that grains aren’t exactly a “health food”…in spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Many people are addicted to these foods in some way and feel deeply resistant to the idea that their “carbovore” days are numbered if they want to truly be healthy, weigh less, feel and function better cognitively and emotionally and live a longer and disease-free life. –Let’s just say that a lot of people don’t bother attempting necessary change in their lives until the pain of the problem finally exceeds the pain of the possible solution. –With any luck, by then it won’t already be too late.

 

 

For too long people have perceived “health” in this country as something you have as long as you manage to find yourself above ground in the morning and are able to make it to work and back without landing in the hospital or the morgue. Most people have gone about their lives eating whatever it is they felt like—some treating their bodies with even more indifference than their automobiles with the idea that “well, if it breaks down I’ll just bring it into the shop”. Others more well meaning are easily seduced by labels on cardboard boxes and frozen packages reading “healthy and natural” or “low fat/low cholesterol” and have been grossly misinformed by corporate interests that have managed to convince them that nothing could be more natural or healthy than getting your meal out of a cardboard box. It’s not overly “conspiracy theorist” to assert that there are a considerable number of vested mainstream interests determined to keep the public ignorant and confused about what really constitutes health and what it actually means to eat a healthy diet.

 

 

Well, health is much more than the absence of disease…and what we choose to eat really does matter. –And with what amounts to the basic collapse of health care on our collective horizon it matters now perhaps more than ever. No person who can’t afford to get sick can afford to eat poorly. Prevention—TRUE prevention is pennies on the dollar compared with the alternative. Quality nutrition isn’t an elitist concept, as it might seem for some. It’s a far more attainable and affordable goal than most might think. Where fully 90 cents out of every dollar spent on food in this country is being spent on processed “food” one can literally save 90% of what they are spending right now on their grocery bills and turn this savings around to spend on REAL food that will nourish and sustain health–potentially even at a fraction of the cost. The real secret lies in how you choose (yes, choose) to metabolically adapt your body—whether you choose to depend upon sugar or upon fat as your primary source of fuel –The more you can come to depend upon fat as your primary source of fuel the longer you will live and the healthier you will be…by FAR.

 

 

Eating a low/no carbohydrate (sugar/starch) diet is not the only key to this equation, and my book, Primal Body-Primal Mind clarifies this in considerable detail….but eliminating sugar and starch are without question a key first step along the path to optimizing the health of your body and brain. In my book, Primal Body-Primal Mind I exhaustively make the case for the elimination of sugar and starch from the diet as a central goal in the support and recovery of optimal health. The evidence for this is overwhelming and the benefits FAR outweigh the initial sacrifice of petty indulgences. Soon…in fact, sooner than you would ever think the cravings for these petty indulgences become little more than a blurry, happily forgotten memory.

 

 

By simply eating sugar and starch you compel your body to burn and/or store them for fuel, as the body is obsessed with maintaining the lowest necessary level of blood sugar at any given time and is driven to process sugar quickly. All carbohydrates–simple or complex, natural or refined–by the way, are “sugar” once they hit the bloodstream. Over time this establishes a “physiological expectation” and a basic dependency. Our natural state–one our ancestors maintained for millenia–is one where we depend upon and burn fats and ketones as our primary source of fuel. Nature simply wouldn’t have been so stupid as to innately make us dependent on something so volatile and undependable as sugar (glucose) all of the time.

 

 

Fat is an even, long burning, readily stored and aerobic source of fuel by design. Sugar or glucose is anaerobic, rapidly metabolized “rocket fuel” for us designed mainly to be used in an emergency–not as every day/all day energy. It is designed to be used quickly for short periods or bursts of time. As long as one elects to depend on sugar as their primary source of fuel by feeding this monster carb cravings WILL persist. They’d have to. As long as you depend upon kindling (i.e., sugar/starch) to fuel your metabolic fire then you will forever be a slave to that fire and to the craving beast. If, however, you learn to adapt yourself to instead depend upon that most natural of long, sustainable burning fuels—i.e., natural fat—then you have truly tamed the carb craving monster once and for all…and you have established the single most critical preventative tool in your personal health care arsenal: a ketogenic metabolism. The benefits of this are too numerous to mention, as are the consequences of the alternative.

 

 

There is, of course, another element of carbohydrate craving to be considered. For many out there carbohydrate cravings are directly connected to deficiencies in a key neurotransmitter needed for positive mood and healthy cognitive functioning: serotonin. Serotonin is manufactured throughout the body and brain (95% actually produced in the gut) from the amino acid, L-tryptophan and vitamin B6. Iron, too, is needed for this conversion. It just so happens that L-tryptophan (devoid in grains, by the way) is the single most deficient amino acid in our diets. Faulty digestion in many people and poor hydrochloric acid production also very commonly lead to such amino acid deficiencies.

 

 

Carbohydrate consumption (sugar and starch) create a temporary surge in serotonin and concentration of tryptophan in the bloodstream and brain—leading to a temporary improvement in mood. All this sounds good until you realize that carbohydrates do nothing to manufacture new serotonin and only serve to deplete it and perpetuate additional carbohydrate cravings over time. –In fact, this particular issue may be the single greatest cause for seemingly intractable, persistent carbohydrate addiction and cravings in many, many people.

 

 

Proper levels of estrogen and essential fatty acids such as omega-3’s are also needed for the proper functioning of serotonin receptors. Menopausal issues and hormonal dysfunction are therefore fertile ground (no pun intended) for carbohydrate cravings. Omega-3 deficiencies are among the most common of nutrient deficiencies in the Western diet. As if all this weren’t bad enough low light conditions in winter also impair serotonin production, generating seasonal cravings and mood disorders. Even mild iron anemia can impair proper conversion from L-tryptophan to serotonin.

 

 

So…with all that potentially conspires to derail the best of low carb intentions what can a person do to actually tame this carb craving monster once and for all?? Take heart—it’s easier than it sounds. For most individuals it really does seem to be as easy as eliminating sugar and starch from the diet and using dietary fat to satisfy the appetite. Mild tendencies toward temporary symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia while the body adapts over a 3-6 week period can be easily managed with the use of the amino acid L-glutamine. –Just

Edited January 15, 2010 by Chickenbackside

[Chickenbackside]

Tks bro. Sorry to trouble you, could've google it myself too.

 

I'm generally very 'frog in the well' on western food. To me, cheese is Kraft Singles and steak is ribeye or t-bone! Thank you, you've been very responsive and patient! Your posts have been very encouraging. And first and foremost, health is top priority and fitness and looking good that come with it is bonus of course.

 

Back in Ipoh and it's diet out of the door! I think probably this yoyo eating pattern is not going to be good for my body I'm will have that occasional bowl of noodles (Ipoh hor fun! ). No rice and bread I can refrain. But I'm disciplined to run/exercise wherever I'm.

Hey bro, it's my pleasure. Just as my friend who so passionately shared with me his secret of good health, I'm just glad to pass it along. Seeing my friends who were willing to try this lifestyle lose weight and feel better, and astounding their doctors with good blood test results is totally worth it.

 

It's always a struggle at first, myself included. I refused to give up my rice and noodles at first, not because I couldn't, but because I did not BELIEVE it was actually healthy. But the more I researched, the more damn lies I found out that we have been brainwashed with.

 

When I finally made the decision to cut all grains, my weight loss was supersonic. Literally, my pants couldn't fit from week to week. All I did was cut out grains and increase fat intake. The best part was, I got hungry a lot less often and had a lot more energy throughout the day. But, it does mean spending more money on food. But you know the saying "you get what you pay for".

 

Just keep focused, keep researching and finding out the SCIENCE behind it, soak in the reality. Coming to terms with the reality of the science will compel you to eat as you should and you will find ways and means to seek out the appropriate food sources. You will be on your way to good health, not to mention a Bruce Lee body.

 

Don't worry about falling off the diet. I do it too. Just get back on it. Remember the 90/10 rule. If for one whole month you eat junk food and pile on 10kg, just make sure for the next 9 months you eat well. Results will still be there for the taking after 9 months.

[Topgun]

Back and re-starting.

 

After some (really) carbo loading binge of hor fan and noodles (no rice).

 

[Hamburger]

bro Chickenbackside, been reading ur article but cant help tinkin tat tis sort of diet really contradicts wif tat of those nutritionist recommendations of taking more whole grains oats, unpolish rice ,etc.

 

frankly quite confuse leh

[Skunk]

Back and re-starting.

 

After some (really) carbo loading binge of hor fan and noodles (no rice).

 

 

sorry to burst your bubble, but Hor Fun is actually rice. They grind rice into rice flour, then make hor fun with it LOL

[Skunk]

bro Chickenbackside, been reading ur article but cant help tinkin tat tis sort of diet really contradicts wif tat of those nutritionist recommendations of taking more whole grains oats, unpolish rice ,etc.

 

frankly quite confuse leh

 

those nutritionists got it all wrong, now 3/4 of the world is addicted to carbohydrates, and obesity has become an epidemic. It wasn't like this 50 years ago.

 

Back in the old days, people ate entire fatty pig trotters for breakfast, rice was just a tiny amount. Look at the old rice bowls used in those traditional restaurants, and compare them to the rice bowls today.

 

Too bad i'm addicted to liquid carbohydate aka beer LOL