Running to Think

Drinking is the most important aspect of nutrition. We all know that. I usually do not drink anything that differs from water or tea and coffee. But during the day, especially when I need proper hydration or, while at work, I actually love to have something to sip next to me.
I found an "insanely" natural beverage here in Belgium, almost by accident. It's called Belixir and it is produced locally by Christian and Stephen near Brussels.
These two guys follow traditional processes to make such an amazing drink.
Have a look at their website and read precious info about what it is and how it is produced.

I just tried Belixir in its two flavors, Eucalyptus and Lavender and I confirm that it is such a refreshing drink, due to some extremely healthy ingredients such as lemon and ginger. This last one actually gives that nice spicy flavor that is at times fresh and hot.

However, the most important characteristic of Belixir is the fact that there are no sugars added. Not even those that are supposed to be "sugars without sugar" like stevia or aspartame. Guess what makes Belixir also sweet? Honey, of course!

Hi folks,
I hope you enjoyed the holidays with your dear ones, moments to cherish fully. I wish you the best for the years that come. May this year be filled with love, family, health and ofcourse physical activity!

I spent my holiday abroad. Francesco and I planned to go to his hometown Molfetta, in Southern Italy. I got in contact with his culture, his family, their habits, and their food. Food so delicious that I literally lost my character and determination to say no, once in a while. Do you want to know how this ended up? With a weight gain, of course.



A brief analysis of the aforementioned gain is reported below.

1. Eating more - caloric intake counting is math. No magics. 
2. Eating different types of food, more fried stuff, more cheese, pizza, pasta, etc.
3. Skipping breakfast due to the fact that I had enough from the day before - which basically slows down one's metabolism
4. Drink some more alcohol than I usually do (or well, don't)
5. No gym at my disposal to burn some calories 

I address these 5 points as responsible of my weight gain. Of course, my determination to change my condition as soon as possible is back. Here is my plan for the next two weeks.
Feel free to adopt my strategy to improve your condition after holiday.

1. Drink a lot of cold water
2. Eat 5 times a day (every 2 -3 hours), of course in smaller amounts
3. Eat carbs only for breakfast and lunch
4. Prepare healthy juices and smoothies with no added sugar
5. Eat more proteins
6. Avoid snacks such as chocolate, candies, ice cream, cookies and the like
7. Hit the gym 4-5 times a week to perform some interval as cardio and weight lifting in order to sculpt the body

This will help us to find the normal weight again. A bit more motivation and dedication are needed especially at the beginning. Don't give up because it will worth! Just be patient for next 14 days.

In addition, here is a delicious, light and easy-to-make recipe that can contribute to your weight loss.

 Time to make: 5 min preparation + 12 min boiling the wheat = 17 min

 Ingredients:

1. Roquette
2. 100g Roquefort cheese
3. 75g of wheat (type Ebly)
4. 1/2 green apple
5. 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6. salt/pepper

Dear ladies (and gentlemen),
we all know how hard the battle of losing weight is and our attempts to shape the body to what we consider ideal. Big thighs, flappy bellies, hanging arms... all things we don't like and we wish to change by means of exercises specifically designed to destroy that garbage (and us), sometimes in concert with a well-balanced diet. 
To begin with, we claim to target a certain body shape. Bad news is that genetics will dictate the uncontrollable. Good news is that we do have the power to change a few things that might actually contribute to our overall satisfaction. 
Today I want to be more specific and show you different types of bodies that we usually have to deal with. I'm sure you already heard about hourglass shape, apple shape and so on. 


But what you want is probably some technicality. And there you are the categories (somatotypes) into which we are most likely:

Endomorphs – “fat retainers”
Mesomorphs – “athletic”
Ectomorphs – “skinny”




Actually i have some kind of bad news. One thing we cannot do is choosing where we want to loose weight. Detect and target a specific spot to be reduced. Just fiction.
Remember how the layers of an onion are? For most people, fat acts exactly like that. It doesn’t just disappear from a specific place, but rather it comes off layer by layer from the whole body. However, some people have localised areas where fat loss (and of course gain) is more pronounced, and while fat is still shed from all over the body, the loss is proportionately different in different areas. 

What I experienced was a mix of both the conditions. When I am losing weight, that occurs everywhere with more emphasis on thighs and breast. Exactly! My breast!! 
A nightmare for every woman. 
Why does that happen? Well, during the initial stages of weight loss, women tend to lose fat in their breast, which is mainly fat tissue, indeed. Those with the shape of a pear tend to carry excessive body fat in their buttocks, hips and thighs as well. 
So, what can we do to prevent this terrifying situation? 
Not so many people know that the most important thing for those women to do is to keep their cardiovascular (cardio) activity to a minimum. Specifically to a level that reaps health benefits without excessive loss of fat, while emphasising resistance (weight) training in the effort to increase the size of the muscles that lie underneath the breasts.
While it is not guaranteed to keep the fat of the breast, your breast can very well be perked up by strengthening the main muscle group of the chest supporting them. Think of the pectoralis major and minor.
What I personally suggest is phrased in a kind of motto "eating clean, training dirty", especially those area's you don't really like of yourself. Then try to accept the body you have. I know it's not easy but, at the end everyone is unique and beautiful in his/her own way.
My body changed when i started to eat clean.  But let me be honest here: we live only once so have that piece of chocolate staring at you, on the desk, begging you to bite it, once in a while. 
After all, that will cost you 3-4 times/week of cardio and strengthening exercises.



Love,
Caroline

Don't misunderstand us: we don't miss meat. Actually we're doing great without since a long time. All this started as an experiment. This time I didn't get much help from the Internet. The purpose of messing around in the kitchen was to bite a juicy hamburger while staying vegetarian on my ID.
Here is a delicious recipe to make some at home.

Ingredients:
400 gr lentils
1 red onion
5 slices of bread (guts and crumbs included)
1 egg
salt, pepper, cumin, garlic
mustard and, if you really wanna feel american ketchup and mayo (for one time you can) :)


Preparation:
Boil the lentils with the onion chopped in small pieces, add salt and drain almost all the water when finished.
Put the lentils in a blender together with the egg, cumin, garlic powder and pepper. Process for about 2 minutes. Add the slices of bread chopped in smaller pieces and process for other 2 minutes. The mix will look a bit drier and that's a good thing so that we can manipulate it later. It should look like the one in the picture below.




Shape it in the pan before it gets too cooked. I was impressed of how similar to meet it looked.
Once you get there, slice your bread and grill it a bit, slice some tomato and add a large leave of salad to your wonderful hamburger like in the picture.


A slice of cheese that will melt on the "meat" will make it even more delicious and real.
Enjoy!

ATTENTION: No animal has been killed to provide the pictures above :)

Ingredients for 6-8 bars:

• Olive oil for greasing the plate

• 2 tablespoons of honey

• 4 tablespoons of coconut oil

• 3 tablespoons of peanut butter

• 280g of oatmeal

• 3 tablespoons of ground flax seed

• 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds

• 1 tablespoon of goji berries

• 2 tablespoons of chopped dates

• 1 tablespoon of chopped and dried figs
  
  
  Procedure

• Warm up the oven up to 180°C and grease the baking pan with olive oil

• Let the honey, coconut oil and peanut butter melt on a low fire

• Put them off the fire and incorporate the rest of the ingredients (keep some seeds and dates to sprinkle later)

• Press the mixture firmly in the baking pan and sprinkle the seeds and dates over it

• Put the pan for 10-15min in the oven until the mixture looks gold brown

• Let it cool off and slice the cake into stripes

• If you feel like it's too dry, feel free to add some honey on top