This month’s issue:…
- Autumnal Happenings
- What’s in Season at the Allotment
- Easy Recipes: Gado Gado
- Resisting Temptation: Biscuit Replacement System
- Fad or Fab: Wobble Board
- Article: Be Better at Work
- And Finally… A Sample from Lance Armstrong
Hello healthy people,
Thank goodness for February and lengthening days. It’s certainly easiest to exercise outdoors when it becomes lighter in the evenings. Speaking of exercise, who has stuck to their new year’s resolutions? Drop me a line if you need a hand getting into a new fitness groove…
What’s in Season at the Allotment
It’s nearly time for the weeds to start growing again, so we’re planning our plot for the year. We fertilised and dug it over the last month, and have covered much of the ground (to keep weeds down and the earth warm). The rhubarb is poking its first tentative leaves out. We’re still harvesting some leeks and it looks like our over-wintering brassicas are going to produce something soon.
Easy Recipe: Gado Gado
Gado gado is so good, they named it twice. Jokes aside, this is a simple and satisfying main course salad originally from Indonesia. It’s a filling salad made of raw salad ingredients, blanched vegetables and potatoes, tofu or tempeh and quartered boiled eggs topped with a spicy satay sauce. It’s a vegetarian’s delight, as it provides a good amount of protein and is really filling. This recipe makes the satay sauce from scratch, but you can buy it from any Chinese supermarket (or the Chinese section in your local supermarket). The ingredients vary wildly in prepared satay sauce, so be sure to compare the labels.
Use a selection of:
Blanched / steamed vegetables
Long green beans, cut 4 – 5cm long
Bean sprouts
Lettuce, shredded
Cucumber, sliced
Tomato, wedged (not in season, so optional)
Boiled / steamed potatoes, sliced
Boiled eggs, wedged
Tempeh or tofu
Vegetable crackers (optional)
Sauce:
enough peanuts to cover bottom of a roasting pan
tspn red chili, fresh, frozen or from a jar (to taste)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (to taste)
100mL coconut milk (to taste)
– Roast the peanuts on a baking tray in a preheated 200 degree C oven.
– Using a digital timer (or the stopwatch function on your mobile phone) roast for 8 minutes, giving the nuts a shoogle every minute until they’re brown. Do not let them burn or you’ll need to bin the lot.
– Allow nuts to cool slightly, then zizz in a blender with the coconut milk, garlic and chili.
– You can add water rather than more coconut milk, to get it to a ‘chunky sauce’ texture.
– Now assemble the salad base (lettuce, cucumber, tomato optional as not in season).
– Layer cooked ingredients (potato, egg, tofu or tempeh) on top.
– Smother with warm satay sauce. Give it a good stir around before eating.
– Keep any leftover sauce for dipping, or for more gado gado!
Resisting Temptation Hint of the Month: Biscuit Replacement System
In wintry weather it’s tempting to snack on junk food. If you’re simply looking for something to nibble on, slice up an apple. An apple contains around 70 calories, which less than the calories in one digestive biscuit (86 calories, 4 grams of fat). It will also take longer to eat and will satisfy you more than a biscuit.
Fad or Fab: Wobble Board
A wobble board is a simple device, a board on a support on which you wobble, and eventually balance. It’s an excellent strengthening exercise for the ankles and knees as well as challenging balance and core strength. They’re also relatively cheap to buy, easy to store and can be easily used in a small space. Powerhouse Fitness have them in stock for £24 http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/fitness-mad-40cm-adjustable-wobble-board.php
Article of the Month: Be Better at Work
When I first moved from Australia sixteen years ago, I worked as a temp in offices around Edinburgh. I was shocked at how unhealthy many workplaces were; junk food everywhere, people spending lunch at their desk, endless cups of tea and coffee, after work drinks and sluggish mornings – not a healthy place to be at all. In fact, it was through my experiences of office work that I decided that I wanted to set up as a full time fitness trainer. There was so much work to do!
From experience, I know that many health issues personal training clients face are not from their home life, but from the workplace. If you consider that the average full-time worker spends over half their waking hours at work, you get an understanding of why healthy working habits are so important. Part of the nutritional advice I offer includes what kind of food to snack on and tactics on staying healthy through a working day. Helping people change working habits allows them to experience results quicker (especially with corporate clients, who are often pressed for time to exercise). Even more effective than working with individuals is working with workplaces themselves to improve conditions.
Griffen Fitness is collaborating with Hanover Health Foods, Edinburgh’s oldest health food shop, and Optimal Chiropractic, to create ‘Better at Work’. It’s a free lunch time roadshow designed for any workplace, large or small. The workplace provides a meeting room and a date, and ‘Better at Work’ do the rest. We even provide free signage. The lunchtime event includes information stalls, free talks and a chance for employees to chat with health and well-being professionals at no charge. For smaller workplaces, we present a core of our three services. For a larger workplace we utilise our pool of health and well-being specialists, from masseurs, Pilates, optometry – we have a large network of colleagues to make the event as small or as big as the workplace requires. It’s a completely new idea for Edinburgh, and we’re looking for workplaces who might like to host a ‘Better at Work’ roadshow.
More information at www.betteratwork.co.uk, or email info@betteratwork.co.uk
And Finally… A Sample from Lance Armstrong
Here’s a suspicious sample from Lance Armstrong http://www.b3ta.com/links/Hes_a_Creep
Have a happy and healthy February,
🙂
tracy
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© Copyright all material Tracy Griffen 2013