thunder tea rice

This week a colleague introduced me to something that has eluded me since arriving in Singapore nearly a year ago - Thunder Tea Rice.

While this doesn't sound special, he had described it to me as very healthy, brown rice dish with veggies and green tea on top. Oh, you had me at healthy! Singapore is a haven for foodies and a dieters worst nightmare. But I've never seen this dish in any of the (many!) hawker centres we've tried.

So while out working an event together, he came back with orders of thunder tea rice for the team. It was delicious, not to mention high-fiber, low fat and packed with anti-oxidants.

Thunder Tea Rice has the following:

• Green Tea: Powerful anti-oxidant, helps to lower cholesterol.

• Basil & Mint: Anti-stress, for cooling & calming effect, aids relaxation, relieve colds.

• Fuliksum: Remove body toxins and fluid wastes, strengthen immune system.

• Chinese Parsley & Coriander: Ease digestion & gastric, combat flu & headache.

• Ginger & Ngal: Expel body winds & gas.

• Sesame: Maintain youth & enhance beauty.

• Groundnuts: High in protein, good for stein.

The green sauce is the green tea

defining progress

Over the past month, its no secret that a significant slow-down in my weight loss was both inevitable and disappointing.

Naturally my first couple weeks saw a faster drop than the rest of my journey will produce. However, 2 lbs in three weeks is slower-than usual progress for me (I consider 1 lb a week to be a good pace - after all, I still have over 30 lbs to go) and given that I've been pretty good, it was really starting to bother me.

Luckily, I had the foresight to measure myself at the beginning of the month. So yesterday, in my confused and frustrated state, I took my measurements a week early, just to see....

The reason is I truly feel I'm starting to 'see' a slight difference, even if I haven't dropped a full size yet and the scale is dancing around the same few numbers.

So I pulled out my tape measure and jotted down my measurements. Then I had to call almost everyone I know and share the good news - not really - but almost... In three weeks where I didn't see the scale move much, I've lost 1/2 inch off my waist, 1 inch off my hips and 1/2 inch off my neck (which sort of horrifies yet elates me).

Women today tend to be more barrel-shaped compared to the hour-glass shapes of our mothers and grandmothers. But I think with the right diet and exercise, we can get those figures back. I really think we eat too much, and too much of our food comes out of a box.

I strongly encourage you to measure your progress in more than one way. The scale is not always the best reflection that you are moving forward - especially when you are following an exercise routine.

Here's a reminder on where on the body to measure - and make sure the bust measurement goes over the nipple line.

weighin in

Monday February 21, 2010

171 today. Up half a pound. Oh to be so close, yet so far....

Tom Yum Soup

I know it seems like we're on a Thai kick, but this was just coincidence!

Last night I made fresh Tom Yum soup for dinner. Most people don't know what to order at Thai restaurants, curry is not a diet friendly choice, but Tom Yum soup is light, broth-based and has fresh seafood. It's always my go-to staple because its filling (hot soup!), has lean protein and a great tangy-spicy flavor.

The other day in the supermarket, I found a Tom Yum 'kit' in the fresh herbs section, it was just a baggy with lemongrass, lime, green chilis, kaffir leaves and some unidentified object that I just chopped up and included in the soup! In the US, you might have to go to an Asian supermarket to find the ingredients, but it will be worth it.

It was delicious, light and healthy. The kitchen was so fragrant, we were all excited to try something new, and my husband, whom I do not consider a soup person, loved it!

Homemade Tom Yum Soup!

Tom Yum Goong

4 cups water
1 cup fresh raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
5 fresh mushrooms
1 sliced tomato
1-2 limes
1 lemon grass
3 kaffir lime leaves
2T fish sauce
5 sprigs cilantro (coriander), chopped
3 red or green thai chilis

• Start boiling the water in a 2 quart pot. Use the back of your cleaver to smash the lemon grass, just to bruise it to release the flavor. Tie the lemon grass into a knot (to make it easier to manage so you don't have to sift around it while eating). Drop the lemon grass in water and let boil for 5 minutes.
• Put the fish sauce and 1 lime's juice into the bottom of the bowls you will serve the soup in. Crush chili pepper and add to the bowl (careful, these chilis are extremely hot, you might want to start with just the littlest amount and work up, also wear gloves).
  
• Remove the stems from the kaffir lime leaves and add the leafy part to the pot. Clean and halve the mushrooms and add them to the pot.
  
• Add tomato slices, wait 1 minute.
• Add the shrimp and turn off the heat. (Shrimp gets too tough very quickly, and will cook even when it is just sitting in the warm broth. I was using very large tiger shrimp, so I let boil for 30 seconds and then turned heat off.)
  
• Scoop the soup into the serving bowls, you will see that the broth becomes cloudy because of the lime juice. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
• Add more fish sauce, lime juice or peppers if it tastes bland.
  

rebound pounds

Recently, I've noticed a pattern. I lose a pound or two, breaking new ground, and the next day BOOM! I've gained 1-2 pounds.

I'm not celebrating my loss, or doing anything different. It's a little strange, almost like a natural yo-yo my body is doing. It takes a couple days to get those of, and I sort of stall for a day or two, then suddenly I break new ground again.

The first time this happened, I panicked. What had I done wrong the day before to make me gain three pounds? Only to wake up the next day and have lost half, followed by the remainder the following day. Then I broke new ground again.

The second time it happened, I'll admit, I was upset again. I evaluated everything I had done. Questioned salt, water, sweets. It's enough to make you cry with frustration.The third time it happened though, I had been perfect. And then I knew...

While it still annoys me to see those pounds reappear so quickly, I know that if I keep doing the right thing, the drop off again pretty fast. Then I can start moving forward again.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Thai-ish Salmon

Last week, I made a brilliant discovery. A website called Dinner, A Love Story. This woman not only believes in the importance of family meals together, but also loves cooking healthy things and trying to find innovative ways to keep great ingredients in family dinners - that kids will actually eat. You can tell she loves the challenge of it, and feels good when her family likes it. But she's not crazy and doesn't make you feel guilty at all - which I appreciate!

If you know anything about me, you'll know my favorite things when it comes to food are: fresh fish, shrimp and seafood of any sort, avocados, mangoes, papayas, plantains, very dark chocolate, chilis or any spicy peppers, red wine, limes and good tequila. Not necessarily in that order. Knowing this, you would not be alone in wondering why I'm overweight!

Despite my love of pretty much all fish, salmon has always been one I have struggled to find a good relationship with. It's hit or miss for me. Growing up in Florida, and now living in Singapore, there is so much fresh ocean fish, that I rarely eat salmon. However, I try to have it once a month as it is simply so good for you, and I would like my little one to learn to like it too.

So I made this recipe on Saturday, originally adopted from that great blog - although of course, I can't follow directions and had to change almost everything about it. It was still delicious, and even better, is my 3 year old ate all her salmon. I'm still patting myself on the back.

Note - I removed my daughter's salmon before adding the curry paste, as she doesn't like anything spicy yet.

Thai-ish Salmon

• Salt and pepper a 1 1/2-pound salmon filet.
  
• Heat skillet to medium-high heat and add a little canola oil. Place salmon in skillet flesh side down and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from skillet.
  
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Add 1 tablespoon finely minced lemongrass (from the white part of the stalk) and 1 tablespoon chopped scallions and stir around for one minute. Then add 1 can of light coconut milk a generous squeeze of lime, and 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (to taste). Whisk together and let simmer for five minutes.
  
• Add salmon back in, skin-side down, nestle into the sauce. Bring to a simmer, then add a handful of each of the following: chopped green peas, chopped broccoli, chopped white button mushrooms, 1 chopped tomato. Simmer another 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/4 cup chopped basil. (I think you can use whatever vegies you like, she used green beans, yellow peppers and shitake mushrooms).
  
• Serve with jasmine or long grain rice, more cilantro, scallions, and a squeeze of lime.

(one word of advice, was when making Thai-inspired dishes, include a dash or two of brown sugar. I didn't have any, but I think it would have improved the flavor slightly)

Image via Dinner, A Love Story. Mine was so delicious, I forgot to photograph it! Oops.

about to cross the line

Over the last two weeks, I've been pretty quiet on this blog. My in-laws have been in town, and I've just been maintaining - not continuing to make progress, but not doing damage. At first, I considered this a success of sorts. But then my Dad, who is also my virtual weight-loss buddy, had this simple line in his email, "everyone supports you losing weight. It's great that you are maintaining, but we've got work to do!"

Simple as that, and as true as the day is long. (I know that's not the saying, but I've made a change, ok?)

So I've been trying to make progress again the last few days, really hard, to get downward movement on the scale. Otherwise, all this running I'm doing is being wasted on simply maintaining my weight with the extra indulgences I've been having. There will be times where I have genuine plateaus, but this is not one of them.

While my next 'goal' is of course my next 5 lbs goal, a little unofficial, but nonetheless exciting goal for me is breaking into the 160s. Over the past two years, I've occasionally lost 5-8 lbs or so on various diets, but I never got into the 160s. I got into them before my wedding on weight watchers, but gained it all back after.


Needless to say, crossing this line will be hugely exciting for me, even if its not one of my weight goals.

Over the last week, I gained a lb, then lost it, then dropped to 170.8. Then today, my official weigh in day, I was 170.2... That's just so close it hurts! I'm still happy with more downward movement, but any day now, I expect to break that barrier.

You will know when I do, you'll probably hear me jumping up and down and dancing naked in my bathroom, halfway around the world.

Monday weigh in

Monday, February 14, 2011

Today I was 170.2 - which means I'm down another 1.2 lbs.

Total lost to date, - 11.4 lbs.

sometimes, life gives you chocolate peanut butter cake

I love the saying "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade." But even better, in my opinion, is "if live gives you lemons, ask for tequila and salt."

Yesterday, life gave me a huge slice of chocolate peanut butter cake. No joke. We went to a restaurant for lunch, had a burger with a side salad (w/o cheese, etc) and had a couple of my hubby's fries instead of having my own order. I was allowing myself to indulge without going overboard, completely in control, or so I thought.

Then, as we waited for our bill, the waiter brought over a HUGE slice of chocolate peanut butter cake, on the house. Proving that, no matter how good you are, sometimes things are just out of your control.

I mean, who would even think something like that would ever happen? But it did.


I allowed myself to have one bite, which turned into two small bites as the cake was so tall. Then, I deployed a dieting trick that I only use in desperate circumstances.

I put my fork on the table, so it was dirty, and couldn't be used again.

I used to do this in China, when we were eating Chinese food which is always served family style. Each person has a small bowl or plate and you eat directly from the communal dishes. It is very hard to keep track of how much you eat this way, as you don't have a visual measure of it. Also, it is rude for them to 'clear the table' while you are still sitting there, so in China they leave the dishes in front of you for the remainder of the time you are there. Which leads to excessive picking in my case, another little piece here, a small pinch of that there and so on. So I used to put my chopsticks on the table. As dirty as some Chinese restaurants are, using them again would likely result in instant death or violent diarrhea. Either way, a risk not worth taking.

However, Singapore is nothing if not clean. So this move didn't have the same affect and I had to fight the urge to have just one more bite.

But I was successful, and lost a half lb to boot!