Habit a Week 3: Eat a Veggie

I decided to just make one post covering all I needed to cover, so if you're here to read about the third habit building block, please scroll down... but I sure hope you'd read this few introductions first. :)

Sunday, 23 October 2011

I was thankful that I didn't get colds and cough even if my sister's sick for a few days now. However, something was wearing me down today - symptoms that I am going to have a visit from Bloody Mary anytime soon. My lower back is aching - that I can't bend down - and my breasts are starting to feel heavy and ache as well. My exercise for today was the walks from home to the market and back... and today I made two trips, one to buy ingredients for lunch, then again in the afternoon to buy ingredients for dinner.


My food log for today:

• 9:30am - 1 cup Macaroni-Tuna Salad (boiled salad macaroni, tuna flakes, mayonnaise, minced onion, salt and pepper), 1 cup Nescafe 3-in-1 coffee (Original)
• 12:11pm - 1 cup rice, Fish Sinigang (55 grams Talakitok, 40 grams talbos ng kamote), 25 grams fried fish, 20 grams fried tokwa, 1 saba banana
• 6:45pm - 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup Papaya-Malunggay dinengdeng (young papaya and malunggay cooked in water seasoned with bagoong balayan and ginger slices), 1 piece fried Tilapia (105 grams)

Total Cups of Water: 10


An update for the first two building blocks...

I continued drinking water as my main drink, but I had a glass of iced tea at an event I attended last Tuesday. I also started drinking Athena High-Calcium Milk before I go to bed every night, but last night I didn't drink my cup of milk, just because I forgot. :)

Moving... well, I did exercise everyday, even if I only got to do walking on Sunday as my way of moving. I still am going to do the exercises I planned to do, though having symptoms of my monthly period coming up was really wearing me down. If I can't do the Hip Hop Abs routines, I'd sure find ways to have a low-impact exercises, just to at least maintain the weight. Of course, I didn't want my efforts to put to waste by bumming around. :)

Week 3 of Lyn's Habit a Week is about Eating a Veggie. Well, eating vegetables is not new to me, I have already embraced the goodness of vegetables as a great source of vitamins, minerals and all things healthy, so this week, I will try to continue doing it.

For the first time, I made a meal plan, just to be sure that I will eat at least one kind of vegetable everyday. I did plan to cook either Adobong Manok or Pork Binagoongan sometime this week, but since I will be having two main meals per day, even if I'd eat a purely meat dish, I'd make sure I will eat something with veggies for the other meal.

These veggie dishes I plan to eat are typical Pinoy dishes - concentrating more on ways to cook Dinengdeng (hey, that could be a good idea for my food blog), but I am also going to try testing recipes from my culinary magazines and cook books. I may be in a journey to health and fitness, but I am a food blogger, too, so using my main keyword for this journey, I am going to keep all aspects balanced.

One challenge for me, though... familiarize myself with eating carrots and celery sticks for snacks and try vegetables I don't normally cook and eat like Alugbati (Malabar Spinach) leaves, as I read that it is a good source of Calcium, Iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B and Iron.

For the Past Three Days...

I was supposed to post this last night, but connection was so unstable, I wasn't able to. I will be posting the third habit building block later, so will make a long recap from the last three days.

Thursday, 20 October 2011


Let's start with my Food Log first...

• 8:36am - 2 pieces sliced bread + 1 teaspoon Chiz Whiz (original), toasted
• 12:43am - 1 cup rice, Beef Caldereta (100 grams beef, some carrots, potatoes, green peas, red bell pepper and sauce), 1 slice pineapple (150 grams)
• 5:17pm - 1 piece sliced bread + 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 7:14pm - 3/4 cup rice, 3/4 cup Sauteed Sardines (canned sardines in tomato sauce with shredded cabbage and sotanghon), 1 banana
• 10:55pm - 1 cup Athena Milk

Total Cups of Water: 21

There weren't much potatoes from the dish anymore because this was leftover from last night. Am thankful brother pressure cooked the beef longer this time - it was so tender!

21 cups of water today. That's over 4 liters! Oh wow, this has got to be a record breaking day; before this, I used to have this one particular day when I had 19 cups of water. Anyway, of course I didn't chug all the water in one sitting... I start the day drinking two cups of water, then every meal I'd have two cups, too - one while eating, the other after eating... then after I exercise I sometimes go for two cups of water, too. My water intake is gradual - come afternoon, I'd drink a cup of water after each visit to the toilet (to pee).

As for my exercises today:

• Upon waking up - morning stretch
• 9:15am - Hip Hop Abs (Cardio)
• 11:58am - Hip Hop Abs (Ab Sculpt)
• 1:25pm - Dumbbells (6 sets, 30 reps each set)
• 4:00pm - Hip Hop Abs (Hips, Buns, Thighs)

Friday, 21 October 2011

Today wasn't a good, good day - my sister has been sneezing and coughing a lot, and because there weren't much ventilation inside the house (our windows have screens and heavy curtains), I was able to grasp a bit of her virus, which was wearing me down today. Still, I managed to move today...

• 9:45am - Hip Hop Abs (Cardio)
• 11:52am - Hip Hop Abs (Ab Sculpt)
• 12:25pm - Dumbbells (6 sets, 30 reps each set)

I really felt bad not being able to do much today, but at least I got to move, right? :)


Food? I had...

• 8:14am - 1/2 cup rice, 1/4 cup tuna omelet (tuna flakes, egg, garlic, onion, tomatoes, salt and pepper)
• 12:45pm - 2 pieces sliced bread + 1 tablespoon tuna spread (tuna flakes, mayo, minced onion, salt, pepper), 1 banana
• 6:06pm - 1 piece sliced bread + 1 teaspoon tuna spread
• 6:50pm - 1 cup rice, 3 pieces siomai, 60 grams chicken thigh (with bones) cooked Haianese style, 1 slice pineapple
• 11:35pm - 1 cup Athena Milk

Total Cups of Water: 15

What's up with the tuna?!? Well, blame that to the big can of tuna mom bought at the nearby supermarket. Well, it's a healthier choice as far as protein choice is concerned, but one revelation today: I am no longer used to eating rice in the morning. Eating either cereals or bread has been my pattern, and now that I ate rice, it kinda disturbed my tummy because come lunch time, am not that eager to eat, although skipping meals was something I don't want to learn, so I just ate a sandwich.


Brother brought out his Coke today. Seeing it made me want to drink it, but one great thing brother did - he ate while I was still busy writing an assignment that by the time I was finished, he was finished with his lunch as well. Still no drop of softdrinks for me, hooray!


Saturday, 22 October 2011


Weekends are walking/jogging days with sister, and even if I woke up late, we were still able to get dressed and ready for our walk. Obviously, our destination was Colinas Verdes, near the border of Caloocan City and San Jose del Monte (Bulacan). However, this walk/jog day didn't push through because of one reason: Rains.

I took this picture near the marketplace. At first I thought the streaks were sun rays, but when I zoomed in the camera, I realized it was a view of rain from afar. The rain clouds were over Colinas Verdes, so we decided not to push through, although we still continued to walk, taking the Tala Road as our route. We then just walked around the marketplace, going back and forth as we bought some ingredients for our lunch later.




Since I am armed with my camera, I still took the pleasure of taking pictures. Even with bags of produce from the market, I still was able to take pictures that captured my interest, and walking back home, sister and I took a different route just to make the walk longer. We got to walk a total of 45 minutes today (approximately). Well, checking the wall clock, we got to walk around 60 minutes, but I deducted the stops here and there. :)

Weekends are also my Rest days, but come afternoon, I did 20 minutes of Aero-Kae-Bo, and a few minutes of dancing Willie Revillame's "Kendeng Kendeng." Hahaha. Well, after the Aero-Kae-Bo, I switched the TV to channel 5 thinking they might have a movie showing. Surprisingly, they were airing Willie Revillame's show, and although it might seem corny, I just danced with the people. Well, there is nothing corny in moving anyway. :)

The Aero-Kae-Bo with Pia Guanio runs for 10 minutes, but I did love doing it, so after one round and a few minutes of resting, I went for it again.


As for my food intake:

• 8:04am - 1/2 cup rice, 1/4 cup tuna in oil (more tuna, though.. I don't really like the oil)
• 12:15am - 1 cup rice, Crispy Chicken with Hoisin Peanut Sauce (5 chicken strips marinated in soy sauce, Chinese wine, and chili garlic sauce, coated with flour and cornstarch before deep frying; sauce consisted of sauteed red and green bell pepper and spicy peanuts in hoisin sauce, vegetable oil and sesame oil), 1 piece saba banana
• 5:53pm - 1 piece sliced bread + 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 7:01pm - 1 cup garlic rice, 1 small square tokwa - diced and fried (dipping sauce: soy sauce, vinegar, chopped red onion, ground pepper), Dinengdeng (sigarilyas, saluyot, and malunggay cooked in boiling water seasoned with bagoong balayan), 1 slice pineapple

The recipe for the Crispy Chicken with Hoisin Sauce will be posted over my Food Blog this Tuesday.

Did you notice a pattern with my food log? I tend to eat 1 piece of bread come later in the afternoon. Tsk tsk tsk... I didn't like how I tend to eat a few minutes before dinner, so that is definitely something I will work out on this coming week.

Exercise and Food Log 101911

With Monday and Tuesday as days when I exercised quite a lot, I set Wednesday as my "Rest Day," but I just couldn't let the day pass without doing some movements, so today, I...

• 9:15am - Hip Hop Abs (Cardio) - 30 minutes
• 10:10am - Walk from home to and around the market then back home - 20 minutes
• 4:06pm - Zumba Dance Workout (Waka Waka by Shakira, 3 times)

I told myself I'd still do the Cardio workout of Hip Hop Abs, after all, I heard at the Pinoy_Blogfest 2.0 that we need at least 30 minutes of continuous movements as our exercise. I guess doing the Hip Hop Abs routines all day (well not all day, what I meant was I do one routine early morning, one late in the morning, and one mid-afternoon) made my body crave for it, but since half of my mind was thinking this is my rest day, I decided to just check the Zumba Dance Workout via YouTube.


There were a lot of Zumba Dance Workouts available on YouTube, but the very first one I got to see (back in August) was this one, so I decided to start with it. Doing the dance workout felt like I am back in Elementary and High School - doing practices for the school's Field Demo. Actually, my sister was laughing at me because I was wearing my oh-so-comfy PJs (the pants) yet I was wearing my running shoes, too. I looked awful to say the least, but I really had fun laughing with her as we recalled past memories from high school days.

Anyway, since I already tried this routine before, it wasn't difficult for me to get familiarized with the sequences, so after one "refresher" round, the second two rounds was something easy for me.

The song ran for a little over 3 minutes, but I only did three rounds as my legs were already straining. Will dance to it again come Saturday and Sunday.


Foodie update:

• 7:49am - 1 cup Bear Brand Lusog-Busog cereal drink (chocolate)
• 11:50am - 2 cups Kalabasa and Patola with Misua (cooked with ground pork and 1 small square tokwa - diced and fried), 1 banana
• 2:40pm - 1 pack Otap (1 pack = 2 pieces)
• 6:00pm - 1 piece sliced bread + 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 7:12pm - 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup Kalabasa and Patola with Misua, 1 banana
• 11:02pm - 1 cup Athena Milk

Total Cups of Water: 18

The past two days, I wasn't able to eat that much vegetables, so since I had more time to go to the market, I decided to buy vegetables for lunch. My mom eats whatever dish we prepare for our meals, but she personally would try to stay away from Kalabasa and Patola (but she eats it, if there are no other dishes to eat), so it was what I bought today, since my sister loves this vegetable dish. I got to cook a lot for lunch (the dish yielded 5 cups), we decided not to eat rice and just eat the veggies instead.

For dinner, brother took time in cooking his dish (he cooked Beef Caldereta), and since it was already past 7pm (I personally prefer to eat my dinner before 7:30pm so I'd have enough time to digest it before I sleep), I didn't wait for his dish to cook, and just reheated the leftover veggies from lunch. 1 cup seemed too little for me, so I went to add more 1/2 cup of rice. Buuurp!

I also mentioned about the Bear Brand "Busog Lusog" cereal drink. Our family actually consumes Energen. When I took on this journey last year, my ex boyfriend told me about this, and I started mixing it with my oatmeal just so it would have some taste. My mom and my sister loved it, too, but I guess Energen has already made an impact to the market, that made other brands sprouts. Thinking of making a comparison, I would try to buy and taste other brands, and a few months ago (July to be exact), I wanted to take part of the 30-Day Oatmeal Challenge with Peachkins (of the Peach Kitchen), so when we did the grocery shopping, I put on some of the Bear Brand Busog Lusog cereal drink (in chocolate). Funny, it's now October, but it was just now that I tried and tasted it. It had lesser calories than Energen, but since the Nutrition Facts of Bear Brand was shorter than Energen's, am not sure which among the two was more nutritious. Taste-wise, I found Bear Brand a bit sweeter for my preference, so I don't think I'd consume the 11 more sachets we have here. Well, sister still has a lot of Energen on stock, so I will just go for that next time. :)

I guess I really am forming a habit. I still have to train myself to get up right after the alarm goes off (I sometimes try to doze off for a few more minutes before I get up), but I will get there. For now, I am thankful that I am already moving more. I have found the happiness in doing all of these, and if I keep at it, I will surely reach my goals.