Category Archives: Healthy Food + Recipes

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives.  New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24. 

Tip 5: NOURISH YOUR BODY, NURTURE YOUR SPIRIT

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food.  It’s also about being MEAN.  M in Mean is for meals of three and snacks of two. E is for exercise at least 4x a week. A is for Anything in moderation.  N is for NOURISH YOUR BODY, NURTURE YOUR SPIRIT.

We’re on our 5th^th week of eating clean, exercising regularly, and still enjoying the entire process.  How’re you feeling so far?  This week, we’ll talk about your spirit.

MIND, BODY, & SOUL

Being healthy isn’t a goal in itself.  We want to be healthy so that we can live better lives and become better people.

So, as we focus on eating better and exercising more, we shouldn’t forget that, at the end of the day, we should also care for our mind and spirit so that we can achieve bigger things.

Truth is, food is just our secondary source of energy.  Our primary sources of energy are the following: healthy relationships, inspiring work, regular and enjoyable physical activity, and a meaningful spiritual practice.  We should always try to achieve a balance among all these things to become better.

NURTURE YOUR SPIRIT

So, now that you’re eating cleaner and exercising more, how can you nurture your spirit?  Here are some ways:

1. Commune with nature.  Spend more time outdoors and feel connected to the grass upon your feet and the vast sky above you.  Try running the trails instead of the road this weekend.
2. Slow down.  We’re often stuck in the rat race in the city burdened with deadlines and overscheduled with meetings.  Take some time out each day to slow down and gather yourself.
3. Meditate every morning.  Start each day with a few minutes of meditation.  You’ll be surprised at how this brief activity can change the next 24 hours.
4. Pray.  For many, prayer is one of the best ways to connect to God and find a deeper meaning in their daily lives.
5. Try yoga. Yoga teaches techniques that exercise the body, mind, and spirit.  They say that the lessons of flexibility, patience, mental alertness that you learn on the mat spills off to the rest of your life as well.
6. Be grateful.  Instead of complaining about the traffic or your boss, take note of the many little good things that occur during each day.  Also take the time out to be thankful for what and who you have around you that you may sometimes take for granted.

Try this out this week and see how it can change your mindset about diet, exercise, and your life.

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days.  If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FB Page who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you!  See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean
Tip 2: Mealtime: Listen to Your Body
Tip 3: Exercise: 4x a Week
Tip 4: Anything in Moderation.

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 4: ANYTHING IN MODERATION

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food. It’s also about being MEAN. M in Mean is for meals of three and snacks of two. E is for exercise at least 4x a week. A is for ANYTHING IN MODERATION.

We’re on our 4th week of eating clean and exercising regularly. How’re you feeling so far? This week will be short and simple. It’s all about MODERATION.

DIET? WHAT DIET?

Often times you hear people say “Diet? What diet?!!” when they’re about to devour an entire lechon. It’s almost as if they’re saying: “Screw that sad diet I’ve been on for weeks. Today, I will enjoy myself to the hilt and eat all I want!” Then they proceed to consume triple the amount they usually eat because they’re finally free.

That’s what happens when you go on a DIET. You restrict your intake of particular foods (or worse, entire food groups!) and shun all your favorites because you’re trying to be “good.” The thing is, if or when you do fall into temptation, your diet may backfire on you. You may overeat because you’ve been depriving yourself for weeks or months.

LIVE A LITTLE

Like I said, on the TBR Clean & Mean Routine, we’re not going on a diet. We’re aiming for a lifestyle change. We want a life where, in time, we naturally veer towards healthy food and exercise as opposed to artificial food and sedentary living. We do this s-l-o-w-l-y by making small changes every week as we go about our daily activities.

It’s unnatural for anyone to live within a super strict set of regimented rules especially when it comes to food. Don’t eat this. Don’t eat that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. It’s also very sad!

So, for us, we will allow for ANYTHING IN MODERATION and, please note, ONCE IN A WHILE. If you must have a cookie, then allow yourself to take a bite and quickly give it to someone else. If you must have a soda, then take a few sips and leave it. If you’ve been invited to a big dinner buffet, then make sure that you have a light snack before the meal, make good choices by filling your plate with healthier fare, then stop before you get too full.

I will have to ask you to practice common sense with this tip.  Please don’t come back to me saying that I allowed you to have tons of sugar when you’re a diabetic or you loaded up on spicy food before a marathon and eventually messed up your race.  At the end of the day, you know what you can and cannot have and when. You know what is good and what is bad for your health.  Only you are responsible for what you put in your body.

The point is this: Do not over think things.  Do not make food your enemy.  Just eat when you want to and stop when you’re satisfied.  Good food and healthy active living must be fun and convenient for you if you want it to be forever.

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FACEBOOK PAGE who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean
Tip 2: Mealtime: Listen to Your Body
Tip 3: Exercise: 4x a Week

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 3: EXERCISE 4X A WEEK

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food. It’s also about being MEAN. M in Mean is for meals of three and snacks of two. E is for EXERCISE at least 4x a week.

This week, focus on engaging in a physical activity at least 4x a week.

WHAT TYPE OF ACTIVITY SHOULD YOU GET INTO?

For me, these are the criteria for your ideal workout:

1) Challenges your body – While any kind of movement, like a stroll in the park, will burn calories, it just won’t be enough if you want to get fitter. Choose an activity will get your heart pumping and also toughen you up mentally.

2) Fits your lifestyle – The activity has to fit well into your daily schedule and the rest of your life. It should not interfere with your obligations in life such as family and career. It should be something you can afford. It should be something you can do regularly without being too much of an inconvenience.

3) You enjoy doing it – Go for an activity that you would do simply because you love it and not because you have to burn the calories from dinner last night or you have to look great for an upcoming wedding.

4) It is sustainable – Think long term. Start an activity that you can see yourself doing for at least 6 months. Even better if you can see yourself doing it for the rest of your life.

Having mentioned that, it doesn’t mean that you can only choose one activity for the entire week. You can have a variety of workouts throughout the week and this is actually better so that you use different muscle groups and even avoid injury. For example, triathletes will typically juggle swim, bike, and run workouts throughout the week with some strength and flexibility workouts thrown into the mix.

RUNNING: MY BIASED OPINION

Since you’re on this blog, I’m assuming that if you’re not running yet then there is at least an interest in starting. Good for you. It is my opinion (and yes I must admit I am biased) that running is the best cardiovascular activity you can get into. It is affordable (just get a good pair of shoes), convenient (just head out the door), easy (choose to go at your own pace!), and efficient (one of the activities that can get you to burn a ton of calories in just an hour.)

I’ve been running for almost 8 years now. It surprises some non-runners or beginners when I tell them that I run just 3 to 4x a week. Even when I’m training for a marathon, I run a maximum of 4x a week and cross train on other days to allow for recovery and keep injury at bay.

Most beginners still have the misconception that runners run every single day. They think: “I can’t be a runner! I don’t have time to do it!” Truth is, squeezing in an hour of running on 4 days of the week is easy. Just quit lurking of Facebook and Instagram, skip watching TV, or run before dinner. You’ll find that it’s pretty easy to get a workout into your day.

LIVING AN ACTIVE LIFE

As mentioned in the past tips, our goal isn’t to start a new diet or fitness regimen. It’s to adopt a healthier and more active lifestyle.

My hope for you is that you find the workout that you’ll love. That you start engaging in this new physical activity with goals of becoming better at the sport and progressing in your skills rather than staring at the numbers on the scale. That you lace up your shoes and head out the door with enthusiasm and excitement rather than dreading the couple of hours of suffering and sweat. That, in time, you find yourself waking up to workout without giving it a thought because it’s just as regular as brushing your teeth.

And, yes, I will understand if it isn’t running. Although I will tell you that you’ll be missing out bigtime!

ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT?

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FB Page who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean
Tip 2: Mealtime: Listen to Your Body

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips from for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

MEALTIME: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

As mentioned, our TBR Clean & Mean Routine is about eating clean food. It’s also about being MEAN. M in Mean is for meals of 3 and snacks of 2, but, at the end of the day, we advise you to listen to your body.

Tip 2: 3 MEALS + 2 SNACKS

This week, focus on eating clean, wholesome, nutritious food (as in Tip 1) and eat them during your three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and two snacks (mid-morning and mid-afternoon.) This is what works for most people, especially us Pinoys.  Personally, this is what works for me, too.

But, as I mentioned in the past posts, we’re not going to go on a “diet” but we’re going to start living a healthy lifestyle. So, while I recommend what works for most people to help them maintain a healthy weight and make good food choices, you should still listen to your body and choose a way of eating that works for you.

Nowadays, you’ll always hear about diets that allow you to eat more and still lose weight or recommend you to eat 6 mini meals a day. I tried it in the past and it was a nightmare. I was bringing out fruit containers during meetings and parties because I had set this strict rule of eating clean every 2 hours. After 4 months of attempting to live that way, I realized that it was completely unrealistic for a busy working mom like me to inconvenience myself with any type of diet. I started eating 3 healthy filling meals and two snacks.  It was simple and easy and, best of all, it was sustainable . That’s what we all want right? We don’t want to be constantly thinking of what to eat, where to eat, and when to eat, we just want to live healthy so we can go on living!

Truth is, experts have said that it really doesn’t matter when or how often you eat. What is important is what you eat and the total calorie intake for the entire day.

HOW SHOULD YOUR PLATE LOOK?

We all grew up with the vision of that Food Pyramid in our heads.  Little of us know that that has been updated.  While I’m not familiar if our government has released its own food guide, I am familiar with the new My Plate of the US.  This is how it looks and I like it!

This is how I generally eat except for the dairy portion.  I don’t believe one has to take dairy daily (if at all but that’s an entirely new issue).  I only take milk along with my coffee or as post-workout drink (Enervon HP) after a long run to aid in recovery.

Anyway, that is how your plate should look during each meal.  It may quite difficult to execute during breakfast so aim at least for lunch and dinner.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Eat a good breakfast.  Breakfast is a key meal. It sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you skipped breakfast, you’ll usually end up bingeing later in the day. If you eat junk, like leftover pastries or soda and crackers, don’t you notice you don’t take care of your body throughout the day, too?  Take the time to eat a healthy, wholesome breakfast with family instead of rushing out the door.
• Dine at home. It will be easier for you to eat clean, good-sized meals if you eat at home. You can control how much salt goes into your food. You can use olive oil instead of cooking oil. You can skip the loads of butter drizzled on veggies. And, you aren’t confronted with a plate that looks like it’s meant for two!
• Drink a lot of water. Drinking water before your meals fills you up. Skip sugar-laden soda and juices and you save yourself tons of calories too.
• Listen to your body.  Like I said above, there is no one diet that works for everyone.  Do what works for you and what fits your lifestyle.  The key is to be mindful of what you put in your mouth and when you do it.  Don’t just eat all throughout the day without paying to attention to your nourishment and nutrition.

ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT?

If you want to join me and others on our TBR Clean and Mean Routine for 2014, just do this:

Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.

Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.

Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FB Page who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.

By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!

Read:
TBR Clean & Mean Routine – Part 1 & Part 2
Tip 1: Eat Clean

TBR Clean & Mean Routine is a series of nutrition and wellness tips for people who wish to start the year right by living cleaner, healthier lives. New tips are posted every Monday from Jan. 13 to Feb. 24.

Tip 1: EAT CLEAN FOOD.

This week, from January 13 to 19, focus on eating clean, wholesome, nutritious food. I know, you’ve heard this many times before. Everyone knows that this is the key to losing weight. It really is! But, for most of us, the difficulty comes in applying it. We can eat healthy for a day, or maybe a week, and then we fall off the healthy eating wagon and feel like a complete failure.

The difference now is in your mindset. Change your mind about healthy eating. Do not even think that you’re going to start a new short-term diet today. You’re not. You are starting a new, better way of living. Ready? Game!

WHAT ARE CLEAN FOODS?

What food should you be eating most of this week? Clean food!

Clean foods are foods that are as close to its natural state as possible. They come from nature. These are fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish, and nuts. They rarely come packaged, but, if they do, they have only one or two ingredients in the label.

Choose a banana over a packaged bar.
Choose tilapia and brown rice over spam and white rice.
Choose fresh buko juice over soda.
Choose a handful of nuts over a bag of chips.

CROWDING OUT

By eating more clean food this week, we will fill our bodies with healthy food that make us feel satisfied so that we don’t even have space for junk. This is what we call CROWDING OUT in my nutrition school.

This week, focus on all the clean food you can have and get excited over it. Try a new fresh and healthy recipe. Think of new restaurants that serve awesome grilled salmon and fresh salads. Look forward to eating. Period.

Since we’re just starting out, you may notice that you still want to eat some not so good food. Go ahead. Don’t stress over it. Just do so in moderation and make sure you are eating the clean food that you should be eating. You’ll notice that, as you go along, you’ll be craving less of the junk and filling yourself with clean food without even thinking about it.

WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO DO

Two things I don’t want you to do this week:

1) DO NOT think about all the food you will scrap from your diet this week. DO NOT tell yourself that, this week, you will not have red meat, rice, dessert and soda. This will leave you feeling angry and deprived. And, if you mess up, you will feel like a complete failure. Focus on the good food you will be eating and how you are nourishing your body.

2) DO NOT be too hard on yourself. I said we want to eat clean MOST of the time, but SOMETIMES we can allow ourselves to indulge and enjoy not-so-healthy food. So, if you want to have a taste of cake or a sip of soda, go ahead! Life is too short to quit eating cake for a whole year (I have friends who’ve done that. Boo to them!) I say, live your life to the fullest!

ARE YOU READY TO COMMIT?

Come and join me and others on our TBR Clean & Mean Routine!

Here’s how to join:

• Post a comment on TBR FACEBOOK PAGE that you commit to practicing the tip for the next 7 days. If you don’t have FB, you can post your comment on this blogpost.
• Watch out for our weekly TBR Clean & Mean Routine tip every Monday. I will ask you to post a comment on each of those weekly tips until February 24.
• Throughout the week, feel free to chat and converse with others in the TBR FACEBOOK PAGE who are trying to apply the weekly tips in their lives.
• By the first week of March, I will ask you to submit a story on how this plan worked for you and what changes you saw in your life. The most compelling and interesting submission will win a pair of running shoes from me.

Let me know how this week goes for you! See you next Monday!