New blog

I'm still alive... and getting married in August 2011! What better motivation (other than a comp!) to put down the cookies and get into great shape :)

Find me at http://stephmdavis.blogspot.com

Hot and cold

As usual I'm talking about food :) Chefs go on about the texture of food being really important well, I’ve decided that next to taste, temperature is very important to me!

I like my food and tea/coffee piping hot. Its become a real problem, I’ll serve up my meat and veggies on my plate straight from the pan but then give it a minute in the microwave before I eat it. I eat fairly slowly too and have been known to get up halfway through and nuke it again….

I really like hot and cold combinations. For example when I eat salad, I like to not only heat up my chicken before I put it on top but I also have some hot beans and red onion (stirfried in garlic and soy sauce) in the mix. Beautiful with avocado as well!

It works the other way too. When I have a hot bowl of meat and veggies and/or potato, I like to mix through some iceburg lettuce. When you mix it through the hot food it wilts but stays crunchy, its amazing! Apparently stir frying lettuce is a very popular in Asian dishes.

I would have to say my all time favourite desserts would involve the hot and cold combination as well – think apple crumble with custard or sticky date pudding with icecream….

Live in the present moment

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future nor to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha.

Welcome winter

Do you think winter and the colder weather has any impact on your nutrition and training? At the moment I’m loving the cooler mornings and not raising a sweat on the treadmill BUT it is harder to get up when it is still dark! I have to stay motivated enough to keep doing cardio at this time because I’ve never gone back to doing any at the gym – gym time is for weights! I’ve heard a lot of people say they tend to eat more in winter but I don’t really notice a difference, I’m not any hungrier than usual or crave anything different…. Maybe because I work in climate controlled office so am mostly oblivious to the elements outside….

So after a very good week foodwise last week, I had my planned cheat/treat at Sizzler for breakfast on Sunday. I totally did eat more than an acceptable amount but didn’t suffer the associated guilt afterward, so that’s great! No “stuff it, I might as well keep going” or binging behaviour. I also noticed how tired I was on Monday as a result, so had no trouble getting back to the clean eats - I call that a “food hangover”.

I think having finally made steps regarding my hormonal issues has helped my stress levels immensely – I couldn’t get my next specialist appointment until mid july but I still feel relieved rather than pointlessly worrying about it until then. There’s a saying about going toward whatever frightens you - I think it’s a Buddhist principle?

I am bummered to have missed the ANB Asia Pacific Show, sounds like it was a HUGE night! Congratulations to all the lovely blogland competitors, I am still catching up on all the news and checking out all the photos.

I'm not stressing

Well I did get some answers healthwise today and although they were not the answers I desired at least I’m on the path to sorting out my hormonal imbalances and preventing further problems. You just can’t ignore health issues as they can tend to grow while you have your head in the sand. Unfortunately for me, I am and always have been most reluctant (scared shitless) to see doctors so just endeavoring to get to the bottom of things has been a huge challenge. The last thing I wanted was more referrals!

So I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself right now. Its funny how trivial things will make me want to give up, cry and dive headfirst into a bag of sugar but I can actually be quite strong in the midst of real problems. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t think stress is so much linked to my food issues as self esteem. Ie. when I feel good about myself, I WANT to eat well which is sooo much easier than eating well because you SHOULD. I’m looking for opportunities rather than excuses and am keen not to waste any more time. I just have to make sure that my all or nothing thinking doesn’t kick in and that its more a case of balance. I have eaten well all week and have just been invited to go to Sizzler for breakfast this weekend (remember how I love Sizzler and I love breakfast? Double threat hehe!) so I’ll be looking at this as my ‘cheat meal’ however, that does not give me permission to eat myself silly. Relax, enjoy, no guilt. Have a great weekend.

Some like it hot

I’m still a lazy blogger - tsk tsk!
I’ve been nice and motivated since last weekend’s INBA show in Brisbane. Ali and I went to cheer on Lisa whom he has coached over the last 20 weeks for the sportsmodel comp. She looked fantastic and placed third out of an impressive lineup of eleven - I couldn’t have been prouder of both of them for their dedication! While there I also had the pleasure of catching up with Chelle, Hanni, Selina, Shannon and Leisel. I wish I could have stayed longer, we could probably all chat for hours!

I’m slowly getting my confidence back in relation to trusting myself to consistently make the right choices and feeling good about food again. I’ve learnt that you have to respect food in the way that you respect yourself and your body and I’m learning to love it again.

We have foxtel and I’m a bit obsessed with the food channel – I could seriously watch cooking shows for hours. A co-worker gave me some fresh chillies from her garden today so I think dinner tonight will be HOT! I’ve been feeling a lot less tired lately as well which is a direct result of plenty of fresh REAL food. I don’t think you have to do much to clean foods to make them taste great but I do think you have to get creative in order to eat them every single day and not get cravings. It could be as simple as grating fresh ginger onto your fish before cooking it… yum!

As much as I love food and cooking I could never be a chef – do you watch Masterchef? Last night the 15 contestants helped one of the judges George relaunch his restaurant in Sydney. The stress and pressure in a commercial kitchen seems incredible but working under these conditions and succeeding left them all (even the losing team) with such pride and sense of achievement. I know you have to get uncomfortable and push yourself in order to grow but I can’t imagine surviving that stress every day – you’d have to be a bit of an adrenaline junky!

In other news, I’ve finally been a little more proactive in chasing down a diagnosis for my ongoing amenorrhea (seeing as how it has been MIA since June 2008 now). I have finally found a good doctor, taken another series of blood tests and ultrasounds and have an appt tomorrow to hopefully get some answers and/or at least rule out PCOS. As tempted as I was by the INBA show, its quite illogical for me to think of competing again until I get my mind and body back in the right place. Time to put my health first.

Chocoholics anonymous

I finally succumbed to the avalanche of media interest in Jessica Watson today, and of course as impressive as her solo sailing journey has been, I must say the thing that stood out in my mind from the article in the courier mail was that she ate 576 chocolate bars in the 7 months she was at sea…. Did she foresee requiring this amount of chocolate prior to the trip or did she do a stock take and count the empty wrappers afterward? LOL!

Another online article reported that she consumed:

32 cans of spam, 64 cans of tuna, 32 cans of pineapple, 576 chocolate bars and 290 freeze dried ready meals.

High on her list of priorities now on dry land were eating some fresh fruit and…. Eating a chocolate bar that hasn’t been melted and then re-set!

I seriously hope she was also taking a good multi-vitamin!

Are you a chocoholic or do you know one? I definitely think the more you have, the more you crave it.

I recall I used to be a chocolate fiend in my uni days – although at worst I would buy perhaps two or three bars per week to get me through 2 hour law lectures (that’s a max of 84 in 7 months!) Snickers, Twix or KitKat Crunchy’s were my faves. These days I’m happy getting a somewhat regular chocolate fix from the sprinkles on top of cappuccinos and when I do eat chocolate I prefer dark chocolate with nuts – oh no, I think my tastebuds are growing up!