Meatless

So last weekend I went to 4 Fingers and end up ordering their Tofu and Mushroom salad and thought it tasted not bad.
Then I thought - why not not eat meat for a week? I've been wanting to try this but didn't have the balls  resolution to do so so why not now - anyway there's no harm, is there? I have several vegetarian friends(by religion, not choice) but none of my friends were vegan.

Just a clarification, the definitions:
Veganism: practice of abstaining the use of animal products, particularly in diet, as well as following an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals
Vegetarianism: the practice of abstaining the consumption of meat, may also include the by-products of animal slaughter
(adopted from Wikipedia)

Most of my non-meat eating friends were ovo-lacto vegetarian - meaning they just don't eat meat, but dairy and eggs, and its by-products(e.g. whey protein, creatine) were allowed. Or so I think its the definition of their dietary status.

So for one week I tried staying away from any kind of meat(includes my brother's nearly expired strawberry flavoured whey protein, eggs) and any obvious sources of dairy like my usual cow's milk with my overnight oats, and milk chocolate!!! Oh goodness. Life without chocolate sucked the life force out of me. However I did eat bread, so i guess I'm not entirely successful in being strictly vegetarian. Thank you Nabisco for making Oreos vegan!!!

At first it was to train my resilience and lets just say I have ZERO tolerance to food and if I could make through this, I'd prolly be able to be disciplined enough to do other things in life and set my priorities straight. Then I heard about the benefits of going meatless, loosely mentioned in random conversations:

(note that these are subjective and not ENTIRELY TRUE) in a way or another, as our bodies work differently and are idiosyncratic
(taken from here and here)

1. Lose weight - vegetables carry bulk but not calories.
2. Reducing exposure to added antibiotics, hormones, and all that lab stuff they inject into animals and their products
3. Our bodies can't digest milk(or rather, lactose) properly after being weaned out. Removing dairy clears the digestive system and underlying lactose intolerance.

I probably can find a whole other reasons to support and at the same time disapprove of the benefits but lets just put it as that. Also, the whole science and theories behind it but it'll probably bore you and make you not ever visit this place again.

and so I decided to pack my lunches(school lunches were a huge load of rice and with a tiny amount of meat anyway): meatless, cheeseless, etc etc etc



1. Miso boiled red rice, pan fried tofu, baby carrot, broccoli and japanese cucumber
2. Miso boiled red rice, Pan fried tofu sesame oil and shoyu tofu, pan fried mini portobello mushroom
3. Sprouted wheat bread(best stuff ever), chunky skippys, pomegranate arils
4. Overnight oats and chia seed in soy milk, dried cranberries, walnuts, pomegranate and goldfish crackers and oreoes

Some meals I've eaten in the course of going meatless! More can be found on instagram :-)

The experience? What I felt during my week of going no meat and minimal dairy:
1. Staring at my friend's chicken rice/chicken chop/fish and chips sadly
2. Clearer system - my bodily functions were more optimal: I could feel less breathless during exercise, feel more energetic, digestive system was also more effective in doing its usual thing. If you know what I mean. Stuff inside were moving more.
3. Cravings for meat were strangely not VERY much. It was kind of bearable.
4. Feeling more airy - less groggy and bloated - this was one of the better benefits I got out of this week to be honest as I felt better and healthier in general in a sense?
5. Farted like crazy (sorry)
6. I lost 1kg in the first 2 days, and then weight became stagnant(not sure because it was meatless or)

Overall a very interesting experience but I wouldn't go long term vegetarian, maybe going flexitarian sounds like a good choice (see semi-vegetarian)!!

On a side note I found Hershey's soymilk at NTUC the other day!!


And also to the person on ask.fm, I made oat cookies to bring to school as snacks :-) Good to try if you don't like the taste of oats/oatmeal

Healthiest ever cookies

Ingredients:

cookie dough

3.5 cup whole rolled oats(250ml cup)

5 large bananas

toppings

100ml dried cranberries

3 tbsp chocolate chips

A handful of walnuts

cinnamon

1. Blend 3 cups of oats till it becomes oat flour, but not to a very fine consistency

2. Mash bananas(blending is more efficient though)

3. Mix oat flour and bananas into a mixing bowl, together with the whole oats

4. Add cranberries, chocolate chips, walnuts and cinnamon

5. It should be between a cookie dough, but slightly more firm. If too watery, add oats. If too dry, add half a mashed banana and mix again.

6. Cover baking tray with vegetable oil(so that cookies won't stick) and make cookies with mixture. Make sure cookies are about the same size so that they all will cook at the same time. 

7. Preheat oven

8. Pop cookies into oven 

9. Bake for 20 mins, 170c(not sure about this as my oven is abit wonky, do check other 2 ingredient oat cookie receipes online)

Makes about 22 cookies. Each cookie is about 100 calories. Toppings can be changed to liking but calorie content will change too.

Do feedback on ask.fm/beefballs with questions/etc :-)

Losing weight is unhealthy.

Okay so yh just told me he's finding out that more and more of his friends are actually anorexic/suffering from anorexia, and it kind of saddens me.
Growing up learning about these disorders in Home Economics/Health Education lessons the first thing that came to my mind was "these people are crazy", "lol I'll never know anyone who get these" and it was very foreign, like what, these kinda things actually exist? Isn't food so delicious to override every single weirded out thought? I was 14 (not very young but not too old, either) and... yeah.

And then a few people I know from my school started getting these disorders.... It was kind of scary. Watching their lives get sucked out from their bodies like Dementors sucking out souls(I couldn't think of a better analogy) and yes, they were getting skinnier, but then they looked very lethargic always, like they had to work part-time to support themselves to come to school.

And contrary to popular belief, not all people who get eating disorders become skinnier. Not all become skinny, lose their hair. Not all anorexics/bulimics are dangerously underweight, or appear sad all the time. It is a mental illness. 
You might disagree: only when its very serious then people are about to die and become like walking skeletons, then they need help. NO.

I personally know a few who are not skinny at all and they suffer from eating disorders and thankfully are recovering thanks to the help of friends, family, exercise(healthy kind).. etc.

Personally I grew up as a heavy kid, got teased at, ostracised at, etc... Just for being round. But I lead a happy life. It was not very bad until I gained ALOT of weight in Secondary School. Alot of stress, and literally most of the fast food restaurants can be found 15~20 minutes down my school. KFC, Macdonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Long John Silvers, the list goes ON and ON.
Until one day I calculated my BMI and it was about 28.6(obese is at >30). Not gonna bother posting photos because I think almost the whole world has seen it.......

Lost quite a bit of weight and yeah I am who I am today! Throughout, it was not the, oh, eat less lose weight thing... It was more of a eat less, exercise, get period, eat like a mad cow, gain weight, then lose it back again. There were days where I thought I didn't need food. Days where I look at too much thinspo on tumblr and die a little inside because I thought I didn't need food and if I ate much lesser I'd probably look like that girl with a UK 4 body.

The problem is once one manages to lose weight it becomes like a... habit? A weird thing. That irrational fear of gaining weight because people want flat stomachs - strutting around Orchard Road in short shorts and crop tops and translucent chiffon shirts that flaunt that mid section that shows that you sacrificed something to get(this body). The centre of envy.

"Wow your abs!"
"Dem stomach"
"What workouts are you doing?"

People often has this misconception that once you lose more weight, you get a very nice, Victoria Secret body. It is the worse, utter bullshit that has been said or thought.

Truth is, having abs/muscles to show is all about body fat composition. And losing weight not equals to losing fat. You might think, "but doesn't your body use the stored fat when you eat less and exercise more?"
True, but not true because your body DO USE THE MUSCLES AS WELL. And water weight.

Bringing on to my next point.
Well, you might think: I'll be happier if I lose another 5kg/if i could fit into a UK 6/etc. I need to eat less. So I can lose weight.

Truthfully, I've been doing that. Replacing my hunger with alot of water, skipping dinner, eating lesser, etc etc and I have been feeling like shit for a few months, until recently.
And why?
Because I was hungry, and cold. It was terrible. Now that the whole school is air conditioned, I often find myself piling on a windbreaker/jacket ON TOP of my knit sweater and still feel cold. It was the worse I have been through and why?

Because of metabolism. Visualise your body to be a.... train. If you feed it with food(coal), the furnace burns and the train is allowed to move. And when you don't, the train slows down, and because it still has to bring its passengers to another station, it burns lesser coal so that it could continue moving, though not as fast, but with a very little amount of coal.
What happens?
The train captains would store more coal(food) whenever he is given coal for his train - your body stores the energy it is given as fat. And you become fat. Your body processes slow down, and your hypothalamus(this little pea thing in your brain which regulates hormones, body temperature) runs on low. Your body lowers its temperature(body uses up fat to burn temperature LITERALLY like the coal train engine theory) and bam. You'll never feel warm even though you put on ten layers of clothing and trust me. It feels like shit.
Now thats one reason to enjoy polishing off your plate and not leaving half saying "you can't finish it" although all you wanted was to eat less and lose weight.

Instead, exercise! Exercise releases endorphins (happy hormones), raises metabolism, improves overall health from heart to skin health(its true - my friends tell me my complexion improved) and exercise is a great time to bond/spend time with your friends or family.

Do something you love. Not something you do because you feel like a fat fuck although in truth you're just average sized, and everyone else is skinny.

STOP LOOKING AT THINSPO/THINSPIRATION. Browsing through tumblr, it is one of the most toxic type of posts you can see because everyone's body looks differently, works differently, and is built differently. You know that skinny friend that eats like a 5 year old just because her appetite is that small? Yes, thinspo photos are all about these kind of people.

STOP LOOKING AT TOO MUCH FITSPO EITHER. They can be motivating, but sometimes guilt trip you. Some pages are meant for professional weight lifters. "Stop eating so much junk and go to the gym now." No. You live your life as you want and a healthy mind is as equally important as a healthy(not skinny/muscular) body.

To people who are reading this and are suffering from an eating disorder: fuck the thigh gap lol I barely have a calf gap.... YOUR LEGS ARE NOT A GOAL POST FOR THE UPCOMING WORLD CUP SO WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU WANT A GAP IN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS? You are worth more than a thigh gap. Or skinny arms. Or poking collarbones or being a UK 6 or whatever. Don't go wanting to lose kilos because SOMEONE TOLD YOU TO DO SO. NO. You live your life. You're worth more than numbers on the scale.

Isn't it more impressive when you exercise, become more healthy, improve your fitness and people recognise your efforts?

"Omg you passed your NAPFA test?"
"Holy shit you can do pull ups? But you're a girl!?"
"He can do more push ups than his friends"

You are born with this body - its how you make use of it and love it, and how you bring out the best of it and instead of changing how you look, change how you feel. I'm heavier than most, if not all than my female friends and there's nothing really to be ashamed about.

Life is short and there are many more other things to worry about than weight.

3am

(photos taken on Sony Xperia Z1 Compact)

I have no work due tomorrow so yay I'm typing here!

Re-organised the blog abit and for those who don't know the header is my handwriting. After what feels like hours scrolling thru dafont.com, I've finally decided on using my own font - personal touch maybe.

I couldn't sleep. 

I've been living in this new room now (Yours Truly designed it, and assembled most of the furniture) and I'm loving it! All white/black so getting sick of colours/moods changing because of colours isn't an issue. Probably need some ideas on how to spice up the room..... 

Everyday I sleep with 3 friends(lol I sound like a slut) - Meet Chlorophyll, Pororo and Lotso, they're my sleep buddies and its sort of a.... assurance? There's more kept in the wardrobe and here and there but occupies too much space so here's my current 3 favourites. Stuffed animals are love regardless of age. Oh and Lamb and Tux Penguin accompanying my lamp. People always go like "omg you're so childish lol stuffed animals when you're almost hitting 20?" and shit.

Life's been great and honestly it has come to a point in life where I'm lost (lol teen-age crisis) and not sure if what I want is what I really want but heck I'll go for it. Maybe it'll work. Idk. Sometimes I look at successful teens my age doing great stuff, representing the country in terms of sports and etc, setting up charity organisations, being famous, travelling the world... And then there's me. Maybe I don't have to be great in that sense but be the best version of myself. It's like, "your best is good enough" thing.

And so I've been kind of upgrading. And today I've unlocked an achievement a.k.a almost doing a pull-up!!! Will aim to do about 5 by the end of this year maybe? It has been by far the furthest I've come in terms of physical fitness and will strive for improvement since I started trying to lose weight (eternities ago). Maybe go to the gym or run more often. Some people might think its stupid and shit but their opinions are none of my business. "The Lion does not lose sleep over the opinion of the Sheep."

Oh and plot twist - I've picked up reading, more on fashion design and dress making and hope I am able to make my dream dress very soon (and build up a portfolio so my dream of being a Lasalle student is more realise-able), I hope.

Speaking of making stuff do follow @thelabcoat on Instagram! Its my baby I've been working on since a few months ago(lost count, have been procrastinating) and it'll be featuring minimalistic/stackable accessories and when I master dress making/fabric manipulation/sewing then I'll move on from there, but now its just bracelets, necklaces, maybe a chance of rings and will be open in a mid June - do give it a signal boost for me and I'll love y'all. Personally loving the swarovski bracelets because it is not too "oldish" and "high class" - y'know how those aunties with tudungs love to hot-fix swarovski and older ladies love to bedazzle everything and it doesn't appeal to teens? I've given a more casual, dressed down, less glaring take on these crystals hope y'all will love it :-)

Recently I've also been looking for my personal style - trying different sorts of clothing which includes dresses(can't wait to shop) of different... styles? I guess. I love all 3: the high neck skater, Ruffle cami dress and cami shift dress/slip dress but if I were to pick one that fits me most it'll be the shift dress because I'm lazy.

Speaking of personal style..... Shoe lust for the month.

(available here)

Dear pair of shoes:

YOU'LL BE MINE AT THE END OF THE MONTH

Love, me

Oh and getting sick of my hair.... Suggestions?

Food issues

Half of the week is spent indulging in food i want, and the other half is spend trying to work it off. Its great. Recently, its all about self acceptance. Only though self acceptance then one can be happy, because I realised I only can be happy with what weigh/look if I accept myself.

Food is great. Why forgo food to lose weight when you can get food, exercise, and lose weight? Best of both worlds. Exercise also benefits a lot, other than feeling like you're gonna die in that one hour or so, but the after effects are good.

I only realised that about 2 years ago. I sat at a Sakae Sushi buffet with my friends and my skirt was getting too tight, bursting at the seams. Decided to do something about it. After the buffet, changed out into some shorts and headed to jog at the track in some running shoes... People tell me "Have not been jogging for so long because all my friends don't want to." Well, you are your own master.

From that day on I didn't regret it, though putting effort and not seeing results is a party pooper. I have to thank a few of my friends who cheered me on, gave me pep talks, etc. Really.

Younger, I was the "big kid", the one with the "bigger build", "heavy bones", the one who didn't need help with growing/eating. It was... a helpful thing. Surely, there were people insulting me because of my size and times where I felt different because I couldn't fit into clothes my friends or girls my age wore, but I am glad. It sort of made me a stronger person, being more indifferent of peoples' thoughts about me. Still remember someone calling me a "fat f#%k" because well, they couldn't find anything else to insult apart from my appearance.

Friends and relatives would tell my parents that I've grown, not sure if that is a good thing or not.

I also didn't get noticed by boys, or any alike, because of the extra... flesh I had. Didn't bother me much as I was 12, and food was the priority. Along with neopets and pokemon. It bothered me, but not enough.

I left primary school into secondary school, which was an OK experience to me. I grew, and puberty happened. It was a weird thing..... Trying to adjust. Everyone in my class was trying to adjust, it was only a matter of who handled it better.

Weight didn't really bother me until our PE teacher had to send us for extra lessons because I was overweight. I didn't like being overweight, but didn't do much about it. She was kind of an inspiration to me as she sat the girls through how she was once like that in her teens; suddenly it felt do-able. Having the power to change myself felt kind of possible.

Throughout the first two years of secondary school I tried, only leading to futile attempts, and led to me giving up. In my third year, I ballooned a 10kg, and left me almost obese in my fourth year. Which was then I decided to do something.

Until last year, food became an enemy, leaving me forgoing a lot of things I liked just to lose that few kgs. It was terrible. It did not become a physical thing, but rather the having mindset that screws people up. I was unhappy. Really unhappy. Until recent months.

Thinking back, I decided to look at how I looked like, scrolling through my Facebook photos(some of the photos from my old phone cameras are there) and all I can say is I am glad it all happened.

Green smoothie

Recipe:

- Ice cubes

- Baby spinach

- Blueberries

- Strawberries

- Grapes

- Banana

- Peanut butter

- Handful of old fashioned oats

- Cinnamon

- Milk

My breakfast/day starter for the next one week will be.... this. Real good, plus you get the nutrients without the compromise of taste. Maybe it might not suit the tastes of others but  you'll never know till you try!

People might cringe at the thought of oats and spinach in a smoothie but trust me, the spinach does nothing but gives its colour and nutrients and the oats? I almost puked when I ate a cooked cup of oatmeal under the fire but this variant is yummy.

Definitely the best breakfast so far when you're on-the-go or just too lazy to chew in your state of half-awake/half asleep, just dump everything into the blender and drink! This takes no longer than 5 minutes to make, including the washing of fruits to the blending.

Why drink smoothies for breakfast? This baby gives you protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and the cinnamon helps in lowering blood sugar and spiking your metabolism in the morning, prevent after meal sleepiness. Did you know that protein in the morning keeps your body from breaking down your muscles for energy = no drop in metabolism? Muscles play a part in metabolism, which is why your male friends eat twice as much as you and never get fat.

The best combination is to drink a cold cup of water before this, fills you up more, and cold water spikes metabolism too!