wellness: mind and body

health nut of the month
lawrence linker

At 30, Lawrence Linker, an MBA graduate from New York, is tall, lean and fit with an enviable body. He was not always this way. He is our Health Nut of the Month because he has decided to dedicate 50% of his diet for the rest of his life to protein shakes. This deserves special mention. Here is Lawrence's story, as he tells it, from fat to fabulous, and we hope it'll be a great inspiration to all dieters out there. 

"As a young kid, feeding myself was never something I had to think about. My mom was a great cook and made healthy, delicious meals daily. My job was merely to eat as much of it as I could get my hands on until my mom would let me know I’d had enough. As a teenager, my options changed. I now had the income and the freedom to make some of my own food options and frequent trips to my favourite fast food restaurants quickly showed themselves on my waist line. I gained weight steadily from the ages of 13 to 21, topping out at an incredible 110 kgs.

After years of ignoring the slow decline in my health, I decided to do something. I began reading books on weight loss and talking to friends who had made similar transformations. There was a lot more to keeping your body composition under control than I ever thought. I chose to follow a very popular program at the time, the Body4Life program as outlined in the book by Bill Phillips. This program took me from eating everything and doing nothing to eating 6 small meals a day and exercising 6 days a week. Other resources seemed to confirm that my results would be maximized by consuming my daily calories spread out over the day, with careful attention placed to what sort of nutrients I was feeding my body and when. I ate three sensible meals a day, and three meal replacement shakes in between them.

I was sceptical, but in 6 months, I had already lost 18 kilos. I lost another 9 in the 6 months to follow and I was barely recognizable. That’s when the fun started. From a low of 81 kilos that had me looking a bit gaunt in my 188cm frame, I put on about 5 kilos of solid muscle and for the first time in my life had the body that I thought was reserved only for the genetically gifted and the fervently dedicated.

I maintained in this way for a solid 3 or 4 years, making slight changes here and there, experimenting with faster, cheaper, better or easier ways to get the same results. I found a passion for eating natural and organic foods and began incorporating them into my diet as much as possible. I also became resentful of the discipline my life seemed to require, especially compared to people who seemed to be able to maintain similar or better bodies with much less thought. I decided to relax my rules, indulge more often and predictably the weight started to creep back on. About a year ago, I made the decision that my weight had slipped far enough, and I was going to take control once again. I tried incorporating what I had learned since the first time I made my lifestyle change and apply it with the same discipline I had upon starting. I now did more complex exercises that were more effective in training my muscles. I consumed more nutritious food, looking not just for the macronutrient – carbs, protein, fat – but also the micronutrient profile I know my body needs to be at its best.

At first, I blamed my slow progress on having aged. My metabolism at 30 could not expect to compete with the one I had at 22. Even so, I was disappointed by my lack of progress and began inspecting my lifestyle for clues as to what the problem was. Everything seemed the same but one; I had long since abandoned my habit of taking 3 meal replacement shakes per day to supplement my diet. The shakes seemed contrary to my new philosophy of eating as many all natural and unprocessed nutrients as possible. Upon closer examination, I realized I was also not nearly as loyal to my diet as I had thought. There was lots of cheating. I was constantly finding myself in situations where I was absolutely starving, but hours away from being able to provide a well balanced meal for myself. In those times, I would grab whatever I could get a hold of, and more often than not it would be something that would take me away from my goals.

In the last several months, I am happy to report that I have been slowly increasing my level of fitness along every possible measure, including my weight. I do this through a combination of healthy eating and training… including three meal replacement shakes per day. Rather than the whey protein based shakes I used to take, I know drink shakes made from all natural , raw, organic ingredients like sprouted brown rice, hemp and cacao. I know exactly what is in my shake and I am never more than a few seconds away from enjoying a delicious and perfectly nutritious meal whenever I have my handy shaker bottle and some cold water. While there is nothing magical in the shakes themselves, the consistency that using them creates in my diet and my energy and hunger levels has made all the difference in being able to march steadfastly towards my goal.

I used to get depressed at the thought that I would be taking shakes for the rest of my life. Certainly not everyone has to live this way? Truthfully, no one has to live this way. We are all free to make our own choices. I can only share with you what works for me and hope it may be of some value. I am at a point now where I am quite at peace with the idea that I may be getting about 50% of my daily calories from a powdered shake for the rest of my life. Life means more to me now and I feel liberated at the thought. In fact, looking at the watch,
I think it may be time for one now."

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the international year of quinoa

We have seen them in most grocery stores and may even have been served them in fine dining establishments but did you know that this grain is more than just novel and may have the potential to save the world from hunger?

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has assigned 2013 The International Year of Quinoa to recommend Quinoa as a crop with high potential to contribute to food security in various regions worldwide especially those countries where population does not have access to protein sources or where production conditions are limited by aridity, extreme temperature fluctuations and low humidity. 

Quinoa has many nutritional benefits. It is noteworthy that quinoa contains high dietary fibre (6% grain total weight) , is gluten free (great news for celiac disease sufferers) and contains two phytoestrogen - daidzein and cenisteína - that help prevent osteoporosis and many of the organic and functional disorders caused by lack of estrogen during menopause, as well as favouring an adequate 
metabolic activity and proper blood circulation.

 It is the only plant food that contains all the essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins and contains no gluten (great news for celiac disease sufferers). 

When you compare protein content with regular protein sources, quinoa is as good a source as eggs and cheese (Table 1). 

Furthermore, quinoa can cure beri-beri particularly in developing countries where a diet rich in thiamine or vitamin B1 (grains, vegetables, legumes, tubers, yeast, offal, milk, fish and eggs) is scarce. 

The UN recommended daily intake of thiamine is 0.3 mg/1000 kcal for children aged 7 to 12 months and 
1.2 mg / day for adults. Thiamine is distributed in the pericarp of the quinoa grain and its content is in the order of 0.05 to 0.60 mg/100 g dry matter (FAO / WHO 2000, cited 
by Ayalaet al., 2004)

Quinoa cooks into a thick oatmeal-like consistency. It tastes slightly sweet and its texture is succulent and creamy at the same time (we share a quinoa cooking video from youtube above). 

To inspire your culinary exploits and to show the culinary versatility of quinoa. The following is a brief description of traditional preparations that are eaten in Altiplano 
communities (Pacosillo and Chura, 2002; Vidaurre et al., 2005, Flores et al. 2008; Apaza et al., 2008): 

• Quinoa soup: Not very thick cooked quinoa with meat or dried meat, tubers and vegetables.
• Lawa: A semi thick “Mazamorra” (porridge like preparation) with raw flour, water with lime 
and animal fat. 
• P'esque: Quinoa grain cooked with water, without salt, served with either milk or grated 
cheese according to the availability of these additions. 
• Kispiña: Steamed buns of different shapes and sizes. 
• Tacti o tactacho: Fried buns, a kind of doughnut made with flour and llama fat. 
• Mucuna: Steam cooked balls made from quinoa flour with seasoning in the centre similar 
to tamales or humitas. 
• Phiri: Roasted and slightly dampened rough quinoa flour. 
• Phisara: Lightly roasted and cooked quinoa grain. 
• Q’usa: Quinoa chicha, a macerated cold drink
• El Ullphu, Ullphi: Cold drink prepared with roasted quinoa flour diluted in water with sugar 
added to taste. 
• Kaswira de quinua: Flattened bread fried in oil, made with katahui (lime) and white quinoa. 
• Kaswira de ajara: Flattened bread fried in oil, made with katahui (lime) and black quinoa or 
ajara 
• K'api kispiña: Steamed bun, made with quinoa ground in a K `ona and cooked in a clay pot, 
common in the feast of All Saints. 
• Turucha quispiña o Polonca: Large steamed breads, made with katahui and quinoa lightly 
ground (chama) in a K `ona ,and cooked in a clay pot.
• Mululsito quispiña: Steamed bread, made with katahui and quinoa flour, cooked in a clay pot, 
smaller than Kispiñas. 
• Quichi quispiña: Steamed and fried bread, made with katahui and quinoa flour, fried in a pan. 
• Juchacha: Andean soup based on ground quinoa and katahui, accompanied by roasted barley 
flour. 
• Chiwa: Young leaves of quinoa called Lliccha in Quechua and Chiwa in Aymara, are used as 
a vegetable in the preparation of soups and salads. The leaves are rich in vitamins and 
minerals, especially calcium, phosphorus and iron. 

The non traditional foods which are eaten are tawas, pancakes, doughnuts, juice, api, bread, 
biscuits, chili and nectar (Table 5). These products are new alternatives to increase the use of 
quinoa in rural and urban families, since they are prepared from quinoa flour instead of wheat flour. 

Information for article compiled from the technical report "Quinoa, an ancient crop to contribute to world food security" produced by PROINPA 
Video from Youtube (Beyond the Peel)

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health food trends
WHITE MULBERRIES

Dried White Mulberries are rich in antioxidants.

  

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Tasting like a cross between figs, raisins and dried raspberries but drier, white mulberries are a growing presence in natural food stores around Asia. Going at no less than $20 per packet in health food stores, Evolve Asia looks into why this nutrient-rich superfood, compared to other berries, is so highly valued. 

Like grapes, these berries contain resveratrol, the antioxidant and cardio-tonic popularly associated with red wine and the french diet. In addition, these berries are an excellent source of B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. They are rich in iron (rare for berries) and are also a good source of minerals like potassium, manganese, and magnesium. 

White mulberries are convenient to eat on the go as a healthy snack and can also be used in pie fillings, mulberry muffins, cookies, cakes, etc.