Workout Thursday!

So I'm going to introduce Workout Thursday! Every Thursday I will post a new workout on my blog which you can easily do from home, before or after work! All workouts will be quick! After all a quick workout is better than no workout! So today's workout will take about 20 minutes.

Make sure that you do the exercises in order and use a set of dumbbells of 3-4 kg. If you're getting more experienced try heavier weights, or build up the weight each round. So the first round use 3 kg dumbbells, the second round 4 kg and the third round 5 kg dumbbells. Take 20 seconds rest between each exercise en 60 seconds between each round.

Exercise 1: Deadlift with press
Starting position: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and hold one dumbbell in your right hand and come into squat position making sure that your knees don't go over your toes.
(a) Stand straight up while pulling the dumbbell to your chest, then quickly pressing the weight directly over your head (your palm is rotated away from you).
(b) Reverse the movement to starting position. This is one rep! Do 10 with your right arm and then switch to the other side for 10 reps with your left arm.

Exercise 2: Single-Leg Dumbbell Row
Starting position: Hold a dumbbell in each hand, stand on your right leg (slightly bending your knees), bend your upper body forward and raise your left leg straight behind you. Your arms holding the dumbbells are straight and your palms are facing your leg.
(a) Row the weights to your chest with both arms simultaneously and your elbows pointing out when pulling up.
(b) Lower your arms till starting position. This is one rep! Do 10 reps total on your right leg and then switch to your left leg.

Exercise 3: Push-ups
Start in push-up position. Make sure that your body is a straight line from head to heels and keep your back flat! Place your hands shoulder with and do 20 push-ups. It's only a rep when your elbows are bend till 90 degrees!

Exercise 4: Jumping lunge
Starting position: Come into lunge position with right foot forward.
(a) Jump straight up off the floor. You can use your arms by swinging them forward.
(b) Switch your legs on your highest point (like scissors) and land in a lunge with  your left foot forward. This is one rep. Do 20 reps (10 with each leg forward).

Exercise 5: Tricep dips
Starting position: Place your palms facedown next to your thight on a bench or stair behind you. Keep your arms straight with your hips and butt in front of the bench. Your feet are flat on the floor and the farther away you set them the heavier it will be.
(a) Bend your elbows to a 90 degree angle. Your hips will lower to the floor.
(b) Push back up to starting position. This is one rep! Do this 20 times.

Let's do this!

Breakfast Recipe: Greek Yoghurt Parfait

Since I like to vary my breakfasts I sometimes make a yoghurt parfait for breakfast and this is one of my favorites! Easy to make and it looks delicious, perfect start of a long working day. And you can use any fruits you have in your kitchen.

Duration: 5 minutes

The ingredients:

• 150 gr Greek yoghurt
• Handful raspberries, white graphes and strawberries
• Homemade granola 

Directions:

1. Just make multiple layers of the ingredients in a glass jar, starting and ending with fruit and you quick and easy breakfast is ready!

Enjoy!

Hydration!

Hydration is a key aspect of healthy living! You need to drink about 2 liters of water every day since
the human body loses water trough perspiration, urine (we produce about 1.5 liters of urine everyday) and evaporation (we lose about 0.5 liter of water just by exhaling)!  Since the human body contains large amounts of water it also makes use of it in almost every process in your body. Water helps to transport nutrients to your cells, it passes trough your kidneys making sure that they have the capacity to filter your blood system of by-products, it is essential in maintaining your body temperature and it's necessary in your whole digestive system. Frequently mentioned complaints related to insufficient water intake include: higher fat storage, constipation, kidney stones, headache, muscle pain and more.

Still, many people, including myself have trouble drinking enough water, especially on busy days! So a tip that works for me is always making sure that you have a small bottle of water (0.5 liter) with you in your bag or on your desk. Or if possible a large bottle! And when you exercise also take a bottle with you because then you lose even more water which needs to be supplemented.

But only drinking plane water during the day can get a little bit boring. So the solution is to make your own flavored water. My favorite is lemon-lime-mint water. Adding lemon or lime to your water helps flush out some of the toxins that are build up in your body. Lemon also alkalizes the body and provides among others vitamin C, B, magnesium, iron, potassium! The fresh mint leaves are rich in vitamin C, helps calm your digestive system and relieves headaches. It's also very refreshing and adds some sweetness!

The ingredients:

• 1 liter of water
• 1 scrubbed lemon 
• 1 scrubbed lime
• 2 fresh mint sprigs

Directions:

1. Put the water in a large bottle. Cut the lime and 1/2 lemon into slices or parts and add to the water bottle. 
2. Squeeze the juice of the other half of the lemon into the water and add the mint sprigs and give it a good stir. 
3. Leave in your refrigerator so you have access to it during the day! If it's too strong in flavors after a couple of hours just add some more water. If you keep the bottle with you on your table add some ice cubes.

Tip: You can also add some cucumber slices, ginger or fruit to your water to change it up. 

New Features on the Blog!

Since I started this blog I got a lot of positive feedback! So this weekend I spent improving the blog and I added the following two pages:

• Kitchen conversion charts between the U.S. and Metric Systems.
• For all the Dutch readers of this blog an English-Dutch wordlist with frequently used words in the recipes that could be unclear! If you miss any words don’t hesitate to send me an email or leave a comment!

I also took the time to write a piece about my philosophy on clean eating in which I shortly adress some of the main aspects that I incorporated in my lifestyle.

Last but not least I changed the layout of the blog and added some features to the sidebar on the right. First a little welcome word to create a positive space on the blog. If you want daily email updates in which the posts are incorporated that I uploaded that day you can subscribe to the blog by leaving your emailadress. New recipes and posts will be emailed to you! Additionally, below the subscribe function I added the google translate widget. So for all the Dutch people who expressed that they would prefer the recipes in Dutch, you can still send me an email requesting the recipe and I will send it to you within 2 days, but you can also select 'Nederlands' in the google translate widget. Google will automatically translate everything into Dutch, however, this is not always correct mainly resulting in weird and often funny sentence structures.

My Philosophy on Clean Eating

The main aspect of eating clean is that you eat as naturally as possible, preferably organic. This means that the products do not differ from there natural state, meaning, a banana in your kitchen doesn't look any different compared to a banana on a tree. So I try to avoid eating processed foods which originate from factories like white pasta, white rice, white bread, some canned products, ready-to-eat meals, breakfast cereals and any other products that contain high levels of refined sugars (often called: fructose, glucose, sucrose) or refined carbs. At the supermarket I also always check the list of ingredients. If there are any ingredients on it of which I can't pronounce the name or which I don't recognize as food I don't buy it. During the process of creating the desired end product, the natural foods that are going in are completely stripped from their natural nutritional value and are replaced with artificial food additives and preservatives in order to make them look better and preserve the foods longer. But our body is unable to process these chemical additives and treats these as toxins resulting in feeling tired and actually gaining weight. This is also the reason why I don't count calories because a smoothie of 250 calories is healthier compared to a coca cola light with zero calories for the simple reason that the smoothie supplies your body with useful nutrients and the cola light only contains chemical additives. 

Another key aspect of my 'clean eating lifestyle' is that I make sure that my blood sugar levels remain stable during the day and I specifically pay attention to the ratio of carbs, proteins and healthy fats in every meal, but also in my meals spread over the day and week. I also try to make sure that I have enough variation in my meals and that I eat at least one gluten free meal a day. For example, if I have a sandwich at lunch I do not have carbs for dinner and vice versa. Therefore it's so important to plan your meals! Then, if I eat carbs I always eat carbs with a low glycemic index which are so called 'slow carbs'. These carbs release there glucose slowly to the blood system, thereby making sure that your blood sugar levels remain relatively stable. The glycemic index is a measure for how fast any type of food raises your blood sugar levels. The higher the value for the glycemic index, the unhealthier the food is because then you will find more spikes you find in your blood sugar and insulin levels. The highest glycemic index is that fore glucose (GI: 100) since glucose is absorbt immediatley in your intestine and deliverd to the bloodstream. Nutrion with a high glycemic index (GI > 50) are, among others, the same as the processed foods I mentioned earlier. But vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, spelt products, whole wheat products etcetera have a low glycemic index (GI: <50) so incorporate these into your daily meals because avoiding a rapid raise in blood sugar levels is beneficial because subsequently you avoid low blood sugar levels that cause tiredness and hungry feelings. Additionally you avoid a high insulin production which actually stimulates fat storage and also prevents the breakdown of fats which will eventually lead to weight gain. For the same reason I make sure that every meal contains sufficient proteins. Proteins increase your metabolism and avoid fat storage by preventing insulin production. But since I work out a lot, it's extra important for me to make sure that I eat enough proteins after a bootcamp session to stimulate muscle growth and repair. Additionally, I make sure that my meals contain sufficient essential fatty acids. A shortage of healthy fats actually results in having difficulties with losing weight, dry skin, dry eyes, irregular heartbeat, high sensitivity to infections and poorly healing wounds. Unsaturated fats are the healthy fats and you can find these in for example olive oil, coconut oil, avocado's, unroasted and unsalted nuts, seeds and fish (salmon, mackerel, anchovies). So I always make sure that I eat fish twice a week for dinner or in a lunch salad!

I also watch my intake of dairy products and try to limit it to once a day because the human body has difficulties with processing these resulting in intestinal complaints since research has shown that a high intake of dairy products damages the intestinal wall. Finally I make sure I drink enough water (minimum 1.5 liters a day) and that I eat 5-6 times a day (6 on days I workout). Five smaller portions are better than 3 large portions because your digestive system is then better able to absorbe all nutrients and by eating regularly your blood sugar levels also remain more stable. 

Of course I also have my cravings so I eat 80% clean and 20% not so clean. Before I adopted this lifestyle, every morning I eat one slice of bread with chocolate flakes and sometimes I still really want one and then I just have it. By giving into some of these small cravings I do not binge on unhealthy products and I do not crave it for at least a couple of days. 

After all, its a lifestyle and not a diet!