Month: December 2020

Recipes

Persimmon for breakfast and lunch

I’ve gone on about this fruit before! With good reason for it. Now, here’s 2 yummy ways to eat it (other than eating it as it is)… A steady yummy breakfast and a light perfectly balanced lunch!

Buckwheat porrige with raisins, crushed almonds, cinnamon & persimmon

First off, why buckwheat? Well, first of all you’re getting magnesium and lots of essential amino acids, yay! + when you cook it like porrige with the right toppings, it resembles christmas porrige!! Yum! Aaand it’s a gluten free option.

1. Put 1 dl (for 1 person) of buckwheat in a bowl with water overnight – to increase nutrition by tricking the seed to grow… They swell up a tiny pit so don’t use a tiny bowl.

2. Boil like regular porrige in the morning with water. Not too high heat, stay by the pot and stir. You’ll notice when it looks ready.

3. Now! Spice it up! With cinnamon and cardamom. Cut up pieces of persimmon, crush some almonds, grab some raisins, pour some oat milk on top.. And you’re good to go!

 

 
The @gkstories lunch bowl with yoghurt, persimmon & spicy warm chickpeas on top

1. Heat the pan with a nice oil, a clove of garlic, I used some sambal olek, and some nice herbs.

2. Stick the chickpeas in with some sesame seeds, and keep warm while you prepare the rest..

3. A yoghurt of your own choosing with some nice herbs.

4. Toss in a mixed salad (I used a lot of fresh spinach), pieces cucumber and persimmon. Don’t forget lemon juice on top.

5. Now pour the warm and spicy chickpeas on top! YUUUMMMM!

So easy and light and balanced. Enjoy!

Happy Healthy holidays

Can we do better?

We’re getting closer and closer to christmas. Closer and closer to a time when a lot of people gladly give in. Especially now, after this heavy, tough and challenging year – “we deserve it!”… So we sit/lay still more, drink and eat more (of everything) and at the same time stress more. Ironic, in a time supposed to be the most joyful and cozy of all, isn’t it?

I also believe we can agree that we all go for the fast and easy option. This is when it comes to everything; getting from point A to B, cooking vs. cooked, giving the kid an iPad instead of getting to the bottom of the moaning, sources, information, what we read… People read less in general (I’m impressed and happy if you’ve made it this far in my post). You see what you want to see and believe what and who you want to believe. So I’m hoping you’ll get through the rest of this text and hopefully collect something interesting, helpful or maybe even insightful. Hopefully that can then lead to an interesting conversation or discussion with someone.

Longevity

It’s taken me a lot of years to see the bigger picture in healthy living and constantly making an effort to do so. It just all seemed a bit too “over the top”… But then again, actively giving in to everything or not making an effort, that’s what I now see the other side of. Isn’t that what we should consider to be over the top and extreme???? Going in a different direction than what we originally (and evolutionary) were made to go in. Society makes it easy for us to go there, of course, to our comfort zones, gadgets and couches. That’s how our brains were programmed, to reward, eat and rest when we get the chance. But we weren’t made to stay there forever. Now, I’m not saying we should all just skip the things we enjoy a bit extra (whether that’s sugar or wine) and just have salad bowls and run every day. But how can we not make a conscious effort to live our best and most healthy life? Why wouldn’t we???

Yes, it’s been a challenging year. Even easier to throw in the towel and just have chocolate every day (haven’t we all been there?). It’s also easy to use the fact (and the excuse) that “it’s not that easy”. But we’ve heard enough motivational stories about inspirational people getting through difficult situations by now, to know that it’s not a reason to stop trying to do better. Maybe this is the year we learn, about ourselves and others. Maybe this is the year that made us all stronger and more patient than ever? Every single one of us, going through the same struggle, in different ways. And I’ll tell you this, with the world being what it is, we are learning to adapt to something the future definitely has more of, coming our way.

Mindset – the key to 2021!

We all hopefully do the best we can and if this year has taught us anything, it’s the ability to adapt. As someone else has put it so beautifully: “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent (…). It is the one that is most adaptable to change”. I see this as nature’s greatest strength and when we train it’s a must. Whether we get injured, age, get different circumstances in life (f.ex. living in the middle of a lockdown of society) or just change (which we all do on a daily basis).

Client example – is this you?? 

One of my clients “gave up” last lockdown. The client just figured “I’ll get some training done myself at home til then”. Was that the case? No. Months later, back in the gym, my client realised just how much had been lost when everything was put on hold as time passed by. That’s something we cannot do, sit and wait, and then complain about how hard and tough everything feels. We cannot put training, movement, our goals and meetings on hold. Even if it’s easier and more comfortable that way – nothing happens in the comfort zone. And, as we all know, movement and community are huge pillars for our health and wellbeing. Keys. Yet we can all se how it’s a big struggle now, when we’re forced to change social structures and routines.

 

Getting it done in practice

You know. I know. But how does it then turn out? We know that we should eat x and y. We know that we should move x amount of hours a week. We know that we need sleep, other human beings, love, purpose and so on. To then actually get down to it, practically, becomes something else.

Well, it will be easier if we do it with purpose. Goals, our “why”. By getting the help when it’s there for us (and it is everywhere today). Anything else would be stupid, especially when the strength to do it yourself isn’t quite there.

You can do it. The same way you get to work, because you have to, not because it always makes you feel good or because it’s easy. The same way you brush your teeth. So what are you waiting for? Why wouldn’t you take care of yourself?