Cow Tongue

boiled cow/beef tongue

It was sometime last week when my mom decided to make several meals of cow tongue in a row. I was too grossed out after seeing the barely-cooked tongue to want to eat any at all, so that week wasn't fun for me. Well the reason we ate it so many times was because my brothers and I didn't eat any, so it took forever for my parents to finish.

Chinese-style stewed cow tongue

I don't have a picture of this, but we first ate soup noodles with tongue. Then, we had rice and other Chinese dishes including the tongue. Finally, we had baked spaghetti with tongue. See how much tongue my parents had to "force" themselves to eat? (Of course they didn't admit it, but who wants to eat so many meals of the same thing?)

baked spaghetti with cow tongue tomato sauce

Now the question is if cow tongue is healthy. Because what's the point of forcing yourself to eat something that's not even good for you?


The answer is: yes, in a small amount.

Cow tongue contains (per 3 oz. serving):
-2.7 mcg of vitamin B12
(daily recommended intake is 2.4 mcg)
-3.5 mg zinc
(men need 11 mg, women need 8 mg/day)
-2.2 mg iron
(men need 8 mg, women need 18 mg/day)
-3 mg vitamin B3/niacin
(both men and women need 14-16 mg daily)
-0.3 mg vitamin B2/riboflavin
(1.1-1.3 mg recommended daily intake)
-7 g saturated fat
(eat as little as possible, recommended no more than 16-22 g a day)
-0.7 trans fat
(eat as little as possible, no more than 2 g a day)

In case you were wondering what measurement 'mcg' is, here's what it is in comparison to mg or g.

g= grams

mg= milligrams

mcg= micrograms

1 g= 1,000,000 mcg
1 mg= 1,000 mcg
1 g= 1,000 mg

As you can see, it contains lots of good nutrients, but also bad fats. So don't feel extremely guilty if you eat a lot of it; just try not to have too much. I won't have a problem with that! :P

A Balanced Diet (and USDA Plate vs. Pyramids)

USDA 'My Plate'

Balanced Diet
I used the USDA ‘My Plate’ to base my ‘balanced diet’ off of. As you can see, vegetables and grains should be about the same portion; there should be slightly more vegetables though. Next, fruits and protein should be of the same portion as well but smaller than veggies/grain, while dairy is on the side in the shape of a cup, which probably implies milk or yogurt. Milk is generally thought of as a bone-strengthening source of calcium; however, you may want to rethink that...I will post about milk sometime in the future. Anyhow, all the food group sizes are relative to each other, so no set amount is given. You'll just have to look at your average meal and evaluate whether or not your portions look like this.

For a more detailed plan on the amount of servings you should be eating of each food group per day, visit http://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker-tools/daily-food-plans.html or https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/default.aspx. There, you can enter your basic health information and they'll give you a personalized “Daily Food Plan.”

Comparison of Plate vs. Pyramids
The Plate is very visual, easy to understand, and relatable to your everyday meals unlike the previous Food Guide Pyramids, in my opinion. You can see the relative sizes of each food group so people can easily relate to it visually rather than having to measure out exact serving sizes. Also, what kind of meal looks like a neatly stacked up pyramid? That adds to the “hard to relate to” aspect of the pyramids. Last thing: notice that the Food Plate doesn’t even mention fats and sweets, which shows that those foods shouldn’t be in your diet at all and kind of makes you forget about it a bit too. Don’t forget about the exercise though (it’s not included in the Food Plate).

USDA Food Pyramid #2 aka. 'MyPyramid'

USDA Food Pyramid #1

Salmon and Pasta dinner

A few days ago, I guess my mom decided to do something fancy and make my family a dinner of salmon and pasta; it tasted SO GOOD. :) 

For the pasta, she made Japanese carbonara from a Youtube video. You can see the video here. She didn't follow the video exactly, but just watched it to get the general idea of ingredients to use. The ingredients are in the info box. To make the pasta a little less fatty, we substituted heavy cream with milk, bacon with onions and ham (the onions actually ended up looking like bacon! :O), and normal cheese with low-fat cheese.  

As for the salmon, she went to foodnetwork.com and used Giada's "Grilled Salmon with Citrus Salsa Verde" recipe. No substitutions were made for the salmon.

To finish off the dish, just boil some brocolli and garnish with sliced tomatoes. The reason we used tomatoes was because they were fresh from our garden... = organic! 

I know I listed the sites where you can find the recipes, but for the sake of your convenience, I copied them here:

Japanese Carbonara Pasta: (makes approx. 2 servings; my mom made more than this)

Ingredients:
200g pasta 
Boiling water to cook the pasta in (just enough to cover the pasta in a pot)

2 eggs
150ml heavy cream (optional: substitute with 2% milk; you may use skim milk, but it may taste bland)
30g grated cheese (the lower the fat, the better!)
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil (just enough to coat the pan)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
100g bacon (substitute with onions and/or ham)

Procedure:

1) Boil a pot of water and add a pinch of salt to it. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta. 
2) Meanwhile, mix together the eggs, heavy cream/milk, cheese, and salt & pepper. Set aside.
3) Heat a pan and add the olive oil, garlic, and onions/ham. Cook until the onions soften and smell good!
4) Add the cooked pasta into the pan of onions/ham. Make sure that all the water is drained.
5) Finally, add in the egg/milk/cheese mixture you made in Step 2. 
6) Continue to cook until the sauce thickens. 

Giada's Grilled Salmon with Citrus Salsa Verde

Ingredients:

Salsa/Sauce:

• 2 large oranges
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 scallions, finely sliced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons orange zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salmon:

• Vegetable or canola oil, for oiling the grill
• 4 (4 to 5-ounce) center cut salmon fillets, skinned, each about 3-inches square
• 2 tablespoons amber agave nectar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

Salsa: 

1) Peel and trim the ends from each orange. Using a paring knife, cut along the membrane on both sides of each segment. Free the segments and add them to a medium bowl. 

2) Add the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, scallions, mint, capers, orange zest, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes. 

3) Toss lightly and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Salmon: 

1) Put a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Brush the grilling rack with vegetable oil to keep the salmon from sticking. 

2) Brush the salmon on both sides with the agave nectar and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

3) Grill until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the salmon to a platter and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

**Spoon the salsa verde on top of the salmon or serve on the side as an accompaniment.**

Saunas

I recently joined a pretty awesome club, and actually went on a tour of the facilities before my family and I decided to join. We saw lots of exercising equipment (treadmills, ellipticals, various muscle-training machines, cycling machines, weights and dumbells etc.), squash courts, large and open yoga/exercise rooms for classes, conference rooms, whirlpools, and wet and dry SAUNAS. I personally don’t have any firsthand experience with saunas at all; heck, that was the first time I’ve seen one in real life! So I went home and did my research, and for those who are just as inexperienced with saunas as me, this is for you.

There are two types of saunas: wet and dry. Both involve rocks being heated, which results in high temperatures.
Wet: rocks are heated, then water is thrown over them to create steam. This is also known as the “steam room.” The temperature usually ranges from 110-114F. 
Dry: rocks are heated, and that’s it. They tend to be more tolerable than wet saunas, but it mostly depends on personal preference. The temperature usually ranges from 160-200F. 
Some believe that sitting in a sauna and sweating everything out eliminates bad toxins in your body. The heat also relieves muscle tension and stress, improves blood circulation, and cleanses skin by opening up the pores. After a long workout, sitting in a sauna can help your muscles to loosen up and relax. 

A common misconception is that it helps with losing fat; that is not true because sweating only eliminates water, not fat. You might be able to lose a lot of weight by sweating buckets, but that weight will come back easy and fast. So sitting in a sauna is not the way to get skinny; results you should be hoping for are relaxation and skin-cleansing.

Shoulder and Back Stretches

These are the last of my stretches... I have more so I might post stretches again in the future, but these are it for now! 

Shoulders #1

This stretches your shoulder area in general, including the: pectoralis major (chest), biceps brachii (another type of biceps, called biceps femoris, is on your leg and you're not stretching your leg with this!), and deltoids (the muscle on top of your shoulders that give the shoulders a rounded shape). The second picture to the left is the same thing as the one on the right, except it is done with a bar (or something else like a dresser) instead of on the ground.

Shoulders #2

This stretches the back portion of the deltoid. Just place one arm over your chest and hook the other arm over it. Use your "hook arm" to pull your straight arm closer or farther from your chest, depending on how hard you want to stretch.

Seal Stretch
This stretches your spine as well as your abdominal muscles. If you feel sore after an intense ab workout, this will help loosen up those muscles.
For dancers/gymnasts/other athletes, if you want to stretch your spine to a higher level, try touching your toes to your head. Attempting it actually works out your latissimus dorsi (back muscles) and biceps femoris (back of your leg, behind the thigh) because you have to clench those muscles in order to achieve the position.

 Shoulders and Back...combined!

This position stretches both the shoulders and the spine -- how exciting! Just grab on to a bar/surface of about your shoulder height, and press your shoulders down towards the ground as far as you can. This is actually really similar to a yoga position called Downward Dog and stretches the same places too; to view how to do that, check out Hamstring Stretches (continued).

Thanks for reading, and I hope these stretches helped! I wish you the best of luck in your stretching adventures. :P

More leg stretches...and wrists!

Lunge sequence

Lunges are a popular way of stretching out your legs, and is also good for if you want to get your splits down. There are also several other stretches that I usually do along with the lunges that makes up a sequence or a routine.

Basic Lunge

Your toes can be under (as shown in the picture) or over. If you choose to have them over, remember to keep your leg straight. 

 Quad Stretch

Reach your arm back and grab your (bent) leg. If the right leg is in front, reach back with your right arm and vice versa. Doing this stretches your quad muscles, hence the name.

Dropped Lunge

This stretches the inner thighs. Do the "basic lunge" then turn to to the left if you were doing a right lunge/right if you were doing a left lunge to reach this position. Use your elbow to push the bent knee backwards for a better stretch.

Foot Curl

This is not the healthiest way of stretching out your foot, but is often used by dancers, gymnasts, or other people who participate in sports that require a good toe-point. So if you're just looking for a normal foot stretch, simple ankle rolls are sufficient. 

Anyhow, if you're trying to improve your toe-point, this stretch will help loosen up your toe joints, ankles, and arches. However, be extra careful of putting too much pressure on your toes because they're fragile and most likely won't be able support your entire body weight while being curled under; follow the picture and use your arms to bear the weight. 

 

Wrists

This stretches out your wrists and your forearms. In the first picture shown (palm down), the back side of the forearm is stretched. In the next picture, flip your hands over (palm up) and the front of the forearm will be stretched.

Leg Stretches

The last two posts were about hamstrings, so this one is about stretching the legs in general. There's no specific targeted muscle this time. 

Straddle/Pancake

For this stretch, just sit on the ground with your legs straight and spread out as wide as you can, then lead forward (as much as you can). This stretches your inner thigh muscles as well as your hamstrings.

There aren't any pictures for this, but if you want to stretch your side, all you have to do is sit up with your legs in the same straddle position and lean your body over one leg. 

Split Stretch (3 parts)

Part one

Lie on your back and pull your knee to your chest. This stretches the back of your thigh.

Part two
To stretch your side, pull your knee to the opposite side after completing part one. If your right knee is bent, pull it over to your left side or vice versa.

Part three
Return your knee to the position of part one, and extend/straighten your leg. This mainly stretches the upper half of the the back of your leg.

If you're trying to get your splits by any chance, part one and three are right for you!

Butterfly

This stretch is similar to the straddle, except your knees are bent and your feet are touching. Again, lean over as much as you can. 

Hamstring Stretches (continued)

I have two more hamstring stretches, so here they are! 

Downward Dog

This is a yoga position called the Downward Dog; the name actually makes sense because I see dogs doing this all the time! It's a great position, because not only does it target your hamstrings, but it also stretches your back and shoulders. Just follow the picture because it's kind of difficult to explain in words. Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1) Your body should look like a mountain and not a hill. There should be a sharp peak at the top (your butt) rather than a round arc.

2) Try pressing your stomach through your legs. A normal person won't be able to literally do that of course, but working with that goal in mind helps give you a better hamstring stretch. It also helps you create that peak mentioned earlier.

3) Press your shoulders towards the ground. This is what stretches out your shoulders and back.

Standing Lunge

All there is to executing this stretch is doing a lunge and holding it. 

1) Stand normally.

2) Take a step forward (about 2-3 ft. in front of you) and bend your front leg. 

3) To enhance the stretch, keep your heel on the ground and bend your front leg more if you don't feel a pull in your muscle.

This stretch is great for the bottom half of the back of your leg; it stretches your hamstring, achilles tendon, and calf muscles. 

Even more stretches will be coming soon. ;)

Stretches (improving flexibility): HAMSTRINGS

I'm only going to post two stretches for now, because it takes too long to download many pictures at once. This is already my third attempt at putting pictures in...well I guess third time's the charm! For the previous two times, it wouldn't even be done in hours; then Firefox would randomly crash and cancel the loading. So that was a huge waste of time. :(

Anyway, I mainly have leg stretches, and the two here are specifically for loosening up the hamstrings (basically the muscle of the back of your leg/behind your knee). They're pretty basic stretches you may have seen before, but the reason you see people doing them all the time is because they stretch really well! Alright now let's get to business...


"Figure 4"
This stretch is called the Figure 4 because the leg position looks a little like the number "4."
1) Sit on the ground with one leg straight in front of you.
2) The other leg is bent and horizontal to the floor. Your knee should not face the ceiling.
3) Lean forward as much as you can and try to lie flat on the straight leg.
You should feel a stretch in the hamstring of your straight leg. Since it only stretches one side, remember to repeat on the other!
If you want to challenge yourself, flex the foot of your straight leg. 

Pike
All you have to do is hold a pike position. This can be done sitting or standing. I don't have any standing pictures, but it's pretty much the same as the sitting. Just tilt your head to the side and you'll see it. :)
Sitting
1) Sit on the ground with both legs straight in front of you.
2) Lean forward as much as you can. Your goal should be to touch your face to your legs.
You should feel a stretch in both your hamstrings this time.
Again, flex your feet if you want to intensify your stretch.
Standing
1) Stand with your legs hip-width apart.
2) Bend down and try to touch your toes. Try pressing your lower abdomen between your legs/try keeping your back straight -- it stretches more.

I hope this helped! Stay tuned for more stretches. ;)

Homemade Granola

My friend and I decided to make sugar and oil-free granola bars since store-bought ones are usually way too sweet in general. We used Alton Brown's recipe we found on foodnetwork.com but left out all the butter and sugar. Leaving out the butter made everything hard to stick together, so it ended up being granola crumble instead of bars. Although it didn't exactly turn out as planned, it made a great hiking snack (almost like trail mix), and is also perfect for yogurt parfaits!

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped, dried fruit (any fruit is fine; we used mangoes, cranberries, raisins)



Great for on-the-go. 

• 1/3 cup nuts, toasted or not (any nut is fine; we used toasted almonds)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Oil a 9x9" baking pan or glass container.
3. Spread oats out onto a baking sheet and place into preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until toasted/aromatic. If you have un-toasted nuts and want to toast them, place them into the oven along with the oats.
4. After taking out the oats, lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
5. Meanwhile, combine the honey, water, and vanilla.
6. In a separate bowl, mix together the dried fruits and nuts.
7. Finally, mix everything together and pour into prepared pan. Press it down to cover the sides of the pan.
8. Bake for 25 minutes. Let it cool completely before shaking it out of the pan. If you don't, it might fall apart into even smaller pieces.



End result!

Muscle and Joint flexibility

I would say having good muscle and joint flexibility is not a “must” for health, but does make daily life easier. It makes everyday movements easier (such as picking something up from the ground), helps prevent injuries when doing sports, lowers your chance of falling as you get older, and allows blood flow to the muscles, which may help an injured muscle heal faster. Also, having stiff spine and hips can lead to bad posture (hunch backs...oh no!) and potential back problems.

Muscles and joints can become inflexible through aging or lack of movement, so if any of those two things sound familiar to you, you better start stretching! (That’s everyone, because nobody stops aging. >:D)

A few points to keep in mind while stretching are:

• Warm up for 5-10 minutes first. Stretching cold muscles=high risk of injury. Warming up also allows your muscles to relax and loosen up.

• Stretch on a regular basis if you want to see results quicker. You can start off with one or two days a week, then work your way up.

• When stretching, you should feel a pull or tension in the muscle and maybe soreness, but not sharp pain. Hold the stretch until the tension subsides (usually 30 sec). Athletes who participate in sports that require intense flexibility such as gymnastics or dance often overlook this, and that’s partly why there are so many people who get injured doing those sports.

• Try not to bounce. It creates tears in the muscle which will actually lead to stiffer muscles than before. That’s just frustrating, because who wants to work to get worse? I used to bounce a lot when trying to get my oversplits, and yes, the next day, I felt like I didn’t get any more flexible than before.

Surprisingly, another thing that will help with flexibility is your intake of vitamins. A few vitamins and foods that will help are:

• B-3: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, salmon), Shitake mushrooms, peanuts
• B-5: sweet potatoes, corn, avocados, broccoli, eggs, mushrooms, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, swiss chard
• B-6: meats (chicken, tuna, turkey, halibut), hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, potatoes, chickpeas
•  C: oranges, bell peppers, kiwis, brussel sprouts, strawberries, broccoli, cantaloupe, papayas, guavas, cauliflower
• D: SUN, fish (salmon, tuna, sardines), eggs, milk
• E: olives, asparagus, hazelnuts, almonds, spinach, sunflower seeds, swiss chard

I will post specific stretches with pictures and descriptions soon. :)

Vegan "Chocolate Bombs"

The outer layer is somewhat crisp (hence the dry look), but the inside is very moist.

The other day, my friends and I were having a sleepover and decided to bake something (like we always do whenever we hang out). We came across a chocolate muffin recipe and it turned out awesomely delicious; it was only after we finished baking that we realized it was vegan! It turned out so...normal, I bet you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it didn’t contain butter, eggs, or milk. 

 

You can cut down the sugar to half the amount or less; we added a little more than half and it still turned out way too sweet. For extra chocolatey-ness, add more cocoa powder and a bit of chocolate chips. We sprinkled chocolate chips as decoration on top of the spooned-out batter before placing them in the oven. They turned out looking like bombs, so we named our muffins, "chocolate bombs!"

 

If you are a vegan or have milk allergies, this recipe is for you!

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold water

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a cupcake pan or use paper cupcake liners.
3. Mix sugar, flour, salt, baking soad and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine vanilla, white vinegar, vegetable oil and cold water.
5. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry, using a wire whisk to beat it until well mixed.
6. Divide batter into the prepared cupcake pan.
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely.
9. Dust cooled cupcakes with powdered sugar or a cinnamon and sugar combination in lieu of frosting.

Taken from Suite101: Chocolate Cupcake Recipe: Dairy-Free Desert for the Lactose Intollerant | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/chocolate-cupcake-recipe-a86936#ixzz22vlQPF7G

Sleep!

There seems to be almost a...game or competition going on between the upper-classmen at my school on who slept the least every night. Around the campus, I would hear people say to their friends, “I only slept four hours last night,” like they’re proud about it or almost as if they were bragging about it. Then another person in the group would say, “Well I only slept three!” This horrible game needs to end soon and you would think so too, knowing the consequences of sleep deprivation.

Consequences 

1. In adolescents, it can stunt your growth because 80% of growth hormones are released during sleep.
2.  Sleep deprivation is also linked to obesity and diabetes, by messing with how our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by also messing with the hormone levels that affect our appetite. It messes with our natural bodily functions, and everything! :[
3.  The different systems of our body that are most affected by lack of sleep are: cardiovascular system, immune system, metabolic functions, and the brain & nervous system.
4.  It puts people into a higher risk of road accidents/car crashes and bad grades (oh no!), because you will not be as alert when drowsy. 
5. Sleeping helps store newly-acquired information into your brain, so lack of sleep will allow the things you just learned to slip away from your long-term memory. Studies show that people who slept after learning something new had better scores on a test after, while people who didn’t sleep got worse results.
6.  Lack of sleep will probably give you dark circles and bags under your eyes...nobody wants that!

Signs of Sleep Deprivation

Usually, people can tell pretty easily when they’re sleep deprived, because they’ll simply feel sleepy! Nonetheless, here are some signs:

1st stage: irritability, moodiness

2nd stage: bad memory, inability to multitask, dull emotions/emotional response

3rd stage: blanking out/micro-sleeps/nodding out/harder to focus or pay attention

Once you get to the third stage, driving gets dangerous or you’ll most likely start to fall asleep in class.

For more information on sleep, you can visit:

National Sleep Foundation

www.sleepfoundation.org

Sleep Research Society

www.sleepresearchsociety.org

Who knew there was a National Sleep Foundation??

Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some sleep of my own because it's 3:30am right now! I'm going to wake up tomorrow (actually today) as a midget and not remember anything I did the past week. I'm kidding, guys! ;P