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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Chicken wings

I feel its incredibly stupid to find similar replacement meals once you have embarked on a lifestyle change. Its like we are advocating knock offs, example cauliflower rice just like real rice, paleo rotis which like real rotis except with loads of egg (for clarity the eggs is not the point) etc. We should look to create dishes that suit our lifestyle so that we enjoy our new found creations before famous celebrity buffoons try to hop on the bandwagon to tell how and what we should enjoy. That is what good food is to me. The joy of creating something wonderful and tasty that adds value to my life.

That being said one of my favourite dishes is chicken wings, it was one of those guilty pleasures that I used to enjoy once in a while and then run miles because I had to work them off. Don't get me wrong commercially available chicken wings batter dipped and deep fried it not very good for you. You want reasons I would recommend google.

This recipe that I devised was purely by my own "genius?". Does a similar option exist out there..... definitely, but that is not the point, the idea to make available an easy to generate recipe that just tastes good.

The apparatus used for this product is an air fryer, contrary to this deviously devised name, it is similar to a convection oven. I have not tried it with a convection oven but i'm sure it should work.

Ingredients
4 chicken wings
1 beaten/whisked egg
12 teaspoons desiccated coconut
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chilly flakes

Method
Combine dry ingredients to form "dip"
Beat egg to form wet mixture
dip wing in egg, dip wet wing, into dry mixture
place wing into air fryer
do that process for all wings
Air fry for 40mins
voila.........tasty "crumbish" chicken wings


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

The year of experimentation is producing some interesting results for me. I have been 1 month into the paleoish/naturalist/high fat (PNHF) diet again, starting in august. You might be wondering why I use the term that has just been introduced ,PNHF, its simple I do not feel like writing that out all the time. If you are wondering why I do not use a generally accepted term like HFLC,  I believe my understanding is still in its infancy and I shall shift to a generally accepted term as I sort out my knowledge base. The progress has been great. The next step would be to conduct tests using a lab, but I am cheap so using a lab is way out of my budget. I might look at a glucometer which can also measure ketones. If you want to know what is the link between my blog and these measurements, I suggest to stop being lazy and Google it. The numbers indicated in the table below show my progress, I think it is fairly self explanatory but there is some commentary after the table.

  1 2 3 4 5 6
  23-Jan 20-Feb 04-May 16-Jun 29-Jul 05-Sep
Weight 82.8 79.2 77.1 77.4 76.6 77.2
Body Fat Percentage 23.5 20.5 18.6 19.7 20.9 18.9
Body Fat  19.5 16.2 14.3 15.2 16.0 14.6
muscle, bone, organs 63.3 63.0 62.8 62.2 60.6 62.6

Things to note are as follows:
measurements 1 - 3, my diet was PNHF, weight and fat steadily decrease and for the first time in my life the body fat percentage is below 20%. muscle etc remains largely in the same range, i.e minimal drop 500g in 2 months.

measurements 3-5, my diet adjusts to the "norm" more carbs less fat, weight decreases (awesome), body fat increases (huh!) I put on 1.7 kg in 3 months and muscle etc content drops by 2.2 kg, what the hell. not happy and I see the benefits of PNHF diet.

measurement 6, latest measurement, I have not been 100% PNHF but closer to 70% on the other hand I am preparing for comrades 2015. The numbers show that I put on 2kg of muscle and lost 1.4 kg of body fat. The overall result is that my weight has increased by 600g.

This is another reason not to let the scale dictate your mood. Verdict the PNHF is working largely in the right direction.

Working out:
My workouts are not excessive mileage on the road but quite abit of cross training. The result is I have time for my other pursuits and I do not spend hours in/on the gym/road/water.


  Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Morning  rest heavy weights - 30mins rest ads - 30mins rest long run (21km or more) rest
Evening rest alternate between weeks hillwork and sprints (1 hour max) rest club run - 10km rest rest rest

3 workout days a week and Saturday morning being my

The next question that would not have crossed your mind but should because everybody should think like me (WHAT!), is how is my performance improved. The most exciting thing is that I am enjoying training again (infomercial voice) and I have set personal bests in all running categories so far:
5km - 26:45 (improvement by 1:15)
10km - 55:00 (improvement by 3:55)
15km - 1:28:30 (improvement by 1:30)
21km - 2:06:00 (improvement by 2mins)

Some of my personal bests have not been bettered in about 2-3 years. I would love to attribute it to my diet but I think it has more to do with my running club, ACE, where the new underground moto is "you train with tigers you become a tiger".