CHO Loading for XC - Necessary?

My daughter is very excited about the upcoming European Cross Country championship this Saturday. It's definitely one of the most exciting races across the country. She came home yesterday telling me that she needs to follow a carbohydrate loading diet. She has no clue what kind of diet it is but she understands that it's all about carbohydrate intakes. 

Importance of Carbohydrate:

Carbohydrate (CHO) is the key energy-providing nutrient that must be optimized during the days leading up to and including the day of competition. CHO loading is more or less for endurance athletes who compete for an event longer than 90 minutes. In the case of a 5k XC race (less than 30mins), it might not be necessary to load up on CHO before the race. A balance diet consisting of 45-65% CHO intake a day would be sufficient.

Eg. 1600kcal diet, 60% CHO intake = 960kcal from CHO or 240g CHO per day

Distribution of CHO throughout the day would be: 5/3/5/2+2/5/2

Before and After Execise:

Athletes should not eat too little CHO (less than 1g CHO/kg BW) during the 1-6h period before exercise and then not take in CHO during exercise. This small CHO meal primes the body to rely more heavily on blood glucose, but it does not provide enough CHO to sustain the athlete.

According to IOC Guidelines

Targets for carbohydrate intake:

Immediate recovery after exercise (0-4 hours): about 1 g per kg BW of the athlete’s body weight per hour, perhaps consumed at frequent intervals 

Daily recovery from a moderate duration/low intensity training program: 5-7 g per kg BW per day

Recovery from moderate-heavy endurance training: 7-12 g per kg BW per day

Daily recovery from extreme exercise program (more than 4-6 h+ per day): 10-12 g or more per kg BW per day

Ideas for post-exercise recovery snacks

250-350ml fruit smoothie

60g breakfast cereal + milk + 1 fruit

200g carton of yogurt + cereal bar

Remember!!!

• No raw food, low fiber intake to avoid GI discomfort
• Take familiar foods 
• Start the race well hydrated is a priority

Rice - Our Staple Food

Rice - Our Staple Food

If you have read my previous articles on Japanese Food, you might notice that there is a common ingredient in both onigiri and mochi; and that is, RICE. Rice is a staple food worldwide, especially in Asian countries. Long grain, short grain, jasmine, glutinous rice, brown rice, purple rice, etc. make the variety of rice so rich and extensive that are then used by each country to create its own signature rice dishes, both savory and sweet. In Europe, we have risotto in Italy, paella in Spain; in Asia, we have sushi, onigiri, donburi in Japan, our HK popular rice dish is called 碟頭飯 deep tou fan (it is similar to donburi but it's usually served on a plate in a Cha Chaan Ten - HK style restaurants), fried rice (yinyan fried rice and Hokkien fried rice are my favourite rice dishes!), dosa and biryani in India, bibimbap and kimbap in Korea, nasi goreng in Malaysia, even loco moco in Hawaii...etc. 

Rice provides our body the source of energy in the form of carbohydrate, and different types of rice have their own nutrition values, providing nutrients such as B vitamins, potassium, fiber etc. As all dietitians and medical professionals would recommend, instead of white, whole grain should be consumed more often because of its ample amount of dietary fiber. At home, I cook my rice with a mixture of brown rice 玄米 (げんまい）20% and white rice 80% (preferably all brown rice though), sometimes I add rolled oats to enhance both the nutrition values and the texture. 

If you wonder how and what Hong Kong family cooks for dinner, here are some photos of our dinners recently while Daddy is in Germany:

   

*We usually have 2 meat dishes and 1 vegetable dish to be shared, and a bowl of rice for each of us. The rice on plate is what we called 碟頭飯 and the rice in bowl is called donburi. They are quick and easy to prepare.

Many people nowadays purposely omit "rice" in their diet because of their perception of weight gain. Remember, rice doesn't make you fat or make you gain weight! It's all about the way you prepare and the amount you consume. Many clients I had previously had such perception, in fact they tended to consume more of the other food groups typically meat, in order to feel satiety. Meat has fat in it, even though it's very lean. If you are still struggling about consuming rice, try to incorporate other kind of starch (complex carbohydrate) like pasta, soba noodle, potato, sweet potato, oatmeal, etc. in your diet gradually. *Healthy cooking methods apply.

In order to have a balance meal, we need to have starch (in this case, rice) + protein (meat / tofu / fish) + veggie!

Japanese Food 101 - Strawberry Mochi | Ichigo Daifuku | いちご大福

Japanese Food 101

Wagashi: Ichigo Daifuku | Strawberry Mochi

It's 13 degree celsius here in Tokyo and it's considered to be one of the warmest days so far in this winter. Nice to take a stroll outdoor; walking past the market, you will find various types of strawberry, ranging from 紅ほっぺ (Benihoppe) from Shizuoka prefecture, あまおう from Fukuoka prefecture, さがほのか from Saga prefecture to スカイべりー from Tochigi prefecture, they are different in sweetness, size, color and nutritional value! 

Strawberry, a cute and dedicate fruit that is best harvested between December and March.

You can use strawberry in many food. One of the most popular and traditional Japanese dessert is Mochi. Strawberry mochi is one of the most popular ones, others include anko mochi (red bean paste mochi), chestnut mochi, mikan mochi or simply add a seasonal fruit in the mochi! You can find stalls selling various types of Daifuku on the shopping street, each generally costs 150yen.

 

To make 6 mochi:

Shiratamako (白玉粉）100g + Water 150ml + Sugar 20g = Microwave for 1min first; mix well then another minute

Dust the table top and hands with potato starch (katakuri-ko)

Divide the dough into 6 

Stuff the filling in the mochi

Itadakimasu!

Japanese Food 101 - Japanese milk bread

Homemade Bread

Japanese milk bread is...fluffy, soft, rich, tender...you name it! I have done many trials and errors, and practiced so many times in order to get to a point that my whole family endorsed my recipes!

Because I have no KitchenAid or any other gadget to help me through, I knead by hands. Kneading by hands allows you to feel the texture of the dough and adjust the ingredients as you go. Despite the hard work and the time it consumes, the satisfaction of bread making and the smiles that your family members wear after tasting it right out of the oven are priceless! 

The secret of the softness of the Japanese milk bread is the Yudane/TangZhong/湯種. A portion of flour is cooked with water in a proportion of 1:5 in a pot until it turns to gel-like paste, it allows the gluten to gelatinize (more water is absorbed) and gives it longer and more elastic strands. The dough is very versatile, I use it for making burger buns, tuna mayo buns, sweet potato buns, cinnamon rolls, pizza pockets, pizza crust...etc. Also, be creative in shaping the dough! I am pretty happy with my star breads =)

  

 

 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Recently, I have tried to mimic the recipe of Nogami Bread 乃が美の生食パン, one of the best breads in Japan. There is one shop near us in Azabujuban, the wait line before the pandemic was used to be very long. "生"食パンの意味はそのまま食べても美味しい。

The addition of honey and fresh cream give the bread extra level of tenderness and richness although I didn't exactly follow the recipe 100% (I reduced some of the ingredients).

_____________________________________________________

Let's look at both recipes and their nutritional values. 

Note that the weights are not the same for both breads, and the fresh cream used in Nogami Bread gives extra fat and calories!

Japanese Milk Bread

	Grams	Kcal	PRO	FAT	CHO
Bread Flour	450g	1620	64	5	329
Milk	250ml	175	9	10	13
Sugar	30g	120			30
Oil	15g	135		15
Yeast	3g	12	2		1
Salt	2g
TangZhong	40g + 200ml water	144	6		30
Total		2205	81	30 (12%)	403

Nogami Bread

Make 16slices	Grams	Kcal	PRO	FAT	CHO
Bread Flour	400g	1440	58	4	290
Milk	250ml	175	9	10	13
Nama Cream	50g	180		20
Sugar	15g	60			15
Oil	15g	135		15
Honey	15g	60			15
Yeast	3g	12	2		1
Salt	2g
Total (per slice)		2060 (129)	69 (4.3)	50 (3) (22%)	335 (21)

Procedures:

• Mix flour, milk, sugar, yeast and salt
• Add tangzhong and knead well (initially it took me 1hr and now I am experienced, it takes 30mins!)
• Add oil and keep kneading
• Do windowpane test and ready for the first proof
• Let it sit for 1 hour or until 2x bigger in size (in cold weather, put it in the oven with a pot of hot water to facilitate the fermentation.)

(Optional: leave it in the fridge for overnight proof but work on the dough only when it returns to RT the next day)

• Remove the air bubbles
• Divide it into appropriate size and shape them, for milk bread: you can add any ingredients like ham, cheese...
• Allow second proof or until 2x bigger in size

• Preheat the oven at 180C and bake for 25mins

Itadakimasu!

Japanese Food 101 - Onigiri

Japanese Food 101

Onigiri - Japanese Rice Ball

Convenient, portable, versatile, suit for any gathering occasions from sports day, outings to festival events. Any kind of food could be added according to your preference, for me, I love to put salmon flakes with a squeeze of mayonnaise and a sprinkle of sesame seeds in the onigiri for my kids' lunch. Onigiri with other fillings like tuna + mayo, shrimp + mayo, chicken, pork, beef, kombu...even shio - just rice with salt could be readily purchased in konbini. Furikake is also a good option as it is the easiest and tasty condiment to use in case you want to make your own but you are running out of time.

It might sound a bit difficult to hold the rice ball in shape. It happens to my kids when they unwrap the rice ball and rice just falls apart, what a mess! There are molds in triangular shape that are readily available in hyakuen shop or suupaa, and they work really well if you press the rice together hard enough, but my skillful Japanese mamatomo prefer to put on gloves and shape them by hands.

Because they are meant to be eaten on the go, they are usually eaten at room temperature instead of warm or hot. However, you can serve them warm by making yaki onigiri (grilled rice ball) so the surface is crispy and if you prefer to have something hot, you can make yaki onigiri chazuke (grilled rice ball soup). Itadakimasu!

Saving Money and Eating Healthy During a Pandemic

Saving money and Eating healthy during a pandemic



While the global economic is alarmingly disrupted by COVID-19, the suspended factories and businesses leave people jobless, according to the UN’s labour body, 195 million jobs worldwide were wiped out. Such unforeseen circumstances remain a long-term struggle.


Ever since schools are closed, kids start doing distance learning, then the state of emergency is in place, our family rarely go out for meals, home cooking for every single meal is the only solution to keep ourselves safe but it drives me crazy at the beginning, food preparing, cooking then washing repeatedly for sure are not fun. More family times mean we spend more time to talk about different aspects of lives, we watch the news together and lecture the kids how lucky they were that Daddy has a secure job.


On the other hand, the news reported that the Italian and French have gained weight around 2-2.5kg during the 2-month lockdown. Totally understandable. Lack of exercise is the cause.


As a full-time mother, I truly take the responsibility to safeguard the health of my family. How to prepare low budget meals while control weight gain and eat healthy? (Of course, the weight gain part does not imply on the kids as they are growing, if there are concerns over the rate of kids’ weight gain, the growth chart is a very helpful tool.)

Here are a few tips:


1.  Plant-based protein – Consider getting your protein from plants, like soybean and beans more often. They cost less than meat and have very low-fat content (using healthy cooking methods). Try replacing 50% of meat intake with plant-based, high proteins food.


2. Canned foods – Some canned foods are not necessarily bad for health such as tuna, baked beans, kernel corn, tomato, mushroom, peas etc. Check the nutritional label and ingredients to make sure there is no added salt and sugar.


3. Frozen veggies – Frozen veggies cost much lesser than the fresh veggies, and in fact they do not differ significantly from fresh veggies in terms of nutritional value. They are usually frozen within hours of being picked, and when thawed, they are very close to fresh in taste and texture.


4. Explore healthy recipes – Get the basic ingredients from the supermarket (if you could find flour and yeast) and have fun cooking! You will be surprised how economic it is to make commercial food ranging from Japanese fluffy pancakes, pizza crust to Chinese steamed buns at home!


5. Go grocery shopping on a full stomach – Never go shopping with an empty stomach. People tend to crave for high-calorie food when they are hungry, resulting in excessive buying, especially the junk food. Write a list of food that you need and shop from it, get a basket rather than a cart at the supermarket.


6. Behavioral modification – this is a huge topic, there are so many ways to control your eating habit to avoid over consumption.

a.       Drink 1 cup of water before each meal

b.       Use smaller plates / bowls / glasses at meals

c.       Eat slowly and drink water between each bite

d.       Only eat at a designated area eg. Dining table, kitchen island

e.       Keep tempting food out of sight

f.        Weigh yourself once a week, weight can fluctuate a lot in a day

Last but not least, remember to exercise regularly, stretching, yoga, HIIT, you name it, there are tons of videos on youtube!

Nutrition Article: Added Salt and Sugar: The Hidden Danger in Processed Foods