The US of A, a summary

After a week back, I slowly but surely am done sorting experiences and mentally work through them. Those three weeks in the US have been flooding my mind and senses with impressions, thoughts, and sensations. Going through them now, there are definitely some moments and lessons that stand apart from the rest.

Things I've learned:

- never underestimate distances, because "it looks like it's a short walk on this map". Know your map's legend. Use it. Remember: a mile is longer than a kilometer. Don't do my "I'm just heading out for a short jog around the Mall"-thing in DC. It's a 10k, alright, even if it looks like just a couple of km on the map (which is because DC is ginormous and gigantomanic and I love it)

Look down the Mall. Does this look like a short walk?

- jaywalking 101 in Boston

- jaywalking MA-degree in NYC
- f*** is a very versatile word
- don't eat clam chowder on the West Coast. Don't do it. Just don't.

The real thing in Boston

- baseball hats lead to conversations. Conversations can be good or bad, depending on what hat you are wearing.
- don't wear non-Bostonian sports team hats in Boston. They will make you buy a new one. A better one. A Boston one. Trust me, I've been there and was forced to do that ("You're wearing the wrong Sox' hat, m'am"). Do not, under any circumstances, wear a New York Yankees hat in Boston.
- Philadelphians suck at fixing things. The Liberty Bell cracked during an attempt to fix a minor crack. And it couldn't be rung anyhow, because the steeple of the church it hung in was slowly but surely rotting away, no longer supporting the weight of the bell. And I am not even making this up.

No reason to crack up, but they suck at fixing things.

- there are several original versions of the Declaration of Independence (I remember six?). Which one did Nicholas Cage steal? I'm confused.
- the subway in Boston doesn't always work the way you know subways to be working. Sometimes you have to cross the tracks to get to another platform. Sometimes your train is just one cart. Also, you can actually take the Boston subway to Wonderland.
- Talking about train destinations, you can board a train to Pleasantville or Valhalla at Grand Central Station.

Third destination from the top. One-way ticket to Valhalla, please?

-Patriotism is ubiquitous; first you are taken aback, then you get used to it, then you go: "Yay for USA! There are Red, White and Blue M&M's!!!"

Patriotic M&M's making a mess

- Vegas is nothing but a main street with some freakishly big hotels along it and a few side streets in the middle of the desert. There's nothing there. I was asking myself the whole time how someone got the stupid idea to build a city in the middle of the desert. I guess it's because no one can hear you scream.
- there is a cupcake ATM in Vegas.

No money, no problem?

- always check the engine room before driving off the rental car lot. Make sure all lids are where they are supposed to be.
- don't park your car in the sun if you like touching the wheel whilst driving.
- wear sunscreen when in the desert. No, a 20 SPF does not suffice.
- there are no free parking spaces in Downtown Santa Monica.
- 14 Dollars is a cheap parking space in LA. In fact, it's so cheap that you can't get any of those and have to pay at least 20 bucks.
- LA is not a city. LA is a community of neighbourhoods and there's nothing going down in Downtown
- there are no not-hot lifeguards. I tried to find an ugly lifeguard in Venice Beach (yes, that's the kind of person I am), but I couldn't find one.

- it's not broken until duct-tape can't fix it. And duct-tape can fix a whole lot of things. The sidewalk for example: 

Things I'm going to miss:

- toilet covers (how have I lived without them until now?!?) in public restrooms

- the ocean(s)

- diet root beer

- memorials and monuments

- people asking you "How are you?" first thing

- people saying "Have a naice day and may gahd blass yeh" when saying good bye

- that Bahston accent

- that Nevada accent

- the rhotic R of New York

- customer service workers generally being friendly. that was a concept I liked.

Things I'm definitely not going to miss:

- "plus tax"

- "gratituity not included"

- chloride 

- American bed linen, covers, the way they make the beds. 

- what is it with American shower faucets? How do you work those? Why are the faucets different in every city? Does showering have to be rocket science?

- sleeping bag camps in parks. people sleeping in doorways. people sleeping in subways, people sleeping in stations, people sleeping on the beach. people sleeping on the streets. The feeling of utter impotence and helplessness when you realise you can't help them. 

Art adressing the homeless-problem on the Highline in New York

Favourite places:

Coney Island (NYC)

Boston. In general. The harbour in particular.

Brooklyn. D.U.M.B.O.

                                      

Washington DC. as a whole. But especially the Smithsonian Institution. 

The Mall. 

The Potomac.

 Grand Canyon. It's a church of nature.

Venice Beach. 

Favourite moments:

1. When I was wearing my Cap sweatpants and Avengers tee to breakfast in Williams and the little boy in the Captain America t-shirt looked at me awestruck, pointed at me, whispered "look, Captain America" to his mom and hid his face in his mother's lap when he noticed I saw. He later came over to say I was cool for wearing the sweatpants, because he was a big fan of Captain America. It felt like a superhero myself, being whispered about at the neighbouring table. :D

2. trying to catch a wave at Venice Beach. 

3. watching the Memorial Day Parade in Washington DC and visiting Arlington National Cemetary afterwards. There were so many families honouring their fallen and we got to be a part of it. 

4. Getting out of the shuttle bus at Mather Point the South Rim. And having the first look on the Grand Canyon. You can never relive this one first look or the feeling it stirred in you. This moment, this...I don't find any non-religious vocabulary to describe it, this reverent, devout, humbled feeling in seeing what has to be one of the most impressive sights this world has to offer. 

5. Yoga with Tara Stiles at Strala Yoga. You have to meet this woman to feel her incredible energy. Also, she's a little goofy and has the greates laugh.Total girl crush, atm. 

6. Personal one: meeting my "long lost"cousin again and seeing her daughter and boyfriend for the first time. 

Favourite food (no order of preference, just a whole lotta love for all the good food out there):

1. Mexican at Las Cambritas in Cambria, CA. Visit Cambria. If only for the experience of eating Mexican at Las Cambritas. Also, Cambria has this cat lover's store and is alround beautiful. I'll return one day and bring more time and a surf board!

2. Clam choder (clam chowdah) at Quincy Market, Boston. Best by Boston & Maine Fish Company 

3. the peanut butter chocolate milk shake at Johnny Rockets. Thank goodness, it's a chain!

4. Breakfast at the Corner Bakery Café in Washington DC. 

5. Breakfast at Andrew's Coffee Shop in New York. 

6. Philly Cheese Steak at Philadelphia Bourse House.

7. Breakfast at Stephanie's at Newbury in Boston. Great waiters, too. Thank you, guys (I only remember John's name, because I was way too nervous on our fist morning there, but the waiter from our first morning actually came to chat with us on our second morning there, even though we'd been waited on by John. He actually remembered us and... guys, the staff there is just excellent)

8. The Coney Island Dog at Jody Maroni's, Venice Beach.

A few "Whoa, f*** me, I'm in America!" moments:

1. walking home from Crossfit Hell's Kitchen, looking down a random sidestreet and just seeing the Empire State Building chilling there in the morning light, only a few block away. The fricking Empire State Building!

2. Jogging along the Charles River Basin on my first morning, listening to country music, and suddenly being talked to by someone with the broadest Boston (Bahston) accent I'd heard so far (yeah, that was about to change). 

3. Standing on the Brookly Bridge, watching the sun rise. Standing in Dumbo, watching out through that iconic street (Washington Street) onto Manhattan Bridge and finally understanding that the bridge in the pictures ain't Brooklyn Bridge. Feeling Brooklyn. Falling in love with Brooklyn.

Grand Army Plaza (Brooklyn)

4. Getting abducted by a subway train (it was an express) and suddenly finding myself in The Bronx. Riding the New York subway in general. You've seen it in so many movies.

5. Standing on the Coney Island Boardwalk and seeing the iconic Parachute Jump Tower. Seeing the Cyclone.

6. Getting out of the front door of Union Station and looking smack dab right at the emeffing Capitol. Realising that all streets this side of the Mall lead toward the Capitol.
7. Standing in front of Abraham Lincoln in the morning light, just the two of us having a silent conversation, then looking out unto the Mall, Washington Monument and the Capitol in the distance. Just me and the president in white marble. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

8. Driving past the famous Las Vegas sign. Driving down the freeway toward the Hoover Dam. Driving down a 6 lane freeway through LA. Driving up Mulholland Drive. Driving down Sunset Boulevard. Driving, driving, driving. Driving down the 101 and the 1. Driving the West Coast.
9. Boulevards lined with freakishly tall palm trees. Like, palm trees actually grow there.
10. Lifeguard towers. And the Santa Monica Pier. Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier.

11. Seeing Bethesda's Terrace. I almost had tears in my eyes, as it was more beautiful than I had expected. Seeing The Met with my own eyes. Basically, scenes from Gossip Girl playing in my head.

12. The Golden Gate Bridge.
13. Realising I'm more of an East Coast person.
14. Starting to use the f-word far too frigging much. and the emeff-expletive. and generally cursing as a sign of excitement, good and bad.

Holy F***, what a ride! ;)

Product test: Quest Peanut Butter Cups

So, a week ago I bought these awesome looking and sounding Quest Peanut Butter Cups, which I have wanted to try for quite a while now. The idea seems simple enough: take a beloved sweet like the peanut butter cup, which is not exactly healthy, and make a healthy version of it, sell it under the name of "Quest Cravings". In Quest Nutritions case, being concerned with people's protein intake and all, this means loads of protein, low or next to no carbs. 

The nutritional info reads as follows:

Serving Size: 2 cups (one packet contains 2 cups), 50g

Calories: 240

Calories from fat: 150 (well, peanut butter ain't exactly low fat)

Total Fat: 17g (of which 35%, 7g are saturated fats)

Sodium: 240mg 

Potassium: 230mg

Total Carbohydrate: 10g (of which 3g dietary fibre, 1g sugars, 3g Erythritol [well, that sounds healthy])

Protein: 20g

So far, so good. Sounds okay, on the ingredient list the first listed items are protein-supplement mixes (Heraprotein-Isolate and Milkprotein-Isolate, so it's not suited for vegans) and actual peanut butter, plus unsweetened chocolate. Nutritionally, this isn't too bad. But. The taste is gruesome. If you've ever had a real Peanut Butter Cup (Reese's), you will know the second this thing touches your lips that nope, this won't help your cravings. If you have never had one, leave this thing on the shelf and take a real Peanut Butter Cup with you. Might be nutritionally worse, but at least you get some taste for the calories you consume. The chocolate is way too bitter (maybe try stevia for sweetening?) and the consistency of the whole thing is off-putting. It might be due to the fact that obviously the packet I grabbed hadn't been stored correctly, but the chocolate was also covered in this white film chocolate gets when it's getting old. So maybe the taste of the chocolate would have been better, but even that would not have saved the whole thing.

The cup itself. As you can see, the chocolate is already gone off and it doesn't look too attractive.

To put it in a nutshell: Nice idea, but terrible execution. Which is a pity because I usually like Quest's products. But this is the reason why people always frown upon healthy alternatives to sweets and baked goods. 2/5 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

Life changes even the best of plans... I'm doing Gains, Lean Gains

and isn't that the truth. In June, I had decided for myself that I wanted to go down to Bantam-weight, to get a feeling for my body at 61,2kg (135lbs.). Little did I know. I am not entirely sure how I ended up doing what I did, but at some point I noticed that I was actually working out harder than ever and my muscles were sore as hell more often than they were not. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of sore muscles to some extend, but I also know that to actually build muscle, you have to eat more than your normal calorie intake, because your body needs energy to build and protein from which to build new muscle fibres. So, hanging around at a caloric deficit of 500kcal/day seemed like a terrible waste of workouts. 

The actual math is something like this: To actually build muscle mass you need a positive energy balance of at least 500-1000kcal a day. You also need to get about 1,2-2g protein per kilogram of body mass. For me at about 65kg that would be 78-130g of protein a day. Fuck a duck with a Christmas tree. You know how much more I have to eat to get to these figures? Especially with no sugar involved? Thank heavens, there's peanut butter, nuts and other healthy stuff high in calories. 

You also have to get a good amount of carbs, because they fuel your workouts and keep you powered. Also, recovery is easier and faster when your body is able to refill its glycogen stores (that's basically the tank that keeps the energy your muscles are burning while working) relatively fast. So, you should try to eat within 30 minutes after your workout. 

So, gains, yes? We are going to do gains, body? The treacherous thing with gains, however, is that I have a tendency to underestimate my caloric intake and I always want to be on the safe side: did I really eat enough to turn this pain into muscle? Or even worse: justify eating loads with "yeah, I'm doing gains right now"

I have tried a system last summer that actually worked pretty well for me: Lean Gains.

My biceps after a month of gains

Lean Gains is basically another form of intermittent fasting; meaning you don't fast for a longer amount of time, but for short bouts at a time. The most popular form of intermittent fasting these days may be the 5:2 diet (I tried that, too, for a while, but that's a whole chapter of its own), but lean gains don't quite work like 5:2. With 5:2 you eat 5 days of the week normally and on the two remaining days, you eat less than 600kcal (men) or 500kcal (women), with the fast days not being on consecutive days. 

Lean gains, however, make you eat enough food to build muscle, but - as the name already says - promise to keep you lean. You have to calculate your daily caloric intake via a formula based on your basic metabolic rate, your level of activity and whether it's a rest day or not. See the infographic at the bottom for more info. After that you need to know, when to eat. You got 8 hours a day within which you eat those calories. The rest of the day, that would be 16 hours on Planet Earth, you fast. You take BCAA supplements, but you don't eat. For me the schedule looked as follows: 

5:30 get up, drink a cup of tea (because I don't do black coffee)

6:30 go to work

10:00 breakfast break, biiiiig breakfast

13:00 lunch

15:00 dinner (because most of my workouts begin around 17-19 o'clock and I can't move on a full stomach)

17/18 (just before workout) small energy boosting snack

18-10 FAST

You'd think this is hard, but actually it isn't. Because of work, my mind is mostly kept off eating in the mornings anyways and 10am is the first chance I get to have a break and thus breakfast. The only clear disadvantage is, that you're feeling full for those 8 hours you are allowed to eat, but also you crave food like it's not even funny anymore. Once you get to eat, your metabolism starts revving up and it goes full speed baby. 

This does work. I did not gain any significant weight during my gain phase and I've been eating A LOT. I have gained water weight, though, because I usually don't eat that much carbs.

Still, there are some Downsides to this method:

1. Keep in mind that you are meddling with your metabolism. If something feels off, don't continue with this until you know it's safe (consult a doctor, personal trainer, dietitian, etc.).

2. Food cravings, baby. And those ain't funny.

3. Food babies and inability to move because you just ate 6 hours straight and well... now it's time to train. I look like I weigh twice my weight most of the time because during the hours I do eat, I carry a heavy food baby with me. And sometimes, when I don't time my eating right or had something more difficult to digest, it actually does get in the way of effective work outs.

4. Hunger. Like, you're going from one extreme - the foodbaby - to the other, namely hunger. Your body in a fasted state wants food and it makes itself known. Those pangs are short and go by rather quickly, but if you have a tendency to get hangry (like I do), those can be very inconvenient. 

Upsides:

1. Lean gains. Need I say more?

2. feeling really satiated without the guilt. 

3. something you really did not want to know: incredibly regular bowel movements.

I found this on the interwebs when I was looking for info on this issue and I found it very helpful:

No Sugar Challenge

I got a problem with sugar; I'm either off it or on it. Being off it means, I get all my carbs from fruit and veggies. Being on sugar means that I'm eating enormous amounts of chocolate, ice cream and cookies. And when I'm talking about enormous, I am talking about a whole tub of ice cream or a whole chocolate bar (the 100-200g kind, not 30-40g). During my graduation weekend I've eaten so much junk food that of course all my eating habits went out of whack and my body is craving fatty and sugary foods again.

This was the first helping at the kebab and pizza buffet where we went for my graduation. The first helping still contained salad. :D

This weekend is Midsummer in Finland, which means tomorrow the stores are open for a limited amount of time and on Saturday all the stores are closed. I got no chocolate or ice cream here at home. So, I'm going cold turkey, because no matter how hard I'll be craving sweets, there's no getting them. And - at least to me - the first two days are always the hardest. 

Now, this has nothing to do with losing weight or anything, but consuming sugary sweets makes me feel a bit off. Plus, I get acid reflux pretty easily. And I don't get the energy I get from "real" food. Actually it is quite paradox, how I love to eat chocolate and ice cream when I know that they make me feel bad. In the end, I've decided to stay off sugar and fatty food until August. Which is going to be a challenge because summer is ice cream time. On the other hand, I've probably eaten enough ice cream for two life times. ;)
My aunt is coming to visit me next weekend, so this is going to be a real challenge, but on the other hand, nothing like a challenge to make it more interesting. 

Yosa Sport

Today I tried out a new kind of "yogurt" in the widest sense of the word; it's a 100% plant based, milk free, soy free oat snack. The consistency and taste is just like normal yogurt, but without the lactose and bloating effects dairy has.

Plus, it is made for people leading an active life, so it contains 5g of protein per 100g and only 73 kcal. It is sweetened with stevia, but that doesn't effect the taste. One serving is 200g (so 10g protein and 146 kcal).

For me, this is a great thing, because I am actually not supposed to eat dairy after lunch (because of the bloating and going to bed and stuff), but I love me some yogurt or quark after dinner. So, you can imagine that this makes me very happy. :)

breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, that's not only an old saying, but also a hard fact. Breakfast gets your metabolism going and if you skip breakfast, your body won't be able to perform at its best and your metabolism will be sluggish all day, meaning that you need more time to digest and use the food you are eating.

I have been eating egg white omelettes or protein pancakes for a while but they don't really deliver the energy I need, because they are lacking good carbs. So, after trying out a few things my breakfast nowadays (at least on days when I know I'm going to train, and train hard) is either cereal with a little vanilla flavoured whey protein and one egg or porridge.

I love porridge and I spent the last few weeks perfecting my breakfast porridge; I tried adding several things, but some of them didn't work (e.g.: never add frozen berries and milk directly, because the citric acid in the berries will make the milk clump) as whey protein for example doesn't really dissolve in water. However, I found some strawberry soy protein in my cupboard and thought "what the heck, just try it". It was actually good. The soy protein dissolves really well in hot water and the result tastes great. :)

Here's the recipe:

300ml water
150ml 4-grain-porridge
1 tbsp soy protein powder.
1 dash of salt.

heat water in a small kettle, add salt and soy protein, stir until protein powder is dissolved and wait for the water to boil. Then add the 4-grain-porridge (rolled oats are okay, too) and stir until your porridge has the wished consistency. I myself like to add a teaspoon of cherry or strawberry jam for taste.

The best thing is that grains contain loads of fiber, so even if there's a lot of carbs in your porridge, you also get a lot of fiber (which isn't digested) that makes you feel full and lessens the net carb value.

Good morning to you! :)

Shopping List

So, my roommate and I decided that we'd give the new and improved 7-Day-Slimdown by Tone it Up a go. It's not some kind of wonder diet or anything, just a method to either get you back on track with your eating or get you in shape for an event. We're doing it to get our eating in check once again, because with all the heat, ice cream and stuff have been getting the better of us and with this you don't have to think about what you're actually eating. It's easy, effective and - most importantly - healthy. You're mostly eating vegetables and lean protein, so there's no secret as to why you're losing weight. No refined sugar, no simple carbs, actually no starchy carbs for a week. Plus you're cutting a lot of dairy products, too, which helps with bloated stomachs and so on.

Here's what my shopping cart looked like today:

and this was the grocery list:

almond butter, apples, apple juice, asparagus, bananas, bellpeppers, berries, blueberries, broccoli, cayenne pepper, chicken, cucumber, eggs, frozen veggies, grapefruit, hummus, leafy greens, mushrooms, pollock, soyy milk, spinach, stevia, tomatoes, tuna, turkey. seems healthy? at least it did to the couple behind me, who started talking about my shopping carts contents. :)

Superfoods?

There has been a lot of discussion about so called superfoods. And there seems to be some truth to the claims that some foods help the body to recover or to even change your physique. For example; there have been studies that showed that people from a test group who included nuts in their diet (think almonds, UNSALTED pistachios, cashews, peanuts, walnuts...) lost more body fat than a test group eating the exact same amount of calories only they didn't include nuts.

But how does this work? Well, they help you burn more calories from fat, decrease chronic infalmmation and increase your cells' sensitivity to insulin, or they improve your body's internal detoxification system so waste products and toxins slowing your metabolism will be eliminated more easily. Also, some foods increase your body's resting metabolic rate and support tissue renewal and repair and they help the body respond faster and better to food.

There are lots of superfoods and supplements but here's a nice list of ten superfoods for fat loss and body composition that also explains a little better how these work:

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/942/Top_Ten_Foods_for_Fat_Loss_Body_Composition.aspx