Gone Green & Healthy

(Late post!) We originally had the intention of getting a student's permit so I could officially (and finally) start driving. Unfortunately, the printer designated for printing student's permits has not been working for the past 3 weeks already, says LTO Makati. Thanks for being so useless & unhelpful. I can't help it but wonder, where the taxes go if you can't even have a decent printer. Ugh. The hassle of having to deal with government documents! I wish the time would come when I can say something real good about how the government processes documents.

MOVING ON.:) We decided to eat instead. First attempt was at A-Venue, however the place has sadly died. I was being the pretentious me who wanted to try something new and something healthy. Haha! After trying to go around and look for something decent to eat, we decided to try the Vegetarian restaurant, Corner Tree Cafe (located at Jupiter, Makati), that Leo has been curious about for quite a while already, so voila!

The place is very cozy, comfortable and conducive for catching up sessions. It's quiet and quite small, also perfect for a romantic dinner probably:)

We had Corner Tree Starter for our appetizer. It's basically vegetable sticks and sliced bread sticks served with olive oil, tasty sesame seeds and the best hummus I've ever tasted!:) I will definitely order something with the hummus dip when we go back here. This delicious appetizer serves its purpose well, but also comes with a price.

Since it was our first time to eat here, we decided to try their sandwiches first. I had a vegetarian sandwich which as you can see is literally smothered with everything green! I love the pesto filling and how the lettuce was bathed in vinaigrette. Delicious!

Below is Leo's order, Dilled Egg sandwich. This is heavier than my order and more filling. Delicious as well, but for us to be able to try both, we had half of each kind:) The sandwiches come with either salad (above) or sweet potato fries (below) with a very tasteful dip. :)

Really enjoyed eating here! Their meals make me want to try becoming a "Vegan," if only restaurants like this would be more accessible and cheaper! :))

No More Running from Running

After 10,851 years, I've finally decided to revive my running shoes and go for a quick jog around the village. If you've read enough of my posts, you'd probably figure that I don't follow any diet (which I am very aware of that I seriously should) nor exercise routines (also aware that I should follow one - haha). I've been literally shoving the thought of exercising for the longest time. It's been more than a year (literally) since I last went for a quick jog. And clearly, hitting the gym is the least of my priorities. I've been living a care free life - the kind where I don't follow any routines nor force myself into 'punishing' myself for enjoying what I've been eating. I think I was possessed by my runner friend (Hi Celeste! hihi) this time though. Thanks for coming to my rescue, Ki. ;-)

My jogging was actually more of brisk walking and a little of the running. I'm probably accustomed to the thought that I should 'warm up' first before doing anything strenuous - trust me, from living a sedentary lifestyle since forever, jogging can be classified as 'strenuous.' Since my last jog was a long time ago, I consider this to be my 'warm up.' I'd jog for a few meters, then go back to brisk walking. Hopefully I could condition my body to do otherwise! You know, a lot more of non stop running then a bit of walking in between. Takes time I guess.

I'm not in any place to include statistics nor tips yet (If I prove its effectiveness, surely I will), but the Pedometer app I have in my iPod stresses me out! haha. I think the app is good though. The one hour "break in" jogging / walking session I had, is I believe one of the longest hours ever! I keep on checking the time that has lapsed and oh my, 15 mins seemed to be an hour or so! Don't bother on imagining how slow I walked / jogged. I simply posted this as a reminder to thy self that I have a lot of improving to do and posting this on public will give me the self imposed discipline which I have yet to work on.

I never thought that running, rather jogging (to make it sound more casual. haha - I'm so not a runner!) gives you this peace of mind. I pondered on random things a lot. I had my moments of:

• Where will I be 10 years from now?
• What will my house to be look like?
• What rooms should my house have?
• What countries should I visit?
• Where will I settle?
• How different will things be in 5 years or so?
• What lifestyle will I have a few years from now?

I now strongly believe that jogging or running, frees your mind from everything that is currently happening - then makes more space for you to think for the future. haha. I started making a check list of things I have to do on my head! I don't know about others, but this stands true for me. I took time to notice the houses around & how they looked like back when I fondly went biking around with my neighbors - which is roughly 8-9 years ago. I admired the houses which were newly built and observed that there were 2 households with balikbayans. haha! I was able to jog a few rounds, just enough to smell who's cooking what for dinner & who're having parties & dinner gatherings.

Anyway, going back to this pedometer app I have. I just read that I have to do this for a full hour, 5x a week and run 50 km at least. So, that's 10 km per hour per day? The mere thought of it scares me! haha. Hopefully with this blog entry, I'll be forced to follow this 10km/day routine until I get results enough to be proud of. I pray that jogging will keep me busy for now & that I can maintain & even improve whatever I have started;-)


Since this app says I have burned 203.5 calories ONLY - I now feel like I don't want to eat anymore! (just a feeling - haha!) The full hour I spent jogging & mostly walking JUST burned me 2 pcs of French Fries? haha Oh my. Now I understand why health loving people fear the greasy, salty & the sweet! They're too hard to burn! And now I understand why people go gaga working out at the gym! It takes a lot of effort to burn whatever unhealthy food you've consumed. Just imagining how many kilometers you'll have to run for a slice of pizza is crazy. That's why I've never joined the healthy side in the first place. But here's my turning point - I have to:)


Can I just rant? My legs are sore already :( Like what they always say: NO PAIN, NO GAIN! Wish me luck on this one. I've been enlightened to start living the healthy life:) (Why only now? hihi)
P.S. slim people with wild metabolism, who eat relentlessly without having to work out after are indeed the luckiest people on earth. :))

Yakult: A Happy Tummy

   Disclaimer: Photo taken from Someone's Tumblr.

This morning isn't just as good, since I'm not a morning person - at all (unless I have plans scheduled). I normally wake up in the afternoon and I sleep pretty late, which was the case last night (already morning). And more often than not, when I don't get enough sleep, I end up having an upset & cranky stomach. 

Also, when I was younger - 7-8 years old, I've had history of series of hospitalizations caused by stomach problems, which doctors couldn't diagnose well. The medications which cured my pain were anti-ulcer drugs, however I had no signs of ulcer & no way I skipped meals, but they couldn't properly explore my tummy since I was just a kid. I would then be discharged with prescriptions of: high fiber intake: green leafy vegetables, oatmeal, cereals w/ high fiber, etc. Plus a threat (threat from the parents of course) of having a tube w/ a camera (probe), inserted through my throat down my stomach - which was of course horrifying for children (fear of body mutilation). I've figured during my nursing days, that it's a form of an explorative procedure to rule out diseases & find a proper diagnosis. So, being the scared child I am, I forced myself to have a daily oatmeal breakfast - long enough to make me hate oatmeal until now. The green leafy vegetables became a part of my regular meal - but this part I appreciate today, but hated before. And Yakult also did the trick.

I never had an episode of stomach problems anymore since then. We also made sure we had bottles of Yakult stored in our refrigerator and it became a normal item of our grocery list since forever. I strongly believe that Yakult does its wonders. Well my family does too:) Because whenever we get an upset tummy, all we do is drink a bottle or 2 of Yakult. Then good bye tummy ache:) Never have we drank medications to cure stomach problems. Just a bottle or 2 of Yakult will do the trick!