healthy Archives - Mommy Ginger

As someone who’s always on the go, cooking on a daily basis sure is challenging. Since I’m trying to change our eating habits, I’ve been trying to encourage myself to prepare food every day and try new recipes that will also entice Zeeka to eat healthily.

Weekdays are usually the busiest. I had this bad habit before that I’ll munch on high-calorie snacks and sugary drinks to make me feel full and energized. Whatever’s fast and easy to purchase from the counter, that’s what I get.

I’m immensely grateful for the huge shift I made towards my impulse eating habits and decisions. In the beginning, it doesn’t seem to look like a big deal. But the bad effects happen at the end part, right?

Consuming more vegetables, fruits, and protein may seem to be a bit hard to commit every day, though the end results usually are the grand motivators.

Meal planning shouldn’t be complicated particularly for moms like me, who don’t have a lot of time to prepare and cook. I’ve learned that the best way to achieve the effective weight loss is to consume food that will make you feel full longer every day. One of the easiest and readily available in the market is the potato. US Potatoes are the freshest and the packed with vitamins! You can learn more about US Potatoes from this page: https://www.facebook.com/PotatoesUSAPhilippines/

This power crop has a lot of nutrients and vitamins that is enough to make you healthy and feel energized. It is rich in Vitamin C, immune-boosting and helps lower cholesterol. One medium potato with the skin contributes 2 grams of fiber or 8% of the daily value per serving.

Day 1: Bacon and Potato Wedge Omelette

Ingredients:
250g US frozen potato wedges
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers bacon, diced
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup of mozzarella cheese

1. Place the frozen US potato wedges in a pan of boiling water. Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes until tender, then drain.

2. Heat the pan then add oil. Fry bacon for 4-5 minutes then add the potatoes. Fry for
another minute.

3. Beat the eggs then add milk, salt, pepper, and half the mozzarella cheese. Add the mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining mozzarella cheese and place under a preheated grill until golden. Serve with your desired sauce.

Day 2: Garlic Herbed Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 lbs. frozen US potatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
4 tbsp garlic
2 tbsp rosemary
2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200 °C.

2. Cut the frozen US potatoes in half or quarters then place in a bowl. Add olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and garlic. Toss until the potatoes are coated.

3. Transfer the US potatoes to a sheet pan and spread out into 1 layer. Add the butter on top to
spruce up the flavor. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until browned and crisp. (Flip
with a spatula during cooking to ensure even browning.)

4. Remove the potatoes from oven, sprinkle parsley. Season to taste.

Day 3: Garlic Potatoes, Green Beans, Shrimp And Cauliflower

Ingredients:
1/2kg prawns, peeled
1 lb. US fingerling potatoes
3 c. cauliflower florets
1 lb. green beans
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
5 clove garlic
1⁄2 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp red wine

1. In a large pot, cover the US fingerling potatoes with 2-3 inches of salted water. Boil over high
heat. Then, reduce the heat and cook for 8 minutes until the potatoes are almost tender.
2. Add the cauliflower florets and green beans to the pot. Simmer until tender for 5 minutes.
3. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil then add the garlic. Cook over low heat until golden brown. Add paprika, a large pinch of salt. Remove from heat.
4. Drain vegetables and transfer to serving bowl. Season with salt and drizzle with garlic oil. Sprinkle with red wine.

Day 4: Potato Lollipop Recipe

Ingredients:

2 medium US potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 medium carrot, boiled and peeled
3 bread slices
2-3 green chillies
1 small piece ginger
2 teaspoons cornflour
½ teaspoon cumin powder
Salt
Olive oil

1. Boil and peel the potatoes and carrots. Mash well. Crush peeled ginger and green chillies using a mortar and pestle.
2. Add crushed ginger-cilantro-green chillies paste,salt and cumin powder.
3. Soak the bread slices in water for 2-3 minutes,squeeze the water well and ad to the potato mixture. Add corn flour and mix well. Mix well to form a dough.
4. Shape into small lollipops from the dough and shallow fry from both sides till golden.
5. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Now insert lollipop sticks or snack pickers into each lollipop.

Day 5: Potato and Peppers Stew

Ingredients:

1 red onion, finely chopped
1 whole garlic, mashed
8 bell peppers (red, yellow, green), seeded and sliced in julienne
28 ounces canned tomatoes
1 lb. US potatoes, scrubbed well and cut into ½ inch cubes
250ml vegetable broth
1 handful of fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pan, saute onion in 3 tablespoons olive oil and set on medium-high heat. When completely softened, before it starts browning, add the garlic. Sauté for an additional minute.

2. Add all peppers and lower heat to medium-low and stir well. Partially cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Add tomatoes and US potatoes. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste and keep stirring well over low heat and cook for 1 hour.

4. Add vegetable stock gradually using a ladle while cooking. Add the stock to reach attain desired consistency. Consistency should be thicker than a pasta sauce. Garnish with parsley on top.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes! Feel free to share these with friends so that all of us benefit from eating Potatoes!

Get more information about potato nutrition, recipes and general potato facts from Potatoes USA – Philippines Facebook Page here.

This month for me has been knowing more about skincare and the different ingredients that I should look for or watch out for. There is a plethora of products that you can choose from in the market, and the challenge really for retailers now is how do I stand out and what will make me unique and different. Looking at different skin care products from Korea and Japan, you would notice that they make use of quite interesting products like snail, lava, horse oil, orange, grapes, and even “unicorn tears” (I wonder how they got that! haha!). Then I got myself looking at Filipino made products, too (of course!) and one brand caught my attention, and that was My Natural PH. They make use of Seaweed.

I wanted to know more about the whats, hows and whys of My Natural. This is why I interviewed, Marina, one of the co-owners of My Natural PH.

Mommy Ginger and Marina Morada

About The Moradas

Marina is the daughter of Noel Morada, who started the business. Noel is a UP Alumnus and has an MBA in Marketing and Finance. He is a graduate of Business Administration and is a businessman who has been in the seaweeds industry for more than 20 years.

Marina is an IMC Graduate from UA&P (yeeeeah! same school and course as me!). She is also a graduate of Masters of Applied Business Economics. EJ Morada is the younger brother who helps in the business. He graduated from Ateneo de Manila University (Business Management).

Interview with Marina of My Natural PH:

Ginger: Hi Marina! It’s great to meet you. Can you tell everyone what My Natural is about and how long have you been in business?

Marina: We’ve been in the seaweeds business for more than 20 years but our personal care line made out of seaweeds was only launched June this year after 2 years of research and product development.

Mr. Noel Morada with the the country’s seaweed experts

This new venture is all about providing SAFE, HEALTHY, and EFFECTIVE natural products. It stems from our belief that having a healthy lifestyle does not stop with developing healthy habits and eating healthy foods but should also include the use of different products for personal care, home care and air care which are natural and environment friendly. Consumers need such products that will help them sustain a healthy lifestyle. This is the need that we wish to address through MyNatural products.

Ginger: Who is your target market? Why did you choose this market? Can you give us the insight behind this market?

Marina: Our product line generally caters to the health- conscious natural advocates who keep on finding ways on how they could maintain a healthy lifestyle. They have personal preference over natural products knowing its benefits.

We have 3 brands and each have distinctly identifies the type of consumers to address their needs.

Algynatural: For the regular consumer who wish to have the benefits of seaweeds and natural personal care products which they could sustain for their everyday needs.

Ocean Blue: For the ultra- sensitive skin consumers who are looking for natural, safe, and effective solutions that could help them manage skin conditions.

MyNatureland: For every homemaker that wishes to keep every corner of her home naturally fresh and clean without using harmful chemicals.

Ginger: How did you come up with this idea? What made you decide to start this kind of business?

Marina: Being in the seaweeds industry for several years, we have attended International conferences and exhibits and learned the benefits of seaweeds for skin care and other personal care needs. These are evidenced by numerous scientific studies, presentations and research papers by experts in the fields. More than this is our ardent desire to promote sustainable healthy lifestyle through products that help consumers take care of themselves as well as the environment. Last of course is our determination to provide more livelihood and continuously build self-sustaining and sustainable communities.

Before embarking on this business though, to be viable we asked ourselves 3 basic questions:

– Is there a market for the product?
– Do we have the resources ( capital, human, raw materials, etc.) to be in this business?
– Do we have the competitive advantage?

Ginger: Were there any obstacles that you faced when you decided to pursue becoming an Entrepreneur? What are these?

Marina: Oh A lot. Putting up a business is always a challenge. But as an entrepreneur, you got to have the grit. You have to be tough – psychologically, physically, and emotionally, you have to have the capacity to find solutions to complex problems, the ability to see the opportunities and potentials of future products to fulfill human needs, the steadfastness to pursue your dreams and strong faith in yourself and God of course.

Ginger: What are the greatest challenges in putting up and maintaining a business?

Marina: Getting the right product that will address the need of the market. This is the product development stage where you really spend a lot of time, resources and human talent to be able to get a perfect product as much as possible. Then you have the challenge of getting your product to the market. Identifying the right market and communicating to them. How is your product relevant to your market? What are the right channels to reach your market? What marketing mix shall you use… Then you have the logistics side of it so that products get to the customer in a seamless and faster way. Finding customer expectation and fulfilling them is huge challenge for entrepreneurs. Getting the needed resources is likewise a challenge.

Ginger: What are three traits that you think a Start-up Founder/Entrepreneur should have when starting their own business?

The passion to succeed no matter what the odds (grit)
Eagerness to learn to keep up with the changing times.
Perseverance / Hardwork

Ginger: Do you have any unforgettable moments or lessons that you learned as an Start-up Founder/Entrepreneur?

Marina: Think ahead. As an entrepreneur you should always be forward looking. Your decision today may no longer be applicable tomorrow so you should be always have plan B and C.

Learning is a continuous process.

There is an opportunity that lies for every problem. You just have to identify it.

Of course, never give up!

Ginger: What advice can you give to other Start-up Founders/Entrepreneurs?

Marina: Equip yourself with the right tools and mindset before starting a business. Learn from the mistakes of others. Always put your customers first (know and understand your market ) they are the lifeblood of any business. Never stop learning.

Ginger: Do you believe that everyone should become entrepreneurs?

Marina: Everyone has the opportunity but only few succeed. The general ratio they say is 1:10; that means only 1 out of ten succeeds. Being an entrepreneur is a conscious decision that you make to achieve a higher purpose ( change lives, create positive impact, etc) . It’s a commitment you should be willing to make to yourself and to your stakeholders (partners, consumers, investors, suppliers, etc).

Ginger: What is your belief about raising capital? What are ways that you can do to raise capital?

Marina: Generally the source of initial capital are personal savings then additional capital from relatives and friends. The formal channels of raising capital like banks, venture capital and other financial intermediaries or institutions and eventually the equity market, come in only in the growth stage of the business. So raising capital during the start up stage of the business is always challenge.

Ginger: How do you market your products?

Marina: Right now our products can be purchased online through our own website and other online shopping sites like Beauty MNL.

Ginger: What are tech tools that you use for your business?

Marina: On line marketing tools and apps. ( Facebook, Instagram, e- store). Automation of the accounting, financial, inventory and customer base.

Ginger: Thank you so much, Marina, for spending time with me! I learned a lot about seaweeds, its benefits and of course, a lot about starting a business!

Contact information about your business:

Website: www.mynatural.company
Email address: sales@mynatural.company
Mobile Number: 0917 132 1977 OR 0920 977 1977
Facebook Page : MyNaturalPH
Instagram account: @MyNaturalPH

Purchase from: https://beautymnl.com/brands/algynatural

I’m thinking of reformatting GTV. First of all, I think I won’t have the budget to continuously pay for my production team and secondly, I feel that I have so much more to give if the episodes aren’t scripted. I can be my wacky, weird self. If you get to know me in person, I am a serious, all-business and no-nonsense kind of a lady, but there are a few times (oooh, alright… maybe more often that I can remember) when I totally don’t make any sense. Hihi! My friends can attest to that.

Anyway, my point is that the lives of the people that you read online are just a part of REALITIES that they have. I’m not saying we’re all fakers, but obviously, our blogs are not “on” 24/7, if you get what I mean. We cannot constantly monitor everything that we do and share everything with the public. We chose the fun, inspiring and amazing part of our lives.

My Chubby Face 🙂

Like for instance, in my case, I don’t often share about my insecurities when it comes to the way I look. I hate having pictures take, less having my video taken, because I feel my face is too huge. I look fat. I feel I have humongous “braso” and I have weird looking feet. I wish my nose were shaped differently. There you go! I have said everything that I needed to say, but it won’t change anything, so I decide not to talk about it.

I also don’t show you or mention that I have been sick (I literally felt that I had pneumonia already) for the past month. I have this really bad cough, but I haven’t had the time to go to the doctor. I also feel soooo unhealthy. This is why two weeks ago, I started eating healthy. I started going on a diet. It seemed so long ago since the last time I felt healthy and sexy (I think it was January of this year during my boudoir shoot: http://mommyginger.com/2015/01/perfect-gift-hubby-valentines-day-boudoir-pictures.html)

Bringing Sexy, but more importantly, “Healthy” Back!

I also stated getting my groove back when it comes to exercising. I used to be a gym rat, but with managing my businesses and all, I haven’t had enough time to go to the gym. But since I feel soooo unhealthy, I decided to start working out again.

I got an email from 45 Training recently offering 3 FREE Trial Classes. One Saturday, I decided to go and successfully managed to bring my husband with me. I think I was successful since F45 was really just three blocks away from where we’re staying so he agreed to come with me.

F45 Training at BGC Stopover

When we got to BGC Stopover, we went straight to the third floor where F45 Training was. We were equipped with a towel and a bottle of water. I came in my gym clothes (just like the one I’m wearing the picture above). The gym was a huge open space with a lot of equipment — some of which I have seen before and some totally unfamiliar.

There were also a big sign on what type of class we were joining and in some sections, there was an LCD panel that showed different types of workouts that was part of the session (check out the screen situated on the upper left side of this picture).

We were greeted by a really courteous trainer. I believe his name was Fred Tembrevilla. Fred explained to us what was going to happen. He told us that the name of the session that we were attending was Hollywood. Hollywood is a 60 minute, high intensity interval circuit around 27 stations that will put your strength, core stability and cardiovascular endurance under the brightest of spotlights! Oh, so that’s why it’s called Hollywood. I just got it now, while retyping the description in this picture!

We went through the training and yes, it certainly showed me that I was unfit! Haha! We, my husband and I, got to do just one round of the training. We were given a break in between rounds to which we could not “break” from. I really enjoyed the training though, even it if it was just a round (for us).

What I liked about F45 Training was…

The trainers were constantly checking form and looking around to see how everyone was doing. They had three trainers on the floor, which was superb!
We were constantly motivated. They would say, “good job” or “you’re really doing great there”. They’re not like those psycho trainers that we often times imagine.
The exercises really targeted different parts of your body. Usually, the day after, it would be my thighs that would always hurt, but lo and behold, it was actually my triceps and back that hurt! I was happy because it was the good kind of pain (the one that tells you that you’ve finally used them after decades).
You are free to work just within your limits. You are free to stop when you don’t feel well. F45 Training offered and environment that encourages you to go on (no pressure at all).
Perfect for moms, like me, since you can go at your own pace. It’s also perfect for beginners because the coaches are really adamant about keeping the right form.
They have schedules that would fit your schedule! (dang it! Can’t use that one as an excuse!)

So there you have it, folks! That was my assessment of my first class at F45. I think I will go again next week. Let’s see! My strategy is to build up cardiovascular endurance first via the treadmill before I go for my second trial class. To avail of the trial classes, just sign up in their site and it automatically gives you the three classes for FREE!

The site is http://f45training.ph/. I will monitor my progress also for the next months. I plan to really be healthy and prolly sexy come December, so that I can eat and gain all that weight back again. Haha! Oh, the cycle of life!

I’m sipping my green tea over ice at Starbucks. I ordered it because I felt that green tea is healthier than ordering iced chocolate. I have not researched it yet and I need to look for clinical studies to back it up. On another note, do you know that Starbucks serves veggie sticks and oatmeal already? I am elated. Finally, other healthy choices that I could order.

These past few weeks have made me more conscious and deliberate about making healthy choices. And it’s not about eating well only. For example, every time, I would go to a meeting, I would open my Endomondo app to see how many calories I would burn if I walked instead of took a cab (i would pick the former since I set a goal of burning more calories this January).

All of these things I do because I want to become healthier (and being sexy follows… It’s a side effect). My husband started his journey earlier. He started with making right choices and taking The Right Approach to fitness. The right approach is a regimen that we follow. I urged him to take it since I was worried about his health.

We, wives/mothers and girlfriends, are (I believe) the best friends, motivators, counselors, muses nurses and even personal trainors of our men. It’s a big role that we play, and definitely a role that we play with love and respect. We know that the men in our lives make us whole. As Tom Cruise would say, ‘you complete me’; we know that they complete us. We love them for being great providers. We love them for just being there as a shoulder to cry on when we feel the world is against us. We love them for just being who they areand for constantly being patient with all of our mood swings.

I don’t know about you but this were all the reasons that I needed to take on my role as an adviser to tell him to take his health seriously. I am no nagger (you can ask my hubby). When it came to his health though and asking him to lose weight, I was a little bit more annoying. Yes, i admit, this topic came up more than a dozen of times and it wasn’t because i wanted a hot hubby (although, I admit, that would make our lives MORE interesting *winks*), but it was more for his health.

He was constantly having migraines. He would have them almost everyday since a bad attack would last two days. He would vomit a lot. He would stay in bed the whole day and the worst part is if he had it on weekends, when he was supposed to spend it with Zeeka, our daughter. I became worried. I didn’t want it to be other than migraine so just to be sure, I urged him to get an MRI. Thank God, the results were normal and it was just migraine.

That was he time I asked him to take care of his health and go on a no starvation and ‘eat more to lose more’ diet. We took his initial stats and it showed that he had a viceral fat percentage of 12%. Viceral fat, for those who don’t know, is the fat surrounding the organs. It’s hard to lose that kind of fat (compared to subcutaneous fat, which is he fat near the skin). The normal viceral fat % is 5% and below.

After undergoing the regimen for one month, we were happy that his migraines were less frequent (close to gone) and his viceral fat was down to 10%. He also lost 12 pounds and his stats indicated that he gained muscle % and loss body fat %.

This is how my hot hubby looks now:

I know I am not one who’s fond of before and after pictures, but I am just so proud of my husband. This photo is not photoshop-ed as you all know i’m a photoshop dummy. These pictures are as raw as they could get with my hubby wearing the same shirt.

My hubby is as stubborn as hell and it would most likely that stars would fall than me convince him to diet and exercise, so I was shocked that he agreed to undergo this program. I guess he also realized that health is the most important gift that he could give his family. I am proud of his achievement and excited for my results. I started with the program last week and i have 3 more weeks to go.

Are you and your husband/boyfriend ready to yake this fitness challenge with us? Do you care enough about each other’s well-being and are you ready to make 2014 you fitest year ever? Let’s chat over coffee or juice so that we can share this regimen with you! Pm me on Facebook, email me at ginger(at)mommyginger.com or leave a comment below and let’s meet!

All of us can be a hot hubby or a sexy wife to our spouses! Let all achieve a healthy 2014!

I’m reading this book entitled Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs. The book is about the quest of the author to become as healthy as man can ever be. It tells of his escapades on trying different diets, exercise regimen, etc. It is just so hilarious! I have just started reading it last week and I can’t put it down. The author reminded me so much of my husband, EJ (they even have rhyming names).

My husband is a funny guy and his witty remarks and geeky appearance (I even met him when he had braces) are his charm. He’s 5’10” and 187 pounds. He actually has thin limbs which makes him look just right, but like most men in the Philippines, he has a big belly. I have always wanted him to be more conscious about his weight and I also have always wanted him to be more active, but again, like most men in our country, the calling of digital devices (games, etc.) is just too hard to resist. He’d rather just lie on the couch and read than go on the treadmill with me.

It was then quite a surprise that he agreed to take on the challenge of being healthier with me this 2014 (take note, I didn’t say thinner). Yes, both of us want to be healthier. We want to live healthy lives so that we could live longer to see our grand kids in the future. Both of us agreed to achieve the following:

A. Be more active – I have a goal of going on the treadmill at least three times a week. Ej has his own goal to walk around more when time permits. I realize that I can’t expect the same thing from him since we’re individually used to different things, so any effort on his part to ‘move more’ is greatly appreciated.

B. Eat healthier – We vow to eat healthier. Nope, we won’t go on any special type of diet. We just agreed to eat a balanced meal everytime and to avoid the food that we need to avoid. We plan to follow the recommended food portions with lots of vegetables and fruits (sources of fiber), carbohydrates and protein sources in one meal. We plan to avoid junk food (chocolate, chips, pastries, fast food, etc.) and avoid food that is deep fried. We plan to drink at least 8 glasses of water. The diet that we follow is really simple when you think about it. I’ll tell you more about it on my next posts.

C. Take vitamins and supplements – Humans cannot actually take all the needed vitamins by our body through food intake. This is the reason why we need vitamins. I just religiously started taking vitamins and supplements again and I am taking this.

it’s called LifePak and I like it because I feel more energetic and I think it increased my metabolism. The other thing I noticed was that I don’t lose as much hair anymore. I’m still breastfeeding so I have lots and lots of falling hair. Aside from this multi-vitamins, we are also taking supplements that assist us in maintaining our healthy regimen (food intake) and helps hasten metabolism. Just email me at ginger(at)mommyginger(dot)com if you want to learn more about these vitamins.

Ej started his journey even before Christmas. I started with my journey to a drop dead healthy body just yesterday. I actually can’t wait to lose 20 pounds and to feel healthier. My goal is really to achieve the body and the fitness level that I had when I was still in College. Impossible? I don’t believe so. I believe that everything is possible!

I weighed myself yesterday using a Karada scanner and these were my stats:

My goal is basically to lose 10 kg within the first quarter of this year (from 64.9 kg to 54.9 kg). How about you? What are your fitness goals for 2014? Let’s journey together!