Weight watcher

Left picture on 12/31 at 201 lbs. Right picture on 3/31 at 171 lbs. So far so good, as I lost 30 lbs in three months.

Most importantly, my body fat and organ fat continue to drop, now at acceptable levels. Age analysis is a big surprise, as I went from 71 three months ago to now 47. That is most incredible as the computer does not know my actual age, only with the data collected. A difference of 24 years!!! This is the most motivating factor as I continue to return to health and fitness.

Thankyou for your support.

Going green....

There is a significant percentage of Taiwanese people who are vegetarians. Even for non vegetarians, they often have vegetarian meals for either religious or health reasons. Therefore, it isn't difficult to find vegetarian restaurants here. However, most of them are not health conscious. Trying to compete with non vegetarian establishments, many of these so called vegetarian places rely heavily on MSG, artificial flavoring, coloring, and oils; resulting in very salty, greasy, and rich tasting food which can actually cause health problems. Upon the recommendation of the vegetarian community, we visited a veggie buffet restaurant today, and it is a gem.

This place is very clean, well staffed, and very organized. They use organic foods as much as possible. They also use olive oil ( I can taste it in the noodles), and low sodium sea salt. Most importantly, they use low heat cooking on all their foods. As we know, high heat cooking causes oils to burn and produces carcinogen which causes cancer.......But what good is it if the food is tasteless as many so called organic restaurants tend to serve boring crap such as alfafa sprouts and multi grain bread........

Not here. Every dish tastes great and different. We have to stop before we over eat. We bought a book of twenty meal tickets for around $100Cdn, therefore, each meal costs $5. Excellent healthy food at superb value, only in Hualien.

After lunch, I had some time to kill before playing tennis, and since I had not touched a club for months, I went to the driving range to see if my lighter body has any effects on my golf swing.

Yes! As you can see from my finish, I have a much fuller follow thru with a nice body turn which I did not have before. This adds a bit of distance but most importantly, a cleaner contact and a straighter ball flight.

Take a hike!

Yes we did. This is the first time for Frankie to hike up Meilun mountain, which is similar to Mount Doug in Victoria. Its a beautiful Saturday morning and her tennis class is cancelled today due to a tournament, so we took the opportunity and spend some quality time together. Temp is a perfect 25C, but we still managed to work up a sweat. This is where I hike and run everyday for an hour.

There is a beautiful deck at the top of the mountain where folks rest, exercise, take pictures, play music, and some paint. You can see Hualien city below, with mountains to the west and ocean to the east.



Frankie loves nature, and she helps me see things which I normally am too blind to see. Like little butterflies resting on tree leaves, little flowers among the bushes, insects dangling among tree limbs, and some caught in the spider webs..........she also loves sketching, as she carries a pad of papers and pencil in her pouch, and draws sketches of things which she finds interesting.

Here is her quick sketch of a cat........

Food as medicine 山藥--瘦身好幫手

Chinese medicine is more about prevention than cure, and many food items are actually medicine. Here in Taiwan, we are blessed with rich soil, warm climate, plenty of sunshine and moisture, which all combine to provide an ideal growing environment, all year round. When I go to the local markets, I often come across things I am not familiar with. One of those things is 山藥, a traditional Chinese herb medicine which I have seen in dried form, but never fresh....

山藥 is a root vegetable, which resembles somewhat like a potato. The one on the left is imported from mainland China, while the one on the right is a local Taiwanese grown. It so happens it looks exactly like the island of Taiwan.

After some research, here are some of the medicinal value: 山藥可健脾胃, 補虛贏, 益腎氣, 止瀉痢, 強筋骨, 化痰涎, 潤皮毛, 除寒熱邪氣久服耳聰目明, 輕身不饑延年.

一般人熟悉的山藥, 經過研究, 效用有抗菌, 抗氧化, 抑制癌細胞, 調節生殖系統, 曾強免疫力. 蔡新聲表示, 山藥完全沒有毒性, 可當成三餐主食, 而不像馬鈴薯, 芋頭會令人發胖.

山藥含有的熱量少，營養多，而且其能增加飽腹感，達到瘦身的目的，故在瘦身期間可作為主食食用，或者作為輔食.

Here is more: http://www.aptcm.com/aptcm/medinfo.nsf/ByUNID/4B7E7C2F9849B77448256FFF0013580D?opendocument

Now that my focus is on health, I continue to search for foods which are nutritional and have medicinal values, instead of just loading up with fats and carbs.

Down with the pounds!

Move over, Richard Simmons!

The big difference between working out in Canada and Taiwan is the outside tempertaure. In Victoria, the average temp is 10C while it is 25C here. Therefore, I have never sweated so much before. Here, every inch of my body sweats, and every pore works overtime squeezing out the liquid waste and toxins out of this fat body. The feeling is incredible when I am absolutely drenched with perspiration.......
I start the day off with a Herbalife breakfast shake at the breakfast bar, conveniently located below our condo. Yue Ling is the owner, and also my nutrition advisor. She keeps track of my progress, and makes a diary of my weight, body fat, organ fat, bone mass, muscle mass, age analysis, and metabolic capacity.

Today, my weight is down to 176lbs, a total loss of 25lbs so far since Christmas. Better news is that my body fat and organ fat continue to drop, and my age analysis is, hear this: 50!!!!! I had a body of a 71 year old when I started this program, and now I am younger than my actual age.....

Sure, nutrition alone could not achieve all this, exercise is still a very vital part of a healthy life style. Clean air, good rest, and frequent massages also help, a lot......

Here I am, after my morning hike and run............

Frankie doing homework

Frankie spends about 2 to 3 hours on homework every night. Same work may only take an hour for other kids, but Chinese is a foreign language for Frankie. Here she is doing Chinese proverbs and she uses the internet to find the answers, pretty cool I think. Even I did not think of that.....

Linguine with fresh clams

Well folks, I have lost over 20 lbs now, but the more weight I lose, the more I eat. At least it seems that way. Living in Hualien is a dream come true: there are abundance of fresh local veggies, fruits and produce, and bountiful of local fresh fish and shellfish. Seafood and veggies are my favorite foods.......

Among many local shell fish, there is one type of clam which truly stands out. It is called 海瓜子, you can read more about it here: http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E7%93%9C%E5%AD%90.

If you don't read Chinese, simply have the page translated at
Google:http://translate.google.com/#zh-CNen

These clams are so delicious, and so useful in cooking. They are low in fat and cholesterol, but high in protein. It only takes a minute to cook, and the broth is delicious by simply adding a few slices of fresh ginger. I use the clam meat for pastas, salads, and lately I've been making a type of Cioppino, which is a tomato based fish and seafood stew which is very popular among Italians and Portugese people.
Today's lunch was Linguine with fresh clams, and it was perfect. My mid day meal is my biggest and best meal of the day, as I try to eat lightly at dinner time while continuing with an Herbalife shake for breakfast.

The turning point of my (mid) life

As some of you may already know, one of the reasons for us to relocate to Taiwan was simply to provide a chance for Frankie to learn the Chinese language and culture, which is not something she can easily do in Canada. Another reason is for Rebecca to go back to her roots, a chance to be "home" again. There is also one other reason, and that is for me to get fit again. Its much easier to get up and go for a run when its 25C outside which is the average temperature here in Hualien. I find the cold and damp weather on the Canadian west coast wearing me out as we go from one heated box to another at least eight months of a year.
But instead of becoming fit, I was becoming fatter. There are so much new and different tasting food here and you all know how much I love eating. By Christmas, my weight ballooned to just over 200 pounds. I could see myself digging my own grave, eating myself to death sooner or later. I could not face my self in the mirror anymore. In fact, I could not see my own toes when standing up!!! Guess what else I could not see when standing up? OK, that is not funny.....
So, I said to myself, you better smarten up and get fit again, or else all that I have worked for will mean nothing if I don't live long enough to enjoy it. But where and how can I start?
It so happened that a breakfast bar opened in one of the commercial spaces below us in the same building, and the owner is an Herbalife distributor. Rebecca and I had some success with Herbalife products before in Canada, but we did not persist and it was time wasted. So, I began having an Herbalife shake for breakfast every morning in this breakfast bar, instead of my regular noodles, buns, soya milk, congee, dim sum etc etc. What is good about Herbalife is that I don't need to change my diet too much, in fact, I don't diet at all. I start with a shake every morning, and drink between 4000 to 6000cc water everyday, and have a normal lunch and normal dinner. If I'm hungry before bed, I'll have another shake. The shake provides plenty of vitamins and minerals, and the large amount of water flushes out the toxins and the fats in my body. Before Herbalife, 4000 to 6000cc water was my weekly intake! Years and years of dehydration alone can send people to their premature death. I think this is the single most important thing anyone can do to improve their health without doing anything else.
Of course, along with regular exercises, fresh air, and good rest, my weight has nowhere to go but down.

I often go to the Herbalife meetings although I have no plan to become involved yet. Often they have very good speakers and it is very inspirational to be there. The first video shows the poster boy of Taiwan Herbalife. This guy lost over 200lbs using the products, absolutely amazing! He went from the death bed to a pedestal as almost everyone in Taiwan has seen his "before and after" pictures.

Next up was a 78 year old woman, who had the typical maladies of an aging person and has become healthier after using the products. She no longer needs a cane and her medications have been reduced. I think our mom can benefit from this, but one needs to be disciplined and has the true desire to become healthy to be successful.

I know MLM and network marketing has a bad rap, but these products and most importantly, the daily support from the Herbalife folks play a major role as the turning point of my mid life. I am very thankful for that.

another day in paradise.....

We have had a handful of cold days all thru the winter season here, with temperature dipping down to 15C, otherwise the average temp is 24C which is really nice. Day time temp starts to heat up again, reaching 30C in the past few days.

All of the steel and concrete are in place in our new house, and it is time to pick out some tiles for the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, and the patio.

We picked up Frankie from school and went to a local Italian style restaurant for dinner......This is one of our favorite places because the pasta is very good and the curry is awesome. Portions are just right so I don't over eat.

Then we watched TV together as Frankie has already finished her homework. One of our favorite programs is the "sisters club", which is a show about foreign brides and their often hilarious experiences living in Taiwan. Most of them speak amazingly good Mandarin....