Part 2 - Meal suggestions

Breakfast:
oatmeal (with jam /almonds/dried fruit/honey)
porridge
muesli
cereal
fruit
yoghurt
eggs
omelette (with cheese and ham/ vegetables)
smoothies
boller
rugbrod
rice with jam

Before training snack:

Breakfast cereal with low fat milk and fruit

Porridge with low fat milk and juice

Pan cakes with syrup

Toast with honey/jam

Spaghetti and tomato sauce with low fat

Baked potato with corn

Müsli bar and banana

Bun or sandwich with banana and honey

Fresh fruit salad with low fat yoghurt

Smoothie

After training: (amounts calculated for a 60-kg person)
2 bananas, 300g yoghurt
1 bun with ham and cheese + 1 fruit
1 bun with ham and cheese + 1 bun with jam
1 bun with 1 boiled egg + fruit/ almonds
2  big glasses of juice + 1 glas milk
2 glasses of fruit/berry yoghurt

Lunch/Dinner
-Stews (take different vegetables, clean and cut, put into a pot with little water, steam until ready to eat; you can add some lean meat or beans, or eat with rugbrod and ham)
-Purees (take vegetables, clean and boil soft, smash; can add some cream cheese and eat with for example lean meat/fish/beans/walnuts or whatever you like)
-Soups (usually start by heating a little oil in a bottom of a pot, add onion, carrots and meat/fish if they’re going to be in the soup, heat for a short time. Add all other cleaned and cut vegetables and boiling water, and a bouillon cube)
-Vegetables in the oven: heat oven to 200-250 degrees, clean and cut vegetables, add meat if want to, put in a form, add some oil+water+spices mix or egg+milk+spices(+water+oil)and cook until ready to eat.
-Vegetables on a pan (very good with for example celery, pepper fruit, carrots, champignons): put some oil on the pan, cut vegetables and champignons into small slices/pieces, heat on the pan until warm and cooked. Eat with f ex bread and lean cooked meat.
-Easy bean-tomato sauce: put very little water on a pan, heat up, add cut onions and tomatoes (maybe also some aubergine or squash or whatever you’d like) and beans, let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Eat just by itself, with salad or with pasta/rice
-Pasta salad: boil pasta, clean and cut whatever you want in your salad (for example pepperfruit, onion, egg, broccoli, cucumber, tomato etc), some meat if want to ( f ex kylling i stimler), mix together.
-Instead of pasta, use rice/couscous/lentils/legumes in pastasalad and get a whole new meal
-Sauces: take a pan, heat some onion (if want to) and meat/mushrooms fast until nice and brown, add about 1-2 spoonfuls of flour to the middle of the pan, move around until brown, add milk and spices, heat until boiling.
-Tacos/rolls – buy tortilla wraps, if want to, heat up in the oven, fill with whatever you like (for example cold ones with cream cheese, iceberg salad, cucumber and ham/salmon(laks); or warms with beans, onion, tomatoes, fried hakket oksekod, cheese)
- Liver/fish files/other meat with boiled potatoes and steamed carrots/cauliflower/broccoli etc

Salads
-Fruit salad J -so good and suitable as a dessert
-Carrot – pineapple salad: buy conserved pineapple pieces and put together with revet carrots.
-Rejer salad – peas (buy f ex frozen, boil for 1-3 minutes, cool down), onion, cucumber/tomato, + whatever you like, rejer (buy f ex frozen, melt in water, drain), dill + natural yoghurt if you like.
-Beetroot (can buy conserved from shop and just eat)
-Pickles (can buy from shop and just eat)

In general if you make salads, get creative – just add together different things you like. Use things you usually don’t put into salads like eggs, dried fruits, almonds, seeds and so on. Test and experiment to find out what you like J.

Sweet things
-berries, dried and fresh fruits (try melon, watermelon, oranges etcetc)
-yoghurt (fruit and berry yoghurts, natural yoghurt with berries/fruit pieces)
-smoothies
-bread with honey
-muesli bars/ raw bites (raw bites from Simon, muesli bars 8stk 9dkk in Lidl)
- roasted havegryn (heat on pan with a little oil and sugar – very easy, cheap and good)
-ryebread dessert – take pieces of dried ryebread (rasp), jam, and natural yoghurt (can add little bit of sugar), put into glasses/bowls like 1 layer of rasp, 1 jam, 1 yoghurt and so on until the glasses are full, keep in fridge for a while and eat J.
-chocolate cake, a healthier version (1 dase bönner (not in tomato sauce :D); 3 eggs; 1,25dl sugar; ¾ dase kakopulver; saft+skal af 0,5 apelsin (if you like apelsin), 40g 70% mörkt chokolade(melted), 1tsk bagepulver, 1tsk instant kaffe (not very important), 1 tsk vaniliepulver.  Blend alle  ingridienserne uden chokoladen – den skal tilföj  til sidst. Bag i en lille bageform m bagepapir ved 175 degrees varmluft i 35-40 min.

Snacks:
pieces of vegetables (like raw pepperfruit, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, etc etc)
fruits – fresh or dried
nuts and seeds
sundried tomatoes
berries
beans (for example take large pieces of celery and pepper fruit and use them as spoons to eat beans in tomato sauce)
crisp bread
rice cakes
popcorn (make at home with little or no fat and salt)

Dip vegetables in dip made of natural yoghurt and spices like pepper, dild, petersell and other good spices J.

Drinks:
WATER,
milk,
yoghurt,
juice,
tea,
coffee,
chocolate milk,
diet soda

Eat Healthy - part 1 (WHAT IS WHAT)

One of the big missions in my internship, has been making an athlete to start eating healthily. He doesn't have any one specific problem or area of difficulty, rather he's just doing it all wrong - skipping breakfast, having a couple of high-calorie-low-everything-else-meals a day, then skipping more meals not to gain weight..and that was just the beginning. Not because he wouldn't care, just because he just didnt know what is he doing wrong and even more important - what could he be doing instead and why.
To help him I made it all very basic and easy and wrote it all down. Now I figured that why not, in a modified form, publish them here, so they possibly and hopefully could help someone else as well. I'm sorry that in some parts the documents are in Danglish, but hope you'll all still get the meaning.
So - part 1:

The Basics - What is what

Energy is measured in calories (kcal). Calories are in the food you eat, and you burn calories by everything you do – sleeping, breathing, eating, moving etc. The more intense the activity the more calories you burn. So strength training burns more calories than just walking, but less than for example running and biking.  

If you don’t want to gain weight, you have to eat the same amount or fewer calories in a day. If you want to gain weight, you have to eat more than you use.

Calories in food come from three groups of foods: protein, fat and carbohydrates. In addition food has vitamins and minerals, but they are very small and don’t give any extra calories.
1 gram of carbohydrates gives you 4kcal
1 gram of protein gives you 4kcal
1 gram of alcohol gives you 7 kcal
1 gram of fat gives you 9kcal

An average diet should include
55-60% carbohydrates=1695 kcal=424g
15-20% protein = 520kcal=198g
25-30% fat =949kcal=105g

ever day.

Body uses protein mainly to build muscles. Extra protein in diet (protein you eat, but what body doesn’t need) will be peed out. (A little will be also stored as fat)
Good sources of PROTEIN are:
meat
fish
nuts and seeds
beans/ legumes
milk products – milk, koleskal, kaernemaelk, yoghurt, cheese, hytteost, etc
eggs
supplements

Body uses carbohydrates to get energy. Extra carbohydrates in diet will be stored as fat.
Good sources of CARBOHYDRATES are:
pasta,
rice,
potatoes,
bread,
vegetables,
fruits,
berries,
juices,
bars like raw-bite, mueslibars
grains – havegryn, muesli, cereal
supplements

There’s also a lot of carbohydrates in

Candy, chocolate, cookies, sodas, ice-cream, fast food; but there’s not much your body can do with those carbohydrates (because they don’t have much vitamins and minerals and calories mainly come from sugar), so most of it will be stored as fat.

There is two types of fats. Unsaturated and saturated fat. Unsaturated fats are good and they’re used by body as motor oil is used in cars – to keep things (like your joints and ligaments in knees, elbows etc) running smoothly.
It also gives you pretty hair, skin and nails ;). And is very important because some vitamins are fat-soluble – can only be used when they are dissolved in fat. For example if you eat a lot of carrots and get a lot of vitamin A from that, but eat no fat, then body can’t use the vitamin A.

Most of the saturated fat you eat is just stored as fat.

Good sources of UNSATURATED FATS are:
fish,
nuts and seeds,
rye bread with seeds,
liquid oils – olive oil, flax-seed oil etc

There is a lot of SATURATED FAT in:
butter,
cookies,
dressings,
sauces
fatty meat (bacon, red meats, sausages, some hams),
high-fat cheese and other milk products (ice cream)
(white bread)

Being a trainer

..is so much more than just bossing people around. What I've seen, being a good coach requires taking care of so many different things one wouldnt even think about. Today somewhere close to the end of a third practice of the day - as my coach is gone, is just me alone - I realized how much during the last 4 hours I had been cheering and motivating people - "come on, two more, you can do it, come on, take a big breath, kom nu, kom sa," And therefore started thinking about how important it is that your athletes would trust you and feel safe with you. That's something Simon has always been bringing out, but I think I got it just today. The athletes are willing to do whatever you tell them to do. They give you their body, so you could give your knowledge and in a way both the athlete and the coach are each others tools.
Of course the athletes get tired as well. And they believe they can't do something or cant lift some weight. And that's where trusting becomes important. The athletes need to know that the coach wouldn't make them do anything dangerous, and that she respect the athletes enough  to not spend their time and energy making them do exercises they won't benefit from. They have to know that the coach is there for them and helps them. And then they will really believe her when she's saying "c'mon, one more rep, you can do it'. And then they'll really do it.
Then, a good coach in my opinion, has to be an amazing communicator - be able to be short and precise, saying just the right things on just the right moment, not too little, not too much, pick the right words, know when its necessary to make a little joke and then actually be able to make a joke and know when to be serious and even when to get upset. And when not to. When to push, how to push, how to motivate and how to leave a good impression of herself.
A coach definitely needs to know how to behave. How to stay calm and polite, how to look as an authority but not as someone people would be afraid of. How to cheer people up and how to calm them down.
She always needs to be on top  of the game - knowing what's going on, whats the plan, why is the plan as it is, what's the main focus points, what's more important and what's less. The athlete will come to practice and do what he's told to do. It's the coach who needs to pick the right things so the athlete would be in the most optimal state by some agreed time. And here, again, trust is so important. If the athlete doesn't believe a coach can do all that, he's probably not going to want to do the exercises either.
A coach should also look believable. It is probably possible to be the best coach in the world even when you're overweight and out of shape, but it definitely doesn't help being a good coach. Being strong and being fit gives some extra backup for the things the coach is saying. And makes the communication so much easier by allowing the coach to demonstrate exactly what she wants  the athlete to do, all the movements being perfectly perfect.
And then, not last and definitely not least, a coach needs to manage the whole thing. There can't be a weight training in the weight room at 8 o'clock if the weight room is closed at 8. It's not possible to do shot putting if there's no shots. You can't go to competitions unless you pick and get the right ticket to the right place; and so on and so on and so on.
There's many more things a coach has to be very good at, in order to be very good at coaching. And bossing people around is just one and very small thing, coming with the job.

Not to make this post a praise to Simon Stewart or something, but I believe he is really good at a lot of those things. And I'm so glad to be learning from who I believe to be the best.
Check him out, I'm sure you'd wanna be trained by him ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N64tKY8uGtM

Internship

I did mentally hard last summer. This summer it’s physically hard.
It’s so different, those two challenges of those two summers. If last summer, working in a camp for physically and mentally disabled people, in USA, everything was mentally hard, then this summer working for Team Denmark in Denmark, is physically hard.
Last summer, Camp Atlantic was wearing me out from the brain. Physically, it was tiring but not really unbearable, but the mental part suffered so hard that at some points I was wondering if it still exists. As my co-counsellor Paul very well put it: “We’re probably all gonna leave this place with no social skills what so ever,” and from time to time I was in no doubt that we’ve lost these and all other skills already. But it was a great challenge and loads of fun as well, so I’ve not once regretted that I did it. Rather sometimes regretting that I’m not going to do it again this summer.
But as USA and mentally disabled world were strange and far-from-familiar for me, so is the sports world. Im starting to see how being a sportsmen is like a whole different world, lifestyle and even mentality. And how much it really takes to be a professional. And how little, in the regular understanding, it gives. – Just the joy of being good (if) and possibly the fame.
It’s also new to me to be so physically tired all the time. While being mentally very very refreshing, my work as a trainer is physically quite hard. Tho it’s not the tiredness as in ‘I can’t do anything and just wanna sleep’ but more like..you feel you’ve done a lot.
I also don’t think I’ve ever had this much trouble going to sleep as now, body being kind of unable to suddenly stop with all this moving around and mental part being so alert and thinking of all the new things it knows and making plans and being..annoying when you’d rather sleep. And then, in the morning, so much trouble getting up. I feel as if being ran over by a bus and just want to lay in my bed, my brain doesn’t really start functioning and my body doesn’t really  wanna move. But once I realize who I am where  I am and what is it, Im supposed to wake up for, I have all the energy and willingness in the world.
And as a girl I kind of like this new world, as I can really leave home with my sweatspants, put no make up on, just wash my face, brush my teeth and pull the hair back. (AND remember to put the watch on as it turns out to be impossible to live without.) And that feels so nice in the mornings J. Plus no waking up earlier for the morning run, cause you can do it at your work. HOW nice.
…Gotta love. J.
So this is my first impressions. 

Long time no writing

The university as in going to classes every day is done now until next September. All the exams are done, the weather is nice and I have a whole week free before starting my work placement next week. As I've already written, I am going to work with a trainer who strength-trains Denmark's elite athletes and does all the training for some throwers (shot putting and discus throwing). There are so many different sportsmen from different kinds of sports, so I learn a lot about different lifestyles and nutritional challenges. As well about all the necessary muscles for different kinds of sports and ways to train them; plus about how to be a coach of professional sportsmen. On the same time I also want to be a good example and am therefore training myself as well. I am so looking forward for the work placement to start.
I have also signed myself up for Aarhus half-marathon on the 3 June and am training and waiting for that :).
The stressors of the month are work ( to be able to keep up working besides my work placement and training) and Danish classes, for what I really really need to do a lot at home and attend the classes without any excuse not to go. What makes it very difficult to me is that by now I can easily read, write and understand Danish, my only problem is speaking it, as it apparently sounds more like Norwegian or Swedish than Danish. But I'm really fine with the level I'm at - as long as I can reply in English I can communicate and everyone here understand English, so..there's not much motivation to do all the work I have to to be able to sound normal in it.  Plus the Danish classes are like basic school - we learn history, politics, laws, society, famous people, art and so on and so on.
And then I have decided to lose weight. I made an agreement with myself that I am only allowed to lose one kilo in a week, no more and no less. I've been doing it for three weeks now and so far so good :). I'll write more about that soon. Right now I need to go rollerskating and then to the gym :).
I've been also thinking/writing a little about different ways to loose weight and how to be healthy, I'll post that soon too.

Have fun! :)

Is a burger healthier than salad?

If we'd look for the answer from the nutrition facts from McDonald's, the answer could easily be a short 'yes' as most of their salads, surprisingly for some people, have more calories than a regular cheeseburger.

My question, however, came from a different place and from more personal sources. I dont want to give anyone an excuse to eat junk food just because they find themselves being like me, but I can say that for me, in some situations a burger is definitely more healthier than eating a salad.
Let me explain. I'll do it based on an example from last night (..oh those Sundays). I was home thinking what should I have for dinner. As all the shops were closed and I didn't have anything real easy and appealing at home, I figured I could just as well walk to the burger place by the corner and get a burger. However, sometimes habits and 'norms' really work 'for us' so as I'm not used to doing that and there was no special occasion or other excuse (and not even anyone to accompany me doing that :O) plus it's more expencive and 'more unhealthy' as I figured, I didnt do it. Instead I stayed home and ate my pure soup made of different vegetables. But there wasn't much left so I also made a salad with almost everything I could find from my fridge. And as a desert I had a piece of fruit. And then I had some cookies my roommate gave me.

So that's the story. BUT. As I have a 48-hour exam in Physical Activity coming, I've been studying a lot, so I wouldnt have to do it during the exam when I guess it'd be better to focus on actually completing the tasks. So today I was sitting in my room, reading and thought about the fact that I should move more than just the walk to the grocery shop earlier in the morning. It made sense and everything, but I didnt feel like going for a run. And there I was, discussing with my self, when my brain went like 'and yeah..I did have just a salad for dinner yesterday...if I'd had the burger, of course I would neeeed to do something...but no, I just had that salad..' And I even recognized the same kind of argumentation with my self from before. repeatedly.
So out of curiosity I compared the nutrients and energy I got out of the dinner of mashed vegetables and salad with everything + an apple + a crispbread + cookies against the one I figured the burger would be, using www.tap.nutridata.ee (in Estonian), and found out that energy-wise my healthy dinner was leading, having about 200kcal more, (under the assumption that  if I'd just had the burger I probably would have been feeling bad/guilty and not taken the cookies from my roomy).
And now I was sitting and my (even though educated in that field) brain figured that having a burger=need to go running; salad = can easily stay home. Of course the dinner I had gave me so many different and useful micronutrients whereas burger would have basically been just protein and saturated fat, BUT
-calorie-wise the burger had less
-having a burger makes me go running

I did go running anyway and enjoyed it, but...it did make me think how wrong it is to think that eating healthy won't make us fat. Healthy food can easily provide you with just as many calories, but it doesnt come with the feeling of guilt or necessity to do something about it, as 'junk food' often does.
Of course one's body gets more vitamins and minerals and hopefully better-quality fats from healthy food and is likely to feel better, but just so you'd know - having a salad instead of a burger doesn't make it at all less necessary to move. ;)

k.

I was ill for four days. My body started to take the shape of the bed. Yesterday I was a bit better and went to gym in the evening, couldn't stand the feeling of being week. Today I was a lot better. Went rollerskating and made the crash of my life.  I was rollerskating to test out my new protectors i got for birthday. Lucky for me they were great. They almost make me feel immortal. And yes it was a coincidence not a testout crash.
My computer's charger has broken down, so I cant use my computer.

But spring and sun are outside and so should you be, so it's good i wont write longer. Happy sun :)