Kenkou Teishoku: Food your body will thank you for!!

On a mission to take better care of my health, recently I’ve been really hooked on what we call the 「健康定食」aka ‘KENKOU TEISHOKU’ here in Japan. This kenkou teishoku is a carefully planned-out, well-balanced set meal which is supposed to give your body the necessary nutrients that it needs. It usually consists of a main dish, various other smaller side dishes, miso soup and brown rice. Depending on the cafe, the kenkou teishoku can even be organic, vegan or themed with an original ingredient, like a rare mountain herb or vegetable.

Today, I would like to introduce to you one of my all time favourite kenkou teishoku cafe. Located in the heart of Shinsaibashi Shopping Street, “GEN-MI-AN” creates beautiful, well-balanced set meals popular not only amongst ladies but recently amongst businessmen as well. The cafe has a warm rustic homely feel which I find very relaxing. The staff are also very friendly and will never fail to greet you with a smile at the entrance.

If you go in during lunch time, there are 4 set meals you can choose from:

1. 39-Dish Kenkou Teishoku of the Day￥920 

(This lunch set changes from day to day! Check with the staff to see what’s the lunch of the day and with this set, you are also entitled to free miso soup and brown rice refills! Awesome right?)

2. Sweet and Spicy Chicken Brown Rice Bowl ￥880

(With the rice bowls, you are allowed to choose the amount of rice you want in the beginning as you order. Small, Regular or Large)

3. Curry with Brown Rice and loads of Vegetables ￥880

4. Brown Rice Bibimbap with loads of Vegetables ￥770

All the set meals come with a mini green vegetable juice and a delicious soy milk pudding as dessert. If you’re feeling a little naughty, you can even order other drinks and desserts from their cafe menu. (Like me hehe.. I ordered a green vegetable smoothie..)

What’s good about this cafe is that the calories, as well as the rough protein-fat-carb ratio is also provided, which is great if you’re a calorie-conscious person like myself.

Lastly, this place even has a point card system for regular customers and I’m definitely a sucker for point cards!!

GEN-MI-AN (Shinsaibashi Branch)

Address: Osaka-shi, Chuo-ku, Shinsaibashi-suji 1-3-1, Fukuda Building 1F

Tel: 06-6258-5515

Opening hours: 11:30-22:00 (closed on Mondays)

Website: http://www.genmian.lunch-box.jp/

Directions: Midosuji Subway, Shinsaibashi Station, Exit 6 (2-min walk)

落ち込むことで強くなる

今日の落ち込むこと

1. ずっと友達やと思ってた友達に拒絶された
2. ギターシールドを京都でライブした時忘れたって電話が来た
3. 着払いで送ってもらったけど、お金がもったいない
4. レコーディングで失敗した
5. せっかくカメラを持っていたのに、何も撮らなかった
6. データを保存しようとしたとき、USBが壊れた
7. バカみたいに泣いてしまった
8. 変な人から変なメールが来た
9. 今日のカロリー摂取量はオーバーしてる
10. ジムにも行ってない
11. 家に帰ったら、やっぱレコーディングしたものに不満
12. しっかりきいたら、自分が弾いたギターのパートも気持ち悪い

I really hate showing my weak side, I hate being depressing, I hate being negative, I hate complaining, I hate swearing but today, I am everything I hate, so please forgive me.

My mindset is not in the right place at the moment. I don't feel good about myself, I don't feel good about my music, I don't feel good about anything at the moment. 

Today I went to class, and my guy friends told me that I needed to make more girl friends.. and when I thought about it, I realised I barely had any girl friends.. which to me isn't a big problem but they said that it is a problem if you're in Japan because some guys will think horrid of you if you hang with only guys. I thought I was close with them, but they told me that I'm actually not as close as I think I am with them.. which was a shock to me.. but I guess I always tend to think one sided-ly..

Left my guitar cable in Kyoto when I had a performance there.. now it's a waste of money to get it sent back to me.. I don't like blaming people but this time, the reason why I left it there was because of the staff.. she detached me at the wrong end and left my cable there while the other performances were going on and I couldn't get it back.. 

Had a recording today, and I wanted to throw up listening to my playback.. it was terrible

Brought all my filming equipment along but didn't get to film anything today.. sigh

USB fucked up while I was trying to save my recording data and all my shit got deleted.

Then I cried. I hate crying. But everything was gone.

Then some weird messed up stalker dude sent me a rude picture of himself.. I've tried deleting and blocking him a million times but the messages are still coming and I'm about to go insane.

Thought I'd feel better with some food.. but I overate and felt worse.

Then I skipped gym because I overate already anyway.

Went home, listened to my recording.. wanted to throw up again from listening to the playback. 

どうやって元気出せるの？

最近ほんまに嫌なことばかり

それを考えたらいまなんかまた泣きたくなってしまった

弱い自分が嫌い

でも落ち込むことがあるからこそ強くなれる

つよくなりたい

つよくなりたい

つよくなりたい

ふぁーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー*

やる気は自分が決めるもの！clean eatingを始めます！Starting clean eating tomorrow!!

So I regained 2kg.. And I'm feeling pretty crap about it. And the truth is, I'm not feeling crap because I gained 2kg, I'm feeling crap because I couldn't control myself.

2kgリバウンドしちゃいました。最低の気分です。2kgリバウンドしたから落ち込んでるわけではなくて、自分をちゃんとコントロールできなくて落ち込んでいます。

2kg may not sound like a lot when I've lost over 34kg from my heaviest weight, but when it takes almost a month to lose just 1kg nowadays, it really puts you off your momentum.

2kgリバウンドしたって他の人にとってそんなに心配するものではないかもしれないけど、今はだんだん痩せにくくなってるから、１kgを減るのは１ヶ月ぐらいかかるし、こういうのがあったら、ホンマに勢いがなくなります。

2 months ago, my body was in great condition on the INSIDE, I lost 8.2kg body fat from calorie restriction and macro counting and I felt a new found energy, my body felt so good.

2ヶ月前ぐらい、カロリー制限と多量栄養素の計算で8.2kg体脂肪量を減らした。たしかに身体の中に新たな活力がわいてくるのを感じました。気持ちよかったです。

But I became ridiculously obsessed. Spending hours planning my meals for the next day, carefully counting everything single gram of protein, fat, carbs.. I remember rejecting eating lunch with my friends just so I can go hide in the corner and indulge in my boiled chicken breasts. Eating 6 meals a day, working out 4 hours a day.. oh my gosh, that is just impractical when I'm trying to balance out school, work, live gigs.. I don't even have time to post on Youtube anymore.. If I had the time, I would still do it because I do enjoy calculating my macros.. but it's impossible.

でも、ダイエットのことで信じられないぐらい頭がいっぱいになってしまいました。何時間もかかって食事の計画をしたり、グラムまでたんぱく質、脂質と炭水化物を計算したり、友達に誘われても、いつも断って一人でどこかで隠してささみを食べたりしました。一日６回ぐらい食事することと４時間運動することも、私の今の生活には正直に言ったら少し不現実的です。量栄養素の計算するのが結構好きですし、もし時間があれば、いくらでもやり続けたいと思ってますが、時間的には無理です。

Even though I've come to lose a good amount of weight from this diet, I've got to admit that I wasn't strong all the time.. I've had many many, way too many binge episodes and other episodes which I'd rather not mention. And I think I now have a mild eating disorder which I don't want to admit but if I don't I know I'll never get out of it. 
このダイエットでいっぱい痩せてきましたが、必ずしもコントロールできたわけではありません。何回もむちゃ食いなどのことをしてしまいました。認めたくないんですけれど、しないと治れないと思っていますので、うん、すこし摂食障害になっています。

But don't worry, I'm okay!
でも心配しないで！私は大丈夫です！

And I realised.. I'm not trying to lose weight anymore.. I just want my body to feel good.. and any weight loss that comes with that is a bonus! I'm sick of weighing myself a million times a day.. I'm sick of the the number on the scale dictating the way I feel about myself every single damn morning. I want to be in control of how I feel about myself without a stupid number telling that's how I should be feeling.

そして、やっと気付きました。体重ってどうでもいいです。体重を減らすよりも身体的に、精神的に、快適と感じたいです。その上に、体重も一緒に減っていくんだったら、おまけです！一日中100万回ぐらい自分の体重を計るのはもう嫌です。毎朝毎朝その数字で私のその日の気分を決定づけるのも嫌です。そのくだらない数字にはもう支配されたくありません。

My motto that I used to motivate people in my last post, I will use to motivate myself:
If you are unhappy with yourself, change!
自分のことに関して不満であれば、自分を変え！

And I will.
そうします！

As of this post, I will no longer count my calories and macros. Instead, I will eat clean, or as clean as possible. Haha. Fruits, vegetables, whole and raw foods. Simple! 
これを書いた時点から、もうカロリー制限や量栄養素の計算はしません。その代わりにClean-eatingを始めます。できればヘルシーなものを選びます果物、お野菜、自然食品など！それだけ！

No matter how much I wanna exercise, I will give my body a break at least once a week.
どんなに運動したくても、週１回体を休ませます。

I will put away my scale. I will trust my body.
体重計を片付けます。自分の体を信じます。

I will not do things that are harmful to my body. I will learn to love myself.
自分の体を傷つくことはしません。自分のことを好きになります。

If there is something I really really really want to eat, I WILL EAT IT.
万が一ホンマにホンマに食べたいものがあったら、食べます！！


You are your own motivation!

やる気は自分が決めるもの！

Just make the decision, cut the crap and DO IT!

Fit to dream!

I would like to believe with all my heart that the world we live in does not judge one by their physical appearances.. But unfortunately that simply isn't the case.  First impressions, second impressions, third impressions, our eyes judge faster than our hearts. Having been the fat girl for most of my life, I have experienced mixed treatments. My friends who never judged me even though I was fat and the bullies who would never stop teasing me about my weight. Many years ago I had long accepted the fact that I was going to be fat, my mum even told me once that she too had already accepted the fact that her child was going to be a fat child.

Even from primary school, we were essentially taught that being fat was wrong. We had regular weight and height check ups (which I dreaded all the time) and they were usually done in the presence of the other students in the same room. I remember once when this girl literally waited until I did my weigh in, and eavesdropped when the teacher recorded my weight and then announced it to the other classmates. I can still remember that day (and her name) because I was so annoyed, so frustrated and so hurt. 

I remember the time when I was made to do skipping exercises 10mins before recess (which was kinda okay because I got to leave class early for that haha), also the time when I was sent to specialised check ups for overweight kids. I remember always being worried about coming last in every single sporting event and the embarrassment when I did. I remember the teacher lowering the bar for me during my pull ups test just so I can pass my physical examination. I remember never fitting into any of the clothes I wanted to buy and the times when I ended up having to buy maternity clothes. I remember liking guys and knowing that I did not stand a chance with them because I was fat. I remember people always comparing themselves to me.. 'Oh no, Rachel's lost some weight, I better start losing weight too or else I'd be fatter than her' (true story). Life literally revolved around me being fat. I was limited in every single way. And for the people who never said a word about it, I know they have probably at least 'thought' about it. Being fat really was such a pain, a damn obstacle that kept me from doing the things I wanted to do. I didn't understand why couldn't I have just been born skinny, like everyone else. Why did I have to be born the way I did?

probably around 88kg here..

Everything became a little bit better when I lost some weight. I was a happier person in general. I could fit into clothes that I tried and didn't have to worry about a particular design not having my size. I became a much more confident person. Guys started to like me which was strange.. Though I had lost some weight, I was still considered as a bigger girl as compared to other girls. Yes, things got better, but after a while, as time passed, I became depressed about my weight again.

My weight fluctuated a lot ever since. I've rebounded many times. And yes, I am very much an emotional eater, when I'm sad, I'd eat, and after eating I'd feel even worse. And the cycle goes on. I became so obsessed about dieting, I've starved, I've gagged, I've tried all sorts of ridiculous diets and yes I did lose the weight in the end. But thinking back now, it probably wasn't the healthiest way of doing things.

Many years since I stopped taking dieting seriously, today, once again, I am giving my best shot in reaching the weight that I've wanted to be since forever. Instead of telling me 'Rachel, you don't need to lose weight, you're fine', I'd rather you support me in this. 
I am not doing it for you, I am doing it for me, so that I can be happy with myself, my body once and for all.

Recently, I've read many posts and comments about people saying that being 'fat' is okay. Of course it's okay!
As long as YOU are happy with yourself. 

For me, I wasn't happy with myself, and therefore being fat wasn't okay. I'm not saying that being fat is bad, I am only saying that I myself hated being fat and have now decided once and for all to cut the crap and change myself. And I feel great about it. I want all who feel the same to really think about this and to make the decision to change themselves if they feel the same as I do.

One thing straight, do it for yourself and not anyone else.
You are your own motivation.

If you recognise that you have a weight problem, and YOU are happy with yourself, then that's fine. But if even YOU yourself cannot rid the thought of wanting to be skinny, then stop the denial, stop saying it's impossible, stop complaining about how hard it is because mate, life is hard.

Just make the decision, cut the crap and do it!

(by the way, I will post another comparison picture once I've reached my goal weight!)

Turning into a fitness junkie..

I feel GREAT!

It's been almost 2.5 months since I joined the gym and I'm feeling better with every session. I've joined many gyms in my life with goals of losing weight, but like every other time, I stopped going before my gym membership even expired. This time round, I told myself I would be committed.

The gym I joined was pricey. It's about 8000 yen a month, closes once a week, and isn't even 24 hours like all the other gyms I've ever joined back in Australia. In regardless, I signed up for 6 months. I'm not going to lie.. the first few weeks were hard. I really thought that I would give up again and that my money was going to go to waste. All I could think of when walking on the treadmill was simply how much I hated exercising. But being a super cheapskate, I wouldn't let myself waste the money I spent so I would literally force myself each time to go to the gym. Although I dreaded every session, I told myself to go. I told myself to try attending the classes the gym was running. For me, the gym was the place where I was the ugliest. My hair was gross, my face was gross. I wore the ugliest clothes and shoes that didn't fit. Even though I was not overweight or anything anymore, my self-esteem hasn't really crossed over from when I used to be fat. I still really didn't like myself and for me, the gym was not a place where I looked good. No one is supposed to look good exercising.. especially for a girl like me with wobbly bits all over. eek!

For the first 1.5 months.. being a cheapskate, I attended various classes. My gym offered all sorts of classes like the well known 'Zumba' and all sorts of other cardio and aerobics classes. One type of classes that my gym offers, which is also my favourite, are the classes that are based on this American fitness system called "Best Fitness Systems".

1. Group Step/Blast (classes with step platforms), 
2. Group Power (weights training), 
3. Group Kick (body combat), 
4. Group Active (all-in-one), 
5. Group Centergy (yoga and balance), 
6. and Group Groove (dance-based). 

I remember how much I was struggling in the first few classes.. I was struggling with the Japanese used and I was not used to moving so many limbs at the same time and at such quick pace. I was embarrassed about moving my body and jumping around with all my wobbly bits. I couldn't stand looking myself in the mirrors. BUT, every time after a class, I remember sweating like I never sweated in my life. I never knew my body could even produce this much sweat. I was dripping with sweat throughout the classes, and
I LIKED IT.

Even though I was probably kicking with the worst posture, jumping around in all the wrong directions, I started to have fun. My body started to enjoy it. My mind started to enjoy it too. I realised that exercising didn't have to be lonely. I didn't have to walk on the treadmill by myself, I didn't have to do anything by myself. Working out didn't have to be boring!

Since then, I started going to the gym not because I didn't to waste my money but because I actually wanted to go. I actually wanted to attend those classes! Which was a great change in mind set and I never thought I'd actually start thinking like this.. I thought I'd hate exercising forever..

After awhile, in addition to my exercise routine, I also started to watch my diet. Started off calorie counting which was going great. Later, I was introduced to counting further into my calories, to count my macro nutrients which basically just means that I'm also counting the amount of 'protein', 'fat', and 'carbs' that I'm putting into my body. Sounds like such a pain isn't it? But really it isn't.. after a while you kinda get better at balancing out your macros and it actually starts becoming fun.. It makes me feel good to know what I'm putting into my body. Of course I have slip ups.. I have slip ups all the time.. But I try not to feel too bad about and start a fresh the next day!

And then things got even better, I found an even better motivation to go to the gym and to work hard.. I've got a crush on one of the instructors at the gym ^^

Exercising has never been so FUN! hehe, for various reasons~

rachel