Category: cycling

Are You In Need of an E-Break? (I am). No-Phone Sundays, Anyone?

imageToday, there was a 7 hour storm. With the first crack of thunder, off went the internet. I was in the middle of writing a post and we also wanted to list some items on ebay. Even the cable tv channels went off. What to do? It was frustrating and I was a little annoyed as I am on a deadline to finish things before an important appointment.

I was tired and in pain from tight neck and back muscles. I soon saw that this storm was a gift, a chance for a much-needed time-out. I took the opportunity to catch up on a film I’d recorded but never seemed to find time to watch. It was totally absorbing and incredibly relaxing. (Hint: George Clooney was in it!)

I am writing this post because lately I feel really stressed, fatigued, and sometimes that my online life has taken over my real life. If you can make it to the end, there’s an important PSA from me. I wish there was some kind of reward there waiting for you, but please accept my undying gratitude instead!

Now don’t get me wrong, I love writing, I love connecting with like-minded people I would never otherwise ‘meet’ and especially enjoy learning about other cultures and countries. I love passing on information about health and nutrition and I especially love the kind comments when I’ve actually helped someone.

However, I now realise I need an E-break, for my own health’s sake. How about you?

We could all probably benefit from an occasional E-Break: a break from all our electronic devices, all the beeps, alerts, notifications, which constantly divert our attention from ourselves and those close to us, which often invade our precious moments of family time, contemplation and relaxation. How many of us text or use tablets/laptops in bed and then wonder why we’re not having good-quality sleep?

Even when we’re doing other things – working, reading, talking to friends, playing with our children, watching tv and even exercising – the draw of the text alert or call tone is often too strong to ignore.

For those of us who are on social media, how many hours go by while looking at and posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest? I am the worst for this! For those of us who blog too, well, forget the rest of the day! If we’re not typing, we’re reading and commenting or devising new recipes, taking photos or creating posts.

I haven’t even mentioned eBay!

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It’s all very enjoyable, but physically and mentally it can wear you out, create stresses you’re hardly aware of and do untold damage to your bodies – think repetitive strain injuries, back, neck and shoulder pain, eye strain, digestive problems from poor posture and typing while eating.

(It’s very important to keep getting up, stretching and moving around -and don’t forget to breathe!).

This graphic shows the stress on your neck and spine when texting.

(Uncredited as I came across it on Twitter)

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All this electronic communication can also interfere with our relationships. Children can feel we’re not giving them our full attention and will often start misbehaving to get it back or give up and withdraw. Time and again I see parents taking their children to school and they’re texting or calling while walking and the child is trying to say something.  I often resent my husband’s phone constantly alerting him to texts or missed calls about bike repairs, generally in the evening during quiet-time conversations or reading.

It is practically impossible these days to ignore electronic communication, but if we try hard enough we can schedule breaks and return to the real world, invest our attention and energy in real communication and physical activity.

My daughter and her family have initiated No-Phone Sundays to gently guide their tweens and teen away from the pull of iPad, phone, iPod and games. Instead, they go for walks with their lab, cycling in the woods or swimming. If they stay at home, they cook and bake, sew or garden together, play table tennis, football or chess, or build log piles! My son cooks with his toddlers, they all go out on bikes or for walks as a family and he, his dad and older son go on more challenging bike rides. Phones are never acceptable during mealtimes or when spending time together as a family. We try to be completely present and focused.

No-phone days (or even specified hours) are excellent opportunities to observe, talk and listen to our children and partners with our full attention, and really hear what’s being hinted at, what you may not have noticed during a busy week of work and domestic tasks.

I normally find I am on constant alert, my body awash with adrenaline, always listening out in case I miss an important message from my family. But I do have social media notifications firmly switched off and always leave the phone downstairs at night. All our electronic devices are kept downstairs.

However, my sleep has been taken over by blogging ideas! Everything has become a foundation for a new post and I need to switch off and calm down for a while. It would also be remiss of me – given the theme of this blog – not to pass on this information and pay attention to my own advice!

I need to have some down time, to do some meditation and fully relax, to let go of all the tension and pain caused by sitting hunched over the iPad. I am an all or nothing person, I can’t do a little and leave it, or post it in any old fashion, it has to be the best I can do and I have to finish it.

So, from Tuesday next week I shall be taking a break.

As many of you will know, I have a long-term back injury and my body is begging me to get some treatment. I shall be having some intensive cranio-sacral osteopathy (the very gentle manipulative kind, not the bone-crunching kind!) and I need to rest, relax and recuperate and try to have some proper sleep. The only electrical equipment will be my stereo so that I can listen to relaxation and meditation cds and occasionally an audiobook.

I’m also going to do a one-day juice cleanse. I was lucky enough to win a Raw Island Juice Cleanse* recently in the Nanabar Crowdfunding Campaign Giveaway* and I am looking forward to doing that next week.

Please continue to visit – I’ve installed CCTV so I will know who calls and who doesn’t 😉 I’ve also scheduled some posts for while I’m away, but please forgive me for not responding to any comments straightaway – I don’t think the loud-hailer will work and the carrier-pigeons have got too fat from lack of employment, but I will acknowledge them as soon as I am back. I will miss you, but I need to do this.

Take care of yourselves – I may be out of sight but you will not be out of mind, I shall be asking questions when I return!

http://rawislandcleanse.com/

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nanabar-vegan#/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

A Monday Kind of Post

I had a bad day yesterday. At least, it wasn’t my bad day at all and I feel bad for feeling bad if you see what I mean. Of course you don’t, I haven’t told you anything yet!

First, a jar fell out of a cupboard, hit a dish – dish was ok, jar was ok – bounced onto the counter and onto the floor – jar was still ok. Contents intact.

Phone wasn’t. I had left it on the counter.

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 I am convinced there is a malevolent phone genie operating within our family. 4 of us are currently awaiting an expensive phone repair and my husband has had to replace his a month ago after dropping his old one on our newly-laid floorboards!

You can’t see all the damage, it’s cracked all down the black screen, too. Virgin quoted us £404 ie the cost of a new phone! Apple said £109 and in both cases I would be without my phone for up to 10 days. We found a local company that will come to my home and repair it there and then, for £84. An expensive accident.

But worse, much worse, I had some bad news about the health of a loyal, lifelong friend and I can’t stop thinking about it and him. It knocked me sideways. Of course, I told myself at regular intervals, you can’t make this about you. He’s the one dealing with it, and dealing with it very positively. I sent a hopefully positive and supportive response to his email. But my head is full of this news and I don’t know to deal with it. I didn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking of all our exploits when we were young. His songwriting friendship with my brother after I left to go to uni, his ongoing support after my brother’s fatal accident. How he always makes me laugh.

Today all I could do was sit and eat! I tried distracting myself with a very bad comedy film but it wasn’t as diverting as the fridge! Let’s just say the almost full peanut butter jar is no longer almost full.

Then my ever-weather-optimistic husband began hanging out all the white bedding despite the black clouds and the rain warnings on the weather app.

This happened:

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Now, a very long time ago he bought one of those washing lines that you pull out from the wall and fasten to a tree or something and then it recoils when you no longer need it. Of course it’s still in a cupboard while the existing washing line was tied together having broken once already. It was bound to happen. And it chose today.

So, this afternoon, I had words with myself and decided to watch La Vuelta, the pro-cycling Tour of Spain. I am leading our family Velogames Fantasy League, having chosen the winners of the first two stages. My son is not a good loser and is not taking it well that I tweet about my wins each day and I looked forward to extending my lead.

Within minutes, I lost a rider! He didn’t even crash – an acceptable reason for abandoning the race – no, he has sinusitis. Now, he arrived with sinusitis, a very painful, debilitating condition. No-one is going to get through an uphill 3 week race in the upper 30’s with sinusitis! Why would they start him and why couldn’t they have told me before I chose him?!

I looked up out of the window and saw this:

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I burst out laughing. My husband had been awol all day, I presumed mending bikes in the shed, he hadn’t mentioned anything about chopping down ash trees. I’d assumed he was just giving me some quiet time.

Anyone who knows us knows that the only tools my husband is safe to be left alone with are bike tools. If he so much as looks at a drill, we all run for the hills. He is accident-prone, falls off ladders, bikes, has flooded the kitchen trying to decorate behind a radiator, so no way would I have let him near a saw unsupervised haha.

But yesterday, I had remarked that I could see an ash sampling sticking up well above the height of the shed and growing behind it in a very inaccessible position. I said we needed to ask someone to get it down, we couldn’t allow it to get any more established.

Today, he was beaming from ear to ear, brandishing the saw in one hand, the 20′ tree in the other. I couldn’t believe it. And no injuries or damage to property.  He’s even more pleased with himself because he’s going to chop it up and dry it off to add to the woodpile.

Even better, he finally solved a problem with his bike that has been taxing him for several months – I’ve had to listen to endless descriptions of the problem and to no end of YouTube videos purporting to show him how to resolve it and his frustration when they didn’t. He’d stripped it down and replaced lots of bits. In the end, as often in such cases, all it took was a £3.50 part!

Now I just need Sky to get the win on Stage 3.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Juicing While Watching Le Tour De France

imageIt’s that time of year again – I can’t believe we’re into July already and I’m still wearing my woollies and putting the heating on! (Even the telly has a scarf on!) Anyway, as I said, it’s that time of year again when our house and our family become completely overtaken by all things Tour de France (TdF): wall to wall cycling everyday, all afternoon, and the highlights in the evening! Oh, and we’ve even joined a Fantasy League.

My son and I spend hours going through the form guides, switching team members every other day for about two weeks before any cycling event, keeping it all hush-hush; my husband spends half an hour picking names he likes the sound of the night before, guess who usually wins?! This is the man who falls asleep every single time the cycling is on, doesn’t have a clue who half of them are and he nicks the win in the last couple of days. (I’ve even joined another couple of leagues to try to win some TdF goodies). But we’re not competitive. Not at all. Texts will be flying back and forth throughout the day and the occasional triumphant one will cross the ether late evening after the daily league update goes live. But we’re not competitive.

During the first week, I shall also be doing a juice challenge. imageThis time of year is usually when people begin to think about their upcoming holidays, about displaying the parts of their bodies that have been covered up all year with woolly jumpers, jeans and boots. Others want to rid themselves of that central heating pallour to their skin, get re-energised and kickstart a healthy-eating programme or reset their hormones and taste buds having decided to declutter their system of processed, fatty and sugary foods.

I signed up for Jason Vale’s free 7 Day Juice Challenge – there’s still time to join in, just visit the website* and sign up. You’ll receive an emailed shopping list, all the recipes and coaching videos for free. There’s lots of advice on how to begin, what to expect and lots of encouragement if you find yourself struggling, – like when your family are eating pizza! – and what to do afterwards.

Join me, raise a glass of juice and tell me who you reckon is in with a shout to win this year’s Tour de France – I mean the riders of course, not our fantasy league, because it really doesn’t matter, we’re not competitive at all!

Here’s to a healthy summer!

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*http://www.juicemaster.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

One of those days …

Please excise any serious typos  – there, I made one already, excuse came out as excise – I am injured. Not seriously. Hardly at all in fact, just enough to make typing a hit and miss affair. This morning has been one of those mornings when a couple of things happened to knock the day slightly off kilter and then you’re waiting for the other thing to happen. You know… disasters come in threes and all that. Although mine are more mishap than disaster, but still…

First thing happened when I was barely awake. Actually, no, that’t not right. First thing happened while I was still snuggled under the duvet. I missed the snow! I’ve been waiting all winter and the first real smattering we have comes down before I’ve opened my eyes and by the time I’ve stirred, it’s gone.

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(This is from 15th January for illustrative purposes. It lasted all of 5 minutes as did last night’s –  apparently).

I thought back to last weekend when my two-year-old grand-daughter, who has never experienced snow but is obssessed with it, had a long, forthright argument with me during a heavy hailstorm. She was entranced, kneeling up at the window eyes alight with amazement, mouthing ‘It’s snowing, look it’s snowing!’ in such a small voice overcome by the wonder of it all. We all tried to tell her they were hailstones, but she held firm and fast to her fantasy, and we finally agreed, yes, it was snowing.

Disappointed, I got up and went to the bathroom. We had a West Wing marathon last night and as I came out I was still drowsily thinking about it all when I was brought up short by a searing pain as I trapped my finger in the door and caught it on the edge of the catch. After all the usual squeezing of said finger while hopping around shouting and receiving no help – as always when disaster strikes, everyone has headed for the hills and you realise you’re on your own – I looked down and saw blood dripping down the bannister, pouring from my nail bed as my finger throbbed. Those cartoon disasters came to mind where a character gets hit on the head or hand and a huge lump forms and throbs in lurid colours.  It was a tiny cut, but you’d have thought that at the very least my nail and fingertip were missing, what with all the pain and blood.

Please note: there really should be an image here of my injured finger, but I spared you the sight of it. (You wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway without floodlights and magnifying glass! – ed.)

I made it to the kitchen and thrust my finger under the cold water in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. It carried on. I couldn’t get to the plasters in the cupboard without leaving a trail of blood the likes of which you only see in episodes of CSI! I grabbed a clean tea towel and held it around the finger but every time I tried to release it, the blood gushed. Honestly, it was the tiniest cut, you’d need a magnifying glass to see it. (Told you! – ed.)

Finally, my husband returned from his cycle ride and managed to get a plaster onto the finger. Crisis over. I listened to his usual recounting of where he went, how many miles, how fast, who he saw, punctures etc etc (well, listening might be overstating it a bit), as I got my morning juice out of the fridge and a straw from the cupboard. Intending to seem fascinated, I turned to ask him a question and…

I caught the straw with my sleeve, the jar went over and before my husband had even managed to remove his helmet and cycling shoes, he was on his knees dealing with the second disaster: sticky orange liquid was oozing across the kitchen counter, down the cupboards and fridge, soaking into the hanging tea towels, the leg of my jeans, the tops of my trainers and across the floor!

And then:

There were no ripe bananas for my breakfast smoothie! Now I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is so insignificant as not to be worthy of a mention. But in the context of my morning, this really is a disaster. They were green as green could be. So I decided to use avocado and just put things together and see how it turned out. I had some coconut milk that needed using up, a kiwi fruit, some romaine lettuce. A little wheatgrass powder. I imagined a vibrant green smoothie. But I couldn’t leave well alone and I added blueberries and açaì powder. I got khaki! And it was so thick I could have taken a knife and fork to it! But it tasted a lot better than it looks, really it did. Recipe here.

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So that was my morning. My husband fared a little better, he is back cycling after a 9 month lay-off following an accident and a broken arm that needed some metalwork. But he posted a birthday card to his cousin and then realised he’d forgotten to put the stamp on. Then of course he had to start washing floors and cupboards and jeans when he arrived home.

But I think the worst disaster is still to come.

The final episode of West Wing. Nooooooo!

Ps But the sun is shining!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Post 5lbs in 5 Days Juice Challenge: Peace, Paris-Roubaix & Pesto!

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I was thoroughly spoiled yesterday with beautiful flowers from both my mum and my grand-daughter.

It’s Sunday evening and what a contrast to yesterday! After a busy Saturday with family, today I was on my own. The sun was streaming through the windows, I’d lost another 1lb to add to the 5 yesterday and there would be 6 hours of cycling on the telly! I was in seventh heaven.

Our resident blackbird woke me with a virtuoso performance and I began the day as usual with an invigorating ginger shot. This was followed by a tiger nut milk, banana, blueberry and chia smoothie, with a green juice for lunch invented by my husband so I can’t tell you the recipe, he likes to keep me guessing! 

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Then came an afternoon of peace and quiet and Paris-Roubaix, one of, if not *the*, most exciting cycle races on the calendar.

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Team Sky bossing it on the cobbles!

My son and I were texting throughout as he kept losing pictures and I lagged behind due to phone interruptions – imagine, don’t they know!

Despite feeling the effects of a day with a two year old and a few days with an 85 year old, I feel really well from the juicing. Even Mum, who worries about me losing too much weight, said I looked good. It was an extra bonus to have a relaxing day doing what I enjoy and sharing it with my bike-mad son. At one stage I may have been guilty of  commentator’s curse when the Sky guys started going down like skittles after I posted that picture!

Dinner was a huge salad with home-made basil and walnut pesto, thrown together to use up the basil from the juicing.

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I feel full and satisfied and calm. I have a juice in the fridge for later if I need it.

Today was just perfect.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

5lbs in 5 days: Day Zero, A Final Thought

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Just a short postscript to the day before I toddle off for an early night. I’m exhausted from watching a very long but extremely exciting (no, really, it was) cycling Tour Of Flanders! Just in case you’re wondering, Peter Sagan triumphed after a long solo run-in and to celebrate, did one of his trademark cycling wheelies! My husband said, ‘I wish I could do that!’ to which I replied, ‘Don’t even think about it!’ He just had his first bike ride today after 9 months recovering from a bike accident and he wants to start doing stunts! To cap it all, our son texted he would show him how the next time he’s up.

But I didn’t start this to chat about cycling – honestly, I didn’t – although while we’re on subject, it’s a great form of exercise while doing the juice challenge.

No, I had a final thought about prepping for the juice challenge, which is that if you’re hoping to lose some weight, weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you begin and then put away the scales until Day 7! Ask your partner or someone else close to you to hide them if necessary!

Now I know you’re shouting at me ‘Day 7!! This is supposed to be a 5 day fast, not 7!’ Well, technically it is, BUT…

It is psychologically useful to look beyond the 5 days because you may be a little disappointed if you weigh yourself on the fifth day. Yes, you will have lost some weight, but if you wait until the seventh day, you may have lost another couple of pounds.

This is for 2 reasons: the first is that it isn’t so much what you’ve eaten that day that shows up on the scales, but what you’ve eaten for the past couple of days. So on day 6 and 7 you should still be benefiting from juicing on days 4 and 5. Also, since you won’t be jumping straight back in to ‘normal’ eating on days 6 and 7 but still juicing and adding in salads and vegetables, you will carry on losing a little weight.

I know you will find this difficult. Everyone wants to jump on the scales every morning, you’ve all heard of the fast weightloss that juicing creates and you want to see it with your own eyes. But trust me, the impact will be greater if you delay gratification

PLUS:

The emphasis of a juice challenge is on improving your overall health, improving your lifestyle, changing your relationship with food, not just on losing weight. Use the time to focus on that, to reflect on your lifestyle, how you can reduce any stress, make changes to your food shopping habits, meditate. Be good to yourself, don’t be testing yourself by jumping on the scales at every opportunity.

By far the best way to judge your progress is your shape: take your measurements before you begin and again a week later. If you’re exercising as well as juicing, this is where you’ll see the difference. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat so the scales may not tell you the whole story.

One last thought: you are doing a good thing. There is no pass or failure involved. There aren’t a certain number of pounds you have to lose or it hasn’t worked! Have fun, enjoy the challenge. Look forward to a healthier you.

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The Secret

That’s it. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read these posts. I hope they have been of some help. Have a good sleep and enjoy your first juices!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Raw Pitch Dark Figgy Almond Slices

Warning: Cycling season is back so fun Orica-GreenEDGE YouTube video at end of recipe!

There is always a debate in our house whenever nut milk is made as to what do with the leftover pulp. It seems wasteful to just discard it and you need to have some idea of what you’re going to do with it before you make the nut milk. Having soaked the almonds for the milk last night, I was lying in bed this morning trying to devise a way to use up the pulp. I had a nice long lie-in! There are already recipes using Tiger Nut Pulp on my Raw Treats Recipes Page and here’s the one I came up with using the Almond Nut Pulp.

See, I really was working not sleeping 😉

As always, measurements are approximate, substitutions of like for like are encouraged, whatever you have in your cupboards that behaves in the same way.

All ingredients are organic and vegan.

Before you begin, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, then break up the bar of raw chocolate into a bowl to be placed over a pan of hot water (not boiling) to melt when you’re ready to drizzle. Heat up some water in the kettle to melt the cacao butter ready to add to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients

1 Cup Almond Pulp

1 Cup Mixed Dried Figs & Dried Apricots – about 2/3 figs to 1/3 apricots

1/2  Cup Mixed Seeds – we used Sesame, Pumpkin & Sunflower

1/2 Cup Melted Cacao Butter*

1 Tsp Raw Maple Syrup (Optional)

1/2 Cup Dried Mulberries*

1/2 Cup Roughly Chopped Almonds + some more finely ground to sprinkle on

1 22g Bar Pitch Dark Raw Chocolate*

Method

Place Almond Pulp, Figs, Apricots, Mixed Seeds in processor

Pulse a few times, then process a few seconds, stirring down if it sticks

Add Melted Cacao Butter and Maple Syrup and process a few seconds, again stirring down to make it all come together well

Working quickly, add Chopped Almonds and Dried Mulberries

Process a few more seconds, they need to still be rough to give a little bite.

The mixture should come together when pressed

Quickly press into tray – the cacao butter will be setting – then melt chocolate and drizzle or spread over mixture, ours had a bit of both: The part that has chocolate spread over it also has finely chopped almonds sprinkled on.

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Place in the fridge for a few minutes then slice.

Makes about 12.

As the professional cycling road race season is back, here is a fun video of the guys from the Aussie Orica-Greenedge team having some fun with the kids in South Africa to ‘Uptown Funk.’ However bad your day is going, this is guaranteed to make you smile! Enjoy!

*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com

Copyright: Chris McGowan