Learning from Endurance Athletes: Using Whole Foods as Fuel

Emelie Forsberg (Photo by Salomon Running)

Apart from meeting the TML (teammate for life) who was not really into heavily processed foods, improving on my endurance was also one of the factors which propelled me to rethinking what I ate. I later realized that if I want to truly improve on my pace as well as quickly recover from mountaineering trips, knowing and understanding my nutritional intake should be a priority. Thus, I decided to be more mindful of what I use as fuel every time I venture out into the hills and more recently, do laps at the pool. I am certainly a beginner when it comes to swimming but I am really starting to like the activity as much as I fell in love with mountaineering 3 years ago.

Now, let’s take a quick look of what the champions in the world of endurance (mostly trail runners and ultramarathoners because I am secretly dreaming of running trails and soaking in the beauty of the mountains at the same time hehe) are eating.

1.  Kilian Jornet has been winning skyrunning races left and right as well as set several speed records since he started competing 8 years ago. Born to parents who are both mountaineers,  Kilian is a natural! While on practice runs, he claims to rely on berries picked along the trail and water from the streams as his fuel. While it’s entirely a different story when it comes to what he eats during a race, it is very obvious in this interview with his mother that Kilian grew up eating less of what we mostly eat today (think McDonald’s, lots of fake seasonings like MaggiSarap) and relied on “the most natural and ecological products as possible”.

2. Emelie Forsberg is the female version of Kilian. (I am also secretly hoping for the Universe to conspire into pairing them up as lovers!) This fast-as-lightning Swedish endurance athlete is also a baker so she makes her own bread and loves to feast on cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. When asked about nutrition, she says, “  I don’t have a nutrition plan. I recommend that you listen to your body. I always eat what I want. But I do eat lots of vegetables, beans and salad.” Emelie also blogs here and she shares some of her whole food recipes!

3. American Rory Bosio is the new gal to watch out for in the mountain running scene! She just won the very challenging The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc this year and even set a new record. I personally thought that Nuria Picas (whom a lot of people also thought will win because last year’s champion Lizzy Hawker decided not to join due to injury issues and Emelie Forsberg wasn't in the race, too) will win but Rory really made a surprising victory!

So what's her nutritional secret during 50 kilometer races and more? Camote! She talked about about how she consumes sweet potatoes as race fuel in this National Geographic interview.

4. Scott Jurek takes nutrition to another level amongst endurance athletes with his veganism. This American legend in ultramarathon started as a vegetarian and later transitioned to being a vegan. Guess what? He was actually diagnosed with scoliosis before he started long-distance running. He provides eating tips in this post, one of which include eating “whole foods that look as close to how they are grown as possible!” 

Cool, huh?

A Meaty Interview with a Cebuana Vegan

One day last year, I wrote about my attempts in going vegetarian in my other blog. While I failed in that attempt because I still eat meat sparingly (think once/twice a week), that blog post earned me a new friend! She’s not just a vegetarian but a full-fledged vegan! And she’s a Cebuana, too. :)

I first met her when she asked me to to take her to Cebu’s highest peak in Mantalongon, Dalaguete. Guess what? She even made tofu sandwiches for us during the trek. I don’t mean to exaggerate but the sandwich was actually one of the things that made that outdoor trip awesome!

So setting sandwiches aside, let’s get to know Rayn in this meaty interview! (Fortunately, there's no meat involved :D )

How long have you been vegan?

3 years 6 months 22 days

What or who prompted you to go vegan?

I had my first dog in August of 2009. I became vegan 5 months later after bumping into animal cruelty/farming videos while browsing for “pet” rearing info. So I guess it’s safe to say, Oni (my dog), is the main culprit. I think I had it in me na jud, this love or respect or whatever way you put it,  for animals. Because when I was very young, I had no idea asa gikan ang itlog. Then one day, gi discuss sa klase. I remember saying, “Mao diay na baby chicken?” It made me so sad so I stopped eating egg. Way way back when I was in grade 2 or 3, I think. Or kung unsa na nga grade e discuss ang egg chuva.

Were you a vegetarian before or did you plunge right away to veganism?

I stopped eating pork altogether in 1998. Around 2000, very very sparingly ate beef. Around 2002, I had multiple health problems which made me stop eating chicken. It was a gradual process.

What were the challenges you encountered when you had a major change in your diet? How did you overcome them?

1. Reaction sa akong family = it was a shock to them all. They thought wala na jud koi makaon. It was easy though as even way back I was used to cooking my own meals and didn’t depend on a yaya or my mom for my food.

2. I don’t know if challenge ni siya but every time people learn about my diet, they cross their eyebrows and give me a funny look. I don’t know unsa na nga reaction but I’ve gotten so used to it na.

3. Eating out. Being invited sa house for dinner, the likes. It would always end up na wala koi makaon. 

4. Knowing which ingredient has animal byproducts. Di jud ko kapalit unless akong e research daan. Good thing karon naa nai app sa phone na naai list sa animal byproducts na ingredients.

Describe a typical vegan meal in a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc).

I eat a variety of vegan dishes jud everyday. Depends lang unsa akong feel luto-on. But ang staples nako. Kung unsai naa permi sa akong prigider... Let’s see... 

(author's note: please click the recipe links for some visual treat!)

Breakfast: Fruits, scrambled tofu with spinach and tomatoes, whole wheat bread

Lunch: Fruits, gluten steak with carrots, potatoes mashed, baked or fried

Dinner: Fruits, green salad (romaine, iceberg, arugula, cucumber, tomatoes tossed na olive oil and lemon ang dressing sometimes naa sad mustard basta bisag unsa na dahon)

There are days where I go Japanese or pasta-pizza or tex mex. For example.

Breakfast: FRUITS, vegetable ramen with all kinds of vegetables and dairy and egg-free noodles

Lunch: FRUITS, katsudon (red rice topped with crusted deep fried textured vegetable protein)

Dinner: FRUITS, sushi with raw vegetables or fruits

Breakfast: FRUITS, vegan lasagna, green salad

Lunch: FRUITS, vegan pizza

Dinner: FRUIT platter

Basta daghan kaayo, lainlain jud siya. Usahay ginisa na cabbage, usahay ginataan na kalbasa, chili talong.. daghan kaayo hehehe Basta my important principle is eat something raw every meal. Mas daghan raw, mas maayo. In between meals, I eat fruits ra gihapon plus nuts, dark chocolate. And if possible kanang organic, bahalag mahal. No price is too high to pay para sa kaayuhan sa body and soul. Charuuuuut!

Some people dive into veganism to improve their health while others stick to it because of environmental and animal reasons. How about you? Why are you doing this?

These are my very simple reasons. IN ORDER.

1. Because I can. I don’t need meat to survive. I am bigger than my appetite.

2. Because I respect all kinds of animals.  When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.  ~Ingrid Newkirk

3. Because it is obviously good for my body. Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. ~ Hippocrates, Father of Medicine

4. Because I want to help the earth by minimizing my carbon footprint.

How difficult it is to go vegan in Cebu?

Easy peasy. No sweat. No challenge. No qualms.

I know you cook your own meals. Share your favorite vegan recipes!

I love the pink velvet and mga pasta dishes hehehe and Japanese dishes :-) The recipes are posted in my blog!

Do you have tips for folks who want to give veganism a try?

Tips??? Of course, learn about veganism first. Unsa jud na siya. Read.. Know your ingredients too. It would also be a great help if you’re a ninja in the kitchen. Major tip is that any Asian restaurant most likely has vegetarian dishes such as tofu or vegetable curry.

What vegan myth would you like to debunk?

Where do you get your protein? People don’t know that there’s protein in leafy greens and vegetables! If muingon protein, meat jud dayon. Major eeeeeng!

Lastly, convince us why we should go vegan. hahah :)

I don’t want to convince you. I have never convinced anyone to become vegan. It is a decision which requires personal resolve. Having said that, I have already inspired one person to go vegan. I call her my vegan spawn. And I didn’t even tell her to do it. She saw what I was doing, learned maybe from my eating habits and then boom.

You can check Rayni’s vegan adventures here! :)

Rare Produce Find 02: Anonas from Panabo City, Davao

If you are to ask me now to choose a city or town in the country where I would want to live and raise my own set of spawns,  I will most likely say Davao. Or maybe, Bukidnon. It’s a close fight between the two. However, these two areas have something in common though -- fruits are so abundant and cheap!  We are not talking about the usual bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and imported apples/oranges sold mostly here in the city. I am referring to other kinds of fruits such as the anonas!

When the TML and I visited his hometown (that’s Panabo City in Davao) last December, I was on a fruity-high!  We were actually gorging and feasting on fruits by the time we arrived in Cagayan, stayed in Bukidnon for a day, and finally reached Davao. The fruits sold in the area are really a far cry from the ones we have here in the city -- they are juicier, fresher, and meatier!(sounds like a hotdog commercial, huh?)

The anonas, also known as the Bullock’s Heart is one of those juicier and meatier fruits that was responsible for my fruity-high moments last December. We came across the strange-looking fruit while going around Panabo City’s local wet market. I guess it’s safe to say that it’s a cousin of the more known atis. I have a theory that they are actually siblings since they really look and taste the same except that the atis is sandier than the anonas. I’m not sure if the anonas fruit is seasonal in Davao and nearby areas but you can ask around for it if you’d like to have a taste of the atis’ more “refined” brother. :)

Are you still curious about the anonas? There’s a good deal of information here.

Rare Produce Find: Pomegranates in Cebu

I’ve never tasted pomegranate my whole life, not until around two weeks ago when I decided to prowl the corners of Carbon Market. I usually visit Cebu’s mother of all wet markets on a Sunday afternoon. After an hour or so of going around, I always end up with a bagful of semi- fresh produce. Sunday Carbon Market visits used to be an activity that I share with my teammate for life (let's abbreviate it to TML :D ). Yet, he’s now an ocean away (I’d also like to say that he’s an airline promo fare away too ha!) but I still find myself wanting to go to Carbon despite the lack of company and personal kargador.

So going back to pomegranates, I was already about done with my purchases that afternoon. As far as I can remember, I already had camote, kalabasa, avocados, parsley, cabbage, pechay, camote tops, banana blossoms, sikwa, and turmeric in my loot bag when I spotted this produce which I thought was passion fruit. I thought to myself, “Wow, passion fruit in Carbon?!”

For a brief background on why I considered the Carbon Market as the last place I’d found passion fruit, I can say that I have only seen passion fruit thrice: first, somewhere in Busay and it wasn’t even up in a tree, it was almost rotting in the ground and the TML (who can recognize even the most obscure of Philippine fruits because he grew up in the province) identified that it was passion fruit; second, at the produce section of Metro Ayala grocery, and lastly, at the Healing Present organic bistro in Lahug.

“Passion fruit ni Manang?” I asked. The vendor simply nodded and said “Hutda nalang ng upat! Diyes na tanan." Before I could actually think about it, I handed her 10 pesos and off I went.

Surprise, surprise! It turns out that the mystery fruit is actually a... pomegranate! I posted photos of the fruit over Twitter and two of my friends (and the TML also confirmed it via email ) said that it’s locally known as granada.

Now before you actually hit Google and learn more about the benefits of pomegranate, you might want to read this article on exaggerated claims on the fruit’s health benefits. It pays to be skeptical once in a while.

And yes, I have now experience firsthand the frustration of getting the seeds out of the fruit, so make your life easier by following the tips in this post.

Happy pomegranate hunting! :)

I’d Rather Go Home and Eat Camote!

Go home and plant camote!

This local remark, humorous but with a tinge of rudeness, is often addressed to students who do poorly in school, failing to meet scholastic expectations. Born and raised in the city, I grew up with the idea that a farmer’s work is reserved for those who doesn’t have the means to get themselves a decent education and later on, find a job which doesn’t involve plowing the fields and getting yourself toasted for hours under the sweltering heat.

But boy was I wrong. If you’d ask me now, I’d rather live in the countryside and have my own piece of land where I can plant camote the whole year round. Now that I’m in my twenties, our local farmers are now my heroes. I envy those who have the luxury ( it is indeed a luxury!) to actually plant their own food and cook them come harvest time.

An Underrated Local Produce I don’t have the statistics to back me up on this claim but I think camote is one of those underrated local produce we have in the Philippines. People in the city, I observed, tend to bypass stalls displaying the local camote in all its glory,  in wet markets and groceries alike. If only the camotes could talk. They’d probably scream at you and say, “Hey you! Come eat me! I swear you’ll lose some extra pounds if you can just spare me a minute to explain.”

Scratching Out the “Lowly” Image
The association of camote to being a poor man’s food or something that should be left alone for the mangbubukids to eat is probably one of the reasons why camote doesn’t get the attention it truly deserves. Being able to afford and buy rice (and maybe some whole wheat bread or whatever your choice of carbs) is akin to being a status symbol amongst our countrymen. So, for most of us, why the hell should we buy camotes when we can afford to buy rice which our taste buds are more used to? Why should we bother taking some boiled camotes to work for snacks when we can simply head off for the nearest 7-11?  

You might be surprised to find out that Manny Pacquiao regularly includes camote in his diet. To further convince you that camote, from now on, should be a regular on your to-buy list, this WholeFoods.Org nutritional profile on sweet potatoes will surely win you over!

There are probably a hundred more online sources out there which talk about the nutritional benefits of camote which comes in different colors and varieties. Also, if you would just creatively exercise those culinary muscles, you can do lots of things with your sweet potato -- fry, boil, bake!  I like to have mine boiled until they’re soft enough be eaten. I could either have them plain or topped with peanut butter. Add in brewed coffee to the mix and I can tackle whatever the day throws at me, taming kangaroos for example.

Now, shall we go home and plant camote then? Count me in!

Photo lifted from here.

Utan Bisaya, Anyone?

Utan Bisaya, anyone? 

Oh, hello there.

So what should you expect from The Utan Bisaya Project?

Every so often, I end up being too preachy or admittingly, self-righteous (to the horror of the person on the other end of the conversation!) about food, nutrition, and  by and large, how to eat for your health.

Nutritionist. Dietician. Vegan. Chef.

I am not all these personas. I am not even close to being a vegetarian because as a true blue Cebuana, I still look forward to the occasional juicy piece of Alejo’s Lechon in Labangon and of course, Zubuchon! (this is not a sponsored post haha) But on most days, I aim to choose plant-based meals and avoid heavily processed food items as much as possible.

So how exactly did I become so involved in this “choose plant-based and whole food” crusade? It all began when I met The Boyfriend who for some reason could come up with a very awesome dish from an all-star vegetable cast. I was like blown away because I’ve always thought, all this time, that meat is king! And then I stumbled upon Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and I started to go mad with my research skills and lo and behold! it turns out that going green with your eating habits while pleasing your taste buds at the same time is actually possible.

Like that filling bowl of utan bisaya (local vegetable stew), this blog will hopefully house posts of whatever is natural, green, healthy (as if there’s a health-o-meter to help us figure out because admit it, healthy is not really just a black and white concept), and oozing with goodness when it comes to food. The posts would probably serve as a guide but recipes won’t be regularly featured (I’m not really that methodical with what I cook. Excuses, right?). Besides, I can point you to awesome sites housing recipes which are equal parts easy to prepare, nourishing, and most of all, delish!

Simply put, The Utan Bisaya Project will hopefully shut me up when I’m in a conversation about food because I’ve already put all my energy in between writing and research for the posts here. :D

Photo by the shutterer.