Eye of the Tiger.
I aspire to be a runner. I found online yesterday (and if I found it online it must be true) that I am well on my way to this because I eat a banana before my morning workout and oatmeal with fruit right after. This is 90% of the battle people.
I have ventured out on a long, creative, frustrating, addicting quest to be healthy in my remaining months in Cambodia. I began my time here by indulging in a wide variety of “health foods” (as some would define them) including Pizza (sometimes I would remove the pepperoni, which makes it like diet pizza), Pringles, Soda (it’s hydrating), Cookies, Cheetos (made with real cheddar), Snickers (peanuts are good for you), Iced coffee drinks (the cream in them has calcium), and of course Swensen’s ice cream (it’s life changing. and energizing. so you can exercise more. entirely logical).
All of these wise choices, combined with 97.2% (people love statistics) of our meals here consisting of some sort of fried food, has led to my current health conscious resolve.
I've begun by purchasing a sporty Adidas watch (or so it claims) at the Central Market on Saturday for $9. Instant fitness.
And today I did some interval training, alternating 1 minute of low intensity jogging with what should be 1 minute of high intensity running, though for my own abilities could more accurately be labeled "slightly higher than low intensity jogging." After a mere 20 minutes and approximately 4 awkward stares from Cambodian staff, I was finished.
I never thought of myself as someone physically capable of exercising in the morning. I have, in fact, always been skeptical that the outside world actually existed before 6am.
Apparently it does, by 20 minutes at least. And a good motivation for easing into it comes with the help of an energetic iPod Workout Play List offering up classics to get you moving in the morning such as, "Love Shack," "You Are Good," "Kung Fu Fighting," and "Eye of the Tiger."
The other tremendous benefit of exercising at this hour in Cambodia is that you avoid the extreme heat (Hello, hot season) that consumes this part of the world from approximately 6:30am to 11:30pm. You have to seize that window. And granted, you will see (and people who come on teams often comment on) Cambodians riding by on their motos wearing down jackets, a variety of hats (including ones with ear flaps), long sleeved shirts, sweaters, gloves, and long pants. Surprisingly, this is not an effort to beat those fleeting moments of cloud cover or slight breeze, but instead to prevent people from getting any darker from the sun.
If you are feeling insecure about that pale, wintry skin you've acquired this season, come to Cambodia where people will grab your arm in wonder and tell you how "sa-at" (beautiful) your skin is. I try to tell them that in America women and men pay hundreds of dollars to achieve beautiful skin like a Cambodian's, but it is hard to convince them.
Our cultural perspectives are a funny thing.
For me, it's back to my healthy quest, consisting now not of the food mentioned above, but of Fruit (and Cambodia has no shortage of amazing fruit), Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheddar Sun Chips (no sacrifice), Baked potatoes (I recently discovered this as something I could make here at home without a stove. Glorious), Whole wheat bread, little Dark Chocolate bites (the antioxidants are vital to any healthy diet), Trail Mix (courtesy of my mom. and she will be ridiculously wealthy should she ever choose to market it), salads when they are available, and maybe the occasional Swensen's ice cream treat in honor of Women's Day.....
I have ventured out on a long, creative, frustrating, addicting quest to be healthy in my remaining months in Cambodia. I began my time here by indulging in a wide variety of “health foods” (as some would define them) including Pizza (sometimes I would remove the pepperoni, which makes it like diet pizza), Pringles, Soda (it’s hydrating), Cookies, Cheetos (made with real cheddar), Snickers (peanuts are good for you), Iced coffee drinks (the cream in them has calcium), and of course Swensen’s ice cream (it’s life changing. and energizing. so you can exercise more. entirely logical).
All of these wise choices, combined with 97.2% (people love statistics) of our meals here consisting of some sort of fried food, has led to my current health conscious resolve.
I've begun by purchasing a sporty Adidas watch (or so it claims) at the Central Market on Saturday for $9. Instant fitness.
And today I did some interval training, alternating 1 minute of low intensity jogging with what should be 1 minute of high intensity running, though for my own abilities could more accurately be labeled "slightly higher than low intensity jogging." After a mere 20 minutes and approximately 4 awkward stares from Cambodian staff, I was finished.
I never thought of myself as someone physically capable of exercising in the morning. I have, in fact, always been skeptical that the outside world actually existed before 6am.
Apparently it does, by 20 minutes at least. And a good motivation for easing into it comes with the help of an energetic iPod Workout Play List offering up classics to get you moving in the morning such as, "Love Shack," "You Are Good," "Kung Fu Fighting," and "Eye of the Tiger."
The other tremendous benefit of exercising at this hour in Cambodia is that you avoid the extreme heat (Hello, hot season) that consumes this part of the world from approximately 6:30am to 11:30pm. You have to seize that window. And granted, you will see (and people who come on teams often comment on) Cambodians riding by on their motos wearing down jackets, a variety of hats (including ones with ear flaps), long sleeved shirts, sweaters, gloves, and long pants. Surprisingly, this is not an effort to beat those fleeting moments of cloud cover or slight breeze, but instead to prevent people from getting any darker from the sun.
If you are feeling insecure about that pale, wintry skin you've acquired this season, come to Cambodia where people will grab your arm in wonder and tell you how "sa-at" (beautiful) your skin is. I try to tell them that in America women and men pay hundreds of dollars to achieve beautiful skin like a Cambodian's, but it is hard to convince them.
Our cultural perspectives are a funny thing.
For me, it's back to my healthy quest, consisting now not of the food mentioned above, but of Fruit (and Cambodia has no shortage of amazing fruit), Honey Nut Cheerios, Cheddar Sun Chips (no sacrifice), Baked potatoes (I recently discovered this as something I could make here at home without a stove. Glorious), Whole wheat bread, little Dark Chocolate bites (the antioxidants are vital to any healthy diet), Trail Mix (courtesy of my mom. and she will be ridiculously wealthy should she ever choose to market it), salads when they are available, and maybe the occasional Swensen's ice cream treat in honor of Women's Day.....
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