Tag Archives: Getting Primed with Chad

Malunggay “Miracle Tea” from the “Miracle Tree”

I am a big fan of malunggay. It is inexpensive, nutritious and tastes great in dishes like Omelette with Berries or Tomatoes, Vegetable Sheets Lasagne, Tuna Patties with Squash and in a Primed Fruit Smoothie.

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Malunggay should be known as the rich man’s vegetable due to the huge list of health benefits such as it can help reduce cholesterol and triglycerides, CONTROL BLOOD SUGAR, and offer anti-aging and anti-inflammatory substances, many of which have anti-cancer properties. No wonder the Moringa/Malunggay Tree is known as the Miracle Tree.

Well, as we know it is great in food but maybe even better as a tea. There is significantly higher nutritional value in the malunggay dried leaf, in some cases over ten times in specific nutrients when compared to fresh Malunggay leaf.

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It is very easy to dry out your malunggay leaves and make your Malunggay Tea. Simply pick your malunggay leaves off their stems and spread them over a large tray. We use our pizza trays. Let it dry out over 4 days. Occasionally stir it with a spoon so it dries out evenly. Talking lovingly to your malunggay leaves also adds to the nutrient density of your Malunggay Tea!

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After your 4 days you can then place in a very low heated oven for 10 minutes to get any remaining moisture out of the leaves. Then simply place in a sealed container and you are ready to start making your delicious and nutritious Malunggay Tea.

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Lets Make Malunggay Tea

Once you have your dried Malunggay leaves it is very easy to make tea.

Simply spoon a table spoon of your Malunggay leaves into a cup of hot water and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Once the color and nutrients have been absorbed into your water simply remove the leaves and sit back and enjoy your tea in the knowledge that it is helping your body in a plethora of ways.  A strainer also makes this process easier.

Malunggay Tea

Flavored Malunggay Tea

You can add additional flavor to your tea by squeezing in lemon or calamansi juice.  We freeze some lemons and oranges and grate in the fruit to our cup.

You can add a dash of honey to your plain Malunggay Tea or your Citrus enhanced Malunggay Tea.

Iced Malunggay Tea

Our family loves a nice cold Malunggay Iced Tea in the heat of the Philippines summer (11 months of the year) and simply make the above tea concoctions in larger quantities then add ice or place in the fridge to get cool.

Turmeric Honey Lemon Iced Tea

You can play around with many varieties of fruits and spices to create a Malunggay Iced Tea to suit your taste. I like to add a tea spoon of Turmeric, squeeze of Lemon and Dash of Honey to my jug of Malunggay Iced Tea.

Malunggay Tea with Turmeric and Honey

The health benefits of Turmeric include reducing inflammation in the body naturally. Turmeric can also be used a preventative measure against diseases like Alzheimer’s, Cancer and Arthritis as evidenced by what Dr. Andrew Weil shares below:

Reviewing some 700 studies, Duke concluded that turmeric appears to outperform many pharmaceuticals in its effects against several chronic, debilitating diseases, and does so with virtually no adverse side effects.

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Please share with us your favorite Malunggay Tea variety.

Cheap and Easy Eats – Primed Chicken, Squash and Saba Banana Green Curry

I love a great, spicy curry, especially one with a little zing and a great flavor to get your brow sweating!

How about a tasty curry that is cheap, easy to prepare and wonderfully nutritious?

Check below for an easy recipe that can be cooked in bulk, frozen and used for your healthy lunch box. It is also another recipe in our cheap eats category for people on a tight budget.

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Confessions of a trail Running Virgin – Chef Cyrille

A great race is like a great meal: you never forget it, you relive it in your mind even years later, and it leaves you looking forward to the next one.

I am delighted to share my unforgettable experience as I lost my trail running virginity along the beautiful Sierra Madre mountains.  Just like a great meal it left fabulous memories and an excitement for the next one.

Chad had already told me about the Top 10 Reasons to Try Trail Running  but I wanted to experience it for myself.

My First Ever Trail Run!

2:00 am on Sunday 12th October is the time that I met Chad before we drove to Tanay, Rizal for my first 21k trail run. Yes 2:00am, that is insane, especially when you finish late the night before with a busy service at Impressions Restaurant of Resorts World Manila.

Pimco Trail Running - Chad and CiCou

Six month earlier Chad finished 2nd in his Love A Tree International Trail Running 34km race and was talking about it like crazy.  Saying it’s very good and a fantastic experience for him. I remember he could barely walk the next 2 days after the race.  Despite that, he convinced me to sign up for the next Pimco Sporting Event 21km trail run.

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What’s for Lunch? The Primed Lunch Box Revealed

We all want to fuel ourselves and our loved ones OPTIMALLY for school or work.  Ideally we want to have high quality food and drinks to give us the energy so as to concentrate, learn, be creative and still maintain a positive mood.

In these hectic times it is not always easy to achieve this goal and we search for cheap and convenient ways to save ourselves time.  Unfortunately cheap and easy can have negative health consequences (obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hyper-tension, Alzheimer’s etc.) so it is important to plan and cook ahead of time.

Here are our typical Primed family lunch boxes that provide great fuel for our brains and bodies, fill us up very well, are tasty and don’t spike our blood sugars.

Primed Lunch Box - Lauren and Christian

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Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm Salted Duck Egg Salad

There is no better way to recover from a tough Malaysian Ironman event then to replenish your body with great recovery fuel. My fuel of choice was a hearty and healthy salad full of protein, good fats, minerals, vitamins and probiotics for improved gut health.

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Please see this quick and easy Salted Duck Egg Salad recipe that takes less than 5 minutes to assemble.
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Nutrition for an Ironman – The Most Important Discipline

Who will perform the strongest of the 127 Filipino strong contingent in Langkawi for the Malaysian Ironman? All 127 want to perform well, have fun and do their best possible time. For some that just might be 9:59:59 seconds. For others a mere one second before the cut-off time of 17 hours will be a wonderful achievement.

No matter how strong all the competing athletes are, if they do not have a good pre-race and during-race nutrition plan then their race will be adversely affected some how. Without a good nutrition plan then all the hours of dedicated training might be compromised.

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With friends Willy Yao, Berns Tan and Liu from China
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Marathon Friend’s Running Tips – Alvin Balderama and Eugene Yasay

The first two parts of our series of Marathon Friend’s Running Tips highlighted the power of positivity, home-made gels and toilet strategies! Now we hear from our trail running pal Alvin from Pimco Sporting Events and Eugene.

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Marathon Friend’s Running Tips – Berns Tan and Karen Reimann

The first part of our series of Marathon Friend’s Running Tips was thanks to our good friend Raul Concepcion aka the Running Shield where we learned about the power of positive thinking in terms of appreciating the challenges along the way so as to make the victory of finishing a marathon so much sweeter in the end.

Now it is time for some marathon tips brought to you by Filipina Berns Tan and Australian Karen Reimann.

Berns Tan
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Are Grains Fattening You Up Like Wagyu Cow, Pig or Human?

Wagyu simply means Japanese (Wa) cattle (gyu). The farmers rely on hormones and grains to bulk up their cattle with a resulting softness of the sub-cutaneous pure white fat. The average Wagyu steer carcass contains about 35% fat, in some cases fat can constitute more than 40% of the carcass. Wagyu beer Wagyu cows eating grain

The cattle even get beer to stimulate their appetite whilst simultaneously deliberately restricting their exercise to prevent muscle toughness. http://www.luciesfarm.com/artman/publish/article_39.shtml

Eat Your Greens

Farmers who engage in the practice of raising their livestock on grass get more beef per pound compared with grain fed livestock since the grain fed livestock end up with significantly more fat than those which are able to eat grass.

How To Be Leaner – Eat Greens, not Grains

When you eat a lot of grains you are continuously spiking your blood sugar levels, which then stimulates your appetite so that you eat more. What’s worse is that you never feel as satiated compared to eating good fats, proteins and vegetables. As a result you then consume more throughout the day. To be leaner, like the grass fed cows, eat your greens, do some exercise and leave the grains for the Wagyu. Primed_for_your_life_bread_sundried_tomato_tapenade

The Final Word: “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Hippocrates circa 400 BC

Primed Tanigue Kinilaw with Extra Vegetables and Avocado

Kinilaw (also known as Kalawin) is my favorite Primed Filipino dish to prepare and eat. It is a dish loaded with Omega 3, vitamins and minerals and is delicious by itself or served on avocado chunks, kangkong leaves and even wrapped in cabbage leaves. My fondest memories of enjoying this dish was way back in 2002 whilst watching the Football World Cup with Chef Cyrille at the InterContinetal Manila.

It is quite a simple dish to prepare as all you need are fresh ingredients and a sharp knife.

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Continue reading Primed Tanigue Kinilaw with Extra Vegetables and Avocado