fitness sideblog

Sweet and Spicy Noodle Bowls

This is one of my favorite things to food prep. It feeds my partner and me dinner for 4 days, but you can easily cut the recipe in half for 1 person.

How to make 8 healthy meals for about $10 and low(er) effort:

You will need:

- Cooking oil

- 4 medium zucchini squash

- 16 oz pack of white mushrooms

- Red pepper flakes

- Garlic powder

- Soy sauce

- Sriracha chili sauce

- Honey

- Whole wheat pasta

Steps:

1. Chop zucchini into chunks. I like to cut them into 4 long sticks and then slice that into wedges.

2. Put 2 tbsp (1oz) oil in a large frying or sautée pan and add chopped zucchini, heat on medium high.

3. When the zucchini has just started to soften, add sliced mushrooms (I usually break off stems, and break large slices into smaller bits with my hands).

4. Add red pepper flakes and garlic powder to taste.

5. Start making sauce in a bowl by mixing equal parts 1/4 C (2oz) soy sauce, chili sauce, and honey. Cook veggies until softened, then turn heat to low.

6. Add sauce to veggies, stir, remove from heat. Store extra servings of veggies and sauce. I always make the pasta fresh because it doesn't reheat well.

7. Boil pasta (2 oz per serving) to your preference. I like mine al dente, it adds texture.

8. Drain pasta, put back on low heat, and add veggies per serving to reheat. Alternatively, you can microwave 2 servings of veggies for about 90 seconds to place on top of your noodles.

CHICKEN BROCCOLI RICE CASSEROLE

Follow for recipes

(June 1)

Help Iyad and his family (@iyadsobhei) - Iyad is an elderly man who has been living in dire conditions with deteriorating health; he needs to evacuate with his wife and eight children. This fundraiser currently has NO FUNDS.

Help evacuate Hani's family (@skatehani) - A dear friend, and a Palestinian skater trying to evacuate 10 members of his family; he has lost his father to injustice. Less than halfway to his goal.

Help Husam and his family (@husamthaher) - Husam desperately needs to save himself, his wife, and 3 young children.

Ahmd needs urgent evacuation (@ahmd-iyd) - Ahmd has lost his livelihood to this genocide, and needs funds to help his family evacuate and rebuild their life.

Help Mahmoud Abu Hamam and his family (@ma7moudgaza) - A college student who desperately needs to evacuate to Egypt.

Help Iman’s family find safety (@imaneyad) - Iman has a family of 7 who need to find safety.

Help Mahmoud's family evacuate (@mahmoud0qassas) - Mahmoud and his family need to get to Egypt. His brother in law needs medical attention ASAP.

Support Ruba and Amal's family's urgent evacuation (@rubashaban @amalshabn) - Ruba and Amal's family are lacking the basic necessities of life; they have an elderly father who desperately needs to be evacuated for medical care.

Help Omar evacuate (@omarsobhi) - Omar is a 20 year old Palestinian student who wants to save himself and his family from this genocide.

Support Fahmi and his family (@fahmiakkila) - Fahmi's life has been turned completely upside down, and he now finds himself responsible to save his parents, sisters, & brothers - 7 members.

Save a displaced Gazan Family (@ranibra) - Rania is married with five children, her husband needs medical care. She is now responsible to save her children. Help them evacuate.

Save little Yusuf and his family (@ahmednabubake) - Yusuf is in an intensive care unit fighting for his life in Gaza; he needs urgent evacuation alongside his family.

Save a family trapped in Gaza (@mohamedalanqer) - Mohammed Alanqar and his family are living in fear, urgently needing financial assistance to escape to a safer environment.

Help Gazan children survive (@aymanayyad81) - Fadi Ayyad, an 18-year-old from Gaza seeks the funds to help his family survive these gruesome conditions.

Save Tawfik and his family (@tawfikwaleef) - Tawfik is an engineer from Gaza who urgently needs to escape Gaza with his family.

Help Tahseen and his family (@tahseenmush) - Tahseen and his family are from northern Gaza and need urgent help to survive this genocide.

Don't ignore this list—your support is URGENTLY needed. Each fundraiser here is an opportunity to help, and it has been made easy for you to find these fundraisers. You can easily save lives. Pick at least one to support. Once again, your donation can save lives. If you can't donate, please share these campaigns.

FIND MORE CAMPAIGNS HERE

insulin pens are very often used by diabetic children (or their parents, but they were very easy to use during the short time i was prescribed them when i was a child myself). they’re less cumbersome, produce less waste, and are far easier than pulling insulin from a vial with a single use syringe, as syringes are much more susceptible to air bubbles, which result in the diabetic not getting enough medication. i’m explaining this part because i know that some diabetic adults do also use them, and i’m sure that that’s true of diabetic adults in palestine with such scarce resources. when it’s life or death, you can’t really be picky.

the israeli occupation is now banning insulin pens from entering gaza.

lack of insulin results in diabetic ketoacidosis — essentially a very, very dangerous version of the effects of the keto diet. insulin is a key for the sugar from one’s food (both slow and fast acting, since all food has some carbohydrates, from nuts to potatoes to table sugar) to get from their bloodstream into their cells. without insulin, the body resorts to eating through its own fat stores rather than the sugar it cannot access and tries to flush the excess glucose that is in the blood through the urine. this results in weight loss, headaches, nausea, dehydration, blurred vision, abdominal pain, impaired mental faculties, and, if left untreated, will result in a coma, and eventually death within a matter of weeks. not “can.” it will kill you if not treated, and was largely considered a lethal diagnosis until insulin was discovered in the early 1900s and made readily available in 1922.

i’ve been in dka. admittedly, i was very young and have blocked much of it out. but i do remember that it fucking sucked. i couldn’t focus on anything, i was ravenous no matter how much i ate, and the room spinning to the point i felt like i was going to throw up became an increasingly regular occurrence. i was seven years old and wasting away like i was starved. i was dying. a few more days, and i likely would’ve gone into a coma and might not be here now.

to inflict that, willingly and knowingly, on innocent people, is nothing short of a crime against humanity, and violates the geneva conventions (item 2.a.ii. torture or inhumane treatment, including biological experiments and item 2.a.iii. willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health). not that the israeli occupation cares, of course, as south african prosecutors have already extensively detailed their crimes in the icj, and this one in particular has already been committed near-countless times.

this entire occupation is a genocide, and this is only one more nail in that coffin. but, as a diabetic — as a human being who has been in that state and was lucky enough to have the resources to live almost another fifteen years (with the anniversary of my own diagnosis about halfway through next month), i can’t find the words to express my disgust and rage anymore. maybe it’s selfish to be so deeply impacted by this particular blow. i don’t know. but these people have done nothing wrong but be disabled in gaza, and as someone with the same disability, i know that no one deserves this, even if they have committed a crime (which, again, these civilians, largely children, have not). i will not fucking stand for it.

we need a ceasefire. we need an end to the occupation. we need a free palestine. now.

So many roads are destroyed that aid convoys would struggle to get very far into the Strip, even once they made it past the tens of thousands close to the edges who are currently starving to death.

Many of the hospitals and medical centres have been either destroyed or severely damaged. Even without the damage to the buildings and equipment, they would be short-staffed, thanks to Israel's relentless targetting of medical staff. The handful of hospitals that would theoretically be operational if the power was turned back on would not be nearly enough to cater to the (at minimum) 61,500 people who have been injured.

And as OP said, where do the people go? Two thirds of the buildings in northern Gaza have been completely destroyed. A quarter of all buildings in the south. Gaza was already one of the highest density cities in the world before this, and now they have over 1.2 million people who have to fit into VASTLY fewer houses.

The temperature overnight in Gaza at the moment is dropping down into single digits. What keeps all those houseless people warm at night? A tent? There are currently 1.8 million homeless people in Gaza. Where do they all go for shelter?

There are now, as a direct result of Israels 100+ days of bombing, over 25,000 orphans in Gaza. Many haven't just lost their parents, but their whole families. The assault in Gaza has necessitated the creation of a new acronym: WCNSF. Wounded child, no surviving family. Who looks after them? Who makes sure they're cared for, fed, housed, kept warm, loved? 25,000 orphans in the span of 100 days. That's unspeakably fucked up.

And how much psychological damage has been done to every single citizen there? How many horrific scenes have they borne witness to; how many loved ones have they lost; how many terrors have they endured? How do they even begin to recover from that?

The amount of damage Israel has done is unfathomable. And Israel don't give a fuck. Israel wants to create MORE damage than they already have. Create more wounded, more orphans. Destroy more homes, starve more people. The damage they've done will already take decades to recover from, and Israel wants to keep going. Wants to keep destroying, killing, maiming, torturing.

a gentle reminder!💌 #2022recap

banana bread scones with chocolate tahini frosting

Follow for recipes

Insane Total Body HIIT Workout

By TrainerKaitlin

-

▶️ 30 seconds of work

⏸ 15 seconds of rest

🔁 AMRAP

-

1️⃣ Switch foot side kicks

2️⃣ Pop squat kicks

3️⃣ Plank walk up pop back

4️⃣ Jump lunge lifts

5️⃣ Plank my climber combo to pike

6️⃣ Momentum squats

7️⃣ Single leg stretch variation

Today, upon walking into the gym, a trainer jokingly called out to me, “Man, we’re gonna make you take a vacation from coming here!”

I shot back, “Nah dude, I pay my dues here and I’m gonna make it worth my while!” 

He kicked back in his chair, looked at me and said, “Now there’s motivation. Why isn’t everyone motivated like that? You’re in here every day, kicking ass.”

I said, “It’s actually my rest day. On my rest days all I do is paddle around in the pool and sit in the sauna until my DOMS are gone.”

He laughed and leaned forward. “It’s your rest day? And you’re still here! You’re fucking serious. Man, I wish my girl was motivated like that. I wish my girl would come work out with me every day. Why isn’t my girl like that?” I forced a grimacing smile and walked away.

I thought about his words through my entire swim and for the rest of my day. It’s true. As a whole, he’s right - the average girl doesn’t show a consistent, deep motivation to kick ass in the gym day after day, month after month, year after year. Apparently that makes him sad. And he doesn’t understand that he’s a tiny individual part of a huge problem.

On a cultural level, women are taught that the only reasons to work out, get in shape, etc. are to “look good” and/or impress others. Women are not taught to prize ability and athletic performance. Women are encouraged to hit the gym to change something they don’t like, but rarely are they encouraged to improve on something they already (should) like. If a woman complains that her thighs are big, she’s told to hit the endless cardio and slim them down, but never to lift weights or run sprints and put those amazing thighs to use!

Women are not urged to set ability-oriented goals. Women are raised to judge “progress” on appearance. Women are systematically taught to “work out and get hot”, but not to train to become healthy and powerful! Therefore, real progress is never truly gained and motivation withers. Body-hate and external motivation does not last. Teaching a woman that she is nothing more than an imperfection to be changed for the viewing pleasure of others is not the way to make her beautiful, healthy, and happy. Help her learn to become strong, fast, and proud - for herself! - and the motivation will last a lifetime.

The fitness industry is fully aware how much money there is to be made in selling “solutions” to those who have been taught they are obligated to change themselves. Media, advertising, nutritionists and dietitians, gyms and trainers - they are all guilty of perpetuating the cycle. When a woman visits a personal trainer the first time, she’s asked what her weight goals are and what she wants to “change about herself”. She’s bombarded and broken down under constant insinuation that she’s not good enough yet but maybe she can be good enough if she puts enough time, effort, and money into changing everything that’s wrong with her. A woman cannot enter a fitness setting without it being assumed that she’s there to “get hot” to attract a mate, or to impress someone else. She’s not conceptually allowed to be there just to feel good, get healthier, or get stronger for herself.

If this society wants to see a generation of women who are truly enthusiastic about fitness - help give women a real reason to train. Stop focusing on subjective appearance things that a woman has been conditioned to feel obligated to hide and change, and instead encourage her to find something she loves, something she wants to accomplish. Instead of “helping” a woman lose her “love handles”, ask her if there’s some physical feat she never thought she’d be able to do, and help her do it! Bros of the gym, if y’all want your ladies to come work out with you, help show her how powerful and proud she can be, instead of keeping her weak and bored with 3lb handweights while you bench 225.

For the human race to meet our true potential of health, strength, and wellbeing - this cycle needs to change on a cultural level. But first, it needs to change on an individual level. This goes out to everyone, every single one of you. Be all YOU can be, never let anyone tell you otherwise, and help encourage others to do the same.