Does home workout (youtube videos) work?

Holding a LIFETIME gym membership, I would never expect myself to be following some fitness youtubers' videos, doing home workouts right in front of my computer desk.
But I did; for the past month. Circuit-breaker, look what you've made me do. Pre-CB, I hit the gym (for group x classes) at least 5 days a week, doing mainly spinning and hot yoga classes, along with some weight resistance (bodypump, sculpt/cxworx) and other form of cardio (bodystep, bodyattack). During 1st month of CB, I ended up jogging for 6 days a week and that really put a strain on my poor knees. Eventually, I decided that 4 days a week is the maximum I'll jog, and for the other 3 days, I will just stay at home and do some home workouts instead.

The first fitness youtuber's channel I've hopped onto when I decided to start working out at home was Natacha Oceane, as I've always been watching her fitness related videos from time to time. But then I realised that she doesn't have that much workout videos on youtube (she mainly post them on her IG instead), and being more intermediate/advanced, her routines tend to include a lot more movements and jumping, hence requiring a lot more space than I can squeeze out in my humble bedroom.

And so I've went on to search for a whole load of other fitness youtubers and tried out their routines, and the two channels I've been always going back to for my super quick, daily 20 minutes 'lunchtime workout' are Holly Dolke & MrandMrsMuscle.

First up, I absolutely love how short & area specific Holly Dolke's routines are. From super short 6 minutes cardio workouts, to 7 minutes abs workouts to 15 minutes HIIT/Tabata workouts; I can easily stack a couple of her videos together, back to back, to complete my 20-25 minutes lunchtime workout. For example, I typically get my heart rate up with her cardio or HIIT/Tabata workouts before doing 1 or 2 more of her area specific workouts (usually abs, legs or booty).

Then, I stumbled upon MrandMrsMuscle's channel when I wanted to add in some dumbbell arm routines into my lunchtime workouts. Love how easy to follow their routines are, with a huge selection of routines to choose from. From short 10 minutes beginner's (no jumping) cardio, to higher intensity cardio, to slightly longer (16 to 20 minutes) body toning exercises. It doesn't matter what your fitness level is, or if you own any dumbbells or not; you can always find a suitable routine to follow on their channel.

And for my alternate days 1 hour (or more) evening workouts, I will usually stack two 30 to 45 minutes full body toning & cardio routines from Kit Rich or Emi Wong. I also love following nourishmovelove's Cardio Barre routines, which are really fun to follow but can get pretty tough on my thighs.
Out of these 3 youtubers, Emi Wong's videos are actually the easiest to follow, as her presentation is more like Holly Dolke and MrandMrsMuscle (timed circuits with breaks in between each exercise), with a beeping timer added such that you know when to stop the exercise even if you're not looking at her on your computer screen. However, I tend to prefer to not follow her videos that much (even though she also has shorter ones) as her form isn't really that great. But if you're the kind who would feel better (less demoralised) when you see others struggling along during the workout (feels more realistic?), then perhaps you can check her out. But also do note that she also have some really questionable workout routines like one for the collarbones (like, WHUTT?), which really got me dumbfounded.

And just a side note, I've also followed Chloe Ting's Get Abs in 2 Weeks Abs Workout for (DUH!) two weeks. This has to be one of the most popular abs workout video on youtube, with over 151 MILLIONS views till date and a whopping 3.3 MILLIONS thumbs up. There's also tons of review videos, boasting of unbelievable results in just two weeks of following her programme, which consist of a couple other workout videos as well and not just this 10 mins abs workout. 

And well, here's my results (from only doing her 10 mins abs workout video in the programme).

My 11 lines definitely became a lot more obvious after just 1 week of doing the 10 minutes abs workout during my lunchtime workout (usually paired with other short cardio and dumbbell routines).

Unfortunately, I was having my period bloat during week 2, so the final results weren't that obvious. 

In addition, do note that I did see (some faint) results only because I was also doing other cardio exercises along with this 10 mins abs workout, and watching what I eat. 

Actually, if anybody (fitness influencers) tells you that you can spot reduce (eg. follow their 10 minutes abs workout video for 2 weeks and get shredded abs etc), it's the biggest telltale sign that you should not take any of their advice because they obviously do not know their stuff. YOU CANNOT SPOT REDUCE, LADIES. I've also stumbled across one of Chloe Ting's videos on intermittent fasting, whereby she claimed that on IF (to lose weight) you need not count calories and can eat anything you want.

But the main reason on why I do not follow her workout videos is because like Emi Wong, many times her form isn't that great. And while she has tons of different videos on her channel, she tend to just shuffle through that same few exercises in all of them. 

Anyway, Phase 2 of our Circuit Breaker is confirmed to start this Friday, 19th June, and gyms will be allowed to reopen! Yayy! But since working from home is still a default, I will probably still be sticking to Holly Dolke and MrandMrsMuscle for my lunchtime workout for the time being. :)

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia Makes: Souffle Omelette (And I'm never gonna make it again)

 Recently there's this really IG-worthy looking, thick and fluffy omelette trend going on and so I thought, why not try it too?

And nope, I didn't make my own Thosai, so no recipe for that. 

And actually, you can't call this a recipe either because it's gonna be just eggs (how ever many you fancy) with salt and pepper. You won't be able to fill the souffle omelette with anything, but perhaps you can try with some grated cheese or herbs for added flavour if you really want to. 

So let's get over with the shortest ingredient list ever, so we can get started. To get a decent sized souffle omelette for 1, you'll need:

Eggs. 

(I used two, you can use three or even four if you're ravenously hungry)

Salt and pepper to taste.

So first up, separate your yolks and whites. Be careful to not have any traces of yolk (or oil, if you happen to be using a bowl that's greasy for your whites, it won't work) in your whites, if not they won't whisk up. 

Using a electric whisk, or a balloon whisk if you're ready to spend some elbow grease, beat up your egg whites on medium until they fluff up into (nearly) stiff peaks. 

Then, add in your desired seasonings into your yolks and beat for a few seconds to combine before folding the yolks and whites together lightly. Do so by first tempering the yolk mixture with 1/4 to 1/3 of the beaten egg whites (you can stir lightly to mix at this point) until homogenous before folding in the rest of the whites. I actually prefer folding the batter using a balloon whisk as I find that it requires much less folding as compared to using a spatula, but you do you. 

Then, pour all the batter into a suitable sized non-stick pan that's lightly greased and cook on low heat with the lid on until the bottom has turned golden brown and the surface has set. You may sprinkle some grated cheese or chopped herbs over the top of the omelette at this point, if desired. Then, carefully flip the omelette in half. 

I'm not that keen on having my souffle omelette too raw and runny in the middle, hence I flipped mine and "steamed" them for a few more minutes with the lid on for the interior to cook further. But if you want a runny, creamy interior, you can also slide the omelette off your pan and flip it in half directly onto your serving plate. 

Looks so pretty, doesn't it? But I will never ever make it again. HAHA!

The texture of this souffle omelette is unbelievably light and airy, like I was eating nothing. Not only that, the eggy flavour of a normal omelette was also thinned out possibly due to the excessive volume created by beating air into the whites, that I was also tasting nothing. 

So well, try this if you're eating for the Gram; not if you're eating for satisfaction. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Makes: Candied Sweet Potatoes

My first taste of candied sweet potatoes was at a local Korean restaurant (was it Bibigo?) many years back. Being a sweet potato lover with a sweet tooth, seeing candied sweet potato on the menu simply means I need to order it. And I was so glad I did! 

The sweet potato chunks were fried till crispy at the edges, but still moist and fluffy on the insides. And then every piece of the sweet potatoes were just fully coated in a thin layer of sugar syrup that's melted, sticky and a little gooey. OMG, it was like the best snack, ever. 

Ultimately there's many variations to the candied sweet potatoes. In Korea, they're called Goguma Mattang. In Japan, they're Daigaku Imo. And then there's also 拔丝地瓜, whereby instead of leaving the sugar syrup coating to cool down and harden as it is, you gotta stir up the sweet potatoes while the sugar syrup coating is cooling down to create the sugar strands/webs. 

But it doesn't matter where the deep fried sweet potatoes meet the sugar syrup, it'll always end up in a happy ending. HAHAHA!

So let's get over with the ingredients to get started.

For 1 medium sweet potato (180 - 200g), you'll need:

2 tbsp sugar (white or brown sugar are both okay)

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

a dash of soy sauce (may omit)

toasted sesame seeds (as topping, may omit)

More cooking oil for frying

recipe adapted from Ochikeron

First up, wash and clean your sweet potato. I typically scrub them down with a soft brush to get into all the nooks and cranny, as I prefer to eat them with skin on. You may peel the skin if you prefer to eat your sweet potatoes without the skin. After washing the sweet potato, cut them up into bite size chunks and immerse them in a bowl of water for about 10 to 15 minutes to remove excess starch.

After 15 minutes, drain the sweet potato chunks and pat them dry with kitchen towel, to prevent oil from splattering during frying. 

Then, place your sweet potato chunks in your frying pan and add sufficient cooking oil to cover the entire base of the pan, such that the base of every piece of the sweet potato chunks is sitting on the oil. We're not deep frying the sweet potato chunks, so you need not use a whole load of cooking oil. Then, turn on the hob to medium heat and let the sweet potato steam-fry with the lid on for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the surface is browned. Then, flip the sweet potato chunks over and steam-fry them again with the lid on for another 3 minutes. Continue flipping and steam-frying until the sweet potatoes are fully cooked. You can check the doneness by either inserting a bamboo skewer or simply poking them lightly with a fork. 

Then, remove the sweet potato chunks from the pan and drain off all the oil. Place the pan back onto medium/low heat and add in the 2 tbsp of sugar. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil over the sugar and leave it until the sugar crystals has just started to melt. Then, turn down the hob to the lowest heat and let it continue to cook. Do not stir the sugar-oil mixture at this point, just swirl them around lightly by tilting your pan around, until all the sugar crystals has fully melted. Then, add in the sweet potato chunks and soy sauce and stir-fry until the sweet potato chunks are evenly coated with the sugar syrup. Sprinkle in the toasted sesame seeds and give it a few toss to incorporate before turning off the hob and removing the sugar coated sweet potato chunks from the pan and onto a serving dish. 

Do take note to place them separately on the plate, or else they'll all stick together when the sugar syrup has cooled down and harden.

Tadaa~

As the sweet potatoes are steam-fried (and not deep fried), you'll get the crispy edges with a soft and fluffy interior, which is sooooooooooo good!

Needless to say, the plate was wiped out in mere minutes because it was so addictive. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Enjoy yummy crabs & more at home with 8 Crabs [Sponsored]

Do you love eating crabs but absolutely hate to eat it in public and end up with a glorious oily mess on your hands? Craving for some legit zichar dishes now, but finding it a chore to put on your mask and heading out to dabao (takeaway) while maintaining social distancing etiquette? 

Guess what, with 8 Crabs, now you can easily get to enjoy your favourite crab dishes (be it black pepper, chilli or salted egg) along with other yummy zichar favourites at the comfort of your home!

Just a few clicks of my mouse and I have 3 of my favourite zichar dishes delivered to my doorsteps, freshly cooked and still warm! 

Award-Winning Chilli Crab (Large, 750g) - $68 

Using only premium Sri Lankan wild caught crabs and stir fried to perfection with their award-winning recipe to achieve a gravy of the perfect blend between sweet, savoury and spicy. 

Do you know, crabs naturally travel about 500m every night and prefer to live alone. However, crab farmers breed many crabs in a confined space for profitability, causing the crabs to get stressed very easily while in captivity, as many farms cannot replicate their natural habitat. When stressed, crabs produce ammonia, which is a sign of decomposition of seafood. Hence, to cover up the distinctive ammonia smell in farmed crabs, restaurants will need to use highly fragrant gravies. 

8 Crabs is the only company in Singapore using grade AAA premium Sri Lankan sourced wild caught crabs, graded by the most experienced crab graders in the trade, while most restaurants tend to purchase farmed crabs due to their cheaper pricing. This simply means that the crabs at 8 Crabs are meatier, tastier, bigger, and less watery.

In addition, to ensure freshness, these crabs are caught, flown, prepared and delivered to customers within 12 hours. Not only does 8 Crabs have their award-winning chefs prepare the cook the fresh crabs daily to guarantee the best flavour and taste, they also have a one driver to an order policy across their 12 kitchens island-wide in order to uphold their promise of One Hour Crab Delivery. 

I'm not the biggest fan of chilli crabs (I prefer black pepper crabs) because it's so easy to get a badly done one that only gets you wondering, "is this chilli crab or egg-ketchup crab?"

But I decided to take the leap of faith and believe in their award-winning recipe, and I'm so glad I did! While they're not super spicy to give you that spicy kick of shiokness that makes you break out into a sweat, it was just the perfect blend of sweet, savoury and spicy that will probably make you want to just slurp the gravy like it's soup. 

The Sri Lankan wild caught crab is premium indeed. Their flesh so plump and succulent, and tasted fresh and sweet. But to be honest, I'm satisfied with just having the gravy and fried mantou. And my mum and I loved the gravy so much that we kept the leftover gravy in the fridge to add to our lunch the next day (I made chilli crab baked fish). 

HAHAHA!

Signature Coffee Pork Ribs (Large) - $28

Was expected pork ribs, but somehow we were given slices of pork tenderloins instead. Not complaining though, because the meat was still super tender and it's so much easier to eat without the bones. 

If you're a coffee fiend like me, then you absolutely got to try this. The coffee fragrance is strong, but not overpowering. I'm not a huge fan of pork in general, but the meat was so tender and the savoury flavour, paired with the subtle coffee bitterness, was so addictive that I could easily finish the entire container by myself if not for the calories. 

Claypot Beancurd (Large) - $24

Tofu, my love! Initially, I did feel that $24 is a little too pricey for 'just tofu' but I found out that there're so many other ingredients in the dish!

Egg tofu, chinese cabbage, snow peas, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and shrimps. How is it possible to get everything I enjoy eating in just one pot? Every ingredient just blends really well together and sits so well in the gravy, which made the soft egg tofu even silkier. YUMS!

So what are you waiting for? Check out what 8 Crabs has to offer HERE and get read to feast!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Bakes: Nian Gao Egg Tart (Revisited)

A while back, I've made some Nian Gao Portuguese Egg Tart (recipe HERE) using frozen puff pastry that's super easy to make and tasted amazing. However, the biggest problem with using frozen puff pastry as the tart shells is that you need to eat them warm from the oven. If left to cool down for a couple of hours, or overnight, the tart base turns moist and soggy. My mum did try reheating the soggy tarts (left overnight) in the toaster oven, but it only harden them up instead of crisping them back. 

So in order to get a batch of nian gao egg tarts that can retain their taste and quality for at least overnight, and won't kill me at the stage of preparing the tart dough (because enclosed kitchen with NO aircon in the house is a big no-no for trying to work with cold butter, it'll never work), I decided to try out the Hongkong style egg tart kind of tart shells instead! 

So let's get over with the ingredients, so we can get started!

To get 6 - 8 egg tarts, depending on the size of your mould and how thick you prefer your tart crust to be, you'll need:

For the tart crust:

175g all purpose (plain) flour

100g salted butter (soften at room temperature)

25g icing sugar

10-15ml cold water

you can also use unsalted butter and add a generous pinch of salt

For the egg custard:

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

30g castor sugar

160ml milk

60ml heavy cream

Filling:

(CNY) Brown Sugar Nian Gao, cut to size to fit to the base of your tart moulds and sliced thinly, to your preference. 

Recipe adapted from 饮食地图

I made 6 tarts using my muffin tin, and my tarts were ridiculously thick, I should have made 8 tarts instead. You'll also have extra egg custard left over, which I added a tbsp of unsweeten cocoa powder and a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips in, heat it over small fire to get all the chocolate chips melted before baking them in 4 silicon muffin cups along with the egg tarts to get baked chocolate custard. YUMS!

To get the tart dough, mix the soften butter with icing sugar until fully incorporated before mixing in the flour. It'll be much easier to "knead" the flour in with your hands instead of using a spatula as it'll be easier to gauge how much more cold water you'll need to add in. Start with just 10ml and see if your dough is moist enough to hold up, and add more from there. Depending on your flour hydration, you may need even more than just 15ml. 

So once the dough has come together, you can shape it into a disc and wrap it up with clingwrap before popping it into the fridge for at least 1 hour to firm up if you have a rolling pin and an XL round cookie-cutter that's big enough to cut out pieces of round dough that fits exactly into your moulds. 

As I do not have a cutter that's big enough, I will be pressing the dough directly into my moulds using my hands. Hence, I just shaped my dough into a log instead, whereby I can easily slice them into 6 (or 8) equal pieces after an hour's of rest in the fridge. 

So after the dough has firmed up, you can either roll it out into about slightly less than half a centimetre thick (they will puff up when baked) and cut out large circles that fits into your moulds. Otherwise, divide the dough into 6 (or 8) equal pieces and just use your hands to press down the dough balls into your moulds and shape them nicely up the sides into a tart shell. This will probably take some time and quite a lot of patience. 

Do remember to find something (a shot glass or something) to press down on the base of the tarts such that it won't be too thick. I've done so, but my tart base still came out super thick, hence I really should have made 8 tarts instead of 6. 

See that thickness? My tart base was as thick as my filling. T.T

So once the tart shells are done, set them back in the fridge while you mix the egg custard mixture. In a clean bowl, crack in the egg and add in the egg yolk and give it a quick whisk to break the yolks. Then, add in the sugar and mix until the sugar has dissolved before mixing in the milk and heavy cream. 

Then, get your tart shells out from the fridge and start assembling! First add in your sliced nian gao into the moulds before filling them up to nearly the top (about 90% or slightly more) and then baking them at 190 degree Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes (until your tart shells are browned) if you prefer your egg tarts the Hongkong styled. 

I wanted to brown my egg custard as well (like Portuguese styled) and so I baked mine at 225 degree Celsius (but take note my convection oven is EXTREMELY weak, I needed 40 minutes at 250 degree Celsius to burn my basque cheesecake) for about 30 minutes instead. 

Tadaa~

Apart from the tart base that's way too thick and left me with barely any filling, it actually still tasted pretty good! The tart shell was crumbly and buttery, and the brown sugar nian gao really complements the egg custard really well! 

And even after leaving the tarts overnight, the tart shell won't turn soggy like those frozen puff pastry tarts, yayy!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Bakes: No Knead Raisin Milk Bread

Soft, fluffy bread using just plain flour and absolutely no kneading required at all. You don't even need to touch the dough with your hands, is it possible?

The answer is YES!

So let's get over with the ingredients, so we can get started.

To get 1 small loaf (it'll only fill up 2/3 to 3/4 of a standard loaf cake tin), you'll need: 

150g plain flour

1 egg

25g castor sugar

75ml milk (need not be lukewarm)

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

40g raisin

ps. you can easily double this recipe to get a "standard sized" bread loaf. 

Making this bread can't be any simpler. You just need.... TIME. 

Yes, not elbow grease, but time. 

In a large bowl, add in your flour, castor sugar, instant yeast and salt. Make sure that your yeast is not in direct contact with the salt. Then, crack in an egg and add in the milk (I prefer to add the liquid directly over the yeast's spot to better dissolve them, though I know it's actually not required) and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. When the dough has some sort of come together with no pockets of flour, add in the vegetable oil and continue stirring the dough for at least 5 minutes (or more, if you can) with the spatula, to help the gluten to develop. 

Now, for other kind of bread dough I would recommend that you mix with a pair of chopsticks, but not for this recipe, because the dough will be more like a batter and using spatula will give a more effective mixing due to the higher surface area. The ridiculously high hydration of the dough is what gives us soft and fluffy bread with no kneading. 

And yup, after you're done with the mixing, scrap down the sides of the bowl to push down the stray bits of batter as best as you can and cover the bowl with some cling wrap. Then, leave it on the countertop for 20 to 30 minutes first before keeping it overnight in the refrigerator (about 8 to 10 hours will be ideal). 

The next morning, take your bowl of dough out of the refrigerator and leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes for it to warm up slightly. Then, add in the raisins and stir with a spatula until well mixed. Then, pour out the dough into your prepared loaf tin (mine is non-stick but I greased it slightly with some non-stick cooking spray anyway to be doubly sure that nothing sticks. you may even line your tin with parchment paper because it's going to be quite sticky), cover it with a damp towel or clingwrap and set it at a warm place for 2nd proofing, until it is at least 1.5x to 2x the size. You can tell by sticking a toothpick into the batter and then using the height of the batter that has stuck onto the toothpick to make a marking on the loaf tin to know where should the batter rise till to be twice of the original depth/height. 

As it was an exceptionally chilly morning, it took me about 1.5 hours for the dough to nearly double in size. If your oven comes with a dough proofing setting, go ahead to use it and it should take you 20 to 30 minutes instead. Otherwise, you can put the tin inside your oven (switched off) and add in a bowl of boiling hot water below the rack to quicken the 2nd proofing process. 

And once the dough has proofed, brush the top of the dough with some eggwash (I used only the egg yolk with some water, hence it's super browned. But you can use the whole egg too) and bake it at 180 degree Celsius for about 25 to 30 minutes until nicely brown. 

Check for doneness by lightly tapping the surface of the bread with your fingertips. If it sounds hollow, the bread should be fully baked through. 

Tadaa~ Super soft, sweet and milky raisin bread with absolutely no kneading at all. 

And because the bread is made with plain flour instead of bread flour, the texture is much finer, closer to our usual store-bought loaf bread, and not as chewy as what you'll usually get with using bread flour. 

Just see how soft and fluffy it is! The bread considerably harden up (went stale) on the 3rd day even though I kept it in an airtight container, so I'll highly suggest that you do a smaller batch and try to finish the bread within 1 to 2 days.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Intermittent Fasting: 1 Year's Update (IF for Women)

-credits to sgh.com.sg-

It's been nearly a year since my last post on my Intermittent Fasting journey, which means I've been IF-ing for more than a year! So if you happen to be an IF newbie, you might want to check out my 1st post, which will cover what's IF basically about, the different types of fasting methods, and my results after being on IF for just 3 months.

A main reason why I've decided to do an update now is because of the current Covid19 situation, whereby most people are currently on quarantine/lockdown with a drastic decrease in their daily activities plus constantly surrounded by food, may want to jump straight into some hardcore fasting out of desperation to lose or even maintain their weights. 

I will like to say that this update will not be touching on how much more weight (or body fat) I've lost since the previous post, because I've totally stopped tracking (haven't stepped onto the scales for over half a year!) and further weightloss is no longer my goals. 

But just to get it out of the way, here's my current physique update. 

Albeit very badly taken, plus also taken right after a grueling abs workout, hence the muscle definition. 

I DO NOT LOOK LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME (Eg. after a meal).

I'm still tracking calories, because CICO (calories in calories out) is King. It's the very basic of everything related to weight management, be it weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let anybody (cough cough Dr.... cough Fung's.... cough followers) tell you otherwise and believe that 'calories do not matter'. Because if calories really don't matter, we can easily be eating 10,000 worth of calories from the 'right' food everyday and not put on weight. 

Does that sound possible? 

Weight management is simply CICO; but it's just that CICO is not that simple. 

But that aside (and I'm definitely not qualified to tell you more about how CICO is not that simple), the main point of my update is to touch on how IF (16:8 and up) has affected my body, and ladies do take note!

-credits to mindbodygreen.com-

What I've not mentioned in my previous post, was that being on 16:8 (actually it was a range of 15:9 to 18:6 throughout the week) kind of wreck havoc on my menstrual cycle. Just 1 month after being mainly on 15:9, my period (which has been dead-accurate my entire life till then) was late by 3 days. 

"Huh, just 3 days? What's the big deal?" 

Yes, it started with just being 3 days late. But for someone whose period is so accurate that you can even estimate roughly the time of the day it'll start, 3 days is a huge deal. And the delay just got longer and longer over the months, until I'm eventually 70+ days late, and that's 3 cycles late! 

I don't know how you ladies view your monthly periods, although I've came across a few who would gladly lose them for weight loss. But to me it's simple. When your body starts to shut down their reproductive system, it's definitely in trouble and you're no longer in a state of optimal health. 

And sacrificing your health for weight loss just makes no sense. 

In addition, a study (conducted on rats, not humans) has shown that the ovaries of the female rats shrunk after fasting (eating every 2nd day) for 12 weeks.

Many "help" on those Facebook IF groups insist fasting itself is meant to heal our body and so it shouldn't adversely affect my period, and it's probably a drastic caloric reduction that made me lose my period. But I know better, because I've been tracking what I'm eating even before starting IF and so I know, very well, that the only change has been fasting. 

And so I decided to cut back on IF and see how it goes, and went back to 14:10 for 5 days a week and 12:12 on weekends. True enough, just 2 months of cutting back on fasting and I'm back on track (for regular periods), yay!

And just to add on, due to the circuit breaker situation, I've unknowingly increased my fasting hours back to 15:9 for last month and my period, although still accurate, has been cut short by more than half of what's normal for me. So 14:10 is really the sweet spot for me. 

So ladies, do listen to your own bodies and decide what's the best fasting hours for you. You do not have to do 16:8, 20:4 or even OMAD just because your best friend is doing so. Don't get intimidated or pressured to increase your fasting hours just because a random insensitive prick on your Facebook IF group says "14:10 is not even fasting, I wake up, freshen up and it's already 17 hours gone." 

(yes, I've really received such rude judgmental replies from people who don't even know me on some groups, pfft!)

Our bodies are all different and we'll all react differently to the stress (yes, fasting is a form of stress!) inflicted onto our bodies due to fasting. 

Last but not least, if you're intending to start your IF journey now, when you're still pretty much cooped up at home and constantly surrounded by just food and TV shows, I'll suggest that you put it off first. Or you may just start with switching up your diet and start to make healthier food choices instead. I'm definitely no IF guru, but it also doesn't need to take me 1 year to realise that Intermittent Fasting is NOT for the brand new, been-eating-crap-their-entire-life kind of newbies who are constantly craving sugar.  

I have to say that IF itself is NOT a diet, but if you're jumping onto the IF bandwagon to lose weight, then it IS a form of diet for you. And all diets are doomed to fail if they're not meant to be sustainable, and an all-in (or all or nothing) approach to a new lifestyle is doomed to fail. Being pressured to not eat during your fasting hours and forcing yourself to only eat clean (eg. refraining from all "bad" foods even when you're craving for them like crazy) when you can finally eat is definitely not something sustainable.

However, if you feel that you're already quite on track with leading a healthy lifestyle and think that the best time to start is now, perhaps DoFasting App can be of a great help to tide you through these tougher times, not just with helping you to track your fasting hours but also give you some ideas on your home workout routines and delicious recipes with all the calories and macros listed out for you! We all know weight management is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise, right?

And just to show off some of my #healthyeating stay at home lunch these days during Circuit Breaker...

Sweet potato pancakes with baked fish and parmesan vegetables

Marmite oatmeal with baked fish, edamame and egg

Prawn Zoodle Pasta

Egg, Ham & Cheese Muffin using a 2-ingredient Banana Flour Bread

Sweet Potato Zucchini Hash with Baked Eggs. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Bakes: Ricotta Burnt Cheesecake (Lower Calories!)

Yes, I've done it again! The "Burnt Basque Cheesecake" I've tried a while back, but this time with a BISCUIT BASE! 

And I'm not sure why, but cream cheese seems to be sold out islandwide. I've tried Cold Storage, NTUC Fairprice and Sheng Shiong but there's no cream cheese of any sort (not even the spreadable kind) to be found. Is the whole of Singapore making cheesecakes now? 

I can't even find Cottage Cheese (yes, you can make cheesecake with cottage cheese too, if you don't mind their gritty texture or you can push them through a sieve to smoothen them out), but managed to find a tub of Ricotta in the end. So I thought, why not? 

It also turned out "better" for me in the end, as I found out (after eating the whole cake in one seating with the HB) that Ricotta has about half the calories of cream cheese, hence so much healthier and diet friendly. YAY!

So let's get over with the ingredients, so we can get started:

For the cheesecake (around 5 - 6 inch cake tin):

250g Ricotta Cheese, soften at room temperature

100ml heavy cream 

(I used Lite, as it's the ONLY one I found... So, yay for more calories saved!)

2 eggs

1 tbsp Honey

45g sugar 

(I used icing, but you can use castor too)

10g corn flour 

For the biscuit base:

65-70g digestive biscuits (or any biscuits of your choice)

30g salted butter, melted

1 tbsp (around 20g) low fat greek yogurt 

(add enough yogurt to get your biscuit crumbs to wet sand consistency)

First up, line your cake tin with a sheet of CRUMPLED parchment paper. Just press down the parchment paper along the sides of your cake tin by folding them down along the sides onto each other (so you'll get the distinctive messy folds along the sides of your cake too). Make sure you leave about an inch or two of overhang above the edge of the tin as the cheesecake may rise above the tin while it bakes (depends on how full you fill up your tin). 

In a small food processor, crush up the digestive biscuits into find crumbs and then add in the melted butter and greek yogurt. Pulse until everything is well combined and the crumbs resembles the consistency of wet sand. Then, pour the crumbs into your lined cake tin and press them down firmly to form the base. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes at 180 degree Celsius and then set aside to cool down. 

In a large bowl, add in the soften ricotta cheese and give it a quick whisk to loosen it up before adding in the sugar. Whisk until everything is well combined and there's no more sugar crystals in the cheese, before mixing in the eggs, one at a time. Make sure the 1st egg is well incorporated before adding in the 2nd one. Then, add in the honey and heavy cream and mix until well combined. Finally, add in the corn flour and mix until you get a smooth, homogeneous batter.

Pour the batter over the pre-baked biscuit base and bake them in the airfryer (or other similar appliance, like a convection oven) at 180-200 degree Celsius for 25 to 30 minutes until the surface is burnt to your liking. Do note that the cooking temperature and timing will differ greatly, depending on what type of appliance you're cooking your cheesecake in, and how you'll like your cheesecake to turn out in the middle. 

But one thing for sure, is that if you're baking your cheesecake in a conventional oven (top and bottom heating), you CANNOT add the biscuit base as it'll burn. You'll only want the surface of your cheesecake to burn, not the biscuit base, that's not going to be pleasant. 

As my convection oven is pretty "weak", it actually took me nearly 40 minutes at 250 degree Celsius to get the surface to burn. And of course, the middle of my cheesecake is fully cooked through. 

Somehow, I feel that using Ricotta instead of cream cheese made the cake somewhat, lighter and less cloying, which I prefer. Who knows, I might just stick to using Ricotta for all my future cheesecakes! 

And because my cake tin is actually smaller than 5 inch (they're 4.5"), I got an additional 4 minis, after filling up my tin to nearly 90% full. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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