How to save yourself after OVEREATING! :「食べ過ぎをなかったことに！」

And….it’s December! My favorite month of the year, after January 😛 When we think of December, we probably have a picture of feasts coming our way. It’s both a sweet and bitter experience we have to go through each year: as we indulge ourselves into Christmas cake, fresh baked goods, superb New Year feasts (many rounds for some of us), we spend time into the night thinking about what we have eaten and feel (quite) guilty about the pleasure. So…what else can we do apart from feeling so guilty?

Here are some of the ways you can save yourself and prepare for the next normal routine of eating!

1. Make your digestion process go smoothly.
After you eat, your intestines and stomach are still weak, hence, cannot digest well, To help it to work well even in the case of a lot of food, you should regularly take care of your lifestyle. Instead of drinking “cold” drinks, which would burden your intestines, opt for “hot” drinks such as green tea, which contains the slimming elements to say it simply. Also, eat something that is really soft and easy to digest. I usually went for boiled rice or congee, or just veggie soup. Avoid steak, grilled chicken, or anything that requires cutting and chewing extensively.

2. Stretch your intestines
This can be done very easily by placing one pillow on your back and lay on it. This position will put your stomach at the highest point of your body and you can feel your body stretched. Just don’t put it too high and put at least 30 minutes after your meal before doing this stretch. This would help activate your blood circulation and digestion, which would make it harder for fat to be accumulated.

3. Burn! within 48 hours after overeat with these 5 foods

Generally, it is said that it takes 2 weeks for the food you’ve eaten to turn into body fat. Hence, do something about it within the first 48 hours may help prevent your weight gain.
1. GINGER: contains enzyme that aids digestion and increases metabolism, hence you’ll burn more. Needless to say, ginger is one of the hottest ingredients in diet products in Japan right now.
2. BITTER MELON: contains Linoleic acid which helps break down the fat and burn energy. Also, it takes stored fat and uses it as energy as well as promotes the action of the recently known good “brown fat.” Eat it with eggs would ease its bitterness.
3. SEAWEEDS: (such as wakame, mekabu, konbu, or hijiki) contains Fucoidan, which prevents the absorption of fat into your body and disposes out. Seaweeds also contain Fucoxanthin, which reduces fat storage and uses excess fat as energy.
4. PINEAPPLE, KIWI, PAPAYA: contain an enzyme Protease, which breaks down protein and helps with digestive process. They also contain Potassium which helps dispose excess water, hence, prevents swelling/bloating.
5. LAMB, BEEF, OR RED PORK MEAT: contain…the famous “L-carnitine” which not only burns fat you recently take in but also the stored excess fat. It’s in red beef/pork meat, but even more so in lamb meat. Per 100 grams, lamb contains 2 times and mutton contains 6 times more L-carnitine than pork does. 

I hope now you have some backup plan and don’t be afraid to welcome the joy of feasts coming this year end!

Source: Gunosy news, July 17, 2014, written by 木土さや
Picture: http://www.sodahead.com, http://www.huffingtonpost.com

New Healthy Almond-milk Pudding!

I am a frequent investigator of convenience stores, especially Family Mart which seems to be everywhere: next to my apartment and in my office building. It has been long since I really found something sweet that I would crave but I spotted this milk pudding yesterday during hunting for my lunch at Famima. So yes, BOUGHT IT! Tried it too and I like it.

Why it’s good? 

1. So low in sugar!: only 3.3 g. which is about 77% less than the normal pudding in the market (I think it’s 77% sorry if I’m not precise)

2. Made from Almond milk: the flavor and smell is really nice and mild

3. Low calories: only 67 kcal! Could be a perfect little dessert after your meal! (totally guilt-free) Normal pudding would be about 120-150 kcal or more.

My opinion is that it’s really a good choice if you just look for something small to round up your meal. (or if you’re on a diet) But if you look for something more indulging and rich, full texture..this might not be for you.

BAKED KIT-KAT with new spins! 「焼きキットカット」の新食感！

Listen up Kit-kat lovers! You may already have heard – or have tried – the new innovation that Kit-Kat brought to the chocolate and snacks world: the toastable kit-kat. Just put them in the toaster (NOT the kind that bread is dropped vertically), and the surface will grill up a good smell.

That is already awesome for me! BUT Nestle Japan didn’t stop at that. Since January this year, it has launched a chocolate specialist store in the B1 floor of Seibu-Ikebukuro department store called “Kit-Kat chocolatory”. (Or I think that’s the English spelling) To prepare for this coming summer, it is about to launch a new menu – chocolate soft cream with baked Kit-Kat – from May 8th. Apart from cocoa power, the soft cream is to be made from original chocolate with more than 72% cocoa. The accompanying kit-kat would be the Pudding flavor which would give out the caramelized sensation once baked.

This new menu would be available everyday from 1 PM, only 300 units per day, priced at 600 yen.

source: http://news.ameba.jp/20140501-215/

Not only soft cream, but the toastable Kit-Kat attracted another well-known chain cafe like WIRED CAFE, Napoli Pizza、Strawberry cones、Moriva coffee to create a collaborated menu!

From March to August, our Pudding-flavored Kit-Kat would be incorporated with mango as the topping of pizza at Napoli Pizza.

At WIRED CAFE, Pudding kit-kat is mixed with granola, fruits, cheese cake, and vanilla ice-cream to give rise to “baked Kit-Kat ‘cara-melted Sundae” from May.

From April to August, Pudding kit-kat with mango makes its place on the Strawberry cones’ dessert pizza special menu . It can be enjoyed cold as well as hot!

And only until this 10th of May that you could enjoy the Kit-Kat sundae, with softcream, crunchy kit-kit and anglaise sauce at Moriva coffee!

 Source: http://woman.mynavi.jp/article/140331-188/

My favorite organic restaurant&cafe “From Hand to Mouth” : 「フロハン」というオーガニックのカフェ

Soooooo THIS IS MY NUMBER ONE CAFE OF ALL TIME IN TOKYO!
Whenever I had to go back home for a couple of months, the place I missed the most is this cafe with a funny name “From Hand to Mouth”. In Japanese, this would be soooo long that people shorten it to “Fu-ro-ha-n” or 「フロハン」(for From Hand..).

It’s located a few steps away to Nishi-waseda bus stop (if going by Toei Bus 学02), just at the corner to the west gate of Waseda campus of Waseda University (Yes my own uni!). If you go at lunch time, you might find it hard to find places to sit sometimes as this is one of the most popular hang-out, chatting, afternoon-tea-ing, catch-up-with-old-friend, spending-quality-time-alone place of girls! I hang out here nights and days during my time in uni, brought sooo many friends, ate almost all the dishes on the menu. I went there so much that I am currently at my THIRD membership card. If you are a member, you’ll get 50 yen discount for lunch time and after you complete one line on the card, you either get discount or exchange with something on the menu.

Enough for the advertising (actually no, but I guess you guys want to know now what’s amazing about it), let us go see what food it offers! First up, Lunch….3 main menus. (all for 880 yen – 830 yen for members)
A. Soup lunch: a daily soup filled with veggies and good-for-you protein, a BIG heap of fresh salad and original olive oil dressing, freshly baked on the day bread (which is different daily) and scrambled eggs. Oops! I forgot a piece of fruit (either apple or orange). Can’t ask for more. HEALTHY. CHOICE!

B. Curry lunch: Behold, this is NOT the typical Japanese curry since this is filled with beans and veggies on top of brown rice (with a mix of seeds and different kinds of wheat). A little portion of mango chutney is also placed neatly on one corner. A piece of fruit has its own place to wrap up the meal. This is very suitable for those who are extremely hungry and want something filling but good and hearty for the stomach.

C. Crape lunch: Maybe the most popular of all menus. Made to order crape (buckwheat flour) with 2 different fillings (changed daily too), topped with creamy yogurt dressing and black pepper. One would be Japanese filling and the other is a bit more Western which would definitely incorporate CHEESE!! A big heap of salad!!! and a piece of fruit. Oh goshhh sooooo amazing!

I can’t begin to say…Lunches here are equally tasty and nutritious so it really depends on your mood on the day. The dinner time also has sooo many more menus. My favorite is “Locomoco-don”（ロコモコ丼）890 yen. Two burger pieces made with different kinds of wheat and seeds mixed with minced beef (1/4 of the burger) topped with sweet-sour-tangy sauce (which…I’m telling you…is extremely addictive) together with big heaps of salad and small half-done sunny side-up egg. Nothing will ever win over this dish. I even dreamed about it once. Lol I went there and ordered this menu so often that the owner (who I frequented with) already knew what I were to order. I also changed the menu a little bit by asking for less portion of rice and volume up the salad with balsamic dressing instead of the yogurt dressing.

Check it out here! http://www.cafe-fhtm.com/index.html

This is the Lunch set B: Crape lunch

And….as you can see the bottom left and top right are the curry set, the bottom right is the soup set.

Give this place a try!!! AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! EVER!
PS: it is closed on sundays.

Love it!

Biscuit Sandwich at Chelsea Cafe ・チェルシーカフェのあの有名なビスケットサンド！

Those of you who live in Tokyo and watch lots of TV might already have heard of this new craze in Tokyo. It’s the biscuit sandwich menu from Chelsea cafe (famous TV location is at Shibuya Mark City branch)! Let’s follow this and know a bit more about it!

This photo is from the web page itself, which you can check it out here: http://www.dreamcorp.co.jp/cc/newpage1-index.html

Okay, maybe the same “Chelsea Cafe the Biscuit Sand” might sound a bit weird in the end as the full name should be Sandwich instead of Sand (which is directly and literally derived from “San-do” in Japanese). But I believe the name doesn’t really matter if you were there at the table looking at the plates on your nearby table. This signature dish is special in that it doesn’t use BREAD that’s normally associated with sandwich, instead it uses biscuits to give you the crispy and cracking sound you want at your first bite. This menu came about from Portland, US, itself, and made a big sensation in Japan recently. 

Let’s look closer at the main star: American biscuits filled with juicy original chicken nuggets, crispy fried bacon, and melting cheese, topped with creamy shrimp sauce AND paired with a big plate of salad. All for 980 yen?? in Tokyo?? This price sounds too good to be true for the amount. But then again…if this is what makes people queue in lines for hours, it is worth it. 

I almost forgot, they also turn this biscuit sandwich into dessert menu! There’s no way biscuits can go wrong with whipped cream and all those sweet fruits, isn’t it? ;D

After making frequent appearances on so many TV programs from Nihon-Terebi (日本テレビ) like “shuu-ichi” 『シューイチ』on Sunday morning, 『スッキリ!!』and『ZIP』on Weekdays morning and 『はなまるマーケット』on TBS-Terebi (TBSテレビ), etc. I’m sure you might want to call up to make some reservations or go there early to queue up – Japanese style! (Source from its own website).

You can also check out restaurant guide websites like Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13161333/dtlphotolst/1/smp0/D-normal/2/

 

All look like a great deal! Tell me if you have visited any branches!