Hardangervidda/Flåm/Jotunheimen trip

As I promised, I am coming back with little update about my recent weekend trip.

As 17th of May is Norwegian national day and it is free, as well as 20th of May, we had all 4 days for ourselves! :)

the beginning of Hardangervidda - national tourist road

We started our trip from passing Hardangervidda - mountain plateau, which - on this time of the year - is still covered in snow and ice. 

Hardangervidda in the mid of may ;)

 Hardangervidda is an extraordinary place, which will be ever more special for me now <3

Stalheim hotel and mountains around it. Photo from visitnorway.com

Stalheim hotel was another destination on our trip. The view from hotels terrace is amazing, as well as the route down (Stelheimskleiva) - the steepest route in Europe!

view from Stalheim's hotel

grill on our way to next trip destination

 

marinated chicken was on the menu ;)

grilled chicken sandwich

Next 2 days we spend in wonderful small city Flåm, which is a Norway in a nutshell for me. 

 

Flåm in the evening

It has fiord, beautiful and high mountains around, little wooden houses and many mountain pathways for hiking, cycling and skiing. 

Up in the mountains with the view on Nærfiord

 We managed to take a proper mountain trip which took us few hours and was approximately 10km long. And found local brewery very welcoming the same evening :) 
We felt so good in Flåm and the weather was so amazing that we had to force ourselves to leave this hospitable place... :)

beautiful view from Stegastein

 Aurland's viewpoint (Stegastein) was the next on our tour. The weather was perfect for climbing up in the hills (with car this time) and admire Nærfiord from above.

grilled salmon - yummy!

grilled salmon menu :)

mighty Jotunheimen Mountains

Last, but not least, we crossed Jotunheimen - the highest mountain range in Norway. This was spectacular! But, I have to admit, very scary at the same time! We were there almost alone and the scope of mountains was even overwhelming! On passing mountain shelters, we met professional Alpinists who were discovering Jotunheimen Mountains by foot (and skies).

waterfall in Jotunheimen mountains

Despite it were only 4 days, I totally relaxed, charged my batteries and had a wonderful, and very emotional :), time. It was all about relax, chill, love, celebration and splurging! Like a proper vacations should be :)

first ice creams this year ;)

"Nordic's kitchen" ;)

Yummy Saturday

After two intensive days I really enjoyed the slow Saturday full of good food.

Gymgrossisten is a Scandinavian shop with supplements

I was at the opening of new Grygrossisten shop in Oslo today and bought some zero calorie pasta and few protein bars.

today's arrivals: zero calories pasta and protein bars :)

I splurge us with delicious reindeer stew and simple and easy dinner - shrimps with garlic baguette.

dinner: stew with reindeer and quinoa

Delicious dinner: shrimps and garlic bread, yummy!

Healthy pizza again

Remember my post about simple pizza?

I did it again! :) 

This time I didn't use champignons, but paprika instead and no ham but minced chicken meat.
Again with light cheese and homemade pizza souse (half a box of chopped tomatoes with a spoon of tomato puree. 

so easy and good :)

Healthier version of traditional casserole

meat&pasta casserole in a heathier variation - but taste as good as original version :)

Traditional food not always have to be a huge calories bomb. I easy steps you can change each of your favourite traditional dishes into healthier variation, with the same wonderful taste. 

I am presenting it on an example of casserole, but you can relate this to any other kind of dish.

1. Meat

minced meat pre-fried on a pan

Choose that which is less in percentage of fat. That which is less than 10% will be ok. Choose wisely also type of meat which you use, especially when it is minced. Try to find the purest option (normally poultry is less in calories and fat than pork).

Pre-fry meat on a pan. Do not use any oil, it is unnecessary if you have a decent tefal frying pan. The idea of prey-frying is about making meat half-cooked, so you won't need some additional oil, because all the preparing process should take no more than 3 minutes.

2. The more veggies, the better

paprika - great source of vitamin C and it suits for almost every dish

Use whatever vegetables you want - from paprika til broccoli. Vegetables are full in vitamins&minerals, will give your casserole volume and there are really low in calories.

3. Pasta

Choose whole grain pasta. It will make you fell fed longer. Use only a half of standard portion of pasta, and fill the other part with veggies. Your body would thank you for that. 

Or mix whole grain pasta with some low carb pasta. Why only half? You need some carbs as well as proteins. So cutting out all the carbs, in my option, is not necessary.

4. Souse

Heinz chopped and canned tomatoes

Instead of using a ready souse, use chopped tomatoes. It would be perfect to use fresh one and chopped them yourself, but you can also use those from the can. 

ready to prepare tamato souse

You will only have to spiced it and you will get great home made souse. And you are adding another portion of vegetables to your dish! :)

5. Cheese

cheddar cheese

No casserole without cheese, huh? If you want to use a cheese you have to options - either use a low fat cheese (but check if it is not full in artificial additives) or use a smaller amount of normal cheese but with a very distinctive taste (like cheedar, parmesan and other). 
Cheese should be only an icing on the cake, not the dish itself ;)

6. Quantity trick

one portion pan and normal size pan

Even if you are already able to make a healthier version of the dish, that doesn't mean that you have to eat a whole oven pan of it! 
Each additional calorie, even from the good source, is an additional calorie - without exception!

That is why you may consider preparing your dishes in different sizes dishes. I have plenty of frying pans in different sizes. The best bought was this cute one-person oven pans. It fits perfectly for only one serving and - by using that - I am sure that I will eat only what I suppose it!

7. Roast everything

Put a ready casserole to the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. Roasting doesn't require additional oil and it is one of the heatlhiest meal preparing method. 

Eating healthy should be fun, tasty and colourful. Eating healthy do not need boring dishes, tasteless soups and rumbling stomach. As long as you will keep it positive, your body and mind will follow :)

Today's 4 training sessions

Hello 10 kg barbell!

It is one of these days which are physically demanding. I had 4 (four!) training session today:

* begin with choreography training in the aerobic sal (30 min.)
* did my weight training (shoulders day) (30 min.)
* take an aerobic class (60 min.)
* take a yoga class (60 min.)

Just to let you know, I do not recommend that long and demanding training for everyone. My job required two of these activities today (choreography training and aerobic class). With a 'normal' training routine there should be only weight training, eventually followed by some cardio.

However - I am tired but very satisfied with this training day! I burned 720 calories in 3 hours.

Training

Today's shoulders training contained of:

* dumbell shoulder press 3x12 4kg
   superset 1x20 3kg

* barbell upright row (my favourites shoulders exercise!) 3x12 10 kg 
   superset 1x25 6kg

* seated rear lateral raise 3x12 4kg

  

* arnold press 3x12 4kg
   superset 1x20 3kg

These arms might hurt tomorrow ;)

Four exercises for stronger and toned shoulders! :)

Food

Nutrition is crucial in such days like this one. Body has to have fuel and energy though! 

Today's lunch omelette with light cheese&ham, toast with smoked salmon, spinach and paprika

Today there was a time for a wonderful lunch at home. I prepared omelette from 1 egg and 2 egg whites with light cheese and ham. On a side I had a toast with smoked salmon, fresh baby spinach and paprika.

Pre-workout meal (instead of dinner today) - oats, yoghurt, pear, seeds

1,5 hour before training I ate well balanced meal which contains whole grain carbs, lean proteins and fats.
In this case it was oatmeal with light Kesam (something between yoghurt and homogenised cheese) with scoop of protein powder (for taste), PB2 (powdered peanut butter), pear and sunflower&pumpkin seeds.

My BCAA set ;) This particular one was bought in Poland.

BCAA (branched chain amino acids) before training and... I am ready to rock!

And what the hell is BCAA?

BCAAs are are the essential aminos leucine, isoleucine, and valine. It is a large topic to write about, but shortly - it prevents muscles from catabolism, enhancing performance and also helps in fat loss (only with right fat loss diet and exercises). 
Summing up - it preserves your muscles while training and after training. 
That is why BCAA should be consumed before and after hard trainings. In my case I am skipping the "after" part, because my protein shake already has this acids and there is no need of double intake. 

Why do I exercise?

Before friday's aerobic class in Sport og Mosjon

Some might ask that question. I found my passion and I so dedicated to it. The fact that I can earn money from that passion made my very lucky person!

So.. why do I exercise?

Energy level is hiiigh!

First of all for THAT FEELING. Feeling of enthusiasm after hard workout, when the endorphins goes all over my body. Feeling of doing something good for you body, but especially - psyche. Good seat is a remedy for daily worries.

2 hours and 870 calories burned from yesterday's workout! :D

Secondly to SEE THAT RESULTS. Whether there are burned calories or repetitions in some exercise, I always want to to more and better. Satisfaction after achieving it is priceless.

September form

Thirdly to SHAPE MY BODY UP - make it looks better and better. There is always something to work with :)  

Shrimps fried with butter and garlic

Fourth to EAT such a post-workout meal like that one above! Yesterday's supper was shrimps with fresh garlic with salad and baguette with garlic butter. 

Sweety&happy

And what is your reason for exercising? 
If it is only about loosing weight, you should change something in your trainings routine that it will gives you  more pleasure and other benefits :)

Fast food

Or should I rather use term 'quick food'?

When friends are comming with visit, there are always man things to do and no time to spend in the kitchen. It is the time for smart, quick and fast food.

Fish&pasta casserole  

Quick and filling casserole

For dinner, which quickly can be reheat, I prepared fish&pasta casserole. 

Salmon, cod and pollock pre-fried together on a pan for 5 minutes

I pre-fried (without oil) different types of fishes: cod, salmon and pollock. 

Fishes and veggies mixed together

Then I mixed it with vegetables and cooked whole grain pasta.
I added Lofotensouce to spoil all the ingredients and cheese on the top.

I roasted casserole for about 30 minutes in 200 degrees in the oven.

Lomper taco

For dinner (but it can be any other meal) I just served taco set which everyone can compose their selves.

Taco set ready to make!

This type of dinner is very popular in Norway right now! 
I didn't made ground meat thought, but served variety of hams, salad, paprika, different kind of cheeses (classic, cream and cottage) with different souses  - garlic, ketchup and raspberry jam with no sugar added. 

I choose heathier option than classic wheat tortillas. Instead of that we used norwegian lompers made from  selt flour. My favourite mix is a sweet taco - with cottage cheese and jam :)