Archive for category health
Insoles
I got myself some new insoles a while back. For just over the price of a 16 GB i-pod Nano I decided to get myself something that will help my feet to feel better and getting rid of my shin splints.
When I look back to 2001/2002 I used to run for 2 1/2 hours – slow but steady – and used to be very fit. However, after moving to London and mainly running on tarmac the pain in my legs got worse. I managed to train properly for about 2 months prior to our wedding in 2007 but since had problems returning to run on a regular basis.
According to my massage therapist Profeet is the solution. Profeet measured my feet, video-taped me running with and without shoes and also measured my footprint whilst running.
Based on that analysis I got new insoles for my trainers within 30 minutes and started using them in the gym. First results were horrifying as I was not aware that I had to break the insoles in slowly. Now, after a few weeks, I am rotating between my old and these new insoles with the result that over Easter I managed to run for 6K without any pain. That is, from my point of view, a huge progress.
So my next aim is to get running and manage a 10K run around end of May time. Keep your fingers crossed 
Keep on running, Forrest!
Tai Chi (2)
I got a book about Tai Chi now, Yang Tai Chi Chuan, by John Hine.
I find it interesting reading and that the Tai Chi style I am learning is a figure that takes about 15 minutes to do, has 315 moves, and is one figure as a whole. Other Tai Chi forms seem to split it up in different figures, see earlier entry about Tai Chi.
I was reading about Chi and the martial arts, differentiating between 3 internal martial arts:
1) Tai Chi Chuan
Tai Chi is about deep relaxation of the body so that our energy can flow within the body. Particularly in self defense, you can use an explosive force (Jing) that is soft but with penetrating power.
2) Hsing Yi
For this style you need to be all relaxed and natural. Jing here is more like a piece of bamboo, flexible but with shocking force. Like a cannon ball. The fighting strategy of Hsing Yi is more assertive than of 1) Tai Chi Chuan. Therefore, you could argue that Hsing Yi could be more direct, offensive in use and uses straight and circular punches, palm strikes, elbow, shoulder, head butt, kicking both high and low, and throwing.
3) Pa Kua Chang
The movements here are not as forceful. The footwork and movement is compared to that of a dragon, light as a bird with the elusive quality of a snake. It is more defensive than 2) Hsing Yi, with more foot work in total as it seems. The movement, 8 actions for each 8 trigrams, place the man and his action in context with the cosmos.
Reading through that, I believe that Tai Chi Chuan is the right form for me.
The founder seems to be a Taoist monk, Chan San Feng. Living around 1000 A.D., however the first historical mention of Tai Chi was in the 17th century.
Yang Lu Chan worked for the Chen family and got caught secretly watching and practising their Tai Chi technique. He later founded his own style.
Very interesting stories and insight into the Chinese martial arts history. A pleasure to practise and very good for my health. So killing 2 birds with one stone really, gently of course
Volker
Night out in London town
Posted by Volker in food & drink, health, personal, restaurant review, wine on March 25, 2009
I know, whilst I am more the “settled down” type, who isn’t really in heading out in London, a good friend of mine and fellow MBA graduate likes to show me around in London now and again to point out new places.
Here we go: Banburi – a nice little Thai restaurant that reminded me of Wagamama a bit. More the atmosphere than the food, because the food at Banburi was great. The calamari as a side dish and the monk fish green curry was excellent. Summa summarum only £35 for 2, including a glass of wine 
Afterwards I could be convinced – ok it didn’t take much – to go for a glass of wine. As you know, I am familiar with wine bars in London, and just off Oxford Circus you can find one of the Davy’s places called Chopper Lump.
I had a nice French wine (I know, hard to admit ), a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Tannat. Not exactly sure what it was called but it is their weekly offer, “Pelleut” or something similar.
Overall, a very nice evening. Thank you L. and hopefully see you soon.
Any recommendations for good food places are always appreciated
Volker
Stress Management – Working Out
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, health, performance, personal on March 19, 2009
As it happens, and I have written a lot about stress management lately, my new Buddhist Chanting CDs arrived. Wow, super easy listening and makes me much more productive whilst working on proposals and presentations!
However, I found an article in the Metro again, this time about “Busy working, so no workout” – what is that about.
Well, it says that 4 out of 5, e.g. 80%, of all London workers only exercise half an hour a week instead of 4 hours. The latter is the recommended amount. The poll was amongst 2,500 employees from Fitstart.com. It showed that only 7% worked out correctly and the reason for it is….TIME!
Who would have guessed? Working hours in the UK are longer than anywhere else in Europe.
Working week figures, thanks to the Economist!
So managing stress becomes more important, particularly if you are working at lot and long hours. Sitting in front of a laptop/computer all day does not help. You need to achieve the work life balance needed by exercising regularly.
How am I personally doing? Not too bad, but could do better.
I go to the gym twice a week, on average a 45 minutes work out, plus 1 hour Tai Chi a week. Totalling just about 2.5 hours. Counting the escalators at Victoria and Kings Cross twice a day, I might even make it to 3 hours a week Not bad, is it? Not achieving my 10,000 steps every day. Currently sitting around 7,500 steps on average.
So overall, I should not complain. An enjoyable job, regular exercise and a healthy attitude to life Stress Management I guess!
Wine Bars London
Posted by Volker in health, personal, restaurant review, wine on March 17, 2009
I was reading my Decanter wine magazine about wine bars in London. Not long ago I was looking for some and couldn’t find any. Thinking of Heidelberg and nice cellars with huge kegs and nice food – but not in London.
As you might have noticed I write a bit about wine, my favourite ones are red. Just earlier on I ordered Yalumba, The Menzies, Coonawarra, Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. The 2005 was recommended by Decanter but I couldn’t find it 
£25/bottle.
Anyhow, the 2 recommended places are:
Vinoteca – 7 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4AA.
Looking at their wine list, it seems to be definitely worthwhile a trip over there.
The 2nd one is Terroirs at Trafalgar Square, 5 William IV Street, WC2N 4DW.
Jamie wrote about it in his blog about wine.
Nothing of course can compare to the oldest wine bar in London, Gordon’s wine bar at Charing Cross. Unfortunately too many tourists and always busy but definitely worth a trip if you have not been.
And, Ebury Wine Bar also serves excellent French food! Roasted Garlic with Pitta Bread and a nice wine list. Not far from Victoria a nice place to take your wife for diner!
Catering for all occasions: Davy’s Winebars. The one at London Bridge, Skinkers, is the one I most often visited.
There is another one just off Leicster Square, downstairs. Unfortunately I don’t remember the name but I am sure it is Cork and Bottle. They have most of the Yalumba selection there to try.
Just off the Strand is another place. Between a bistro, wine bar and gastropub. However, I really don’t remember the name for that one.
As you can see, over the last few years I came across a few good places to drink wine – even or particularly in London. It is one of those cities, where it takes time to find the hidden treasures.
Veggies for the garden
Posted by Volker in food & drink, health, house, personal on March 11, 2009
Wow, my veggies I planted the other days are growing like mad.
Broccoli, Radish, Salad, Beans, Courgettes and Carrots. Yummy.
Cannot wait to put them outside.
Lent
Ok. I have thought a lot about what I should be giving up for lent and if I should give anything up at all.
To be fair, I keep thinking why should I give anything up at all? It is my life and I am not Christian and there is no need to show good will, because I have shown good will over the last few weeks since I started posting about it.
For the last 15 days, I have not eaten any chocolate. That means, I will continue to do so until 11th of April.
Coffee is a different thing and I will refuse to give it up. However, for the last 15 days I have restricted myself to only about 2 mugs a day. I will continue to control my coffee intake.
What about alcohol? This would be the easiest to give up IF we didn’t live in a society where you feel obliged to have a drink most times you go to a pub. Whilst this is sad, I vow that for the next 40 days I will not drink Mondays-Thursdays unless there are functions or social events where I can almost not avoid drinking.
So what does it come down to? A compromise really. Based on my new less stressful life – long it may continue – I will continue going to the gym and aim to lose some weight over the next few months.
Would that work? Or am I chicken out?
Managing Stress (2)
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, change management, health, personal on February 20, 2009
I want to complete the story about managing stress which I started on Wednesday.
How do we cope and manage stress so it does not affect our health nor our life style?
I guess one thing is the perception and your internal attitude towards things.
E.g. researchers still speak about negative and positive stress and some say that the latter should actually help us, similar to exercise. But the majority of articles say that it does not matter how you perceive stress, as in general it cannot be good for you.
However, if you think positive, you will be able to generate less stress. E.g. you cramp up less and you have less physical tension. That will help you to think clearly and get less wound up.
Exercise and hobbies – you remember in my last post I was writing about them. Yes, you need this all important time for yourself. You need that time and ideally combine it with a relaxing hobby, e.g. walking the dog or exercising. The latter combination would be best as e.g. exercising reduces your blood pressure combating heart diseases and if it helps you to reduce stress, it is a powerful healthy combination. Wow, we should all do it. I have done it but get too lazy doing it. Really, we just need to keep up the good work, don’t we? Ideally do it in a group. The group exercises I joined are more fun and you are more motivated staying with it than doing any exercise by yourself.
So looking after yourself, taking a break from work, not working through lunch and relaxing whilst you work will help you. Healthy food definitely contributes to that. Stay away from greasy, fatty stuff.
Also, if you were in a situation that causes stress, confront it. This could be anything from work to your relationship. Don’t ignore the problem. Make sure if you travel to sort things out in advance and not to leave it until it is too late, e.g. be organised to get your passport, visa and immunisations sorted!
And, that is really it. Doesn’t sound that hard, does it?
I believe that in order to successfully manage stress you need to be aware of the problem, discuss and tackle it and get on with it. You need to create a healthy work life balance. With the right balance you will even be better at what you are doing, e.g. your work or studies.
So get on with it. Live it!
Managing Stress (1)
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, change management, health on February 18, 2009
You might have guessed. I keep talking about stressful days, times at work and my love for work for a while. On the other hand I am talking about how much I love it. Contradiction? NO!
I love what I am doing and how much I am doing of it but I often get carried away and forget all about work life balance.
But, I noticed that some days stress can get to me. Some days more than others and I thought, what is missing in my life that has been there before?
- exercise
- hobbies
Overall, it comes down to my hobbies being what I love most: work at my main job and cb consulting, working on my blogs and websites.
Excercis: yes, I have neglected it too long and have to get back to a routine. And, I will! Not only did I start Tai Chi, but I also started going back to the gym. First once a week and I want to increase it to twice a week. As they say, the ant cannot eat the elephant in a day, it needs to have a bite at a time. Be patient Volker!
My friend at Balamadana says: Volker, I have known you for years and I believe you have all the right intentions but something gets in your way. You need to change and you will…. – and, he is right. It is about time.
Enough of a self analysis. I am neither stressed nor strained but I believe I sometimes let things get to me and do not switch off as easily as I used to. In uni for instance I had my hour exercise a day plus was less bothered about things. Guess that is what people say about student life, don’t they.
So, in this post about “managing stress” I want to see what stress is. Is there such a thing? What about positive or negative stress. Most of mine is positive but if you ask a doctor it still has the same effect on your body.
Oxford Brookes University published a nice website explaining:
Adaptive stress helps us rise to life’s challenges. Adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and glucose flow into our blood: we get a buzz of energy and feel alert, focused, and creative. Negative stress occurs when our ability to cope with life’s demands crumbles. If we don’t break down the stress chemicals (e.g. through physical activity) they stay in the blood, preventing us from relaxing. Eventually this results in a permanent state of stress. That initial buzz turns to worry, irritability or panic. Challenges become threats; we doubt our ability to do even simple things and problems appear insurmountable.
Wow, that sounds like a downward spiral. There are so many things that cause stress. I remember me not being able to cope with high speed drives after the experience of a car accident. And sometimes I cannot stand loud noise or when our neighbours used to be noisy at 4 am in the morning, that really caused stress.
There are 3 factors how stress affects us:
Physically: our heart beats faster, our blood pressure increases, muscle tension, butterflies in your stomach and faster breathing…..
Mentally:you might start having “weirder thoughts” or cannot “think straight”. Worrying is probably the main effect, and negative thoughts.
Emotionally: Fear, frustration, impatience, anxiety, insecurity and depression.
So how do we cope best with stress? I write about that the next time.
New addition to my Whisky collection
Posted by Volker in food & drink, health, personal on January 31, 2009
Yes, I could not resist today.
I bought myself a nice bottle of Ardbeg whisky which was long overdue in my small collection. The Whisky Exchange at London Borough Market, description, has one of the best collection of whiskys in London!
Uigeadail
A fine drop of Ardbeg bottled at cask strength.It`s an earthy whisky with a bit of spice – a marriage of Ardbeg from bourbon barrel and sherry butt which gives a sweet and smokey finish to this malt at 54.2%. Uigeadail is the loch from which all Ardbeg water flows and you can suck up the Islay landscape with a dram of this fine whisky. Winner of World Whisky of The Year title in Jim Murray`s 2009 Whisky Bible.
Wow, isn’t that a beauty to describe an award winning whisky. And, it tastes lovely sweetish, peaty and a smooth aftertaste. Definitely a whisky to share in this cold weather.
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