Soup of beetroot, parsnip, black beans and garlic with sour cream and vegetable chips.
45 min | 4 portions | Post-Run;
This recipe is cooked especially during quarantine. If you don’t have a quarantine on hand, you can make a pot for the moment when you are getting ready to train or when you invite your friends to visit.
The parsley flavor will be as strong as that of Anise and the beans will give it a pleasant consistency and the vegetable chips will make the soup crispy. Unexpected.
INGREDIENTS:
400 g parsnip
400 g beetroot
2 shallot
2 toe garlic
30 g unsalted butter or margarine
El aniseed
1 liter vegetable stock of tablet
800 g black beans tin of 400 g, drained
125 g sour cream
100 g Vegetable Chips
DESCRIPTION:
Peel the parsnips and beets and cut into 2 cm pieces. Chop the shallots and finely chop the garlic.
Heat the butter in a (soup) pan and fry the shallot and aniseed for 3 minutes on low heat. Add the parsnip, beet and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes on low heat.
Put the beans in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Drain. Remove the pan from the heat and puree the soup with the hand blender.
Put back on the fire and add the beans. Heat for another 5 minutes on low heat. Season with pepper.
Divide the soup over the bowls. Spoon 1 tbsp sour cream in each bowl and serve with the vegetable chips.
Gazpacho! The chilled, raw tomato and vegetable soup from Andalusia, Spain. Ever had it? Love it? Hate it? I can’t say I’ve always loved it, but if you get it right, gazpacho can be so good.
At its best, gazpacho is super refreshing and bursting with fresh-from-the-garden summer flavors. At its worst, gazpacho tastes like chunky cold salsa or thin tomato juice, neither of which do I particularly enjoy.
I wanted a texture somewhere in between the two, and far superior flavor. The trick, I discovered, is to blend half of ingredients into creamy oblivion. Then, add the other half and blitz until they break into tiny pieces. You’ll end up with a delicious, rich base, with tiny pieces of tomatoes, cucumber and pepper adding intrigue.
INGREDIENTS:
900g/2lb large yellow tomatoes, halved;
½ cucumber, peeled deseeded and diced;
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced;
100g 3 ½ oz red cherry tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
3 large spring onions finely chopped
1-2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped;
2tbsp wine vinegar;
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling;
4 garlic cloves ;
½ tbsp sea salt flakes plus extra to taste ;
1/4 tsp pepper, plus extra to taste;
1/4 tsp sugar;
small handful basil leaves shredded, to garnish;
garlic croutons, to serve;
METOD:
1. Scoop out the seeds and juice from yellow tomatoes;
2. Pass the seeds and juice through a sieve set over a bowl. Chop the flesh and add to the bowl;
3. Set aside 4 tablespoons each of the cucumber and yellow pepper. Set aside all of the chopped cherry tomatoes;
5. Tip into a food processor. Process, craping down frequently, for 2 minutes, until very smooth. Pour back into the bowl;
6. Put the garlic into a mortar with the salt and crush with a pestle. Stir into the tomato mixture with the pepper and sugar. Chill for seceral hours until really cold;
7. Check the seasoning, adding more saltand pepper as necessary. Ladle intp chilled soup plates or bowls;
8. Top with the reserved yellow pepper, the cucumber and the cherry tomatoes;
Traditional gazpacho blends in white bread for body, but I found that it diluted the flavor. I also didn’t enjoy straining the gazpacho through a fine sieve afterward. Blending up the produce with olive oil produces a rich, creamy emulsion that has plenty of body, no sieve required.
That means that this easy gazpacho recipe is gluten free and full of good-for-you fiber thanks to the unfiltered vegetables.
Blending options
If you’re in a hurry or want a totally smooth gazpacho, by all means, blend everything together at once (see the recipe notes for details on this shortcut).
I prefer my gazpacho with some texture. That’s why the recipe instructs you briefly blitz some of the ingredients into the soup instead of blending them all together at once.
If you love chunky gazpacho, you could just barely blend them into the soup.
Gazpacho needs time to chill
All good gazpachos need to spend a couple of hours in the refrigerator. This gives the flavors time to fully develop, and the soup time to chill completely.
Recommended garnishes
Chop and reserve some of the ingredients for garnishing the soup later (see steps 1 and 2). It’s an extra step, but it’s worth the trouble if you want the beautiful gazpacho you see here.
I was all googly-eyed over the food and plating in Madrid a couple of months ago, so I wanted to present Spanish gazpacho in its full glory.
Last winter, before the „Running School” Workshop in Cluj, Viorica gave me a magnesium oil as a gift. About 2 years before at Apuseni Ultra, Toma spoke to me for almost an hour about the benefits of magnesium and how it enriches its water with this mineral.
I didn’t really know much about magnesium but I knew that due to the lack of magnesium you can get muscle cramps. To prevent this, we consume before the more serious competitions (Marathon 7500, CiucasX3) Magne B6.
I was doing a kind of pre-competitive loading. Now I realize that he was not doing much because he only has 100mg of magnesium although the recommended daily dose is 420mg.
If you have the patience to read the article for another 3 minutes, you will also know how you can add extra magnesium to your body and why it is good to do so!
Do you need a running coach?
Let me apply to you everything I learned: workouts, nutrition, plans.
Magnesium is one of the most important minerals present in the body where about 24 grams of magnesium is found. About 49% is stored in the bones and about the same in the intracellular space, ie inside the cell.
About 1% of the total magnesium is found in the blood.
Magnesium is needed and intervenes in over 300 enzymatic processes in the body, relaxes muscles, and helps regenerate nerves. You don’t have the “nerves” caused by your wife or girlfriend, but those that make your muscles work better.
Very few people consume it in sufficient proportions because it is no longer found in such high concentrations in the fruits and vegetables we eat. Although the recommended daily dose is only 420mg / day for men and 320mg / day for women; it is very rare to have too much magnesium in the body so do not worry that you will exceed this level.
!!! When consuming magnesium, be careful when installing therapeutic effects before laxatives. Let me explain.
Although there are many supplements or foods rich in magnesium, it is not absorbed 100% of what is written on the label. If a product has 200mg of magnesium, a maximum of 40mg of magnesium can be absorbed.
The absorption rate is very low. And the difference reaches the intestines and produces diarrhea !!
SIGNS THAT YOU NEED MORE MAGNESIUM:
A magnesium deficiency can cause cramps, excessive fatigue, low strength, interrupted sleep, a weakened immune system, depression, and even fatal heart arrhythmias during intense training.
Low energy;
Insomnia;
Constipation;
Frequent headaches;
Cramps;
Low bone density;
High pulse;
Type II diabetes;
Variable Heart Rate;
Noise sensitivity, depression, and anxiety;
MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENTS
You’ve probably heard that the Epsom salt bath makes you feel more relaxed, lowers muscle tension, and gets rid of calcium ions accumulated in muscle tissue during workouts. This is because Epsom salt contains magnesium sulfate, which is the active component that produces all these effects.
But concentrated magnesium chloride is even more effective than Epsom salt.
Why is pure magnesium so effective for recovery? As you read this article, you stored magnesium in your muscles and bones. This mineral is essential in hundreds of reactions.
Several important studies have shown that magnesium has a lactic acid attenuating effect, lowering the pulse and producing carbon dioxide during heavy exercise and improving cardiovascular efficiency.
Moreover, magnesium supplementation can increase your testosterone level and muscle strength by up to 30%.
Seeds, nuts, cereals, vegetables can be sources of magnesium but active people who consume these foods may be deficient in magnesium because intense sports activity can impoverish the body of this mineral.
Unfortunately, an oral supplement may not fully compensate for this deficiency. From personal experience, the amount of magnesium taken orally should be limited to about 1000 mg/day in several doses.
Unfortunately, magnesium is not easily absorbed and more of it causes diarrhea.
Even if the use of magnesium (for example that of magnesium citrate powder) is certainly helpful, a better idea for providing the dose of magnesium necessary for the proper functioning of the body is the local use of magnesium oil.
To speed up recovery you can apply up to 12 magnesium puffs before or after training on tired muscles after showering with hot water and your pores are still open.
MY ROUTINE WITH MAGNESIUM
Knowing all these things I do now after long runs, more demanding workouts, or competitions?
Daily, after the shower I apply up to 12 puffs of magnesium oil on my feet; (100mg of magnesium) – Thank you Viorica!
After demanding training or competitions I take a marine magnesium pill; (330mg magnesium) – Thanks Tei pharmacy!
When I bathe in the bathtub I add magnesium chloride; (500mg magnesium) – Thanks Thomas;
Consume foods rich in magnesium (nuts, seeds);
It is important to keep track of the number of magnesium supplements you take orally, otherwise, you will spend a lot of time on the toilet. I also tell from personal experience.
Find out how to increase the amount of iron in your blood when the results of the tests show you low sideropenia and many other curiosities about this metal that is very important in physical performance.
You did your tests and found that you had low sideropenia. You already knew, or you googled and found out that sideropenia = the presence of iron in the blood.
What do you do when you find out that your blood iron level is not enough? Before we see how important iron in the blood is and what its role is, let’s provide a context.
The true value of iron is provided by oxygen and the optimal use of oxygen is due to the amount of iron in the blood. One hand washes the other.
If you are in the fog, I hope you understand by the end how the “factory” works.
IMAGINATION EXERCISE NO.1:
If we isolated every substance that makes up our body, we would see that more than 80% of the body is oxygen – O2. I mean, if you weigh 70 pounds, about 43 pounds is O2. That way, you get an idea of how important Oxygen is.
All cells in the human body need oxygen. It is an important element both for the functioning of the cells and for keeping them at an optimal level. For everything to work as well as possible, oxygen goes through 3 stages:
It must be taken from the outside environment;
Transported by blood;
Delivered to various parts of the body;
In the first stage, oxygen reaches the lungs from the outside environment, where oxygen is transferred from the lungs to the blood.
Then, in the transport stage, the red cells intervene, whose presence is crucial, as is the amount of iron that exists on them.
Hemoglobin molecule decorated with iron shuttles
I say them because iron settles on hemoglobin like candy on a Christmas tree.
When oxygen sticks to the iron molecule, the blood has a light red color. Think of red cell hemoglobin as a space shuttle carrying up to 4 passengers (oxygen molecules).
This makes iron an important vital mineral: that it settles on hemoglobin and transports oxygen from the tank (lungs) throughout the plant (body).
The iron space shuttle, seen up close
Before you go any further, you need to know that there is a balance, a very well-developed system for adjusting the amount of iron absorbed from food and that absorbed from storage.
WHAT DOES AN IRON-RICH DIET MEAN?
Large amounts of iron in the diet do not guarantee a good level of iron. This is due to the fact that iron absorption is complex and influenced by many factors. The most important of these is the type of iron.
In the current diet, iron comes in two forms: heme iron and non-heme iron.
Heme iron is found in meat, fish, and poultry Non-heme iron comes from bread and cereals, vegetables, and fruits.
Between 25-35% of heme iron is absorbed from the intestine, compared to only 2-15% of non-heme iron. So you need to eat considerably more non-heme iron to absorb the same amount. Therefore, eating red meat (which contains the most iron) or fish or poultry can really increase iron absorption. It is important to eat a variety of foods that contain non-heme iron for a good long-term iron level. Good sources for this type of non-heme iron:
beans;
lentils;
tofu;
Easter;
breakfast cereals (many of them are iron-fortified),
the bread;
rice;
eggs;
dried fruits, nuts and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peas and beans). In fact, most of our dietary iron comes from non-heme sources, such as bread and cereals.
For a healthy diet, women are advised to eat five servings of vegetables, two servings of fruit, six servings of bread and cereals, 2.5 servings of meat and 2.5 servings of milk per day.
It is possible to get 18 mg of iron if you follow these recommendations and if you include iron-fortified cereals for breakfast, which serves as a portion of bread / cereal, a portion of large green leafy vegetables such as spinach and a portion of meat, chicken or fish in the “meat” category.
Another key strategy when you have low sideropenia is to increase your body’s ability to absorb iron.
Foods rich in vitamin C are well known to increase iron absorption; so include them at every meal in the form of fresh fruits, vegetables and salads.
Other foods that help absorb iron are: lemon juice, vinegar and alcohol.
IMAGINATION EXERCISE NO.2:
We have a one-kilogram beef steak. It has about 30 mg of iron. Of the 30 mg, a maximum of 9 mg will be absorbed in the small intestine.
The remaining amount of iron will be removed. The maximum absorption from food is 25-35% and the daily requirement of iron: 8 mg/day in men 15-18 mg/day in athletes; If iron deposits, more precisely ferritin and hemosiderin deposits, decrease, the absorption in the digestive tract will increase.
If this setting does not work, it will lead to excessive disorders and absorption of iron, which, in large quantities, uncontrolled, becomes toxic.
If the erythrocytes do not have enough iron (UFO shuttles on them), not enough O2 will reach the muscles. It means that the performance decreases or is not optimal. TO KNOW! Iron absorption is competitive with Magnesium and Zinc. That is, one inhibits the other. It is either magnesium/zinc / other minerals or Iron.
WHEN DOES SMALL SIDEROPENIA OCCUR – IRON DEFICIENCY OR LOSSES?
You end up with low sideropenia in situations such as:
Insufficient iron intake from food;
Hemolysis – when you run there is a mechanical shock between the sole and the hard contact surface (asphalt/tape/tartan) and the blood vessels are destroyed. This destroys a large number of red blood cells. These are in limited numbers, and their restoration takes about 80 days;
Loss of red blood cells -> loss of hemoglobin -> loss of iron;
Iron loss can also be caused by bleeding (menstruation in women, hemorrhoids in men);
Blood donations;
vegetarian, vegan, or a diet in which iron is not well absorbed;
MANIFESTATIONS IN CASE OF SMALL SIDEROPEMIA / IRON ANEMIA
Low energy level;
Reduction of immunity – accentuated by intense effort; (that’s why, for example, I catch a cold very often after an ultramarathon)
Attention deficit;
Nervousness;
BEWARE OF OXALIC ACID! It inhibits the absorption of iron!.
