Saying NO!

I’ve never had problem before saying NO to people/request and I didn’t understand people who has problem with that. Well… until recently, until I saw myself struggling, stressed out simply because I was afraid to say NO and to put a limit to abusive people around me. Why it’s hard to say no? Because we’re afraid of what others might think about us, we’re afraid of the consequences if we say no to them, because we want to feel useful. But you know what? NONE of these is more important than our SPIRIT, our MORALE. If they can’t accept it, it’s their problem, not ours. We need to put ourselves in FIRST priority.

I’ve been having this problem lately and it has been hard. Yesterday I finally made the decision and declined the request. It was liberating!!! 😆

Variations of How to Say no (source)

Plain No: All you do is say no and move on. This is the least effective of the various techniques.

Mirroring No: This variation involves sympathy where you communicate an understanding of the person’s situation and follow it up with your declining statement. Your child’s sports coach asks you to be the team manager. You could respond with a mirroring no by saying, “I understand your after a team manager. It must be tough trying to organize the team… but I won’t be the team manager this season.”

Reason-why No: Many studies have proven that if a person provides a reason for carrying out an action then the action is more likely to be accepted. If a charity worker asks for a donation you can say, “No I won’t donate because I’ve donated to another organization last week” or “No I won’t donate because I don’t want to.” The second example’s reason for not donating seems stupid but even though no new information was provided the reason adds persuasive power.

Delayed No: Just say “You’ll get back to them at a later time.” In the mean time, the person may find someone else to do the job or the problem may have been solved.

Conditional No: You state the conditions that you would accept the person’s request and if these conditions aren’t met you will decline their request. Only use this technique if you are willing to accept the request. The person may end up adjusting the initial request for you under your listed conditions which will put the burden on you to follow the adjusted request. Your child’s sports coach again asks you to be the team manager and you respond with, “I will be the team manager if you can guarantee that it requires no more than 2 hours of work a week. If not, I’ll have to say ‘no’.”

Painful No: This variation of saying no involves stating the future pain the person would receive if you declined their request at a later time. Your boss asks you to take on an extra assignment and you reply with, “For both our sake I’m going to say no. The quality of my work declines when I’m not focused on one assignment and I don’t want to give you bad work, hurt my position here at the company, and as a result make you get someone else to redo the assignment at a later date.”

Respectful No: Firstly, use one of the above variations. If the person persists with their request then use the respectful no variation. What you say communicates your wishes for the person to respect your decision. An example is “Please don’t make the same request again. I’ve said ‘no’ so can you please accept that?” Do this with “soft” body language so you don’t come across as aggressive.

These are useful tips, I wish I’ve read them earlier 😉

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First oatmeal this summer (or end of it): blueberries + AB + flax meal + blueberries, topped with cottage cheese

mmmmm……it was good but I still prefer some bread now

Throw together salad continued: lettuce, tomato, steamed broccoli, mozzarella, 3 tbsp olive + 1 tbsp balsamic.

and steamed corn. Enjoyed watching TV at home! 😀 Working at home is good! . 🙂

I know some lady likes sweet dessert… but I don’t have sweet tooth, so I had edamame instead  😉

Took a powerful 30 min nap and back to work! 😀 Working at home is good x 2 😆

I didn’t feel like snacking anything solid, so I made a black rice and lotus seed drink

look how many drinks I had in my desk

I went to the gym for 40 min ET while watched the night news (fancy gyms are good! ;)) and a power yoga class. It’s indeed a gym yoga class, a lot of flow and core work at the end, and lady gaga music as background. Yeah~ picture it… doing yoga with lady Gaga’s song.

Dinner time!!! FIRST HOMEMADE PIZZA!!! 😆

okay.I’ve made unconventional pizza but I didn’t make the crust. So, crust was on the project.

I made the dough few days ago and freeze it. It was easy and convenient to make a big batch and save it for later.

I like thin crust pizza so I rolled it well

as topping, I shredded a large zucchini, put it in a milknut bag

squeeze it well to drain the extra liquid

ricotta cheese + nutritional yeast + S&P

base was simply tomato paste

top with dry and fresh basil

bake at 400F for 20-25 min. Meanwhile… I snacked some more edamame and roasted kabocha 😀

homemade PIZZA!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

the crust is perfect, thin, chewy and crunchy!!!

Side dish was black fungus and shiitake mushroom salad.

A fusion dinner right? 😉

Q1: Do you find hard to say no?

Q2: What’s your favorite type of pizza crust? thin, thick?

Drink baby drink!

Before I began… I’ll warm you: A long post ahead! 😀

Saturday night is PASTA night. I had an amazing seafood lunch in Alexandria with friends (sorry no pics) in addition to the carb comma the night before. So I wasn’t feeling hungry but I knew I had to fuel well to prepare for Sunday’s long run.

Tahini, soba, broccoli, onion, brussels sprouts and spinach. While cooking I snacked edamame (new love! ;))

simple stir-fry with olive preserve

Sunday morning 7 AM I was like them

what was I looking at? Weather.com because it was raining and I know I’m not an evening runner, so I check the website every 10 min to see when it will stop raining. I usually don’t eat breakfast before running but since the weather left me with no option…. let’s do breakfast first 😉

raspberries topped with greek yogurt and flax meal

half Udi’s gluten free bagel + cream cheese that I got in WF (first time)

Not a big fan 😦 I prefer LC more!

Udi’s bagel: it’s chewy, spongy and tasty. I wouldn’t say it’s like conventional bagel because of its lack of chewiness, but I like it. Its texture is between cake and bread. I had this half toasted and the other half later without, I like it more without toasting. Coco’s rating: 4/5.

At 10 AM, the sky cleared up. So I put my new running short! 😆 Now I feel like a real runner 😉

I don’t know what moves I was trying to do… feel you can see my excitement.

oh… if you didn’t realize it… I forgot to take off the label… 😯

< 2 hours later… I finished 12 miles!!! It’s the longest run in my life and the longest run I’m doing to prepare for the incoming half marathon. And let me tell you… 2 miles up from last week’s 10 miles was HARD!!! I never got thirsty during long run (well, apparently not long enough) but yesterday I got it, I need to DRINK before, during and after!!! I was doing the before and after, but didn’t do properly the during. By mile 6 I drunk the whole bottle of vitamin water and ate two fruit straps.  Those gave me a good boost, but I got thirsty again in mile 8. By mile 10 I was really thirsty. 😦 It was not fun to do 2 extra miles feeling thirsty. Fortunately my mental strength pushed me to the end but I learned the lesson: drink baby drink!

Things to know about hydration (source)

1. You need to be well hydrated before you start your run or workout. If you start partially dehydrated, it only gets worse from there.

2. The color of your pee should be pale yellow, rather than clear or dark yellow. It should look more like lemonade than orange juice.

3. Electrolytes are lost along with fluid when you sweat. You need to replace these electrolytes through an energy drink, electrolyte solution or electrolyte tablets.

4. If you don’t replace electrolytes, particularly sodium, you won’t be able to absorb the fluid you’re drinking. This means that you could be drinking plenty, but not re-hydrating.

5. Dehydration leads to a loss of performance, cramps, digestive problems, and ultimately an inability to cool the body. These progressively worse problems will eventually stop you in your tracks.

6. Drinking too much plain water can also be a problem. Drinking lots of plain water can dilute the sodium level in your blood, leading to a problem called hyponatremia. This is why it is important to use a hydration product to replace electrolytes.

7. The term “drink to thirst” means that you should not drink just for the sake of drinking. You need to drink an amount of fluid that replaces what you’re losing in your sweat.

8. You may not actually feel “thirst” while running or racing. If you don’t ever feel the sensation of thirst, don’t make the mistake of stopping drinking completely. Continue drinking fluids in a moderate quantity to make sure that you’re getting what you need.

another things that I realized yesterday

• Outfit matters. I was wearing cotton shirt, it got all wet and it was heavy.
• Strength training. My legs weren’t tired but my upper body was. My arms and shoulder got very tired during the run and sore after the run. I haven’t done power yoga lately and I got the consequence. Somehow I don’t feel into yoga these days… but I know I need to do cross-training and strength work to have a balance workout. More on this later 😉

Post-run fuel: more bagel

I showed and laid down a while before getting to prepare lunch.

I roasted brussels sprouts

with salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder

spinach and mushroom sauteed in coconut oil

couscous and wheat berries

curried tofu with green peas and cauliflower

more edamame

it looks like a KERF meal, isn’t it?

A long nap, some work later… I went to a gym 2 blocks away from home. Yes, the strength and cross training thing stuck in my head.

vida fitness is a really fancy gym. It has a big variety of fitness classes (spinning, yoga, pilates, steps, body pump, etc), two stationary swimming pool (I was shocked 😯 when the guy showed it to me like “this is the pool”)

I did the tour and left the gym. I thought about it “seriously” during groceries shopping in Whole Food and went back 30 min later

I became a member 😆

yes, I know, I’m really COMPULSIVE or better said, I’m a DECISIVE person 😉

I heard a lot runners talking about the after long-run hunger. Well… since I started running, it never happened to me. I don’t know why. Since I’m a true believer of intuitive eating, I won’t stuff myself just because. So, for dinner I craved something simple.

I made Miso Soup from 101 cookbooks

firm tofu, chopped parsley

green onion, carrots

cooked and rinsed soba noodles

miso seaweed broth

The taste is clean and simple. Maybe in another day I would find it bland but that was all I wanted yesterday 🙂

Q1: Are you a compulsive or decisive buyer?

Q2: Are you a gym member? What do you do at the gym?