Kawaii Mini Cakes.

Caroline Eating A Mini Cake

Went to the food and wine festival in the city last weekend. Met up with Noriko, Kevin, Ashley and Caroline. The weather couldnt be better. The first thing we tried were the minicakes. These were super sweet mini pastries costing AUD2.50 each but were worth every cent. The cream was super rich and the pastries were so sweet I felt thirsty after eating only one.

There was also a chocolate festival but it was very crowded and the chocolates were exorbitantly priced so we didnt really buy any. Bought a bucket of icecream and that made me full anyway. I've been having too much super rich foods recently. Had McD for brunch followed by sugary highs throughout the day. Hmm... Back to a healthy diet during weekdays i guess.


Caroline, Kevin, Ashley: Hi res photos can be downloaded by clicking HERE, and HERE.

STOP! Wait a second...

Road Sign Near Caufield. Unique perspective from top deck of a double decker bus

I eat whenever and whatever I want to eat. But I'm only 52kg and 174cm with 0.1% body fat. Yup. Im clinically underweight. I was wondering how this could be. I play badminton twice a week, squash once a week, and swim once or twice a week. I also play pingpong whenever it's convenient. Despite all the exercise, i didnt seem to be putting on weight! So I bought a weighing scale and measured my calorie intake. To my surprise, even if I ate whenever and whatever I wanted, my daily intake was between 1600 and 1800 calories a day. W00t. I was malnourished!

Ok, since coming to australia I have been a bit of a health nut - the type of person who puts effort into taking a daily dose of riboflavins (in beetroot, fresh blueberries, cranberries etc). I try to limit my consumption of unhealthy foods. I'm now trying to gain weight. Would like to push myself to 60kg over the next year. Yup. 8kg in one year. The natural way. NO supplements. NO shortcuts. My diet here has been super healthy. I start my days now with a ~600cal breakfast of oats/bread/cereal, milk, orange juice and a serving of driedfruit/raisins/bananas.

My daily target is 2500-3000cal of healthy food a day with roughly 100g of protein. Anyway, Im starting to get used to eating a proper breakfast. I used to feel sick eating so much for breakfast. Yup, I could have gotten 600cal from a bag of chips easily - but believe me, a 400cal serving of oats is difficult to swallow, even with dried fruits and sultanas. If I ate unhealthy foods (read: icecream/fries/chips/shortbread), 2500 calories would have been easy. But no, im not going to indulge on chips and cake and shortbread. I typically eat extra trim lamb/beef/fish steak for dinner nowadays. I get most of my roughage from fruits and salads. Carbohydrates come from bread, potatoes and biscuits. Its a very balanced diet - and I hope in the months to come I will be healthier than ever before.

A few people commented that I should go to the gym. Well, if I wanted to bulk up (like bodybuilders do), i'd have to eat closer to 4000cal a day with 200g of protein. That borders on unhealthy so im not going to do it. Dont know why, but I dont find it a challenge. I've tried doing weight training but never could do so consistently (unless i was unusually bored... which has NEVER happened since I got here. Heck. I've never even spent a weekend to relax!) as I dont find myself motivated to go. I guess i just prefer to play games where i can beat someone. I like the challenge. I finally beat Krish (A good player in my hall) and im looking forward to the badminton tournament this coming sunday. I swim trying to push my current freestyle endurance (medium speed) past 50 laps so I could take part in the Melbourne open ocean swimming marathons (always wanted to as it's a sport that suits my build).

The Art Of Medicine.

Fire dance near Luna Park, St Kilda.

Third week of the medical course. That's when we had our first real science based lectures. Surprised? Well, from what we have been taught so far, medicine seems to be as much an art as it is a science. We learnt basic civil law regarding medical practice and alot on the patient experience of having an illness. This is to give us a more rounded perspective on the healthcare profession. We were also briefed on the roles of the Allied Healthcare Professionals (paramedics, nurses etc). Much of the course is centered around the patient and is very hands on. I cant wait for my first patient interview at Alfred hospital early next month. The science stuff is pretty heavy, but there are enough tutorials and roleplays about common problems faced by people who come to their practitioners for advice to keep things interesting. There are many ethical problems faced by medical practitioners with regards to patient autonomy and the possibility of giving biased advice on sensitive issues such as abortion. Theory Of Knowledge (epistemology. basic philosopy. It is a compulsory subject to recieve an International Baccalaureate diploma) wasnt a waste of time after all.