Tag Archives: australian nepali

Sticking to healthy eating

Posted on March 17, 2016 | 3 comments

I just realised that it is harder to stick to a diet once I started working than when I was staying home. When I was working out, I started to eat healthy which meant we didn’t buy any junk food at all. Because sometimes it is so hard to control the cravings so it was best to make no junk food available at home.

On top of that we introduced healthier food into our diet. So along with exercise, it was easier for me to stay in shape.

It has been a month now that I am back at work and it seems like I am eating unhealthy food (cake, chocolates, and chips) more frequently. We have someone’s birth every now and then so the cake is always around. Also with the cake there will be chips and dips and sausage rolls which are hard to resist. I know I need to be in control more but it is so easy to let go when you see everyone else eating.

farewell (2)

It seems rude not to go to morning teas you are invited to as it is a good way to socialise but sometime saying no to cakes makes me stand out from the norm. Last week I went to one morning tea and didn’t eat anything as there was nothing healthy, no fruits at all but I was so happy when I went to one today and saw this healthy platter.

IMG_1589

It had celery, carrot and capsicum with some cheese and biscuits. Perfect for someone who is trying to watch what they eat. I am definitely going to make sure we have this platter along with fruit platters on every morning tea we organise so I can eat without feeling guilty.

How are you eating healthy when there is so much unhealthy food around? So much temptation everywhere you go.

What do you say to decline politely if someone offers you a piece of cake?

Take Care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

3 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Health

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Getting healthier and fitter after a baby

Posted on March 15, 2016 | 4 comments

Post baby body is a subject talked about a lot. Even before I was pregnant, I used to read about the effect of pregnancy and so forth.

Of course, if you have grown a small human being inside your tummy, your body needs to adjust to that so it is not surprising that the body changes so much. The only thing I wanted while I was pregnant was having a healthy bub and thank God Chhori is perfectly healthy and happy.

Long before I fell pregnant, I told myself, I am going to exercise as normal while pregnant and not make pregnancy an excuse to binge eat.

myoga

I did not do so bad with the pregnancy, as I only ate a few days without thinking and kept exercising unit the day before the birth. I am happy about it but I still managed to put on 18 kilos in total. The recommended average weight gain is 15kg so I was slightly worried that I went above the average even after putting in so much effort but when I looked at Chhori for the first time, it was all worth it.

my pregnancy

When Chhori was 3 months old, I joined a gym and I have shared the ups and downs of it in this blog. After around 6 months, I discovered that my gym did HIIT (high intensity interval training) classes and I joined the session almost every day. Even though I exercised only 30 to 45 minutes a day 4-5 times a week, I saw changes to my body within few weeks. exercising (1)

With exercise and diet, I managed to loose almost all the extra kilos from my body. One of the major changes, I made to my diet was introducing quinoa in place of rice or roti or bread. I know there are people who believe in super foods while others don’t. But for me it worked and I am now in a very healthy weight range again.

Different people have different goals after pregnancy and mine was to be fitter and healthier again and after last week, I have to admit to myself that I have done well. Last weekend I went to a friend’s daughter’s birthday party; it was a fine autumn afternoon in the park and we all had heaps of fun including Chhori who was pushing the walker everywhere.

chhori

Anyway, in that party, I met many people who I hadn’t met for several months and everyone complimented me on how good I looked, how I have lost weight and look as good as before the baby. There are many days when I am not happy with the way I look or my progress but that day I was over the moon, getting all those compliments.

Chhori (3)

I am still eating well and exercising as much as possible. I wake up early a few days and try to do some exercise before going to work. Also during lunch break I either swim, do yoga or run a few times a week. I hope to have leaner muscles and gain more strength. I want to push myself more and keep eating healthy.

Chhori (2)

I want to set an example to Chhori that eating healthy and exercising is really important in life and it is not a choice. If you make excuses there are many you can make but if you want to get what you want, you just need to push yourself harder and result will follow.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

 

4 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Health

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I miss my baby

Posted on March 4, 2016 | 5 comments

I am sure I have mentioned it here before that Chhori is not a great sleeper. She has very short naps 30-45 minutes at a time and even at nights she wakes up multiple times. So I always wish that she would sleep a bit longer so I can do something but there are times I don’t want her to sleep long.

Today, for the second time this week, she was fast asleep while I left for work. I really wanted to wake her up but didn’t do it. She looked so peaceful sleeping that I wished I had longer time at home to see her wake up and smile at me.

IMG_1383

If I leave home late, I get stuck in traffic which will increase my travel time so I try to leave home early so I can come home to Chhori early . But the days when she is still asleep, I don’t get to interact with her at all in the morning and that makes it really hard to leave home.

Normally I don’t say good bye to her when I leave in the morning anyway even though she is awake. AS takes her to a room before I go out of the home so she doesn’t see me leave and start crying but I still get to spend 20-30 minutes with her while I get ready for work. But the days she that doesn’t wake up, I get no time with her in the morning and it breaks my heart. All I can do is look at my sleeping baby.

Being a working mum is a really hard thing to do. I know I have so many reasons to work and I am lucky to have a job to come back to but at the same time I feel so sad that I have to spend so many hours away from my baby. Thank God my parents are looking after her so I don’t have to drop off a screaming toddler at a day care but not being able to hold her in the morning makes me sad the whole day.

I don’t know how to make this work. Any suggestion from all the wonderful mums out there is welcome. How do you all do it? I think I am still getting used to coming back to work after a year.

I am so glad it is Friday today so I get to spend two full days with her. So looking forward to the weekends. I am sure weekends going to be even more precious from now on.

Have a great weekend everyone.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog . NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

5 Comments

Posted in Being Mum

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Newari Gwaramari

Posted on February 23, 2016 | 3 comments

In Kathmandu most of us have happy memories of eating Gwaramari and tea for breakfast during cold winter months.

In Newari “Gwara” means round and “mari” means bread so Gwaramari literally means round bread but to people who have eaten it, it is not just ordinary bread but a very yummy one with a distinct flavour.

I was craving for some Gwaramari for a while so I decided to try making it with a friend. It took us a few attempts to get it right but I am very happy with the end result. It tasted really good.

Ingredients

  • 250 g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • Salt to taste
  • 300 ml water
  • 500ml vegetable oil (for deep-frying)

Method

  • In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cumin, coriander and salt.

Nepali Gwaramari (2)

  • Add water slowly stirring continuously to make a thick paste.
  • If you have time, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight otherwise for at least 2 hours.

Nepali Gwaramari (3)

  • In a deep pan, heat the vegetable oil. The oil is hot enough, if you drop small amount of batter and it quickly rises and becomes brown.
  • Once the oil is hot enough, take a table spoon of mixture and place it gently on the hot oil. The dough will puff up and rise to the top of the pan. You can add multiple balls at the same time.

Nepali Gwaramari (4)

  • Fry them until golden brown.
  • Take it out and use paper towel to soak the extra oil.

Nepali Gwaramari (1)

  • It is best served hot with some Masala tea.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

3 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

Tagged , , , , , ,

Rush to Emergency

Posted on June 22, 2015 | 29 comments

I had read somewhere that bad moments don’t make bad mammas but now I have my doubts.

As a new mum, I doubt myself lots of times; I am not sure whether I am the doing right things; whether I am taking care of my baby properly, whether my way of feeding is correct, whether I am changing her correctly and similarly there are many more doubts in my head when I am looking after my daughter. I worry that what I am doing will affect her later in her life.

Most of the time when Chhori smiles or holds onto me it makes me feel great and I forget about all the doubts. But then something happens that breaks that momentary illusion and make me again thing that I’m not as good a mum as I should be and that is one of the worst feelings to have.

Chhori (3)

A few weeks ago, I was home with my mum as usual. We were in our living room, mum was watching a movie and I was checking something on the laptop and Chhori was just lying on the ottoman. This was typical of my afternoons. The ottoman was next to me and from time to time I was talking to and playing with Chhori.

Then suddenly from the corner of my eyes I saw Chhori sliding off the ottoman and she fell on the carpeted floor even as I rushed to pick her up. It felt as if my heart leapt out of my body at that moment. The next second she started crying loudly like never before.

That was the first time Chhori rolled onto her side and we were not expecting it at all. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to console her and checked her to make sure she was not hurt. I was almost crying myself and my mum was trying to help me calm Chhori down.

To make sure that she calmed down I fed her for a few minutes until she stopped crying. After that my mum took Chhori from me and felt her head, hands, legs to see if Chhori would cry when any specific part of the body was felt. Thankfully Chhori did not cry and we hoped that nothing was injured  In that mean time I called our local GP to take her there but as it was Friday and our normal GP was fully booked and suggested I take the baby to emergency instead.

I called AS and told him what happened. I assured him that there was no injury so he wouldn’t freak out.  But I still asked him to meet me at the hospital just in case.

My mother and I took Chhori to the emergency and waited for the doctor. By then Chhori was already her normal self, smiling and looking about with interest. I was kind of sure she was alright but still wanted to be 100% sure.

After a few minutes wait, it was our turn. The doctor did some normal check and told us that she was OK. He also told me that it is normal for kids to fall and they have many cases like that every day. He assured me that I am a good mum and accidents do happen sometimes so not to feel as if I let Chhori down.

He still wanted us to remain at the hospital for 4 hours for observation. He wanted to make sure that there was no brain injury from the fall. It was the longest 4 hours of my life as I was worried. I was praying that everything was OK with Chhori. She looked happy and was playing with her daddy and grandma.

Chhori (2)

Finally the 4 hours were over and Chhori was officially fine. She got the all clear from the doctor. We were all so relieved.

It was one of the scariest experiences I have had after having Chhori. I hope not to have to visit the emergency department ever with Chhori.

I am sure I am not the only mum who has been in such situations so please share your story and make me feel a bit better.

Hope you had a great weekend and take care, everyone.

 M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

29 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Our daughter

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,