Anyone else in awe of the U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps?

As his gold medal hunt in Beijing ends he leaves the Water Cube eight golds heavier, breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.

He’ll be netting a $1 million bonus from Speedo for his performance now that he’s one-upped Spitz’s record count, cementing his place as one of the best athletes of all time.

Superman. Magical. The King. The Dolphin. The Fish. The Phenomenon has a unique diet.  Let’s just say he eats well with his typical breakfast being:

‘three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by three chocolate-chip pancakes; a five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge), washed down with two cups of coffee.’

On it goes as he consumes 12,000 calories during a typical day! With no mention of John West tuna? Another endorsement on the way, perhaps? Whatever next, endorsing credit cards to pay for his food bill? 

Comments welcomed on this superhuman achievement, his calorie intake and other suitable swimming related sponsorship ideas, flipper.

GSTF has learnt whilst browsing the guardian newspaper that an eating disorder charity reacted with dismay yesterday as London Fashion Week abandoned plans to force models to pass a health test before taking to the catwalk. The idea was basically that models would need a doctor’s certificate proving they were healthy and not suffering from an eating disorder before they were allowed to work at the twice-yearly event.

So much for banning the size zeros!

But yesterday the British Fashion Council, which drew up the initiative last year, said it was being abandoned after other fashion capitals refused to follow London’s lead. In an open letter to the industry, Hilary Riva, chief executive of the BFC, blamed impracticalities in the plan, along with a feeling among models that it discriminated against them, and a lack of support from Milan, Paris and New York.

Model Erin O’Connor said yesterday the idea was flawed. “I feel that to ask all models to produce a mandatory certificate of health compromises their dignity and potentially infringes their human rights,” she said, pictured recently on the cover of vogue:

What do you think of this health test U turn and the model / catwalk industry in general?

Do tell and feel free to strike a pose.

Arvind here reflecting on a stunning image he was sent yesterday as part of a chain email.

The photo is the 1994 “Pulitzer Prize” winning photo, taken in 1993 during the Sudan famine. The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards a United Nations food camp.

The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. And though various stories have arisen about this picture, no one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who supposedly left the place as soon as the photograph was taken.

Three months later, Kevin Carter committed suicide due to depression, supposedly brought about by his various experiences as a photojournalist around South Africa and other places.

A picture paints a thousand words and 15 years after this picture was taken, parts of the world are still ravaged by famine whereas there is an abundance of food elsewhere. The chain email I received aimed to get one to stop complaining about food and wasting it.

Indeed some recent statistics in the UK showed that we waste around a quarter of all the food we buy! This has obvious huge implications for food production, distribution, carbon emissions, wasted resources, packaging etc. And I am sure for other nations such as the USA, the figure for food wastage must be around the same, if not higher.

So what does an image like this do for you? Are we doing enough for such children around the world?

And do you complain or waste food yourself? If so, when will you stop?

Anyone for garlic or do you tend to worry about the smell the next day?

Garlic is truly a super food and Jim tends to go OTT with it always adding it to curry, chilli and eating bulbs of it with Italian food. Not only does it taste wonderful, but it may  improve blood circulation, treat acne and help control cholesterol. A 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that people who consumed high doses of garlic had low instances of several types of cancers.

Garlic is known to be extremely useful against bacteria, even those that are resistant to antibiotics. It has antifungal and antiviral properties and may even help to lower cholesterol and prevent strokes. PLUS if you have a social event and want to be left alone then simply load up the day before.

We did hear of someone who opted for the garlic capsule option only to bite into it before swallowing releasing it into his mouth rather than digest it. The smell was the bad he couldn’t make it into work the next day.

So, how are you with garlic? Do tell but please keep your distance and pass the mints.

Picture the scene, you’re hosting a UK chat show and you’re asked to taste one of the hottest curries in the world. This happened to Jonathan Ross recently who has to sign a legal disclaimer before he tasted the hottest curry in the world, the Bollywood burner, delivered from the Cinnamon club in London complete with a health warning:

Pepper heat is measured in Scovilles (SHU) with the Naga Jolokia weighing in at 855,000 SHU with the Dorset Naga, grown in England, UK has been clocked at 923,000 SHU and is believed to be the worlds hottest!

Spicy food anyone? Do tell and would you have tasted the Bollywood burner and smelt the garlic live on air?

Well friends, hope all of you are doing great. DG is back from his hibernation for a brief period of time before going on a short holiday. Jim & Em’s expeditions & adventures were perhaps the motivation

Alright folks, let get back to business. So who wants a date?

For people living outside arabia, date is a fruit which over the centuries sustained the life in our part of the world. Along with the camel, this fruit helped people of this area survive in harsh conditions.

Long time ago, on my blog I had posted a small documenary about the date fruit. It is broken into 6 parts, each about 2 mins long. Have a look at them if you want to know how this humble fruit helped the people

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

I just learned that an English breakfast features tomatoes, mushrooms and sometimes something called white or black pudding!  We don’t eat a lot of tomatoes with breakfast in the states.  Just about the only time you’ll see a tomato on the plate at 8 am is when it’s part of a western omelet.

White or Black Pudding is really intriguing.  When I read ‘pudding’ I tend to think sweet, mushy dessert, but it’s actually a kind of meat and oatmeal sausage.

We have all kinds of breakfasts, but the standard is usually bacon, eggs, toast or cereal and coffee, tea or orange juice.  What’s the standard fare to break your fast where you live?

Tremendous demand for Shark Fin Soup is driving 11 shark species to extinction reports Discovery Channel “Despite mounting evidence of decline and increasing threats to these species, there are no international catch limits for oceanic sharks,” said Sonja Fordham, a researcher at the Oceans Conservancy and Shark Alliance in Brussels

Fin soup used to be a rare and very expensive delicacy in China. As the Asian economies grow, in particular that of mainland China, a middle class has emerged hungry for shark fin soup; they eat it almost as a status symbol. So what was a rare and expensive delicacy is now just part of the buffet at most weddings and corporate functions. This symbol of luxury and wealth is a luxury that the people in coastal communities in the developing world who depend upon shark meat for protein cannot afford. The sharks threatened by extinction certainly cannot afford this delicacy! Living sharks are enjoyed by recreational divers, bringing millions of dollars in foreign exchange to countries in both the developed and developing world. By contrast, the trade in shark fins has created a handful of millionaires in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

So how do we at GSTF stop this?

Read the Discovery article here: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/05/22/shark-fin-soup.html

Hi from Dubai some 36 hours after we returned from our spell at the Koh Chang Spa, Thailand.

We stuck to the ‘getting back into it slowly’ by sticking to light foods since we broke that fast and declined to eat on the flight as everyone else munched around us. Weight wise we’ve both settled at 11 pounds lighter than when we started and time will tell if this is just going without food for 8 days or a weight that we can comfortably maintain. Clothes that were deemed to tight now fight a couple of inches have dropped of our waistline, without breathing in!

Jim’s first cooked meal was a veggie omelet with Em’s being a bowl of pumpkin soup. Taking too much heavy food on too soon can lead to, erm, problems with regularity that even a superhero would struggle to overcome:

So, our key action points now we’re back to reality we will endeavour to:

1) Never eat microwaved food again! We’ve binned our microwave oven. It serves little purpose apart from driving radiation into food and altering the moleuclar structure. We heard a tale at the Spa that a cat used to perch upon it’s owner microwave after food had been cooked - it liked the heat you see. One year later the cat developed a soccer ball sized tumour as a result of kitty soaking up the radiation from the microwave AFTER it had been used. Do you REALLY needs yours? The Microwave, not your cat.

2) Include some raw food in our diet wherever possible or if cooked then lightly, preferably steamed or flash-fried!

3) Eat food slower, chew it thoroughly and graze throughout the day, little and often and upping the amount of water we drink.

4) Erradicate cups of tea with milk and sugar as that was our ticket to open biscuits. Kettle on - biscuits open.

5) Cutting right back on food laced with refined sugars, processed starch, alcohol and wheat.

6) To practice 30 minutes of yoga everyday - got no time? Get up 30 minutes earlier.

7) Eating more nuts, seeds and pulses in between meals.

8. Remembering everything we eat should ideally help regenerate the body and / or be converted into energy to help our body & minds work to their potential.

9) Keep an eye on our bowel activity!

10) Learn to listen to our bodies regarding what food suits us - drains us or revives us. Different strokes for different folks.

We appreciate all the support here at GO! Smell the flowers - all your concerns, thoughts and comments over the last 10 days. On Wednesday we’ll be announcing what we’re giving up for the next 3 weeks and it may come as a bit of a shock to you when we write a post explaining what it is we’re taking time out from next!

So, do tell us your final take on our detox regime, the colonics and our action points. All are welcome.

Hi  GO! Smell the flowers from  the Spa Koh Chang. Our final day here having completed the cleansing program and we’ve both lost eleven pounds each in weight, feel clear headed, healthier inside & out and generally more chilled out.

To ‘keep it real’ we’ll report back on our result in 3-4 months time. Before the cleanse Jim had blood pressure, pulse and  blood work done (his biggest fear - needles  ) to measure pre-cleanse lipid profile, (cholesterol & triglycerides), Biochemistry (Blood glucose) , Endocrinology (testosterone) and thyroid.

The immediate step-on-the-scales-whoop-whooop-high-5 results but that could be down to water loss, clearly a lack of carbs and just giving the body a break so time will tell and getting back amongst ‘reality’.

We ‘broke-fast’ with Papaya, mango and bee pollen:

Back for more general abuse with Thai massage:

Smell the flowers, Em:

We’ll reflect on the key things we learned and share them with you here when we return to Dubai  in the next couple of days. It’s been great learning and laughing at the threads here at GO! Smell the flowers, at times when we barely had the energy or the inclination so thanks for all your interest, support and comments.

NOW! Where did we put that hose pipe?  Do share how you’ve found our detox diaries and this whole experience we’ve shared with GO! Smell the flowers and feel free to add a few captions to the photos above just for fun as we leave ourselves wide open as ever, which, after 8 days of colonics could be interesting - Cheers!