Diet and Exercise

I feel great.

In fact, I almost always feel pretty good, but over the last few days, I have been feeling particularly good. Especially the condition of my internal organs seems awesome.

Somehow they feel very well-toned.

At first, I wasn't able to identify the cause.

But then I realized that about three or four days ago, I bought a small ball of cooking iron to supplement iron intake.

Since then every time I boil water, I have put that iron ball in the kettle.

The water thus boiled has a faint after-tasted of iron.

But I like it a lot.

I have every reason to crave iron.

I am a runner who runs regularly.

Naturally when I train, I sweat like crazy.

All kinds of minerals leave your body when you sweat.

One of them is iron.

A lack of iron causes fatigue.

This is because iron is an essential component in the process of making hemoglobin. 

Hemoglobin is an agent that transports oxygen to your body's cells.

Naturally, insufficient hemoglobin production resulting from lack of iron can cause fatigue.

No oxygen, no life, as you see.

Anyhow, I will stick to my hypothesis on the relation between the additional supply of iron and my better condition, and continue to use that iron ball in cooking awhile.

In addition to the supplementary intake of iron, 

I have one more habit that is expected to do me good.

That is having miso soup for breakfast.

Why miso soup?

There are a number of reasons.

First, miso, or soy bean paste, is a highly nutritious organic food

if you purchase one of good quality.

Cheap pre-packaged ones made by large manufacturers are almost completely out.

They are not organic food, but rather industrial products similar to nuts and bolts.

They are chemically flavored, and active enzymes are almost completely dead by heat.

On the other hand, those made by local farmers that are sold in simple packaging

are rich in active enzymes and organic and mostly importantly still alive!

When I make miso soup, I first boil water with the iron ball and pieces of dried kelp in the pan.

Once the water is boiled, the iron ball and the kelp are taken out of the pan.

I beat an egg, and pour it into the flavored soup.

Once the egg is boiled, I turn of the heat.

Now this is the most important point.

If you put miso paste into the soup, while the temperature is still high,

all of the active enzymes in the paste will be killed by the heat.

Those are the ones good for the internal functioning of your body,

so you wait till the temperature is below 60 degrees Celsius. 

Once miso pasted is mixed in the flavored soup, 

I always put some edible green leaves and Japanese ginger from my backyard,

which are all organic.

Just the thought that all ingredients are organic and alive
is enough to make me feel good.
But of course it doesn't stop there.
The real benefit is physiological.

This super healthy miso soup is the main part of my breakfast,
but I also try to have a few different kinds of fruits,
such as grapefruit, peach, plum, and avocado.
According to a dietitian, fruits are kind of half digested as they are,
so they are very easy on your stomach.
In the morning your body is pretty exhausted
from digesting the meal eaten on the previous night.
Not only that, I almost always work out prior to breakfast.
So I am usually doubly physically tired before having breakfast.
You do not want to put too much burden on your internal system
in terms of food digestion.
So having something soupy and juicy, but highly rich in nutrition is vitally important to me.
And this is the reason that I stick to this type of breakfast for a very long time.

Speaking of exercise, I ran 5. 32 K today with the last 1 K at a pretty challenging pace.
After the run I did lying pull-ups, slow push-ups, and shoulder rotations to pump up my upper body.
The details are as follows:
1.32 K: 6:53
1K: 4:55
1K: 4:50
1K: 4:41
Rest: 2:00
1 K: 4:01
Rest: 4:30
Lying Pull-Ups: 2:00
Slow Push-Ups: 3:00
Rest: 1:00
Shoulder Rotations: 120 reps