The Kung Fu Body - Lili

The trip to Holland was amazing. Rotterdam and Amsterdam are fantastic cities. The first with experimental architecture and wide open spaces and the second with old buildings and very crowded.

Rotterdam's Erasmus Bridge

I enjoyed a lot these days but staying true to KFB was very difficult. I didn't workout. Mostly because I felt I had no time with so much to see in the city. Then, there was no space in the places I was staying and going to a park with the intense heat was not an option. But mostly because I was very tired of walking all around the cities. By the end of the day my feet were hurting really bad.

The positive is that I felt the advantage of being fit. You can take a few days off if necessary and use the energy you have acquired, trust your body, feel alive.

Now, about the food.  This region of Europe has great cheese and bread and that's mostly what they eat. So we ate a lot of sandwiches and to my surprise aged, strong cheese isn't that appealing to me any more.

As a protein source I had a traditional raw marinated herring as often as I could. I would say you really have to like fish to find the Haring Matjes delicious. I did!

A haring matjes makes you feel strong!

I had some beers, had to try the dutch apple tart, which is truly delicious, and drank a lot of coffee.

In general I felt that my nutrition during the trip was poor. If you can't afford to go to a good restaurant it's hard to get your vegetables and lean protein. But in the middle of this carb loaded menus something magical happened: I bought cucumbers and peppers, ate them voraciously and a few minutes later I was feeling cool, light, energized. Like if a torrent of vitamins was reaching every cell of my body (and this is not a coffeeshop induced experience!).  My love for peppers grew stronger and wilder.

Now, some photos for my KFBers:

The old Delft canal in Rotterdam

Rotterdam has beautiful little harbors all around

and liquid houses

A quiet street in Amsterdam

Women in Amsterdam look very sexy because they drive this flower powered vehicles

Now I'm back, loving clean food and tough workouts. 

Note: Emily, the home made banana ice cream is fantastic!