Susie Kong

Living in Geneva

2009-07-06T09:03:00.023+01:00

This is a picture of the wonderful Jet D'Eau in Geneva. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work in Geneva so here is my top 10 list on living there:

1. Sign up to Glocals. This website used to be called Geneva Online and is great for meeting people and for finding out about what is going on. It is also easy to post a message and find people with things in common, eg if you want to go running with other people or set up a book club or watch films, etc.

It took me a while to find a good apartment in Geneva. So, rather than staying in an expensive hotel while you are looking, Hotel Cite Verdaine is a nice place to stay with reasonable long-term rates. It is in a great location in the centre, has easy access to all transport and has internet access.

On the subject of looking for a nice flat, have a look at http://www.ghi.ch/ - I think I looked at it first thing on a Thursday morning and got in quick and picked up a great apartment in Grand Rue in the old town (CH 1204).

If you are looking for a nice castle to visit, then you must visit Chateau de Chillon. It is on the other side of the lake and the journey on the train there is very scenic. It has so much character and it is fun to explore.

While living in Geneva, you will be hopping on and off buses, so it is well worth getting a bus pass as soon as you arrive. Not only do you never need to buy any tickets which is stressful when there is a bus coming along, but you do get good value for money. You can pick one up at the train station.

Here are some of my favourite restaurants:

Chez Ma Cousine (old town, 6 place du Bourg-de-Four) - great for picking up a takeaway chicken and chips (and salad) to take home to eat after a long day's work. Very tasty and also very quick as they have them ready-made.

Le The (65 rue des bains, 1205, Tel 079 436 7718) - you need to book as there are only a few tables. It has the most divine dimsum and an amazing range of Chinese teas.

Les 5 Portes (8 rue de Zurich, 1201, Tel 022 731 8438) - this is a lovely restaurant with delicious food and a great atmosphere. It is towards the station rather than near the old town.

Le Pain Quotidien (21 boulevard Helvétique, 1207) - this is a great place to go on a weekend morning. It is very relaxed and has some delicious things for breakfast. There is a massive table in the centre which you can share with other people and there are some amazing things to go on bread.

When it is sunny and you want to relax, it is nice to visit Parc des Bastions which is near the old town.

A most delicious food to eat is Quiche Tartiflette. I am sure it is pretty bad for you! It is a mix of a Spanish omelette and a quiche lorraine as it has potatoes in it. You can get them at the airport in the cafe to the right of the departures entrance.

More food.....if you need takeaway food but want it healthy, pick up some very good sushi from Globus (rue de Rhone 48). There are lots of other yummy foods here too.

If you are in Geneva during one of the meteor showers eg the Perseids which usually peak on the 12th of August each year, it is worth going to see it at the lovely park, Signal de Bougy. It is about 30 minutes drive from Geneva so you do need a car. There is very little light pollution and if there are no clouds, you will get a great view of the Milky Way and hopefully some splendid meteors.

The UMPH plan

2006-09-04T21:54:00.000+01:00

Like everyone, I got out of my exercise routine over the past couple of months so am happy to be back to the gym. So yesterday, while doing my cardio, I realised that there are many aspects for life to be quite balanced when it comes to health. I thought I would give the 6 aspects a nice name: The UMPH Plan which stands for Ultra Mental Physical Health.

3 aspects keep us in great physical health: fitness, nutrition and sleep. And another 3 aspects keep us mentally healthy too: a job / work / a hobby we love that challenges us, relationships (ie friends, family, significant other) and rest / relaxation, ie switching off from work.

These 6 aspects are shown in the above diagram. I plan to come up with some questions / statements so that you can figure out a score for each of the 6 areas. Keep posted!

Quick Healthy Breakfasts

2006-08-02T21:43:00.000+01:00

It occurred to me this morning while doing a lovely run in Great Windsor Park that many people still do not realise the importance of having breakfast. Breakfast literally "breaks the fast" that we have during the night and the result of going without breakfast is that by the time we get to mid morning, we are so starving that we overeat. The ideal is never to get over-hungry.

So, if you do not feel like making porridge every morning with honey and banana which really is the best breakfast, try a couple of these quickies:

Superfood smoothie
I have a great naturopath who started me on "superfood" which you can just stir into apple juice in the morning. It is full of vitamins and minerals, high in B vitamins and B12. Even better is if you do some apple juice, 2 tablespoons of superfoods, 1 banana, a couple strawberries, 5 or 6 raspberries and 10 blueberries and whizz with a handblender. Tastes great and will keep you going all morning.

Ultra Meal
My favourite flavour is vanilla and you take 2 scoops in about a pint of water. My naturopath says that it is the same as taking a multi-mineral and multivitamin except that you drink it and it is the equivalent of taking a massive vitamin/mineral pill. I find that this will last me through the morning if I have a rushed morning. Cost is equivalent to a daily latte but much better for your health! You can buy it from Nutri.

Yoghurt, Honey and Oats
I learnt this one from one of my friends. Natural bioyoghurt is best with no sugar, Manuka honey and raw rolled oats (not the readybrek stuff) all mixed together and add chopped banana. It is very quick to make and very filling.

Enjoy!

Solution to stress

2006-07-01T11:07:00.000+01:00

I am reading a great book at the moment called "How to stop worrying and start living" by Dale Carnegie. It has made me realise that even if you eat the best food in the world and do all the necessary exercise to be fit and healthy, worry and stress can eat away at you and cause all kinds of damage to your health eg heart disease, diabetes, ulcers etc etc.

So, I am sure this is not news to everyone but some of the solutions so far posed in this book are about living in the present and only thinking about today and rest and relaxation and fun. So this really highlights the need to have fun every day whether that is at work or outside of work but it definitely needs to be a part of our everyday lives.

There is a great quote in the above book I mentioned which I think sums it all up very nicely. Religion could also be interpreted as spirituality in my opinion.

Relaxation and Recreation

The most relaxing and recreating forces are a

healthy religion, sleep, music and laughter.

Have faith in God - learn to sleep well-

Love good music - see the funny side of life-

And health and happiness will be yours.

(taken from "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie, 1948)

Meditation

2006-06-25T09:34:00.000+01:00

I have always liked the idea of meditation but it just never works for me. So I have given up and find that the following things work for me instead:

Morning Pages
I have been doing these now for about 18 months. These have changed my life and I feel much calmer and focused on a daily basis. This idea came from Julia Cameron and her great book "The Artist's Way". Each morning as soon as you wake up, you write 3 pages of whatever is going through your mind. She suggests a hardback notebook, ideally 11 by 8 and a half and you can write about what you have to do that day or what you are worried about or who is annoying you. Allow yourself about 15 mins to 30 mins every morning.

Walk in Nature
A lovely 30 minutes walk amongst greenery and listening to the birds sing can really calm the mind. Or if you just sit in the garden and look at the sky, this can be very calming.

Computer Meditation Game
Wild Divine have created 2 computer games which measure your heartrate and perspiration by means of sensors that you place on your fingers. You have to work through the game and can only progress if you are calm. The music is amazing and this really calms you down.

Swimming
An empty pool and doing a rhythmic swimming stroke with proper breathing can be very calming. I find that breast-stroke works great for me but need to be wearing goggles so that I can get the breathing right and keep the technique good.

Meditation CD
I have this great set of 4 CDs with a guided meditation that I put on when my mind is still racing at the time when I want to go to sleep at night. It is called "Meditation: A Book and CD Gift Set: The Four-Step Course To Calmness and Clarity" by Deb and Ed Shapiro. There are 4 types of guided mediation so you can have a choice of which one suits your mood.

I would love to hear what works for you!

The GIPHN Score - Finally a clear definition for healthy foods

2006-04-28T06:29:00.000+01:00

This morning I was reading Seth Godin's "The Big Moo" - this is fantastic book about being remarkable and sticking out from the crowd and is full of golden nuggets on growing your business in a successful way.

So this book inspired me to invent "The GIPHN score" to help us all know what foods are good for our health. GI stands for Glycemic Index, PH stands for "potential of hydrogen" ie how acid or alkaline a food is to the body and N stands for how nutrient-dense the food is.

I plan to add in a chart with the GIPHN score for foods. For example, chocolate would have a very low GIPHN score as although it has a medium GI, it is very acidic and pretty lousy when it comes to nutrients! This helps us be clear when the media tells us about how certain foods are good for us but this info doesn't give us the full picture. An example of a food with a high GIPH score would be juiced celery and apples mixed with supergreens: it is a medium GI, highly alkaline and jam-packed full of nutrients like vitamins and minerals and protein.

Keep posted for more on this subject!

Tips to Improve your Health Mentally, Physically, Spiritually and Emotionally

2006-04-22T11:14:00.000+01:00

Health is a large topic and can span fitness, nutrition as well as relationships, doing work we love, keeping our mind active etc etc. Here are just a few tips and resources to get you enhancing your health in each of the 4 areas: Mind, Body, Spirit and Emotions:

Mind

Learn how to do Sudoku. It it really easy and gets you thinking. Watch out as it can be quite addictive. I have heard that there is a great game called Dr Kawashima brain training on Nintendo that enables you to play mind games for 10 minutes a day.
Learn a new skill, for example, a new language - Japanese is a fun language to learn and there are free lessons in London.
Read Michael Gelb's book "How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci" - it is a great book as it is full of ideas on how to get the most out of your mind, including Tony Buzan's favourite subject, mind-mapping and great exercises to work through to get your mind working

Body

Fitness: It is important to keep yourself active. Buy yourself a pedometer so that you can monitor how active you are on a daily basis. There is a great one that you can plug into the computer and you have daily targets and text messages to encourage and praise you: http://www.fitbug.co.uk
Nutrition: We all know what we should be eating in our hearts even if the media tells us that suddenly coffee and chocolate and alcohol are actually good for us!! Yes, everything can be reasoned as being good for us in some way, but it is important to ensure that the large bulk of what we eat is fruit, vegetables and whole-grains. Make sure you get your daily 5 portions of fruit and veg and at least a litre and a half of water and you are on the right track.
Sleep / Rest: this is a vital area that a lot of us cheat on. We all feel better if we get the required sleep at night. Also, it is important to get breaks during the day and also at certain times of the year to get a break from and a fresh outlook on our work.

Spirit

Meaningful relationships: look at the relationships in your life and ask yourself 3 things that you love about each relationship. If you cannot find 3 things, are you hanging out with the right people? It is important to have meaningful relationships in your life with people who share your values and who are honest and help you make the most of your potential.
Get out in nature - this really helps you get in touch with the universe and marvel at what a wonderful planet we live on and it gives you the right perspective on life.
There are some great resources out there to help you improve your spiritual health:
Spiritual Cinema - get a monthly DVD with short films that introduce you to spriritual concepts
The Celestine Prophecy by David Redfield - a fictional story which introduces some very interesting spiritual ideas that will get you thinking
What the bleep do we know!? - this is a film that will get you thinking about what is possible metaphysically
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron - tap into your sprituality and creativity with some great exercises and examples

Emotions

Meditation: this is a great way to calm the mind and get in touch with your emotions rather than being overwhelmed by them. If you are like me and cannot sit still, try the computer game, Wild Divine - this game has wonderful music and exercises and you can only progress through the game if you have slowed down your breathing and heart rate.
Morning Pages: this is a great way to soothe your soul and deal with stress. Write 3 pages in a journal each morning as soon as you wake up and write whatever you fancy. This will leave you calm, focused and ready for the day whatever it throws at you!
Express emotions: it is important to get in touch with all your emotions, whether they are passion, excitement, joy or unhappiness, disappointment, anger. There are many tools for this whether you use morning pages or talk to your friends. Another great resource is spiritual cinema (mentioned above) as you see films that enable you to feel emotions like sadness and happiness. The best way to improve your emotional health is to experience emotions and try out the whole range.

Good luck with improving your health in all these areas and I would love to hear how you get on with these and if you have found other things to help you in these areas.

Hong Kong

2006-03-13T08:02:00.000Z

I just spent 4 nights in Hong Kong. Great place to visit! Here are some tips on where to stay and what to do.

Accomodation
I found this nice little hotel in Happy Valley on Hong Kong Island next to the racecourse called The Emperor Hotel. It only cost $750 HKD per night which is about half the price of other hotels in the area. Make sure you ask for a non-smoking room if you are a non-smoker as the windows don't open. My friend said it is because so many people have committed suicide so all the windows are locked at hotels in Hong Kong.

To get to this hotel from the airport, get the train for $80 HKD to Central and then taxi from there (about $60 HKD).

Stanley Market
This is a great place to go to pick up lots of cheap good quality clothes as well as all kinds of other stuff. We took a taxi here as taxis are really cheap. Also, there is a great restaurant here that overlooks the bay called Wildfire. Absolutely delicious tapas and all kinds of food.

The Peak
A visit to the Peak is an absolute must! As soon as the sun comes out, jump on the Peak Tram which takes you to the top. Make sure you sit on the right hand-side so that you see the great views. Once at the top, have dinner at Cafe Deco which has an amazing view over all of Hong Hong. Great food here - I only had dessert and was disappointed I had already had dinner!

Soho
Located on Hong Kong Island, this is a great place for bars and restaurants. There are all types of restaurants here: Spanish, Italian etc.

Big Buddha
If you have time, a nice day out is a visit to the big bronze Buddha. Take the ferry from Central which takes about 30 minutes (the slow one takes 1 hour so check the timetable) and then it is a 30 minute bus journey.

There are nice walks around here eg the Wisdom Path and buy a ticket for the deluxe vegetarian lunch which gives you access to inside the big Buddha and a yummy lunch in the monastery. It is interesting and peaceful walking around the monastery.

So, a wee trip to Hong Kong is definitely recommended to get that break away from your daily life and a new perspective to your work. In Michael Gelb’s book, “How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci”, Da Vinci said, “It is also a very good plan every now and then to go away and have a little relaxation; for when you come back to the work, your judgment will be surer, since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose the power of judgement”.

The 3 secrets to eating healthily

2006-02-11T18:49:00.000Z

I have been wondering why I have been so confused about nutrition over the past year. I have just realised that it is because many books miss one or more elements of healthy eating. So, here are the 3 vital elements that not all people talk about:

1. Getting good sources of vitamins, minerals, protein, fibre, other nutrients
2. Blood sugar stability (glycemic index)
3. PH level of blood (alkaline vs acid)

The first aspect is usually what most nutrition books cover. The 2nd aspect is being talking about a lot more in the media and diet books. The third aspect is not so commonly spoken about and could be the secret to avoiding illness and disease. I am going to a talk by Dr Robert Young, author of "The PH Miracle" on 18 Feb so hopefully I will have a better understanding of this next week.

I will elaborate on these 3 secrets over the next few months. Keep posted!

My Favourite Books

2006-01-28T20:23:00.000Z

The Portable Coach - Thomas J Leonard
This book was my first experience and introduction to coaching. It truly led me along the path I am on now. It has some great checklists and introduces some radical new concepts which really change your thinking.
Wonderful book and I still refer to it a great deal.

The Optimum Nutrition Bible - Patrick Holford
If you are confused about what foods are good for you and which ones really are bad for you, this book will give you crystal clarity. It is the best and balanced nutrition book I have ever read and there is also a Home Study course based on this book from the Institute of Optimum Nutrition. It also explains disease.

Upcoming Articles

2006-01-22T22:21:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

As I met my goal last year of coaching 100 people, I now have a new goal starting this year: writing 100 articles.

So, here is a starter list of some of the articles you will see on this site over the next year. I welcome your ideas on articles you would like to see. Please post your comments below.

7 day ideal diet
hypoglycaemia
low gi foods and high gi foods
the 4 types of energy
the importance of rest and sleep
raw foods vs cooked foods
the 10 best foods to include in your diet and why
water and why we need to drink so much
what happens when we drink alcohol
what happens when we drink coffee
what happens when we eat sugar
what does the liver do
the secrets of how to stick to your exercise routine
how relationships increase your health
fats that are good for you and fats that are bad for you
why eat organic – what pesticides actually do to you

Here's to a healthy and happy 2006!

Top 10 Ways to Increase your Natural Energy

2005-10-09T13:05:00.000+01:00

1. Get 8 hours sleep a night.
This is one of the main requirements of the body and will enable you to be at your best. Wear your favourite pyjamas and have the window slightly ajar so you are breathing fresh air.

2. Eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.
Try to have one item of each of the following colours: green, purple, yellow, red, orange so that you get a variety of vitamins, minerals and bioflavanoids. Eat as much raw as possible to get the most vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

3. Laugh 30 times a day.
Laughing boosts the immune system and your energy!

4. Spend 15 minutes a day doing nothing or meditating.
This does wonders for your creativity and recharges your batteries, giving you inner peace for the rest of the day.

5. Walk outside in the fresh air for 15 minutes a day.
This clears your mind and burns some calories at the same time! Bonus point - if it is sunny, this will top up your vitamin D!

6. Exercise aerobically for at least 20 minutes 3 times a week.
Make sure you include a warm-up and a cool-down and stretches. The best way to ensure you are working at the right pace is to wear a heart rate monitor.

7. Do 1 hour of strength training a week.
This can be an hour strengthening class or two or three weight-training sessions.

8. Spend time with loved ones and animals.
Feeling loved and happy is a great immune system booster!

9. Smile!
There is research that has shown that smiling at yourself in the mirror for 20 minutes at a time can improve depression - even if it is forced!

10. Drink 1.5 - 2 litres of water a day.
Bonus point - add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon for extra vitality and energy! And you will get some vitamin C too!

© 2005 Susie Kong www.susiekong.com

Raw Foods

2005-10-09T12:55:00.000+01:00

There are many ways to easily increase the amount of raw fruit and vegetables in your diet. This is the best way to hydrate your cells and to obtain the necessary vitamins and minerals your body needs to function optimally.

When we eat fruit and vegetables raw versus cooked, they contain more vitamins, minerals and digestive enzymes and are much better for our bodies. They therefore give us more energy and are easier to digest than cooked food.

The simplest way to add more raw food into your diet is to substitute raw snacks instead of coffee, chocolate, crisps etc. Here are a few easy ways to increase your intake of raw foods:

Take chopped celery (bite-sized) in a bag to munch on at work.
Take some topped and tailed radishes as snacks at work.
Just eat an apple!
Chop up a banana and pop on top of your breakfast.
Add a chopped avocoado into your sandwich at lunchtime.
Plop a load of strawberries or raspberries or blueberries in some yoghurt for a healthy desert or midday snack.
Cut some raw carrots into battons or just peel, top and tail and take as a snack for the day.
Make up your own raw nut, seed and dried fruit mix - add walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, dried mango, any other raw dried fruit, raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds - put in all your favourite stuff!
Try raw asparagus tips dipped in sour cream or with cottage cheese

Here are some websites that have some great raw recipes:

http://www.alissacohen.com/recipes.html#date

http://www.fresh-network.com/recipes/index.htm

Good luck with your experimentation with raw foods!

Susie Kong

2005-10-09T12:39:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my website.

My name is Susie Kong. I am an Energy Coach and help busy people bring easy heathier habits into their life. I have coach training from CoachU (CoachU graduate) and Coachville.

To your health!

Susie