Today has just been one of those days! I returned to work to find a huge pile of documents on my desk and what seemed like a zillion emails to be dealt with. I could feel the stress starting to rise but instead of letting it get to me I’ve managed to just breathe through it and figure out a plan of action to deal with it. In the past I’ve really allowed stress to get to me but I’m just not going to let that happen any more. I’ve cancelled some meetings, arranged to work from home and now feel much more in control. Do you suffer from stress? How does it affect you? How do you deal with it?

At least my day did get off to a good start with another green smoothie!

Chocolate Cherry Beet Green Smoothie (makes 1 large serving)

• 3 cups of kale and spring greens with the tough stems removed
• 1 cup of frozen cherries
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder / cocoa powder (I used sun warrior)
• 1 beet it shot / cooked beetroot / beetroot juice - I used a beet it shot
• 1 tsp of maca (optional)
• 1 tsp of ground flax (optional)
• Water (to desired thickness)
• Xanthan and guar gum to add thickness (optional)

Toppings:

• Fresh berries
• Rude Health Granola
• Carob flakes (nom!) 

Unfortunately due to the clocks going forward I had no lovely daylight to photograph this tasty treat and had to resort to the flash. Such a shame as it was so pretty!

Lunch was a big salad beast containing romaine, spinach, yellow pepper, red onion, carrot, sugar snaps, cucumber, basil tofu and some of my squash dip:

I watered the dip down a little then mixed it in like a dressing, yum! Honestly, I never thought a big bowl of vegetables would make me so happy! I also ate two nectarines. Mid afternoon I snacked on a cocoa orange nakd bar before heading to the gym. Exercise really is a great stress reliever! I did my usual interval session 15 minutes on the cross trainer then 15 minutes on the step machine followed by my abs and core and then my 30 minute spin class.

Dinner was a delicious mix of wheat grains, lentils, asparagus and carrot in a citrus dressing (clementine juice, cool oil, apple cider vinegar) served with steamed purple sprouting broccoli with a chilli, ginger and shoyu dressing:

Dessert was inspired by Marias cinnamon maple peanut butter – I made a quick version using 2 tbsp of peanut flour mixed with a little water, cinnamon and maple syrup until it formed a lovely sauce then poured over two chopped apples and a few strawberries:

This was so delicious!

I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to share a few random musings I’ve been having recently:

Veganism

source

I think I may be ready to ‘go’ vegan. Apart from some feta cheese, the Total Greek yoghurt pots, vegetarian pesto and trace amounts of diary in dark chocolate I haven’t eaten any animal products since the start of the year and I really don’t miss them – I feel the best I have ever felt in terms of my health and the more I read on the ethical, environmental and health benefits of veganism the more I feel like its right for me (I don’t make any judgements on others dietary choices, its such a personal choice). I am a bit concerned about using the ‘vegan’ label. Although I’m in a place were I’m happy to not eat animal products I don’t think I’m at the point of avoiding all trace products – for example the small amount of dairy in Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt or some honey in a snack bar. I think I would gradually stop buying those products but can I still adopt the vegan label while I’m not being that strict? I also still wear leather but I am more aware of trying to seek out alternative materials when I’m buying new stuff although I’m not perfect here either. I guess there is no such thing as a perfect vegan in any case but for some reason I feel reluctant to adopt the label – what are your thoughts on dietary labels?

Calorie Counting

Over the past week I’ve been doing a little experiment in calorie counting. I’ve been logging my eats with Livestrong after the concerns I’ve been having that I am not eating enough. I’ve learned several things from this experiment:

• Calorie counting on a regular basis is not for me – I found it such a pain in the arse!
• I eat on average 1800 – 2200 calories a day
• My fibre intake is through the roof
• I’m having no problem meeting my protein requirements
• I may be a little low on sodium

This, coupled with a sneaky weigh in which has shown that I’m currently maintaining my weight, has given me a bit of reassurance that I’m at least on the right path. Although my fibre intake is high, my body seems to handle it very well and because I’m feeling good I don’t think that the fibre is having a detrimental affect on my absorption of nutrients.

Meditation and yoga

I’ve been continuing to include at least 5 minutes of yoga / meditation at the start of each day and it really is having a calming affect on me – I know my ability to deal with today’s stress has been helped by this.

Any random musings you’d like to share?

Hope your week has got off to a good start! I have some super exciting news that I can’t wait to share with you all soon! In the mean time its back to work for me, I have a late meeting tomorrow so I’m trying to be my most organised self! Catch you later x

Hi everyone, hope you’ve been having a lovely weekend! I’ve had a great one, today I was out for Sunday lunch to celebrate Mother’s day with my Mam and Grandma :-) I decided to rock my £3.50 eBay skirt:

Outfit of the day: drop crystal earrings: Oasis, blazer: Topshop, pink long sleeved top: Dorothy Perkins, bag: H&M, floral skirt: eBay, black tights: M&S, grey peep toe boots: Oasis.

It feels like I’ve been eating so many colourful foods this weekend! Looking back to Saturday, we had a lovely relaxed morning – I made a big pot of sencha green tea and just chilled out while eating breakfast. This was just delicious:

A slice of my coconut banana bread with strawberries, apple blackberry tofu yoghurt and passion fruit. I know I’ve said it before but I adore that tofu yoghurt and it tasted so good with the coconut banana bread. Just so I can link back to it here’s the super simple recipe that I use to make the yoghurt:

Simple tofu yoghurt (makes two servings)

• 1 package of mori nu silken tofu
• 1 small jar of fruit puree / 3 tbsp of pureed fruit (I’ve been using hip organic baby food!)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill in the fridge before eating. I really love its plain creamy taste – dare I say it, almost as much as Greek yoghurt! It certainly makes a nice vegan alternative, at least for me!

Lunch was a beautiful ‘rainbow’ salad. I just loved all the colours in this!

It included cos lettuce, sweet pea shoots, alfalfa sprouts, carrot, yellow pepper, beetroot, sugar snaps and cucumber plus a load of mixed seeds for added protein and crunch. I made the simplest and tastiest dressing inspired by a recipe in Veganomicon using 1 tbsp of tahini, 1 tbsp of sweet white miso and water, it was utterly delicious.

I went for more posh green juice too:

Posh because I drink it from a wine glass ;-) This was my first green juice sans fruit – it contained celery, romaine, cucumber, broccoli, lemon and ginger and tasted surprisingly good without the added sweetness of the usual apple or pear. I’ve also had a few colourful fruit filled bowls:

Dinner was a a socca pizza type creation. I made up the usual socca and topped with a thick layer of my broccoli and olive high protein hummus, broccoli and brussel sprouts roasted in coconut oil, beetroot and alfalfa sprouts:

This was really good and very filling but I think would have tasted even better with regular hummus! I also had some 74% dark chocolate with mint from Plamils – it tasted amazing!

Sunday morning I was up for my run. I decided I to go for a nice relaxed 9 miles (the furthest I have ran this year) which I did in 1hr 25 minutes with an average pace of 9.32 which I was really happy with. It was a good run but it did feel slow and tough at times. It was nice to hit the 9 mile distance though and I felt really strong at the end, even managing a bit of a sprint finish! I was thinking back to last years training and how achy and tired I felt after some of my runs. So far this year I’ve had none of that, my recovery seems to have massively improved.

Breakfast was a delicious chocolate cherry beet green smoothie made with a big cooked beetroot and the usual maca, mesquite and ground flax then topped with peanut flour sauce, grape nuts cereal and cacao nibs:

So good!

I was a little nervous of visiting the restaurant for Sunday lunch as I didn’t want to have any problems finding something vegan to order. I shouldn’t have worried though as ended up with some penne in a lovely roast veggie and tomato sauce along with a big salad. My tummy wasn’t so happy with the white pasta – it always bloats me up now - but I had a few cups of green tea when I got home which made me feel better.

For dinner I made a huge pan of my favourite spring soup – Courgette and Watercress. For such a simple recipe this really tastes fab:

I had a couple of bowls full, just so nourishing and delicious. I also had more tofu yoghurt with strawberries, blueberries and a little bit of granola:

All in all a lovely weekend has been had!

I’ve also managed to be quite productive which is always good, I got another assignment completed for my diet and nutrition course and had a lovely Sunday cook up session so I have meals ready for the next couple of days, as well as an extremely well stocked freezer. I think next week will be eat out the freezer week!

Do you like to eat a rainbow of different coloured foods? I love to try and eat lots of different colours – mainly because they are so pretty but also because eating a range of colours ensures you get a full range of nutrients. I have Colleen Patrick – Goudreau’s Colour Me Vegan cookbook on my wish list – it has a range of recipes based on the colour of foods!

I would have to say that my favourite food colour is green – apples, kale, spring greens and cucumber are some of my favourite veggies!

What’s your favourite ‘food colour’?

Last week I shared with you my love of green smoothies and my 7 days 7 smoothies challenge. See that post for more info on how to construct a fab green smoothie and the reasons why I love them so!

Each day last week I ate a delicious smoothie containing a large amount of green veggies along with different combos of fruit and other add ins and toppings. I enjoyed them so much I ended up continuing the challenge for an extra day!

I thought it would be good to round up all of the tasty green smoothie recipes I created for the challenge:

Apple Pie Green Smoothie

Tropical Green Smoothie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Green Smoothie

Chocolate Cherry Beet Green Smoothie

Carrot Cake Green Smoothie

Nutty Berry Green Smoothie

Raspberry Carob Green Smoothie

‘Bounty’ (chocolate coconut) Green Smoothie

I thoroughly enjoyed making and eating all of these! Big thanks to Jessica and Jemma who have been following the challenge along with me – and any of you guys that have been doing it on the quiet. Check out their blogs for some more fab variations including Jemma’s Strawberries and Cream and Jess’s Terry’s Chocolate Orange!

Interestingly I noticed that my energy levels have been very good this week despite having a bit of a stressful time at work. I’ve also found that it has been easier to focus at work. I do feel that my increased intake of raw food, green veggies, protein and ‘super’ foods via these green smoothies has contributed to this, of course it could just be psychosomatic! I particularly think that adding maca powder to my smoothies has been useful due to its support of the adrenals (linked to supporting stress).

Have I convinced any green smoothie virgins to give them a try? If your already a green smoothie lover what’s your favourite combo? Which of the green smoothies above look the best to you? I loved them all but if I had to choose I’d go for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!

Hope your having a great weekend!