Hi everyone, happy Wednesday! I want to start buy saying a huge thank you to everyone that commented on my Monday Musing post this week about my snackiness and general thoughts on what is healthy. I’m so glad that so many of you found it an interesting read. I loved all of the thoughtful comments you left!

For WIAW this week I’m doing my eats and happenings from yesterday! Thanks again to Jen for hosting the party!

I was still feeling pretty stiff from the Great North Run on Sunday when I got up so I did a quick yoga podcast to stretch out, it really helped my poor legs! For breakfast I had 3 chopped plums with some Alara Maca Muesli and vanilla rice milk:

It was a pretty chilly morning so I busted out my favourite mittens!

I love these stripy purple ones from Accessorize, especially as they have the fingerless option too, very useful for when you need to find your keys! You just flip over the mitten bit when you need to. I also wrapped up with my chunky scarf too :-)

Mid morning I snacked on a couple of chopped carrots, an apple, some of my delicious home made sun dried tomato and flax raw crackers and a mug of brown rice miso:

I’ve been making myself a mug of unpasteurised miso at work every few days. It makes a nice change from tea and does my tummy good :-)

For lunch I had a big salad containing cos lettuce, shredded savoy cabbage, courgette, cucumber, red pepper and radish with half a tin of mixed beans and a dressing made with hemp oil and blueberry balsamic vinegar. I also had two tangerines:

I love that blueberry balsamic, it goes so well with beans! Just a quick thought – I was reading this great post at Bonzai Aphrodite (one of my fave blogs) and she was saying how misleading photos can be in terms of portion sizes. My salads always contain at least a full head of cos lettuce and that bowl is the size of a serving bowl, a total salad beast!

Mid afternoon I ate one of my raw choc chip cookie dough bars:

I headed to the gym after work and did 30 minutes of intervals on the machines before my Body Pump class. We did the new release tonight, I quite enjoyed it and found it rather tough, although it could be because I’m still quite knackered from Sunday! I did drop my weights for the back track to give myself a break! Anyone else done Body Pump 79 (I think its that one)yet? What do you think?

For dinner I pan fried some Taifun Smoked Almond Sesame Tofu and had it with some spicy peanut sauce (peanut flour, lime juice, red chilli, shoyu), brown rice and broccoli and cauliflower roasted in coconut oil:

I usually just eat that tofu uncooked but I decided to try it fried and it was delicious. The roast cauliflower in particular was wonderful, the best I’ve ever tasted! For dessert I made a big bowl of protein ice cream with a scoop of chocolate sun warrior protein powder, some frozen blackberries, ice, water, stevia and xanthan and guar gums topped with cacao nibs:

I finished up with a lovely mug of Madre Labs CocoCardio with stevia:

I have to say I really am in love with this stuff, it has a lovely deep chocolately taste and a beautiful red brown colour from the beet powder and hibiscus! It kind of reminds me of the Options low calorie hot chocolate powders but without all the chemicals!

Before bed I was feeling a bit snacky so I just went with it. I ate a couple of plums, some frozen grapes, dried cherries, nut butter and 2 pieces of my fave Lindt 90% dark chocolate. I didn’t over stuff myself and went to bed with a happy tummy!

How are you this Wednesday? I’m glad we are over half way through the week already! Are you starting to feel the autumn chill where you are yet? I have to admit I’m more than happy to be wrapping up warm with my favourite woolies!

Don’t forget to check out my wonderful international GIVEAWAY for a chance to win the amazing vegan Blissful Bites cook book!

Hello everyone, hope your having a good week so far. I don’t know about you but I’m definitely starting to enter holiday mode now even though I still have a week of work left. Tomorrow evening we have our big Christmas party and awards evening for the community groups and charities we support at work and then on Friday we have our staff Christmas party. I can’t wait!

These are my eats and happenings from yesterday! I got up ridiculously early to do my usual Tuesday morning yoga. I did Yoga for Runners and my word it felt good, my legs have been getting progressively tighter so it was nice to stretch them out!

OOTD: ‘Stag’ necklace: Primark, navy coat: New Look, stripy scarf: Accessorize, mustard yellow jumper dress: H&M, diamond patterned fishnet tights: Accessorize, black ankle boots: New Look

Breakfast was another squash smoothie, I just can’t get enough of these at the moment! It contained a mix of roast butternut and red kabocha, kara coconut milk, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ice, cinnamon, ginger and ground flax. I topped it with some Bear Apple Pie Granola and some maple sugar:

I adore the maple sugar, its a new to me ingredient that I sneaked on to an iHerb order and its gorgeous! I’ve used it to make homemade maple nut butter too. I also had a cinnamon and hazelnut coffee with stevia and coconut milk.

Mid morning I snacked on some carrot, cucumber and the most delicious raw maca dip:

I made the dip following this recipe from Raw Living and it is amazing! It tastes like caramel – next time I’m going to add a pinch of salt for a salted caramel, yum!

For lunch I had a big salad with little gem lettuce, spinach, home grown alfalfa sprouts, braggs and some maple balsamic baked tofu:

I baked the tofu for Monday evenings dinner – it was marinaded in a mix of maple syrup, blueberry balsamic vinegar and shoyu and it tasted amazing! This salad could have really done with more veggies and a better dressing but my fridge was a bit lacking and I didn’t have time to knock up a decent dressing, it still tasted good but could have done with some extra oomph!

Mid afternoon I snacked on a little bag of blackcurrant fruit yu’s:

I won these in a giveaway the lovely Rachel was hosting and they were very tasty. They kind of reminded me of jelly tots for some reason!

I have to admit, at this point in the day I was starving. Work was busy so I had no time to nip out and find something to eat and my snack drawer was empty. I’m usually much better at planning my meals so that I have enough but today was a failure!

After work I hit the gym. Even though I was hungry I didn’t feel too tired. I did 10 min HIITs on the step machine and cross trainer (20 mins total) and then I had my Body Pump class. We did the new release – Body Pump 80 for the first time. It was good to be doing a fresh routine although a few of the tracks are pretty similar to the last release. I found the lunge track to be the most challenging!

For dinner I took the lazy option and had some steamed spring greens with tamari and ginger and a bowl of broth topped with two Linda McCartney vegan sausages:

Simple but tasty, and most importantly quick to make! I pretty much inhaled this :-)

For dessert I did my usual post body pump thing and made a bowl of protein ice cream, I just never seem to get sick of this! I made this bowl using a 1 1/2 scoops of smores spirutein powder, ice, water, stevia and the gums. I added an additional tbsp of cocoa powder to give it more chocolate flavour and topped with some chocolate covered sunflower seeds:

I also had another good handful of those chocy seeds, they are addictive! I finished the day with a big mug of cococardio hot chocolate with a dash of kara coconut milk:

Not a bad day but I was really annoyed at myself for not taking more food to work with me, I hate feeling that hungry and I was lucky that I had the energy for my workout and that the broth I had for dinner filled me up quite well. I’m now on a mission to re stock my snack drawer! Oh, and apologies for the shocking photos, we’ve had pretty much zero natural light so I’m resorting to the flash and my phone camera, very annoying!

Have you tried Body Pump 80? What did you think? Have you ever been stuck hungry with no chance of getting out to buy some food? Have you any Christmas parties to look forward to?

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope your week is going well. Thank you for all the amazing comments on my last post on my weight loss journey and tips. When people have commented saying I’m an inspiration you really do have no idea how much that means to me, thank you all so much! It was also great to read people’s own stories of weight loss success through eating a healthy whole foods diet!

Well its Wednesday again and that can mean only one thing, WIAW! These are my eats from yesterday.

 

I was off work / working from home again yesterday while I’m recovering from this awful wisdom teeth extraction. I’m sorry for going on about it, hopefully I’ll be back to normal soon. I got up a little later than usual and just did 5 minutes of yoga stretching as I still had DOMS from my Kettlebell class on Sunday!

For breakfast I had prepared a chia seed pudding the night before. I had apples from my organic veg box to use up and of course I can’t chew them normally so I blended two of them up into a raw apple sauce and mixed with 2 heaped tbsp of chia seeds, lemon juice, ground cinnamon and ginger then left in the fridge to thicken overnight:

Not the prettiest meal, but was actually very tasty! I also had an unsweetened vanilla nut teeccino with kara coconut milk. I am slowly reintroducing the stevia after being off it for over a week but I’m still going easy on it, the coconut milk is naturally quite sweet so this was lovely without it. I also took all my vits:

I’m taking a few at the moment I thought it would be interesting to include them. This was 2 chlorella tablets, a vegan multi vitamin, a digestive enzyme, milk thistle capsule and a probiotic. I took another 4 chlorella tablets through the day as per the instructions. I should be some kind of green skinned super woman by the end of the month ;-)

Mid morning I made myself a lovely green smoothie. This contained romaine lettuce, cucumber, an orange, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, coconut water, maca powder, ground flax and ice:

This was so lovely, very hydrating and with a nice mild chocolate orange flavour.

Lunch was a bowl of my Carrot, Ginger and Orange Soup from my frozen stash with some black pepper:

Before heading to the gym I made a smoothie with a frozen banana and half a watermelon:

I had popped to the green grocers on Monday and they had watermelon for just £1.45 so I thought I’d treat myself to a little unseasonal fruity goodness. That smoothie was gorgeous! I also had some matcha:

The Teapigs Matcha Challenge is going well, I’ve been taking some matcha everyday for the last week and especially mid afternoons it has been giving me a bit of a pick me up.

As I was saying at the weekend, I’ve been finding that exercise has actually been making me feel a lot better so I’ve been trying to stick to my usual workout schedule when I can. I popped to the gym and did 30 minutes of cardio on the machines and my Body Pump class. I think it could be that working out takes my mind off things? Either way I felt so much better for it!

For dinner I had mashed sweet potato with home made chickpea hummus and some cauliflower and broccoli mash:

I made the cauliflower and broccoli mash based on Nicole’s recipe – I just steamed some cauliflower and broccoli, chilled it with some cold water and blended with kara coconut milk, sweet white miso and some dried onion granules, warming it back up before serving. It was amazing, I’ll definitely make it again even without teeth problems!

For a little dessert I made a blueberry vanilla green smoothie with spinach, frozen blueberries, vanilla sun warrior protein powder and water topped with a few cacao nibs (to test my chewing a bit) and some coconut:

I went a bit over the top on the buying of the greens at the start of the week so I think I’ll be drinking a couple of green smoothies a day just to use them up before the greens go bad!

Later, I had a cococardio hot chocolate while relaxing before bed:

On the positive side of having the wisdom teeth out, I’ve discovered that my blender is pretty good at blending things other than smoothies (such as the cauli and broc mash) which is great as the food processor is such a faff to clean. I’ve also realised how well I’ve eaten over the last week – around 90% raw some days with lots of fruit and veg and simple foods. I honestly never set out to do such an intense ‘detox’ but I guess that’s how things have worked out!

Have you ever tried blending or mashing veggies other than the usual potato? I love swede and parsnip mash but that broccoli and cauliflower mash was amazing. I also made some with just cauliflower too and added some nutritional yeast for a cheesy taste, yum! Hope you have a great week!

Hi everyone, hope your week is going well! I’m totally high as a kite this morning for some reason, I’ve been listening to Christmas songs on the way to work to get me in the mood! Thanks to everyone that commented on my Monday musings post, such brilliant responses from you all. They have been so helpful and have helped to put my thoughts into perspective.

As it is Wednesday again that can mean only one thing: WIAW!

These are my eats and what I got up to on Monday. I got up, had the usual mug of warm water with lemon then got sorted for the gym. It was so cold, I wore my long sleeved thermal base layer top to stay warm! I did 5 minutes on the cross trainer to warm up followed by 25 minutes of strength training from my current Female Body Breakthrough plan then 20 minutes of HIITs on the treadmill. I do 2 minutes at 6.7mph and then 1 minute at 8.2mph and repeat. It gets me well sweaty!

I came home, showered and then made breakfast. I had a big smoothie with beet greens, frozen blueberries, 2 small raw beets, 1 scoop of Good Hemp Chocolate Fit Shake protein powder, midori greens, berries powder, maca powder, water, ice and gums. I topped it with some Bear Coco Cherry Pie Granola:

I love that granola! I also had a Che Mate Green Tea with ginger in my Starbucks cup to drink on the way to work:

Lunch was a big salad with cos lettuce, red cabbage, carrot, lots of avocado, nutritional yeast and braggs:

For a mid afternoon snack I had some chopped carrot and courgette with home made hummus:

I made the hummus with some chickpeas I’d cooked from scratch, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, hemp oil and some water and it was so good, it reminded me how delicious home made hummus is.

For dinner I used up some things I’d cooked on Sunday and stored in the fridge. I mixed some cooked quinoa, cooked brown rice, chickpeas, roast butternut squash, dried cranberries and parsley and put it on top of some roast broccoli and brussel sprouts that had needed eating up:

So tasty and filling!

I pottered about the kitchen preparing yesterday’s dinner so I wouldn’t have much to cook after Body Pump last night, then I made the most amazing Raw Spiced Almond Milk! I’d soaked 3/4 cup of almonds during the day, drained and rinsed them and then blended them with 3 cups of filtered water. Then I strained the milk using my nut milk bag (and put the pulp into the dehydrator to make raw almond flour) and re blended it with lots of mixed spice, mesquite powder and vanilla stevia:

Oh my word it is so good! I poured some over a bowl of frozen blackberries and raspberries for an evening snack:

How creamy does that look? I love a simple bowl of berries and milk, especially when the milk freezes a bit, really good :-) I also had some of the milk with a mug of cococardio:

The spices and rich chocolate flavours worked together really well, delicious!

Have you tried making your own nut milk before? Any favourite combos? I loved the vanilla and spices in this, it tasted very seasonal! I also love nut milk with raw cacao added and sweetened with coconut nectar, you could even blend fruit right into the milk – I would love to try some strawberry milk some time! What’s the tastiest thing you’ve eaten today?

Hi guys, how has your weekend been? I’ve had a really lovely one, after having a bit of a ‘me’ day on Friday I had a lovely lie in on Saturday morning and awoke to a big comforting bowl of muesli with a chopped apple and kara coconut milk alongside an Indian Chai tea with coconut milk and stevia:

So good to enjoy a big bowl of wonderful muesli! Lunch was a salad with black kale massaged with with lemon juice and mashed avocado, romaine, carrot, red and yellow pepper, olives, more avocado, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast and braggs:

I spent most of the day pottering about in the kitchen getting ready for my little Bonfire night get together. Unfortunately my Sister and my Bro in Law couldn’t get a baby sitter for my 9 month old nephew but my Mam and Dad brought my older nephew Harry with them and my best friend Charlie brought her little girl Hannah. We had so much fun!

~My Bonfire Night Menu~

Vegetable Broth

Cumberland Sausage Sandwiches (Linda McCartney vegan rosemary and red onion sausages for me) with ketchup and fried onions

Caramelised Red Onion with Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar

Roasted brussel sprouts and leeks in a maple dijon dressing (hemp oil, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard)

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Bread (my old recipe but with 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips added and unrefined soft brown sugar instead of the xylitol)

Hot Chocolate (made with cococardio) with coconut milk and a shot of amaretto liqueur

      

I had such a lovely evening, I adore those kiddies :-) We ended up watching the fireworks from the top of a hill just two minutes from our flat instead of paying £3 each to go into the actual park. A lot of people had gathered there and the atmosphere was wonderful, I wish I had bought some sparklers, not for the kids but for me!

The food I’d put on went down really well too, that Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Bread was utterly wonderful even James, who rarely gets excited by food, said it was the best thing I’ve ever baked, and in his words it was ‘f***ing lush’. Not bad for something vegan eh?

This morning I enjoyed another lie in so my run wasn’t in the dark for a change! I was really looking forward to getting out, the weather was perfect, bright but very crisp and I adore the smell after bonfire night. I’ve really been enjoying changing up my running routes recently and today was no exception. I did a route with a good few hills that took me though parts of Durham so I could enjoy the views and all the colourful trees. I did 6.7 miles in 58.13 average pace 8.41. I would have rounded it up to 7 miles but I forgot my mittens to go on top of my gloves and my hands where throbbing with pain by the end!

Breakie was a bit of a tutti fruity smoothie containing spinach, rainbow chard, 1/2 frozen banana, frozen peaches, frozen mixed berries, frozen strawberries, strawberry hemp protein powder, maca powder, spirulina, water, vanilla stevia, gums and topped with raw cashew butter, freeze dried berries and bee pollen:

I made myself a delicious raw lunch of raw aubergine bacon and avocado open faced sandwiches on some raw flat breads along with some chopped veggies:

I had the mid afternoon munchies after I’d downed my usual green juice so made up a bowl of cold roast kabocha squash with some peanut flour sauce (1/4 cup peanut flour with stevia and sea salt) plus a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey:

This was the bomb! Such a great snack, and along with an apple it sorted my rumbling tummy out a treat!

For dinner I had a little bit of leftover roasted greens from last night with some roasted broccoli and a herbed socca wrap filled with roast kabocha squash:

The roast broccoli tasted so good and the sprouts and leeks were wonderful as leftovers often are!

Those of you in the UK – did you do anything special for Bonfire night? Is there any food you always associate with the 5th November? I always remember my Nana’s broth!

Hope you all had a great weekend!