Happy Friday everyone! This Friday comes with an extra bit of happiness for me as I am now on holiday for a week, bring it on! I am pretty ready for the weekend after being ill mid week. Luckily I’m feeling much better but poor James also caught whatever it was so he’s been ill too. Here’s a look at my workouts for the week:

• Sunday – 30 minute treadmill run, 15 minute bike, Kettle bell Class
• Monday – Yoga class 1 hour 30
• Tuesday – Unexpected rest day – ill :-(
• Wednesday – AM gym workout – 5 min warm up cross trainer, strength from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 20 min HIITs on bike
• Thursday – AM – Yoga for Runners podcast, PM Gym – 321 workout
• Friday - AM gym workout – 5 min warm up cross trainer, strength from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 20 min HIITs on step machine

Thanks for all your comments about the yoga class. I’ve been looking at what other yoga is being offered in my area and it all seems to be Hatha style yoga which I understand to be pretty slow paced. I don’t mind doing one class like that a week but I couldn’t do two! With that in mind I’m probably going to experiment with a couple of different classes at the gym and some DVD’s and podcasts and then re jig my workout week.

Luckily I’m back to my normal self now but mid week I had very little appetite due to that mystery illness, however chocolate and peanut butter makes everything better:

This was one of the only things I managed to eat on Tuesday, it contained spring greens, banana, lots and lots of peanut butter, water and ice then topped with peanut flour sauce and dark chocolate chips. Also accompanied by several spoons of peanut butter straight up with dark chocolate chips stuck on. Speaking of nut butter and spoons…

My order of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter arrived from iHerb! I did just about manage to eat some of this ;-)

I’ve also continued to enjoy my current favourite snack of almonds and raisins:

These were some extra special almonds that I’d soaked overnight then coated in shoyu and ‘roasted’ in the dehydrator to make raw salted almonds. They are gorgeous, I can’t get enough of the sweet and salty combo! I just had to add some on top of a butternut squash smoothie too:

I decided to get one of these in while I still craved it. This was roast butternut, kara coconut milk, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ginger, cinnamon and ice topped with maple syrup and those almonds all chopped up. Heaven!

I also made a pretty awesome dinner that I had a couple of nights in a row – baked tempeh with stir fried purple sprouting broccoli and greens in a ginger coconut sauce:

I marinaded the tempeh in a mix of shoyu, honey, ground ginger and garlic powder then baked. For the veggies I just stir fried them in a little coconut oil then once they were tender I added about 3/4 cup of full fat coconut milk, fresh minced ginger, shoyu sauce and 1/2 tbsp of coconut flour (to add thickness) then cooked off for a couple of minutes to thicken up even more before serving. I haven’t had full fat coconut milk in ages and it was so good. I was even more surprised when the leftover milk that had been left in the fridge turned into a very thick cream. I had a sudden moment of inspiration and decided to use it to top a gooey baked sweet potato for my lunch today:

I also added some peanut flour sauce for a bit of protein. You can’t tell me that doesn’t look amazing right? I’m a full fat convert now!

Other meals that have helped me get my appetite back include:

Big salad with romaine, red onion, yellow pepper, cucumber, black beans and avocado

Green smoothie with spinach, persimmons x 3, 1/2 banana, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, water, ice, maca powder, ground flax topped with Dorset Cereal’s fabulous ‘Simply’ muesli and more sliced persimmon

My obsession continues… four fresh figs topped with tahini (watered down a bit for more pourability), black strap molasses and thyme honey. Can not get enough!

I’ve been loving my fats this week. I used to always go for the low fat versions of everything such as hummus, light coconut milk and yoghurt (when I was eating that). I know that when you are seeking to lose weight reducing fat can be a good strategy, however fats are essential in our diets for so many things including the absorption of some fat soluble vitamins and good skin, hair and nails. I know there are ‘good’ fats (poly unsaturated and mono unsaturated fats) and ‘bad’ fats (saturated and trans fats) but for me I don’t worry too much about that and enjoy plant sources of fats even though coconut milk, butter and oil contains some saturated fat. There is some evidence that the medium chain fatty acids (MCFA’s) present in coconut milk are processed by the body in a different way to saturated fat from other sources and that they can provide energy and help to maintain weight by increasing satiety. As long as its not the nasty trans fats, and that the fat in whatever form is coming from whole unprocessed foods, I’m happy! Are you a low fat or full fat person? I definitely think there’s a balance to be had between the two.

Have you got anything exciting planned for the weekend? Tonight I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for ages, if it works out ok I’ll share on Sunday! Other than that I think its going to be a pretty chilled weekend just catching up with friends and family, a bit of gym time and of course getting set to travel down to Brighton next week. Hope whatever your up to you have fun, and manage to stay warm!

Hello lovelies, hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Taken on my walk this morning, so beautiful!

So far my weekend has been exactly what I’ve needed: relaxing! Yesterday I got up and did a couple of workout DVD’s, got some grocery shopping in, saw friends, watched a movie with James then stayed up late reading magazines (I decided to treat myself to Elle and Yoga Magazine) while watching the comedy special on Channel 4. Father Ted for the win :-) Today has been perfect, a lie in, pancakes and iced coffee and a walk in the sunshine.

I think I mentioned on Friday that I was looking forward to doing a big pay day grocery shop. I thought it would be nice to share with you what I got, I love noising at people’s grocery shopping! I visited 3 different supermarkets (over Friday and yesterday) to buy our usual faves and get the best value at the same time. This food is for myself and James and includes a couple of treats:

Tesco: tinned full fat coconut milk (on special offer), unsweetened almond breeze (on offer so stocked up!), dried adzuki beans, avocados, peppers, giant bag of almonds, kale, spinach, courgettes

Aldi – broccoli, sweet potatoes, tinned tuna, plums, blackberries, mushrooms, red onions, avocado, cucumbers, celery, romaine

Sainsbury’s – crisps, olives, strawberry yoghurts, full fat Greek yoghurt, organic brown rice, almond extract, hummus, organic goats cheese, small wholemeal loaf, cooked ham, mild cheese, tofu, 12 large organic eggs, skimmed milk

Sainsbury’s continued – crushed ice, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, frozen mixed berries, 14 inch thin and crispy pizza, banana’s, ginger, potted parsley and basil

All of that has well and truly stocked us up for a while, I love having a full fridge and freezer to make meals from!

I was very much looking forward to opening up one of those cans of coconut milk, I decided to refrigerate the can so that the milk goes extra creamy and I’ve been using it in different meals throughout the weekend, including my favourite blended coffee:

I had it hot yesterday morning and iced this morning. I just blend the coffee with about 1/4 can of the milk, vanilla bean paste and a little stevia. I’ve got a whole post on the blended coffee thing coming up really soon, so stay tuned. I also enjoyed it with a bowl of strawberries:

Heaven! Then last but not least I decided to try out some experimental pancakes and holy moly they were good!

Coconut Milk Pancakes (serves 1 hungry person, grain and sugar free, roughly based on and inspired by this version)

• 1 medium ripe banana
• 2 large organic eggs (I’m sure that flax eggs would work too for a vegan version)
• 2 tbsp of full fat tinned coconut milk or coconut cream
• 1 tbsp of coconut flour (or flour of choice, almond meal would also work well)

Pop a frying pan on the stove over a medium high heat to warm up. In a bowl, mash the banana with the coconut milk until smooth. In a separate jug beat the eggs then add the banana mix and flour and mix well. Pour some of the batter in to the greased pan and cook slowly until bubbles start to form and the underside is cooked. Flip the pancake and cook the other side (should only take a couple of minutes on the other side) then transfer to a plate and keep warm under the grill while you use the rest of the batter. I got 2 good sized pancakes and one smaller one from this mix. Enjoy with your choice of fruit, syrup or sauce.

I had mine with blackberries, figs and more coconut milk on top. The trick with these is to cook them very slowly. They puff up nicely and taste just wonderful with a beautiful bananary coconuty flavour. With only 4 ingredients they are so easy to make!

Other delicious things from this weekend must include this fabulous socca pizza:

I added fresh basil to the socca crust and topped it with fresh figs, organic goats cheese, thyme honey, grilled it and then added more basil. I have a great recipe featuring figs and goats cheese coming up for you tomorrow!

Another lovely simple meal was yesterday’s brunch:

Scrambled organic eggs and a peach sautéed in coconut oil inspired by Katie. The peach tasted amazingly sweet and tender.

Its been a very tasty weekend, I’m really enjoying my food right now!

How has your weekend been so far? Do you do a big pay day shop or just get in groceries as you go? We tend to do a mix depending on when we run out of things. If you have a bank holiday tomorrow do you have any big plans?

Last night when me and the hubby sat down to watch the last Ashes to Ashes (anyone else been watching? I was happy with the way they ended it, but I am so going to miss the Gene Genie!) I attacked my chocolate stash and had the last of my Hazelnut and Raisin Green and Blacks chocolate which was amazing. I then had 9 dates, 5 of them stuffed with a little almond. I told myself I was 'carb loading' for todays run! ;-)

I got up really early as I knew it was going to be warm today so I wanted to get out on my run as soon as possible. I fueled up with a 9 bar original.

My bloody RunKeeper App failed on me and couldn't find a GPS signal so I just gave up on it and decided to run without it. I did the same route as last week so I knew I would be covering just over 11 miles. I really enjoyed the run, my legs held up much better than last week. The two big hills towards the end were tough but I just attacked them at a nice steady pace. It did get uncomfortably hot in the last couple of miles and my water ran out so I was gagging for a drink when I got home. I calculated that I did just over 11 miles in 1hr45, thats a couple of minutes faster than last week. I think my average pace was about 9.50 a mile so I'm fairly happy with that as the mile with the hills would have slowed me down.

When I got home I stretched, showered and then made the most amazing breakfast ever!

Chocolate Protein Pancakes with Grilled Pears and Peanut Sauce

For the pancakes:
3 egg whites
1 scoop of chocolate whey powder
2 tablespoons of apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 desert pears
Agave syrup or honey

For the peanut sauce:
3 heaped teaspoons of smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons of non diary milk

Start by making the peanut sauce, mix together the peanut butter and non diary milk. I used this new coconut milk which I had seen in the shops a few times and then on Stella's blog so decided to give it ago.

Pop in a microwavable dish and nuke for a couple of minutes until the peanut butter and milk has combined into a creamy sauce. Add a splash more milk if needed.

Then wash and quarter the pears, removing the core. Mine weren't ripe yet so I microwaved them for a couple of minutes until they had softened. Place on a plate or tray and drizzle with the agave or honey and pop under a medium grill until they have slightly browned.

To make the pancakes mix all the pancake ingredients together well and spoon on to a medium hot frying pan (I use spray oil when making pancakes). When the surface starts to bubble its time to flip. This mixture made 3 medium sized pancakes. I keep the ones that have been done warm under a low grill until its all ready to plate up. Devour!

This tasted amazingly good, the peanut sauce was something really special and the pancakes were light and fluffy. I love the combination of pear and chocolate, but this would also go very well with fresh strawberries. Total foodgasm! I enjoyed these with a cup of Tea Pigs Chocolate Flake Tea, the flavours go together so well. The hubby is starting to make fun of me as he says I've started matching my flavoured teas to my meals like you would with wine! I don't care as it really does make a difference, for example my fruity Mao Feng Green tea would have totally clashed with this.

I had a lovely lazy morning and then headed through to my parents house. They had my little Nephew with them as well so it was great to see him. I just parked myself in their back garden with a pile of magazines and enjoyed the sunshine! I took a packed lunch though with me - a Mozzerella and Tomato salad made with fresh mozzerella pulled into pieces, a chopped vine tomato, cucumber, red onion, spinach leaves and a few chopped mint leaves. I also had a big bunch of red grapes.

A perfect sunny day lunch!

During the afternoon I grazed on this pile of fruit - grapes, strawberries and tangerines and then I had a lovely crunchy apple when I got home.

I stayed out in the sun for a good few hours, it kept clouding over but it was still really warm and I managed to burn my legs! I'm such an idiot, I never think that my legs will burn, I always worry more about my face and shoulders so I forgot to put sun screen on them.

For dinner I decided to try out this new tofu I picked up from Waitrose last week.

I stir fried it in oil and a little soy sauce then stir fried some veggies to go with it - brocolli, asparagus, red pepper, carrot, a little bit of courgette and some red onion, plus more soy sauce.

I decided to eat the whole block of tofu to fill me right up. It was delicious, I had a taste of it before I stir fried it and it will be perfect in salads. I'll definitely be buying more of this! For desert all I wanted was something ice cream like! I made a big bowl of chocolate raspberry sorbet.

Drinks - water, a lot of it! Green tea, chocolate flake tea, decaf tea, decaf coffee.

While I was at my parents my Mam asked me to go through a box of my old things to see what needed to be chucked out, I found some brilliant photos from a girly holiday I had to Cyprus with my best friend Charlie a few years ago. I popped these photos and some other bits and bobs I found in my Keep Sake box.

Do you have a keep sake box? What kind of things do you have in it? I keep old tickets from gigs, Airplane tickets, other holiday stuff  and old note books and journals.

This is definitely one of the things I'd try and save in a fire, it feels like so much of my life is in there!

Well, I have had a fantastic chilled out day. The weather has been amazing, and when you get weather like that in the UK you have to make the most of it! Hope you have all had a great day whatever you've been up to! x

I’d just like to say a big thank you for all your comments on my ‘Evolution of my diet’ post it has been really interesting reading all of your individual stories and I am utterly honoured that so many of you have found my journey inspirational and helpful for you in your own situations. You all reminded me exactly why and write this blog and why I’m pursuing a career in healthy living – to make a difference and inspire and empower others, thank you! :-)

Of course today is time for WIAW! These are my eats and goings on from Monday. I would usually have gone to the gym on a Monday morning but I had an early team meeting and I have a few late night meetings this week, so my usual schedule was all over the place. Instead I enjoyed a relaxed morning getting ready and a lovely breakfast. I had some warm water with lemon juice while I had a shower then made a green smoothie. Again, I was about to put some fruit into the smoothie but it was just so delicious on its own I had it separately:

For the smoothie I just blended up spinach, chocolate sun warrior, water, ice and stevia. I had some beautiful sweet pineapple and delicious blackberries on the side. I also had a tbsp of bee pollen:

I saw the bee pollen in the cupboard and just really fancied some straight up! While I was eating that I brewed some coffee and added vanilla stevia and a cube of full fat coconut milk for extra healthy fats and flavour:

So good, although it might have been better blended up more. I have plans for experimenting with a vegan bulletproof coffee – watch this space!

The sun was actually shining for a change so I decided to dress quite light, OOTD:

Wrap around scarf: Topshop, striped vest: French Connection, long cardigan: Zara, bag: Accessorize, black slim leg trousers: Gap, gold sandals: Next

After our team meeting I was getting hungry so snacked on a couple of chopped carrots with hummus:

I got another pot for 50p at Tesco, bargain!

For lunch I had a bowl of my Raw Thai Carrot soup accompanied by some of my home made raw flax and juice pulp crackers that I’d made in the dehydrator at the weekend:

Still so good, the coconut butter in this just makes it so creamy!

Mid afternoon I snacked on a pink lady apple and a gingerbread nakd bar:

Those bars are fantastic, I love the gingerbread flavour :-)

On the way home I called into Aldi for some cheap fruit and veg:

Pretty much the usual stuff for me right now – cucumbers, carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, avocado, broccoli and sugar snap peas. Got a grocery shopping and staple ingredients post coming up for you tomorrow!

As I was saying, this weeks schedule is all over the place so I didn’t do the usual Monday morning gym workout, instead I wanted to do just what I felt like and what I felt like was yoga!

I had came across Yogaglo a while ago and decided to sign up for their free 15 day trial. The way the videos are set out is that it is an actual taught class with other people filmed, so you feel like you are taking part. There seems to be hundreds of classes available of all different styles, levels and lengths of time. I opted to do a 60 minute, level 2, Constant Vinyasa Flow:

I didn’t do the minimal headstands ;-) It was fantastic! I’ve done podcasts, DVD’s and YouTube videos but this was by far my favourite and so much more like a true class experience. I got a good sweat on – I certainly found my glo! After that I spent 5 minutes practicing my plough pose. Once the 15 day trial it is up it is $18 a month membership. I have to admit I’m tempted but I already spend money on my hot yoga classes twice a month. I think I’m going to have to weigh up the benefits!

For dinner I made up a big Buddha Bowl. I had steamed greens with shoyu topped with brown rice, black beans, red onion and coriander plus half an avocado:

I love avocado in meals like this it just really adds so much flavour. After I’d done the dishes I had a couple of pieces of home made raw salted almond and raisin chocolate bark:

There are no words for how good this is! Very glad that I’ve just received a fresh block of cacao butter so I can make some more!

Monday also signalled the start of my IIN course. The first module was released so I spent some time listening to the sound bites and watching the videos. Later I went and made the usual evening smoothie bowl:

Mixed frozen berries, 1/4 cup of peanut flour, ice, water and stevia – extra smooth courtesy of the Vitamix :-)

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing with a herbal chai tea, I even tried a 10 minute ‘before bed’ meditation from Yogaglo too!

A lovely day indeed with delicious food! Enjoying lots of fats at the moment: full fat coconut milk in my coffee, hummus, coconut butter in the soup, avocado and raw cacao butter – I definitely feel better for it. I’m also looking forward to experimenting with more classes from Yogaglo before my free trial runs out. As I’ve said before I don’t think there’s any substitute for an actual class but Yogaglo comes very close!

Have you tried anything similar to Yogaglo before? What’s your current favourite fat?