Happy Friday! How’s your week been? Mine has been jam packed! So much going on at work and at home but I’ve been loving it :-)

Birthday flowers still going strong!

This weeks workouts:

• Saturday – 30 Day Shred level 2
• Sunday – REST
• Monday – 5 min warm up on cross trainer, new strength routine, 10 min HIIT on bike
• Tuesday – 20 minutes cardio on machines in gym, Body Pump class
• Wednesday – Hot yoga class at Yogalilies (with Jessica!)
• Thursday – REST
• Friday – 5 min warm up on cross trainer, new strength routine, 10 min HIIT on bike

As I was busy with the birthday party at the weekend / recovering from it and really busy, my workouts have been a little different this week. I wanted to get my sweat on Saturday so opted for the quick and effective Shred. I’ve also decided to make Thursday a totally optional workout day as I’ve been finding that I am just so busy with all the things I have going on right now. Now that most of the holidays and celebrations are out of the way I have a good stretch of about 6 weeks when my routine should be fairly constant so I thought it would be good to start a fresh strength training routine which I’ll share more on once I’ve really got it figured out! As part of it I’ve decided to cut the HIIT down from 20 mins to 10 mins – both to save time and to reduce the stress on my body. Oh and I can’t forget my Hot yoga date with Jess, it was fantastic and was such fun to go with a friend!

I’ve been trying to use up some things left over from the party at the weekend. I’d bought a load of melons for the fruit kebabs but ended up with two leftover so I’ve been eating half a melon a day for the last week! It’s been lovely for breakfast:

Two egg omelette with peanut butter and Clearspring sugar free strawberry spread plus the melon on the side

Dorset Cereal granola with Total Full Fat Greek yoghurt and more melon

I had more party leftovers for snacks. Some of my raw date, almond and coconut balls (just 2 cups of pitted dates, 2 cups of almonds and about 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut chopped up in food processor, I did in two batches, rolled into balls and rolled in more coconut) were not eaten - I know, who would choose a slice of cake over a raw ball eh? ;-)

Total Full Fat Greek yoghurt with a small chopped apple, sunflower seeds, goji berries and crumbled raw balls

Of course the regular salads have been enjoyed too:

Romaine, spinach, cucumber, red pepper, red onion, perfect tofu, avocado

Last night I was straight out after work visiting my cousin and friend with the new born babies. By the time I got home I needed something super quick to eat:

Semi raw sweet potato, tahini and raisin wraps

Luckily I had a pre baked sweet potato in the fridge so I just spread that on a spring green leaf, added a generous amount of tahini and raisins and inhaled. So good!

On the Love List this week…

Funky vitamins to sample! – See more below…

Plus so many things on the list this week…

new born baby cuddles! // exciting developments for future work // organic free range eggs // this post from Gena about being obsessive versus dedicated around food and healthy living – lots I could relate to // ordering a brand new yoga mat and bag // raw chocolate // Project Eve – check it out if you are a woman in business // iced coffee blended with full fat coconut milk // kind and thoughtful birthday gift from Jessica!

In case you missed it:

• My 30th Birthday and Birthday Party – complete with fancy dress!
• Tips on being organised with your finances

I’m really looking forward to this weekend as I’m planning a bit of birthday money shopping in the morning, my cousins wedding party tomorrow night then our 4th wedding anniversary (!) and my Mam’s 50th birthday celebrations on Sunday :-) Bring it on! Now for the GIVEAWAY!!!

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Win a 3 month supply of True Women – Skin, Hair and Nails and Myprotein discount code

First up, blog sponsor Myprotein are offering 10% off for new customers using code NEWMP (code valid until Sunday 19th August). Time to stock up on the awesome Almond Butter!

I’ve also teamed up with their sister brand, the new Myvitamins to bring you the chance to win a 3 month supply of True Woman - Hair, Skin & Nails.

‘This unique formula combines vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients in a scientific blend to nourish your body from the inside to help create healthy and glowing hair, skin and nails on the outside, whilst also providing nutrients required for general health and wellbeing’

To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one, I hate for you to miss out on additional entries!):

• Leave a comment to this post telling me something positive about your week! 
• ‘Like’ my Facebook page and leave a comment below stating that you have done so.
• Follow me via Google Friend Connect or Blog Lovin or Twitter and leave a comment below stating that you have done so.
• Tweet about this giveaway - ‘check out @keephealthstyle great GIVEAWAY’
• Sign up to receive blog updates via email using the link to the left and leave a comment below stating that you have done so. 
• Post about this giveaway with a link back to this post on your blog and leave a comment below stating that you have done so.

Giveaway open to UK residents only (sorry international friends!) and closes at 12am GMT Wednesday 22nd July, good luck and have a great weekend!

Hello everyone, happy weekend! Hope you have had a fantastic week :-) Its been a crazy one for me, I feel like I have so much on my plate at the moment I’m just trying to hold it all together. I find that when I haven’t had my usual weekend to get stuff done I end up playing catch up all week, however I am going to…

source

…and get on with what needs to be done!

As I said in my WIAW and Monthly review post, I’m currently focusing in a little on my diet to help me get my sparkle back after feeling a bit under the weather for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been enjoying lots of green smoothies and healthy fats to get that glow and it has been working really well! I have continued having an ACV drink each morning and I’ve also been incorporating in this oil and supplement which I was sent to review from Goodness Direct, for an added boost:

Alongside that I have been avoiding sugar, sweeteners and my beloved shoyu sauce for the last 5 days. The only sweet foods I have had has been in the form of fruit, sweet veggies, the odd bite of raw chocolate (a girl has to live!) and sun warrior protein powder which contains some stevia. I have to say I’ve been amazed at the results! My palate seems to have been refreshed and foods that did not previously taste as sweet now pop with flavour.

Smoothie with kale, blueberries, vanilla sun warrior, coconut oil, maca powder, Viridian skin oil

I’m certainly not about to ditch sugar, sweeteners or salty condiments altogether as I enjoy them too much, however I think I will be trying to be a touch more moderate about how I use them in future. As well as improvements in my sense of taste I also seem to have almost beaten this cold out altogether, my energy levels have been more staple and and I’m sleeping the best I’ve slept in ages! 

Smoothie with romaine, a peach, vanilla sun warrior, two tbsp of tahini, Viridian skin oil, maca powder

This weeks workouts:

• Saturday – At the festival so walking, squatting, walking, walking, squatting, walking
• Sunday – Ditto the above + carrying bags back to car
• Monday – REST - good heavens I needed it!
• Tuesday – 30 minutes cardio on machines in gym, Muscle Mix class
• Wednesday – Hot Yoga at Yogalilies 
• Thursday – Level 2 Full Moon Vinyasa yoga class from Yogaglo 
• Friday – Gym – this strength and HIIT workout with increased weights on some exercises

I can honestly say that using portaloos for 3 days straight does wonders for your quads, I have perfected my squatting technique put it that way ;-) I had thought about hitting the gym when we got back on Monday but that would have been really stupid, that day of complete rest was exactly what my body needed!

I was also super excited when I came back into work on Tuesday and found a few deliveries waiting for me, first up my welcome pack for IIN:

This is wonderful, it contained quite a few resources including a great journal for 3 months that helps you to look at your lifestyle, diet and well pretty much everything. I can’t wait to get started! I also had my first conference call with other IIN students and it was just incredible to hear what an amazing bunch of people I’m learning with!

I’ve also been starting to link with MyProtein. I used to purchase products from MyProtein a lot in the past and since then they have massively widened their product range. I was kindly sent some of their Coconpure oil (organic virgin coconut oil) and Almond butter to try out:

Oh my god, that almond butter! It is a huge bucket full of pure drippy almond butter heaven. No other added ingredients just pure almonds! I had to drive straight in and have some on a sweet potato with broccoli for my usual pre hot yoga meal:

Fab as usual!

A little while ago I was also invited to try out some salad veggies from Good Natured. Unfortunately my local Asda store only had the peppers in stock (the range includes tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines too) so I also bought some strawberries:

The Good Natured range are free from pesticides but not certified organic, which I know for some farmers is a costly process even when they still do not use pesticides. I have to say those peppers tasted are the best I’ve tasted in a long time! I decided to make my Veggie Chilli with them and it was lovely:

I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of making a chilli sooner to help fight my cold! I added two cloves of garlic and a tonne of hot chilli powder to this, yum yum!

I’ve also been doing the usual salad thing:

And I’ve been eating a boat load of avocadoes (only 39p each in Aldi right now!) I made an amazing chilled soup, I’m going to perfect the recipe over the weekend and share it with you next week its so good!

On the Love List this week…

A shit load of veggies! (and tahini, going through almost a jar a week)

As I talked about at the top of the post, dialling up the green smoothies and veggies in general this week has been wonderful. I feel like I have a renewed appreciation for them this week as I’ve slowed down and really savoured their taste. Also…

snacking on raw nuts macadamias, walnuts and cashews, nuts have not been safe from me this week! // the home collection at Urban Outfitters, refreshing the decor in our flat is on my list to do soon! // The lovely Christina blogged about clothing brand Olive, so my style and pretty affordable! // just one week until my birthday!

In case you missed it:

• What I got up to at Kendal Calling music festival!
• My review of July and aims for August
• My July faves Vlog

How has this week been for you? What’s on your love list? How often do you stop and really take time to taste your food?