Well I’m now on to day three of my crazy work week and so far I am coping well. I had a late meeting last night but I had plenty of tasty eats throughout the day to see me through it! As I wouldn’t be able to make my body pump class in the evening I squeezed in a Davina DVD (Davina Super body Super Pump Workout) followed by a Yoga for Runners podcast. Breakfast was fantastic! I made up an overnight breakfast pudding using 2 tbsp of chia seeds, 3 tbsp of vanilla hemp protein powder, 1/4 cup of quinoa flakes, 1 tbsp of raw cacao powder (regular cocoa powder would also work) 1 tbsp of agave syrup, 1/2 cup of rice milk and about 1/2 – 1 cup of water all mixed together and left in the fridge overnight. In the morning I layered it up in a bowl with lots of fresh blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries then topped with a little coconut:

So good! I love the taste of raw cacao – so deep and bitter, just delicious!

Lunch was leftover wheat grains, lentils, carrot and asparagus with some spinach dressed with braggs and gomasio plus a couple of bashed up pears:

Mid afternoon I snacked on 2 pumpkin oat ryvita with squash dip and assorted veggies:

I also ate a nectarine before my meeting. When I eventually got home I knew exactly what I wanted – my perfect comfort food as part of my 7 days 7 green smoothies challenge!

Carrot Cake Green Smoothie (makes one large serving)

• 3 cups of spring greens with thick stem removed
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 large shredded carrot (I shredded mine in the blender before adding the other ingredients or you could grate it first)
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I used sun warrior)
• 2 ice cubes
• 1 tsp of maca (optional but good for my stress levels at the moment!)
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1 tsp of spirulina (optional)
• Water or milk to desired consistency
• Xanthan and guar gums (optional but adds thickness)

Toppings:

• Coconut flour paste cream ‘cheese’ icing
• Walnuts
• Raisins
• Cinnamon

Blend all ingredients and serve with toppings. So so good! I also inhaled a couple of jazz apples :-)

Today I was up and at the gym first thing for more speed work on the treadmill (30 minutes) and intervals on the cross trainer, step machine and bike (30 minutes total) followed by abs and core. Then it was time for green smoothie no 2!

Nutty Berry Not So Green Smoothie (makes one large serving):

• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed berries
• 1 scoop of nutty berry spiru-tein powder (optional or add protein powder of choice)
• 2 tbsp of smooth slightly salted peanut butter (I realised the other day that I prefer slightly salted pb in my smoothies as sometimes the taste of unsalted pb gets lost in the other flavours)
• 1 tsp of maca powder (optional)
• 1 tsp of mesquite (optional)
• Water to desired thickness
• Xanthan and guar gums (optional but add thickness)

Toppings:

• Peanut flour sauce
• Goji berries
• Flaked almonds

This was gorgeous, I love the combination of berries and peanut butter! Lunch was another veggie and tofu packed salad with braggs and two persimmons that I picked up from the reduced section:

Holy yum! It was the first time I’d eaten a persimmon and my god they are lush! I think I’ll be eating these all the time, so sweet and delicious. I also snacked on a couple of cookie dough balls mid afternoon.

For dinner I had some steamed spring greens with shoyu, a small baked sweet potato and a mix of black beans, red pepper, courgette, avocado and lime juice:

Dessert was some ‘The Nutty One’ Conscious raw chocolate and two chopped jazz apples:

Thanks for all your comments on my last post – especially on the topic of labels. It seems that most of you agree that labels aren’t helpful and that we should be able to live our lives in a flexible manner without the pressure of living up to a particular set of rules. I think I will be calling myself vegan when I’m in the position of having to describe my dietary requirements to others – i.e. when attending conferences or at restaurants. Its a lot easier than giving them the long version!

I did say in my last post that I had some exciting news, and yes I am a very lucky girl indeed - my husband James has WON A TRIP TO NYC! He entered a competition to see and meet the band Rise Against at Terminal 5 in NYC this May. We went to New York for our honey moon and I am absolutely buzzing that we will be going back! I’m sure you all know what I’m thinking – Whole Foods and Trader Joes haul! We are only there for a couple of days but I’m hoping to hit Babycakes and Peanut Butter Co at the very least, as well as getting my hands on some US brands and products I’ve seen in the blog world including Lara Bars, Vega and Amazing Grass Powders, Artisana nut butters, Justin’s Nut Butter to name but a few! I just hope I’ll be able to carry it all back!

What are your favourite US products you think I should be on the look out for on my visit?

I am so unbelievably excited!!!!

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

Last night I surprised myself by having enough foresight to pop some overnight chia seed oats into the fridge for this mornings breakfast. I mixed 1/2 cup of Rude Health Fruity Date porridge mix with 1 1/2 cups of water, 1 tbsp of chia seeds and 1 tbsp of coconut flour. This morning I mixed in some beautiful ripe mango and topped with coconut shreds:

I love overnight oats and chia seed puddings when the weather is warm!

After some pottering around the house I headed to the gym for a workout. I did 1 hour of intervals on the cross trainer, step machine, bike and rowing machine (15 min on each) followed by some abs and core exercises.

For lunch I made an Asian / Chinese inspired salad with chinese leaf, little gem, carrot, sugar snaps, red pepper, spring onions, edamame and a large serving of my kabocha squash dip. I then drizzled some ginger and yellow chilli sauce on top:

This was one of my biggest salads ever and I couldn’t finish it all! A bit later I had some blackberries and apples and a tasty green juice made with cucumber, broccoli, spinach, celery and lemon:

I still drink fresh green juices at the weekend when I have time to clean the juicer – I can’t imagine not having them on a regular basis now!

I went with another Chinese inspired meal for dinner, a peanut tofu stir fry:

This included more chinese leaf, spring greens, asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli, mushrooms, spring onion and courgette noodles topped with tofu marinated in soy sauce and mirin and fried plus a lovely spicy peanut lime sauce (2 tbsp of peanut flour with lime juice, water, chilli and soy sauce)

I stuck with the Asian theme for dessert too:

Green tea chocolate, delish!

I’ve had a really lazy day today. Apart from my gym workout I’ve just pottered around the flat, watched movies with James and made a few things in the kitchen including some of my favourite Seitan Sausage:

This time I added some dried thyme and sage to the mix. Its such an easy recipe and can be so easily customised with different flavourings. It also freezes very well too.

I’ve really enjoyed my Asian inspired eats today! Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Indian food are my favourites and I also have a big soft spot for Italian food, in fact there’s not a lot of international cuisine I don’t enjoy! What’s your favourite international cuisine?

All in all its been a lovely relaxed bank holiday Monday, and with a three day week ahead followed by being on holiday from work for almost two weeks I’m buzzing! Hope you have enjoyed your Monday!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great weekend enjoying this beautiful weather. I’ve certainly got my quota of vitamin D over the past two days!

Yesterday we had a walk into town, we are so lucky to live somewhere so beautiful:

River Wear, Durham City

I wore my charity shop bargain top for a summery look:

OOTD: sunglasses: Dorothy Perkins, necklace: French Connection, purple top: charity shop, cocktail ring: Topshop, bag: Dune, wooden chunky bangles: Oasis, skinny jeans: Topshop

We stopped to enjoy a cuppa in town. I had a lovely loose leaf green tea:

Such a great day!

I have also had some crazy tasty eats this weekend. Breakfast on Saturday was a socca wrap with mixed seeds filled with crunchy peanut butter and a chopped pink lady apple plus a big pot of earl gray tea:

When we got back from town I made a really amazing salad for lunch. It included lots of leafy greens – cos lettuce, little gem, spinach, watercress and red chard then sugar snap peas and griddled asparagus with some dressing made from my divine squash dip (watered down) then topped with a snack pack of Clearspring pumpkin seeds, soya nuts, dried cranberries and dried apple:

It was just the most delicious salad, I enjoyed every single forkful! I really liked the snack pack – it made a great salad topping with 8.5g of protein.

For dinner I made a fantastic dish of red rice with coconut and ginger braised greens and kale (just kale, greens and fresh minced ginger cooked in coconut oil then some reduced fat coconut milk and shoyu poured on top and simmered for 5 minutes) roast kabocha squash and fried tofu marinated in soy sauce and mirin:

Soo good! Dessert was a wonderful strawberry and mango pudding (fresh fruit blended with ice, agave, xanthan and guar gums):

This morning I was up for my usual long run. I had only been planning on doing about 8.5 miles but I ended up doing 10 miles in 1hr 32 minutes! It was a good run, when I compare my pace to the last time I ran 10 miles a month ago my average pace has gone from 9.42 to 9.13! I can’t believe I have improved so much in such a short period of time.

When I got home I knew that chocolate had to feature in my breakfast with it being Easter Sunday so I went for my favourite chocolate peanut butter cup green smoothie:

Amazing!

We then headed to my parents for Easter lunch. It was fantastic, we played with my nephews and had an Easter egg hunt! We also enjoyed lots of sunshine in their garden:

  OOTD: colourful beaded necklaces: Oasis / thrifted, pink loose top: Warehouse, white vest: H&M, grey cropped utility harem pants: New Look (new purchase!) grey peep toe ankle boots: Oasis

I had lots of salad and veggies with 3 different flavoured hummus:

The hummus was roasted veggie, lemon and coriander and roasted red pepper, yum! I also enjoyed a few glasses of the Pomegranate and Elderflower Presse I was sent for review:

This was so light and refreshing! I also had lots of fruit plus one of my Sinless Brownies that I had baked yesterday:

I reworked the recipe for the brownies to make them vegan and extra chocolaty by subbing out the egg whites for Ener-G egg replacer (for two eggs, you could also use flax eggs) plus one 100g pot of apple sauce. I also added 2 tablespoons of vegan dark chocolate chips then baked at 170c for about 30 minutes. I can honestly say that these brownies are the absolute bomb! They have the best fudgy texture – which has improved by making them vegan! Just awesome :-)

I didn’t get any Easter eggs this year as I already have a huge chocolate stash so I’m getting a little bit of spending money for NYC instead :-) I am now slightly regretting not asking for a dark chocolate Lindt bunny though!

Have you been given any Easter eggs this year? How have you celebrated Easter? I really enjoyed watching my two year old nephew hunt for his eggs!

Hi everyone, so glad we are almost at the weekend!

This morning I decided to have a bit of a later start at work so I could get a few things done. I started with my yoga and core workout (5 min cardio warm up, yoga for runners podcast and core exercises) then made myself a tasty breakfast:

Big bowl of Dorset Cereal High Fibre Muesli (yum) with 3 chopped plums and rice milk plus a fabulous fresh juice made with an apple, carrot, celery, spinach, ginger and lemon.

I got a quick grocery shop in then headed up to my local farm shop for more veggies:

All organic: bag of kale, bananas, courgette, peppers, pears, mushrooms, garlic, broccoli, farm fresh eggs

I am really loving being able to get an additional cheaper organic shop of fresh produce to top up my usual grocery shop and the organic veg box delivery I get once a fortnight.

Lunch was leftover black beans with brown rice, mango and coriander from last nights dinner on top of lots of spinach. I also had an orange and some red grapes:

Mid afternoon snack was more of my tasty squash dip with carrot and cucumber for dipping:

Dinner was a mix of veggies with chickpeas and pesto inspired by Tam. I steamed some broccoli and brussel sprouts then stir fried them alongside mushrooms and red pepper then mixed in some chickpeas, spiralised courgette and two heaped teaspoons of calorific La Sacla vegetarian organic pesto and served up with some steamed kale:

I think I may have gone a little overboard with the veggies – this plate was huge! It tasted wonderful though and I actually ate the lot :-)

Dessert was two chopped apples with some coconut flour paste for dipping (1 tbsp of coconut flour mixed with water):

So good!

Now that I’m having to take a serious look at my finances I need to start reigning in my grocery shopping again. When I did my big budget challenge last year I found it really useful to look at what my regular must have grocery items are so that I can identify the most cost effective method of purchasing them. As my diet (and the hubby’s) has changed dramatically since then I thought it might be worth taking another look at this:

Item	Best value place to buy it
Greens: kale, spring greens, cabbage	farm shop, veg box, market, green grocer
Salad greens: spinach, rocket, lettuce, watercress	farm shop, veg box, market, green grocer
Organic pink lady apples	supermarket
lemons	supermarket, green grocer
ginger	supermarket, green grocer
Selection of fruit and veggies on offer	supermarket, discount supermarket such as Aldi or Lidl, green grocer
Frozen fruits (bananas, blueberries, cherries, mixed berries, mango)	supermarket
Frozen soya beans	supermarket
Tofu - firm / silken / organic / flavoured	supermarket, health food shop
Beans and lentils -  tinned / dried	supermarket, ethnic store
Nut butter - peanut, almond, cashew, hazelnut	health food shop / online
Green tea	supermarket
Almonds - to make almond milk	supermarket, ethnic store, health food store
Non dairy milk - soy, rice, kara coconut, oat	supermarket, health food store
Oats	supermarket, health food store
Tinned chopped tomatoes	supermarket
Brown rice and quinoa	supermarket, health food store
In addition for James:
Skimmed milk	supermarket
Eggs	Farm shop, supermarket
Ham	supermarket
Cheese	supermarket
Strawberry yoghurt	supermarket
Tuna	supermarket
Tomato pasta sauce	supermarket
Pasta	supermarket
Potatoes	supermarket, farm shop, organic veg box

This list tends to represent the things I buy on a weekly or at the very least monthly basis. I do try and buy organic whenever I can afford it if its not vastly more expensive than the regular option. In addition to my organic veg box delivery I do try and get fruit and veg from the supermarket that is on offer – today I got some strawberries and cherries for £3 (although I do feel guilty for the food miles). The cheaper supermarkets such as Aldi or Lidl can sometimes have some real bargain fruit and veg as well as random finds – I recently bought a load of cartons of rice milk on the cheap from Aldi!

I also know that organic pink lady apples aren’t a best value option, but I love them and don’t mind forking out extra pennies on one of my favourite foods!

Obviously it would be incredibly time consuming to shop in all these different places each week so I’m going to try and get myself organised so I can take advantage of the better value options when I can. A weekly supermarket shop is a given, however I’m going to try and get around some of the other cheaper sources of groceries when I can too. I also need to think about having a balance between eating more expensive foods like the flavoured tofu and instead eating more beans which are cheaper.

As long as I have a fridge, freezer and cupboards stocked with this stuff I’m happy I can whip up a healthy meal for the both of us. Luckily I already have a crazy stash of chocolate, frozen baked goodies, grains, noodles, pasta, dried fruit and nuts and snack bars that could probably see me through a nuclear winter and I plan on eating my way through these as best I can!

What are your key grocery items? How do you approach grocery budgeting?

Thanks for your comments to my last post regarding products for review. It seems that some of us like reviews and others aren’t bothered, however we all seem to agree that we have discovered some great products via blogs! As I said in the post I will continue to try and seek out more unique products when possible, however I obviously don’t know what other bloggers are planning to feature so some of my more unique products may end up not being that unique! It was also nice to hear that I have inspired other bloggers to seek out the same products for them to review. One thing I can say is that I won’t be posting review after review, and when I do post reviews I will include that in the post title if you would prefer to skip it. I have a few other bits and pieces in the pipeline – everything seems to be coming along at once, but I’ll try to ensure that the blog doesn’t get bogged down with it all!

Tuesday morning I was up to do my strength workout, it kicked my ass as usual! Luckily I had the thought of this super tasty breakfast to get me through it:

Based on my vanilla chia wheat germ breakfast pudding I made up a chocolate chia wheat germ pudding with raspberries. This tasted so good! I mixed in frozen raspberries last night when it went in the fridge and this morning they had defrosted and melded into the luscious pudding. I topped my bowl with cacao nibs for added crunch. Delish!

Lunch was a repeat of Mondays tofu salad with Asian dressing and a nectarine. I had a large mid afternoon snack as I had been planning on going to yoga later on so I had two pumpkin oat ryvita with lots of carrot sticks and cucumber for dipping in my amazing squash dip!

Squash dip (makes 1 1/2 cups)

• 2/3 cup of roast or cooked squash (I used kabocha of course!)
• 1/2 cup of parsley, packed
• 1 tbsp of tahini
• 1 tbsp of oil (I used cool oil)
• 1 tbsp of sweet white miso
• 1 clove of garlic
• water to thin

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend. Gradually add the water until you get your desired consistency. It does firm up a bit in the fridge so perhaps make it a touch thinner to take this into account.

 

This dip is the bomb! It tastes amazing and has the most creamy texture. I think it would also work well with other herbs in place of the parsley and using a different squash such as butternut would make it sweeter.

I had been due to go to my yoga class but for some reason I was just not feeling it. I think I’m fighting off a bit of a cold and I haven’t been feeling 100% over the last couple of days. It was the last class that I was paid up for and after thinking about things I don’t think I’m going to re sign up for it. Although I have been loving the class once I’m there I’ve been finding the later night quite tiring and disruptive. I think the timing of the class (6.15 to 7.45) just doesn’t fit in with my schedule at the moment and one thing I need is as much flexibility as possible. There’s also the additional cost to consider too :-(

Instead I ate my pre yoga snack of a leftover cookie and a pink lady…

…and went home and did my Yogalates DVD for an hour. No comparison to an Ashtanga session but it did give me the opportunity for a good stretch!

I had a huge craving for a big green smoothie after that so I combined kale, frozen strawberries, carob powder, hemp protein powder, peanut butter, spirulina, mesquite and rice milk then topped with half a pack of cocoa cherry pie granola and some brown rice puffs to make it a little more filling:

This was so good, first time I’ve added carob to a smoothie – it tasted fab!

This mornings breakfast was orange and cranberry porridge with cashew macadamia cream:

1/2 cup of rude health fruity date porridge mix, tbsp oat bran, 1/2 cup of rice milk, juice and pulp from one orange, 1/2 cup of water, frozen cranberries, teaspoon of ground flax and extra dried cranberries on top of the cashew macadamia cream topping. I also had a cup of Christmas coffee.

Lunch was Leek, Greens and White Bean Soup with a bowl of red grapes:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a dried apricot, dried fig, some brazil nuts and pistachios before heading to the gym:

At the gym I did 30 minutes of speed work on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed with my usual abs and core. I’ve now got my plank hold up to 90 seconds! Considering that before Christmas I could only do 30 seconds I’m well chuffed!

Dinner was a simple beans and rice mix made more exciting with some fruit and herbs: black beans with brown and wild rice, mango, coriander and lime juice dressing:

I served this with a large side of steamed kale. I have had some big cravings recently for just a simple bowl of beans, veggies and grains and this has satisfied it!

Dessert was some coffee flavour no added sugar vegan Plamils chocolate and two sliced pink lady apples:

The Plamils chocolate was gorgeous! Just the right amount of coffee flavour in a lovely dark crunchy creamy chocolate.

I know that I’ve made the right decision in stopping the yoga class although I’m sad about it. I think its been an incredibly useful class as I have a much better understanding of postures and positioning which has meant that my own yoga practice (using downloads and podcasts) has been improved. I absolutely love yoga for the added flexibility and strength it has given me so now I need to consider how I can incorporate it in to my training programme. I love the podcasts from Yoga Download which are 20 minutes long, they are perfect for fitting into a flexible programme so I may try and do one of these a few times a week. I also recently got the book Slim, Calm Sexy Yoga by Tara Stiles which actually goes through a lot of poses in good detail and suggests various 15 minute yoga flows that also could be useful.

I think if anything I’ve learned over the last couple of weeks is that my workouts have to be flexible for them to be effective, especially as I sometimes have late work meetings or if I’m just not feeling it (like last week when I swapped out my run to another day). Being flexible isn’t something that comes naturally to me – I know I can be a control freak and like having a set routine, but I’m embracing a more flexible approach and I think its doing me the world of good!

Do you take a flexible approach to your exercise and fitness or are you more structured? Does having a flexible approach come naturally to you or is it something you have to work at like me?