Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish

WIAW–Yoga and a change of routine

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Hi everyone, hope your all having a brilliant week and enjoying the first day of February! Here I am for yet another WIAW...

These are my eats and goings on from Monday. I had a completely different Monday to usual because I was going to yoga on the evening I didn't hot foot it to the gym first thing as usual. It was nice to be able to have a relaxed morning, plus I had even more time available as we had a planning day for work so I didn't need to be in until 10am. I started off with the usual warm water and lemon then made a big fresh juice:

This is my current favourite blend with beetroot, carrot, choi sum (my green grocer is selling this really cheap right now)cucumber and ginger. I added some matcha to it as well. After getting dressed I made a bowl of porridge:

This was just a simple bowl made with oats and water cooked slowly on the stove top. I added a little stevia and then topped with Clearspring blueberry jam and peanut flour paste. When I added it on top I thought it started to look like a ying and yang symbol so I added the dots, I'm so mature I know ;-)

I also had a lovely coffee:

This was cinnamon and hazelnut and hit the spot!

We had our planning day in the upstairs room of a local restaurant that we usually use for team building days called Oldfields. After a morning of planning we had a delicious lunch. I started with the butterbean hummus and rapeseed oil dipping board:

I had this the last time I was here and it was delicious! For my main I just had a plate made up of various side dishes such as roast root veg, roast new potatoes and greens. I added some of the left over hummus on the side:

For dessert I had an apple and sultana compote:

Yum! After we finished our day I went and got some fruit and veg from my favourite green grocer before coming home. For dinner I made myself a big salad:

This included romaine lettuce, crumbled nori, carrot, avocado, sea veggie sprinkles, pumpkin seeds, olives and braggs liquid aminos.

Then I headed off to my new yoga class! The class was very different to what I was used to, when I have done taught yoga before it has been Ashtanga so quite brisk. This class was much, much slower paced, I didn't break a sweat at all, which I know doesn't have to be the point with yoga, but for me I think I prefer something a bit more challenging. We did do some interesting partner poses, and I did feel extremely relaxed by the end of the class. I also enjoyed this class for being a bit more spiritual. I'm not sure if I'm going to make this a regular thing, at £5 a class its not cheap. I'm thinking I might occasionally visit this class when I feel like I need chilling out!

When I got home it was getting pretty late but I was a bit hungry so I made up a 'vanilla cookie' green smoothie with spinach, romaine, cookies and cream spiru-tein powder, vanilla stevia, water and ice. I also chucked in some maca powder and a couple of chlorella tablets in for good measure:

This was delicious but unfortunately things started to go down hill from there. I ended up in bed at 9pm shivering uncontrollably even when I had a hot water bottle. That was followed by a restless night and waking up yesterday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. I have no idea what it was but I haven't felt that poorly in a long time, I spent most of yesterday unable to get out of bed. Luckily I started to pick up and have been much better today although my manager has just sent me home, I hate being ill!

So I’m thinking I need to look at some other yoga class options to find something that suits me better. I’ve been looking at my gym class time table and I’m thinking of doing more juggling to find classes that will fit in with my schedule. Are you a yoga fan? What kind of yoga do you prefer?

Looking forward

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:45:00 +0000

January has been a bit of an odd month for me, not bad, just odd! I started the month by having my wisdom teeth out and that impacted on me a lot more than I had expected. I also realised that I needed to make some changes and made a plan of action to help myself get to a truly healthy place. In terms of my goals for the month I did ok:

I completed my Diet and Nutrition Course with a distinction – yey!
I got my lesson plan and costings written up for doing healthy living programmes with a local youth club. I’m just waiting to hear back from them
Gave the blog a make over!
Celebrated my 2nd blog birthday :-)
Stuck to eating whole, minimally processed foods and avoided coffee and alcohol

I didn’t stick to my yoga / meditation challenge or get much done at the garden – I’m blaming all that on having the wisdom teeth out!

As for the simpler eating, it went very well. I ended up doing a pretty intensive juice and smoothie cleanse almost by accident after having my teeth out and after that I still continued to eat lots of raw, unprocessed foods and no coffee. It made me realise how good I feel eating that way - my skin and energy levels have been amazing - especially as this time round I've been properly fuelling myself. I think that for the future this is going to be my default way of eating – I didn’t miss things like cereal, pasta or faux meats at all. Once I’ve eaten up what I have I think they'll be making a rare appearance in my diet. I can't go without coffee though, that is definitely my treat!

I’m going to do a separate post on some of the products that I’ve been using during the month (such as chlorella, aloe vera juice and honey) to help with ‘detoxing’ as I’ve really enjoyed using them and have experienced some great results.

Goals for February

Now that January is done I'm really looking forward to February, at least we are one step closer to the spring!

source

Have a great time in Brighton!
Gain 5 lbs
Get settled into my new fitness routine (see below)
Start work on the garden finally!
Cleanse my wardrobe
Register myself with the Federation of Holistic Therapists
Register my interest at becoming a tutor for the Workers Educational Association (WEA)
Start doing yoga / pilates at least 3 times a week
Get my kitchen organised and restocked with my essential ingredients

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton: source

We are off to Brighton in a few days time for a little break and I can not wait! We will be staying with my Aunt and Uncle again. I’m excited to be able to visit Aloka and all the other veg friendly eateries on offer, as well as a meet up with the fabulous Tam! I have no doubt that the visit to Brighton will help me reach that 5lb gain target, so much yummy food! I’m also going to take the opportunity to visit Infinity Foods and get stocked up on some of my favourite healthy ingredients and then sort out my kitchen. I’m going to give myself a budget to treat myself to some new bigger clothes then I’m going to cleanse my wardrobe of everything that is remotely tight fitting and put it in to storage for now.

My workout plans are also going to be different once I return from Brighton and I'm foreseeing that most weeks when I'm not working late, are going to look like this:

Monday - PM Yoga Class - taught / DVD or Podcast
Tuesday - AM Yoga podcast, PM Gym 20 min HIIT on cardio machines, Body Pump Class
Wednesday - AM Gym, 5 min warm up, Strength training from Female Body Breakthrough, 20 min HIIT bike
Thursday - PM Yoga Class
Friday - AM Gym, 5 min warm up, Strength training from Female Body Breakthrough, 20 min HIIT step machine
Weekend - REST DAY / Anything goes - 5k relaxed run, yoga, pilates, gardening, kettlebells etc

I have a post lined up looking in more detail at the Female Body Break Through book - I'm really enjoying using it to inspire my workouts!

February Sponsors

I have some wonderful sponsors for the blog this month! NukuNuku are offering a great discount on their haramaki belly bands, please check them out, especially with this cold weather we are expecting! I'd also like to welcome back Teavivre - please have a look at their website full of an amazing array of teas direct from China. Gourmet Raw are also offering a fantastic discount on their delicious raw treats - their brownies and crisps are amazing! Of course Tea Pigs are offering 20% off their Matcha until 12th February and long time sponsor Viva Pure are offering a great 7% off your first order. I have a refreshed Goodness Direct discount code as off the start of the year so if you used the last one you can now use this one too! iHerb continue to offer a saving of $5 on your first order.

I'd also like to welcome a new sponsor this month, The Flower Council of Holland:

They are promoting the benefits of having house plants, how awesome is that! I'm actually a massive fan of house plants - I have to have one in every room, so I was really delighted for them to sponsor the blog. I'll be running a great giveaway later in the month when you can win your very own house plant!

If your interested in sponsoring the blog please check out the details here.

How was January for you? Do you have any goals for February?

The Tea Pigs Matcha Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:23:00 +0000

At the start of the year I was contacted by the guys at Teapigs to see if I would be interested in taking part in the Teapigs Matcha Challenge and I jumped at the chance!

For the sake of any new readers, I'll quickly give you a bit of an update on my lifestyle. I'm active, working out 6 times a week, mostly vegan and would consider myself pretty healthy. Over Christmas I had ate quite well but had certainly indulged in a lot of richer foods and lots and lots of caffeine! For January I decided to try and eat a mostly unprocessed vegan diet and avoid coffee. I am also a big green tea fan in general. I have used matcha before and had been really impressed with its nutritional stats which are described here, so I was looking forward to re introducing it again.

How did I enjoy it?

Over the last three weeks I've had a 1/4 teaspoon serving a day in various guises:

Matcha Shot (well kind of shot, just matcha whisked up with hot water in a small glass)

Matcha smoothie - this included frozen mango and coconut water, it was delicious!

As a hot tea (I sometimes added some manuka honey for sweetness and when I was feeling like I might be coming down with a cold)

Matcha lattes: I adore these! This was made with kara coconut milk

I even made some raw matcha cookies!

To make these I combined some soaked almonds, coconut, ground flax and agave syrup in a food processor then formed cookies and dehydrated until dried. You could easily make matcha cookies or even cakes by adding some matcha to an existing recipe - I would love to try adding some matcha to a vanilla cupcake recipe!

I actually like the taste and flavour of green tea so really enjoyed the hot teas and lattes - it also goes well in porridge which I tried the last time I had some matcha but never got round to trying it this time. I also regularly added matcha to my usual green smoothies. There are more ways that you can enjoy matcha listed in these lovely recipes.

When did I take it and what effect did it have?

I tended to have my matcha when I felt like I needed a boost, especially while I was off the coffee. I had it with breakfast or mid afternoon which is when I usually find myself needing a pick me up. I'm not sure if its a bit psychological but I tended to sense more of an increase in energy when I drank it as a shot or hot tea rather than in a latte or smoothie - perhaps it gets into your blood stream quicker that way? It was especially good pre workout for giving me a little kick! I also found that I had very minimal coffee or caffeine cravings. I wasn't a massive coffee drinker anyway, but I think the matcha just helped take the edge off my tiredness sometimes as well as giving me a 'ritual' to replace the coffee making on a morning.

I can't say if matcha has helped me with regards to weight loss as that has not been my goal. What it has helped me with is making me generally feel healthier and lighter. Again, this could be psychological, but drinking something that beautiful green just makes you feel like your putting something good into your body!

Overall verdict?

I just love matcha! For me that's to do with the taste and how it makes me feel - healthy and energised. It was voted as slimming product of the year by Your Healthy Living readers, I'm not sure if taking this on its own would make a lot of difference but I think that just including it in your diet makes you more likely to make wider diet and lifestyle changes which would result in weight loss if that was your goal.

Like I said, I am such a big fan of matcha and green tea and have really enjoyed that extra daily dose of green goodness! If you'd like to try the benefits for yourself Teapigs are offering 20% off using code MATCHABLOG12 (offer valid until 12th Feb 2012), don't miss out!

Have you tried matcha? What did you think? What is your favourite way to enjoy Matcha?

My new favourite outfit and a tasty chilli!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:40:00 +0000

Hello everyone! How's your weekend going? Mine has been great, I kicked it off on Friday night by making a lovely meal. Last weekend I had cooked up some pinto beans from scratch and really fancied something warming and comforting so I came up with this delicious chilli!

Pinto Bean and Aubergine Chilli (vegan serves 2-3)

1 large onion
1 aubergine
1 pepper (I used a yellow pepper)
1 courgette
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of tomato passata
1 cup or 1 tin of pinto beans (black beans or black eye beans would also work)
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp of cumin
1 tbsp of cocoa powder

Begin by chopping the aubergine into cubes, putting it in a colander and sprinkling with salt to remove the bitterness. After 10 minutes fry the aubergine until it is browned, set aside. Chop the onion and fry in a little oil over a medium high heat until softened then add the pepper and the courgette chopped into pieces. Continue to fry for a few minutes then add the aubergine. Fry for 3-5 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes, passata, beans, spices and cocoa powder. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes until all the veg has softened and the tomato sauce is thick and syrupy. Serve!

I ate mine with some roast purple potatoes, steamed greens and avocado. Its the first time I've tried adding cocoa to a chilli recipe but it works very well to add depth of flavour. The purple potatoes were unusual, they roasted up lovely (I used coconut oil) but I'm not sure I'd make an effort to buy them again, I much prefer sweet potatoes!

For a late night 'snack' I made a massive bowl of popcorn with melted coconut butter:

This was delish! Other tasty eats from the weekend include yesterday mornings breakfast:

Cherry oats with cinnamon topped with tofu cream and pecans, yum!

For lunch, a smoothie made with beet greens, banana, chocolate sun warrior, maca, ground flax, berries powder, water and ice topped with massive amounts of sunflower seed butter, muesli and extra raisins:

I totally added more muesli and nut butter as I ate it off the top, so good :-)

After a 30 min treadmill run, 15 min bike and my kettle bell class, I came home this morning and devoured another Protein Buckwheat Bowl:

So loving these! I made this one with chocolate sun warrior protein powder and some almond extract then topped it with raisins and dried mixed berries, it was gorgeous. I also ate a big bowl of grapes, I was ravenous!

Oh and I have to give a quick mention to these amazing raw flat breads from Viva Pure:

These are sweet onion flatbreads and I had them with veggies, avocado and olives. They are so tasty! I'll definitely be treating myself to those again. I can't forget this lovely snack I had too:

Fresh figs with tahini, tofu cream, honey and bee pollen, it was just utterly wonderful!

Last night we went out for a meal to celebrate my Dad's and my Sister's birthday:

OOTD: jewelled necklace: Topshop, stripy tee: Topshop, buckled wide belt: Dorothy Perkins I think?, green skirt: Urban Outfitters, black tights: M&S, ankle boots with zip detail: New Look, metallic clutch bag: Accessorize, chunky ring: Topshop

I really love this outfit! I can't wait to wear this combo again, of course it features my favourite stripes and I just adore that green skirt, I think its so unusual and very 'me'!

We went to a pub called The Old Mill and I had some Spicy Vegetable Enchiladas:

Delicious! These were packed with vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce and were super filling, although I still found room for plenty of chocolate when I came home! We had a fun night looking through some old photographs of us all when we were little and my Dad when he was a teenager, it was nice to be reminded of good times.

Yesterday morning we hit the shops as I wanted to return another of the dresses I had bought in the sales to exchange for something in a bigger size, no point in kidding myself if I'm aiming to gain weight right? I am really loving all the new season fashion, the colours are great! I ended up spending a bit more than the sale dress I was returning and bought this new season dress:

Warehouse: £42

Its blue polka dot with neon coral highlights on the arms and with the belt. I love it! I also got some jeans from Primark in black and dark rinse and some cropped workout pants from TK Maxx.

Do you have a current favourite outfit?

How's your weekend been? I'm looking forward to more of that chilli for dinner this evening! I also have an interesting week ahead, tomorrow we are having a planning day for work and I'll be going to my first taught yoga class in almost a year! I have to say I'm pretty glad to be seeing the back of January next week too, I can't wait for the spring! Hope you have a good one whatever your up to!

Want to promote your blog or business?

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000

Are you looking to promote your healthy living or fashion blog or brand? Sponsor Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish this February!

Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is an up and coming healthy living blog that has recently been featured on the Channel 4 Food website and has been ranked as one of the Top 10 Health Blogs in the UK by Cisson PR.

I am interested in supporting other healthy living and style bloggers, Etsy businesses and small ethical brands whose ethos are in line with my own. All income generated via sponsorship opportunities are reinvested in making Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish even bigger and better!

The blog attracts a variety of readers interested in healthy living, vegetarianism, fashion and style. Sponsorship of Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is a great way to promote your blog and attract new readers, your Etsy business or your healthy living brand.

Existing sponsors have confirmed that sponsorship has helped them to attract new readers and customers.

Sponsorship is available on a monthly basis and involves a 200x150 pixel ad for your blog or business with embedded link placed on the blog.

For blogs or Etsy businesses I offer an introductory offer of just £5 a month, for all other companies and brands £10 a month or a £10 discount on your products alongside a range of products for use in a monthly sponsorship giveaway competition.

Don't worry if you don't have a blog button, I can design you a tailor made blog button for just £5! That’s just £10 for a month sponsorship and a tailor made blog button!

If you are interested please email me laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com thanks!

Thank you

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:15:00 +0000

First off I would like to say a massive thank you to for all the supportive comments to my last post. I’m pretty overwhelmed to be honest! I was so nervous about pressing the publish button but I’m glad I’ve been able to share my feelings and plans for the future. Thank you all so much for your support! I’m feeling very positive about all of these changes right now.

A couple of today’s grocery shop highlights – cans of coconut milk from the Oriental store at £1 each, purple potatoes (can’t wait to try these!) bags of dried mixed berries and dried apple pieces just 45p each!

Following on from things I’ve been treating this week as a kind of ‘transition’ week in my workouts. I haven’t started my new yoga classes yet and I’ve still done a couple of runs because I don’t want to stress my body out any more by throwing big changes of routine at it:

Sunday – 5 mile treadmill run at steady comfortable pace, Kettlebell class
Monday – Gym, 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength A from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ Phase, 20 min HIIT on bike
Tuesday – 20 min Yoga for Detox, 10 min HIIT cross trainer and step machine, Body Pump class
Wednesday – 5k treadmill run at a steady pace, 10 mins HIITs on cross trainer, step machine and bike
Thursday – Zumba Exhilarate ‘Ripped’ DVD, planks, sit ups, push ups
Friday - Gym, 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength B from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ Phase, 20 min HIIT on step machine

I’ve enjoyed some lovely eats this week. I had a couple of late nights at work so I went with my trusty green smoothies when I got home:

Spinach, 2 frozen bananas, hemp milk, vanilla stevia, pinch of gums, water, ice, topped with dried figs, tahini and bee pollen. (I also put in a lot of add ins – maca, ground flax, chlorella tablets, pro biotic tablet)

Black kale, frozen cherries, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, tbsp of peanut butter, water, ice topped with a sauce made from peanut flour and cacao nibs plus the add ins above.

After Body Pump on Tuesday night I made an amazing chocolate peanut butter cup recovery smoothie:

This was 2 tbsp of Vega choc-o-lot powder, 2 tbsp of peanut flour, 1 heaping tbsp of crunchy peanut butter, water, ice, gums topped with cacao nibs. Yum!

I also busted out a Gourmet Raw brownie for dessert one night:

This was the Cacao Mint and it was delish! This tasted much more like a regular brownie than other raw brownies I’ve tried before, it had a lovely fudgy texture.

I’ve also had some super breakfasts:

Vanilla protein chia seed pudding with banana, apricots, goji berries and honey plus a vanilla nut teeccino with hemp milk

Large bowl of Dorset Cereals muesli with apples and hemp milk plus a teapigs matcha green tea with manuka honey

Vanilla courgette bread oats (1/2 cup oats and oatmeal cooked stove top with water, grated courgette and vanilla sun warrior) topped with pecans, cranberries and maple syrup

For lunches and dinners I’ve had salads:

This was based on my Confetti Quinoa Salad – quinoa with red onion, cucumber, carrot, parsley, dried apricots, hemp oil, apple cider vinegar plus romaine lettuce and home grown sprouts. I had been hoping to add avocado but they didn’t ripen in time!

Today’s lunch! Spicy almond kelp noodles – raw green tea kelp noodles with carrot and courgette in a spicy sauce made from loads of home made raw almond butter, toasted sesame oil, coconut aminos (you could just use soy sauce), red chilli, ginger and sweet white miso topped off with a few goji berries, amazing!

My veggie loaf with some wonderful cauliflower mash and steamed purple sprouting broccoli, such a tasty meal!

In addition to those I’ve been snacking my little heart out all week. On Monday I bought a 200g bag of almonds and a 400g bag of raisins to snack on at work and they are almost all gone! I’ve also been eating carrots with lots of nut butter and home made raw kale chips.

Now I am feeling so ready for the weekend! Its my lovely Dad’s Birthday today (Happy Birthday Dad!) and my Sister’s tomorrow so we are going out for a bar meal to celebrate. I’m also going to finish up my ‘clean eating’ January tomorrow as I’ll be out for said meal, plus I need some coffee back in my life!

Tonight I’m going to relax by making a big pan of chilli (perfect for the cold night expected), roasting up those purple potatoes and watching movies on Netflix with a bowl of popcorn. Bliss! What do you have planned for your weekend? Hope whatever you are up to you have a good one!

Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:50:00 +0000

This is going to be one of my rambling posts, so please feel free to skip if this kind of thing bores the hell out of you, if not get comfy!

*Disclaimer – I will be discussing things that people suffering from an ED may find triggering as well as this being a generally wordy and for some, boring as hell post ;-)*

I’ve been umming and ahhing about whether I should write this post, but at the end of the day I can’t help but be a pretty open person and considering the nature of the blog I thought it would be important to share this with you.

Basically I’ve been experiencing some lady problems. I’m pretty certain that as I go on most of you will be able to read between the lines and know what I’m referring to but at this moment in time I don’t feel like spelling it all out (although I might explain this a bit more when I feel more comfortable discussing the details). I’ve been saying for a while now that I’ve shifted my mentality from that of skinny to healthy, and that is really going to be tested now!

I’ve blogged a few times in the past about my weight, here’s a link to my most recent ramblings to put things into context.

I’ve never had an eating disorder or been an unhealthy BMI, but I have been at the low end of the healthy range. After 2 months of ditching the scales I decided to bite the bullet and see where I was at. I have gained a considerable amount of weight since November! Now on one hand that’s great as most of my clothes still fit and I’m happy with the way I look although it is quite surprising how much I’ve gained from just eating when hungry and indulging in more evening snackies. My BMI is currently 21.3. It seems that despite being well within a healthy BMI my body is still out of balance. In my research on the issue I’m experiencing, it seems that two factors promote recovery: increase in BMI and a reduction of stress. As someone who was previously overweight and has lost more than one third of my body weight, it seems that I may have to get to the higher end of the healthy BMI range to make a difference (unlike women who have always been naturally slimmer, because my body’s ‘set point’ is higher).

I think what this has demonstrated to me is that I can be ‘technically’ healthy according to BMI, but not healthy for me. Clearly other women thinner and more active than me are fine, however my body is obviously not in its happy place – even though I feel great in all other respects.

Now that I feel like I’ve tackled a few of my food demons, gained weight and I’m happier with my eating I’m sure that this problem would sort itself out over time but I’m choosing to be proactive with this. I’ve decided that I’d like to increase my weight to at least a BMI of 22.5 which is a further weight gain of about 8lbs. I’m also going to really cut back my running even further. I currently run three times a week, two of which are tough treadmill runs doing speed intervals. I’m going to stop them and reduce my remaining run from 5-6 miles to 3 miles and just take it easy, or possibly ditch it altogether. I’m also going to replace a couple of workouts with yoga. I’ve already identified some yoga classes which I’m really excited about! I’m going to continue with my strength training and short HIIT workouts (not running), body pump and kettlebell classes. Diet wise I’m not going to force things but I will be eating more fats in the form of nut butters (obviously!), hummus, avocado, coconut milk, oils etc. I know that the reduction of cardio and the increase in fats should be enough to see a steady weight gain. I also can’t rule out that I may end up adding in some organic eggs and diary if I don’t see an improvement.

I have to be honest with you and say this scares the shit out of me. Gaining such a large amount of weight is damn scary, but I have to accept that my body just isn’t happy where I am right now – it seems that I’m just naturally meant to be curvier, and you know what? That’s fine. I’m happy to start and appreciate a more curvy shape, although I am in mourning for certain items in my wardrobe but I guess that’s what eBay is for!

However, there are lots of positives that come with this:

I can eat as much Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter as I like and not feel guilty – I’ve already ordered some from iHerb!
I can justify buying new clothes as I’ll need them in a bigger size – and goodness knows I love shopping!
Weekend lie ins – not dragging my arse out for a run!
Working out less means I have more time to do other things I enjoy, spending time with James, cooking more delicious things to eat and time on the allotment etc
I get to do more yoga!

I’ve never believed that you have to be super slim and a runner to be healthy and I need to keep reminding myself of this – my mission is to be the healthiest and happiest I can be and that is what is going to drive me forward. I also need to put things into perspective, even at a BMI of 23, I’m not going to be fat or unhealthy and its a vast improvement from where I was when I was almost 15 stone. I did feel this awful pressure, here I am calling myself a healthy living blogger and being in magazines as a ‘healthy hero’ and I’ve gained weight and will not be running. Then I realised something … if anything I’m more a healthy hero now than ever, I’m accepting something has to change for me to be truly healthy even when that is going to make me uncomfortable.

I’m aiming to be a strong, sexy, curvy, bendy, yoga goddess by the end of this! ;-) Anyone that follows me on Pinterest may have noticed I’ve been pinning a lot of curvy body and yoga inspiration to help me feel good about these changes too. Here’s a few of my faves:

1,2,3,4,5,6

Bring it on!

So yes, there are going to be some changes for me but I hope that you are all happy to keep on reading and joining me on this part of my healthy living journey!

WIAW–A different day

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:17:00 +0000

Hello everyone, hope your having a great week! I can’t believe its Wednesday already. I thought for WIAW this week I’d give you a different day for a change, so this is what I ate on Sunday.

My eating on a weekend does differ from my weekday eating as I feel like I have a little more time to prepare things (such as juicing), plus I tend to eat a bit more on a weekend – being home and in the kitchen I can’t help it! I love Sundays for being able to enjoy a nice lie in. I got up at 8am (yes, 8am is a lie in for me!) and had the usual mug of warm water with lemon juice and a banana:

I headed to the gym for it opening at 9am and did a little over 5 miles on the treadmill just running at a nice comfortable pace. Then I went into the Kettlebell class which I’m still really enjoying! I’m trying to balance out my breakfasts a bit so that I’m not having as many green smoothies so I made up something a bit different post workout:

Protein Buckwheat Bowl (vegan, serves 1)

1/2 cup of raw buckwheat soaked overnight then drained and rinsed
1 scoop of protein powder of choice (I used vanilla sun warrior)
1 tbsp of ground flax
Water or non dairy milk (enough to create a creamy consistency)

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl, adding a slow stream of water until a creamy texture is reached. Serve with fruit, nut butter or whatever your heart desires. I also added some maca and mesquite powder to mine and topped with a generous serving of tahini and Clearspring blueberry jam. It was utterly delicious, the jam and tahini went so well together! Buckwheat is also a great source of protein so even if you left out the protein powder and just used non diary milk it would be very nutritious. I also had a mug of black vanilla nut teeccino:

A bit later I was ready for some lunch. Last week I had been spent some samples from Gourmet Raw to review including these raw crisps:

I made up a snack plate with some home made raw cheesy kale chips, Gourmet Raw red pepper crisps, carrot, cucumber and basil, hemp and pine nut pesto for dipping. I also had a pink lady apple on the side:

Those crisps were fantastic! They reminded me of those ‘squares’ crisps you can get, but healthy and much, much more tasty. I think I have a new addiction! You can get 10% off your first order from Gourmet Raw with code GR001, check it out!

Late afternoon I made my usual weekend green juice:

This contained cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger and lemon. I also had a large bowl of grapes.

For dinner I decided to make use of some brussel sprouts. I know they won’t be in season for much longer and I love them so much so I want to make the most of them! I made them in my favourite way – stir fried with maple syrup, pecans and cranberries. In fact I love them like this so much I thought I’d note down the recipe!

Maple Pecan Stir Fried Brussel Sprouts (makes 1 – 2 servings)

About 2 cups of brussel sprouts
1/2 tbsp of coconut oil (or oil of choice)
2 tbsp of pecans
2 tbsp of dried cranberries
2 tbsp of maple syrup
1 tbsp of shoyu or soy sauce

Toast your pecans if desired in a dry pan over a medium high heat, set aside. Chop the ends of the sprouts and finely shred them with a knife or food processor. Heat the coconut oil over a high heat in a large pan or wok. Add the sprouts and stir fry for about 10 minutes until they have softened and started to turn brown and crispy. Add the maple syrup and shoyu and toss to combine. Continue stir frying for a couple of minutes so the maple syrup caramelises. Chop the pecans and add to the pan with the cranberries then serve:

I had the brussel sprouts alongside some parsnip chips and some grilled basil tofu. This was delicious! Without a doubt my fave way to enjoy sprouts.

For dessert I had half a bar of RAW Health Very Cherry Chocolate and three fresh apricots:

I also enjoyed a mug of my new licorice and cinnamon tea:

Before bed I snacked on some of these salted chocolate kale chips as they came out of the dehydrator:

So delicious, I have a big bowl full for a snack at work later today!

Does your eating differ on a weekend to how you usually eat during the week? In what way? I definitely snack more on a Friday and Saturday evening than during the week!

I’m in love with that Protein Buckwheat bowl, I really prefer raw buckwheat to cooked buckwheat. Have you tried buckwheat before, what did you think?

Product review: Raw Health

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Some time ago I was kindly sent some Raw Health Products for review:

I was sent some crisp breads, agave nectar, olives, chocolate and some energy balls. In addition to these products I thought it might also be useful to review some additional Raw Health products I have purchased myself including their apple cider vinegar and cacao brazil nut bliss spread.

Raw Health is a brand of Windmill Organics (other brands include Biona and Amisa). Windmill Organics is a British company founded in London in 1978. They offer a range of organic foods and pride themselves on offering the finest quality ingredients, non GMO and fully traceable ethically produced foods.

I first became interested in the Raw Health brand as I started to become aware of the benefits of raw and living foods such as better digestion and abundance of enzymes.

All Raw Health products are organic and where possible soaked and sprouted to increase digestibility.

Raw Crisp breads

I have tried the Intensely Italian, Provencale and Deeply Dense Pitta crisp breads and was not disappointed! All of these were so full of flavour. The crisp breads are made from a mix of flax seeds, nuts, buckwheat, vegetables and herbs so are pretty dense and filling – these are no ryvita that’s for sure! They are quite thick and have a nice crisp crunch. I tended to enjoy these crumbled on top of salads, part of a snacking plate with veggies and a dip or as an accompaniment for soup. These retail at £3.99 for a 100g pack via Goodness Direct.

Raw Agave Nectar

I was also sent the agave nectar to try out and I have to say this was utterly amazing. I usually just buy my agave from the supermarket and of course that tastes good too, but this is different. This has a much finer lighter texture and a mellower sweetness. I used it in some of my raw desserts such as my cookies and cream tarts:

It worked really well adding sweetness without over powering the flavour of the other ingredients This retails at £3.69 from Planet Organic.

Raw Energy Balls

I was sent two versions of the energy balls to try:

Lemon Chia Seed Balls
Blissed Chocada Truffles

The truffles reminded me of CCK’s Fudge Babies but much smoother. They are made from dates, cocoa butter and powder, agave and coconut oil. Of course these tasted amazing, but for the price I’d be tempted to stick to making my own version. The lemon chia seed balls were delicious as well, these contain dates, almonds, chia seeds, agave and lemon zest. Again, it would not be impossible to make your own version of these but if you lacked the time, ingredients or equipment these would be great. I enjoyed these as pre workout fuel – the dates and chia are great for giving you an energy boost. These retail at £2.39 for the lemon and £2.49 for the truffles from Planet Organic.

Raw Olives

I was sent the raw kalamata pure classic olives. They tasted wonderful, so much better than other jarred olives I’ve had before. They do contain their stones but its not such a hassle to pull them out. I have to admit other olives don’t really compete with these, they are my favourite by far. I enjoyed these in salads and on top of my raw pasta and sauce:

Raw Chocolate

I was sent the Very Cherry Raw Chocolate and the Heavenly Hemp Raw Chocolate to try, but in the past I’ve also tried the Zesty Orange Chocolate as well. I have to say I’m not a massive fan of these. They taste nice enough and are fairly low calorie compared to some other raw chocolates so you can indulge in a nice large portion, however they don’t rock my world the way other raw chocolates do. The texture of these is a bit grainy and I much prefer the crunch of this raw chocolate or the truffle like creaminess of this. When these bars retail at £4.99 I think there’s better options for a similar price.

Apple Cider Vinegar

I blogged about the Raw Health Apple Cider vinegar just last week – I really love this! It is rich in live enzymes and has a really nice tangy taste. I’m definitely going to be purchasing this again. It retails at £2.39 (Planet Organic) which I think is a really good price for such a versatile product. I’m even going to start experimenting with this as a toner for my skin!

Cacao Brazil Nut Bliss

I bought some of this last year from Whole Foods in London and I was hooked. It tastes fantastic, with a very deep chocolate flavour. The texture is a still ‘stiff’ – its not ‘drippy’ like some other nut butters but mixed with a little water to thin out it tasted superb on top of porridge and smoothies. I also enjoyed it for dipping with apples:

As brazil nuts are an excellent source of selenium this is a fun way to increase your intake! This retails at £3.49 for a small jar which I think is well worth it!

Overall I’m a really big fan of this brand. Although the products are expensive they are made of the highest quality organic ingredients. Even though I have my own dehydrator and can make some of my own raw foods, I’ll still be buying those crisp breads as they are too yummy. I will also definitely be purchasing the apple cider vinegar, cacao brazil nut bliss and agave nectar again too.

Have you tried any Raw Health products? What did you think?

11 things and GIVEAWAY Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

First up, the winner of my blog birthday GIVEWAY is….

Savannah! Congratulations! Can you email me with your address and I’ll get your prize posted out. Thanks to everyone that entered, I can’t believe I got 240 entries!

Hope your all having a good Monday, mine hasn’t been too bad as far as Monday’s go! This afternoon the lovely Katie tagged me in her 11 things survey. It’s a survey where I 1) have to post 11 things about myself, 2) answer the questions she asks, and 3) then come up with 11 new questions for anyone that I tag! I haven’t done a fun survey in ages so thought it would be nice to take part:

Here are the survey “rules”:

#1: You must post these rules.
#2: Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
#3: Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

So here it goes, 11 things about me!

1. My fave radio station is BBC Radio 6 – last year I started to find Radio 1 completely crap and I had just got a DAB radio so now I listen to Radio 6 all day long, I really love the breakfast show and Lauren Laverne’s show

2. My workout music is completely different to my other musical tastes. For working out I love Rihanna, David Guetta, Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, Kayne West etc. When I’m not working out I currently love Florence and the Machine, Two Door Cinema Club, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s (although they do occasionally make it on to my workout list), Friendly Fires, Foo Fighters etc

3. My Dad and Uncle are both black belts in Wing Chung Kung Fu (the type Bruce Lee practiced). My uncle runs classes in our local area. I often joke that if it wasn’t for Bruce Lee I would not exist as my Mam and Dad met at a self defence class

source

4. Speaking of which, I love vintage martial arts movies! Enter the Dragon, Game of Death and Way of the Dragon are my faves.

5. I have over 10 striped t-shirts in my wardrobe – I have a slight obsession

6. One of my favourite magazines is Living Etc, I love interior design and long for the day I have a bigger house and the money to decorate it!

source

7. I used to do Ballet when I was little until I had to stop when I contracted Whooping Cough. I was in a production at the local community centre and a photo of me made it into the local paper

8. I had bright blonde hair from the age of 2 until about 5 years old

9. I used to be crazy about horses. When I was a teenager I went horse riding once a week until I had an accident which left me with two black eyes, my Dad didn’t want me doing it again after that as he worried about me too much

10. I used to be a social smoker. Up until 3 years ago I would smoke whenever I went out for a drink, to friends houses that smoked etc. I eventually gave it up completely (thank god) as I started getting healthier

11. I’m an avid list writer. I have lists for allsorts of things including wish lists of stuff I want to buy, lists of recipes or meals to try and a ‘happy’ list where I make note of the little things in life that make me smile. Whenever I need cheering up I check out my happy list.

source

Now for Katie’s questions!

1. If you could run any race or compete in any sporting event in the world, what would it be?

New York Marathon

2. How many states or cities have you lived in?

I’ll translate this for the UK and say how many counties I’ve lived in – Tyne and Wear (Gateshead and Newcastle), Cumbria (I lived in Carlisle with an ex boyfriend for a while) and County Durham (I now live in Durham City)

3. Dog or cat person?

Totally a dog person, I’d love a little doggy companion!

4. What is your favorite chip flavor?

I’m guessing this is crisps for us British – Thai Sweet Chilli is my fave!

5. If you could buy a vacation home anywhere in the world, where would you pick?

I’d love an apartment in NYC!

6. What is your favorite dish to make for other people?

Brownies or banana nut muffins

7. Are you a talker or a listener?

I’d like to think I’m a bit of both ;-)

8. What’s your favorite nail polish color?

I always tend to go back to my trusty Channel Rouge Noir

9. What is a weird quirk that you have?

I have to drink my tea from big mugs and I sometimes reuse my tea bags by just topping the mug up with more hot water. No idea why I do it, I just got into the habit and do it all the time now!

10. What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Right now I’d be tempted to say The Hunger Games, just because I’ve recently read them. Other than that the only other books I’ve totally devoured have been the Harry Potter books and all of the Disc World books by Terry Pratchet

11. If you could date an action hero (Batman, Superman, Spiderman, etc.) who would it be?

Iron Man or Charles Xavier from X-Men if it was James McAvoy playing him ;-)

I would now like to tag:

Tamzin @ Salad and Sequins

Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes

Jess @ Almost Over Now

Sophie @ Live Love Learn

Maria @ Running Cupcake

Nicole @ Nicole and Gwendolyn

Here’s my 11 questions for these guys:

What is your dream travel destination?
If you were throwing a party for yourself what would be your theme?
Favourite TV show?
How would you describe your taste in music?
If they made a film of your life, which actress would play you?
If you could have any super power what would it be?
Tea or Coffee?
Sum yourself up in 5 words…
If you could go back in time, which time period would you visit?
Who would be invited to your dream dinner party?
Name one thing that you collect…

Pick a question and give me an answer!

Wall of tea

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:58:00 +0000

Hello everyone, hope your enjoying a lovely relaxing Sunday! This morning I was at the gym for a 5 mile treadmill run and my Kettlebell class and now I’m planning on chilling out for the rest of the day, bliss.

On Friday night I had a big bowl of courgette noodles covered with some of my basil, hemp and pine nut pesto:

This was fantastic, home made pesto is the best! I also made a giant bowl of salty chocolately popcorn to eat while I finished the last Hunger Games book:

I just popped this dry in a pan and mixed with stevia powder, braggs and cocoa powder. I also added some raisins, so good!

Yesterday morning we headed into town, OOTD:

Navy coat: New Look, faux fur scarf: New Look, sequinned jewelled jumper: Urban Outfitters, white vest: H&M, denim shorts: Dorothy Perkins, black tights: M&S, black boots: New Look

I had woke up not feeling hungry at all (that popcorn was accompanied by a lot of raw choc covered raisins!) so I waited until we got to town to have breakfast:

3 berry smoothie with jasmine green tea from Olive and Bean

While we were in Olive and Bean I couldn’t resist their wall of tea!

Its amazing! I decided to treat myself to some Mint Chocolate Rooibos loose leaf tea, Licorice and Cinnamon tea and a new tea infuser:

While in town I returned one of the dresses I bought in the sale from Urban Outfitters. It was a bit of a snug fit and since I won’t be loosing weight anytime soon I decided to take it back. They didn’t have any more of them in stock so I swapped it for these lovelies:

Cropped striped jumper £10 and emerald green midi skirt £20 both in the sale. I love the green skirt especially, it has a lovely vintage feel. I also got a couple of plain vest tops from H&M and stocked up on some almond sesame tofu and frozen tempeh from the health food shop.

When we got home I made a lovely big salad:

This was black kale, carrot, yellow pepper, cucumber and olives. I topped it with a load of different things – gomasio, sea salt, sea veggie sprinkle and some cheesy spicy cashew and red pepper sauce which was leftover from being used as a coating for making these amazing raw kale chips:

These are so good! Very glad that I ordered that extra kale :-)

Other tasty things from the weekend include this yummy chocolate green juice shake:

I wanted my usual green juice but fancied something a bit more substantial so I blended my cucumber, celery and kale stem juice with a scoop of chocolate hemp protein powder, some spinach that needed using up, maca powder, midori greens, matcha green tea, ground flax and ice. It was delicious!

I made myself a big bowl of my raw ‘December’ Salad…

…followed by my fave evening snack of frozen cherries with peanut flour sauce and cacao nibs:

I can’t get enough of cacao nibs at the moment, I’ve been snacking on little bowls of them mixed with raisins or goji berries.

How has your weekend been? Have you tried any fancy teas recently?

Oh, and before I forget I’ve done a little rearranging of my recipe page so hopefully it should be a bit easier to look through – check it out! You also only have a few more hours to enter my blog birthday GIVEAWAY!

Apple Cider Vinegar Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Welcome to the weekend everyone! Hope your week has been good, I can’t believe we are already over half way through January already! Thanks for all your lovely comments on my ‘loose skin’ post, it was really nice that you guys appreciate my openness!

This morning my huge fruit and veg box arrived:

I put in two extra orders of kale so I can make up a load of raw kale chips. I have some in the dehydrator covered in a cheesy, spicy cashew and red pepper coating right now!

Workouts this week have been great, now that I’m back to feeling 100% I’ve really enjoyed some tough ones!

Sunday – 5.2 mile treadmill run, Kettlebell class
Monday – AM Gym – 5 minute treadmill warm up, strength training from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 20 min HIIT bike
Tuesday – AM Yoga for Runners, PM Gym 10 min HIIT cross trainer and 10 min HIIT step machine, Body Pump
Wednesday – AM Gym – 5k treadmill speed intervals (between 6.7 – 8.5mph – this killed me!) 10 min HIITs on each – step machine, bike, cross trainer
Thursday – AM DVD – Nell McAndrew Maximum Impact, PM Zumba Exhilarate Activate DVD
Friday – AM Gym – 5 minute cross trainer warm up, strength training from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 15 min HIIT treadmill

I doubled up on DVD’s yesterday as I’ve just bought all the Nell McAndrew ones plus I have the Zumba and a Pilates one to review so I’m fitting them in where I can!

Some foodie highlights from this week include a couple of the usual smoothies:

Greens and kale, chocolate sun warrior, 2 oranges, maca powder, ground flax, midori greens powder, matcha green tea, xanthan gum (this one needed it as it was very watery and I really fancied a thick one), water, ice topped with cranberries, bee pollen and popped amaranth

Quickie in a jar smoothie – kale, pears, chocolate hemp protein powder, ground flax, maca, midori greens, matcha green tea, water, ice topped with bee pollen

I’ve also enjoyed more chia pudding:

Frozen raspberries with cacao chai chia pudding topped with gojis and buckwheaties

I had a really great salad for lunches this week too:

I made up some of my tofu cottage cheese and mixed with lemon juice, chopped red onion, cucumber and carrot on top of romaine with braggs. This was so good, I used to eat regular cottage cheese mixed with those veggies all the time before veganism came a calling and this tasted exactly like it!

For a lovely little snack I had some dried figs with tahini, black strap molasses and honey for dipping:

Totally packed with calcium and iron and tastes fab!

For dinners I’ve been having a socca made with some fresh basil and parsley in the batter filled with mashed butternut squash, red onion and cannellini beans mixed with nutritional yeast and served up with some roasted broccoli:

I’ve also been loving lattes made with my home made sunflower seed milk and teeccino:

I was quite surprised by how foamy the seed milk went!

I also tried something a bit experimental. I had seen on some US blogs that you could get an Apple Cider Vinegar drink so I thought I’d try making my own by mixing some of my RAW Apple Cider Vinegar with some Pukka Aloe Vera juice and water:

This is raw unpasteurised vinegar so it contains lots of good bacteria. I did a little bit of research on the benefits of raw apple cider vinegar and it appears its a bit of a super food in its own right! As well as being good for the digestion it has also been said that it can help weight loss and balance glucose levels. It can also be used externally as a skin toner or to add shine to the hair. You can read more about apple cider vinegar research, benefits and how to use it safely here. This drink tasted lovely, really nice and tangy. I’m thinking it would be great diluted with some fruit juice, with honey added or even in my fresh veggie juice.

I was also pretty chuffed earlier in the week when my Diet and Nutrition Advisor certificate came through, very exciting!

I can now go ahead and register with the Federation of Holistic Therapists and get my insurance in place!

How has your week been? Got much planned for the weekend? I’m looking forward to a little trip into town, seeing family and friends and some kitchen time, bliss!

Have you tried Apple Cider Vinegar before or used it medicinally? That drink was really nice and felt like it settled my tummy, going to enjoy it more often!

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY, it closes on Sunday!

WIAW: Scrambled

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Happy Wednesday everyone! How’s your week going so far? Mine has been pretty good, its been nice to start getting back into my usual work / life routine again. For some reason I’m feeling particularly good at the moment – like I have an extra sparkle! I’m also being super productive which is always good, lets hope it lasts!

These are my eats and whatnot from yesterday. I started out the day with Yoga for Runners. when I’m not heading to the gym early its so nice to do a bit of yoga, it really wakes me up and only takes 20 minutes. I feel like I’m starting the day off right!

Gorgeous sunrise

For breakfast I decided to make use of the beetroot in the fridge and make up some of my current favourite juice blend:

This was beetroot, carrot, cucumber and ginger with some Pukka Aloe Vera juice added, its so sweet and yummy. I also had a handful of raw cacao granola with home made sunflower seed milk (sweetened with dates) and a teapigs matcha green tea:

I adore that granola, its Living Intentions and I get it from Viva Pure, its lush. It was my first try of making sunflower seed milk and I was pleasantly surprised, very mild and sweet. Mid morning I snacked on some raw carrot, ginger and sunflower seed dip with green pepper and cucumber:

The dip was super easy to make, after making the sunflower seed milk (by soaking, draining and rinsing 1/2 cup of seeds then blending with 2 cups of water + 2 dates and straining) I dumped the seed meal back into my blender with two carrots, grated ginger root and a little coconut aminos (soy sauce would also work) plus water and blended till smooth. You could also make without making the milk first and just using the whole soaked seeds.

Lunch was a massive bowl of ‘Boot Camp’ soup with some home made raw rosemary and almond crackers:

This soup is fab. I made a massive pan of it based on this recipe (I just added some garlic and used cos lettuce instead of iceberg) it is so filling, probably because I ate a massive portion of it ;-) I’ve eaten it three days in a row now, perfect for these cold days!

Late afternoon I snacked on these funky little cookies:

I’d made these with some almond pulp leftover from making milk, coconut, ground flax, agave and matcha green tea powder then dehydrated to make Raw Almond Coconut Matcha Cookies! These are probably more biscuit like than cookie, they are crispy – almost like a sweet cracker.

After work I headed to the gym for the usual cardio followed by Body Pump, I really need to try and increase my weights on some of the tracks next week I think!

Dinner was an absolutely gorgeous tofu scramble. This contained red onion, red pepper, tofu, black beans, brown rice, tomato puree, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper and shoyu served on top of spinach:

I had it on Monday evening too, it reminded me how simple and delicious tofu scrambles are, must make them more often!

A bit later I made a protein smoothie for post Body Pump recovery. This was 1 scoop of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, frozen blueberries and strawberries, maca, ice and water topped with a few gojis and cacao nibs:

I finished the day with a sleepy time tea:

I love this tea for chilling out before bed.

That tofu scramble was fabulous. I’ll definitely be trying to eat more of them, it only took me 10 minutes to throw together and you can pretty much add in whatever veggies you have to hand – perfect weekday dinner. Are you a fan of scrambles – tofu or egg? What’s your favourite ingredients in a scramble?

Don’t forget to check out my Big Blog Birthday International GIVEAWAY!

Loose Skin

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:56:00 +0000

On my recent Weight Loss Story post, the lovely Ffion left a comment asking me if I’d had to deal with any loose skin after losing weight (and apologising if it was a too personal question bless her) well you know me, I’m a pretty open book and not prudish at all so I thought it would be good to do a post on it!

source

To answer her question, yes I have some loose skin.

Skin is a living organ which is meant to adapt and change shape as we grow. The extent to which it can do this depends upon its elasticity which can be genetic or down to lifestyle factors such as diet or smoking. When you have been very overweight and then lose a lot of weight (especially if you lose a lot in a short period of time) then the skin doesn’t always stay tight and can be loose. Some people can also get stretch marks when they change shape quickly. When I was younger I developed stretch marks around my hips, back of knees and under arms but they have faded into barely noticeable feathery white marks.

source

I first realised I had loose skin when trying on bikinis for a holiday – I was in one of those god awful changing rooms with mirrors at every angle – here’s what I said from that post back in 2010:

‘I got quite down in the changing rooms when I looked at my body in the mirrors (those ones that show you at every angle possible!) I've worked very hard to lose weight and my arms, upper back and legs look great, I'm developing some real muscle definition, but the rest of me, there’s no other way to describe it, I'm saggy. My boobs, belly and bum are not good. I do have some quite good muscle under there but my skin is just loose. Those mirrors just seem to reveal how bad it can be! I feel well peed off that my life of yo yo dieting has stretched my skin beyond repair. Not happy.’

Since then I’ve developed a lot more muscle and dropped a few more pounds and things are definitely better but I still have that loose skin on my stomach, boobs and bum. I look fine when standing up straight, but when I lean over the belly hangs and the boobs sag. This is something I’ve grown to accept. I’d rather be a healthy weight with a little sagging, that let’s face it, only my husband will see (and he was with me when I was almost 15st and I have no doubt would love me whatever size I was) than an unhealthy high weight. I do think there’s a balance to be had though, the sagging actually looked worse when I was at my lowest weight, like my skin was hanging off my bones.

I know this probably doesn’t look too bad but I couldn’t get a better photo, this is some of the loose skin on my stomach

As the skin is a living organ it does take time for it to adjust and I think the amount of ‘sagging’ has reduced over time as the skin naturally tightens over my new shape. One thing I have had to consider around the loose skin thing is that loose skin has weight – what I didn’t realise was that loose skin will add some pounds to the scale. When I checked my body fat at the gym, I was at 20% which is fairly low, even though I don’t look ‘ripped’. According to this chart my 20% body fat levels are not healthy for my age, so even though I was a healthy BMI and my body didn’t look particularly muscly, my fat levels where not (this is something I’ve subsequently addressed as I’ve generally gained a bit of weight)

The lighting here is very flattering but I think it shows that despite having some loose skin when I bend over I look ok standing up straight

I think the best ways to limit sagging skin when loosing weight is to:

Lose weight slowly and in a healthy manner – 1-2 lbs a week is usually what’s recommended. At this rate your skin should have time to adjust to your new shape
Strength train – developing muscle is not only great for your overall health and shape, but I have found that it really helps the appearance of loose skin
Moisturise – I was pretty lax with keeping my skin well moisturised while losing weight – I wish I’d had a better routine in place to keep my skin supple. Depending on your skin type of course, an oil based lotion should be best and may also help reduce any stretch marks

If your very big and left with a lot of lose skin I know you can opt for surgery in certain circumstances such as Jen from Prior Fat Girl has done – check out her blog for more details.

For me, the most important thing has been acceptance. I’m never going to have very defined visible abs or a particularly pert bum, but as long as I have a push up bra I’m ok ;-) I’ve even joked with James that when we eventually have kids at least I’m pre stretched!

So don’t be shy, what is your experience with loose skin? If your on a weight loss journey – or a weight gain journey, do you worry about your skin?

Happy Birthday Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish! + GIVEAWAY

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Today Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is 2 years old! I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for that long!

source

Myself and the blog have grown so much over these last two years. When I first started out I honestly never expected to have a lot of readers and I was just blogging pretty much a food and exercise diary. But as I have changed and developed as a person, the blog has changed and reflected this. I can’t believe how different I am now! I’d never dreamed I would love actually learn to love running, enjoy serving size bowl salads and raw foods!

I owe so much to blogging, first of all I would have never heard of green smoothies…

I can’t imagine life without these now ;-) I would also be oblivious to Oats in a Jar…

…and peanut flour…

…and chia seeds…

…and healthy snack bars:

Most of all, I would have missed out on meeting some wonderful people, both in the flesh and virtually, many of whom I consider true friends. I have to admit there has been times for whatever reason, I’ve thought about packing in blogging, but the comments, emails and tweets from readers that tell me I’m inspiring them keeps me going :-) I love blogging and being able to share all my passions with others.

So to celebrate the blogs 2nd Birthday I’ve pulled together a small giveaway of a few of my favourite things that I’ve discovered due to blogging:

(I’m awaiting the PB flour and Lara bars to arrive from iHerb)

The prize includes:

Peanut Flour (453g)
5 x Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lara Bars
3 x Nakd bars (gingerbread, choc orange and cashew cookie)
Chia seeds
A sachet of strawberry hemp protein powder – I may not be able to make you a green smoothie and send it as a prize but at least you can make yourself a PB&J one using this and the peanut flour – I’ll even enclose a recipe!

To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one):

Leave a comment to this post with what you love the most about blogs
‘Like’ my Facebook page (link under the follow me section on the right) and leave a comment below stating that you have done so
Follow me via Google Friend Connect (link under the ‘follow me’ section on the right) or follow me on Blog Lovin or Twitter and leave a comment below stating that you have done so
Tweet about this giveaway: ‘check out @keephealthstyle big blog GIVEAWAY’
Sign up to receive blog updates via email using the link to the right 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 INTERNATIONALLY and closes at 12am GMT Sunday 22nd January 2012 , good luck!

Feeling like myself again

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I’ve had one of those lovely weekends of not doing much except pottering about. Its been so cold outside we haven’t felt like doing much other than sitting on the sofa in our hoodies watching TV! We did make a trip out for groceries and since I feel like I haven’t dressed properly for a week (due to being off work and recovering from my wisdom teeth extraction if your catching up) I decided to make a bit of an effort, OOTD:

Grey beanie hat: Topshop, Stag necklace: Primark, Navy Coat: New Look, striped t shirt: H&M, pink cardigan: H&M, floral print midi skirt: Dorothy Perkins, woven belt: Miss Selfridge, black ribbed leggings: Primark, Brown leather boots: New Look

I really like mixing prints sometimes, especially stripes and florals. I’m definitely starting to feel like my usual self again, if still a little puffy in the face!

I had a totally gorgeous breakfast yesterday morning:

This was pumpkin spice oats made with 1/2 cup oats, water, canned pumpkin, vanilla stevia, cinnamon and ground ginger topped with the most amazing tofu ‘cream’. I wanted to make some of my tofu yoghurt but had no apple sauce so I just blended some silken tofu in the blender (rather than the food processor as usual) with water and vanilla stevia to create a ‘whipped cream’ type consistency. Honestly this was lush, it actually reminded me of 2% fat greek yoghurt!

After going out for the shopping I really needed to warm up! I made a lovely latte with kara coconut milk and tea pigs matcha green tea powder:

Hit the spot!

Last night for dinner I had some Dahl I’d made based on my Simple Red Lentil Dahl recipe that I’d made on Friday night:

I had it with some brown rice and steamed broccoli with shoyu. Was so good to be able to chew!

I continued celebrating being able to chew more with a dessert of chopped pears, pink lady apples and some Conscious raw chocolate:

It felt so good to eat those crunchy apples!

I still have been eating a few smoothies though, this was lovely and tasted like vanilla ice cream:

Spinach, two big courgettes, 2 scoops of vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, midori greens, ice and water topped with hemp seeds, freeze dried berries and bee pollen. I really like using courgettes and extra protein powder to make them extra creamy.

This was beet greens, raw beetroot, frozen blueberries and strawberries, strawberry hemp protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, berries powder, ice and water topped with goji berries, cacao nibs and pistachios:

I’m still laying off the gums since my smoothies have been continuing to turn out so nice and thick on their own. I’ve also had some of my usual green juice:

Cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger and lemon, so good!

Exercise wise I’ve had some great workouts. Last week I was sent Zumba Exhilarate to review for the blog. Its a full programme of DVD’s with toning sticks and even meal plans and recipes. I’m a sucker for nice packaging and loved the way its presented:

I did the first DVD which just shows you the basic moves. I’m very uncoordinated, but found most of the moves easy enough to follow. Full review to come! Today I headed to the gym for a treadmill run (5.2 miles in 45 min) followed by my Kettlebell class which I am loving! It was my longest run for a couple of weeks but felt comfortable enough, it was good to feel that burn I only ever seem to feel when running :-)

We also decided to sign up for Netflix. So far we have been really impressed, we can stream everything via James Playstation and the picture quality is fantastic. We are currently watching the first season of Dexter! The blog was also featured in a great article from More Magazine online called Keep On Running with a selection of websites to keep you fit – I was really honoured to be picked amongst such great sites, check it out! Also thanks again for all the lovely comments about me passing my course, I’m over the moon!

How has your weekend been? Have you had any particularly good workouts recently? Anyone else tried Netflix?

Recovering and raw soups

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Happy Friday guys! Are you all set for the weekend? How’s your week been?

Despite the swelling and pain from having my wisdom teeth extracted I’ve been able to maintain a pretty consistent workout schedule, mainly because working out has made me feel better! The only thing I’ve had to avoid has been running, I tried a 5 minute treadmill run on Wednesday and the high impact made my face giggle – which felt uncomfortable, but today I felt more like my normal self and did some speed intervals:

Saturday – gym, 1 hour light cardio on bike, step machine, cross trainer
Sunday – 45 min Kettlebell class
Monday – gym, 5 min warm up cross trainer, new strength plan based on Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial it in’ phase, 20 min HIIT on bike
Tuesday – 10 min light yoga stretching am, pm gym, 30 min HIIT on cross trainer, step machine and bike, Body Pump class
Wednesday – gym – 5 min treadmill, 10 min rowing machine, 15 min HIIT on each: step machine, bike, cross trainer
Thursday – am detox challenge yoga flow, pm – gym 30 min bike random, 10 min cross trainer HIITs, 10 min step machine HIIT, 10 min abs
Friday – gym 5 min warm up cross trainer, new strength plan based on Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial it in’ phase, 15 min HIIT on treadmill

It felt so good to run again this morning, even just for 15 minutes!

My eats have continued along the blended theme this week, but I’ve actually really enjoyed some of these!

I decided to experiment with a couple of raw soups:

This was just based on my raw pasta sauce recipe but made in the blender with added hemp oil and fresh basil, it was really creamy and so good! I also made a Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup:

Carrot and Coconut Soup (makes 2 servings, almost raw, vegan)

500g of carrots, chopped
2 tbsp of grated ginger root
1 heaped tbsp of coconut oil
1/2 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp of shoyu or soy sauce
1 tsp of garam masala or to taste
Water to desired consistency
Desiccated coconut and sesame seeds to serve

I used my blender for this recipe, but its pretty tough so if yours isn’t you may want to grate the carrots first. Start by blending the carrots with a little water until they become pureed. Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy adding more water as needed. Serve topped with the coconut and sesame seeds.

This was really yummy, the ginger and spices give it a lovely earthy warmth. I served mine at room temperature rather than chilled, just delicious!

Of course, there has been more smoothie action:

Spring greens, frozen cherries, raw beetroot, chocolate hemp protein powder, maca powder, ground flax, berries powder, water, ice topped with bee pollen and coconut

Simple green smoothie with spinach, pineapple and kiwi

Utterly lush raw chocolate coconut smoothie! Thai young coconut (from an Oriental supermarket, sold in a frozen bag) with raw cacao powder and water. Tasted ah-maz-ing!

Romaine lettuce, apples, vanilla sun warrior, vanilla stevia, water, ice

Greens, 2 small pears, chocolate hemp protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, midori greens, water, ice, bee pollen

I have to admit, after a week of smoothies I am starting to get a bit sick of them but they are the easiest thing for me to eat right now.

I have tried some other things though, including some raw chocolate avocado mousse:

Some of the avocado was going off I also added a banana to the mix and then froze the other half of the mousse in silicon cups with a blob of raw almond butter inside. Earlier in the week I had more delicious cauliflower mash (without the broccoli added that time) with some of my Lentil and Spinach Soup well blended and topped with a little parsley:

For dinner last night I felt like my teeth could handle a bit more chew so I combined some quinoa cooked in veg stock with a grated carrot and a grated courgette, home made hummus, nutritional yeast and a splash of shoyu:

It was really good and felt nice to be able to get my teeth into something! Snack wise I’ve been enjoying more raw blended apples with either chia seeds or like this with a blob of tahini and honey:

I’ve been eating a lot of tahini and honey these last few days, as well as protein pudding made with a scoop of chocolate sun warrior protein powder mixed with water and coconut flour cream (coconut flour mixed with water and stevia), in fact my stomach has been like a bottomless pit! The lack of bulky chewable foods has left me feeling unsatisfied, thankfully I seem to finally be improving fast. Today I’m enjoying the excuse to have breakfast for lunch – pumpkin spiced porridge with tofu cream!

A couple of quick bits of news:

This week I’d like to thank the lovely people at NukuNuku for sponsoring the blog this month. I reviewed their Haramaki bands here, please check them out, especially if you feel the cold like me!
Long term sponsor Viva Pure are offering a 7% discount on your first order using code VPFRIEND7. Have a browse of their site for a brilliant range of raw foods.
One of my favourite brands Good Hemp have launched their Good Hemp Nutrition site for the sale of their hemp protein powders of which I’m a massive fan. They are offering 33% off your first purchase with the code GOOD11. Check it out!

Even though I’ve been off work for most of the week I’m still looking forward to the weekend and having some time to try and get back into a routine. I’ve been reading the Hunger Games books after several bloggers mentioned them and I love them. I’m hoping to finish Catching Fire over the weekend. I also have another Kettlebell class that I’m really looking forward to and hopefully another run!

Have you ever tried a raw soup? Have you read the Hunger Games books? Any big plans for the weekend? Hope whatever your up to you have a great one!

P.S – I just found out I passed my Diet and Nutrition Advisors Course with a Distinction! So happy and excited!

WIAW: Blended and Mashed

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:14:00 +0000

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!

My weight loss story and weight loss tips

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:22:00 +0000

I’ve recently had a lot of emails from readers asking me about how I lost weight and if I have any weight loss tips to help them get started this year. Although I’ve posted bits about this before I’ve never put it all down in one post, so here it goes!

Sept 2008

I started my weight loss journey in January 2009. I had tried to lose weight several times in the past but had always gained it back. I had reached a point of just feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired! I saw a photo of myself at a friends party and it really made me realise just how big I had become. I was almost 15st (210lbs) at that point. I started exercising and just cutting down what I ate to start with. The first stone came off really quickly, then I joined a gym again and just continued to watch what I ate without following any set plans or thinking much about nutrition. Later that year I reached a bit of a plateaux and had came across a book called The New York Body Plan that advocated a low carb diet. I didn’t follow that plan exactly, but it inspired me to try protein shakes and strength training and I lost more weight.

Jan 2010

In Jan 2010 I discovered healthy living blogs via an online forum and I shortly started my own blog to keep me on track and document my food and exercise. As I got more into blogs I learned more about nutrition and gradually moved away from processed foods to whole foods, high protein to more carbs and eventually became vegetarian. I lost even more weight then and progressed to an almost vegan diet which I enjoy now. My weight has gone down and then back up in the last year, and without weighing myself (I decided to ditch the scales and go off the fit of my clothes a month ago) I seem to be maintaining a weight loss of about 5st 7lbs (77lbs). I’ve never calorie counted or did any kind of plan like Weight Watchers or Slimming World.

At my lowest weight – July 2011, I felt a bit too skinny at this point. I’m a good 10lbs heavier now I think, and I feel better for it :-)

I think one of the main reasons I’ve managed to keep the weight off this time is that all other areas of my life have been pretty stable – my relationships and job etc, where as in the past as soon as I faced any kind of upheaval – a new job or moving house, my healthy intentions went out the window. I’ve had enough time to develop all those healthy choices into die hard habits. I really can’t imagine not having green smoothies and salads in my life now. My husband James has also been very supportive – and even lost 2st himself. He eats a very different diet from me, but has vastly improved what he eats compared to what he used to eat. My palate has completely changed as well, the idea of McDonalds and Greggs pasties makes me feel sick – I’d much prefer a crispy pink lady apple!

Based on my personal experience, here’s a few tips for anyone embarking on a weight loss journey:

Eat whole foods – whether your going high protein, low GI or whatever, always base your diet on whole real foods. Ditching the processed crap was the best thing I ever did! Processed sugar is particularly nasty. Switch to unrefined carbs like brown rice and pasta rather than their white versions.
Drink water and green or herbal teas – stop drinking your calories and ditch the diet coke and milky tea. This made a big difference for me, milky tea just made me want to eat biscuits and diet coke left me feeling bloated. Try and reduce your consumption of alcohol too, it really is just empty calories! Drinking lots of water and green and herbal teas actually makes me feel healthier and I’m more likely to match my healthy drinks with healthy foods.
Eat loads of veggies – veggies are full of fibre and nutrition, a win win when your seeking to lose weight. They fill you up for little calories, help to balance out your blood sugar levels and provide your body with nutrients. I try and fill half my plate at every meal with either veggies or fruit. Green smoothies and big salads are excellent ways to get those veggies in.
Make small changes – Instead of having to make lots of changes at once, try making small changes and developing them into habits. One week you could try drinking more water, next week adding an extra vegetable to your plate, the week after adding in a workout and so on. Try and keep at it, it may be difficult to begin with but after a few weeks these things will start to become habits, your palate will change so that healthier foods taste better, and things will get much easier.
Get rid of ‘trigger’ foods – I had certain ‘trigger’ foods that I could just not resist if they were in the house. Mine included muesli, chocolate and ice cream. It might be best to keep them out of the house until your healthy habits have become ingrained and you can enjoy these things in moderation.
Don’t diet – Remove the word ‘diet’ from your vocabulary. Diets don’t work, you have to make lifestyle changes, i.e. changes that last a lifetime, not just until you’ve reached your goal weight! I eventually found that focusing on my health was a much better approach than focusing on being skinny.
Meal plan / keep a food diary – This has really helped me stay organised and therefore have healthy meals prepared, stopping me from falling back on unhealthy processed convenience foods. I just use a simple word document on my laptop that I update, but use whatever works for you such as a note book or planner
Discover your motivation and inspiration – Isolate what it is that is motivating you to lose weight. I have always loved clothes so being able to wear things from my favourite shops was a huge motivation for me. Now my motivation is about being healthy and happy and feeling vibrant. I make inspiration boards (see below) to inspire me and set it as my desktop back ground on my laptop to keep me focused. Try it! I also do visualisation exercises where I create images in my head of the person I want to become, then I can focus on that goal.
Experiment with what works for you – At the end of the day we are all different and different approaches will work for different people. I’ve lost weight on both high protein diets, and eating more carbs on a vegetarian diet. When it comes down to it whatever approach you choose, to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than you are expending. Its as simple as that. All the different approaches out there – paleo, vegan, high protein, low GI – are more about fine tuning an eating style that works for you and makes you feel your healthiest, so experiment and see what you feel drawn to.

My current inspiration board!

I really hope that helps! I know how tough losing weight can be, especially if you feel you have a lot to lose. If I can do it, you can do it. Believe in yourself and know that you are worth it! No more excuses, be the person you want to be!

Are you currently trying to lose weight? How are things going for you? If you’ve lost weight before, what would be your top tip?

When life gives you lemons…

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Hi everyone, welcome to the new look Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish, I hope you like the new design! I decided that since I was going to be out of normal action for a while due to the wisdom teeth coming out, I would make the most of things and spend some time updating the blog. I felt that the old design was a bit out of date and I wanted it to feel a bit more ‘me’. I also wanted to streamline the side bar and links and arrange my sponsors logos better to give more space for bigger images within my blog posts. I would love your feedback on the new design! I have also updated my ‘About Me’ page, please take a look and let me know what you think :-)

On Friday evening I felt really poorly but yesterday I started to pick up and even decided to make a trip to the gym. I actually felt so much better for some light cardio. I just did an hour on the bike, cross trainer and step machine. I would have loved a run but anything high impact is well and truly off the agenda for now. This morning I decided to suck it up so I could make my new kettle bell class. This is a new class that my gym is offering.

It was 45 minutes made up of a warm up followed by an exercise done repeatedly for 1 minute before moving on to another, then some of the toughest abs moves I’ve ever done and a cool down. I really enjoyed it! You use the kettle bell in swinging motions or passing it around your body or similar to a dumbbell for tricep kickbacks and rows etc. Its definitely going to become a regular part of my training plan!

I have to admit I’m feeling a bit down in the dumps with my recovery, its a lot worse than I expected it to be. I had worried that working out would make things worse, but I’ve worked out twice now and felt better for it each time so I’m going to try and keep to my usual training plan but just dial it down a bit and ditch the high impact running for a while. I also can’t see me being able to eat solid foods for at least a few more days yet :-( The pain seems to come and go but its the swelling that’s really getting to me. Oh well, I might as well make the most of it and keep on enjoying making delicious smoothies – as they say ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade’! I hope I’m not boring you with these smoothie combos, but here’s a few I’ve had over the weekend:

Spinach, frozen banana, frozen mango, midori greens, plain hemp powder, manuka honey, bee pollen, water topped with more bee pollen and honey

Based on the ‘Bunny Spice’ recipe from Raw Food Real World: home made almond milk, carrot and ginger juice, cinnamon, maple syrup – so delicious!

Greens, half a large pineapple, Thai young coconut, bee pollen, honey, water, ice – very tropical!

Based on the ‘Black Sesame Jewel’ recipe in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: frozen banana, 2 tbsp of tahini, 2 tbsp of black sesame seeds, 1 tbsp of manuka honey, water topped with more sesame seeds, bee pollen and honey. This was utterly delicious, so creamy and full of good stuff!

Cabbage, courgettes, 2 scoops of vanilla sun warrior, maca powder, midori greens, ground flax, water, ice, maple sugar – this was way better than it looked, very creamy!

Kale, frozen cherries, cacao nibs, cacao powder – topped with coconut - so sweet with no need for additional sweeteners

Greens, apple, pineapple, nectarine, dates, coconut water, water, ice – tasted lovely and cleansing

I’ve also added in some different things including some protein pudding:

Just 1 scoop of chocolate sun warrior protein powder mixed with water, a teaspoon of cashew butter and some agave syrup.

This morning for breakfast I defrosted some frozen raspberries and mashed them with some Viva Pure cacao chai chia pudding and agave syrup:

This was perfect, just the right consistency, I’ll be eating more mashed raspberries me thinks!

I’ve also been having juices, just my fave green juice blend and beet, carrot, cucumber, ginger blend. I’ve started to try and eat some of the smoothies with a spoon out of a bowl as I read that sucking through a straw may not be best when your gums are healing. I have to say its a bit strange, on one hand I feel awesome from all the goodness I’m getting from the juice and smoothies, then I feel crap when I feel how swollen and sore I am!

Today I’ve made a big pan of my Lentil and Spinach Soup and blended it down so I’m going to have that for dinner plus I can’t wait to make a shake with my remaining Thai young coconut and raw cacao!

I also wanted to mention that I have a new Goodness Direct discount code for you – so even if you’ve used my old code, you can use this one. It gives you £10 off and free delivery on all orders over £35 – just use code 322345GH at the check out!

So what do you think of the new blog design and my ‘About Me’ page? I really hope you like it and would love any feedback! Hope your all having a brilliant weekend!

Accidental juice and smoothie cleanse

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! Hope the first week of 2012 has been good for you :-) My week hasn’t gone to badly:

Monday – gym – 5 min treadmill warm up, 20 minutes strength (just some random stuff) 15 min HIITs on bike, 10 minutes freestyle yoga before bed
Tuesday – am - yoga detox challenge flow, pm – gym, 30 min cardio (HIITs and steady state) Body Pump
Wednesday – am – gym – 5k speed intervals treadmill, 30 min HIITs on step machine, cross trainer and bike, 5 mins meditation before bed
Thursday – am – 30 Day Shred level 2, yoga for runners
Friday – pm – ‘The Core Workout’ Pilates Core Workout DVD (review to come) freestyle yoga

Some tasty eats from the first half of the week:

My Carrot, Ginger and Orange Soup with some delicious raw almond and rosemary crackers I knocked up at the weekend

Raw courgette 'noodles covered in lots of my Green Goddess dressing

Fruit plate with 2 sliced persimmons, pink lady apple and goji berries

Hot mint chocolate made with home made almond milk and Mint Chocolate caffeine free Teeccino

My first Matcha shot as part of the Tea Pigs Matcha Challenge!

Yesterday morning I went in to have my wisdom teeth taken out. I was sedated (which is awesome by the way – I couldn’t remember a thing!) for the operation but after 3 failed attempts at finding a vein in my arm for the injection and the surgeon having to drill into my jaw bone because they were both compacted I’ve been left feeling pretty sore and swollen.

I took plenty of painkillers yesterday but I woke up feeling ok so I’m going to see how I go with more natural remedies. I’ve been careful to include a few specific foods to help my condition such as lots of ginger as its an anti inflammatory, some manuka honey which has antiseptic properties and coconut water to flush out the chemicals from the anaesthetic. I’ve been adding ginger to my juices and tea, sucking on a spoonful of honey and adding the coconut water to my smoothies.

The idea of eating anything even remotely solid is laughable and the idea of soups just doesn’t appeal so I’ve basically ended up doing an almost raw smoothie and juice cleanse! Before I went to the dentist I needed to have a light meal so for breakfast I had a chopped banana with buckwheaties and pecans covered in a cup of homemade almond milk mixed with half a scoop of chocolate sun warrior:

This was delicious and so creamy, I love home made almond milk!

My lovely Mam accompanied me to the dentist and looked after me all day. She even did my ironing while we watched all three Back to the Future movies! I eventually felt like eating something mid afternoon and made this delicious smoothie. This is one of my faves for sure, I made it a while back and just had to include it as a recipe!

Cherry, Pear and Almond Smoothie (serves 1, vegan)

1 ripe pear
1 cup of frozen cherries
2 tbsp of almond butter
Pinch of salt (if almond butter not salted)
Water to blend

Add everything to blender and blend well, serve and enjoy!

After that, and throughout today I’ve just been managing on smoothies and fresh juices. Here’s a few of my faves:

My standard green juice combo – cucumber, celery, parsley, lemon, ginger

Kale, frozen blueberries, half an orange, strawberry hemp protein powder, cashews (soaked), coconut water, ground flax, berries powder

Simple luscious green smoothie – spinach, frozen avocado, 2 nectarines, coconut water, coconut nectar

Carrot, beetroot, cucumber, ginger juice – so delicious and so pretty!

A version of my ‘Bounty’ smoothie – spinach, frozen banana, thai young coconut (I defrosted a pack that I bought from an Oriental supermarket – utterly amazing btw!) chocolate sun warrior, midori greens, maca, water

I’m actually really enjoying just the smoothies and juices for now so I’m going to just go with it. I’m trying to make sure I add lots of avocado, coconut and nuts to get the calories in as I’m concerned that I won’t be getting enough! I’m hoping that my gums won’t feel so delicate so I can start eating more solid foods as soon as possible.

Have you had your wisdom teeth out or been under sedation before? Are you a fan of juices and if so what’s your favourite?

WIAW–Simple and Fresh

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:55:00 +0000

Hi guys, how’s 2012 treating you so far? So far so good for me, I’ve been eating some of the most delicious simple, fresh and healthy food and my tummy almost feels back to normal. I’ve also had a couple a great workouts to get my sweat on! These are my eats from yesterday, I can’t believe that WIAW is 50!

I started the day off with some very early morning yoga – I did a 20 minute Challenge Detox flow from Yoga Download. Breakfast was a gorgeous chia pudding banana split:

I made up some cacao chai chia pudding with 1 tbsp of Viva Pure Cacao Chai Chia mix and 1 tbsp of chia seeds mixed with water and honey which was left in the fridge to thicken up. I poured that on top of a banana and added lots of pomegranate seeds (plus more unpictured, it was a big pomegranate!) I also had a mug of Dr Stuarts Detox tea which I love!

The cupboards were a bit bare yesterday so for a snack I just had some sliced cucumber that needed using up and some soaked walnuts and hazelnuts:

I soaked the nuts overnight as this makes them more digestible by removing the enzyme inhibitors, they also have a nice texture when they’ve been soaked.

For lunch I had a big salad beast:

I’ve really missed these! This contained a full head of cos lettuce, cucumber, raw beetroot, chickpeas and a generous amount of my green goddess dressing. I had cooked the chickpeas from scratch before Christmas and frozen them up in single servings – so convenient!

Before I left work for the gym I had the last couple of my raw chocolate orange brownie balls with a mug of green tea:

Those balls are seriously amazing, they taste gorgeous and I’m so glad I can have them when I need a sweet chocolate hit while I’m eating cleaner over January!

After work I hit the gym and did 10 minutes of intervals on the cross trainer, 10 minutes of intervals on the step machine and 10 minutes steady state on the rowing machine before doing my Body Pump class which after a 2 week break was a killer!

For dinner I just went with my cravings and made a green smoothie in a mug (SIAM?) This contained cabbage greens, a pear, chocolate hemp protein powder, ground flax, midori greens, water and ice:

I had two big mugs of it, looks like swamp water but tastes lush! After that I wanted to make sure I was getting some more calories in and had a craving for lots of fruit so I had a chopped pink lady apple with maca powder, an orange, a nectarine and a persimmon along with a couple of tbsp of coconut butter for extra healthy fats:

You just can’t beat a plate full of fresh fruit sometimes! After that I had a glass of water with some aloe vera juice to settle my tum:

Honestly I can’t tell you how much better I’m feeling after a couple of days of eating better, it just goes to show how much what you eat affects your general wellbeing.

In other news:

I was chuffed yesterday when I received my Matcha kit ready to start my Tea Pigs Matcha Challenge. I’m especially looking forward to trying it as a shot, in smoothies and my favourite lattes!

The Great North Run 2012 ballot has opened yesterday. I have a guaranteed place already – it would be lovely if some of you joined me in running it this year. You can enter the ballot here!
I entered my Carrot, Orange and Ginger Soup recipe into the New Covent Garden Soup Co Soup of the Month Competition – please check it out and give me a vote if you like what you see!

So how is 2012 going so far for you? If your making a focused effort to be more healthy how’s it going? I’ve been loving my workouts but even though I exercised pretty consistently over Christmas they have been extra tough, how are your usual workouts feeling?

Readers Request: My Ultimate Green Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:39:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from lovely blog reader Sam, requesting my ultimate green smoothie recipe, the most nutritious and filling one I could come up with!

For more information on green smoothies check out The Green Monster Movement and my Green Smoothie Loving post.

Green smoothies are a fantastic way of getting more leafy green vegetables into your diet (which I feel are some of the most nutritious foods available), as well as being the perfect vehicle for adding various nutritional powders. One of the great things about green smoothies is that they are endlessly customisable – you can make them as cleansing or as decadent as you like but they will always be pretty healthy!

As you can imagine it was hard to come up with an ‘ultimate’ recipe as depending on how I feel I make my smoothies lighter, sweeter or more filling. What I have came up with is both very healthy and very tasty, as well as being filling. As always you can very easily change up the components to suit your own tastes:

Laura’s Ultimate Green Smoothie (vegan, serves 1, can be raw)

100g of chopped kale (or greens of choice – if in doubt or if your blender isn’t too great go for spinach or romaine)
Quarter of a cucumber, chopped
1 frozen banana
1 scoop of protein powder of choice – (optional, my choice here would always be vanilla sun warrior)
1 1/2 cups of water or non diary milk – personally I find the protein powder adds enough creaminess so just use water
6 ice cubes
Sweetener – optional and probably depends on the sweetness of your protein powder. You could try adding 1 tbsp of agave syrup, honey, stevia or a couple of chopped dates
1/2 tsp of xanthan gum – available in the ‘free from’ sections at the supermarket: xanthan gum adds creaminess and thickness
1 tsp of maca powder – available from Holland and Barrat – I love maca powder, its supports the adrenal gland and helps to balance hormones
1 tbsp of ground flax – adds essential fats
Other powders as desired – I went with a scoop of midori greens

This will make a pretty big thick smoothie which will be perfect for eating out of a bowl. I love thick smoothies in a bowl as I tend to gulp down smoothies from a glass, so these are more filling for me. If your having yours from a bowl its fun to add some toppings. Here are my favourites for taste and nutrition:

1 tbsp of goji berries
1 tbsp of raw cacao nibs
1 tbsp of nut butter (you can mix with some warm water to create a more creamy texture)
1 tbsp of bee pollen
Plain raw nuts and seeds

Start by washing the greens and placing in the blender followed by the banana, cucumber and powders except the xanthan gum.

Add one cup of liquid and set to blend. It may take some time for the mixture to start blending depending on your blender. I usually stop and start mine a few times pushing the mixture down on to the blades in between. Once it has blended up a bit add the other 1/2 cup of liquid along with the ice cubes. Blend again until smooth. Stop and check for sweetness and thickness. If needed add your sweetener and if you want to eat from a bowl or just prefer something thicker add the xanthan gum.

Blend again leaving the motor going for a good 30 seconds so that its very well combined. Pour into glass or bowl and add toppings. Enjoy!

I topped mine with my favourite goji berries, cacao nibs and bee pollen. I use a very large bowl to fit it all in, if your just using a small bowl you will have some over flow!

I have also have a few more green smoothie recipes here including a carrot cake and apple pie green smoothie! I think the beauty of smoothies is that you can make them your own using whatever ingredients you have to hand so go and experiment!

This is my ultimate for taste and nutrition but I think my absolute favourite would have to be a simple greens, cocoa and frozen cherry mix – perfect every time! Have you ever tried a green smoothie? If your a green smoothie lover, what would be in your favourite combo?

Clean slates and fresh starts

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Hi everyone, hope 2012 has got off to a good start for you!

January certainly isn’t my favourite month, but what I do like about it is how I feel like I have a clean slate and a fresh start. Last January I did a month long vegan detox to kick start the year. Apart from losing perhaps a little too much weight, I really enjoyed it! You can read some of my thoughts on detoxes in this post. Of course I’m mostly vegan now anyway so I won’t be doing a repeat of last January, but I will be making a few changes to my diet for the month.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate and drank in December but my body really is craving simpler cleaner foods. Over the last week I’ve experienced a bloated and tender stomach, head aches, heart burn and poor sleep, no doubt due to eating more sugar, processed food (especially soy), caffeine and alcohol – and in larger amounts than I’m used to.

My plan for January is basically to eat more simply. I’m going to give alcohol, coffee, black tea and processed foods a miss for a while and I’m also going to watch my sugar intake. I’m also going to go easy on the stevia for a week or so as yet again my taste of sweet things is totally off and I want to re balance that. I’m also going to go easy on the gums in my smoothies as I think my digestive system needs a rest from the added fibre. Rather than eating pasta or noodles I’m going to focus more on eating whole grains. Basically I’m going to be eating lots of vegetables, especially leafy greens, fruit, whole grains, beans, tofu, nuts and seeds.

I’ve been re reading my favourite raw food recipe books and I’m feeling very inspired again, so I’m looking forward to lots of raw food creations!

Generally I’m thinking that my meals are probably going to look like:

Breakfasts – green smoothies, fresh juices, chia puddings, porridge, buckwheat / raw granola and nut milk with fruit
Lunches – big green salads with beans or tofu, home made dressings with lots of healthy fats, denser raw salads like my Healthy Feast and December salads, raw crackers and dip with veggies, home made soups
Snacks – nuts and seeds, dried fruit, home made energy bars, lighter smoothies, tofu cottage cheese and fruit
Dinners – Buddha bowls, Curries, Stews and Chilli, coconut and ginger lentil and rice stew, raw courgette pasta with raw pasta sauce or creamy avocado sauce
Desserts – frozen fruit with spiced raw nut milk, raw chocolate, frozen chocolate avocado cups, raw desserts like my raw salted caramel pecan cake

There are a couple of specific foods that I’m going to incorporate into my diet in January to help me feel re balanced:

Honey – I’m going to use this as my main sweetener – contains antioxidants and probiotics
Aloe Vera Juice – soothes the digestive tract, is good for skin
Chlorella tablets – very nutrient dense, supports immunity and high chlorophyll content supports cleansing
Ground flax – contains healthy fats
Detox tea – I just like this tea! The flavour is nice and pepperminty and I feel like it helps my digestion.

I received the Aloe Vera juice and Chlorella tablets from Pukka to review. I also received the honey from the New Zealand Honey Company for review purposes. In addition to these I’ll also be using Matcha Green Tea powder from Tea pigs (one of my January sponsors) as part of their Matcha challenge and maca powder (purchased myself, helps to support the adrenal gland and balance hormones)

I’m just going to try and eat well (making sure I’m eating enough) and I won’t be weighing myself. I haven’t weighed myself since the end of November and I don’t plan on doing so again soon! Following on from my thoughts in this post I think 2012 may be the year I ditch the scales once and for all :-)

Fitness wise I’ll be continuing using the same basic format as my last training plan, changing things up every 6 weeks and incorporating a ‘set back’ week when I relax my work outs and do a week long healthy feast. I’m kind of counting this week as my ‘set back’ week ready to start fresh next week. Another reason I’m making this my set back week is because I’m going in to get my wisdom teeth taken out on Thursday. I’m having it done under sedation because they are compacted. I’m expecting to be on smoothies for a couple of days at least! I’m also going to try and do some form of yoga or meditation every day in January even if its just 5 minutes – I know how good yoga makes me feel and I want to focus on that.

January Goals

Complete my Diet and Nutrition Course
Do some form of yoga or meditation every day as part of Tam’s challenge
Sort out my costings and lesson plans for my first healthy living sessions with a local youth club
Eat simply and according to my plan above
Don’t weigh myself!
Enjoy more relaxing outdoor runs
Change up my fitness routine with the addition of new DVDs and classes to challenge myself
Break ground on the allotment!

I really enjoyed the couple of relaxing runs I did over the Christmas break and I think I’m going to try and do more runs without the garmin to monitor pace so I can just enjoy running for the sake of running! I’m also hoping to try a kettlebell class my gym is running for a few weeks too.

January Sponsors

This month I am delighted to be welcoming Tea Pigs and Teavivre as blog sponsors.

I’m a massive fan of Tea Pigs and I’m really looking forward to taking part in their Matcha Challenge, for a great discount on their matcha use code MATCHABLOG12 at the checkout for a 20% discount!

Teavivre sell a wonderful range of teas directly from China. I’m awaiting some samples from them to review which I can’t wait to try!

As usual, if your interested in sponsoring the blog you can find the details on my sponsorship page. I’d love to promote other blogs so if your interested I can do a deal that includes designing you a blog button and having the blog button up on KHGS for a month for just £10! Its a great way to promote your blog to some new readers, if your interested drop me an email at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com

It is also my 2nd blog birthday coming up so I’m planning a great giveaway! I’m also going to try and give the blog a bit of a make over if my IT and design skills are up to it.

How do you feel about the January ‘Health Kick’? Obviously I’m all for it, it gives me something to focus on in my least favourite month of the year and helps me to feel rebalanced after Christmas. Do you have any specific goals in mind for January?

Celebrating Twenty Twelve

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:50:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone, lets make 2012 the best one yet!

Hope you all had a great time last night! We decided to make a bit of a day of it with a trip into town for coffee, a movie, lunch and drinks before getting settled at home to see the New Year in.

New Years Eve outfit: Parka coat: Miss Selfridge, black quilted bag: Topshop, long beige cardigan (under coat): Zara, metallic shift dress: Topshop, long gold necklace: Freedom @ Topshop, short gold necklace: Warehouse, black tights: M&S, black flat ankle boots: New Look

I really wanted to wear my metallic dress for New Years so dressed it down for the day with the parka coat and flat boots. Yes, that is another Urban Outfitters bag in the background, I went an bought myself another mug on sale to use at work!

I’ve had this twice over the last couple of days its so good! Vanilla Cookie Green Smoothie containing spinach, cookies and cream spirutein powder, vanilla stevia, ice, pomegranate juice topped with roast salted almonds, raisins and tahini

We went to see Sherlock Holmes at the Tyneside Cinema and it was awesome! Afterwards we went for a Chinese meal and I filled up on the usual spicy cucumber pickle, mapo tofu, crispy fried greens and fruit before we went for drinks. After calling in to see friends and family we came home and got settled in to see in the New Year.

Snack tray with falafel, veggies, olives, hummus and crackers

Dessert snack plate with dark chocolate reindeer, dates, dried apricots, mixed nuts and roast soya beans plus maple almond butter and tahini with honey for dipping

Lots and lots of red wine! I also had some strawberry pear cider and the last of my amaretto with pomegranate juice

I also ate a lot more chocolate! This morning I wasn’t feeling hung over but was feeling well and truly ready to get back to eating simpler healthier foods. I had been hoping to go out for a run but the weather was awful so I did some light yoga instead. A bit later I made a lovely bowl of oats for a late breakfast.

Super berry porridge made with 1/2 cup oats, water, thyme honey, berries powder, fresh blackberries, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs and almond butter

I had been planning on making a puff pastry tart for New Year’s Day lunch but the thought of pastry made me want to hurl! I ended up making a beautiful salad instead plus a tasty dessert:

Butternut and lentil salad (based on this recipe) with chopped dried apricots, parsley and an orange cumin dressing

Raw orange chocolate brownie balls based on my raw vegan brownie bites recipe but with orange zest added

New Years Day Outfit: faux fur scarf: New Look, gold swallow earrings: Topshop, chunky cardigan: Topshop, skinny tan leather belt: Topshop, silk floral dress: French Connection, black leggings: H&M, tan leather boots: New Look, tan cross body bag: Mango

We’ve just come home from New Year’s Day lunch at my Mam and Dad’s which we also enjoyed with my Sister, Brother in Law and two adorable nephews. I’m looking forward to spending the rest of New Years Day relaxing in my pj’s drinking tea!

I was definitely happy to start eating less rich foods from this morning too, I have enjoyed some tremendous eats in December but now simple and clean meals are calling my name, I’ll blog a bit more on this tomorrow!

How did you celebrate the New Year?