Christmas hangover? Shake It Off!!!

So Christmas festivities are over and today I have had a “hangover”, not the alcoholic kind because I don’t drink, but mentally I felt the effects of my hedonistic attitude to food that I have had for the past two days, when for the past few months I have been eating clean. I had a headache, a weird throbbing tension like pain in my neck, I was in a foul mood and had feelings of anxiety about all the work I have to do before going back to work. You may not be aware of it but food has the same effect on you as drugs legal or not. I speak from my own experience and not in a professional capacity. I know that there are certain foods that I can eat and they completely change my mood, but sometimes I just want and feel that I need that “hit”. I have had so much self-control for the past few months and then Christmas comes and I completely fall off the wagon, it didn’t help that I was hosting family on Christmas and Boxing Day!

Let me give you an example of a “good” food that has a bad effect on me, OATS – yes OATS. I undertook a Metabolic Typing test my results were analysed by Leah Salmon ‘The Naturally You Coach’. The test allowed me to become aware of how food had an effect on me physically and mentally. Oats, something I had been eating for breakfast for years actually made me sleepy and not so alert in the mornings.  Having this kind of awareness and just taking note how I feel after I’ve eaten something allowed me to become acutely aware of what foods should and shouldn’t be in my daily diet. At the time of taking the test I wasn’t mentally ready and didn’t even have the will power to change my diet (even though I knew it was for he best). Today though, having realized how much crap I had eaten over the Christmas period (and it wasn’t even that much) I knew I had to do something. I made sure I had my shake and doubled up on my premium capsules. Dinner was fish, sweet potato with bean salad and some spinach and it was LOVELY. Eating clean really isn’t the hard when you have the right ingredients already in the cupboard or fridge, at first I used to meal plan and on occasion still do, but really all you need to do is shop right so your kitchen is always full of the right foods.

Mission Shake It Off: My 2017 mission is to be the fittest, healthiest and happiest I’ve ever been, to have mental clarity and have no regrets. How? 

• I'm going to carry on taking my shakes and fruit, veg and berry capsules
• take time out for me
• take a moment each day to be thankful
• really focus on my business opportunity
• get fully qualified in in Teaching Exercise, Movement and Dance to Adults and in Fitness Instructing Exercise to Music

What are you action points for Mission Shake It Off? Do you have a plan to achieve them?

Don't get Nakd...

What if I told you you could get more than a weeks worth of Nakd bars for the same price as one pack? You would say, great, amazing, sign me up, Nakd bars seem to be coming the snack bar of choice for those who are clean eating. If you look at the ingredients they're pretty easy to make, I started making my own sometime last year, but since I have been keeping up with my clean eating lifestyle they have become a staple in my fridge. 

The method is simple, I don't measure a thing! 

Ingredients: pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, cranberries, cashews, dates and honey (I usually include cacao nibs too but didn’t have any when making this batch). No measuring just chucked it all in a food processor starting with seeds then nuts, save the soft ingredients till last and a little honey to help bind. EASY PEASY!

You should mix in the food processor until you get a dough like consistency. Line a shallow cake tin with grease proof paper. 

I put another piece of greaseproof paper on top and use an additional tin to push down on the mix and even everything out. Then I put it in the fridge to set. You can also roll into balls but that's looooong I stopped doing that a while ago and opted to cut into squares or bars.

Once it's set tip out onto a chopping board and cut into bars, I store mine in the fridge, and try not to eat them all at once!

Bun in the oven...

Earlier today I posted a picture on Instagram of some Banana Bread baking in the oven, I said that I would post the recipe here on my blog. I'm not going to do that, cause I didn't like the way it turned out, the recipe called for 4 eggs and coconut oil, I don't think the oil was a good addition. I have since searched and found other recipes with less eggs and no oil, I suggest if you want to give it go you try these types of recipes out. I will be on a mission to perfect this so i can cure my addition to Banana Soren.