Healthy biscuits

These are pretty much my own concoction of various healthy ingredients thrown together. The dough was delicious raw and they are pretty yummy when cooked too. 

Here we go:

Ingredients: 

100g whole meal self raising flower

1 teaspoon cinnamon, 

teaspoon of cocao powder 

3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil,

3 table spoons of honey or maple syrup, 25g designated coconut, 

splash of coconut or almond milk if it's a bit dry

Dried fruit and chopped nuts (to decorate)

Simply mix and push the ingredients together until they form a ball of dough

Roll out the dough and cut out shapes and place them on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Decorate if you wish with dried fruit and chopped nuts

Bake at 200 in the oven for 10 minutes x

Healthy baking...

Since I have been trying to stop eating so much pre prepared convenience food I have been trying out some clean eating baking.

My total favourite is banana bread. It is absolutely yummy and I make about 3 loaves a week. Me and the kids eat it for breakfast and I give it them for supper too. I cannot in anyway take credit for it so here is the link http://thekitchenshed.co.uk/clean-eating-wholewheat-banana-bread/

I have been experimenting to try and make some kind if healthy cereal bar. I tried one concoction with loads of mashed banana and oats but it didn't turn out very well. 

I therefore decided it needed something to bind it together more so I increased the amount of coconut milk, honey and coconut oil and it's actually turned out rather nice. I didn't weigh the ingredients but kind if added what I thought best to achieve a nice consistency. Basically I used:

Oats probably about 150g

Small amount of granola (as this does have added sugar)

Desinated coconut (again small amount as it's high in fat)

Honey (about 75ml)

Coconut oil (about 75ml)

Splash of coconut milk

Dried fruit (handful)

1 mashed banana 

I melted the honey and coconut oil in the microwave then added into the other ingredients in a mixing bowl, smushed them all together and spooned into a baking tray, flattening them out and baked at 200 for 15 mins. 

They taste really yummy :)

It's official

At last I have received my certificate for my Level 2 Beauty Specialist Diploma. I completed my practicals and submitted my portfolio a few months ago but fir various reasons it's taken a while for my certificate to actually come through! 

Anyway I am delighted to have finally received it. It's funny because I have A levels and a degree but I actually think I worked harder for this than I did for either of those not only because I fitted it in with children and a job but because I really really wanted this. 

I am half way through my level 3 beauty massage award and about to embark on a nail qualification tomorrow and of course I have my makeup qualification. My dream would be to combine all these qualifications, my life experiences  plus aspects of my psychology degree, counselling qualification, teaching qualification and passion about nutrition and fitness. I'm just not quite sure how I would do this yet but being a firm believer in fate maybe one day this will all fall into place 

Keeping motivated

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. Since I went back to work after Christmas on January 5th I've managed to keep up my three times a week gym visits. I don't do loads as mentioned in a previous post (although I've now started to include the stationary bike too as it's so easy to just add in to burn some extra calories). 

Anyway here are a few things that have helped me keep at it:

1. Always do the first session of the week - my first work out session is on a Monday after work and I think if I missed that then I would probably miss my other sessions too and soon get out of my routine. 

2. Never miss a session for no reason- I've changed my gym times around some weeks because of my childcare or work commitments but I think once I start missing to simply lounge around or go shopping then the gym turns into something negative. It's the same really with any commitment though like my college course. If I started to skive I would see it to be something negative

3. Motivational music - it helps to have some of my favourite songs to listen to on my iPhone and if I'm feeling a bit demotivated I will treat myself to a couple if new songs

4. Positive mantra- my fav is 'you'll never regret going for a work out' and I also like to check out Instagram for positive quotes and motivational images

5. Eating good food- working out means I can eat more which is good as I love eating . Although now I've started to eat less chocolate and crap and my regards are things like banana bread or a feta cheese omlette. 

6. Being realistic- I hate running so instead I walk on a steep incline on the treadmill which when I have my music on passes quickly. If I was running with my boobs bouncing up and down I'm sure the time would go much slower!!!

7. A nice shower-doesn't sound much but my own shower can only be likened to an old man weeing on my head so a washing my hair under a hot power shower is bliss. Plus it's saving my electricity bill and my time cleaning my shower and bathroom after I've washed my hair in there!

That's it so far... Even though 7 is a rather odd number to end on but here is a picture of my slowly developing six pack 

Gym update ...

Well after vowing to get back to the gym in the new year I've just finished my 4th week of thrice weekly visits.

Its starting to feel less and less like torture so I think next weeki will up my routine a bit. Although it's when I do too much it starts to put me off going. 

I'm pretty busy with work, my kids and college so it is hard fitting it in but by making sure I fit it in during my child free time instead of moping about or spending unnecessary money in shops I'm doing ok.

At the moment my routine is pretty low level. I warm up for 5 mins walk on the treadmill then do 25 mins of uphill walking on a 10.5 incline. I do it without holing on for three minutes then hold on for two and so on.

Then I do 3 sets of 60 crunches and 3 30. Second planks. If I have time I then go on some weights machines for arms and the leg press.

I have lost about 3lbs through this and healthy eating but my main goal is to tone up and build some lean muscle xxx

Changes I'm making to my diet...

As I have mentioned in a previous post, my main goal for the new year is to over haul my eating habits having got into the habbit, particularly on busy days of relying on caffeine and sugary snacks rather than proper meals. Another issue is that my diet consisted of a lot of ready meals and also doing things like buying lunch at subway or Starbucks when in out and about... Could be worse I know but the issue there is more the unnecessary cost.

I'm not necessarily trying to lose weight just become more healthy in terms of evening out my energy levels and appetite. So here are a few changes I've been making:

1. Drinking bottles mineral water rather than tap water as I have read tap water which is unfiltered contains chemicals 

2. No diet drinks - these contain artificial sweeteners and aspartame and offer no nutritional value at all

3. Adding nuts, seeds and even cheese to my salads. I've always been a salad fan for my work lunches. However originally I would only add chicken and a handful of lettuce leaves. Yes this is low calorie but the problem was it was unsatisfying so I would end up snacking mid afternoon on chocolate, cereal bars or cakes. By adding things like seeds, nuts and feta cheese I'm making my salads more satisfying and getting calories from a healthy source 

4.cutting down on caffeine... As mentioned I have cut out the diet coke. I can't give up tea and coffee entirely but I'm trying to limit myself to one coffee per day and 2 cups of tea at the most. Instead I've been experimenting with various herbal teas. There are some good ones . I'm enjoying licorice tea, lemon and ginger, peppermint or nettle teas most.

5. Cutting back on alcohol- like caffeine this is something I couldn't cut out altogether but I'm now limiting myself to only having it at a weekend... No glasses of wine through the week. It's full of sugar, empty calories and disrupts sleep

6. Increasing fruit and vegetable intake- as you will see from my previous post I've invested in a smoothie maker... This will allow me to take in more fruit, milk (I'll be using almond or coconut rather than cows as I don't like the taste if cow milk in anything other than tea or coffee) and super food powder. In order to increase my veg I take I will be making more meals from scratch for the freezer and using veg and pulses to bulk them out 

7. Cutting go back refined sugar- again I can't cut out sugar altogether but I'm trying to cut out things which don't satisfy hunger like cereal bars and biscuits. 

8. Replacing normal bread with rye bread - this bread is actually nicer tasting and is particularly nice with cashew butter

9.Making my meals from scratch- instead of ready meals I intend to batch cook things like casseroles, bolognaise and curry for the freezer or making things like omelettes if I'm pushed for time

10. Eating more antioxidant rich foods ... Such as blueberries, tomatoes, superfood powders like wheatgrass and barley grass and sweet potatoes 

I have been doing this since the start ofJanuary  and am feeling less spikes if hunger and a little more energy. I'd love to see more positive changes in things like my skin and cellulite too.

Xxx

My New Purchase

After seeing lots of recommendations and pictures on instagram I decided to invest in this Breville active Smoothie maker. I bought it from Very(£24.99) in order to pay in installments but it can be bought cheaper from places like Argos or Asda.

As I am always rushing around and pushed for time what attracted me to it most was the lack of mess and cleaning-the smoothie can simply be blended in its storage flask so all you need to wash after making it is the blender bit (then obviously the flask after drinking it.

It only came today but I have made myself a banana, coconut milk, kiwi, apple, blue berry and grape blend with honey and wheatgrass in. I hope it will keep ok in the fridge over night!

My only concern is the cost of the fruit-I'm lazy so I have been buying ready prepared stuff. However, I guess I am now spending less on things like wine, coffee and cakes and am trying to take my lunch to work every day and eat in the house with the kids rather than grabbing lunch out and about.

I'll post an update on how its going but I think it will be a great way to introduce more fruit into my diet as well as some super food powders like wheat grass and barley grass

xxx