chicken soup for the soul

so been feeling crap lately so decided to look up chicken noodle soup recipes. so i found a few that i was going to use as the base, but it turned out somewhat more random than i had planned.
I made a asian styled chicken noodle soup instead and its been delightful with some dry crunchy noodles..... family loved it and quite cheap as we ate it over 3 nights.  so good i think i will have to make it again.

[healthi eatin] the healthy chef & other great blog/websites

so as part of my healthi livin and eatin journey I have been looking at various blogs trying to look at calories and healthy options.
What i found have been some great sites, here's a few I've bookmarked for later.

• the healthy chef - http://www.thehealthychef.com/
• cacao powder - https://sungodssuperfoods.com.au/recipes/cacao-powder 
• Good chef bad chef - http://www.goodchefbadchef.com.au/ but more specifically zoe's recipes - http://www.goodchefbadchef.com.au/recipe_categories/26-zoe/recipes 

[healthi eatin] frozen banana treat

Ingredients
2 frozen bananas
2-3 tspn instant coffee powder
3 square dark chocolate (finely chop)
optional - 1/4 tspn cinnamon
other flavours - instead of coffee add mint, 1 scoop protein, 1 tbsp chopped almonds
Method
let frozen bananas sit for 5 min
in food processor break into chuncks to pulse (~ 20 times) until smooth
add coffee chocolate cinnamon
then eat

cal 190
protein 2g
chol 0g
fat 13g (sat 4g)
sugars 19g
carbs 32g

do something that scares you and something that inspires you

so i love playing sport and would do it every day if i could if my body would let me. However its because i love it so much that i do it.... as a side effect sport also keeps me fit because its exercise that i don't need to think about doing.  its almost incidental  So why don't you find something that you love doing and see if you lose weight.. got to be better than doing exercise because you have to lose weight. If you have that mindset going in not only will you hate it but your body will hold onto the weight because you subconsciously told yourself something.
Now the other side of the coin is being scared. So how do you step outside your comfort zone every day. I think what is the worst that could happen, what's the safe option and what's daring but I'm likely to get away with. I go from the middle daring and take a step towards the unknown. And you know what. You learn something new generally and it never turns out as bad as you think it will .

technology and weight loss

so tech is great. i use a polar heart rate monitor, manage my blood pressure and my weight and fat%. so i am not a great tracker though. i use it to record my sport sessions but i hate tracking my food. but ..... then i found my fitness pal
unlike other apps i can just add the calories and polar heart rate kcal rate and then its done.
So if you havent tried it i suggest that you do. its even converted die-hard avoiders such as me :)

so i have faced my fear wrt blowout foods

so today at work there was a new marketing ploy which involved buckets of movie popcorn. So i had resisted until a colleague picked up a bucket for me. So of course i ate some telling myself that i would have a small portion and use it as morning tea. However I just looked over at the bucket and it was half empty. How the truck did that happen. Oh my, my heart sank.
However my theme for this week is challenges and learning from them and of course turning it from a negative to a positive I took this as a opportunity to understand more about my eating patterns and behaviours.
I eat when I am distracted and it is not mindful eating. So here's my plan of attack. Deny myself nothing but it must be the size of a 50c piece or smaller if its considered a bad food or empty calories. So i get the satisfaction of eating something, otherwise naughty, but the small portion size means that it is something that I should be able to work off with a healthy lifestyle.
so I'm going to try this out and see what  happens. What do you think ?

Power Yoga

One place i want to try when i am better is Power Yoga at Fitzroy. It will be a sign that I'm getting fitter and stronger when i can do that class easily. At present i know that i find i fatigue to easily to care about doing that to myself.
currently because im unwell i am doing a relaxing or nurturing yoga class instead just to keep my body moving .
So who wants to join me doing power yoga when im better ?

in sickness and in health

so i have been unusually flat the last few weeks due to illness and this is driving me nuts.... funni how much you take things for granted, like your health.
trying to be eating clean and going to the gym, playing sport etc but it is clear that the less calories i am eating and the sport that im doing are meaning that my body isnt getting the nutrients and rest it needs to get better.
Feeling so tired that i could fall asleep right now at 3pm in the arvo.
however because this is a temporary setback i will recover and from there start on my quest with re-energised zeal to make up for the time i have been sick.
but it is a difficult balance in trying to get fitter and healthier when all you want to do is grab a takeaway or eat comfort food and park myself on the couch and not move.
I guess its how you recover from setbacks and how mentally you either step up and play the game game or walk away licking your wounds..Both are relevant at certain times, for me its a little of both. I'm taking it easy trying to do as much as i can but find the balance that enables me to move but not need to stay on the couch the next day...
how about you, hows your behaviour when you are sick.

reading a restaurant menu takes on a whole new meaning

So I'm on a journey of trying to eat simply, cleanly and smartly. Now this is where it started to get difficult. I went out to lunch today and gosh was it challenging.
When you cook at home its easy, you know exactly what goes into the food you are eating and can work out the kilojoules/calories associated with the meal.
When you go out to eat you may as well just say as small prayer to the nutrition gods and leave it in the lap of the gods.
So looking at the menu there obviously are a few different simple tricks:

• look for anything vegetarian or with a large portion of the meal being vegetables
• look for a dish that separates the sauce or where you can ask for a sauce on the side
• find a dish that looks like it is caught in a broth or water option, soup or thin liquid rather than a gravy or creamy sauce 
• look at the meat at try and look for the leanest cut of meat or a cut that has been cooked for a long time to become more tender
• look at meals that look balanced in all food groups ie not excessive carbs or excessive fat
• look at what other people are eating to get a sense of serving sizes of food, portion sizes and order accordingly
• take the smaller option ie entrée size meal instead of a super size

So how did i go, well, not too bad i think.

I chose a poached chicken dish, with minimal fat, nice thin chicken soup/broth and a large serve of rice that i cut in half with my fork and only ate half of it. With it was a nice side of fresh bean shoots so there was a balance between carbs, veg, protein and fat. 

How do you go when you go out ?

What are your go to healthy foods that help you balance your dining out with eating in?

cacao bite size pieces of goodness

so i was just reading Quirky Cookings blog and stumbled upon these ....
omg i think i have to try these raw cacao treat balls or these raw brownies
thanks for these they are definately going to be tried ....
and for those who havent seen cacao before - yes it is not cocoa its a more unrefined version
take a look at this post 

mindful eatin

so the challenge is to make an experience out of everyday eating. Be mindful of both preparation and flavours.
Is that all i hear you say. :)
So i want to eat food that not only tastes good, is healthy but makes me happy as i eat it. Food is after all the way to a person's heart and soul. Your earliest memories are of eating with family and in some cultures food is a way of expressing love.
so i have a desire to follow the principles of clean yet mindful cooking, looking to shop local, minimise food miles and at the same time support local producers.
hope you will join me on this wild adventure, the ups the downs the shared learning and of course the fun. Its all about health and happiness in eating, living and of course moving. The 3 main elements of life that are so vital for living well.
Here's to remembering the destination is only a small part of the journey.