On A Go Slow

So last night I felt crappie cos of that cake and then I started with an allergy ... Couldn't stop sneezing , my nose was so itchy and my eyes sore. I had to take two antihistamines to calm it. So this morning when I woke up .... I didn't feel with it at all... Totally drugged up. So been on quite a go slow most the day. 

 This morning our gardener came to help me with the garden. Then this afternoon, I popped to Starbucks to do some studying. We have one in the next village to us.... which is great. I just had a couple of decaf Americanos ....

Been drinking lots of water... hopefully I will feel more with it tomorrow.

A few photos from today. I am loving the Beautifulmess iPhone app :)

Mint growing in our garden - great for fresh mint tea

made this at lunchtime

decaf Americano at Starbucks

Quick Update

Soooo.... I am still doing the Whole 30 diet. I came off it slightly,when we ate out last Thursday night...and OMG... I was unwell for 3 days. It seems I have a problem with dairy now. I felt dreadful for days. This evening I have come off it again as we have been to see Lala's mum, Doff, as it is her  87th Birthday 

and we had some cake with her.... and now I feel dreadful :( Just shows that what you put in your body is so important. As the Whole 30 resets your body, it highlights the effect of such foods when you try to reintroduce them. I think before I did the Whole 30, my body was just used to the crap I put in it. .... In this case dairy and sugar. Least I know now the effect it has on me.

At the moment I love Medjool Dates as a snack

These organic ones from Sainsbury's are Yummie

I have been busy revising for the Yoga Philosophy exam which is 19 days time.... 

The course has flown by.... I often wonder where time actually goes. I have really enjoyed it.... And don't want it to end..... 

I just love all the learning.... Especially in a group. I am going to miss that. I wish I could find somewhere local where I could study more and more of the Philosophy cos that is the aspect of Yoga I love the most.

I was browsing online last night and came across a this website Dot Com Gift Shop - they sell such cute things. I will leave you with some of the products which I particularly love.

Whole 30 Recap

So... I did it.... :) It's a good job I was more focused at sticking to the Whole 30 than I was blogging about it hahahahaha...

I am feeling great... I think the first few days were tough... but once the cravings had subsided, it felt fabulous.

 I have enjoyed eating like this.... so much so that I have decided to carry on.  If we eat out, I may order some lentils, chickpeas and rice but I intend to stick to the Whole 30 way of eating at home. There is no reason not to really.  When something makes you feel so good....why change it? I haven't had this much energy and felt in such a good place in a long time.  I often think, I have actually never felt like this before. It just goes to show exactly how important it is what we put in our body. 

I feel I have learnt a great deal about food and nutrition during this journey.  Reading lots of food labels is definitely educational.  Also I want to mention Dallas & Melissa Hartwig's book here It Starts With Food

I learnt so much from this book and it was very motivating too. An essential read when doing The Whole 30.

You can also sign up HERE for daily emails to help you during the 30 days.  There is also lots of helpful information on the site too

Since the age of 14 I have had such an unhealthy relationship with food - I shall write about this another time... but for the first time ever, I feel this has changed. 

My total weightloss during the 30 days is 12 pounds which is great :) I want to lose another 7 pounds before we go to Kefalonia at the end of August. 

Whole 30 - Days 24 & 25

I was flipping through "It Starts With Food" when I woke up this morning... Reading bits which caught my eye.... It is such a fantastic, informative and motivating book. It is definitely one that I will come back to time and time again. It definitely led me onto the the right track. Took this quote from it

I have been eating like I always tend to eat .... Hahahaha.... fish, salads, veg., fruit, Lots of water.

I feel my relationship,with food is so much healthier now. I don't seem to feel the need to emotional eat. In fact, when something or someone upstea me, it lasts a few minutes... I either have a cry and then I am ok or I sit a breathe and then I am fine. I don't seem to hold onto it for long at all.

I started my period today ... And for the first time ever... NO PMT symptoms. How awesome is that - no mood swings, no chocolate cravings, no boob tenderness, no cramps, I LOVE eating like this.

I will leave you with a photo of the cutest jars I have just bought.... They arrived today.... I adore them.

Whole 30 Day 23

Just a quick update - So yesterday was Day 23. 

Only a week left til Day 30.

I am enjoying eating like this.

I feel so much better in myself for sure. 

So for lunch I had a salmon salad.

I have noticed though that some brands of smoked salmon contain sugar.  So ALWAYS read the label.  The one I get at Morrison's doesn't but I have noticed when label reading that the Sainsbury's one does.  Not sure about Tesco, Waitrose or Asda. 

I also grabbed an Americano from Starbucks and added some coconut milk to it when I got home

In the evening I had salmon (again) - I do eat a lot of salmon.  I roasted some veg to serve with it.

Right I best get back to my Yoga assignment.  I am enjoying doing it as I feel I am learning a lot.  I can see why they say you learn a lot when you are teaching.

Will leave you with a photo of one of our babies.

Summer Holiday Shopping

I have been looking online for summer clothes today.  Have found some I really like online at Next.

SUMMER CLOTHES

* Crochet Vests in cream, black coral and navy - £18

* Coloured Cropped Jeans pink and also available in mint, peach and blue - £22

* Floral Print Maxi Dress - £26

All these can be bought online at www.next.co.uk

Whole 30 - Day 22

I have been such a bad bad blogger and not updated since day 15!!!!! I have been busy doing stuff for my Yoga Teacher Training course.... I can't believe that there is less than 2 months left until the end of it..... Time sure does fly.....

I am still enjoying the Whole 30 / Paleo way of eating and have stuck to it. Yay.

We ate out on Friday night. We went to an Indian Cafe down Normanton Road which is known for its good curries and cheap Indian supermarkets :) 

its more like a cafe than a restaurant... we love it

I ordered a couple of curries. A mushroom one and a prawn one. The guy looked at me a little "gone out" when I said no rice or Chappatis... Just curry. It was so so Yummie... And I didn't miss the rice/Chappatis . I must admit tho - I did miss be able to order a Dahl.

I am still considering reintroducing grains and legumes my diet at the end of the 30 days. With me being a pescetarian, I used to eat lentils and rice quite a bit. I have no desire to reintroduce wheat/gluten tho. I am so much better off without it.

Last night we ate at friends, and they cooked me a special Whole 30 meal... Salmon with asparagus and baby courgettes.... Was Yummie... Then raspberries for dessert. I admit, I did keep,looking at the cheesecake they were all having longingly .... Hahahahaha.... But I was good.

I have been bad at taking photos of my food too.... But these are some I did take....

So 8 more days to go.....

Whole 30 Day 15

Yay today is day 15 which means I am half way through The Whole 30.

Time is flying by...

I wasn't hungry first thing and so didn't have any breakfast.

I went to Sainsbury's to do our weekly shop.

I bought more veg this time and less fruit.  The fruit I did buy was mainly berries.  I have some fruit to eat up and then I am reducing the amount and increasing the amount of veg. 

I made this salad for my lunch

then for dinner tonight I decided to cook some carrot subji to have with my salmon

from this book

it has garlic, chilli, ginger, coriander, coconut, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ghee and carrot in it 

So this is what I had for dinner

Salmon, carrot subji and mushrooms

I also made these today

from PaleOMG's recipe

I struggled to get them to set in the fridge and so I popped them in the freezer.  They are a bit icy at the moment but should have thawed to the right consistency by tomorrow.  They are in the fridge now. 

Looking forward to another week of Whole 30/Paleo 

Whole 30 Days 13 & 14

Had a busy day on Saturday (day 13) went off up to Chesterfield to a Jivamukti Yoga workshop.  It was fantastic.  A strong and sweaty practice in the morning and then an afternoon studying The Siddhis (Yogic Supernatural Powers) in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

All packed to go

 I made a quick breakfast - Indian Style Scrambled Eggs.  They don't look appetizing but they were delicious.

I love using the spices in my masala dabba

to make the scrambled eggs, I melted some ghee in a pan, added cumin seeds and black mustard seeds until they popped. I then added garam masala and tumeric, then the onions, then the rest of the veg - mushrooms and peppers. Cooked them for a while and then added the egg and stirred til they scrambled.  Was a quick but tasty breakfast.

I took a packed lunch with me.  I made a salad, a fruit salad and took some hazelnuts too.  When I got home I made mixed vegetable subji and served it with tuna.  

I was only saying to Gina on the course that I never feel hungry on this diet and all my cravings had gone.... but Oh my.... last night... I felt starving.... I so easily could have binged on chocolate etc... I ate some fruit but 30 mins later I was starving again.  I think the Yoga triggered some deep emotions which I couldn't cope with and wanted to turn to food.  I kept telling myself to meditate on my throat chakra. As Patanjali says:

3.31 Contemplation upon the throat chakra eradicates hunger and thirst

I still felt hungry when I went to bed.  I was determined I was NOT going to break my Whole 30.  Fell asleep ok but woke up at 5am with a pounding headache.  It was so bad I had to take some tablets.  I slept a few more hours and when I woke up it had gone.

I had a simple and quick breakfast this morning - egg with mushroom and advocado

Lala and I then spent some time cleaning the pond. After which I started to do some work for my course.  For lunch I made some Ayurvedic Veg with some salmon.  

I used coconut oil instead of ghee and I think I prefer it.  My dosha is Pitta/Kapha - more Pitta than Kappha and coconut oil is very cooling for Pitta. 

I studied til 4pm and suddenly felt very tired, went for a lay down and fell asleep....

Today I am not feeling hungry.... not hungry enough to eat any dinner

Looking forward to day 15... half way through wooooohoooo.

I am also on countdown to our summer vacation

Whole 30 Days 10, 11 & 12

Can't believe today is day 12 - only a few more days and I will be half way through.

I have already started to think which foods I will reintroduce after the 30 days.  I am definitely NOT reintroducing wheat and dairy.  I think both of those are big culprits for many things - mood swings, bloating, cravings, over eating.

Being a Yogini, I am very much drawn towards Yoga's sister science - Ayurveda. Last night I cooked an Ayurvedic Mixed Vegetable Subji. Per Ayurveda this has tridoshic energetics. It balances Agni and is laxative . A good food for bones and joints ;) It was delicious too

I finished the left overs of it (not very Ayurvedic as the rule is fresh food only) on my salad this lunch time ... Yummie. I got the recipe from this excellent book.

So to be able to eat in an Ayurvedic way, I am going to have to reintroduce rice and lentils and beans... I am going to see how I feel about this nearer the time and if I do, I will monitor the effects of this on my body. 

So I have been fairly crap... Or rather very lazy at taking photos of my food over the past few days but these are some of my meals which I did photograph.

We went out to eat this evening which was nice.  The only place I could think of which would have something on the menu I could eat was Roosters at Morley Hayes .

 I ordered the seafood salad.  The only things on the plate I couldn't eat was the bread with salmon and dill mousse and the beetroot ( as it was pickled in malt vinegar and that comtains gluten) I also asked for no Marie Rose sauce. 

My plate at the end :)

I am on day 4 of Deva Premal's and Miten's Mantra Meditation.  It is never too late to sign up. You can do so Here

It's so beautiful and as Miten says - we always remember to fees the body but very often forget to feed the soul and nourish our inner space. Mantra is soul food

The mantras so far :

Day 1 OM

Day 2 OM Shanti OM

Day 3 OM Gan Ganapataye Namah

day 4 Aham Prema

Still feeling great and looking forward to the weekend :) 

Whole 30 - Day 9

A lovely Spring day.  Love the flowers in our garden right now.

 Again I wasn't hungry first thing and wasn't so til lunchtime.  Per Ayurveda, you should only eat when you are hungry, if you eat when you are not, it weakens your agni... your digestive fires.

So this is what I had for lunch 

and a handful of seeds and nuts (not pictured)

I love coconut water.  I do like this brand Vita Coco

source

It is available in different flavours which I still have to try

*Peach & Mango

*Passion Fruit

*Pineapple

*Acai & Pom

Coconute water is great to keep you hydrated

This is what I had for dinner - tho managed to burn the peppers ooops and the cod all crumbled....

It's been another fabulous day.  I am happy I found this way of eating.

Ready for Day 10.

Whole 30 Day 8

I was EXHAUSTED yesterday morning... Not due to the Whole 30.... But from such an intense weekend at Yoga Teacher Training.  I had a little lie-in. When I got up, I wasn't hungry and so decided to get some chores done before eating.  So in the end my breakfast was more like brunch ;) I had a snack late afternoon and then dinner later on. 

Went grocery shopping today... Hopefully I will try and mix things up a bit this week. I guess when you don't eat meat... The meals are gonna be quite the same. But I am enjoying them.

I gardenedn all afternoon.  It's great to be outside :)

So here are my meals from Day 8

Brunch - 2 eggs, avocado & strawberries

Snack - satsuma, apple & hazelnuts 

Dinner - salmon topped with coconut flakes (was Yummie), sweet potato mash, broccoli & mushrooms. 

How am I feeling? 

Still great :) really enjoying what I am eating, I never feel hungry and never crave anything.  I am drinking 2 litres of water a day :) I am enjoying drinking water again. I went through a stage where it felt like a chore. But since starting The Whole 30, my love for good old H2O has returned :) 

My bloating is going down. I was naughty and stepped on the scales and have lost 6lbs :) 

Looking forward to Day 9 

Whole 30 days 5, 6 & 7

Yay today is day 8.... 
Not had chance to blog... Been a very busy weekend.  I am training to become a Yoga Teacher.  It was the course all this weekend. I only have 3 more weekends left to til the end of my course .... It's kind of scary .... I need to start to think about setting my classes up etc.... It's exciting but frightening at the same time. 

Food wise all three days have gone well. Day 5 looked like this 

Day 6 looked like this - I didn't take photo of my evening meal as it was just left over salmon and sweet potato fries.  I bought some coconut on the way home from training.  I suddenly started to feel stressed and so knew I could easily eat badly... The coconut snack put a stop to this :)

Day 7 looked like this

Yep just the one photo... Didn't take one of my lunch... It was just salad, some nuts and fruit.  But none of this for me this weekend.

  I haven't eaten anything for dinner - just not hungry.  I do find I am not finding the need to eat as much. I guess it is cos when i do eat, I am eating nutrient rich food. 

My day at Yoga Teacher Training was really tough.... Physically, mentally and emotionally. I got really emotional during relaxation. The tears seem to come up out of nowhere. I was fine and then the next minute the tears were rolling down my face.  When we were brought up to sitting, that was it.... I seem to totally let go and cried and cried. It's good to let go and cry though.... I actually felt much much better for doing so. It happened in such a loving and caring environment. 
We have done a lot of physical practice this weekend. 

My aim this over the next 7 days is to try different things .... I feel my meals seem to be a bit all same-ie ... I need new ideas.... I am gonna do some research