Christmas Gifts - Fit Food

Stocking fillers, usually made up up of tubes of smarties, bags of chocolate coins and, in my house, random trinkets from around the house! I always end up with stuff that I eat within hours and then feel guilty about it, so why not replace the trash with healthier options! 

You can't not have chocolate, a perfect replacement would be Green & Blacks Salted Caramel Thin, I love this, one square a day is my treat. 

For the nut butter addict in your life, you can't go wrong with a jar of the good stuff. Nuts 'n' More Toffee Crunch is amazing mixed into morning porridge or dolloped on pancakes, whilst Buff Bake Snickerdoodle is awesome straight out of the jar for a pick me up!

Finally, snacks on the go don't get much better then Quest Bars in their variety of flavours, heated up they are the food of gods. Propercorn help satisfy sweet or savoury craving, perfect for keeping you away from the crisps. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a Chocolate Orange, well Bounce have that covered with their new Orange & Cacoa Bounce Balls, perfectly orangey and chocolatey, a great replacement!

Just a quick round up of food ideas for gifts, let me know which ones you would pick!

Healthy Snack Ideas

I'm really enjoying my healthy eating at the moment, I feel like I have a lot more energy, I've cut out a lot of overly processed crap and am finding a balance with food that is better for me as well as still being tasty.

I thought I would show you some of the things that are living in my cupboard for grabbing when I need a quick snack. I keep a lot of these items in my desk at work for when I need them.

Caramel or chocolate coated rice cakes - I didn't think I would like these but they are amazing! I picked these up in the free from aisle in Tesco and keep these in my desk when I'm at work or in my bag when I'm out and about - perfect as a little pick me up.

Graze boxes - I love these, I've been getting them for ages and I adore them. I love that these are all calorie counted out so you can easily track them plus there is such a wide range of boxes - my favourites are the popcorns, flapjacks, beef jerky or all of the dippers - especially the caramel dipper! you can choose how often you want delivery and then chuck them in your bag and you're good to go!

 Fruit - My arch nemisis, I'm really not keen on eating fruit, I'm really fussy about texture of food and fruit has bits in it so I only pick 'smooth' fruits that I can make into a smoothie or eat quickly but it wouldn't be my first choice of snack!

Peanut Butter - Since taking the pictures for this post I have discovered Pip & Nut peanut butter and it is love! I've always loved peanut butter but paired with apple, in a smoothie with frozen banana or just straight from the jar and I'm happy, perfect for a quick energy hit!

So there are some of my favourite healthy snack ideas, I have a load more if you would want any more ideas! Would also love to know what snacks you go for!

xx

Eating Out - Shaka Zulu London

  Buried underneath the busy streets of Camden Stables Market is a little taste of Africa. Right in the heart of  market is a huge African statue and a glass door that leads to one of the most decedent escalators down under the ground. Into the darkness, through another door and you arrive in the most wonderful place ever.

Shaka Zulu is a South African restaurant which offers a little taste of African dining as well as a wide range of cocktails and drinks. Split over 2 floors there are loads of gorgeous areas to eat and drink. We were seated on the first floor, right next to the champagne bar and ordered our cocktails. The girls all had champagne cocktails while I had a non-alcoholic because I was the driver!

We spent a long time searching through the menu, having to ask lots of questions about what things were and if we would like it.

I started with a smoked Snoek Pate which is a North African fish, which was delicious, incredibly well seasoned and amazingly presented. My friends tried the Ostrich, Chicken and Harissa Roulade as well as the Springbok Carpaccio, both of which were amazing, the Springbok was so soft and melt in the mouth.

Next up was mains and we all opted for the Kingklip which again is fish. This was beautifully cooked and so soft. We added sides of Peri-Peri chips, creamed kale, Sweet Potato Mash and Roasted Cinnamon Butternut Squash. This was amazing, I've never had fish cooked like this, it was light yet filling.

Pudding was a Coconut Panna Cotta. I've never had panna cotta before but after eating this, I will happily eat this again with pleasure. It was delicious. The other girls had a dark chocolate tart which was incredibly rich.

After lunch we had a wander around the market to help our food settle, although it wasn't too heavy which was great.  It was nice to experience a different type of food, it's not something we would eat everyday so its nice for a change. 

The restaurant was absolutely stunning, I guess in the evening the atmosphere must be amazing for cocktails before heading out into Camden, I would definitely head back there for more cocktails!

If you fancy trying something new then check it out, we were able to enjoy this 3 course meal thanks to a Wowcher voucher so keep an eye out for a voucher  or check out the restaurant here.

What do you think of Shaka Zulu? What's the weirdest food you've ever tried? xx

Recipe - Sweet Potato Falafel

I've been trying to find healthier lunch options, I'm so sick of salad and soups, all I want is bread and cheese and packets of crisps! So I decided to make something which I could throw in with my salads to give me a bit more taste and flavour, or I use these as part of a pitta or a wrap with some salad and ham.

These were so easy to make and lasted ages! You will need:

2 Medium Sweet Potato

1 Tin Chickpeas

Spices or seasoning of your choice

- Pre-heat the oven to around 200oC, heat up 2tbs of Coconut Oil

- Peel and cube the sweet potato, roast in a tin for about 20mins, seasoning with a little mixed herbs

- Once the potato is cooked and started to cool, put in a bowl and add 1 tin of chickpeas, mash up using a potato masher

- Split into balls or patties and place in the oven for about 20mins until golden on the outside

- Take them out to cool.

These are so easy to make and last all week, perfect for lunch or as a little snack. Next time I think I'm going to mix in some spices and give me a bit more heat! 

Let me know if you make these!

Weightloss Wednesday - Nakd Cocoa Crunch

After a few weeks off of the whole clean eating thing, the layer of chub that ad started to go as slowly snuck back on and has brought a couple of friends with it! I hate how I feel, but instead of moaning about it, I'm back on clean eating and getting into a fitness routine.

First thing to sort was the kitchen cupboard. Living with the boy means that there are always biscuits or cakes in the house to tempt me so my snacks needed sorting. I try and have snacks which are higher in protein and fibre to keep me full, but buying Nakd bars every week from Tesco gets a tad expensive. When I found that I could buy the big boxes of them for cheaper than the smaller packs I knew I needed them in my cupboard.

I signed up to Natural Balance Foods and set about deciding what I wanted. As a crisp lover, I like something with a bit of crunch so picked the Cocoa Crunch bars. Very similar to the regular Cocoa bars but with added crunch, one of these with a cup of tea hits the spot in the morning. With 18% protein content, this really does help keep me going until lunch time, which is great as I often don't eat lunch until later on.

For £13.99 you get 18 bars, that’s 78 p per bar, cheaper in any supermarket, plus I have a good 3 week supply in my cupboard for when I need it. Delivery was free and I could track it the whole way here, plus, because my order was slightly delayed I got a free Banana Crunch bar, which didn't last long.

I've already been back and ordered another box of Trek Flapjacks to add to my afternoon snacks at school.

I can't rave about these products enough; I now need to decide what my next flavour will be. If you would like a 10% discount then leave your email below and I will send you a referral from the site.

What flavour would you pick? Xx

Wednesday Lunch Box #2

Hands up, I forgot to do this last week, plus my lunch didn't happen last week due to running a few clubs with the children!

So this week I've got:

Tesco Country Vegetable Soup

Yup, not a lot there, but I've been so busy this lunch time that I was lucky to actually eat it!

Now to get home & have a proper tea!

What did you have for lunch? Xx

Bye, Bye Bread

Evening get lovelies, hope your week isn't going as bad as mine! Currently sat working my butt off to get next weeks Maths and English plans written :(


So today marks Ash Wednesday and 40 days until Easter, with the start of Lent being today.


I don't consider myself particularly religious but having been brought up in a Sunday School some things have stuck and Lent is something I do every year. This year my challenge is bread.

I love bread, I love it covered in butter, with various fillings, wrapped around a TGI Burger. I love the smell, the taste, the texture. Simply put I adore bread! Sadly it does not love me :'(
Looking at a loaf of bread puts on at least 7lbs on my bum and it likes to make me feel sick every day that I eat it (which is everyday)

So no more bread, if it really is bread that upsets my body then this will make me feel a lot better and its a challenge for me! So far this rules out:
Bread
Pizza
Crackers
Tortilla Wraps
Ryevitas
Anything breaded (chicken nuggets, fish fingers)


I'm sure there's more but I will add them later. This also means I'm going to have to be more creative for lunch at school, this will be fun then!


What about you, are you giving up something for Lent?


Thanks for reading

Friday Fitness - Little and Often

Afternoon everyone, thank someone its Friday! This week has been a tough week. Yesterday I had my first observation of the year at school and worked so hard to produce a great lesson. Sadly I didn't get the result that I wanted, and so spent most of yesterday forcing myself not to shout at all the children as I made the mistake which meant I threw away an outstanding lesson 
:(


Today, I wanted to do a bit of an update on my weight loss and talk about food. Since starting back at school I've managed to lose 10lbs in 6 weeks. For me this is great as I'm starting to feel better and I need to buy myself some new trousers!

Being back at school means that I am back into a routine. I'm up early, into school, lessons, break, lesson, lunch, 2 lessons and then end of the day, work for a couple of hours, head home, tea.
I'm finding that I'm hungrier at odd times. When I went back, I thought that I could cope without breakfast and just live off cups of tea until break time or lunch time.


At first the weight fell off and I put this down to not eating a lot, however when I got home from school I would literally hunt around the kitchen for everything! With this my weight would go up and down, along with my emotions.


So I went back to my Weight Watchers books, tracked my food and realised that I need to eat more not less! 


This lead me to looking at my food choices, changing me eating and since I've lost more weight and able to maintain it.


Not eating regularly means that the body is forced into starvation mode, storing more glycogen as fat for use later rather then allowing the body to burn it off. Simple by eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast means the body burns more calories, which leads to feeling more alert and performing better, as well as being able to last longer without food. Having a routine also allows me to eat little and often, maintaining blood sugar throughout the day, so I can have less food in the evening!

I think what I'm trying to say is that its better to eat little and often then little and never or lots and all the time! Feed your body and it will reward you!


Sorry that this is a bit of a rambling post, just thought I would share my new found insight! 


Thanks for reading xx