January 30, 2016No Comments

Day 30 – Travelling and eating well

This post is more relevant today as I've decided to head off to Paris for the weekend and one of the hardest things about travelling is eating right!

When you're away it's easy to fall into the habits of bread, excessive carbs, ice cream, cake, sweets etc and that's fine now and again but be careful you don't reverse all the hard work you do day in and day out by pigging out.

I have had experiences in the past where I go crazy, enjoy all the things that I haven't been eating back at home and then I feel lethargic, reluctant to go out and explore or even crazily take a nap while I'm in a beautiful new place.

Here are a few top tips from me for staying healthy while on the go:

  1. Travel time - try to plan and pack something for the journey. I find that is the hardest time to eat well because most of the time flights, trains, buses or even drives are starting really early in the morning and you just want something to eat and don't have much time to make something. Make it the night before and try to be as good as you can. I had a Eurostar this morning at 8.10 am which meant I had to be up for 5.30am (to be functioning even slightly!). Last night I boiled two eggs, made a home baked baguette and inside put a mashed avocado and some fresh home baked ham (I roast a whole joint then slice it and freeze the slices in small packets to use at a later date). Not only that but when I made my morning smoothie yesterday morning I made double the quantity and simply drank that today. All that was done at 6am this morning, very blurry eyed was to eat the baguette and drink the smoothie in front of the TV while I mentally woke up and packed my stomach full of good things to start the day.
  2. Learn some basic language - let's be clear here I'm not suggesting you learn the entire language but if there are specifically things you don't like or really love then learn that word. My favourites are the word for vegetable, avocado and fresh juice. That way you might still want to be a bit naughty but you can't go wrong if you've asked for some grilled vegetables on the side. Equally if there is something you specifically don't like then learn it! No point complaining there are mushrooms in your meal if you didn't learn the word for mushrooms which was staring at you from the menu description!!
  3. Research some cool restaurants - have a look online and see what restaurants are around. Not all of them have to be super healthy but you can normally check out menus online and see what foods people offer so why not plan a little bit about where you could go for an evening.
  4. Have fun and treat yourself - don't get too caught up in trying to be good the entire time you are away. Yes you shouldn't go crazy and eat 5 cakes in a day either but give yourself a treat, you are on holiday. Try not to stress too much about it but equally do not be counting calories.

That's all for now but if you know you are going away then you have a checklist of things to do for your trip anyway....plan your food as part of that checklist!

Ciao for now x

January 24, 2016No Comments

Day 24 – Reflection

Smile babyToday's post is more about reflection. The aim is to make you consider your life and to consider your choices. To look back on all you have done, all that has bought to you to this point and smile.

Throughout most people's lives they reflect, they regret, they look back and they try to change their future. What about taking a slightly different view however.

How about instead of looking back with regret we simply look back. We analyse and acknowledge all of the things that have bought us to be the person that we are; the good AND the bad. Yes we have all been through heartbreak, all faced disappointment, all suffered but we are still here. Still surviving and still finding joy in lots of different things that life has to give us.

Instead of planning for tomorrow by trying to lay out a step by step plan, how about we write down the dreams and work on today. Work on what we can do this day, this moment that may be a step forward towards that dream or  goal. It may be a giant step, it may be a pigeon step but it will still be a step.

The best description I can give is to live like a child. A child you ask?!

Does a child think about what game they will play tomorrow? Does a child think about the fact they may be sick tomorrow? Does a child wonder about the dirty nappy they left you yesterday that gave them a bad stomach? No. No. and No.

A child lives for today, for this moment. It enjoys the life it currently has and shares pure, unadulterated joy. They smile and it lights up a room. They giggle and infect everyone around them to do the same.

So today, forget your woes. If you take one thing from this post, let it be that you try and live like a child and enjoy what you are doing right now.

Ciao for now x

  
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