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 26, 2016No Comments

Day 26 – Regroup

Today's post is a bit of a lecture....the art of regrouping.

Have you heard of it? Have you tried it? Don't be afraid of it!

Sometimes life can seem tough, it can seem crazy or a serious of accidents or mishaps can make you really down and depressed. The world might seem against you but believe me it's not.

Don't get down, don't go crazy, take some time and regroup.

Go back to something that makes you feel better, lose yourself in an old positive memory.

Today was a bad day. My car decided to stop working, I smashed my instrument I use in my classes, my roof is leaking and my scanner exploded! Not much in the grand scheme of things but nevertheless there were some serious expletives said and a lot of banging items around.

Then I remembered to regroup. I turned some music on, I watched a TV show and turned my phone off. I sat and just watched for an hour and I regrouped. I calmed myself, I relaxed and low and behold I realised it's nothing to stress out about. It can all be fixed with time and some patience.

So today, even though you may seem like you have to keep bashing away and trying to fix everything and be productive, don't be afraid to take a break. Breathe, lose yourself in music, or art, or watch TV and take some time out.

Good luck learning to regroup!

Ciao for now x

  
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