day 61 - food journal

what wonderful weather that we had today, in fact we have had amazing weather all weekend.  i rode to and from work this morning and felt amazing.  then i got a headache this afternoon, grrr it was terrible.  i went for a quick walk around the block to try to get some fresh air to try to help it go away.  i think it was from being in front of the computer all day... hmm it may be time to get my eyes checked.  here is my food journal for the day:


breakfast: super smoothy made with, coconut milk, 2 bananas, chia seeds, honey, frozen berries
snack: medjool dates, nectarine
lunch: 1 large carrot, 1 half small tub of all natural yoghurt
dinner: fish, goats cheese, tomato


exercise: rode to and from work, this is the easiest way to blast off calories.


can you walk, run or ride to work?  how about tomorrow, you try to walk to work.  if work is to far away why not park 2km away and walk the rest of the way.  incidental exercise is the easiest way to smash off extra calories throughout your day.


yours in health


NK x

day 42 - food journal

exercise - i rode to and from work today

breakfast - 1 nectarine, 1 peach, 1 banana

lunch - essene bread with nut butter and organic honey

snacks - madjool dates

dinner - 1 cob of steamed corn

i've been busy making pizza dough tonight.  I've made it from scratch using spelt flour, and so far i have seen it double in size... i think that i'm on the right track.  lets see how it tastes tomorrow night.  the dough was really easy to make, i can't believe that i haven't made pizza dough before!

spelt flour

now here is a little info on spelt, spelt shows up in pastas, breads and in a variety of specifically wheat-free recipes.  spelt flour is one of the more popular non-wheat flours available.

spelt is a cereal grain in the wheat family. the grain has been cultivated for centuries, in both central europe and the middle east.  it looks very similar to wheat in appearance, but it has a much harder outer shell before it has been milled. it has a nutty and slightly sweet flavor, similar to that of whole wheat flour. It does contain some gluten, so one of the reasons that spelt is rather popular is that it is easy to substitute it into all wheat cookie, bread, etc. recipes, where you will get to enjoy the flavor of spelt without compromising the texture of your baked good.

another reason that spelt flour is popular is that it has a fairly strong nutritional profile. spelt has slightly fewer calories than wheat flour and is somewhat higher in protein. the flour is easy to digest but is lower in fiber than wheat.

get spelty :)

NK x

day 34 - food journal

exercise - i rode to and from work today.  good bye over 1000 calories :)

breakfast - cup of hot lemon water; my super smoothy, from previous posts

lunch - carrot and miso soup left over from dinner on sunday night

snacks - olives... thats the last of them now

dinner - best home made sushi ever!

how did you all go with challenge day.  did you give up absolutely all sugar?  how did you feel?  could you do it again tomorrow?  if you could do it all again tomorrow, then why not extend the challenge to be a personal challenge.  click here to read about how bad sugar is for you.

NK x

day 33 - food journal

exercise - i rode to and from work today.  i smashed it on the way home - yew!

breakfast - cup of hot lemon water; banana, peach and a kiwi fruit

lunch - carrot and miso soup left over from dinner last night

snacks - olives... i'm a little addicted to olives at the moment i want to start to marinate my own

dinner - i made miso cucumber stir fry

ok i thought of dinner on the spot tonight, i had a cucumber in the fridge that i wanted to use and i have miso paste left over so i put them together.  i made a miso sauce out of 1/4 miso, lime juice a little coconut oil and some sesame seeds.   i cut up the cucumber and put it in the fry pan along with the sauce i had made, i sauted the sauce down for about 5 mins, or until the sauce become thick.  once finished i added a little left over goats cheese on top.  wasn't the best thing that i ever made, but still a tasty dinner :)

what an awesome monday!  i hope that you all had an awesome day too!

NK x

day 32 - food journal

exercise - i went for a big bike ride this morning and felt great for it

breakfast - cup of hot lemon water; smoothy made up of: frozen berries, home made rice milk, unheated organic honey and cacao

lunch - went out for lunch today and had a green salad with lamb at our local turkish restaurant.  this was the best possible thing that i could of had on the menu and it was delicious :)

snacks - dates

dinner - i made carrot and miso soup for dinner tonight see the recipe below

carrot and miso soup

ingredients

- tablespoon of olive oil

- 1 kg bag of carrots, roughly chopped

- 1 brown onion, finely chopped

- 1 small piece of ginger, grated / shredded (add as little or as much as you like depending on the taste)

- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed and roughly chopped

- 4 cups of vegetable broth, i used vegetable stock tonight

- 1 tablespoon of miso paste

to make:

heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat, add onion and garlic and saute until the onion is glossy, add the carrots and allow to saute for around 10 mins or until the onion is translucent.  add the vegetable stock and ginger, cover and simmer until the carrots are tender when pierced stirring occasionally for about 30 mins.

pour about a 1/4 cup of water in a jug and mix with the tablespoon of miso until the miso paste is dissolved.  puree the soup in a food processor and add the miso mixed with the water while the food processor is going.  add more water if needed for the desired consistency or add more miso if you like the taste.  season with salt and pepper if desired.

this was a delicious meal to end the weekend with and i have plenty of left overs for the rest of the week.  i find that i like to try and cook a couple of meals over the weekend so that i have some food to eat over the rest of the week.  it helps save money instead of buying lunches and snacks everyday.

NK x

day 31 - juice cleanse

after a sluggish feeling week, i thought that i needed to break the cycle.  it was time for a juice cleanse.  juice cleanses are an awesome way to re-start and re-boot your body.  a really good juice cleanse can rid your body of toxins and give you a rejuvenating, energizing boost.

i have done quiet a few different detoxes / cleanses over the years and today i decided to put together a few of my favorite juices to kick start my weekend off with.  

i will normally drink up to six juices in a day, but you could have more or less if you prefer.  i just find that when the hunger kicks in i'd rather make another juice instead of trying to ride out the hunger pang and give into something not so juicy.

beet, carrot, apple & mint

these are the juices that i have been doing today:

1/2 pineapple and 1 piece of ginger

2 grapefruit, 3 carrots and 1 piece of ginger

2x 1 beet root, 3 carrots, 1 apple and some mint leaves

1 cucumber, 1/2 broccoli head, 4 celery sticks and some mint leaves (definitely the greenest of the lot and not really a favorite, but the vitamins and minerals this juice packs is definitely worth it.)

3 carrots, 1 cup spinach leaves, 3 celery sticks and one apple

i also bought some fresh pomegranates yesterday so i will be treating myself this evening before bed to the sweet ariels inside the fruit.

i do have a juicer at home, this is an investment that i made quiet a few years ago and i have never regretted it.  i find that its best to make your juices from scratch the store bought ones have too many added artificial colours, preservatives and sugars, which are doing the complete opposite to cleansing.  

if you don't have a juicer, don't despair there are plenty of other great ways to do a cleanse day, click here to try this one.  or you could even buy a fresh made juice from a cafe in the morning to start you off and then stick to fresh vegetables and salads for the rest of the day.

just remember that you should always do your own research before giving this a go, this is something that i have found works for me, but it may not work for you.

happy cleansing

NK xx

day 29 - food journal

aahh its killing me to posts todays food journal, but i am being true and have to do it.

i ate a turkish delight today, i had a choice and i chose to eat it, and believe me, i don't feel awesome for having it.  not that i'm beating myself up over it, but i actually don't feel well.  my head has been throbbing all afternoon and the huge spike in my energy, followed by a giant crash, that almost put me to sleep at my desk (sorry work).  just reminds me why i'm doing this.  i understand that i'm only human, and i'm going to slip up sometimes, i'm not perfect, but it's these little moments of weakness that remind me that what i'm doing 98% of the time is really doing me a lot of good.

i'm going to try to get in touch with a nutritionist friend of mine, who years ago lead me in the path of being a vegan and gave me a lot of great tips nutritionally.  i'm going to get her opinion on what i'm doing, and what i could be changing, adding, or taking away to make this much more beneficial for me.  (and i'll pass on some of her wisdom to you too)

i'm going to take you through my journal now and show you where i went wrong today.

breakfast - cup of hot water with lemon

(i got out of bed really late today and therefore i didn't have enough time for a decent breakfast.  last night i started a new book, which i fell asleep at about 11pm half way through a page... not enough sleep for starters and definitely not enough to eat for breakfast)

lunch - green olives (marinated ones from the deli)

mushrooms with fresh garlic and goats cheese

(i also didn't have enough time to pack lunch and i had bought some marinated olives from the deli yesterday as a treat to have a couple in the afternoon, however i ended up having these for lunch.  again really not enough and not a substantial amount of food for the day)
snacks - desperately hungry by now, and not thinking straight, i went to the shop, i bought a packet of gluten free cheesles and a turkish delight (i thought i was in the health food isle so those chips must be good for me... and i used to eat turkish delight a lot as i thought that it was the better choice over all the other chocolates...)  after devouring my turkish delight and half a packet of chips an hour later, i really wasn't feeling that great.  the on set of my "great decision" had kicked in, urgh.  anyway, one slip up and back on track now.
dinner - portabello mushrooms, stuffed with fresh garlic and goats cheese, a little salt and pepper seasoning.  


to make these, i preheated the oven to about 180 degrees.  i popped two of the mushrooms, with the stalks removed and the fresh garlic cloves smeared on the flesh, seasoned with salt and pepper, upside down in a baking tray with about 1 cm of water in the bottom, into the oven for about 10 - 15 mins.  once a little softer to touch, or a little shriveled up looking, i took them out and crumbled a little goats cheese on top of each and then placed back in the oven to melt the cheese a little.  delicious :)


if i can give you one tip for the day - if you ever feel as though you have slipped up, deal with it, accept that you've done it and move on.  it's only one slip up and its really not worth ruining all your hard work over.


NK x

day 27 - food journal

lunch - bought a free range roast chicken from coles, i took the skin off
snacks - left over sweet potato chips, raw chocolate brownie
dinner - chicken, fresh avocado


i am happy to say that i have lost around 5kg now, i didn't start out doing this for weight loss but it is definitely a welcome side effect.  i am feeling better than ever and this is such a good way to start the year off and i know that the changes that i have already implemented into my life are maintainable and i feel much better for it.


i hope that some of you can implement some changes into your own lives.


NK x

day 23 - food journal

I didn't eat very well again today. I'm on holidays and a little more relaxed and i've been out and about a little more, which essentially means that I'm a little more limited with what there is to eat. I will have to be a little more prepared with some snacks to take out with me to eat during the day.


breakfast - super smoothie: 1 cup rice milk (homemade, see my previous post for the recipe), 1 cup frozen berries, 1 tsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp coconut oil (see previous post for benefits of coconut oil) 
snack - a raw chocolate brownie (see previous post for recipe) 
dinner - left over mexican chicken wraps.


i still am feeling really good. as time is going by, it's getting easier to make the right choices and i really don't have any cravings for other foods. last night my man bought a pizza for dinner, and even with a delicious smelling pizza in the house, I didn't have any desire to eat any. 


hope every ones looking forward to new years 


NK x

day 22 - food journal

i ate pretty poorly today.  while i was cooking i ate a couple of the dates and some of the nuts, and i was running around like a crazy person for most of the day trying to clean our home, shopping for ingredients and cooking all these goodies.

breakfast – smoothie, 1 cup of frozen berries, 1 cup of organic soy milk, 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of organic honey, 1 teaspoon of organic cocoa powder

snacks – 2 dates and a couple of walnuts, some raw brownies (so delicious)

dinner - mexican chicken wrapped in lettuce with red kidney bean salsa and avocado mash (recipe coming tomorrow)

tomorrow i will post the recipe for the mexican chicken and also the salted caramel tarts.  get excited and get cooking, as everything is so tasty and all so good for your body.

living happy and healthy

NK x 

cleanse day

ok, well there is a couple of days until new year celebrations, why not use these days to cleanse your body to give it a break from the christmas / boxing days food and drink intake.

your body is working to clean itself all the time, and after the last couple of days it'll be working twice as hard.  so help it out and give it a bit of a break by eating meals that are easily digestible. i'm also a fan of doing juice detox's however, after feeding your body heavily for a couple of days, it would go into overdrive releasing toxins, and would make you feel very lethargic, headachy and really not very well at all.  it's best to slowly guide your body back to health.


here is my plan, which you could follow for the next two days.  again you should always do some of your own research and make your own mind up about the foods that you are putting into your body.  i find that eating like this works for me, but it may not be exactly right for you.


breakfast - hot cup of lemon water.  after 30 mins - super shake including: 1 cup of organic rice, soy, almond milk, 1 cup of berries (i use frozen blue berries and i leave the ice out if i use the frozen berries), 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, 1/2 cup of ice, a teaspoon of organic cocoa powder (you could leave this out if you want).  Blend together and enjoy.


snack - 1 cup of sliced cucumber and a green tea.


lunch - steamed or raw greens (spinach, mesclun mix, bok choy, watercress, snow peas, broccolini etc); 100g lean protein (white meat chicken, lean beef or fish)


snack - 10 asparagus spears, blanched (pop into some boiling water for 1 min); 1 cup of green tea.


dinner - steamed or raw greens; 100g lean protein (mix it up a little from what you had at lunch.  get creative with your meal, why not chop up your meat and greens a little differently and eat it with chopsticks.)


why not make up a liter of green tea in the morning and add a couple of mint leaves or some fresh ginger and leave it in the fridge all day so that you have a chilled drink to go back to all day.  make sure that you drink at least 8 cups of water during the day.


get moving as well, go for a walk or a bike ride, or take your family to the park with a soccer ball and kick that around for 30 mins.


enjoy and let me know how you go.


NK x

day 20 - food journal

a cup of hot water

breakfast – a nectarine

lunch – fresh prawns and oysters, fresh tossed salad

snacks – fresh fruit salad and water melon

dinner - 2 chicken satay skewers that i made christmas eve (recipe below)

i had a great day yesterday.  i didn't go too crazy, and really did enjoy myself.  i hope you all had a great christmas day.

mine didn't look like these, but similar :)

here is the recipe for the satay chicken skewers, they taste great and are good for you too.

preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  place 1 tablespoon of in a small pan over a medium heat.  add half a chopped red onion, 1 clove of garlic, crushed and 1 stalk of lemongrass.  cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes; remove from heat.  in food processor, crush 2 tablespoons of peanuts; add the onion mixture, 180ml of organic coconut milk, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and a small chilli.  process until smooth.

soak the bamboo skewers, cut the chicken into strips and thread onto the skewers.  place the chicken skewers into an oven proof dish and pour the spicy peanut sauce over the skewers and place into the oven for 20 mins.

NK x

day 17 - food journal

a cup of fresh lemon juice and hot water

breakfast – 100g smoked salmon, a boiled egg and 1 cup of spinach

lunch – mixed sashimi

snacks – nuts, fresh pineapple juice (juiced half of a pineapple)

doing the epsom salt cleanse.  probably not a great idea to do it so late in the afternoon, as it takes up to 4hrs to kick in.  i couldn't hold out any longer so i had to do it tonight.

2 more sleeps until christmas - yay

NK x

day 16 - food journal

a cup of fresh lemon juice and hot water

breakfast – 2 nectarines and a plum

lunch – mixed avocado, and 4 roma tomatos

snacks – snack dates and nuts

dinner – quinoa and salmon

exercise – rode to and from work today, that’s over an hour of riding.

feeling a little better than yesterday, however still feeling bloated and not 100%.  if i get an afternoon free im going to try an old remedy of drinking a glass on epsom salts with water to try and flush out my system.

i’ll let you know how i go J

NK x

day 15 - food journal

breakfast – fresh pineapple juicewith some ginger

lunch – mixed lettuce leaveswith anchovies

snacks – water melon, anectarine and two gluten free rum balls

dinner – 1 avocado

exercise – walked to and fromthe city cat and then onto work

ok well its the start of week 3. i felt really crappy today.  i wasfeeling really bloated from dinner last night. too much protein and not enough fibre i think.  i felt very sluggish all day, and by the endof the day i could have fallen asleep.

the morning tea was really good. they had a really nice fruit platter, which i ate 1/3 of.  i did indulge in two gluten free rum balls,which left a burning sensation in my stomach after i ate them.  that didn’t sit well with my already bloatedfeeling.

i went straight to be last night after dinner, and really wantto put yesterday behind me.  i wasstarting to think really negatively about what i was doing.  i was thinking how could i be eating socleanly and be feeling like this.  butwhen i look at my diet from the last few days, i have had plenty of protein andnot enough, grains, and fibrous foods.  ihave woken up this morning and i am feeling much better.  i’m feeling much more like myself again andmy thought patterns are more inline.

i trust in my future to be positive.

NK x

day 14 - food journal

tonights dinner (taken with my iphone)

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – banana, 1 boiled egg

lunch – 1 whole red capsicum

snacks – nuts and two nectarine’s

dinner – fresh prawns, oysters, snapper, yellow fin tuna (seared) and salad

exercise – rode to and from work today, that burnt a little over 1000 calories.

feeling great today.  we had a really nice dinner tonight, really fresh seafood.  extremely full!

we are having a morning tea at work tomorrow, lots of christmas goodies will be available for the taking, so i’m going to prepare myself and make sure that i have some fresh fruit with me, and will have a handful of nuts.

hope everyone is having a great lead up to christmas.

nk x

day 13 - food journal

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – 2 handfuls of cherries

lunch – salmon and tuna sashimi.

snacks – nuts and two nectarine’s

dinner – steak, steamed brocolinni, snow peas and mushrooms

i used to suffer from hay fever, and i say “used to” as in up until 13 days ago i had been taking anti histamines everyday to stop my hay fever.  i haven’t had an anti histamine since i stopped eating processed foods, until today.  i had some desert yesterday, and i had terrible hay fever again this morning.

i’m not sure if the two are related, but it is seems to make sense to me.

i’ve found some information on the negative effects that sugar has on your body.

hope you’r having a great week.  and if your following the 4 elements diet, let me know how your going with it.

nk x

day 11 & 12 - food journal

day 11 (saturday)

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – 2 poached eggs and a slice of raw salmon

snacks – prawns

lunch – salad including, capsicum, mushroom, cucumber, lettuce and tomato.  piece of snapper, cooked in lemon and alfoil on the bbq

i didn’t have much to eat today as we were at a friend’s place for a christmas party.  they did have nibbles there; however i chose to stay away from the chips, crackers and dips.  i did have some organic wine though.  i drank 1 bottle of the organic ‘angove’ chardonnay, and made sure that i drank plenty of water throughout the evening.  i felt pretty good and still had a great time with everyone!

day 12 (sunday)

ok, before i write today’s food diary, i will let you know that i was having christmas lunch with my family today as my partner will be away working for the actual christmas day next week.  i have made a decision that today and next saturday (christmas day) i will be a little lenient with my diet. 

my mother has gone to a lot of effort to prepare all the food that we were eating and i didn’t want to be the only one just eating salad.  i made a conscious decision to make sure that i chose the healthiest options possible.  i also found that at lunch today, i couldn’t even get through everything on my plate.  so as a learning curve for next saturday’s lunch, i won’t be putting as much on my plate as possible. i did also have a little dessert; again i had a couple of spoonfuls and couldn’t get through the rest.

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – fresh fruit salad including: water melon, rock melon, kiwi fruit, blue berries and strawberries

lunch – some leg ham off the bone; tomato basil and boccioni with balsamic vinegar; potato salad; lettuce and avocado and tomato.

dessert  - a little pavlova and a little mud cake (i didn’t feel great when i ate it and the drop in my energy levels since i ate it probably wasn’t worth it.  i really reminded me why im doing this)

dinner – fresh prawns and oysters

looking forward to christmas, and staying completely focused until christmas day. 6 more sleeps J

NK x

day 10 - food journal and the benefits of pomegranate seeds

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – 2 oranges, pomegranate seeds and a banana

snacks – nuts

lunch – salmon sashimi

dinner – steamed chicken, asparagus, snow peas, mushrooms

exercise – rode to work today,30 mins of exercise

i’ve been eating pomegranate seeds, but i didn’t really know too much about them so i’ve done a little research on the benefits of pomegranate seeds, also known as arils. 

 

as with many fruits, pomegranate seeds are low in calories and rich in fiber, providing only 83 calories and 4g of dietary fiber per 100g serving.  they are also a good source of two essential vitamins, c and k.  vitamin c aids in immune system function, wound healing, promotion of healthy gums and the manufacture of collagen and elastin. vitamin c also enhances iron absorption. vitamin k is important for maintaining strong, healthy bones as well as proper blood clotting.

they taste slightly like a grape when you bite into them, and the seed inside the fruit you can eat, however have to many of them they start to taste a little funny.  i really like to have a spoonful of them and suck the juice out of them and then dispose of the seeds.

looking forward to the weekend, day 10 down 354 to go :)

NKx

day 9 - food journal

a cup of hot water and lemon before anything

breakfast – 2 handfuls of cherries

snacks – nuts, nectarine, and an orange

dinner – left over mashed avocado

today has been my first down day.  i actually found myself thinking about chocolate at around 3.30pm.  but i put my music on and forged through.  its only day 9 and i’m not going to cave in.

music is a great way to change your mood, have you ever heard the saying, “music soothes the savage beast?”  it’s true.  music can calm and revitalise us in ways even a lengthy nap can’t.  music holds the power to elevate our moods above our worries, it can also perk us up if we use it with exercise.

here is a list of my favourite music to work out to:

·         beyonce – we run the world

·         nicki minaj – super bass

·         swedish house mafia – save the world (the extended version)

·         david guetta and kid cudi – memories

·         calvin harris – feel so close (benny benassi remix)

·         rhianna and jay-z – talk that talk

·         katy perry – the one that got away

·         rhianna feat. calvin harris – we found love

these pumped-beats keep me going.  today is just one other day.  tomorrow will be much better.

nk x