[LIFE] Fitness and wellbeing

I'm on a bit of a health kick at the moment - or at least I would be if I wasn't still ill! That's right folks, I have been off work for a week now, and I'm still feeling crappy! Stupid flu.... Anyway, I am tired of doing no exercise and eating without thought.  I don't like the way I look and feel at the moment, and I really want to change that.

I miss running so much!! I stopped because of a knee complaint, and don't really want to go back to it at the moment with all the snow (snow!) and ice, and I don't relish the idea of running in the dark either! H8chu winter!

I also really miss zumba, but due to work and buses, I can't make it to my old zumba class in the next village.   And I would love to go to more yoga classes, but I would have to mission it into Edinburgh to go to anything decent.

So what's a girl to do?! Visit Yoga Download of course! I only discovered this at the weekend, but I've already been trying out a few podcasts and planning on what membership I'm going to get.  Yes girls, it's that good!! I'm in no way affiliated FYI - I just love the fact that you can download/stream classes to your PC/iPhone/etc and get on your yoga mat in the comfort of your own home.  I haven't got lost or confused with the audio instructions yet either - they are all really simple but extremely effective.  There are tons of free classes as well which is what I'm working my way through at the moment.

I'm also planning on horseriding once or twice a month as of 2013, which really excites me - its something I've always wanted to perfect, and it's a great way to stay in shape too.

Regarding my eating habits, I want to start really REALLY tuning in and challenging my gremlin (confused? visit Beyond Chocolate) rather than just mindlessly saying "ok I'll eat the entire box of Quality Streets then".  I've found some new recipes thanks to the culinary god Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals which I'm very excited to try out - although I love cooking and generally cook healthy meals (except for the bangers and mash in this week's shopping list oops!), I get very bored cooking the same thing twice. I always find it difficult finding recipes that are practical (i.e. don't take 5 hours to cook) and interesting, but I really think Jamie has hit it on the head with this 15 Minute Meals! Can't wait to try the Thai Chicken Laksa, the Pork Marsala Porcini Rice and Spring Greens, and the Lamb Kofte, Pitta and Greek salad. Nom! I'll post pictures on my instagram (follow me! Sugarandsakura) of the results :)

Sorry this post has been such a wall of text and probably a boring one at that! The furthest I've been from the house over the last week is the binshed haha, and I'm sure you don't want pics of my flu-ed up face!! I promise I'll post exciting things soon :)

Tali xxx

LIFE: Food update

Hello and happy Sunday! I got up pretty early and now have the house to myself as Mike is at Ninjutsu.  Thought I'd give an update as to how my eating has been since my last food post.  

Basically I wasn't eating very mindfully, which kinda defeats the purpose of intuitive eating.  I would start to snack at like 9:30am at my desk, and that would continue all day! My life would consist of sugar highs and crashes, which resulted in me constantly struggling to keep my eyes open at work which is not good!

So, the changes I made were:

• Not taking any chocolate/cake/anything sweet to work, or money so that I could buy any
• Signing up for Graze (the nibble box cos it's full of gourmet yet healthy treats) - I have voucher codes if anybody still wants one
• Taking 2 portions of fruit with me to work - this week was an apple and two kiwis a day, which has resulted in me having 5 or more of my fruit/veg portions a day
• Drinking more water - I have always done the 8-a-day thing until recently, and have started to do the whole having 2 glasses instead of 1 whenever I'm thirsty
• This week I took a salad with me one day, Wednesday I think, and I really could tell the difference in my well being! I've decided I'm going to have salad every day from now on.
• Eating what I want at home - I want to stress, this is not me dieting at work, this is just purely for the sake of my energy levels. So I can eat intuitively at home, which normally consists of me having a few pieces of chocolate or some icecream when I get home from work.
• Getting Mike to stop dropping me off at my work entrance; instead he drops me off at a point where it takes about 20minutes for me to walk to work, so I get a nice refreshing bit of exercise first thing in the morning.

The changes I noticed were:

• Feeling FANTASTIC!!! My mood has been so good the last few week - I have bipolar so this is something I really have to look out for
• Energy levels maxxed up.  I feel alert and awake, no sugar peaks and crashes  
• My skin is better - looks so much more radiant, and my hair seems to be growing faster too! This is a bonus I didn't expect!
• I just generally feel cleaner, healthier and happier.  Can't really put the feeling into words, but I just feel so much nicer!!

Definitely going to keep up with this, not because I have to, but because I want to carry on feeling this good :) :)

Hope everyone's having fun at LFW!! Jealous much!

LIFE: A non-dieting approach to eating better

Ok, i admit it, I'm a total anti-dieting Nazi.  I HATE everything to do with the dieting industry - the way they pray on and humiliate vulnerable women, the way they happily destroy your self esteem and confidence and steal your money and and and.. ok I'll stop the rant! 

I used to diet, sure, but I quickly ended up in the disordered eating cycle of bingeing and deprivation.  I would binge because I was miserable/lonely/happy/sad/angry etc, and then feel worse after it, and go back on the diet.  Dieting has been shown not to work though; something like 95% of dieters put their weight back on (plus some more) within 5 years of dieting.  I have been going down the 'intuitive eating' route for the last 2 years, and my GOD does it make for a better life!! I am also much thinner than when I was dieting, and soo much happier.

Anyway, as you can see I feel very strongly about this!! Which makes what I'm about to say all the more difficult...

I. Need. To. Control. My. Eating. Better.

I get to work and I'm on the cake before 10am.  I just graze on sugar all day, and wonder why I get so sleepy.  I just live on sugar highs followed by sugar crashes.  I get rid of the crashes by eating more sugar.  Life is just one long roller coaster, nutritionally speaking.  I know sugar isn't the best thing in the world for my MH, and the meds that I'm on can cause diabetes II, so I don't really want to increase that risk!

So what am I going to do?  Well, I've got a month free at Graze to see if I like it (comment on this post if you want a free box voucher code), I'm cutting out the cake and chocolate as much as I can.  I'm going to eat more Nakd bars and that kind of thing, to see if slow-release foods make a difference to my energy levels.

But, and I feel this is the important part, I'm not going to beat myself up if/when I do eat chocolate.  I'm not going to act like I'm a failure, or think that there's a bandwagon to fall off, cos there's not.  I feel I'm making a mature and responsible decision that will not have a negative impact on my life.