I LOVE MY GARDEN

I have been picking heaps of beans from my Gormet Delight and Cherokee Wax bush beans. Freezing them has been the best way to deal with the glut but fresh, they are oh so yummy!  I am now letting a few beans mature on the plant to collect the seed.

My very first tomatoes for the season, YAY.  They are small but will be delicious I'm sure.  I'm pretty sure they are Tommy Toe that self seeded from last year.

My first pickling gherkins were picked also, time to find another yummy recipe for them and the girls are as always giving us lovely fresh eggs every day, not to mention eating all the scraps from the kitchen and weeds and snails from the garden.

My efforts are well and truly paying off this year, it also helps that everything is behind so I'm actually home to care for my patch instead of running around the countryside with my son's cricket.

CLEAN EATING vs PALEO

Oh my I've been so busy finding out what my ideal 'diet' should look like that I've forgotten to post anything.

Lets start with clean eating and what I think that should include:

whole grains
beans/legumes
eggs - free range from our chickens
vegetables - raw & cooked
fruit
nuts & seeds
white meat - free range
dairy - preferably raw
honey

Where possible, organic for all of the above.

What clean eating does not include:

sugar
preservatives
colourings
basically anything in the centre of a supermarket or in a package.

I've researched the Paleo (caveman diet) but while I will use their recipes, this 'diet' is not for me.  Paleo cuts out all grains and dairy, I feel these foods are important for my overall health.  A key focus to Paleo is red meat which is something I don't eat, I rarely eat white meat only when it's free range, organic or Darren has caught fish.

I have found a couple of really good free ebooks for my Kindle and I am now busy bookmarking recipes to try out. (stay tuned)

Clean eating makes sense to me, something we all should consider.

ECOLOGIE ORGANICS

Well I am truely in heaven now that Sharyn and her lovely family have opened up a bricks and mortar shop here in Mt Gambier. If you have followed my blog for a while, you would know that I love Sharyn's home delivery service of organic produce. While at times I have stopped using the service due to personal circumstances, I have always believed that our community is in great need of it. Now you have the opportunity to see the products for themselves, and boy, there's a lot to see!!!

Don't you just love the decor in this shop. The old door wall is gorgeous and the concrete floor suits the business perfectly.

So to anyone that lives or passes through our town, please take a wander to Ecologie Organics on Commercial St West and support a wonderful locally owned and operated business that is truely a blessing to have.

DEHYDRATING

I've spent most of the day playing with fabric like these vintage sheet squares.

Tonight I thought I had better start making snacks for school next week so out came the dehydrator. I had a bag of organic apples in the bottom of the fridge that needed using up and I decided to try out some of the plums I bottled a while ago.


Tomorrow morning we will have yummy apple and apple/plum roll-ups, free of any added sugar, preservatives and colours.
I love my dehydrator it certainly gets a workout all year round.

VEGETABLE SPRING ROLLS

These spring rolls are a great way to get those extra vegetables into the kids. No deep frying here either and they taste great.

cooking spray
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
600g chinese cabbage, finely shredded
2 carrots, grated
1 zucchini, grated
1 cup beansprouts
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
spring roll wrappers, thawed
sauce to serve, we used sweet chilli

Preheat oven to 180, spray 2 trays with oil.
Spray a large frying pan with oil. Heat and add onion and garlic.
Cook until soft, add cabbage, carrot and zucchini and cook until cabbage is wilted.
Remove from heat add beansprouts and soy sauce.
Place a wrapper on a flat surface with 1 corner facing you. Place 2 tablespoons of vegetable mixture along the centre of the wrapper.
Roll and fold the wrapper, add water to the remaining corner to seal.
Spray rolls with oil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until crisp.
Serve with sauce.

BUTT KICKIN'

Okay, I'm here for some real butt kickin' this week. I've become lazy, yes that's it, plain laziness has led me to feel frumpy, lethargic and just plain blaahhh.

Over the years I have always eaten relatively healthy, nutritious foods but lately the sugary and fat laiden snacks have crept into my diet what seems like every day. Time to be accountable, it's pretty simple really STOP PUTTING THE CRAP INTO YOUR MOUTH!!!!

So today I am making a promise to myself to live the way I want to live and be happy, healthy, green, fit and loving to myself and others.

Starting right now calories and fats will be counted.
Starting right now I will make time for running, weights, kickboxing and yoga.
Starting right now I will make even more of an effort in the kitchen to cook from scratch.

I'm sick of over-thinking everything, actions definately speak louder than words.

So this is my day, how is yours going?

SPAGHETTI SQUASH

We ate our spaghetti squash just like, well spaghetti.
It was delicious with home made pasta sauce poured over the top.
Here is the raw squash cut length ways ready to go in the oven. I baked the squash with olive oil rubbed over it for around 40 minutes.

All cooked. You just fork out the squash and it comes out like spaghetti. It looks so cool.

Okay, so it doesn't photograph well but it is so yummy.

It was a winner with hubby and all of the kids eating it up without complaint. I only have two squashes left on the bush and really wish I had more now.

LUNCH TODAY

Warm Cajun Chicken Salad

I have started eating a little bit of chicken every now and then, but only free range or organic as I am at least comfortable with the way they lived their lives.
This is one of my favourite meals, it is a little higher in fat than I usually eat but that is because I add avocado which has good fats in it. If you want this meal less in fat then don't put it in.

Warm Cajun Chicken Salad.
130g free range chicken breast-no skin
1 tsp olive oil
cajun seasoning
1 cup lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/4 small avocado
6 slices cucumber
onion
salt and pepper

Lightly season chicken breast with cajun seasoning and grill until cooked.
Chop avocado, tomato, cucumber and onion and place in bowl with lettuce.
Add sliced chicken
Drizzle olive oil over top and finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Fat: 11.5g
Calories: 250

LOOSING WEIGHT

Over the last few months I have managed to put on a few kilos. I haven't been exercising the way I usually do and have slipped back into some bad eating habits.

4 days ago the eating habits changed, I feel on track there and the exercise will start tomorrow morning with skipping and boxing.

Time to try and feel better on the inside and outside for summer.

VEGITARIANISM

I used to be a vegetarian, over time I started eating white meats I'm not quite sure why after all, be it chicken, fish whatever they are living breathing animals that are slaughtered for human consumption.

Over the last few weeks I have been starting to get the guilts over eating meat once again. Believe me, I am not trying to give anyone else the guilts, this is my personal preference and I am simply blogging about the choices I am making.

So last week I woke up and made the decision to not eat meat anymore, I am still eating cheese and eggs and drinking milk, I am not consuming and parts of dead animals eg, geletin (made from cows hoofs).

I am loving revisiting my old vegetarian cookbooks and trying lots of yummy new dishes. My family is not so keen and that's okay, I can't force my choice onto anyone else, so I will still have to buy, cook and serve meat but I will be buying less and making sure that their plates are 2/3 full with meatless products (sneaky aren't I)

I will let you know how my journey goes and will post some yummy vegetarian recipes for you to hopefully try.

xxxSue

BREAKFAST

Breakfast is a bit of a contentious issue in this household. DH has never had breakfast, he just gets dressed for work and goes, and surprise surprise, he's hungry by mid morning!
I have always had breakfast and no matter how small, the kids eat breakfast also. Why? Because I believe it jump starts your body, your brain, and sustains you until your next meal.
Over the last week, I have put DH on a calorie controlled diet, I am responsible for his meals so therefore am making him have breakfast every day. He's not complaining, well apart from the fact that he has to get up 10 minutes earlier to eat the breakfast that is.
It is sustaining him until lunch and I have finally proven my point.

So what do I eat for breakfast? Believe it or not I eat the same breakfast nearly every morning and never get sick of it, it's a smoothie made from 1 banana, 1/2 cup of blueberries (sometimes I use mixed berries) and 1/2 cup of Pura lite-start milk. Wizz it all together and there you have it, a healthy, nutritious breakfast that definately does not leave me hungry mid-morning.

What are your breakfast habbits? Leave me a comment, I would love to know.

WATER OR COKE?

WATER

#1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
(Likely applies to half the world population)

#2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak
that it is mistaken for hunger.

#3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as 3%.

#4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs
for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of
Washington study.

#5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

#6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of
water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain
for up to 80% of sufferers

#7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term
memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on
the computer screen or on a ! printed page.

#8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of
colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast
cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop
bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water
you should drink every day?

COKE

#1. In many states the highway patrol carries
two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from
the highway after a car accident.

#2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke
and it will be gone in two days.

#3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the
toilet bowl and let the 'real thing' sit for one hour,
then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes
stains from vitreous China .

#4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers:
Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds
Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

#5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour
a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble
away the corrosion.

#6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola
to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

#7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into
the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake.
Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix
with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.

#8... To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke
into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run
through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen
grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your
windshield.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

#1. the active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.
It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric
acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major
contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis.

#2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the
commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place
cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.

#3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean
engines of the trucks for about 20 years!

Now the question is, would you like a glass of water?
or Coke?

SUPPLIMENTS

I personally don't believe in taking lots of different suppliments because if you are eating a fresh, healthy, balanced diet then your body should be getting most of the nutrients it needs.
That being said, I do take a few carefully sourced suppliments that help me in certain ways.
Suppliments I take:
Celery and juniper is a natural anti-inflamatory that I take for my back issues, these are not taken on a regular basis, only when needed.

Glycine is a non-essential amino acid that helps detoxify the liver, encourages muscle tissue growth and converts glucose into energy. Your body does produce it's own glycine but I do find extra to be helpful to me.

Once a day multi-vitamin can assist in areas you may be lacking through diet and environmental issues, I find these are helpful for me for a couple of reasons one being that I don't eat red meat and sometimes don't get enough iron from what I eat.

There is definately a place for well chosen suppliments to suit your own body but there is also a lot of rubbish out there that you can waste your money on and have no benefits to you.

This blog has been on my mind for a while, the decision to start it was a little scary to be truthful, I am about to be accountable for any bad eating decisions and lack of motivation.
What I hope to accomplish is to be able to keep on track to reach my goals and to hopefully inspire and motivate others.

So, let the journey begin......

A BIT OF HISTORY

As a kid I was always average weight and average height, we lived on a dairy farm and ate fresh, healthy food and ran around a lot.
As a teenager, I put on a bit of weight, I never thought I was overweight and it didn't seem to matter what I ate or didn't eat, I stayed around the same weight and a size 12-14 in clothes.
I always played sport throughout school, after I left school it took a couple of years to get back into sports, it wasn't that high on my list of things to do nor was eating healthy foods.
Through my late teens and early twenties I partied way too hard, I drank way to much and I was a social smoker (usually when I drank). I ate crap food but still did sports like netball, basketball and volleyball and went to the gym in fads. I stayed the same size in clothes but felt really bad on the inside.
When I hit my mid twenties I started to take a real interest in my health, I became a vegetarian, I went to meditation and healing classes, I did my Reiki 1 and Reiki 2 certificates and started exercising more. I cut back on partying, drinking etc and started to take control of my health.
When pregnant with my second child Lachie, I put on a lot of weight, I found it difficult to move around from 5 months into the pregnancy and was sick and in pain for the most part. 3 months after I had Lachie I had lost 28kg since he was born, not the ideal way to lose weight I can assure you! I wasn't trying, it just happened and I was very sick because of it. I was way too skinny and looked terrible.
Very slowly I put on enough weight to look healthy again and that is where I stayed at a size 10.
After I had Sophie, I decided it was time to tone up and get fit so I joined a gym, within 1 day of joining I had a job there in the creche and was hooked. 3 months later I was teaching kids fitness and training to become a personal trainer and Body Balance instructor. My dream job (or so I thought)
After a year of working days, nights and weekends it was taking it's toll on me. I had gone back to really bad eating habits, I exercised so much that I could eat whatever I wanted and it didn't effect my weight. Then one day I limped into see my boss and quit just like that, I had hurt myself badly while taking a class yet was expected to do 2 more classes that night. Enough was enough.
So that experience left me with a nearly finished personal training certificate and me not wanting to work in a gym ever again.
Two years ago, I decided to start doing weights again down at my son's karate club, soon I was going to kickboxing as well and then I tried karate. I loved it all and was hooked, I felt back on track for the first time in a while.
I am always striving eat the best quality and fresh foods I can afford, I used to eat organically when we had a shop down here that sold organic produce, unfortunately they closed, so apart from the fruit and veges I grow, I buy really good quality and wash everything.
I run up and around mountains 3 times a week and still do karate and I ride my bike. I am studying Sports Nutrition at the moment and will also be taking on the rest of my personal training certificate as soon as I can afford it.

I'm sure there is heaps more I could add but I think that is enough for today.