Turning it around.

The last couple of weeks have been… bumpy. One day I might find it cathartic to get it all out, but I’m not ready just yet.

As a result of the bumpiness I have pretty much been on a gluten and sugar bender for a week. Pizza. Burgers. Fro-yo. Chocolate. You name it, I’ve eaten it. Couple that with staying in bed every morning when I would usually get up and do some kind of exercise and I am feeling pretty crappy.

Then on Friday morning- while I was out in the fresh air on a walk- I realised that all of this is starting to go in a circle. I am feeling crappy so I don’t want to get out of bed and food that isn’t nourishing. I don’t get out of bed and choose nutritionally empty food and I feel crappier. You see where this is going…

Well I am not letting it go any further. The spiral stops here. I know how good I can feel when I am eating well and exercising regularly and I want to get back to that. All I needed was a little planning. 

First up, food. Like so many things it started with a list. Breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners all planned out. Once a list is in place it’s just a matter of working out what can be made ahead of time so that’s it’s ready to grab and go through the week. There is something so satisfying about the weekly meal prep- or is that just me?Raspberry and lemon gummy worms. Gluten and sugar free and made with healing grass-fed gelatine (recipe coming soon). ABC (almond, brazil and cashew) nut butter and vanilla protein squares- based on my peanut butter protein squares. I also cooked up some sausages, which will be frozen and ready to grab each day for lunch. Tomorrow I am hoping to whip up enough protein pancakes for the week.

Once Food is sorted it’s time to tackle the exercising. I’ve been struggling with exercise for a while. I lost my fervour for the gym and since then haven’t found something to properly take its place. It’s coming into summer here in the southern hemisphere so I have decided to jump back in the pool. In addition I want work on my running and yoga. Not a bad trifecta in my opinion. But how does one get excited about a new work out routine? Why new work out clothes of course!

I took a trip to the Lululemon outlet store in Collingwood but nothing jumped out at me- not to worry. Next up was Swimwear Galore on in Fitzroy, that was a little more successful. I picked up a new swim-tank. In the past I’ve swam in bikini tops but want something a little more, supportive. So a Speedo tank it was.

Now that those things are in place it’s a matter of changing my thoughts. No more dwelling on what has happened and things that I can’t change. It’s time to focus on things that are in my control and do whatever I can to make myself happy. I have no doubt that this is going to be a process, and there will be slip ups along the way that will test my resolve. But I want to be the best version of myself, and it’s starting now.

Quotes were all found on instagram, just in case you were wondering…

The weekend + PB protein squares

My weekend was separated into two sections.

1. cake
2. everything else

The cake was an order from a former work colleague of dad’s whose son was turning 4. Last year my sister and I made him a HUGE castle cake. This year it was a dinosaur. Naturally my sister and I were crazy excited. Before cake sustenance was necessary… pesto-feta scramble with mushrooms and bacon. BOOM. Incredible.

Cake time. Two 11″ rainbow marble numbers, into the oven. There was a minor meltdown moment when I realised that the cake tins were leaking. Thankfully the BF was here to talk me down from the proverbial cliff. It all turned out ok…Two cakes cut and arranged. Lookin’ like a dinosaur yet?How about now? I particularly like the orange smash balls on his tail. The birthday boy said in a revered whisper, “I like it.” When he saw it. Success!

So, once the cake was delivered I was able to move onto other things. Weekly meal prep time. I find meal preparing so very satisfying. I suppose I am an organisation nerd… Here we have breakfast; protein pancakes, the green hue is thanks to a hefty handful of spinach. These aren’t too attractive, but they tasted far better than they looked. Vegetable fritters, zucchini, broccoli, mushroom, kale and haloumi. Nothing with haloumi can be bad. And these I think were the shining glory of my productive afternoon. Peanut butter protein squares. I was inspired after seeing a protein bar posted on instagram, it was a Tone It Up recipe. I found it and tweaked it.

Peanut butter protein squares

Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup sunflower seeds
3 tbsp chia seeds
3-4 tbsp mix of sesame seeds and pepitas
3 scoops vanilla protein powder

Method:
1. First up warm your peanut butter, rice malt syrup and coconut oil in a small saucepan, until pretty runny.
2. Mix all of your other bits- except protein powder- in a bowl.
3. Pour peanut butter mixture over your dry ingredients and stir it up.
4. Once it’s well mixed add your protein powder, mix, mix, mix
5. Spread the gooey deliciousness into a tray lined with baking paper (mine was about 8″ or 9″ square).
6. Let it set in the freezer for an hour or so. Once it’s set hard cut into squares, or bars, whatever takes your fancy.
I wrapped mine into 2 square servings. Wrapping immediately was necessary because I easily could have eaten the whole pan in one go. That good. Pop your wrapped squares into the freezer and grab whenever you need a satisfying peanut butter treat.

After all of that meal planning the BF took over in the kitchen to create AMAZING pulled pork tacos. There isn’t much I can say to explain how freakin’ good these were. I’ll just show you…No words needed, right?

Finally, I saw this (on instagram, again) and really liked it.