There are few things I want to talk about in this blog post, both reminding me on how grateful I am to be surrounded by my loved ones and to be so healthy…
Firstly, the horrific shooting in Connecticut. All of those innocent lives taken way before their time… there is not a single person that has not been deeply horrified and sickened by this awful event and my heart goes out to those that lost a loved one on the 14th of December 2012. I feel so blessed to have my family, my boyfriend, my friends, and cannot imagine how awful it would be to have any of them taken from me, especially in such a stupid, pointless way. Too many angels headed to heaven that day. RIP
Secondly, I accompanied my boyfriend and his family to visit a friend in hospital this weekend – their friend had been in a big motorbike accident and his family had asked all of his friends to come together at this one time to give him strength and support. When we were there we discovered that he is now a quadriplegic and has been told he will never walk again… and he has given up all hope. This man had been one of the most outgoing, courageous and active guys and it’s terrible to hear that he has thrown in the towel. He refused to see any visitors that day, but it was heartwarming to see so many people gathering together, wearing his favourite colour blue, and writing down words to hopefully inspire and motivate hope. I am so lucky that I have my health, that I live so comfortably and have no limitations. I am so grateful for everything I have.
Please take the time to reflect on everything that you have – even though you may stress about things, and may have pressures or debts etc, think about all that you can be grateful for, because without a doubt there is someone in the world who would give anything to have what you may take for granted.
These things have made me more motivated to take care of myself.
Here are some new recipes:
Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Salad (my version….) – this looks to basic, but it’s really yummy!!
Serves 2
1/2 head of broccoli
2x 120g chicken breast
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 spring onion
1/4 bunch fresh mint
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1&1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp no fat Greek yoghurt
1/2 lemon
Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for 4 minutes (covered)
Coat the chicken with salt, pepper and ground coriander, then bash to flatten to ~1.5cm thick
Grill chicken until golden brown and cooked through
With tongs, remove broccoli from water when finished, then put on a grill until nicely charred
Trim and finely slice the spring onions and the mint, then toss in a bowl with the oil and vinegar, and season to taste
Grill the sunflower seeds
Throw it all together on the plate and serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt and lemon wedges
Nutritional info: per 1/2 serves
Calories: 394.2
Total fat: 13.1g
Total carbs: 30.2g
Sugar: 4.1g
Protein: 40.4g
Clean Chocolate Icecream
Serves 2
100g low fat cottage cheese
1 tbsp cocoa
1&1/2 scoop choc protein powder (whey/casein)
2 serves Stevia
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp natural peanut butter (or 2, if you love your PB!)
2 tbsp dessicated coconut
Splash of almond milk
Blend everything together until smooth, then freeze for 1&1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes
Nutritional info: per 1/2 serves
Calories: 330
Total fat: 20.4g (all good fats!!)
Total carbs: 7.6g
Sugar: 4.3g
Protein: 29.4g!!
Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars from http://www.littlebshealthyhabits.com – I was craving peanut butter and wanted to have it in a baked protein bar but all of the recipes I could find were unbaked! These were a great mix of chocolate and PB, but next time I’m going to add more PB so it really satisfies my cravings!!
Serves 12
1 cup out flour
4 egg whites
2 scoops protein powder
1/4 cup (or 12 serves) Stevia
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa
113g unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup all natural peanut butter (next time I think I’ll up this to 1/3 cup hehe)
4 tbsp non fat Greek yoghurt
Throw it all in a bowl and mix
Throw in a brownie pan and bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
Nutritional info: per 1/ serves
Calories: 109.6
Total fat: 4.6g
Total carbs: 7.0g
Sugar: 1.6g
Protein: 9.0g
I also wanted to do a shout out to slimkicker.com – it’s a free site that helps you track your meals, exercise etc, and – the best part – it helps keep you motivated by setting you challenges and reminding you to reward yourself when you reach them!! I think it’s great :). They’ve got a mobile phone app as well (I have it on my iphone), so it’s quick and easy to log your info.
Be grateful 🙂 keep healthy xo
learnlovelift 