walking to the lake I was looking at my feet, it was cold, I began to say “I am so blessed” but tears began to fall from my eyes, I pulled the hood over my head and continued to walk. I got to the lake all of a sudden something came over me, these feelings of sadness and frustration had to go , I turned around to walk back down the hill, the sun beamed into my eyes, all of a sudden this wave of optimism came over me , its like I left something at the lake this morning and that I really wanted today to be a new beginning.

Getting over something like this is definitely a challenge. Food/diet and my health has really overtaken my life and become something that is on my mind constantly. Completely consuming me.

I want to go back to the days where food was just something that brought people together, something to celebrate and enjoy with those that you love, when food was a fuel source that would give you the ability to run and run all day untill you were finally exhausted.

Now it is linked to something deeper in our adult selves, the determination of our overall appearance and health. Eating healthily ultimately can maximise your health and keep you feeling great on the inside and outside, where eating poorly can put food in a role where it is merely something that you put in your mouth, without there being a conscious recognition of its ability to determine your health, and whilst doing this, the feelings of tiredness and other conditions directly related to your diet just become a “norm” and daily feeling you put up with.

Some where in between those two styles of “eating habits” if you will is a place where you truly need to find a happy medium. Where food plays a role where it is sitting in the passenger seat and you are the driver. You have control of the speed, the steering and direction and you have the control of the brakes. The food is just sitting there next to you to help you along and to help you perform at your best, it is the fuel and the energy that drives you. We have the control and power to decide what kind of fuel we feed our engines. premium, unleaded, diesel? You have the choice, so we can’t forget that we have this power, therefore there aren’t really any excuses for making bad food decisions, however unfortunately a lot of the time it is the way in which we have been programmed and habits in which we have learnt from those around us.

So whilst I am super healthy and conscious of my eating I do feel as though I could let go and not let the ideas of a perfect diet be the central point of my daily life.  Restricting me from reaching my potential and really focussing on what is important, my life goals, my relationships, my financial situation and overall my happiness. When food becomes your focus other variables around it do not get the attention they deserve. It is important to determine what your goals are therefore you can recognise their importance and relevance.

In the next few months:

Do my personal training course so I can work as  PT next year while I’m studying

Continue writing this blog and actually getting some readers lol

Working and saving some money

Overcoming my food battles and hurdles

Taking my own advice

looking after my body by doing yoga and treating it to nutritious food

In the next 2 years:

I want to study Nutrition in 2011 so I can help others overcome illness and achieve healthy eating habits

I want to travel by the end of 2011 to the US with my boy and have a carefree and fabulous time without worries

I want to continue being happy and healthy

Find a healthy balance and peace in my life and in my mind

In the next 5 years:

I want to be experienced and a professional in my field, and perhaps open a nutrition clinic where I can welcome others into my space and help them and perhaps make a difference in their lives

I want to be living back in the beautiful and sunny W.A with friends and family

I want to have a veggie garden where I can grow awesome and beautiful fresh veggies

Have a cute dog which I can take running on the beach

After that..We will see..

It is all well and good to eat healthy and be conscious however you cannot let thoughts of guilt about eating be a regular appearance in your daily life. I think for me personally it began with an obsession for perfection or the idea of it, and the need to control my life and having a perfect and strict routine because I compared it to others and their daily lives, comparing what I ate to what others ate, how much others exercised to how much I exercised always trying to match it if not beat it, this is damaging to yourself as you are constantly in a state of comparison which is silly because every individual is so different, their wants, needs, bodies, and health. Instead of centralising your focus on comparing yourself to others, we need to make our focus our health and what will truly help us to be happy and healthy, because we are not anybody else, we are in our bodies, our lives and our own journeys.

So for me, comparison and comparing myself to others is my ultimate issue and something I recognise as an issue in preventing me from being truly happy about my life, and being at “one” if you will. When we self obsess about things we lose sight of what is really important in the world and we lose site of those around us who do not have al the things we have, how lucky are we that we even get to eat food? let alone be picky with it. How lucky are we to have the fresh air and water that we are so blessed to be surrounded by everyday? we are so darn lucky and ungrateful at the same time.

So here is my check list thus far:

1. Do not compare myself to others we are all on our own journey are unique

2. Put food in the passenger seat and just drive the dam car

3. Focus on ways to reach my goals and achieve what is really important

4. Look after my mind, body and soul, nurture my entire self

5. Say “I am so blessed” 3 times everyday untill I believe it

I am off to Perth next week (my home town) which will be the first time for about 7 months or so , so I am really looking forward to seeing friends and family, it has been strange because whilst I am so excited, my obsessive self is constantly returning to thoughts of “what will I eat” ..”my routine is going to be disrupted” I guess it’s a fear of being out of my comfort zone and perhaps a fear of not being in control as I may be in situations where I will have to eat or do things I am not comfortable with.

As I said before e, food is there to fuel us, it is also something that is to be enjoyed with others and is something that can bring us together. I want to enjoy my time in Perth with family and friends and truly just enjoy that time without those cheeky and unnecessary thoughts creeping in. I am going to try to leave them here, perhaps at the airport, or I may even throw them off the balcony. I do not want them to be here when I return..

I have a sneaking suspicion that they may be here when I get back, or maybe parts of them may sneak into my luggage, I think this because they are pretty conniving and devious therefore my plan of attack is to recognise their existence however push them aside and realise that they are merely thoughts however they do not hold a place or spot in my life, and it is something in which I can beat and overcome, I know there’s still a long long journey ahead but nothing I can’t handle.

So today I made a yummy post work out snack with all of my favourite things all smashed together. I have officially become an addict, I literally add peanut butter to EVERYTHING!!!

All I did was get three beautiful plumb Medjool Dates and removed the pip

I started off by spreading some fresh cottage cheese onto the fresh multigrain bread and sprinkled some cinnamon on top, I layered the Medjool dates like a little blanket covering the cheese. I finished off by slathering a good layer of crunch peanut butter on the lid of the sandwich and squashed it all together to perfection.

Dates are an excellent source of iron and fibre, they are a great snack that will conquer sweet cravings in a healthy way.  Dates are a good source of selenium, selenium is a potent antioxidant that also benefits thyroid function and the immune system. 

Peanut Butter Peanuts are packed with essential vitamins and minerals. They are extremely rich in protein, which your body uses to strengthen and use as building blocks as they are very high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils.

I have been somewhat deluded about this before, Peanut Butter contains the good fats!! I used to stay as far away from anything that I thought contained a stack load of fat, but I have now come to realise how essential these fats are for keeping your hair skin, nails and overall make you feel energised. We are all somewhat fooled by food that states “low fat” making us think that anything we consume with fat in the content will cause us to gain a lot of weight. Whilst when foods have been reduced in fat, sugar is added to enhance taste, therefore raising the carbohydrate levels also, which will probably be more damaging to your diet if you are trying to maintain your weight.

I have really become addicted to the stuff recently, I have begun adding it to daily meals, at breakfast I will add it to my warm oats so that it melts through, leaving a yummy nutty flavour. This is a great way to start your morning as it will give you instant energy. In my opinion, beginning your day with a higher calorie meal is a better strategy in maintaining your energy levels throughout the day. I will also have a snack about 30 mins before bed of carrot sticks and peanut butter, this has become a bit of a tradition for me now! Peanut Butter is also known to be a great sleep promoter as it is classified as “Sleepers” which are foods containing  tryptophan,  tryptophan is the amino acid that the body uses to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter that slows down nerve traffic so your brain isn’t so busy.

It does not suprise me that when medical teams visit children like the poverty stricken youth in Africa they are given foods like toast with peanut butter as it is an instant energising meal.

I usually get stuck into Coles Home brand peanut butters but yesterday I convinced my boyfriend to drive us out to USA Foods in Bentleigh (about 30 mins from Melbourne CBD) where they stock a bunch of different American food products. So where else would you find the best brand peanut butters? Americans do it best. I bought a “JIF” creamy peanut butter which is 90% peanuts, compared to the usual 70-80% ones you find around Australia. I was really excited, and like $7.00 for peanut butter, it does taste pretty good. I think its because it came all the way across the world. I’m scared to eat it all too quickly because it was a bit of an effort to get it!

Lunch today was a bit of a throw together as it was the day before my “food shop day”

So I was rummaging around my fridge for all the leftovers in sight.

This is what I could find…

Celery, carrot, alfalfa sprouts eggs, tuna, lettuce, mixed seeds.

AND the amazing home made hummus that I made.

So I sliced and diced everything really fine, I also attempted to poach an egg so that it was nice and runny, the trick I found to poaching an egg is to add some vinegar to the water before dropping in the egg, that way it holds it all together.

I served the salad with the home made hummus and a bit of wholemeal wrap bread to dip into the runny egg! delicious.

This is what the salad turned out looking like…of course, eating it next to my laptop as I was attempting to blog. The salad was a bit of a mess, but I think I did ok considering it was all I had in the fridge.

So a great idea for a Sunday afternoon is to make a batch of hummus to keep you well stocked for the week, you can add this beautiful creamy mixture to wraps, sandwiches, or have alone as a dip for some veggie sticks. I’ve never really attempted to make it at home as I always went for the easy option of purchasing it from the supermarket..homemade is officially 100 times better.

To make enough for the week I used:

1 can of chickpeas

1 large tablespoon of Tahini

A dash of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Juice of half a lemon

Pinch of salt and pepper

And to finish, adding a dash of smoked paprika before serving.

Chickpeas as we know are a great source of protein and will keep you feeling full for ages! The Tahini is also made up of ground sesame seeds, which like chickpeas are an extremely protein rich food, an unbeatable food combination if you ask me!

On the weekend I took a visit to the 2010 Mind Body and Soul Festival, The Melbourne Exhibition centre was swimming with all things Mind Body And Soul, there were over 200 different exhibitors, 72 seminars and 64 performances.

I managed to see all the stalls and go to one seminar! However I did walk past one of the stages where people were laughing and throwing their arms in the air I believe it was titled “A laughter Yoga Session”

From Massage, healing, Reiki, Belly dancing, Jewellery, Health foods, tarot cards, and Iris Analysis it was certainly all happening.

Health industry professionals were there to promote their products, share information and deliver knowledge to the public. It was really interesting to see all of the different types of people that were there, open minded and interested in all the various and alternative ways of medicine and approaches to health, I was really impressed.

I ended up with a stack of catalogues and leaflets, for research purposes only, sorry trees!

I was most intrigued by a couple of stalls that were designed to inform people about various types of nutrition and health issues in relation to diet and food. The first one was called Alkaline Superfoods, which is designed to flush toxins and acid waste out of your body. It was focussed on the idea that consuming foods high in acidity will cause an excess in the body will greatly effect the bodies immunity, digestion, bone strength, hormones and the function of the internal organs.

Acid Forming Foods:

Meat

Grains

Dairy

High Sugar fruits

Breads

Maintaining a correct balance of acid and alkaline in your body is important for vitality and health.

Foods that are Alkaline rich are:

Asparagus

Lemon

Avocado

Grapefruit

Spinach

I personally think that changing your diet to simply eating only Alkaline foods is something that can be somewhat unattainable for those who are not willing to become Vegan or Vegetarian, and are used to and strictly sticking to their meat eating ways, there are ways however for individuals to improve the balance of acid/alkaline levels. Something which I do everyday and have been for several years, at first by the guidance of my mother is drinking lemon water daily. Something so little as doing this everyday can impact largely on your overall wellbeing.

Now, an essential in my kitchen is my lemon juicer, using one lemon, and a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar with water you will not only be keeping yourself hydrated but you can maintain your digestion and improve the balance in your body. Now I bet you are thinking, but arn’t lemons acidic because they are are a citrus fruit? no because lemons are alkaline forming.

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Try adding this to your daily rituals and see how it changes your overall health and digestion. (If you struggle with the taste perhaps add a teaspoon of honey or the natural sweetener Stevia)

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After spending an hour or so strolling around the venue taking in an overload of information, taking sneaky photos (which I got told off for doing a few times) I found another stall which I found very interesting, which some of you may of herd of before its called “Eating for your blood type” So according to what your blood type is there are certain foods which will be super effective for your overall health. I do not know my blood type so I was unable to get as much information as I wanted to, however I was informed that all it takes is a visit to your doctor, a tiny pin prick to your finger and a sample of blood to determine what type you are. There are various books which are available to read and gain knowledge of suitable foods for your type.

So! that is now on my list of things to do, I am then going to research further on the topic and perhaps add the specific foods to my diet. I may delve into this topic more in future blogs. If you know your blood type you should do some research yourself, you can purchase the book “Eat right 4 your type” written by renowned Dr. Peter D’ Adamo http://www.dadamo.com/