DAY ONE

BREAKFAST 

1 Multi Vitamin, 1 Magnesium capsule & 1 enzym capsule
 
Rolled oats, honey and fruit Nom nom nom.... this keeps me fuller for longer and as the autumn is here I love a warm breakfast. I grabbed this recipe from Jamie Oliver. He seams to be on a bit of a mission himself so where else to start. (Thanks Jamie)

Banana, cinnamon & Almond Porridge

INGREDIENTS
For basic porridge (base recipe)
160 g rolled oats
600 ml milk, organic soya milk or water 
Banana, almond and cinnamon porridge
2 ripe bananas
30 g flaked almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or Hogweed Spice (https://foragefinefoods.com) 
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2-3 tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey , to taste 



For basic porridge (base recipe):

• Place the oats and the milk or water in a large pan over a medium heat.
• Add a tiny pinch of salt and stir with a wooden spoon.
• Bring to a steady simmer for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring as often as you can to give you a smooth creamy porridge – if you like your porridge runnier, simply add a splash more milk or water until you’ve got the consistency you like.

• Peel, then slice the bananas on a chopping board (I like to cut mine at an angle).  
• Add the almonds to a small non-stick frying pan over a medium heat (there’s no need for oil) for 3 to 4 minutes, or until lightly golden, stirring occasionally.  
• Stir the cinnamon/hogweed spice, poppy seeds and most of the maple syrup or honey through the porridge.  
• Serve with the bananas and toasted almonds on top and the remaining syrup or honey drizzled over.

LUNCH

1 enzym capsule

WW Carrot and Lentil Soup BORING!!!! Well there's not a lot I can say about this. Although I will make some of my own soup tomorrow for the week. So I decided to make power balls instead. knowing that everyone in the house will be eating cake or sweets or chocolate at some point I decided to make my own treats.

• 1 cup raw organic almonds
• 1 cup fresh dates (about 8 dates), pitted
• 2 tablespoons cacao (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
• dash of sea salt

1. Place almonds, cacao and shredded coconut into a high-speed blender or food processor. Process on high until ingredients are a flour-like consistency.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender/processor and blend on medium to high until fully incorporated into the dry ingredients.
3. Dump the mixture into a bowl. Take a tablespoon worth of the mixture in between your hands, rolling to form a ball. Repeat until all of the mixture is used.
4. Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
- See more at: http://kriscarr.com/recipe/magic-5-snack-bites/#sthash.crf94lwl.dpuf

POWER BALLS

INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw organic almonds
1 cup fresh dates (about 8 dates), pitted
2 tablespoons cacao (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
dash of sea salt

• Place almonds, cacao and shredded coconut into a high-speed blender or food processor. Process on high until ingredients are a flour-like consistency.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the blender/processor and blend on medium to high until fully incorporated into the dry ingredients.
• Dump the mixture into a bowl. Take a tablespoon worth of the mixture in between your hands, rolling to form a ball. Repeat until all of the mixture is used.
• Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.

Well  unfortunately my day came to a rather early end. A Migraine put the kibosh on anything else that I wanted to do.

BED!!!! 

HEALTHY HABBIT

Living a healthy life is all about instilling a series of healthy habits into your daily routine which are good and unique to your body. We've all heard how to create healthy habits to enable us to live well and feel great, but what about the unhealthy habits, how do we break them?

1) Stupid to say but always start at the beginning. Try and figure out what are your key triggers that make you behave a certain way. The key is then to break them, especially because most of the time we repeat unhealthy habits without even knowing why we are doing them. (I've cleaned out my cupboards, gone shopping and for my 3.30pm troff there's now fruit in the fridge!)

2) Make small changes. Forming new habits is the easy part, but OMG breaking the old habits are tough. Although for me I always want to end my bad habits right away, I know the best way is to make small changes and then work your way up. I must learn not to try and change the world in one day.

3) Keep a tracker. Having gone to various weight watchers meetings I know the importance of tracking every mouthful. Writing things down gives them more permanence and makes them feel more official. Keep a diary and keeping a note of your progress with the new healthy habits lets you see where you can make improvements and celebrate any breakthroughs. 

4) change your mindset. Try and turn your mindset on its head about these unhealthy habits by thinking about them in a negative way and how much better you are going to feel without them in your life. 

5) Reward yourself. Get something right (Celebrate) positive positive positive.

STOPTOBER

Hey welcome to my Stoptober post

Food is a massive part of my life. I've got a very sweet tooth. I eat out of boredom, I eat when I'm happy and I eat when I'm sad. I eat socially, I eat for comfort like every true middle aged woman I have a massive relationship with food and it's not always healthy. And just to top it all off I hate cooking? it's a daily chore that I would gladly off load to anyone that would be willing to take it. How many of you can relate to that?

For those of you that don't know me, I'm a therapist and a happily married mum of two. I love my job. In fact it's not a job it's a lifestyle choice. I love helping people and unfortunalty love it all a bit too much and tend to put other peoples needs before my own. Some one once told me you can't give from an empty cup and alas my cup is becoming a little drained. Inbetween clients I pick, and So it's time to sort myself out.

I'm heavier than I have ever been and know it's time to reset, reestablish and start looking after the old body. I'm not getting any younger but I've noticed that things are slowing down and they don't need to. If I address my food, that will kick start a chain of events that will help me in my way to resolving the issues that I have. Being a happy, healthy person is much easier said than done. 

So I've decided for the month of October I'm going to quit...... no not alcohol (hehehe!!) again for those that know me, my random one glass of fizz a year on a very special occasion or two glasses of Vodka & Coke on rare occasions is just not enough to warrant quitting. I don't really like the taste of alcohol I don't really drink it so that is something that is far to easy to quit to warrant any kind of support. But there will be no drinking this month. 

No it's not coffee either. Can't stand the stuff!! If I ever invite you out to costa for a coffee you will just watch me drink peppermint tea. Tea & herbal teas are my thing and again normal tea is just not drunk enough to warrant quitting.........

So what am I really going to quit????

Red meat and Sugar!!!

With type 2 diabetics in the family that's a no brainier! I eat far too much cake & chocolate.

And with no Gaul bladder the red meat has always been very difficult to digest. I constantly suffer with stomach issues and acid reflux.

PREPERATION IS KEY

Saturday 1st October 

Today in my Preparation I'll be Shopping!!! Normally I go to Aldi but today I'm doing it on line. This will prevent me from just picking up rubbish that I don't need and focus the mind. I'll be writing a list of Fruit, veg, salad & nuts all of which are essential. I shall also be looking for lunch alternatives and something for hearty evening meals.

I'm already stocked up with Supplements:

• Magnesium
• Multi Vitamins
• Friendly good bacteria
• And good enzymes

I'll be looking into these and the effects that they have on me. I'll be seeking professional advice from other therapist regarding these.