A couple of years ago I started drinking green tea. Personally, I love the refreshing taste of it but it is an acquired taste. However there are many benefits to drinking green tea which include:

• Weight loss
• Diabetes prevention
• Reduces risk of heart disease
• Reduces blood pressure
• Prevents depression

As far as I know, none of these have been proven as such. Although these aren’t strictly the reasons that I drink the green tea, although they are an added bonus! I first started drinking fruit tea and I still drink that occasionally but soon after there were lots of good stories about how beneficial it is to your health! And I’ve enjoyed it ever since. I find that it’s a really good alternative to normal tea, particularly if you want to lose weight, as you don’t have the added calories of milk and sugar!

Amazing cup of green tea at Ping Pong!

Coconut Prawns with Glass Noodles

This is an amazing recipe I made this evening from the Clean and Lean Diet Cookbook, a definite buy for anyone wanting to eat really healthy food. Anyone that knows me well enough knows that I absolutely love cooking and I love to experiment with new recipes and make them my own. Obviously this blog is all about losing weight and eating a healthy diet so I thought this was a perfect recipe to share, and definitely one of the best dishes I’ve cooked in a long time!

As it says on the recipe page, top tip: ginger is good for your digestive health and can help your body to break down fatty foods.

Recipe:

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

20 tiger prawns, raw and unpeeled

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 red chilli, finely sliced

50g creamed coconut

3 tbsp of soy sauce

250g glass rice noodles

A bunch of coriander, to garnish

1 lime, quartered, to garnish

Method:

1. Rinse the tiger prawns under cold water
2. In a wok, heat the oil and gently fry the garlic, ginger and chilli, until well softened. Add the creamed coconut and 120ml boiling water. The sauce should be of a thick consistency. Simmer for approximately 5 minutes; do not allow to boil.
3. Add the prawns and continue to cook until they have turned pink.
4. Add the soy sauce and taste. Add more of both if needed to adjust the flavour.
5. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.
6. Serves the prawns over noodles, sprinkled with coriander and a wedge of lime on the side.

This is my own take on the recipe, being at home meant I was able to use tiger prawns as they are quite expensive, if I was still at uni I would adapt it to what I was able to afford!! Also the original recipe used a green chilli but I decided to use a red chilli, which gave it a good kick.

Curry in the making!

The final dish!

Weekly Update

It’s now been a week since I got back from being on holiday and I feel so much healthier already. Before I went on holiday and when I first got back from Greece, my work trousers were slightly (or actually a lot) tighter than when I first bought them a couple of months ago. It was one of those things that I tried to ignore but my mum commented on it so it was clear I wasn’t maintaining my weight and evidently gained some of it back.

However, even in just a week I almost need a belt to hold my trousers up and my work top isn’t as tight around my stomach now. I already feel like I’m making better decisions on the food imp buying and when I’m eating out, basically a lot of salad. I also can’t get enough of nandos spicy rice! Plus I’m still trying new food; I tried no-carb spaghetti few days ago, which was surprisingly filling and tasty. I’ve also been working quite a lot which does distract me from thinking about eating food, even though we mainly sell food and drink there!

I’m just so proud that in a week I can see that much of a difference in my work clothes! It really helps with motivation and keeping me going when sometimes I honestly want to pack it in and give up. However, I then think about my health and all the confidence issues that come with it and realize that it actually is very important to carry on for myself.

This is quite a “bits and bobs” post today, really an update of the goings on of the past week.

When I was at work on Tuesday, a lady came in while it was quiet so there’s often time for a little chat, normally about the weather or the news. Although this one took a turn towards weight loss. At the time there were a load of “lads” across the road from the shop and she said that she was often self-conscious about her weight and her looks, I was shocked she would be so open with a stranger!

It’s nice though that some people can be comfortable enough to trust me with something so personal. She then told me about how after she had her children, she gained several stone and tried every diet out there to try and shift the weight but nothing seemed to work until she got proper advice from an exercise class she started going to at Salisbury hospital.

I must say she looked good for her age considering she had had children and it was clear her confidence had boosted.

The one thing that really struck me during our conversation was that she had a similar view that I did, that some people cant help but be nasty about the ay you look. So I told her about the time that I got up the courage to go for a run but as I was running, some “lads” shouted out the window at me, not the most encouraging experience vie had. Once id finished, she was very shocked at what happened.

I think it really goes to show what the community can sometimes be like and it really is a shame that people feel like they have to stoop so low and make comments to people. I feel quite sorry for them to be honest (!) but whatever makes them feel better!

This "weekly update" has turned into a complete essay and if you've made it this far, well you're an absolute star! ⭐️ I promise there's only a little bit left to go. 

So my diet is going well as I said before, I've been eating less and drinking more water and it is starting to really show! I've also noticed that I'm not as hungry as I normally am, I haven't figured out whether it's down to stress or drinking more water to suppress my appetite or what but something is going right!

I'll leave it there till my next recipe (yes, there's another one coming soon!) or my next weekly update. 

You're all so great, much love! X

Response

A few weeks ago I got my first negative response (that I know of) to my blog. To say the least I was shocked. To be honest, I didn’t know how to react. The fact it came from someone I could trust, or so I though, made it a little bit worse and they clearly hadn’t been reading it.

This really goes to show how judgmental society is these days and the quote ‘never judge a book by its cover’ could not be any truer in this case.

I’m sure that this isn’t the only person who has jumped to conclusions about my blog, and when I started, this is very much what I anticipated. I have put my story out there for everyone to see, which has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done and for those who are judging me, they are clearly not worth being a part of my life!

However, that aside, to all of you who keep reading and offering me an unbelievable amount of support, my family, old school friends, I could never thank you enough and its really keeping me going right now.

So as another little update, I’m keeping positive (despite negative comments) and lining up a load of dishes I want to tr. I’m also going to go cold turkey on crisps, my real true weakness, and this will be my biggest challenge yet and I will let you know how it goes.

Cheap Clean Eating

As far as I'm aware, a lot of my readers are students or now graduates and obviously we aren't the richest of people! therefore, this ones for you...some ways to reduce your food bill and still eat clean.

It has been found that it is definitely more expensive to eat healthily and junk food is considerately cheaper. If you don't mind going for products that isn't the highest quality then you should go for the everyday value or basic products. I've always bought these where i can but I have definitely seen an improvement in the quality of these products and they aren't as bad as you think.

Obviously you wouldn't go out and buy all organic products as this would instantly double your food bill, even if you go for own brands and not as low as value products then you will still be reducing your food bill to a more affordable price.

When you are planning your meals to ensure that you eat a clean diet you don't need to have meat with every meal which will bring down the cost of your meals. Some good alternatives that are just as appetising are vegetable stir fry (easy on the sauce!) and obviously salads.

If you can't live without meat then just find different cuts that are cheaper or go to a local butcher who will know which are the cheaper ones and can give you advice on how to cook them properly as well.

Also take a trip to your local market to pick up some bargains there, you can typically get large bowls of fruit and vegetables for only a pound or two. It may not last as long as those that you buy from the supermarkets but if you are going to eat it all or most of it then you are definitely getting your moneys worth.

Often if you buy in bulk you would get more for your money so if you cook in bulk as well then you have those clean meals already made in the freezer. If you have a family then obviously this would be a bit more difficult as you will need to make a lot more food to put some aside in the freezer so it would be much easier to just make it as and when you need the meals.

Finding a cheaper supermarket to the one you already shop in is also an option. If you use supermarket.com, select the supermarket you wish to order from and fill up your basket then you can see which supermarket is cheapest and you could end up saving loads of money. Also if you order from Tesco or Asda then you can get your food delivered for as cheap as £1. By ordering your shopping online you won't be tempted by the junk food you may normally go for and only get 'clean' food.

Buying food is undeniably a high expense but unfortunately we can't live without it so if you can do little things to reduce your food bill then hopefully in the long term you will see the difference both financially and in yourself.

Clean Eating

Clean eating has become a very popular thing now. It is for everyone as well, whether you are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free or anything else, it is still possible to eat clean. some bonuses to clean eating are clearer skin, having more energy and having deeper sleep. It also obviously helps to lose weight.

A couple of rules of clean eating are:

• Eat whole, natural foods so no white rice or white flour. Choose root vegetables roasted as an alternative.
• Avoid processed foods and refined sugar which basically means no junk food!
• Eat more regularly and cook it yourself then you know what's going into it. Have smaller meals more regularly so that you stay fuller for longer and pre-make meals and our them in the freezer.
• Always eat a balanced diet!

Here are some easy swaps to make that you won't even notice:

• Swap sandwiches for wraps
• White rice sushi for brown rice sushi
• Milk chocolate for dark chocolate
• Shop bought jars for homemade pasta sauce
• Granulated sugar for cinnamon
• Condiments for lemon juice and vinegar
• Dried fruit for bananas
• Salad dressings for olive oil
• Fruit smoothies for green juice

Smoothies

In March when I first came home from uni for Easter break, I had homemade smoothies for breakfast most of the time. They aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing smoothies but they do taste delicious! So here are the recipes for the ones I often have:

Ingredients:

A handful and a half of smoothie mix (you can get a few different frozen mixes from Waitrose)

1 banana

About 100ml of coconut water or water if you prefer – it depends how thick you want it, so add more or less whichever your preference

I also add a teaspoon of chia seeds and spirulena

You may want to add a bit of sugar if it is too sour

Directions:

Blend it all together till smooth!

Everyone should try these smoothies! They’re so filling and set you up for the rest of the day. Oh and they really do help you to lose weight and make you feel great.

This one was using a kiwi smoothie mix. 

And this one was using a berry smoothie mix. 

Overeating

Over the past few days I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Not necessarily a good thing! I always find that I overeat when I’m stressed or upset, basically comfort eating. A lot of people will comfort eat occasionally but it obviously got to a point where I was eating all the time, not only when I was stressed or upset but when I was bored as well. Basically if I weren’t doing something productive, I’d be eating. This then led to the ridiculous weight gain.

I’ve had a few people say to me that I still eat too much and there are healthier options to what I eat, but what they don’t realise is that my body has gotten used to eating so much food and that its much harder than it may seem. Its essentially detoxing, getting rid of all the bad things I’ve put into my body then reducing my calorie intake quite drastically. At first I get really bad headaches and feel really unwell while I get used to not having loads of sugar and carbs. Yes its tough but really worth it after the first few days are done. Then I feel pretty great!

I’ve got a lot of things to look forward to over the next week, most of which are active! A few months ago I would never have thought I’d be where I am right now, going for runs, going for walks everyday and being very creative. But I’ve got this far and there’s no way to stop me now!

Here's a really cringe thought to finish with: