Athletic eating.

Hello, hello friends.
No don't worry I haven't started eating competitions or stuffing my face in an athletic manner, or taken up sprinting and javelin whilst eating. What I meant by athletic eating was what I ate on the day of my school's athletic carnival :)

You might remember from this post and this post me mentioning that I couldn't run because I did something to my ITB band/ muscle thingy down my leg.

Well, I had signed up for 4 different running events and long jump before this happened, so with the help of my wonderful physio's remedial massage (I have bruises to prove how wonderful) and some acupuncture and some taping... I could compete!

Good to go!

I went equipped with a little chemist in my bag. Voltaren gel, snap ice packs and extra tape. 

The real way I prepared myself for today? A good hearty- DELICIOUS- breakfast:

 Chocolate steel cut oats and berry froyo (frozen berries whazzed up with greek yoghurt)

 Using this method, I heated up 1 tablespoon of cashew butter and spread it round!

Full of protein, complex carbs and good fats- I was ready to start the day!

Chocolate not up your alley?

How does overnight oats mixed with mango fro-yo sound:

 With some bananas split in half and smothered in peanut butter?

 Stirry-stir:

 YUM!

 In relation to how I did in the carnival... not great to be honest :D

I sort of expected it... I didn't lose anything (second last isn't losing!) and I did come 4th in the 800m (out of like 25 girls) so I guess I'm sort of happy, it just means no inter-school this year. I was pushing it competing anyway!

But there you have some great brekky's for a busy/ tiring/ energy requiring day!

What did you have for brekky?

Are you a sprinter or long distance runner?

How do you feel about acupuncture? (I might talk about this in a later post :)

See ya later! :D

All or nothing attitude

Hello Friends! It's that time of the month week again! Time for me to spill my brains contents onto this page in the beautiful style of Thinking out Loud

Today I'm here to talk about an attitude so many of us possess. The all or nothing attitude. You either go all for it, or you go all against it. Of course I'm going to talk about it in a food sense :)

I've seen it everywhere. From tv shows, to movies, to friends and family. Making a resolution to eat healthier and then accidentally eating something (chips, chocolate, lollies, cake etc.) and throwing in the towel because you've already wrecked your good intentions, so today will be your last free day and you eat every bad thing in sight.
Only this same thing happens again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. Until it's the weekend- then you swear Monday will be your new beginning.

I'm not here to lecture people who do this. I'm not going to sit behind my computer screen and say, toughen up princesses, get your act together.

I'm here to give a new perspective.

Every time the mentioned above happens, you feel pretty guilty. No debate.

What an awful feeling to have when you're eating something you love so much?

After all the arguments you had with your brain and constant struggles and slaps you had between your two arms when reaching for said food- you don't even get to enjoy it?

This is the problem I have with diets. They're too strict, you can't enjoy food and if they give you a cheat day... boy are you going to cheat! That's for a whole other post for another time though.

Today I'll simply say this. Accidentally eaten something you don't think fits your new healthy bill? Don't sweat it. Maybe even enjoy it. Then, every minute is a fresh start, heck every second is a fresh start! As soon as that cupcake has traveled down your oesophagus and is churning away in your stomach right before the intestines (ok Steph, stop now!), you can move on with life, free of guilt, with a hint of a smile on your lips because that was one damn good cupcake!

(I really had to see a happy cat after that extremely sad one above :)
You have the strength and ability to leave the rest of the cupcakes where they are because your not cheating on your diet, or yourself, or any one else, everyone deserves a treat- the only diet I would ever recommend is one of moderation.

The guilt you feel after eating one cupcake (which should be 0) certainly won't be eased if you eat another 7.

I think I've said what I've needed and I hope it helps some of you- I'm quite sure we've all experienced this attitude, all at different degrees and I hope we can all one day come to the personal acceptance of accepting our 'accidents' and embracing every new second! Life's too short to do otherwise! :)

Thoughts?

See you next time! :D

 

WIAW #19

 Hi guys! Happy Wednesday and happy WIAW! Head on over to Peas and Crayons
if you have no idea what I'm going on about :)
Let's get to it shall we?
Breakfast:

My secretly secret method of always having a bit of peanut butter with my oats:)

The smoothest, creamiest mango fro-yo yet!

Equals the BEST. BREKKY. EVER. (not including a PB+ banana toastie :)
Close-ups:

YUM!

I like putting them in cups, because they're the perfect size and look cute... besides, I'm kinda weird any way and prefer bowls and cups- plates are just too... flat.

Lunch:

 Pasta-la-vista baby! Rice and quinoa pasta with grilled eggplant, mushrooms and capsicum, stirred together with some no added salt tinned tomatoes, dried oregano, red kidney beans, kale and nutritional yeast :) Made early in the morn for school!
Snack:

 Yes, fruit (pear and black grapes) and soy milk with a crazy straw- again nothing gives me a bigger energy boost in the arvo than this right here!

Dinner:

 Some delicious roasted veggies, with olive oil and rosemary, roasted in a 180 degrees celsius oven for 45 mins:

 Served with lentils, roasted tomatoes, spinach and some creamy polenta squares (I simply made the polenta with water and nutritional yeast  (about 30 mins to make) and then stirred in some marinated artichokes and spread it out on some baking paper and placed in the freezer for 10 mins.

 Were your meals tasty?
Wanna check out what everyone else is nom-ing? You know where to go!

Oh and make sure you hurry back for an interesting Thinking Out Loud Thursday! :D

An ode to PB

An Ode to PB!

Peanut butter and jelly,

It will never go out of style,

However salads can get boring,

If you have them for a while:

But if you add some peanuts,

Then you will be set,

As a dressing or sauce,

Or wholemeal crumpet.

 For Breakfast I love it,

On my home-made bread,

Along with a banana,

This marvelous spread!

It's great with granola,

Everyday of the week,

On top of a smoothie,

It reaches its peak.

I could go on forever,

With praise, adoration and rhyme,

But if I'm perfectly honest,

Who really has the time?

I hope you liked my ode to peanut butter!

What would you write an ode about?

See ya later! :D

ORANGE AND POPPYSEED...

Hey guys! It's recipe time!
I'm super excited about this one!
When I was younger, cuter and even weirder, my favourite type of cake/ muffin was always orange and poppy seed. Always.
When mum went to the grocery store each weekend she would bring home a chocolate muffin box mix for my brother and an orange and poppy seed one for me. (See, I have always been a chef ;) For some reason, bro and I always managed to 'fill' our muffin tins with about half our mixture still in the bowl... hmmm. Yes, my favourite part about these orange and poppy seed muffins was the raw mixture. My older and more mature self is now cringing with the knowledge of eating raw egg :/

So... that's what prompted this breakfast experiment- recreating the awesomeness that is raw orange and poppy seed cake, minus the raw eggs!

What better way to do that then with Orange and Poppy seed OAT BRAN!

Orange and poppy seed oat bran
Ingredients
1/2 cup (28g) oat bran
1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
zest of 1/2 an orange
1-2 tablespoons of squeezed orange juice (I used 1 1/2)
1 banana very thinly chopped
1 cup milk of choice (I used oat milk)
optional- coconut butter (please put this in!)

Method:
1. Gather ingredients:

2. Place it all in a medium sauce pan (except the coconut butter- stir that in at the end)

 3. Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir with a spatual/ wooden spoon until it starts to thicken.

4. Once it has thickened (after about 2-4 mins) switch to a whisk and whisk like a crazy maniac until the banana has almost entirely disappeared and the mixture has thickened to the consistency of your liking (this took about 1-2 mins of whisking for me)

5. Stir in coconut butter (if using) and leave to sit for about 10 mins to cool and enhance the flavours!
6. Enjoy! (I enjoyed mine with some sliced apple topped with greek yoghurt and lots of cinnamon :)

 I also added a touch more milk to the top- just coz I like it :D

 I seriously think I'm immune to cinnamon- I could put bucket loads on anything- it's like my salt (which I guess is a positive?)

This oatbran is so freaky the way it tastes exactly like the mixture I used to make (and spoon straight into my mouth) as a child= HAPPY STEPH!

What was your favourite cake as a child? (Were you like my brother- CHOCOLATE!)

I hope everyone has a fabulous Sunday.... I do like Sundays :)
Bye for now! :D

Eight fears

In continuing with my 10-day-you challenge, I've come up with a list of my eight fears... it was seriously a hard thing to do, but I did it!


8. Coming in at number eight is... Horror movies- these don't just scare me- they are a fear!I should probably say I have a fear of the whole genre of horror- not just movies, it's just when you're reading a book and it says the axe murderer opened the door, you can make yourself picture unicorns and bunnies... in a movie, not so much.

7. Death. I'm sure the majority of people are scared of this and I really don't want to be (which is why it's only 7th on my list) but I'm not going to lie to you it's a fear of mine.

6. Deep water. Lots of people find this one strange when I tell them it's a fear of mine, but even just looking at a photograph of deep water in the middle of no where gives me shivers...

5.I guess in tying in with deep water, another fear I've had ever since I can remember is tsunamis. I literally can't look at this photo for more than a five seconds. Literally.

4. Exams- I'm at the ripe old age where I'm preparing for my super-duper important exams. I know in the scheme of things, they shouldn't be this far up on the list, but just the fact that I'm going into them now makes them seem even scarier than horror movies :O

This may or may not be what I'm most afraid of!

3. Cockroaches- they make me physically ill

2. Cockroaches- their such a big fear they deserve two top 3 fear spots.

The worst thing about them...

Although I did find this quite interesting:

Like Steph like Cockroach!

1. My top one would be losing close friends and family, or having to watch them suffer. Every night before I go to bed, they're the last people I think of and I send them happy and healthy thoughts for tomorrow.

But really we all know what my real #1 fear is:

Something that doesn't scare me- chocolate oats and mango froyo :) :) :)

Just some happy pictures to finish off a less than happy post! (I do not like facing/ revealing my fears, I've decided)

What's your greatest fear?
Cockroaches- who's a fan?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!