On my mind- IRON

Morning Sunshines! Or whatever time of day it is wherever you are right now! ;)

Something's been on my mind lately.

Iron.

No, not the things that rusts if you leave it outside (well- yes that, but not in those kind of quantities) or the appliance that smooths out the creases in your clothes.

I'm talking about the important mineral needed in our diet so that we can function well- vital for extremely important bodily functions like transporting oxygen in the blood!

Now, by default I fall into the list of having a high-risk for iron deficiency just because of my age and gender. I am a teenage girl. On top of that I also tick the box on that list by being a vegetarian. And just because I thought I needed to tick one more box to increase my risk- let's throw in a long distance runner!

So it's probably fair to say I've been starting to really watch my diet and try to make sure I'm getting as much iron as possible through my food choices. This is extremely difficult though, because even though you only need a small amount of iron each day (1-1.5mg) you need to eat HEAPS more than this seeing as our bodies only absorb a fraction of the iron from the foods we eat!

As a girl aged between 14-18 years I'm expected to consume 15mg of iron each day. That's without taking into consideration my diet or exercise. Oy vey.

Apparently a healthy body absorbs 18% of the available iron in a typical Western diet (includes animal foods) on the other hand- about 10 percent form a vegetarian diet.

Seriously- maybe I shouldn't have looked into this so deeply. I definitely worried myself a bit.

Then I took a step back and looked at the big picture.

The signs for an iron deficiency include fatigue, brittle nails, swelling or soreness of the tongue, cracks in the side of the mouth or even unusual cravings for non-food items like ice, dirt, paint or starch.

Well! I am definitely not fatigued- running, walking, cooking, dancing, handstanding, bike riding- shows pretty much a typical day for me! My nails are strong and smooth (I also don't have any of those white dots... whatever they mean;) my tongue feels pretty fine and dandy in it's warm, wet home of my mouth, my mouth is crack free (unless I crack a smile ;) and I don't think I've had a craving for dirt since eating it as a todler and working out dirt does not taste good!

So maybe I'm not deficient?

I know I spend a lot of time focusing on my diet, thinking about what I'm going to make, making it and then savouring every bite- but I guess the above shows it's paying off. I have such a high risk to develop an iron deficiency but I've managed to overcome that.

This doesn't mean I can stop working so hard though. It does take a bit of extra thought but I'm cooking delicious foods that I love to eat, so it doesn't really bother me. here's a look at some of the iron-rich foods I've been enjoying lately:

 Some very reliable websites told me that iron is better absorb when paired with vitamin C, so I blitzed my tropical mango green smoothie with some fresh juice of half an orange and drank those lovely iron rich dark leafy greens up!

 I've been enjoying my salads with large handfuls of dark leafy greens also, just to add in an extra punch. Lentils have been scattered in as well:

 Egg salad with raw chopped veg... and some crushed blue maize organic tortilla chips:

Roast veggies with quinoa, lentils, mixed four beans and spinach:

 Pesto roast veggies with roasted tomatoes, peas and corn:

 Pine nuts are full of iron!

So whilst I don't feel like I'm low on iron and seem to be traveling pretty well, I'll keep shoving mass quantities of it down my throat in the hope that this will continue! Roasted broccoli for lunch anyone?

What about you?
Are you/ have you ever been low on iron/ anemic?
How do you prefer to get your iron?
Are dark leafy greens a must for you as well?

That's it from me today guys! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and all the different opinions/ experiences out there. Have a great rest of your day! Bye! :D

Things I've been loving on!

Hello Everybody!
Following the wise posts of Peanut Butter Fingers, I thought I might write a little about some of the things I've been loving recently because I'm feeling extremely grateful and blessed RIGHT NOW!

To kick things off- I've been loving nut butter.

Not just any nut butter though... this nut butter:

 What did I use it for today?
Something else I've been loving (for a very long time now!)

Yep it's my old friend the nut butter and banana toastie!
 With a side of peach fro-yo (1/2 frozen peach + 1/4 banana whazzed up with 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt)

 Warm, gooey, chocolatey...

 Let's just take a second to appreciate this chocolatey banana-y goodness:

 Oh yes.

 This was a great breakfast to refuel my hungry body after today's hour long run.

Along with this guy:

Seeing as coconut water's dubbed 'Nature's Gatorade'  I always love to rehydrate with it after some long sweaty runs when I can. Get some of them electrolytes in me!

Speaking of running- something else I've been loving lately:

 My new, New Balance shoes!

So much support and comfort (my other shoes were getting pretty old and... well worn!)

Speaking of sport and active stuff, I have been LOVING!!! These 7/8 pants I bought from Lorna Jane the other day- sooo comfy, light and yeh!

Who else loves to wear 'sports clothes' as actual clothes? So much comfier than real clothes, right!?!

Back to the topic of food- I've been having a mild obsession with roasted white sweet potato!! (Also known as Japanese sweet potato)

And I'm blaming the Paleo Running Momma (Why does my computer think paleo isn't a word??) who seems to always have the bets looking roasted white sweet potato!
So I bought lots last weekend and have been enjoying it almost every night.:D

A big barley bowl with roast veg, peas and grilled tempeh:

 Poached eggs on top of spinach and hommus lentils with a side of roast veg:

 Roast potatoes! (There was an omelet next to them too, but that's not the main focus ;)

 Seriously, white sweet potatoes are like... a dessert for me. They taste so fudgey and sweet and deeeeelicious!! Even better than regular sweet potatoes (and you know how much I like regular sweet potatoes!)

 With the beautiful thoughts of roasted white sweet potato in my head, I will leave you to get on with this beautiful Friday!

I hope everyone has a great day! See you later! :D

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2015!!

WHOOP WHOOP!!

This year has been pretty big for the blog, in many ways.

Probably number one being I started the blog last January... so my baby's almost one!

However, there were so many other great things that happened in the space of a year and before I get too carried away trying to make myself write 2015 at the end of my dates instead of 2014, I wanted to just take a look back at the year that was.

Steph style!

You know you're going to love my blog when my first blog post is called HELLO :)
Seriously, am I friendly or what?
I'd just received my expensive and professional camera for Christmas, so was still experimenting with that and my food photography was- how we say- ordinary?

This pumpkin based stuffed crust pizza was actually my very first recipe on this blog and it's still one of my favourites that I use almost every time I make pizza!

Then, I topped it- with these awesome pizza parcels merely a week later:

Still, one of my most creative recipes on this blog- these colourful pizza parcels!

That's how the blog started off. Mainly recipes and sometimes just pics of what I'd been eating.

My creativity only seemed to continue to grow as I did some... weird things with food:

March saw my first WIAW link-up!

Featuring another pizza parcel!
Lot's of good food followed in the months to come:

As well as the start of some of my most topical and sometimes hard posts to write:
Skinny= Happy?

Food- kinda necessary

Vegans eat lettuce

Vegan and Protein

The changing of taste buds?

 I wrote about my new love of running and looking back, I can see how far I've come since I first started running my seemingly excruciating 10 minutes around the block, to my now 30-40 minute blissful morning runs:)

I documented my time dealing with my first running injury (weak hips and too much strain on my ITB leading to runner's knee... *sigh*) but pulled through that (what seemed very long) period stronger than ever!

I'm sure the things you are most familiar with on this blog are my two favourite brekkies. Smoothies and nut butter and banana toasties.

So yeh, there was a lot of foo. There was a lot of weirdness. A few posts where I just rambled or had to get something off my chest (come on teenage girls, giving up food is not the answer!!) weird food combos and lots and lots of delicious experiments documenting my experience with a vegetarian lifestyle at my ripe old age of 15 (nearly 16!!)

So today I started my 2015 with one of my favourite breakfasts from the year:

 A tropical green smoothie with vanilla oats topped, with cashew butter!

For 2015? Normally people make resolutions but I get so worried I won't fulfill them and feel bad at the end of the year. So how about some goals? (yes- probably the same thing) In 2015 I want to surprise myself. Push myself further than I though possible. Enjoy every second of my extremely blessed life and try and spread happiness to everyone I meet!

2014 was great. Let's make 2015 even better!!!

Bye for now folks- thanks for all your support, reading, commenting and letting me be a part of this amazing blogging community- I LOVE IT! :D