Feeling Good About Feeling Good

Another cheese and cracker Monday survived and one more day to go on the raw food phase of this challenge. I have the majority of the days planned out but I have just realized that I have a couple of potential banana skins / eating challenges on the horizon. I am playing a gig for a friend on Thursday night and there will be beer and wine and food and the likes at this function. My plan is this........ To make enough food tomorrow night to take with me and eat during the break. I will have sparkling water if needed and enjoy the fact that I am getting to play some music. Click here to hear a little bit of what I do with my mates.

So more of the same today. Raw food and I have stocked up on the Raw Power Salad to make sure that lunch is as enjoyable as it was today. Honestly though I am really looking forward to some warmish meals and am likely to revisit the Roast Pumpkin treat that I had on day two. I can say that its very delicious and I could eat bowl after bowl of it. The key to the dish is that the dressing with a little bit of lemon juice in it brings out the beautiful flavors of the pumpkin and spinach.... to make it you do  this

Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin with Spinach and Cumin-spiced Chickpeas

Pumpkin chopped into small cubes

Garlic cloves

Cumin seeds

Spinach

1-2 cups cooked chickpeas

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

Fresh Coriander and fresh parsley

Roast pumpkin in oven with cumin seeds and garlic. Heat olive oil in a pan and add dried spice powders. When fragrant add chickpeas and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add washed spinach and wilt down (this salad also tastes great with fresh Spinach chopped through at the end, take your pick). Place in a bowl and cool till warm temperature. Add roasted pumpkin (also warm, not piping hot), fresh herbs and combine. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, S & P and your choice of sprinkles (chia seeds, nuts, seeds, etc etc).  - Kauia Moriarty

I am so fortunate to have a brother who is an amazing chef and super talented when it comes to making food look and taste superb. If you have ever had the pleasure of being cooked for by Joel, you know what I mean. This dish is something that he would definitely make and make well. This post is dedicated to you Joel, for inspiring me to get healthy, you are a wonderful brother, a phenomenal chef and a fantastic uncle to our wee grommets. Stay warm every one. Arohanui to all. 

Energy Abound!!

No explanation needed here folks. The end of the day used to consist of feeling like I was battling to get shit done, like the dishes at the end of tea, like popping a wee load of washing on, like writing a blog and being ready to go for my two wee boys. I would feel buggered, ready for bed but when I went to bed, I wasn't sleeping well when there was opportunity.

Last night I slept through. I can safely say that the lack of caffeine, will definitely have something to do with it, but I am also confident that with out all of the processed food and crap and daily cookies and chips and coffee and things would definitely, be messing me up, sleep wise and energy wise. So the proof is in the pudding. Better sleep = More energy = Happy.

Today is day three of the raw food phase of the 14 days. I have to say that the Cauliflower cous cous (recipe courtesy of MeghanTelpner.com) was a lot better today after spending a bit of time in the fridge. Mine didn't look anything like the picture but it tasted great and was really refreshing with all of the parsley and basil in it. The other thing I found out too is that you can get cherry tomatoes in a tin. Pams do a 400gm tin in tomato juice and the cherry's are in tact in the tin. It's comparatively cheaper too at $2.30 a pop as opposed to the winter price of a pottle at around 6 bucks at present. The other thing I found out about making this is that we need a proper food processer with an S blade. I cut the cauli by hand and it was a pain in the bum, but worth it later on.

Tomorrow I have the Super Raw Power Salad for Lunch tomorrow and the recipe is below. I love the fresh flavors in this one and the dressing combined with the sweetness of the fruits and beets gets my taste buds absolutely cranking.

 Super Raw Power Salad

1 grated Beet

1 large carrot grated

1/2 zucchini grated

Diced red cabbage

Spinach chopped

Handful soaked dried fruit

1/4 cup soak seeds and almonds (almonds chopped)

Dressing

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Diced 1/2 red onion

1 garlic clove finely chopped

Tsp raw honey

S & P

Sesame seeds

Combine all veg, dress and serve with a generous dollop of nut pulp hummus. 

8 Days done. 6 to go. I am starting to get a little nervous about what will happen post cleanse. I will follow my own advice and get cranking on a plan. After all thats going to help health win.

The Daily Lowdown: Whats the programme?

Week 1 is done!!!!! I am pretty wrapped. So, I thought I would share with you today, my typical eating arrangements in a day and let you in on a few tips on how to keep on keeping on when the carbs are calling . Obviously being prepared is a must in sticking to any (eating plan). Like with any plan, and having lists are key as. I bloody love lists, I even make lists of the lists I need to make sometimes... Is that weird?

So it is helpful to note too that I haven't done all of the planning and implementation by myself. In fact, when it comes to eating well, on track record, I am not the bloke that you would aks to help you out getting prepared to 14 day cleanse up a storm. Kauia has done the graft for me. She has put together the plans, researched the rationale, sussed out what has worked for her in the past, provided me with a big heads up as to what I might expect, and been really supportive before and during the first 7 days (and no doubt post cleanse too). I have nothing but gratitude for the effort and care that she has put into getting a plan together, that will work and that suits  a fast approaching 40 year old male, with too much telly time on his hands.

The day starts at about 6ish when the kids get up, and I have a largish glass of warm water, and then crack into smoothie making once the kids breakfast is on the table at around 7. This has been all I need until  about 10 when I will have a snack of maybe an Energy Date ball and a piece of fruit.

My body really knows when it is fast approaching lunch and i generally start clock watching 15 minutes til noon. In the weekends I eat lunch a little later but at work I try to eat at the same time each day. Lunch consists of last nights leftovers (tomorrow it will be Spicy Citrus and broc...).

In the afternoon around 3pm I have a a couple of pieces of fruit and maybe 10 almonds depending upon what is available at home. 3pm is traditionally a tough time of the day for most people as energy levels deplete. I have found that because I have been drinking plenty of water through out the day and having herbal teas at my leisure, I am not getting the same spikes and troughs of food related energy I used to, and that is noticeable after 7 days team. It just needs to continue, and I am sure it will.

Tea time is a treat. and happens around 5:30 which is when we all eat together in our house. The beauty of making tea is that you are fully aware of what is in your lunch box the next day. And that is part of the plan. On day one I had my food already to go sitting in the back fridge. After 4 days I started getting comfy about what I was eating and when and all I do now is that I check at about 5pm to see that I have enough of what I need to take the next day. Easy aye??

Obviously I have omitted all of the head mental stuff that is happening, and all of the 'busy' that is occurring too. Those two factors can completely fark a plan up. So if you are thinking about eating well the best thing you can do is be prepared and be mindful and present to the fact that you are doing something good for your self.

Footy and Herbal Teas....WTF

The temperature outside in fair Dunedin town is bloody freezing to say the least. I Am not worried, as the fire is cranking, and I worked out a while back that you can't change the weather so there is no point complaining about it. The kids are in bed and kind friends have leant us Sky TV for the week. That basically means that in the house of 262 its footy fever with the ABs on one channel, the Warriors on another and the remote control all mine. Nothing better to do than break out 2 or 3 little chocolate truffles, a dandelion tea and reflect on what has been an industrious and satisfying day.

At the end of day 6, it is weird sitting here, barracking for black with out a beer in my hand, but I am committed to the cause, and the cause is going well. I am becoming used to the subtleties of the herbal tea ranges, caffeine free of course, and my head is feeling less foggy, as a result of my body not having to cope with all the coffee, hidden sugars in processed food and the usual weekend beers. Along with meat though, beer wont be on the forever banned list.

Not the Berry Blunt but another smoothie The Tropical fruit Fix-up

I am really getting into the "smoothie" breakfast. I never thought I would buy into it because I just couldn't believe it would be filling enough. The one I am enjoying the most right now is the berry blunt, Courtesy of Kauia Moriarty, the talented designer of my 14 day food plan of attack. Check out this easy recipe.

The Berry Blunt

Stalk of Celery

Two handfuls – Spinach 

Water

Cup frozen or fresh berries

tsp Chlorella

Tbls Chia seeds/ 2 Tbs ground flax seeds/ Tbs Hemp Protien

1 Banana 

2 Tbls Almonds/ Pumpkin seeds/ Sunflower seeds (preferably soaked)

Honey.

My instructions are "chuck it in a blender and drink it". I haven't been using the hemp protein or flax seeds (in the recipe), and you can really throw anything you want into the blender. Don't be put off by the color either. Its green, and green means good!!

Tonight I had a scrummy beet and carrot salad, which sounds boring but got jazzed up a bit with some dried fruit and almonds and a lovely citrus dressing. I am starting to enjoy the ritual of preparing and then devouring the healthy food, and so hopefully forming some good habits along the way. I will post the recipe tomorrow. 

I got out for a wee run this morning too which was the first in a month. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to peel off a few km's in the morning. If you are thinking of doing a cleanse thing like I am undertaking, you have to try and get some exercise habits under your belt. It really helps when your feeling like you might drop into the shop for a bag of chips. Walking or running or what ever you want to do exercise wise, really helps to keep your mind off what ever it is on, and obviously the benefits and well being that exercise gives you are choice.

Rugby and herbal tea don't really make a marketing match, but I am enjoying it. Day 6, (Raw phase day 1) done.

The Little Pies and Chocolate Test

I used to have a penchant for pies. Over the years I used to have a pie a day. At high school I would usually have a steak and cheese pie from the tuck shop, a can of fizz pop, and an iceblock, and maybe a bag of skittles for lunch. Improvements have been made on and off with my food intake over the years but never sustained. Until now. If my high school self could see my today self, it wouldn't recognise me, and I am completely comfortable with that.

I have hit day 5 of the cleanse feeling optimistic. I had negotiated my way through the first four days, it was Friday and I love any day that end in 'y'. When I got to the kitchen at work this morning to fill my water bottle, the bench was full of little savories, literally just spilling out on to the floor and out the door almost all of the way to my desk.. mountains of little pies and quiches... and then I remembered that it was someones birthday morning tea, and I was in the poo perhaps.

Luckily I had seen the email the day before warning me, and so I was prepared and was able to resist the temptation on several occasions. I enlisted the help of my colleague to eat my ones for me, and she did and I was very grateful. I even took a different route to the bathroom and lunch room to avoid temptation and the taunting, and the thoughts and the voices telling me "just one little pie wont hurt". 

To cap it all off today was the day I think my body realised it wasn't going to get what it was expecting and the symptoms of detox really started to kick in. I haven't been able to shake this head ache for most of the day, and I am breaking out like I used to when I was 14. To be honest I feel like arse, being a grumpy shit, and losing my cool, but I know its only temporary, like when you stub your toe or something like that. I can't wait to exercise in the morning.

The cool thing about the raw phase that I am starting tomorrow is that, all of the lovely little date energy balls and chocolate truffles are natural and raw. I dont mean to say that I am going to make a pig of myself and hammer a dozen of them, but more use them as a reward for all of my hard work. Instead of pooping off to the servo at 8 when the kids are in bed to grab a three for $5 chocolate bar deal, I am going to be eating one or two of these little bad boys.. recipe courtesy of 

http://www.anjasfood4thought.com

Avocado Chocolate Truffles

1/2 cup ground almonds (you can just grind your own in the magic bullet!)

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 ripe avocado
Yields 15-18

Combine almonds, apricots, cocoa powder and cardamom in a food processor. Blend until it becomes a fine meal. Add syrup and avocado and blend again until well combined.
Form balls from the batter. If you can’t get avocados, these will still work. Give and take with the ingredients till it’s reached the right consistency to form balls. Roll each ball in raw cacao. 

Keep in airtight container in the fridge for up to three days (longer if you don’t use Avocado). Freezes well.

These little guys are the bizzo. and they are tasty and healthy. 

I am too far down the cleansing worm hole now to turn back so I think the best thin I can do right now is sit back and enjoy the Raw food  5 day ride, starting in the morning, with a delicious Berry Blast smoothy. I will share the recipe tomorrow, along with some of the key supplements/super foods  that can be helpful when you are giving one of these cleanse things a crack. Thank you to Kauia and Ryan for sending us the Cocoanut Oil and Chlorella Powder. I feel very lucky. and I just know that in the morning the kids are sleeping in too. 

Whats the Goal?

Just recently our work place devised a "biggest loser" type incentive for our office and a whole heap of people enrolled. Every one started off with a hiss and a roar and gave it a good crack.  Some people grabbed excellent results (losing 15% of body weight in 12 weeks) some, including me grabbed a result, whether it was a loss or a gain and I say results because the more I think about it, the result was the goal. To lose weight and body mass, and I did that. I really admire every one who enrolled in the incentive because every one had a unique set of reasons, feelings and motives for joining, and it took courage and a big jump outside their comfort zone to have a go.

Obviously to gain a favorable result I needed to change what habits I had around exercise and eating and over come a number of head mental challenges as well. I definitely exercised more with my running peeps and played football and walked the stairs at work. I started at 99.3 kg s and lost a total of 4 kg s or just under 4% in 12 weeks (the lowest I got down to was 94 kg s but I yoyo'd between there and 97 especially when the challenge was over). I was happyish with the result but I new I could do better. I had good days and bad days during the challenge. As you do. But it was too easy to pop over to the ware house and grab a bag of chips and a little cookie time cookie, or a kit kat from the vending machine and sate my brain with the sugar and carbs it was craving. And so with every week that went by during that challenge I started to realize the main factor for my weight fluctuations was the small movement of my hand to the food to my mouth.

Let me point out that the focus of this 14 day cleanse is definitely not about losing weight, more trying to adopt some better healthy eating habits so that I can feel a whole lot better in myself  and so that I can take care of what I need to (insert life here). Losing weight will no doubt will be a bi product result of healthier food choices for sure.  But the thing I am stoked about right now how as a family we are thinking more about healthier food choices and actively thinking about the  effect of putting shit food in our mouths and the mouths of our kids. Claire tonight made corn fritters tonight but used chickpeas in it to make them a little more healthier (I didn't have any though) and the kids devoured them.

Curried Carrot and Raisin Salad : Yum!!

So today has been about getting ready for the Raw phase of the programe and I am feeling pretty good about it now, that I had a delicious curried carrot and raisin salad (provided to me by Kauia via http://www.nataliakw.com). I really needed to try one of the Raw diner recipes to get a taste but I must remember to lay off the ginger in this one.

Phase two of the cleanse will require 5 days of raw food but the beauty of going raw is that I am already eating about 80% raw foods already!!

Over all I have had a better day, enjoying my food in the knowledge that I am doing a good thing for myself. I'm even going to try a new smoothie for breakfast. Just not sure which one yet.
By the way, I am loving the comments, words of encouragement and recipe's from you too. Thank you!! Keep them coming, and if you are thinking of giving something like this a go, you will, when you are good and ready. Arohanui

Tough Days Happen

I was feeling pretty gouda after my first two successful days on the cleanse buzz, but today has been a different experience and I am putting it down to a lack of sleep and my body telling me that it is quite tired from spring cleaning out the years of rubbish I have put in my mouth. It has been a cold old day which would usually mean that I would break out the comfort food, and enjoy. Its been a tough day.

I can safely say that I haven't strayed, although I ever so badly wanted to, but obviously not badly enough. The key to me keeping true to the fight is diversion, and I have been diverting like a fury, pausing, taking the stairs, twice, drinking water and thinking of the long term gain over a little fling with some form of some carb, sugar, or both. Snacks have been my savior on day three, and once again having a plan has been the key to keeping on track.

Below is the recipe of a little tasty treat that, in the company of fruit and or veggies, are like having a little piece of candy, but not filled with the usual sweet schtuff. It is called the Date Energy Ball. (One of the many recipie from Kauia's plan that I am following and from a blog by Sarah Brighton called mynewroots.blogspot.com )

Date Balls 

2 cups dates, chopped (or you can also use some raisins, prunes, apricots)
2 cups nuts (use walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds, but pecans, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias will also work well.)
Dash of cinnamon
Sesame seeds for rolling (optional)

1. Set out a few sheets of parchment paper and a Tupperware container (you will have very sticky hands when you’ll need this)
2. Place the dates and /or other dried fruits in a food processor. Pulse until processed to a paste. Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t clean processor).
3. Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the fruit paste. Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (this is the fun part – kids love it too!)
4. Taking small amounts at a time, shape the kneaded fruit dough into small balls. You can roll the balls in sesame seeds, which will prevent the balls from sticking together, but this is optional. I like the crunch it gives and the extra boost of calcium never hurts!
5. Store in layers, in parchment-lined containers in the refrigerator until you set off on your next energy.

These little buggers are really filling and I am having a couple of them with fruit as a snack in the morning and afternoon play lunch parts of the day. 

General diner tonight for the rest of the whanau today was meat loaf with spuds and mixed veg. The smell of the meat loaf was devine and made me realise that right now I am a vegetarian tourist. I am not sure I could turn my back for good on meat, but for now it is working for me and luckily this house is a bacon cooking free zone.

Hope the lethargy, slight head aches, and tetchiness start to subside. I know it will. I will let you know when the wellbeing well and truly kicks in................................ It's kicking in right now!!