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Welcome to the weekend everyone! Hope your week has been good, I can’t believe we are already over half way through January already! Thanks for all your lovely comments on my ‘loose skin’ post, it was really nice that you guys appreciate my openness!

This morning my huge fruit and veg box arrived:

I put in two extra orders of kale so I can make up a load of raw kale chips. I have some in the dehydrator covered in a cheesy, spicy cashew and red pepper coating right now!

Workouts this week have been great, now that I’m back to feeling 100% I’ve really enjoyed some tough ones!

• Sunday – 5.2 mile treadmill run, Kettlebell class
• Monday – AM Gym – 5 minute treadmill warm up, strength training from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 20 min HIIT bike
• Tuesday – AM Yoga for Runners, PM Gym 10 min HIIT cross trainer and 10 min HIIT step machine, Body Pump
• Wednesday – AM Gym – 5k treadmill speed intervals (between 6.7 – 8.5mph – this killed me!) 10 min HIITs on each – step machine, bike, cross trainer
• Thursday – AM DVD – Nell McAndrew Maximum Impact, PM Zumba Exhilarate Activate DVD
• Friday – AM Gym – 5 minute cross trainer warm up, strength training from Female Body Breakthrough ‘Dial It In’ phase, 15 min HIIT treadmill

I doubled up on DVD’s yesterday as I’ve just bought all the Nell McAndrew ones plus I have the Zumba and a Pilates one to review so I’m fitting them in where I can!

Some foodie highlights from this week include a couple of the usual smoothies:

Greens and kale, chocolate sun warrior, 2 oranges, maca powder, ground flax, midori greens powder, matcha green tea, xanthan gum (this one needed it as it was very watery and I really fancied a thick one), water, ice topped with cranberries, bee pollen and popped amaranth

Quickie in a jar smoothie – kale, pears, chocolate hemp protein powder, ground flax, maca, midori greens, matcha green tea, water, ice topped with bee pollen

I’ve also enjoyed more chia pudding:

 Frozen raspberries with cacao chai chia pudding topped with gojis and buckwheaties

I had a really great salad for lunches this week too:

I made up some of my tofu cottage cheese and mixed with lemon juice, chopped red onion, cucumber and carrot on top of romaine with braggs. This was so good, I used to eat regular cottage cheese mixed with those veggies all the time before veganism came a calling and this tasted exactly like it!

For a lovely little snack I had some dried figs with tahini, black strap molasses and honey for dipping:

Totally packed with calcium and iron and tastes fab!

For dinners I’ve been having a socca made with some fresh basil and parsley in the batter filled with mashed butternut squash, red onion and cannellini beans mixed with nutritional yeast and served up with some roasted broccoli:

I’ve also been loving lattes made with my home made sunflower seed milk and teeccino:

I was quite surprised by how foamy the seed milk went!

I also tried something a bit experimental. I had seen on some US blogs that you could get an Apple Cider Vinegar drink so I thought I’d try making my own by mixing some of my RAW Apple Cider Vinegar with some Pukka Aloe Vera juice and water:

This is raw unpasteurised vinegar so it contains lots of good bacteria. I did a little bit of research on the benefits of raw apple cider vinegar and it appears its a bit of a super food in its own right! As well as being good for the digestion it has also been said that it can help weight loss and balance glucose levels. It can also be used externally as a skin toner or to add shine to the hair. You can read more about apple cider vinegar research, benefits and how to use it safely here. This drink tasted lovely, really nice and tangy. I’m thinking it would be great diluted with some fruit juice, with honey added or even in my fresh veggie juice.

I was also pretty chuffed earlier in the week when my Diet and Nutrition Advisor certificate came through, very exciting!

I can now go ahead and register with the Federation of Holistic Therapists and get my insurance in place!

How has your week been? Got much planned for the weekend? I’m looking forward to a little trip into town, seeing family and friends and some kitchen time, bliss!

Have you tried Apple Cider Vinegar before or used it medicinally? That drink was really nice and felt like it settled my tummy, going to enjoy it more often!

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY, it closes on Sunday!