Hi everyone, hope your having a good weekend so far! Just a quickie post to announce the winners of this weeks Good Hemp Chocolate Fit Shake GIVEAWAY!
The winners are…
Bronagh
Emma@ Coconut and Berries
Jenny$1983
Nada @ One Arab Vegan
Phil @ Skinny Latte Strikes Back
Congrats ladies! Please drop me an email at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish with your address and I’ll get your tasty chocolate hemp protein sent out!
A couple of weeks ago I was sent a pre release tub of Good Hemp Chocolate Fit Shake protein powder sweetened with stevia to try out. Stevia, which is a naturally derived calorie free sweetener has only recently been approved for use in the UK and Good Hemp have added this natural sweetener to their already wonderful Chocolate Gym Shake.
I’m a massive fan of Good Hemp’s products and the Chocolate Gym Shake is definitely my favourite. Considering it is made with hemp it really does taste delicious! Each scoop is 145 calories and contains 17g of protein. Its also fairly affordable which is great for a minimally processed vegan protein powder. A 1kg tub costs £29.99 (currently on offer for £26.99)
I love this product because its vegan, minimally processed and tastes great! I’d already been using the previously sweetened version of Chocolate Gym Shake – I’d even just bought myself another tub! The new formula tastes just as delicious and perhaps a touch sweeter and more chocolately, it kind of reminds me of a more milk chocolate taste.
In fact its the only hemp based protein powder I’ve been happy to drink straight up just blended with water. Of course I’ve regularly been adding it to my green smoothies post strength workout to help with muscle repair:
I’ve also been enjoying on its own as a smoothie in a bowl:
My current favourite way to use it is to make chocolate protein pancakes!
Chocolate hemp protein pancakes (serves 1, vegan)
Combine the dry ingredients then add the milk and stir well. Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat, add a touch of oil and pour out the batter to form a medium sized pancake. Once bubbles start to appear on the surface flip and cook the other side. Keep cooked pancakes warm under the grill while you use the rest of the batter. Serve with your choice of fruit and sauce / syrup.
These taste wonderful and because the protein powder is already sweet they don’t need any further sweetener added. Yum!
GIVEAWAY and Special Offer
The lovely people at Good Hemp Nutrition are offering 5 lucky readers the chance to win a tub of Chocolate Gym Shake!
To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one):
In addition to the GIVEAWAY, Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish readers can get an exclusive 25% off the Chocolate Gym Shake by using code GOODL1 which I think is a fantastic saving!
Giveaway open to UK residents only (sorry international friends!) and closes at 12am GMT Friday 16th March 2012 , good luck!
Hi everyone, hope your having a great Saturday! Just a quick post with the winner of my House Plant GIVEAWAY:
The winner is Katy Aubery! Please email me at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish with your address and I’ll get your plant sent out!
Are you looking to promote your healthy living or fashion blog or brand? Sponsor Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish this March!
Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is an up and coming healthy living blog that has recently been featured on the Channel 4 Food website and Channel 4 Beauty Website and has been ranked as one of the Top 10 Health Blogs in the UK by Cisson PR.
I am interested in supporting other healthy living and style bloggers, Etsy businesses and small ethical brands whose ethos are in line with my own. All income generated via sponsorship opportunities are reinvested in making Keeping Healthy Getting Stylisheven bigger and better!
The blog attracts a variety of readers interested in healthy living, vegetarianism, fashion and style. Sponsorship of Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is a great way to promote your blog and attract new readers, your Etsy business or your healthy living brand.
Existing sponsors have confirmed that sponsorship has helped them to attract new readers and customers.
Sponsorship is available on a monthly basis and involves a 200x150 pixel ad for your blog or business with embedded link placed on the blog.
For blogs or Etsy businesses I offer an introductory offer of just £5 a month, for all other companies and brands £10 a month or a £10 discount on your products alongside a range of products for use in a monthly sponsorship giveaway competition.
Don't worry if you don't have a blog button, I can design you a tailor made blog button for just £5! That’s just £10 for a month sponsorship and a tailor made blog button!
If you are interested please email me laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com thanks!
When I was contacted by the Flower Council of Holland to receive one of their house plants and the ‘Me and My Plant Book’ I was intrigued! I am a massive fan of house plants and I have one in every room of my house, I can’t imagine not having them there! I’m a firm believer in the health benefits of plants (they help to oxygenate the air) as well as them being an attractive interior design accessory. I just love having something green and alive in my space! I was very kindly sent this stunning Cyclamen, his name is Charlie ;-)
It has pride of place in my living room! I also have a peace lily in the bedroom, an ivy type plant in the bathroom and herbs in the kitchen.
The Me and My Plant website, along with the book are a great resource for helping you decide which plant is best suited to you and lots of tips about how to best take care of your plants.
The guys at the Flower Council of Holland have kindly offered to send a lucky reader their very own house plant, a Kalanchoe!
‘Kalanchoes belong to the Crassulaceae family, a genus that includes many succulents. With their thick, sebaceous-like leaves, these house plants require little or no upkeep. A splash of water now and then is good enough. Of the many varieties with small, single or double flowers, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is probably the most common. The new Bells series are real designer plants. They have decorative racemes with light-green air cushions resembling Chinese lanterns, from which small, bell-shaped flowers bloom. Besides flowering Kalanchoes, there is an attractive assortment of foliage Kalanchoes, which have wonderful, thick, glossy leaves’.
To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one):
Giveaway open to UK residents only and closes at 12am GMT Friday 24th February 2012 , good luck!
I have to admit I’m huge fan of Dorset Cereals. A couple of years ago I reviewed some of their muesli and flaked cereals and since then their products been regulars on my shopping list. My favourite products are the Simply Muesli and the Tasty Low Fat Flakes. They were kind enough to sponsor the blog this month and send me one of their new products for review as well as some goodies for giveaway!
I received the new Strawberry and Redcurrant Granola to try out:
I do love their style of packaging :-) This granola is made with oats, golden syrup, sunflower oil, sunflower seeds and freeze dried berries. I’ve been enjoying it on top of smoothies and along side fresh berries and soy yoghurt:
Its delicious, I love the addition of the slightly tart and sweet berries to the crunchy earthy oats. The granola is £3.79 for a 550g box which I don’t think is too bad given the quality of the product. I do tend to watch out for supermarket offers as Dorset Cereals products seem to be included quite regularly – I know I’ve seen them with money off in Sainsbury’s a few times, so keep an eye out if you’re on a budget. I think the berry addition to this granola makes it an excellent choice for summer breakies!
I was also sent some great products to giveaway to you lovely readers:
One lucky reader will win a 600g box of Gloriously Nutty Muesli and 4 single serving muesli pots containing my favourite Simply Muesli.
I think the single serving pots are a great idea! They would be perfect for breakfast in a hurry or even taking to a summer festival – all you would have to do is take along some little cartons of non dairy milk and you’d be set! They also do the pots with flakes and granola.
To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one, I hate for you to miss out on additional entries!):
Giveaway open to UK residents only (sorry international friends!) and closes at 12am GMT Sunday 24th June 2012, good luck!
I’ve been a huge fan of Meghan Telpner for well over a year now. I love her blog Making Love in the Kitchen, it is full of great recipes and tips for living well, so when I was contacted about hosting a giveaway for her Foods for Healing Course, I was chuffed to bits!
Here is some further information about the course from Meghan herself…
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1 in 5 North Americans suffer from serious digestive distress. Most of our modern health challenges have some level of inflammation involved. I personally, spent years suffering from serious digestive issues until, in 2006, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.
I have heard from so many of you asking what I did, what I ate, how I healed, and then how I worked with my dad to help him kick cancer, and how I have worked with hundreds of clients to get them on their own health train.
I am thrilled to be able to share this information with you! Foods For Healing is a course I began teaching here in my kitchen to groups of 20 at a time. As the demand grew, I couldn't stretch my kitchen any further and so we have created this unbelievable course.
We had people flying in from across North America to get to this workshop as there is currently nothing like it available.
This course will explain from start to finish the path of disease, how these imbalances can take over in our mind and body and then what you can do about it. The information included empowers you to take ownership over your health, and learn how with certain foods and specific nutrients, you can play an active role in your own healing- or simply in maintaining optimal health.
The course includes:
This course is suitable for:
The Curriculum
This program literally covers the full spectrum of information including the physical aspects of health and disease, the emotional connection, and how food and lifestyle can play an important role in the healing. Divided into nine modules with a bonus section of “Tools”, the course materials has been broken down in easy to follow parts.
Feedback From Past Programmes
I just completed this course and it was an outstanding educational experience and completely life changing. 10 stars out of 5!! I highly recommend to those interested in taking their personal nutrition or health business to the next level.
- Sammie Kennedy, Founder/CEO Booty Camp Fitness
I loved the course. It really made me take that extra step in thinking about and preparing my meals and has made my week so much easier. I used to spend hours a day prepping meals but with the tid bits I took away from each module I have begun prepping everything on Sundays. I found the worksheets extremely useful and have printed them all out along with menu plans and put them in a binder. Although I knew a lot of the information already, my boyfriend watched every video with me and I think it helped get him on the same page when it comes to food preparation (which is extremely helpful!). - Malakai Kirkpatrick
Meghan Telpner
BIO: Meghan Telpner is a Toronto based nutritionista and sought after media personality thanks to her refreshingly humorous, engaging and real approach to healthy living. Her online cooking courses and health programs are improving the health of people around the world. Meghan’s book UnDiet, Eat Your Way to Vibrant Health will be released North America wide in April, 2013. Join Meghan’s community on twitter @MeghanTelpner , or on Facebook at Meghan Telpner Nutritionista. For more visit MeghanTelpner.com
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You can see more details of the course and sign up for registration here!
As a health counsellor in training I think this course sounds so interesting and I’m really looking forward to hopefully doing it myself!
Registration for the course officially opens on 12th November and KHGS readers can get an exclusive 10% discount using the code ‘keepinghealthygettingstylish’
I also have one free registration to the Foods for Healing course available for giveaway to a Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish reader.
To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one, I hate for you to miss out on additional entries!):
Giveaway open to EVERYONE and closes at 12am GMT Sunday 11th November, good luck!
Hi everybody, hope your having a great weekend! Here’s the winners of my June Sponsors Giveaway:
Cosy Tea Winners:
Rude Health Granola Winners:
Congratulations everyone! Please email me at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com with your address details and I’ll get your prizes posted out!
Healthy Living Gathering: We want to know what you think!
A few of us have started to investigate the potential to hold a UK healthy living bloggers event (similar to the Healthy Living Summit that takes place in the U.S) It’s very early days yet, but we wanted to post about it so that we could see how many of you would be interested in taking part!
There are 4 of us trying to organise things at the moment: Emily from Sparkle and Shade, Laura from Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish, Emma from Coming Up Easy and Laura from Box, Run, Eat.
At the moment we are looking at a possible date of the 8th and 9th October 2011.
If you would be interested in attending an event like this please send an email to healthylivinggathering@gmail.com with the following information:
● Venue preference: Leeds / Manchester / Nottingham
● How much you would be willing to pay for a ticket
We know it will be difficult to find a venue that suits everyone, but we have tried to keep the options as central and affordable as possible. If you'd like to come but can't make that weekend, please still get in touch - the date isn't set in stone, the main thing we need to find out is how many of you would be interested in coming along!
We really hope that some of you would like to join us at an event, it would be lovely to meet you all! This isn’t just restricted to bloggers either, anyone that’s interested could come along.
If you’re on Twitter, make sure you’re following @HLG11 for all the latest info and updates over the next few months.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Emily, Laura, Emma and Laura x
Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week! I’m buzzing as I am now off work for the week :-)
Yesterday morning I got up and did my usual yoga podcast. This time I decided to try something new and did the Yoga Sculpt workout which uses weights. I just used my smallest hand weights but my word this was tough! I really enjoyed it though, using the weights really took it to the next level!
Breakfast was a big bowl of cherry coconut porridge (1/2 cup of scottish oats, 2 tbsp of 10 grain hot cereal, 2.5 cups of water cooked in microwave) with ground flax, 2 punnets of fresh cherries (yes it took me forever to de pit these but so worth it!), coconut extract, sweet freedom sweetener, lots of coconut butter and desiccated coconut:
Absolutely delicious, coconut and cherry flavours go together so well!
Lunch yesterday and repeated today, was a big salad with mixed lettuce, pepper, carrot, cucumber, tofu rosso and braggs plus lots of un pictured fruit:
First try of the Taifun Tofu Rosso and it was gorgeous!
Also had my first try of a carrot cake Lara Bar:
This was lovely with a slight hint of pineapple and it had big chunks of almonds in it :-)
I’ve made a big change to my usual workout routine this week, instead of doing a 3,2,1 workout on Thursday evenings I’ve tinkered with my schedule and did some weights this morning instead. Last night I still went to the gym but did my usual Friday morning workout instead (40 minutes of cardio intervals and abs and core).
I decided to switch up my weights to a Friday morning as my gym only has a very small weights section which usually gets too busy on a Thursday evening. This way I can have it all to myself! I decided to go with a modified version of a workout from The New Rules of Lifting For Women (I was inspired to get this after reading Amanda and Emma’s reviews). I won’t be starting the full plan yet as I still want to incorporate my Body Pump and obviously my focus on running. Here’s what I did:
5 minute warm up – treadmill 6.0mph
A Wide grip dead lift x 10 x 2 sets
B Alternating set x 2
C Alternating set x 2
D Alternating set x 2
E – prone cobra x 10 x 2 sets
15 minutes cardio intervals on bike, 1 minute hard, 2 minutes recovery
This workout was fantastic, I felt like I had really worked hard. Even better, it was all done in 45 minutes!
Today’s breakfast was a blueberry cookie dough smoothie:
I made this by mixing 1/3 cup of oats with 1 tbsp of chia seeds and 1.5 cups of water overnight. Then this morning I added that to the blender with a sachet of blueberries and cream spiru-tein protein powder, frozen blueberries, 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast, ice, water and xanthan gum for thickness. I then topped with a crumbled almond oatmeal raisin cookie and more blueberries! So tasty, the blueberries and cream spiru-tein was lovely.
Tonight I had a fancy for a curry so I made my Simple Red Lentil Dahl and served with brown rice, some gorgeous reduced price organic tenderstem broccoli and steamed kale sprinkled with coriander and mixed seeds:
This was just perfect, I haven’t had dahl in far too long! Of course there has been more of the usual sweet treats:
Chocolate carob protein ice cream (1.5 scoops of chocolate sun warrior, 1 tbsp of carob powder, ice, water, stevia) topped with dark choc chips and freeze dried berries. Nom! Tonight I indulged my sweet tooth with some soya milk chocolate:
I’d picked this chocolate up from a health food store on a trip to York a few months back. I’ve already eaten the green tea bar and this soya bar was absolutely amazing, so rich and creamy with a wonderful crunchy smooth texture. I really need to see if I can get my hands on another bar!
I also need to announce the winner of this months sponsor giveaway for 1 months supply of Total Greek Yoghurt! The winner is:
The lovely Bronagh! Congrats! Please email me with your address :-)
Does everyone have a nice weekend planned? I’ll be getting myself sorted for going away tomorrow – we leave for Brighton very early on Sunday morning to miss the traffic. I am a bit sad as James isn’t coming down (he’s just started his new job he didn’t want to take time off) but I’m going with my Mam and Dad and looking forward to having lots of me time instead, and a couple of exciting blog meet ups!
Before I go I just have to briefly mention this post over at Choosing Raw. This post is part of Gena’s Green Recovery series looking at how a plant based diet has supported recovery from disordered eating. I found this post very moving as Laura’s story really resonated with me and reminded me of many of the issues I had growing up and some of the issues I’ve been dealing with recently. I really loved her thoughts on not seeing things as black and white, that no one is perfect, and her beautifully expressed thoughts on how a plant based diet makes her feel – I could have written those words myself! We are all a work in progress, all of our bodies are different and no one is perfect. One size does not fit all, one way of eating may be right for one person and not for another, we are all so wonderfully different and unique! That’s one of the things I love about the blogging community – the wonderful variety of people within it :-)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
On Friday I discovered a new Asian supermarket in Durham. They had a good range of items including big bags of rice, dried beans, date syrup, coconut jam (I will be trying this!) etc. However, as I’m on a budget I restricted myself to getting just one item. I decided to buy a big bag of green lentils for £1:
I adore lentils they are cheap, delicious, a great source of protein and are much easier and quicker to cook than dried beans. I was instantly reminded of a very tasty combo I’d seen over on Emilia’s blog and as I’m almost knee deep in squash I thought I’d give it a try!
Lentil, apple and sage stuffed squash (vegan, serves 2)
Pre heat the oven to 200c. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place on a tray and bake in the oven until the squash flesh is nice and tender (for my squash this took 45 minutes). Mean while cook the lentils in 1 cup of salted water. Finely chop the onions and fry in a little oil over a medium heat (I used coconut oil). When the lentils are tender (about 25 minutes) drain and add them to the onions. Chop the apple into pieces and add to the lentils and onions. When the squash is ready, scoop out some of the flesh, making sure you leave about 1/2 and inch of flesh in the skin so it keeps it shape. Add the squash flesh to the lentil and apple mixture and mash together in the pan. Add the sage and mix well. Fill the squash shells with the lentil and apple mixture and return to the oven for a further 5 – 10 minutes to crisp up slightly. Serve!
I served mine with some steamed broccoli and spring greens. To be honest this is so simple its barely a recipe – however it tastes so good you could easily serve this to others and have them thinking you’d been slaving in the kitchen for ages! You could also use any type of squash with this recipe, butternut would be wonderful of course. I’m sure that the addition of some vegan cheese on top would push this over the edge of deliciousness too!
I have to thank blogging for introducing me to the delights of squash, I absolutely love it in almost anything – curries, Buddha bowls, as a pasta sauce, in smoothies…I could go on! What’s your favourite way to enjoy squash?
Madre Labs GIVEAWAY Winners
Please email me laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com with your details!
Big thanks to everyone that entered!
A few weeks ago I was sent a selection of products to review from Madre Labs:
I received the CocoCardio, Midori Greens Powder and Eureka Berries Powder.
I was quite interested to find out a little more about Madre Lab products as I had heard about them on other blogs and via iHerb (which is the only place you can purchase these products)
The company specialise in producing whole food based supplements using the finest quality raw ingredients to complement a healthy lifestyle.
The first product I tried was the CocoCardio. I have to say I was very impressed with this! It contains a range of antioxidant rich ingredients including cocoa, freeze dried beetroot powder and hibiscus. Beetroot in particular has been linked to improved athletic performance due to a high level of naturally occurring nitrates – see the review I did of Beet It Shots for more info on the benefits of nitrates.
The powder comes in a re sealable pack with a scoop and is designed to be mixed with some warm water into a drink. It is suggested that the drink is sweetened due to the naturally bitter flavour of the cacao and beetroot. I made a drink by mixing a scoop of the powder with a little cold water then topping up with hot water from the kettle and stirring in a sachet of stevia:
This makes a delicious hot chocolate drink which is only 30 calories! The powder mixes well with the water unlike some other hot chocolate powders and creates a deep rich chocolaty drink. The fact that it contains antioxidants and other healthy ingredients is just a great added benefit! It costs $14.95 (about £9.80) for a pack with 30 servings.
The next product I tried was the Eureka Berries Powder which is designed as a supplement to support overall health and wellbeing. It contains:
Like the CocoCardio, it is designed to provide a range of antioxidant rich ingredients that can potentially support healthy immune function, healthy energy levels and healthy aging through free radical scavenging. It can be mixed with water to make a drink or added to smoothies. I’ve tried it both ways, mixed with water and few drops of stevia makes a mildly sweet berry flavoured drink:
If you don’t like drinking plain water this could be a lovely product to try. Each tub contains 60 servings at just 10 calories. Again, like the CocoCardio, whether this improves my health would be difficult to prove, but the fact that it tastes great makes it a win win situation! A tub costs $37.07 (about £24.30)
I also tried the Midori Greens Powder. This contains a range of ‘super greens’ blends including:
As you can see this list is pretty extensive! Over the last couple of years I have bought and used several of these ingredients as powders on their own including matcha green tea, barley grass and chlorella. Purchasing these separately is very expensive, as well as having the space to store them and this product combines them all in a small tub, plus the added veggie and herb blends too. I’ve only tried this added to my favourite green smoothies so far but it can also be used like the berries powder and made into a drink.
This is only 5 calories a serving and a tub costing $41.97 (about £27.57) contains 60 servings.
I have to admit I was quite surprised by these products. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. These are expensive products but they are made with the best quality natural whole food ingredients, and as I said for the Midori Greens, if you were to purchase just a few of the ingredients separately it would be much more expensive. For example a very small pot of matcha green tea costs £20 at least. The CocoCardio is about the same calories as an Options Hot Chocolate but minus all the chemicals and works out at about 30p a serving.
Overall I would definitely consider purchasing these myself, particularly the CocoCardio and the Midori Greens – I love adding a range of green powders to my smoothies and the fact that this product provides them all in one powder is really useful!
Don’t forget, if you’d like to try these from iHerb and your a new customer, use my code AGA105 and save $5!
Madre Labs GIVEAWAY
Now you have the chance to try all of these products yourself! Up for grabs in this GIVEAWAY are:
Two winners will receive these products!
To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one):
PLEASE NOTE: This giveaway is open to everyone and is international, however to claim the prize you must register with iHerb and if you are not in the US, the prize will be sent via International Airmail and you will be responsible for any additional customs, duties or taxes.
GIVEAWAY closes at 12am GMT Sunday 16th October 2011, good luck!
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