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Hi everyone hope your week is going well!

I’m back for another WIAW! These are my eats from yesterday. I started the day with my usual warm water and lemon which I sipped on while getting washed and dressed, then I made breakfast! I had a big bowl of strawberries, banana and some cacao chai chia pudding:

I also had a cup of black cinnamon and hazelnut coffee sweetened with stevia:

So glad that the mornings are getting a little lighter now!

Mid morning I had a couple of carrots with some cashew butter for dipping for a snack:

I love carrots with nut butter! I also had this amazing rosehip and cherry tea:

My work colleague had returned from a break in Scotland and brought a few different teas back for me from her hotel. This was so good I might have to track down that brand, it tasted like cherry drop sweeties! Of course I drank a lot of other tea during the day too including green and rooibos.

Lunch was a big salad made from lots of random things from the fridge:

It included spinach, brown rice, marinated tofu, home grown alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, red cabbage, red pepper and some braggs liquid aminos. This was lovely but it reminded me why I usually go easy on the carbs at lunch, I definitely had a mid afternoon slump! To pick me up again I had a snack of a pear, an apple and some salt and pepper Popchips:

I love those those Popchips, they are my favourite flavour and remind me of posh crisps!

As I had my yoga class later that evening I just wanted something light for dinner. I had a bowl of my lentil soup with a big pile of my home made raw curried crackers:

When I got home from yoga I fixed myself a great snack. I had found some of my favourite fresh figs in the reduced section on Monday so had three of them, a chopped apple and some raw tahini and honey along with a kuricha green tea:

That really hit the spot!

I really enjoyed my yoga class last night…

It was a packed class and was really good fun, the teacher used me to demonstrate some of the poses and commented on how good my posture was! I felt a bit embarrassed but simultaneously chuffed that I was doing well. I think I’m starting to embrace the slower more relaxing style of yoga now :-)

Yesterday wasn’t quite as full of greens as my eats usually are, in the lead up to pay day I’m trying to manage on what I have in the fridge, freezer and cupboards as I’m determined to stick within my grocery budget. Fresh veggies are probably the most costly thing I buy so I have to cut back a little. I was able to get a huge bag of spinach which is a good deal for me as I can use in salads, smoothies and cooked meals plus James loves his spinach too. More on healthy eating on the cheap to come tomorrow!

Are you affected by carbs at lunch time? I find that if I have too much, especially bread, rice or pasta I get a bit sleepy later on! Quinoa seems to be ok though, perhaps because it contains more protein? That’s why I tend to just have salads with veggies, protein and fat and save the carbs for later in the day. I know people that are the complete opposite so I guess it just goes to show how different we can all be!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week :-)

I’ve been feeling exceptionally spring like this week, we have been enjoying some amazing weather. All of a sudden I’ve started craving things like crisp green apples, refreshing smoothies (well I kind of always crave those), strawberries and asparagus. I can’t wait for the spring to really kick in!

Pretty sunrise!

This has been a good workout week:

• Sunday – AM outdoor run approx 3.5 – 4.5 miles, 30 minute power yoga flow
• Monday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Tuesday – AM free style yoga, PM 20 min HIIT, Body Pump
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – PM Yoga class
• Friday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike

My yoga class last night was really good, we did some tougher poses that really challenged me and left me feeling really stretched! Food wise I’ve been using up that magic mixture all week, firstly spread inside a herbed socca served with lettuce and alfalfa sprouts:

I also had some spread on home made raw juice pulp crackers with a pile of veggies for lunch:

I’ve also been using up some tins of Amy’s soup I’d been sent ages ago for review:

This was the vegetable and barley soup topped with sprouts and alongside some Lydia’s raw crackers. I also had a tin of the lentil and vegetable soup with blue corn chips on the side for dinner last night:

Both were pretty good for a tinned soup! Of course no week of mine would be complete without a green smoothie or two! I had a massive craving for one yesterday morning so made a light one in a glass to accompany my raw granola and coffee:

The smoothie contained spinach, alfalfa sprouts, a pear and a nectarine blended with water and a few drops of vanilla stevia. I had it along with a bowl of Living Intentions raw cacao granola and some home made almond milk. I also had a green smoothie post workout, a chocolate pear and ginger one made with the amazing new stevia sweetened Chocolate Hemp protein powder from Good Hemp, spinach, sprouts, pear, fresh ginger and topped with dried pear, buckwheaties and bee pollen:

Snacks wise I’ve been enjoying apple and carrot with raw tahini for dipping…

…nectarine and frozen raspberries with home made almond milk…

…and persimmons with raw matcha green tea cookies and a glass of almond milk:

The best raw milk and cookies ever!

Oh and I have to give a special mention to this amazing Gourmet Raw brownie I tried:

This is the Carob Hazelnut and it is amazing, tastes like Nutella in a bar!

On my weekend send off Love List this week…

Popchips! I loved these when I visited NYC and they are now available here in the UK. I was very kindly sent these to review and can’t wait to try all the varieties. They are available from these retailers. Also…

March arriving – and seeing the light at the end of winter // Pinterest – I’ve become even more obsessed this week! //Having a spring clean in my work office and feeling organised!

What have you been loving this week? Are you feeling full of the joys of spring yet?

A few weeks ago I was very excited when I spotted a tweet from Jillian Michaels saying that her favourite brand of snacks, Popchips where being launched in the UK. A few days later I was very happy when a surprise parcel was delivered containing a range of the Popchip flavours!

I’d tried Popchips when I’d been in NYC last year and loved them, so I was looking forward to trying more of the flavours. I’m generally not one for processed snacks, but as far as these go they are pretty good, heck, if they are good enough for Jillian Michaels they’ll do for me! The chips are made by putting potatoes under heat and pressure to ‘pop’ them without the need for fat and oil. They only use natural ingredients and no chemicals, preservatives or hydrogenated fats.

The salt and pepper and original flavours are vegan however the sour cream and barbeque ones contain buttermilk and whey powder. See the excellent website for more nutritional information. I did try them all and preferred the original and salt and pepper ones by far anyway! I actually thought the salt and pepper flavour tasted like ‘posh’ crisps, really good! James also had a try of the barbeque and sour cream ones and wasn’t that impressed. I think this is because he is more used to eating snacks like those day-glo Cheesy Doritos so they tasted a bit too ‘healthy’ for him.

Each of the small bags are less than 100 calories. I have to admit, as delicious as they are, these are a very light snack and they aren’t going to hold off your hunger. However, if you have a crisp craving and are looking for something much healthier and lower in calories these are great. I can also recommend these as brilliant hangover food, they sorted me out a treat one Saturday morning!

I liked them so much that this weekend I decided to treat myself to a giant bag:

I can’t wait to munch through these, I think they’ll be fantastic dipped into hummus or salsa :-)

Popchips are currently available in Waitrose and these other stockists or if you really love them you can even get them in bulk from Amazon! I really like these, as far as crisps or chips go these are probably some of the healthiest you can get. I love the plain and salt and pepper flavours and although they are light, they do the trick when you’re craving a salty snack.

Have you tried Popchips before? What’s your favourite flavour? Do you like snacking on crisps and chips?

Hello everyone, hope you are all having a great week! Thanks for all your comments on my last post about glasses and laser eye surgery, I’ve found everyone’s different perspectives fascinating! Its also reminded me that I really ought to get my eyes tested. Today of course is my usual What I Ate Wednesday post. I’m still enjoying doing these posts as its the only time that I really blog a proper day’s worth of eats and its been great looking back over old WIAWs to see how I’ve changed over time!

These are my eats from Monday, and as usual I had my hot lemon water when I got up:

Then it was off to the gym! I still can’t stomach anything before I work out. I did 5 minute warm up on the cross trainer then my strength workout from Female Body Breakthrough – it was a heavy / low rep day and it was tough. I’m still aching from it today!

I finished my workout with 10 min HIIT on the step machine and 10 min HIIT on the bike. After going home and getting showered I made a lovely refreshing breakfast:

I blended kale, mixed frozen berries, an orange, 1 scoop of Good Hemp Strawberry Fit Shake, water, ice, ground flax and a touch of stevia then topped with some Kashi Honey Almond Flax Crunch. It was lush! I also made myself an iced Clipper Indian Chai tea:

Before I left for the gym I’d made myself a cup and left it to brew and cool. Then I just added some rice milk and lots of ice, it was lovely.

We had another scorcher of a day on Monday so I dressed for the warm weather:

OOTD: statement necklace: New Look, striped vest top: H&M, black midi skirt: Warehouse, gold sandals: Next

I love that necklace so much, I think it looks really unique and striking, I got a lot of complements on it!

For lunch I’d packed up a salad:

This included romaine, cucumber, red onion, red pepper, beetroot, chickpeas and some of my tahini dressing. I loved how the chickpeas had turned a bit pink from the beets!

I had brought the remainder of my Vegan Vanilla Cream Sponge Cake into work for my colleagues to try a slice so I ended up treating myself to another piece as a mid afternoon snack:

I do think that this gets better when it has been left a little while as the fruit flavour intensifies, yum! Everyone at work seemed to enjoy it and commented that its not overly sweet like a lot of baked goods. That actually held me over well until dinner! When I got home I just wanted something pretty quick and easy so I nuked a sweet potato and piled it high with some cannellini beans, red onion and grated vegan cheese. I popped that back in the microwave to melt the cheese a little and then served with a handful of spinach:

I’ve never been a fan of baked beans but I guess this was a ‘Laura’ version of the classic jacket potato with baked beans and cheese. It was really tasty and I have to say I’ve been won over by that cheese. Its the Tesco own brand mild free from cheese and I will be getting it again for sure!

I had some strawberries, blueberries and a smidge of tofu cream leftover from making the cake so I mixed it all up and called it dessert:

I ended up with a massive bowl full, it was delicious! After pottering about for a bit I went and picked James up from work. By the time we got home I was feeling hungry again so I whipped up a quick smoothie in a bowl:

My current smoothie addiction: Cherry, Vanilla and Sea Salt (frozen cherries, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ice, water, good pinch of sea salt, couple of drops of vanilla stevia) topped with, you’ll never guess… Popchips! Don’t ask me where that idea came from, I was thinking of the sweet and salty thing and had just put some Popchips aside to take to work for a snack the next day. These were the original flavour Popchips (I don’t think it would work so well with the other savoury flavours!) It was so so good, I can’t wait to do it again!

Before bed I made myself a mug of Pukka Three Tulsi tea:

I love the flavour of this tea and the colour of the packet ;-)

Ooh I think that was a tasty day of eats indeed! Have you ever made a version of a classic / traditional meal that’s more suited to your tastes? What are your thought’s on the smoothie and crisps / chips combo? What’s the most unusual food combo you’ve tried?