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Hello everyone and happy Independence Day to my US readers! Hope you are having a fab week! Today’s WIAW are my eats and random things from yesterday, enjoy:

I had the usual warm water with a squeeze of lemon juice while I got ready then made breakfast. I had a bowl of Dorset Cereals High Fibre Flakes with kara coconut and a massive green smoothie:

The green smoothie contained spinach, two fresh peaches, vanilla sun warrior, water and ice. There was also coffee with coconut milk and vanilla stevia:

For work, I decided to wear my wardrobe staple skinny black pants from Gap with a lovely loose fitting white vest with zip detail up the back (H&M), layered with another vest and a pretty scarf:

Add some day old dry shampooed hair, my cream H&M blazer and tan leather sandals and I was good to go! On the way to work I listened to a bit of Lana:

I have to be in the right mood for this album but listening to it makes me think of late hot summers – I can dream right? ;-)

Mid morning at work I snacked on some carrot with hummus for dipping:

I’ve been buying hummus rather than making my own recently as I just haven’t had time, luckily this plain hummus from Tesco was just 50p for a pot.

For lunch I had a big salad including romaine, cucumber, red pepper, red onion and green lentils with a balsamic and hemp oil dressing:

I’d had a real craving for lentils so cooked some up at the weekend, this was a really simple but tasty meal.

I had a meeting for work in the afternoon that was close to home, so I got back early. I snacked on a pink lady apple and one of my raw nutella brownie bars:

So yum! It was quite warm and I really fancied an iced coffee before Body Pump so I used a little sachet of this Cafe Ceps Organic Coffee Blend I got as a freebee in an iHerb order:

I added some stevia and lots of ice. Hit the spot!

Then I headed to the gym for Body Pump which was great as usual:

For dinner I’d cooked some chickpeas at the weekend and quinoa on Monday so combined the leftovers with some steamed broccoli and a tahini sauce (tahini, apple cider vinegar, shoyu, water) to make a Buddha bowl:

I love me a good Buddha bowl! For a little dessert I had a bowl of strawberries with a rice cake topped with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter:

Later on I made myself an evening snack of some blueberry chocolate protein ice cream:

This is just frozen blueberries, chocolate sun warrior, ice, stevia, xanthan gum and water all blended up. I really look forward to finishing my day with one of these! I also added a few buckwheaties for a crunchy topping.

Then I spent the rest of the evening relaxing with a cup of Sweet Coconut Thai Red tea while I listened to some of the Fundamental lectures from IIN, yes I have formally signed up for my Health Coach Course!

I’m already finding the content I have access to extremely interesting. I’m going to learn so much on this course I just can’t wait! Classes officially start on 16th July, excited!

As I’ve been saying recently I’m really happy with how I’m eating right now. Its probably the closest I’ve come to eating intuitively while still meal planning for convenience and organisation whilst being mindful of eating the right amount for my body. I really try and listen to what my cravings are and give my body what it wants even if that is a bit repetitive. All I seem to fancy at the moment is smoothies and salads. Interestingly, I’ve moved away from the green smoothies in a bowl for breakfast and I’m now preferring them in a glass as a side to something else. Its so interesting how your tastes can change and evolve depending on different factors like the weather, time of year, what’s in season and just what your body wants! For example, I used to try and not eat 3 hours before bed because I thought that eating late at night was ‘wrong’. What I’ve found is that I need that extra meal later on, its stopped me binging and feeling generally deprived and I even think I sleep better!

Do your tastes change now and again? How have they changed? Do you listen to your cravings?

Happy Friday, hope you are all doing well! I am so ready for the weekend right now, I think its just been one of those weeks and the bad weather we’ve been having has just made me want to hibernate! Still, there has been plenty of things to lift my mood including these lovelies:

Those would be my gorgeous Raw Nutella Brownie Bars and due to high demand here’s the recipe!

Raw Nutella Brownie Bars (adapted from CCK’s fudge babies and inspired by the Gourmet Raw Hazelnut Carob brownies, makes 5 large bars)

• 1/2 cup of hazelnuts
• 6 medjool dates, pitted
• 2 tbsp of raw cacao or regular cocoa powder
• pinch of sea salt
• Dried buckwheat as topping (optional)

Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and blend until well chopped. Add the dates, cocoa powder and salt and process until the mixture begins to clump together. Line a pan or lunch box with cling film and press the mixture down to line the container evenly. Sprinkle on the buckwheat if using and press down into the mix. Transfer to the fridge or freezer to cool and firm up before slicing into bars. Store in the fridge, or wrapped in foil in the freezer. These are so good and definitely have a healthy Nutella vibe going on!

As I’ve had a carton of Alpro Hazelnut milk on the go I’ve been enjoying more chocolate / hazelnut combos such as this chocolate hazelnut protein smoothie:

I also made a chia pudding with the milk to take to work as a snack:

Looks weird but was really delicious and exceptionally creamy!

Workouts this week have been pretty good again:

• Saturday – REST
• Sunday – Just under 9.5 mile run
• Monday – Hot Pilates class at Yogalilies
• Tuesday – Gym – 30 minutes cardio HIITs on the cross trainer, bike and step machine, Body Pump
• Wednesday – 4 mile run
• Thursday – AM Yoga for Runners podcast, half of Yoga for Detox podcast and foam rolling (working late so no regular Yoga class this week)
• Friday – last weeks strength workout but with a 10 minute treadmill speed run at the end instead of the step machine and a 5 minute session on the bike to cool down

As I mentioned in my WIAW post, on Monday I took a Hot Pilates class at the lovely Yogalilies studio in Newcastle.

The studio space is very chic

I’ve done a few Pilates DVD’s and you tube videos (Blogilates is a fave) in the past but I wasn’t sure what to expect. It wasn’t as hot as it has been for my hot yoga classes but it was pleasantly warm. The class itself was brilliant and I can’t praise Lissa the teacher enough. I think I found muscles I never knew I had! The way that Lissa described a lot of the muscle movements really helped me to engage my core properly – something that I don’t feel I managed when just following a DVD. I think it reinforced that although classes are the more expensive option, you do get so much more out of them than just following a video at home and there’s no reason why you can’t do a bit of both! Suffice to say I am hooked on Yogalilies! Once I have the Great North Run out of the way then I think I will be investing more of my time and money in taking classes there as I’m planning on getting much more into that form of exercise. Until then, its hot yoga every two weeks without a doubt! If you are local to Newcastle Upon Tyne I would highly recommend you check out the studio.

Other bits and pieces from this week include:

Delicious breakfasts, starting with my Strawberry and Peanut Butter Green Smoothie:

The final slice of my Banana Coconut Bread made with added chocolate chips from the freezer and eaten with blueberries, blackberries and soy yoghurt:

I am now on a mission to make that bread again, it is fabulous!

I made a random but tasty Buddha bowl for dinner on Wednesday evening:

This included chickpeas, quinoa, dried prunes, steamed greens, raw home sprouted alfalfa seeds and a yummy miso sauce on top. The leftover quinoa and miso sauce were mixed with some black beans and red onion and dumped on top of lettuce, spinach and more sprouts for lunch the next day:

Earlier in the week I had also made a delicious bowl of courgette ‘spaghetti’ topped with soy mince in a tomato sauce with basil and olives:

I love a good mix of raw and cooked foods in a meal like this, it was so satisfying!

On the Love List this week…

This morning I received this lovely parcel in the post from Hayley who blogs over at Oh my god is that from tiffany, she contacted me a little while ago after I commented on her blog –we have connected over stories of our engagements and thoughts on approaching 30! She’s living in Australia so has sent me some Australian goodies – Dark Chocolate Tim Tams, Paw Paw Ointment and a lovely body lotion. Thanks so much for your kindness Hayley! I can’t wait to get stuck into those Tim Tams and do a Tim Tam Slam! Also…

This article from The Guardian on why our food is making us fat – I really urge you to have a read, interesting and scary stuff! // foam rolling to ease my tight IT bands – going to blog more on this as a few people have asked what foam rolling is etc // The Festival Shop at Topshop for inspiration ready for Kendal Calling next month // treating myself to Yoga Magazine and Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Everyday Cookbook

I love finishing the week on a positive note with my love list :-) In case you missed it:

• Cherry and Almond Muffins Recipe
• Newly designed and organised About and Recipes pages!

How has your week been? Any plans for the weekend? I had been hoping to see the Olympic Torch Relay at the Angel of the North but if the weather stays as it is I think I’d rather be wrapped up at home drinking coffee and watching Chuck (James is obsessed with that show!)

What’s on your love list this week?