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Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. I’ve had a lovely relaxed day getting myself ready for the Great North Run tomorrow! My kit bag is all packed, my running gear is all laid out ready, I have safety pins, timing chip, powerade, tissues, a big bag of dried dates, my stop watch and my fully loaded iPod shuffle (I’m not taking my iPhone in case it rains!)

This morning I was up and off to Sainburys for it opening to stock up on fruits and veggies. When I got home I enjoyed a lovely big breakfast of Dorset Cereal Really Nutty Muesli with a chopped apple, some fresh raspberries and soy milk.

This may just be my favourite muesli out of all the Dorset Cereal muesli I’ve been sampling. Its packed with big chunks of almonds, brazil nuts, cashew nuts, hazelnuts and big fat raisins, dates and pieces of dried apricots.

For lunch I toasted a thick slice of my home made soda bread and smothered it with proper butter (got to love buttered toast!) I also had an omelette made with 1 egg, 2 egg whites and filled with two sliced babybel light. I also had some sugar snap peas on the side.

I then made myself a berry smoothie using frozen strawberries, frozen mixed berries, a heaped tablespoon of Greek yoghurt, soy milk and a couple of ice cubes. I topped the smoothie with another big spoonful of yoghurt, some agave syrup and a few fresh raspberries.

Just delicious!

Mid afternoon I had a mug of teapigs chocolate flake tea along with a mystery flavoured Nakd bar!

Oh my this was good! I wish I could tell you what flavour it was but basically its one of my favourite flavour combos and it was everything I was hoping it would be. I can see me bulk buying some of these when they come out, delish!

Dinner was of course, pasta! I made up some wholemeal pasta and added some sautéed courgette, spinach and red pepper along with some chopped basil and tomato, beef mince and mushroom sauce which I’d had stored in the freezer. I also had a salad of cos lettuce and sugar snap peas that I couldn’t finish from lunch.

For desert I made my now ritual pre long distance run favourite of banana softserve made with two frozen bananas, soy milk, 2 ice cubes, some matcha green tea powder and 3 chopped dates all blended up and topped with a further two chopped dates.

Rocket fuel! I’m now pretty stuffed :-)

Thanks for all your well wishes and advice to yesterdays post. I really feel I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. The plan tomorrow is to be up bright and early, breakfast on porridge with banana then make my way to my parents house who will drop us at the metro station so we can make our way to the starting line. My hubby and parents are going to meet me at the finish line and one of my friends is coming to cheer me on – I just hope I spot her! After the race we are all going out to my parents favourite Italian restaurant for a meal. I think the thought of a proper Italian thin crust veggie topped pizza will be more than enough to get me through the race!

I’d forgot to mention this before but if anyone is interested in sponsoring me here is my Just Giving Page. I’m running for Cancer Research UK, a cause very close to my heart as we lost the Hubby’s Mum to cancer 3 years ago (she was only in her Forties). I’ve also lost a good friend to breast cancer. Right now my cousin is fighting Lymphoma – she’s only 29 years old. I’m honoured to be running in memory and in celebration of these people.

Completing the Great North Run is not only achieving one of my ‘life goals’ but its almost the culmination of my healthy living journey so far. I never dreamt I’d be fit enough to run 13.1 miles. I know I’m certainly not the fastest runner, and never will be (lets just say I don’t have a typical runners figure!) but just getting to that finish line will be a huge achievement for me. Like I said yesterday I’m not going out with any target time in mind as I just want to enjoy the day. I’ll save setting my PB for another race…oh my god I just said another race! I think I may be hooked on this running thing ;-)

Good night everyone, wish me luck x

This morning I was up at the crack of dawn to go out and do my last big long run before the Great North Run in two weeks. I fuelled up with a Pumpkin 9 Bar.

These are different from the regular 9 bars as they have no carob topping so they are slightly less fat and calories but not quite as tasty in my opinion!

I set off with half a bottle of cherry powerade diluted with water and 6 dates in a bag which I ate at mile 7 when I stopped at the corner shop to buy more water. My run was pretty awesome: I did 13.2 miles in 2hrs 5 minutes. Here’s my splits:

I think the GPS went a bit off in the last two miles but I’m really happy with my times. My legs felt ok too apart from a bit of tightness at my hips.

When I got home I made this delicious smoothie:

Tropical Recovery Smoothie (1 large serving)

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 1/2 cups of frozen mango
• 1 small carton of acai and pomegranate coconut water
• 1 scoop of vanilla whey powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut

Blend all ingredients and serve topped with the desiccated coconut.

This was fabulous! So hydrating and refreshing.

After chilling for a bit I decided to try baking some bread! I had seen Madeline from Greens and Jeans make this Irish Soda Bread – I decided to give it a try but change up the recipe a little:

Wholemeal and Spelt Irish Soda Bread with Greek Yoghurt

• 1 cup plain wholemeal flour
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2  tablespoons of cold butter
• 2 cups of spelt flour
• 1/4 cup of Scottish oats
• 1 cup of Total full fat Greek yoghurt
• Milk

Preheat the oven to 190c. Start by mixing the wholemeal flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cut the butter into chunks then ‘rub’ into the flour mix (as if you were making scones or pastry) when the mixture looks like bread crumbs add the spelt flour and oats then add the yoghurt and start to combine into a dough by kneading the mixture together. Add milk a little at a time if needed to bring the dough together. Turn out the dough on to a floured service and knead a couple of times into a ball. Place on an oiled baking sheet and cut a big cross in the top. Bake for 40 minutes until browned.

This was amazing! I can’t believe that making bread was so easy. I had a big chunk of warm bread with some butter, black cherry jam and chunky peanut butter, along with a cup of English Breakfast tea. Just perfection!

This was pretty filling so I had something more lunch like later on. I sautéed some courgette, spinach and garlic then added some tomato sauce and topped with some spicy chickpeas.

After cleaning the flat, visiting my parents and friends I made my way into town and headed to the market for a big fruit and veg haul. They always sell off some of the produce on the cheap after 4pm so I got some bargains! While waiting for the hubby to finish work I popped to a cafe and had a cup of green tea and snacked on this apple pie Nakd bar as I has started to feel a bit faint and nauseous.

As today marks the 6 year anniversary of the day me and the hubby met we thought we’d treat ourselves to some nice food. I went to Marks and Spencer and bought a salmon fillet and a bag of bean sprout and pea shoot stir fry mix. I also picked up a bottle of teriyaki sauce. I oven baked the salmon in the teriyaki sauce and served on top of the stir fried veggies.

The salmon was perfectly cooked and delicious.

For desert I got a bit creative:

Amaretto and Black Cherry Greek Yoghurt Desert (makes one serving)

• 3 heaped tablespoons of Total full fat Greek Yoghurt
• 3 tablespoons of amaretto liquor
• 1/2 cup of defrosted dark sweet cherries
• 1 tablespoon of flaked almonds

Mix the amaretto with the yoghurt until smooth. Add the cherries reserving a few for the top and lightly stir in. Fill a bowl of glass and top with the cherries and flaked almonds.

This was sooo good! I will be making this again and again it was just yummy!

We’re also going to open a lovely bottle of red wine now too!

I’m really looking forward to my rest day tomorrow, I’m hoping the wine will help me get a good nights sleep too! I may do some light yoga to stretch my legs out a little. It seems that my little muesli binge last night was actually a good thing as I did feel supercharged with energy this morning and I think that extra fuel did me good. Well I am off to enjoy my wine, Hope your all having a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for all your great comments on yesterdays post regarding ‘plus’ size models. It seems that we all wish that a variety of body shapes and sizes could be represented on the catwalk. Hopefully one day things will change, and using models that differ from the standard size 0 will become the norm rather than something that still grabs the headlines!

I think that yesterdays assault on my cold must have done the trick as I've felt much better today! I got up and went to the gym and did 30 minutes of gentle cardio – just enough to work up a sweat, followed by some chest and back weights a couple of side planks and some work on the stability ball. This is my last workout before the Great North Run on Sunday and it felt good to gently work my legs. I came home and made myself a lovely carb filled breakfast:

 

A standard green monster (frozen banana, spinach and soy milk) along with two slices of my home made soda bread from the freezer toasted and smothered with almond butter and naturally sweetened black cherry jam. I just adore this bread, so dense and filling. It was also nice to have a ‘plain’ green monster for a change, however I did have to use a spoon to fish out lumps of banana. I really need that new blender!

Lunch was a big salad including cos lettuce, green pepper, red onion, carrot, tuna and two crumbled kallo rosemary crackers (for additional carbs) plus a tablespoon of balsamic salad dressing.

The crackers added a lovely flavour and crunch! I also had two plums and a nectarine.

We have a new member of staff at work and this was the end of her first week so she bought some cream cakes in. I would have usually passed but I thought it would be rude to say no ;-) also if I’m ever going to be able to relax on the eating front its now! I had a chocolate covered cream filled éclair which tasted delicious.

Unfortunately it left me with a head ache and a bloated tummy – its interesting how my body reacts to unhealthy food now. I used to be able to eat stuff like this all the time with no problem but now its like my body says ‘you must be kidding putting that crap into me!’ and rebels.

When I got home from work I was extremely excited to see that I had received some goodies from the lovely people at natural balance foods:

New Nakd bar flavours! They haven’t fully announced the new flavours yet so I won’t spoil the surprise, all I will say is that they all sound delicious. My husband thought I was a bit crazy as I literally let out a little squeal of excitement, I’m such a child sometimes :-)I really had to stop myself from launching into these and stuffing my face! All in good time…

For dinner I had some of my delicious falafel bites in one of my home made seeded spelt egg white wraps with spinach and ketchup along with some carrot, yellow pepper and cucumber on the side.

 

My wrap was so tasty, love the falafel bites!

I had been planning a chocolate peanut butter mousse desert made with the last of my Total Greek Yoghurt stash but after the éclair at lunch I decided to try and go with something a bit lighter. I made a huge bowl of vanilla matcha green tea protein ice cream (1 scoop of vanilla whey, 1/4 teaspoon of matcha powder, soy milk, 8 ice cubes, 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum) instead which I knew would fill me right up. I topped it with a few dark chocolate chips and some agave syrup.

Check out the volume in that! This was super delicious, has left me lovely and full, and this bowl couldn’t have been more than 200 calories.

Marks and Spencer Love

This morning while I was at the gym I saw the new Marks and Spencer advert:

I was really impressed with some of the pieces in the advert. I’m very much an M&S undies girl – I love their Ceriso range which is now being moved into their Limited Collection range. Obviously M&S food is one of my favourite things too. What do you think of their clothing? I have to say there’s quite a few pieces I would like to add to my wardrobe! I know they don’t go the whole way, but I also like that they use more realistically sized models in their promotions too.

Great North Run – Let the count down begin!

Less than 48 hours to the Great North Run, I’m so excited! I’ve checked the weather forecast and it looks like unfortunately for me, it will be cold with light wind and rain. I hate running in the rain! It may actually work for my benefit as I’ll run faster just to get to the end! After talking to a few people who have ran it before I’ve decided that I’m not going to go and worry about trying to achieve a particular time, they have advised me to just go and enjoy the whole experience. They said that some people who have gone and wanted to run a particular time and have then missed it ended up not fully enjoying the day and appreciating it for what it is. I know that I have ran that distance in 2hrs 5mins during training which is bloody good for someone like me so I have nothing to prove to myself.

Tomorrow I had been thinking about heading over to the big expo at the Quayside in Newcastle, but to be honest I think I would much prefer having a relaxed day at home getting mentally and physically prepared… and eating lots of carbs of course ;-) I also have grocery shopping and cleaning and tidying to do.

Any of you guys who have ran half marathons or marathons before got any last minute advice for me?

Hope you have all had a great week and have a good weekend planned too!

I woke up with a bit of a bad head this morning, I can’t believe that just two glasses of wine can do that to me! I think because I rarely drink alcohol just goes straight to my head. Due to my little hangover I felt like I needed a really hearty breakfast so I toasted and buttered (not margarine, proper butter – so worth it!) a thick slice of my Irish Soda bread and topped it with two perfectly poached eggs.

Absolutely to die for. The bread is slightly sweet from the spelt flour and just went perfectly with the eggs, delicious! The eggs were a new brand of free range organic and I could really taste the difference, even the yolk looks a brighter colour. A little later I had another slice of my bread, this time topped with some full fat Greek yoghurt and honey.

The rest of the bread has gone in the freezer to save for another time. For lunch I decided to make something inspired by a recipe I’d seen ages ago for roast aubergine with tabbouleh and tahini yoghurt but I’ve had tahini a few times recently so I decided to change it up a little:

Roast Aubergine Tabbouleh Salad with Cumin Spiced Yoghurt (makes 2 servings)

• 1 Aubergine
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 80g of bulgar wheat
• 600mls of hot vegetable stock
• half a cucumber
• 6 spring onions
• 1 tablespoon of chopped mint
• 2 handfuls of spinach

For the yoghurt:

• 3 heaped tablespoons of Total Full Fat Greek Yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

Begin by chopping the aubergine into bite sized chunks. Put the aubergine into a roasting tray and coat with the oil and a good bit of salt. Roast in a hot oven until browned. Meanwhile add the bulgar wheat and vegetable stock to a pan and simmer until all the water has been absorbed (about 20 minutes). Chop the cucumber, spring onions and mint. To make the yoghurt mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. When the bulgar wheat is done add the cucumber, spring onions, mint and roasted aubergine. Serve the tabbouleh on top of the spinach then drizzle some of the cumin spiced yoghurt over the top. Serve.

This was really tasty! It was my first time cooking and eating bulgar wheat and I thought it was delicious – I was surprised at how creamy it was. I was also happy to see that an 80g portion of cooked bulgar wheat is only 69 calories with very little saturated fat.

For desert I had two chopped kiwis and an orange.

As I felt like I had ate a fair bit earlier in the day (that bread is healthy but its pretty dense!) I just went with a big thick protein smoothie for dinner. I mixed a scoop of vanilla whey, frozen berries, kara coconut milk, a little matcha green tea powder and xanthan gum then topped it with some fresh blueberries and strawberries.

I also had two chopped apples which I’d micro waved for a minute and then mixed with some cinnamon, maca powder and a little maple syrup.

Today I finally got round to painting my nails with my favourite autumn colour:

Barry M Nail Paint in Mushroom

Big Budget Challenge Update

I’m still doing ok on my big budget challenge. My credit card is still clear and is safely stored out of my purse! I’m still finding it very tough to stick within budget when it comes to food shopping, even when trying to save money by shopping at the market and some of the cheaper stores. I have to admit that I have broken one of my rules - this is my one magazine a month rule, today I caved and bought two magazines. I think when the challenge is over I will decide which of the women’s healthy lifestyle and fashion magazines are my favourites and get subscriptions as this works out a lot cheaper than buying them each month.

Today I also got some of my old autumn winter clothing out from storage. I forgot how many nice things I already own! A lot of items actually fit much better now too. Some things that are too big or just not my style any more are going to end up on ebay so fingers crossed I’ll generate some extra income this way.

Now that I can see what I have in my wardrobe I’m going to plan out what else I would like to purchase for the new season. I think another wish list is in order!

How’s everyone’s weekend been? Hope you’ve all had a good one. I really enjoyed my bulgar wheat today, I’ve been including a lot more grains in my diet recently to help provide fuel for my training. At one time I used to completely avoid grains and bread as I think I was a bit ‘scared’ of the carbs after sticking to a lower carb diet to lose weight. Now I love my rye bread and quinoa! I also have pearl barley, couscous and millet in my cupboard waiting to be tested. Have you tried any of these more unusual grains? What’s your favourite grain?