Info all Articles

A few weeks ago I was sent a some products to review from Viva Pure:

Viva Pure are a web based company that sell an excellent range of products including raw foods and ‘super foods’. I absolutely love the ethos of this company – their mission statement can be found here, but basically they believe that good nutrition should also mean good taste, a sentiment I can certainly relate to!

I was sent three products to try out:

Some like it spicy pumpkin seeds:

These are completely raw having been sprouted and dehydrated at a low temperature to improve their taste and nutritional value. I swear that these taste exactly like cheesy doritos! They contain garlic and onion powder, cumin, chipotle pepper and himalayan crystal salt. 85g costs £3.95 so not cheap but they are really tasty. You could probably get a similar product else where or just use plain pumpkin seeds for a lower cost, but with this product you are getting better nutritional value and taste – especially if you crave doritos and need a healthy fix! I can’t say I would be able to justify spending so much on these when other cheaper alternatives are available but they are very good.

Raw Chia Superfood Porridge Mix:

This semi powdered mix contains a range of ‘super foods’ including chia seeds, goji berries, raw cacao and maca. You can use it in a variety of ways – to keep it raw you can mix it cold with almond milk or, as I did mix it with regular oats for a warm porridge. It would also make a fantastic topping for smoothies or mixed with yoghurt. I really like this mix, it has a great deep cinnamon chocolate flavour and the ingredients list is just amazing. Again, this isn’t cheap at £5.25 for 184g but it is full of the finest quality raw super food ingredients and it is a pretty versatile product. I would happily treat myself to this when I had the spare cash available. The porridge shown above was made with the mix and oat bran and tasted amazing!

Apple Honey Crunchy Granola:

I absolutely love this granola! I have to say it may be the best I’ve ever tasted (although I can’t say I’m any kind of granola expert!) This is raw as the ingredients have been dehydrated to preserve all the enzymes and nutritional benefits. It contains organic pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, apple, cinnamon, agave and so on. I just loved this – really crunchy and chunky with the most delicious apple cinnamon flavour. I’ve been using it as a topping for smoothies but of course this could be eaten with fruit and almond milk to keep it raw or with yoghurt or just as a snack. Its £5.98 for 212g – pricey but I have found that I use granola quite sparingly as a topping and therefore that would probably last me a while. Like the chia super food porridge mix I can say that I would purchase this product as a treat when I could afford it, yum!

Along with these products I also purchased some of their maca powder, raw cacao powder and chia seeds, all of which I have found to be excellent. I have also been particularly impressed with their website as it contains quite a lot of useful information on raw food, why dehydrating is good, what the deal is with sprouting etc as well as several recipes.

Overall this is a great company and website to look at if your interested in raw foods and ‘super foods’. I know that ‘super foods’ aren’t for everyone, they are certainly more of a luxury but I enjoy incorporating them into my diet. If you are interested in finding out more about super foods take a look at Lana’s blog Being That Change – she has done some excellent posts on super foods.

*As with all my reviews I was given these products for review purposes – all comments are honest and my genuine opinion and assessment of the product*

Have you purchased anything from Viva Pure or been on their website? What’s your thoughts on raw and ‘super foods’?

My weekend starts today and I’m so pleased – I really feel like I need and extra couple of days off this week!

I started my Wednesday at the gym with an awesome treadmill workout. I’ve gradually been increasing my speeds each week so it now looks like this:

• 5 min – 6.0mph (warm up)
• 5 min – 6.6 mph
• 5 min – 7.1 mph
• 5 min – 6.8 mph
• 5 min – 7.3 mph
• 5 min – 30 second intervals 6.8/7.8mph

I was a sweaty mess after this! I then did 30 minutes of intervals on the cross trainer, step machine and bike followed by my abs and core – I’m still rocking that 2 minute plank!

Breakfast was wonderful! I made a delicious porridge with 1/4 cup of oat bran, 1/4 cup of viva pure raw chia super food porridge mix, 1 cup of home made sesame milk, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of blueberries then topped it with 2 tablespoons of cashew butter and a few fresh sliced strawberries:

This was so good, I loved the creamy texture of the porridge and the flavours from the super food mix tasted amazing.

Lunch was a bowl of my Pea, Broccoli and Pesto soup, a RAW Italian cracker, a pear and an orange:

Mid afternoon snackies were some hummus and carrot and cucumber for dipping. Dinner was last nights Tomato Pearl Barley Seitan Buddha bowl with spinach, raw carrot and basil:

Loving this Buddha bowl meal!

Dessert was two frozen chocolate peanut butter avocado cups and 2 chopped apples:

I added a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter to the usual avocado, agave, raw cacao mix and these tasted divine!

I plan on enjoying my extra couple of days off this week getting caught up on a few things around the flat, doing a monster grocery shop, a big cook up and spending some time just relaxing and reading. I have quite a few books at the moment from the Library:

The China Study:

I’ve always wanted to read this as its been referred to on so many vegan blogs. I’ve started reading some of it and its so interesting. It basically discusses a large body of research that shows how eating a mainly plant based diet can help to prevent a range of illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Babycakes:

I’m in love with this book already! So many fantastic recipes for vegan baked goodies: cupcakes and brownies here I come!

The Everyday Vegan:

I love Dreena Burton’s Eat Drink and Be Vegan cookbook so fancied checking this out as well.

I also have a book on Vegetarian Sports Nutrition from the lovely Alison to read – I’ve had a quick flick through and know I’m going to find it very useful. I also have some reading to do for the next assignment for my course.

For some reason I tend to enjoy reading cookbooks and more factual books at the moment, I must get back into reading some good fiction!

What’s the last book you read? Have you read any of the books above? What did you think?

Hi guys, happy Friday! As always I am happy the weekend is finally here, its been a busy week! I had a late meeting on Tuesday, then working from home around meetings on Wednesday and Thursday so all go, go, go. Best of all we have had a little bit of sun, which means I can wear sandals without fear of getting wet feet :-) Here’s my favourite outfit from this week:

Collar necklace: Topshop, white blouse: H&M, white vest under blouse: H&M, black slim leg pants: Gap, gladiator sandals: Primark

Isn’t it amazing how some sunshine can lift your mood?

This weeks workouts:

• Saturday – REST
• Sunday – Kettle bell class (plus 30 minutes relaxed cardio on the cross trainer and bike waiting for class to start)
• Monday – 60 minute level 2 Vinyasa Flow from Yogaglo  
• Tuesday – Davina Super Body DVD, Super Pump
• Wednesday – Hot Yoga class
• Thursday – Gym – 10 minutes cross trainer followed by body weight one leg squats, incline push ups and tricep dips with legs raised x 3 sets, then 10 minutes step machine followed by lunges, squats and pull over sit ups with medicine ball, 10 minutes bike
• Friday – Gym – this strength and HIIT workout with a few changes – normal squats instead of split squats, increased weights on some exercises and just 10 minutes on the bike at the end. Also planning some yoga after work :-)

I’ve really enjoyed my workouts from this week, due to my usual schedule being shaken up I’ve been able to do some different things. I hadn’t done a Davina DVD in months! I reported on Yogaglo in my WIAW post and Hot yoga was brilliant as always.

The biggest thing to report about my eats this week has been the reintroduction of dairy in the form of full fat Total Greek Yoghurt. I was interested to see how my body would handle it and it seems to have been fine. I had it with a slice of Courgette Pecan Date bread and some strawberries for breakfast:

Then again with a baked sweet potato with some sunflower seed butter:

Such an amazing breakfast! The sweet potato and nut butter combo was out in full force this week, pre hot yoga I had it with almond butter and a side of steamed broccoli:

I like this meal before yoga as its still filling but not too much so that it makes me feel stuffed for my class.

This week I have also been loving the unsweetened almond breeze:

Oh my word this stuff is fantastic! I wasn’t expecting something so low in calories to be so creamy. I used it in a smoothie with nectarines, strawberries and vanilla sun warrior and it was delicious. I also made an amazing peanut butter cup smoothie with a cup of almond milk, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, 2 tbsp of crunchy peanut butter and a little ice:

This was so so good, I can’t wait to make it again! That milk is definitely going to be a regular item on my shopping list, even though its unsweetened I think the almonds have a natural sweetness which makes it mild and delicious. Gutted I can’t seem to find it on the £1 offer at any of my local stores!

Last night I had my usual smoothie in a bowl evening snack but added a raw chocolate shell:

Frozen raspberries with chocolate chip spiru-tein and ice blended and topped with melted coconut oil mixed with raw cacao powder and a sprinkle of sea salt (I used 1 tsp of coconut oil and 1/2 tbsp of cacao plus 1 drop of liquid stevia) – it hardened like a magic shell, heaven!

I’ve also had some lovely lunches and dinners, I made a herbed socca wrap stuffed with black beans, red onion and vegan cheese:

Utterly delicious! On Sunday night I made my Tofu and Sweet Potato Hash:

Then for lunches I’ve been having salads topped with beetroot, avocado and hummus:

Not getting sick of that combo any time soon!

On the Love List this week…

This smells incredible!

After all my raw chocolate making antics I got some raw cacao butter from Viva pure to replenish my stocks! This stuff has the most amazing scent, I can’t wait to use it in a few different recipes. Also…

Starting my IIN course! This week we had module 1 and a good all round intro to the programme // Connecting with great people – I’ve been emailing Nathalie another IIN’er for a while now, I love being able to talk to people that ‘get it’ plus she very kindly sent me some goodies in the post this week, thanks Nathalie! // getting some great feedback on my business brief // feeling content in where I am right now with diet and exercise :-)

In case you missed it:

• How my diet has evolved
• My grocery shopping staples
• Festival Food and Fashion!

Have you tried the unsweetened almond milk yet? Are you a full fat or zero fat Greek yoghurt lover? I also like the 2% but the full fat is so creamy! What’s on your love list this week?

Thank goodness its Friday! I know I’ve had a short week but I am ready for the weekend already!

I’ve been continuing to focus on raw clean foods over the last couple of days:

Breakfast on Thursday was just wonderful – organic blueberries, viva pure raw granola and home made almond milk:

Simple and perfect!

This mornings breakfast was some pudding made with 1/4 cup of viva pure chia super food porridge mix, additional tbsp of chia seeds and 1 cup of almond milk (combined and left to thicken overnight) with fresh strawberries and blueberries:

More salad beasts have been consumed:

Spinach, rocket, little gem, red onion, spring onion, courgette, cucumber, sprouted lentils and beans with tahini miso dressing.

Tonight I made my Tofu and Sweet Potato Hash for dinner but used spring greens, cauldron marinated tofu and lots of fresh basil and parsley:

Such a huge plate of yummy stuff!

Last night, after eating my leftover black beans with brown rice and tomato less guacamole for dinner I made a giant bowl of double chocolate protein ice cream for dessert:

I had a bit of an accident while making this due to leakage from the bottom of the blender so it turned out a bit weird, still tasty though! This contained 1.5 scoops of chocolate sun warrior protein powder, crushed ice, water, stevia, 1 tsp of raw cacao powder, xanthan and guar gums and cacao nibs for topping.

For dessert this evening I made the most amazing raw cacao coconut frappe!

Raw Cacao Coconut Frappe (serves 1)

• 1 cup of almond milk (could use coconut milk too)
• 1 cup of water 
• 1 tbsp of raw cacao powder
• 2 cups of crushed ice
• 1 tbsp of coconut nectar or agave nectar or sweetener of choice (I used 1 tbsp of coconut nectar and a few drops of stevia)
• 1/4 tsp of coconut extract or 1 tbsp of coconut butter
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan and guar gums

Blend all ingredients in high speed blender till smooth. Enjoy!

I had this in my new shake cup and it was absolutely delicious and genuinely tastes like the Starbucks Mocha Coconut Frappe I enjoyed so much in NYC! I will be addicted to these from now on! You could easily use chocolate protein powder or cocoa powder instead of the raw cacao or add a tablespoon of desiccated coconut too. So so yummy!

Workouts have been pretty good. On Thursday I did some freestyle yoga when I woke up then headed to the gym for a 3,2,1 workout after work. This absolutely killed me! My muscles were so tired for some reason I could do no where near my usual reps and weights! This morning I was back at the gym for a quick workout – 30 minutes of intervals on the usual gym equipment followed by abs and core exercises.

Well I have a pretty relaxed weekend planned catching up with family and friends, a long run and hopefully some chill time! Hope whatever you are up to its a good one!

May Sponsor Giveaway!

I am very happy to announce my first ever blog sponsor giveaway! The wonderful Viva Pure, Nakd and The Raw Chocolate Company have kindly supplied the following products for you my lovely readers!

Main prize:

• Complete set of Nakd bars – Gingerbread, Cocoa Orange, Pecan Pie, Berry Delight, Cashew Cookie, Cocoa Mint, Cocoa Delight
• Range of The Raw Chocolate Company products including raw chocolate covered goji berries, mulberries and raisins, banoffe, pitch dark, lavish, minted, twilight and loaded raw chocolate bars
• Viva Pure packs of raw buck wheaties, raw granola and coconut sugar

4 runners up will also receive a full set of Nakd bars.

To enter (each of these counts as a single entry – please leave a separate comment for each one):

• Leave a comment to this post stating what you have enjoyed the most from Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish so far this month
• Follow me via Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Blog Lovin or Twitter and leave a comment below stating that you have done so
• Tweet about this giveaway mentioning @keephealthstyle and leave a comment below stating you have done so
• Post about this giveaway with a link back to this post on your blog and leave a comment below stating that you have done so

Giveaway open to UK residents only (sorry International friends!) and closes at 12am GMT Friday 20th May 2011, good luck!

For the first time in ages I woke up this Monday morning and didn’t want to crawl straight back into bed! I think this yummy breakfast may have had something to do with it:

Almond and quinoa muffin with chopped apple, tofu ‘yoghurt’ (mori nu silken tofu blended with 1 small jar of apple and blueberry baby food and 1 tsp of vanilla extract) plus pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a vanilla coffee sweetened with agave. I really enjoyed the tofu yoghurt, I’ve made loads of variations of blended tofu puddings but this was a perfect yoghurt replacement, delicious.

For lunch I decided to try out some of the Clearspring ramen noodles I received last week. I had the soya sauce noodles with nori wraps containing my avocado / nutritional yeast mix and shredded carrot:

I really enjoyed those noodles, they do have a long ingredients list but its all whole recognisable ingredients. The soya sauce flavour was delicious and they were very easy to make – just add boiling water, microwave then add sauce. Like a pot noodle but without all the crap!

I also had a sliced kiwi and orange:

Mid afternoon I had a peppermint stick Luna bar before heading off to the gym:

At the gym I did 15 minutes of HIITs on the step machine, 15 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer followed by my abs and core exercises and my 30 minute spin class which was packed tonight.

Yesterday, as part of my Sunday cook up session I made some of my delicious Italian Leek and Bean Stew so for dinner I had a nice big portion along with some spelt pasta and swiss chard sautéed with garlic:

It was gorgeous and so filling. Dessert was a protein smoothie in a bowl made with ice cubes, soy milk and fruitein protein powder plus goji berries for topping:

The postie was also my friend today when he delivered my Viva Pure order:

I ordered maca powder, chia seeds, mesquite and raw cacao. Included with my order were a few additional goodies for me to review – raw chia seed superfood porridge mix, raw crunchy apple granola and spicy pumpkin seeds. I had a sneaky taste of the granola and pumpkin seeds and they are both fabulous, can’t wait to try out the porridge mix!

As I think I may have hinted in Friday’s post I’ve been doing lots of thinking over the last few days about my future. Just to give you a bit of background, I’m currently a project manager for a small charity that works to support other charities and community groups. Next year our funding runs out and it will be time to look for a new job. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would like to do next and I really fancy a bit of a change of direction. Obviously I am passionate about healthy eating, cooking and fitness and would love to be able to earn a living (or at least part of a living) doing work in this area. I’ve decided to enrol on a distance learning course to gain a qualification as a Diet and Nutrition Advisor. I’m really excited about it and think that it will complement the skills and qualifications I already have working in the community and voluntary sector. I love that feeling of optimism for the future and all it could bring!

I also have a few ideas for refreshing and reorganising the blog including a re design and a few more fashion and home posts, the flat is in need of a spring make over and I’ve been seeking some budget friendly decor updates I can’t wait to share with you over the next couple of weeks!

Have you ever changed jobs or careers or followed your passions?

Happy Wednesday everyone, only one more day and we are officially into the Christmas countdown! I’m so excited!

Thanks again to Jenn for hosting the WIAW party! These are my eats and happenings from yesterday. I got up and did my usual Tuesday morning yoga – I did the Yoga for Runners 20 min podcast while trying to wake up! I drank some warm water with lemon juice while I was getting ready then made breakfast:

I had a wonderful kabocha squash smoothie (roast kabocha, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ice, hemp milk, cinnamon, ginger) topped with shoyu roasted squash seeds, buckwheaties and maple syrup. I also had a delicious Vanilla Nut Teeccino with some stevia and hemp milk. I love Teeccino – this was a new flavour from iHerb, its caffeine free you brew it up just like coffee, its well tasty!

I decided to wear some of my new clothes I got at the weekend, OOTD:

New mustard yellow coat: New Look (half price), new wool snood: Primark, basic grey tee: H&M, black ankle length trousers: Whistles, cream flats: Next.

I had seen a very similar coat in Warehouse that I loved but when I saw this in New Look almost exactly the same and half the price I snapped it up! I’m in love with the scarf too, so warm and cosy!

I had a morning of meetings at work so by the time I got back to the office at 11am I was starving! I had some chopped veggies with some Red Pepper, Cashew and Mesquite raw dip and a pink lady apple (that turned into 2 apples as I was still so hungry!)

Red Pepper, Cashew and Mesquite Raw Dip (adapted from Kristen’s recipe, makes about 3 servings, vegan, raw)

• 1/2 cup of cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
• 1 large red pepper, de seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp of mesquite powder
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Pinch of salt

Transfer all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth, store in the fridge.

This would also be delicious as a salad dressing, spread on some crackers or in a wrap!

For lunch I decided to have something a bit different. A while ago I’d ordered these raw coconut wraps from Viva Pure. I filled them with some carrot ribbons mixed with tahini and raisins. I had more filling left over so I also made a couple of wraps with some nori (I keep some nori in my snack drawer at work now as every so often I get a craving for it and its handy for wrapping stuff in!):

These were so delicious! The coconut wraps had a nice texture and very mild coconut flavour. The carrots, tahini and raisins went surprisingly well with the nori too! These were also pretty filling, I had a Nakd bar with me as an afternoon snack but I didn’t feel hungry at all which is practically unheard of for me!

After work I headed to the gym. I did 20 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer and step machine (10 mins each) and as I had some time I did 10 minutes on the rowing machine at a steady state before my body pump class. It was a good class but I am so ready for the new release!

Dinner was something I’d made at the weekend ready for a quick mid week meal – Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli (based on my Veggie Chilli recipe, vegan, makes 3 medium servings or 2 large)

• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 peppers, chopped (I used a yellow and green pepper)
• 1 courgette, chopped
• 2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup or 1 tin of cooked black beans (I cooked mine from scratch)
• 1 tsp of hot chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil over a medium heat. Once the onions have softened add the peppers and courgette. Continue to fry for a further 2-3 minutes then add the sweet potato. Add the tinned tomatoes plus a little hot water if needed to cover the vegetables. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the potato is tender. Add the beans and spices – adjusting amounts to your desired spiciness! Serve.

I got 2 large portions and one small portion out of the recipe. I had one of the large portions with some spinach and it was lush. The perfect comforting meal on a cold night! I also served it up in my pretty new bowl as I managed to smash my old favourite ‘pasta, salad, rice’ bowl! I was quite taken with the little hearts on this one and it was on sale :-)

For a bit of a dessert I made a bowl of protein ice cream with 1 scoop of peanut butter swirl spirutein, ice, water and stevia and topped it with peanut flour sauce and cacao nibs:

So so good! A bit later I had a nice big mug of cococardio while reading up on allotments!

In addition to that I also drank loads of water and lots of green and peppermint teas, I was so thirsty!

I think yesterday is a good example of how I’ve been trying to eat a bit more intuitively, I probably didn’t eat that much today compared to what I do usually but I was listening to my body. I ate that extra apple because I wanted to and didn’t eat the nakd bar just for the sake of it. In the past I’ve eaten according to my meal plan and at set times without really tuning into my bodies needs and that’s something I’m really trying to balance out. Now I’m becoming more comfortable eating more when I feel my body really needs it (rather than because I’m bored or stressed) and likewise I’m also trying not to eat just for the sake of it because its ‘time’ or because I have food available. I know that today I could have risked being low on energy for my evening workout but I feel like I know the signs when my body is really in need of more fuel and I was confident that I would have enough energy for my class.

Do you try and eat intuitively? What does eating intuitively mean to you? I know I’ve blogged a bit about this before – for me its something I’m constantly working on, some days I do well and other days I totally fail, but I know its worth the effort!

Hope your having a great week!

Big Budget Challengers, I’m going to be posting my final Big Budget Challenge round up tomorrow evening so if your doing a Big Budget post let me know and I’ll include you in the links!