I’m not one for big resolutions with the new year but I do feel the need to clean my eating up just a teeeeny bit after all the leftovers and chocolate have been on the heavy side for the last few weeks.
So here’s an article to help give some good directions on some more balanced snack ideas…
Everyone loves a sweet treat, especially as a pick me up during the cold winter months. But, if cutting down on sugary snacks is one of your resolutions for the new year, then you may be on the lookout for healthier alternatives. Trying to curb your snacking can be tough, especially as everyone is spending so much time at home and within easy reach of the fridge right now! If you need some inspiration for tasty, yet healthy alternatives to your usual snacks, then why not give some of these a try?
Seeds
Seeds are an excellent choice of healthy snack to satisfy your hunger between meals. One of the best varieties of seed to snack on is pumpkin seeds. They may be small, but these tasty seeds make a perfect snack choice to keep mid-morning hunger at bay. Each seed is packed full of protein, fibre, plus omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Vitamin B2, folate and calcium are all also contained in pumpkin seeds.
One of the best things about seeds is that they have a long shelf life, so if you are someone that often shops for health foods, but then ends up binning them because they have gone off before you have had a chance to eat them, seeds are an ideal choice.
Berries
Sometimes you need something sweet to satisfy your cravings. Berries are the perfect choice to relieve your urge for a sweet snack and are packed full of flavour. Choosing strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or a mix of each will help you get your five-a-day while satisfying your sweet tooth. These berries are full of antioxidants as well as flavour, which provides many benefits to your overall health. Antioxidants help to reduce inflammation levels in the body and also help to lower bad cholesterol.
Yoghurt
Some yoghurts are full of sugar, and fat-free varieties that are promoted as ‘diet’ foods can contain sweeteners. To avoid yoghurts that are not as healthy as they seem, it is well worth reading the ingredients list carefully and opting for natural yoghurts. Choosing natural yoghurts containing live cultures can provide benefits for your digestive health. Many people believe that these live cultures can improve the balance of good bacteria in your gut.
Smoothies
If you want to pack as many nutrients as possible into one serving at snack time, then preparing a smoothie is an excellent way to do it. Making a fresh smoothie at home enables you to fill it with many of the healthy options listed above. Adding yoghurt, berries, and seeds to your smoothie will help to fill you up and makes a perfect snack for any time, whether you are working or out and about.
Hummus
Hummus is the perfect way to enjoy a tasty and filling snack. One of the best things about hummus is that it is easy to make yourself, and is also really versatile. Use hummus as a spread, or as a dip for crudites to help you get your five-a-day.
What are your favourite snacks?
Do you like to snack between meals or just have big meals?
The lovely people from Adventusaur sent me one of their personalised running letterbox hampers which I think is just the sweetest and fun idea.
Basically it’s a little box full of handy running essentials. It’s such a great gift to send someone before a big race they’re about to do. It contains things like Vaseline (we’ve all been there…), a gel, Haribo (of course), a protein bar (handy for post-race recovery), amongst other items.
They’re a small up and coming business so I really hope people go for this sort of thing. During these COVID times it’s nice to be able to send someone something like this if you can’t actually see them. I guess it doesn’t even have to be for a race – but someone new to running as like a starter pack for them.
Free Train
I’m a big fan of taking my phone out with me on a run – whether for listening to music or a podcast or for the standard mid-run selfie/photo.
This is a very secure way to carry your phone and what’s handy is that you can fish it out very easily on the move, or if you want to stop.
I do love a running belt and the Koala Clip I have that attaches to my sports bra, but it’s tricky to get my phone out easily if I want to quickly change a song or whatever. It feels super secure, doesn’t bounce and didn’t rub. It’s a great idea!
I saw this on Instagram and just fell in love with their dried flowers. I’ve become a big fan of flowers in general but they never last long (obviously). However dried flowers obviously last a lot longer. And I knew they were about to launch their Christmas collection. They’re a small business so sell out quickly so I set my alarm for when they were launching and managed to snag myself a one of their Winter arrangements.
Ahhh they’re so beautiful! Love our sparkly and Christmassy they are, but not overly in your face Christmasssy, you know? I could potentially leave them up after Christmas – so very much worth their money!
Care packages
My amazingly talented baker (and runner) friend Emma sent me the sweetest care package recently.
It contained one of her freshly baked sourdough loaves, brownies and a GIANT 1kg bag of peanut M&M’s.
This was such a lovely thoughtful gift! I will have to show great restraint not to eat too many M&M’s in one sitting though haha.
Hello Fresh
So I’m back on the Hello Fresh train again. I really do love it. Previously I’d find myself scouring the Internet for recipes and wondering what to cook every week night for Kyle and I. I wanted healthy, filling and tasty but I was finding we were just falling into boring routines and bad habits. And takeaways, while I do love them so, were becoming easier to just fall back to if we’d had a particularly tough day.
Now we have three guaranteed week night meals of healthy, exciting and very tasty meals. I thoroughly enjoy cooking and this is just perfect. I love listening to a podcast while I prepare dinner. And then Kyle and I will sit down to something new and see what we think.
Most of the time we love the meals, occassionally (though it’s rare) we’re a bit “meh” (there was a Mexican tostada meal that didn’t float our boat for example) but we always enjoy trying them regardless and always feel full and happy. There nice and balanced too. It’s made my week far less stressful now! I also like that the company is very eco-focused too.
If you’d like to get £20 your first week you can use my link HERE (I get money off as well then too FYI).
Bare Grill’s Smokehouse and Mrs Potts
A few weeks ago I saw two of my close uni friends and we went out for an epic lunch at Bare Grills in Bristol. It was GIANT and exactly the type of meal I love. BBQ ribs, pulled pork, smoked sausage, chicken wings and brisket with a mountain of deliciously seasoned chips. It was epic!
How we then had room to go to Mrs Potts for dessert I have no idea. It was a good job that we had to queue for a 10-15 mins to get a seat though. It’s a very popular café in Bristol and serves so much chocolate-related items, like hot chocolate made from melted chocolate, brownies, cookies, cake… it’s incredible.
I went for a brownie hot chocolate and took away a slice of cake (with a pot of melted chocolate to drizzle over), a stuffed cookie and a white chocolate rocky road.
Kyle and I shared and the cake and cookie later that evening after I’d gotten home (and made space!). They were absolutely divine. The cookie was definitely the best out of the bunch but the cake with the chocolate over it was incredible too.
My grandad who lives in Stoke-On-Trent sent Kyle and I such a lovely present. He called it a “glass dump” which just doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the gift. I guess it’s a kind of paperweight, but it’s basically a unique hand-crafted glass ornament.
It’s such a gorgeous gift and will sit proudly in our house. I do worry about my grandad living alone in Stoke in this horrible time but I ring him regularly. He does so much volunteering which had to stop during the lockdowns so I worry he’s a bit out of sorts, but he seems in good spirits. He has such a positive and happy outlook to life.
So here’s to just as happy a December 🙂
**Full Disclaimer: I was sent the Free Train and Adventusaur for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**
I’m so nervous about Sunday’s marathon I can’t tell you… but hopefully I’ll have a positive update next week.
Until then I have a post regarding keeping your digestion nice and healthy. Enjoy!
Sometimes the joy of eating is having whatever you want, whenever you want. It’s important to stay fuelled up if you’re an active person to make sure you’re getting enough energy. But sometimes you need to be a bit more careful about what you eat, especially if your digestive system starts objecting to what you’re putting in it. Changing what you eat or how you eat, even if it’s just some of the time, can help you if you have digestive issues or you just want to be healthier in general. Try these tips if you want to make your gut happier and healthier.
Enjoy a Diverse Diet
Eating lots of different things can help to keep your digestive system (and the rest of you) healthy. When you have a diverse microbiota in your gut, it’s generally going to be healthy. Different species of bacteria can do different things and help you to stay healthy in a variety of ways. Expanding your diet to include lots of different foods can help to make the bacteria in your intestines more diverse so that you have a happier tummy. Considering the different food groups and lots of types of plant foods can make your diet more varied.
Eat Plenty of Vegetables, Fruits, Legumes, and Beans
Fruits and vegetables, as well as legumes and beans, have lots of nutrients in them. Many of them also have a lot of fibre, which is great for your digestive system. When you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, you might even be able to prevent some bacteria that lead to disease. Some great foods that are high in fibre and good for your gut include chickpeas, broccoli, lentils, and all kinds of beans. Eating foods like these will help your digestive system to operate as it should.
Try Fermented Foods
You might have heard people talking about the magic of fermented foods. Fermentation usually involves the natural process of bacteria or yeast turning sugars into acids or alcohol. Some types of fermented food include yoghurt, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, and sauerkraut. If you wanted to try something new, buy Gutsy Ferments sauerkraut or a similar product. Not everyone likes all types of fermented products, but you’ll probably find some that you find very tasty. Try something different like kimchi or just stick to a less adventurous probiotic yoghurt if you’re not the sort of person to branch out.
Look for Prebiotic Foods
Prebiotic foods promote the growth of microbes that are beneficial to the gut. They include fibres and complex carbs that need bacteria to break them down. Lots of fruits, vegetables, and wholegrains count as prebiotics, such as the onion family (including garlic and leek), asparagus, bananas, and barley, and oats. These foods also contain lots of nutrients that are good for your health, as well as helping to give you a healthy digestive system.
Take good care of your gut health if you want to be healthier and feel more comfortable while enjoying a diverse diet.
There have been so many things I’ve been loving lately.
Let’s start with some good old running stuff. I was really chuffed to be chosen to do a review of the VERY cool running tracker gadget Nurvv. Basically they’re electronic soles you put into your trainers and when you run it tracks how you run. Data such as cadence, pronation and foot strike is collecting (amongst other information) throughout the run so you can properly geek out afterwards.
The trackers sits outside the shoe
As someone who loves
seeing splits, elevation and information like this from my watch (I use a
Garmin) this was a dream come true. It gives a real insight into how you run
and, importantly, how this changes throughout a run and between the different
kinds of runs you do.
Some data from the app after my run
For example, when I
did a quicker 5k my data was a lot different to when I did a long slow run.
This makes a lot of sense because your feet turnover is greater and your moving
in a different way than more of a “plodding” run. I find it very handy
because I’m so injury prone that I need to be wary of my form and keep it the
best I can. And with these trackers on my trainers it helps me concentrate –
don’t over-stride, don’t slump, keep my feet landing beneath my centre of
gravity… things like that. Anyway I’ll do a proper post on this soon after I’ve
got more of comprehensive experience of the trackers. But needless to say, I’m
enjoying them!
I’ve also been challenging myself in a different way lately. I’m attempting to get better at handstands.
I want to be able to hold myself on my own without support… but it is HARD. So far I can last mere seconds before dropping back down. I’ve been practising up against the wall in our house and trying to keep my body straight, push up through my hands and keep my head aligned, but that’s about all I can manage. It’s fun though. I can do headstands find, but handstands are a whole different ball game! I’ll continue to keep practising every week and watching YouTube videos for advice.
Another bit of running coolness is the fact that my incredible grandad made me a calf stretcher! My calves get very tight and my physio recommended getting a device to stretch them while I did other things, like brushing my teeth, and as I was Googling them I had an idea that my grandad might be able to build one himself. He’s such a talented carpenter. I mentioned it to him and he loved the idea.
While he’s over 80 now, he still likes to be busy and loves helping people out (he does a lot for charity and goes up to help out with looking after the reindeers in the Cairngorms Reindeer Centre every year.
Anyway he made the
most amazing adjustable (!) calf stretcher which I now regularly use while
working from home.
How cool, right?
I’ve also recently
been sent an anti-chafe cream, called Slipstream,
for when I’m running. I get such bad chafe under my arms when it’s warm and
this has been an absolute life-saver. It’s easy to apply, doesn’t leave
horrible white marks or anything like that and reduces my chafe SO much.
It only uses natural ingredients, waterproof and vegan. Love it!
And I’ve finally got my Six Star medal up in the frame that Kyle bought me for Christmas.
My favourite medal without a doubt. So much time and effort. And to think no Majors have happened this year (to the public, Tokyo was only for the elites). Chicago has recently cancelled and London… well, who knows? I cannot imagine how they could still go through with it. And is it responsible if they do? I imagine there are a lot of talks behind the scenes going on and a lot of it to with contracts, insurance and, most likely, money.
I’m so grateful I was able to run Chicago Marathon last year and get my medal. I almost didn’t run because of my hamstring and then my knee issue. I’m just SO glad I went ahead. Though I feel terrible for people who had planned this year to be the year they got theirs. But hopefully, next year.
Is there a race you were looking forward to doing this year?
What’s your favourite medal?
Can you do a handstand?
**Full disclaimer: I was sent the anti-chafe cream and the running trackers for free in exchange for a review. All opions are my own honest ones.**
Work has ramped up, so much is happening with the house (all good stuff – lots of Ikea trips, deliveries and flat pack action making our house into a home) and just life in general. I will be back on form with my blog soon… but for now I have a post talking about style. I’m by no means a stylish person but I do believe I have my own “Anna style” which is just generally comfy and simple 😉 Anyway here we go…
If you are looking for advice on how you can create a style that is uniquely yours without a whole bunch of hassle, then you have come to the right place. In this article, we’re going to be looking at some of the simple steps that you can take to create this kind of style. We know that a lot of people say fashion is a universal thing, but it really isn’t, and a lot of it is down to a person’s individual preferences. Instead of stamping out the differences between your idea of style and someone else’s, we think you should be embracing them. Anyway, if you want to know more about some of the steps that you can take, keep reading down below to find out more.
The first thing that you’ve got to think about is how to be comfortable. It’s important that your style allows for some level of comfort. We’re going to look at beauty being pain a little lower down in this article, but this doesn’t always have to be the case, and sometimes beauty comes from when we are most relaxed. If you’re comfortable, you’re more likely to be relaxed than if you’re not, which is why this is something you should be thinking about. It is often the case that we look our best when we feel our best, and if you feel like you can’t breathe because your clothes are too tight or you’re so hot that your clothes are literally stuck to your skin, then this isn’t going to be the case.
It’s up to you to work out how to have a style that is both comfortable and still looks fantastic. At the end of the day, if you think that it looks good, then it looks good. It’s up to you how you style yourself and don’t listen to anyone else. Be comfortable, and let the haters hate if that’s what they want to do.
We know that we just discussed beauty being about being comfortable, and a lot of the time, this is true, but on some occasions, it does require a little bit of pain. There is always going to be an opposite, and it’s like the dark to the light. You’re going to need both at some point! Sometimes you will find that your style is painful. For example, if you want to wear 5 inch plus heels, then you’re going to have some sore feet by the time you take them off. Depending on how often you are standing and walking obviously because these are certainly not the most comfortable shoes in the world. You’re going to have blisters and squashed toes until you get used to the feeling, but while you’re adjusting, it’s going to hurt a lot. But, sometimes, these heels are worth it when they take that outfit from a 7 to a 10.
Or, sometimes, you’ll find that you’re wearing clothing that is really tight. Some people wear bodices to keep their stomachs in (yes, they’re still a thing!), and the point is that they are so tight it keeps everything in one place. It can be uncomfortable like you’re fighting to breathe for a little while, but eventually, you just get used to it. If some of your styles require something like this, don’t be afraid of a little pain for the gain.
There Are So Many Accessory Choices
Another thing that you’re going to have to think about is all the accessories that are on offer for you to choose from. Not everyone likes to accessorize their outfits, and that’s completely fine, but some people don’t have a choice. For example, if you wear glasses, then you’re certainly going to have to figure out a way to make your style work around then. Glasses can be an incredible accessory, though, as they even make some outfits as long as you have the right style and color to fit in with what’s going on. Sunglasses are the same, although you don’t need them to enhance your vision, so they aren’t the vital piece that glasses can be!
You’ve also got hats, scarves, gloves, jewelry, purses, the right shoes, and so many others that you might even find yourself overwhelmed with all of the options. Keep in mind that however you choose to accessorize your outfit is entirely up to you. Go with what makes you feel confident. Find things that match your style and love them, be unapologetically you!
Have you thought about your colors? What looks good on you? What are the colors that you like to wear? What colors make you feel confident and happy with the way you look? These are all important questions and ones that you should be asking yourself when you are creating your own style. Considering it’s a style that is singularly about you, it’s important that you are taking into account all of your personal preferences. If you have found yourself wearing the same kind of colors for the past couple of years, then you might want to look at why this is. Is it because these are the ones that make you feel good or because they’re the ones you feel more comfortable in? It doesn’t matter as long as you love the style you have.
But, you might want to branch out a little bit more and experiment with a few more colors. You can look online or speak to a professional about what kind of colors would suit you the most, and then try to incorporate these into your new look if you like them as well. If you don’t, stick with what you know!
What Makes You Feel Good?
What makes you feel like the fabulous person that you are when you are walking outside? What kind of clothes gives you that feeling that you’re a boss and you know it? These are the clothes that you should have in your closet, nothing else. You don’t want to wear something that doesn’t make you feel incredible. Of course, you can have your sweats for when you’re lounging at home, but when you head out, you want to feel like the powerful, fierce person that you are, and your clothes are going to have a lot to do with this. We want you to feel confident all the time, so you’ve got to decide what makes you feel good and what doesn’t.
There is no room in your style for anything less than awesome. If it doesn’t make you feel fantastic, then get rid of it. Don’t settle for less, creating this style is your chance to show the world who you are.
You might want to think about your figure. You can wear anything that you want, no matter what body shape you have, but some people find it more comfortable if they are wearing clothes that flatter their figure. Others don’t care, and if they have a bit of a tummy, this isn’t going to stop them wearing those shorts or that crop top. This can’t be said of everyone though, so don’t worry if you are more concerned with the way clothes look on your figure. Like we have been emphasizing through this article, it’s all about you and what makes you feel the best you can.
Certain types of clothes are better for enhancing certain figures, which is what you might want to look into. There are style guides online to give you an idea of what these clothing types are, and there are also professionals that you can talk to if you would rather have in person advice.
Take Your Time To Decide
Never rush your style. You don’t want to make decisions because you think you are short on time and then end up regretting them at a later date. All of your choices have to be made because they are what you want. Don’t ever let yourself feel as though you are settling for something that doesn’t 100% fit with the style you are trying to create. If you find something that is an outlier and you love it, then there’s no reason you can’t incorporate it. The same way that if you find something that does fit with your style, but you don’t like it as much as everything else, it has no place in your new look.
Keep in mind that if you don’t love it when you first buy it, you won’t grow to like it any better. The store is the place you love it the most, and if it’s not screaming at you, it’s not the one you should choose.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see how you can go about creating a style that is uniquely you using simple steps. Put this advice into practice, and you’re going to end up with a style that you adore, no matter what anyone else says! You do you and forget anyone else.
