Baking!

Hello!  Happy Friday everyone.  It's a cold (well cold for Central QLD, anyway!) and rainy day and I would love to be curled up in bed with a big mug of coffee and a book (or trashy tv).  

I'm actually really in the baking mood so I'm thinking about having a baking blitz tomorrow :-)  Here's some ideas I have:

Healthy Chocolate Brownies from Chocolate Covered Katie

Quinoa, Banana & Pecan Muffins from Eat Well NZ

Healthier Carrot Cake from Eat Well NZ

Almond Joy Protein Cookies from Ashley Kemmer

I wouldn't mind whipping up some chocolate chip biscuits either, using our family recipe :-)  They are SO GOOD.  Possibly a binge trigger though, so perhaps should avoid them.  Also, I'm pretty sure my cake mixer is broken, and trying to cream sugar and butter by hand is near impossible. Especially with my busted shoulder.

My shoulder . . . ugh it's not getting better.  It's got to the point where I slammed my car door quite hard this morning and it hurt.  I'm going to ask for recommendations of a good physio in town and make an appointment ASAP.  It's really, really frustrating me!  Not only is my shoulder giving me grief, but my hips/piriformis are as well.  Foam rolling does help, but it's getting to the point where I know I need to see a professional.  See, this is what happens when you turn 27 people!  :-)  Surprisingly, doing legs workouts don't seem to affect my hips, but stationary bike does.  Still, I really feel that I should avoid the gym until I've been to see the physio.  I feel so lazy!  I'm thinking about doing pilates and yoga classes next week, but maybe I shouldn't even attempt that.  

The book I ordered a couple of weeks ago arrived at last!  It's called Food: The Good Girl's Drug and it's by Sunny Sea Gold, the found of Healthy Girl, a fantastic website for girls with emotional eating issues.  I haven't even started it, but I can tell from the contents alone it's going to be a great read.  

I ordered it from Book Depository which is a great UK online bookshop.  The prices are so reasonable and the shipping is free!  I have used Amazon before, but I found the shipping to be quite pricey.

Do you enjoy baking?  I enjoy it FAR more than cooking.  I love how you take a bunch of ingredients, that on their own are generally unpleasant, and end up with something delicious!

Have you had an injury that prevented you from training?   How did you deal with it?

Have you read Sunny's book, or something similar sounding?

Moving and Thoughts on Food

Hi!  Remember me?  Yes, I'm still alive!  I've had very hectic last week or so, but am happy to say that Brendan and I have moved into to our new place.  Still have a bit of unpacking to go, not to mention we really need some new furniture to fill up the place, but we're in, and the old house is clean and empty.

Kitchen/dining/living room

I had Thursday and Friday off work last week.  Thursday was spent packing and throwing out lots of crap, and I got started on cleaning.  Friday, Brendan and I moved everything BY OURSELVES.  Yes, you read that right.  He didn't really let on that he couldn't find anyone to help until Friday morning, but I wasn't too worried.  I didn't find the furniture too heavy, but I was absolutely terrified carrying it down the stairs.  The old house had wooden stairs and I was so scared I was going to slip or drop something and smash the stairs (just what you would want right when you're moving out!).

We basically dumped most of things in our garage and then went back to the OP (old place) to carry on cleaning.  Two of the boys have moved to another city but they came to help - thank goodness.  Let's just say B and the other roomie aren't the best at cleaning ;-)  We went home to the new house at about 9pm, then got up (well me anyway) at 6.30 and headed back to OP for more cleaning.  I know how anal real estates are with final inspections so I found myself cleaning the same thing over and over again until spotless.  I was literally on my hands and knees scrubbing all of the floors.  By 2pm I had had enough (my hips were in agony) and B told me to go home.  Which I did, stopping off at the bottleo (that's what Aussies call a liquor shop) for a bottle of this:

Yummo.  I actually recently started watching the Real Housewives of New York because I love the Skinnygirl Margaritas so much!  And now I am hooked on yet another trashy show.  (FYI the lady in the picture is Bethenny Frankel, the creator of Skinnygirl margs and a former cast member of RH of NY).

So, I had a drink and started unpacking the kitchen.  It went straight to my head, which was unsurprising since I had barely slept or stop moving for three days!  I hadn't eaten a whole lot either, it's always hard when you're moving.  Luckily I had bought some camembert, crackers, chips and dips to snack on :-)

Now the move is all done, I am feeling so much more relaxed and happier.  I haven't had any binges, but I haven't had the healthiest diet, either.  

I've been doing a lot of reading online, plus a lot of thinking and writing.  I think (well, I know) I have too many 'rules' regarding food and this is a big part of my 'food anxiety'.  I've had many different food rules d over the years.  Here are some of them:

• your body will go into starvation mode if you don't eat regularly (every 2-3 hours).  This means your metabolism will slow down.
• it is absolutely essential to eat breakfast within an hour of waking
• you need to do cardio on an empty stomach to burn fat
• you need to eat before doing cardio or you won't have enough energy to work hard enough, and therefore you won't burn much fat
• gluten is the devil
• always choose low fat alternatives
• do not eat carbs after breakfast/lunch/3pm etc etc
• the kitchen closes at 7 (thank you Oprah for that one!)
• eat a cheat meal once a week.

And so on and so forth.  Are our bodies really so stupid that they will slow down our metabolisms if we don't have a perfectly proportioned meal?  Is it really necessary that I put a reminder on my Outlook calendar to remember to eat?  Can't I just eat when I am hungry?

I want to make it very clear that I am NOT attacking anyone for choosing to eat every few hours, or if you  follow any of my aforementioned rules for that matter. If you eat a certain way that is generally healthy and doesn't cause you any anxiety, that's great, and that's what I'm trying to achieve :-)

Here's a few websites/blogs I'm finding that are really helping me:

I have found a fantastic website that I can't recommend highly enough - Happy Eaters.  It is a forum created by a blogger, Skwigg, and it is a "gathering place for health and fitness enthusiasts who happily eat whatever they want. It's a haven for former diet ninnies, recovering nutrition software addicts, and escaped chicken weighers. Call it non-dieting, intuitive eating, or naturally thin thinking. Eat well, eat what you like, control portions, move your ass. Easy peasy."

Interestingly, Skwigg highly recommends my friend (I wish!) Bethenny Frankel's book, Naturally Thin.  I have ordered this from Book Depository and can't wait for it to arrive!  I actually think I may have read it years ago???

A blog I really love (and have done for some time) is Burning it Off.  I really feel that Christine has a great outlook on food and exercise.  She chooses workouts she enjoys, eats a balanced diet and includes treats.

Eat Well NZ is my sister's website, and 've been a big fan since she started it.  Nicola is my go-to person whenever I has questions about diet, especially articles/posts I've read.  She has an Honours degree in Nutrition and is a registered nutritionist who clearly knows her stuff!  Her articles aren't based on the latest fad but on scientific research.  Plus, she is a great cook (lucky her for getting that gene) and frequently posts delicious recipes.

Exercise wise, I think I got a pretty good workout last week with moving house :-)  I went to the gym this morning and did a really cool shoulders workout.  I was a bit nervous due to the pain I've been having in my right shoulder, but I haven't done any upper body weights for about two weeks and I've been doing some rotator cuff exercises.  I use lighter weights than I usually do and made sure to stretch.  So far, so good!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my post.  

Have you, or do you ever, suffer from 'food anxiety'?  

Do you have any recommended reading for me (books, websites, blogs etc)?  

And, most importantly, are you a Real Housewives fan?

Thank ya'll!

Firstly, I would like to say a big THANK YOU for the feedback and comments that I have received in relation to my post yesterday.  I really um-ed and ah-ed about it, but I decided to hit 'publish' in the hope that others going through something similar could relate.  Also, I was feeling like a fraud, writing about exercise and eating healthy when I have been eating terribly.

A lovely reader contacted me via email as it seems we are going through EXACTLY the same thing.  It's almost scary!  So we have been emailing back and forth which is great.

I bought a notebook from Typo and I'm going to do some writing, trying to figure my triggers and patterns.  Even just from yesterday, emailing my sisters and my new friend :-) I think I'm getting somewhere.

I also found a really great website, Healthy Girl, which is about 'helping each other get sane about food'.  I haven't even had time to have a good look around, but I highly recommend it.

I'm not sure if Meg is doing High Five Friday this week, but I do want to give myself a high five for speaking (typing?) out about how I'm feeling.  I really do find it hard to talk about my feelings; I'd rather just pretend like everything is fine, but that clearly is doing me no favours.

Anyway . . . . let's move on to other things!  My hips and shoulder are feeling a lot better.  I've found some good stretches to do for my hip flexors and shall be getting out my foam roller tonight.  I would really like to go for a walk after work but am going to rest until at least Sunday.

I'm still feeling extremely tired.  I even had a dream that I called in sick to work because I was too tired!  But I made myself get up and get ready.  Today I've been focusing on getting lots of veggies in to up my nutrient intake.  I bought myself a beetroot, celery and carrot juice which was actually quite nice:

Yesterday when I was at the supermarket, I was browsing the vitamin section and found this on clearance:

It is a greens powder you just mix into water.  Blerrgghhh it was so gross!  Probably a waste of money but it was half price and only about $10 I think.

Brendan took me for a drive the other night for a drive by past our new place.  Yes, I hadn't even seen it!  Actually, neither of us have seen the inside (only photos), but B has built so many of those types of houses (well done the electrical work) that he knows exactly what it looks like!  Kinda sad that the beach isn't walking distance; but it's a really nice place.  Has a double garage, 3 bedrooms and a little backyard.  And a pub about 5 mins (walking) away lol.

Well, it's Friday afternoon here in Aussie and I can't wait to get home!  Plans for this weekend: PACK, chat with friends/family in NZ, go see my preggie friend whose dog just had a puppy, go see my sick friend who just had her appendix out, maybe do some meal prep, take a loooong bath in our spa bath (gotta make the most of it before we move!), read my million and one magazines, go to the library, and sleep.  Yes, I live a VERY exciting life ;-)

I also want to say GOOD LUCK to the lovely Mari who is competing in a bikini contest this week. Go kick butt, girl!!!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!  Thanks again for your support :-)