My Clean Eating Experience

It's no secret to people who know me that I was very overweight after having my second baby. I put on 50kg whilst pregnant, and retained about 20kg of it afterward. I weighed 100kg. I was unhappy with that, so I set myself a weightloss goal in October of 2009 to lose 10kg by Christmas. I did that, and kept going losing around 25kg by the end of the following year using the CSIRO diet. 

I felt great! But there was that last 5kg I wanted to budge, and a bit of a baby belly still there that I didn't like. We all have our body hangups. Mine is my stomach. It really bothers me emensely, but I'm slowly accepting it now. Anyway, I digress. I wanted to lose the last 5kg, but couldn't. So, after a bit of googling, I discovered clean eating. 

I was a clean eating convert overnight. I switched my morning weetbix to a smoothie made with water and a little fruit, stopped having all dairy, only ate whole grains, and started surviving on 1200 calories per day. I preached about my new eating habits, and amazed people by the fact that I didn't eat bread or eat any sweets. And you know what? I lost the weight. I got down to 72kg and started wearing size 10 clothes which was a huge achievement for me. I was happy with my weight loss. I was achieving what I wanted and that was exciting for me.

But you know what? I was afraid of food. I was afraid that if I ate dairy (other than Greek yoghurt) I would turn into a balloon. I was afraid that if I ate bread, I would feel bloated. I was afraid that if I didn't eat every 2 hours, I would ruin my metabolism. I never had massive bingey cheat  days because I didn't want to ruin my progress. So I chugged on at my clean eating journey (we'll call it a journey, everyone else does). 

In May 2013 I started to feel really tired, I was the thinnest I'd ever been, and I loved what my body looked like, even my tummy was going away, and baby abs were starting to show. I never got 'too thin', but I missed feeling good about food. I missed eating vegemite on toast for breakfast, and I missed being able to fit food in to my daily plan and run with it, like I'd learned when I originally lost weight. I didn't want to binge out. But I did want to eat a cookie, made with real flour, without feeling bad. I have so many limitations to my diet already due to allergies, and I was restricting myself further and I was miserable!!

It was at this time that I discovered how to count my macronutrients, and a way of eating that would not cost me my goals, but would allow me to work toward them by fitting my foods into my daily allowance. I sat down and worked out what I was supposed to eat, and discovered that I should be eating a minimum of 1600 calories a day (with no activity). No wonder I was exhausted!! I put on weight to start with. It was only a few kilos, but I noticed. I started to notice my body leaning down again after a few months though, and I'm really quite happy with my body and it's progress now.

I'm glad I made the change. For the first time in my life, I am in control of what goes in my mouth, and I know that I am eating correctly for my body's needs and my body goals. It's okay to eat bread, and milk, and Ice Cream and cake. It can be made to fit into my daily intake and still be balanced to suit my body's needs. We need a balanced diet to stay healthy. You might ask, how does cake fuel my body for the better? Well it probably doesn't, but... You feel happier knowing you are allowed to eat it of you can make it fit. After all, no one can survive on broccoli, chicken breasts, and brown rice alone. Although these foods are part of a balanced healthy diet, so is cheese and bread and lollies!

Do I regret my experience with clean eating? Not for a second. I learned that I am very stubborn and have more dedication than I knew I did. I learned about new foods, and how I can fill my nutrient requirements with them. I learned to cook with new ingredients, and I discovered Hulk Pancakes! I know now, however, that there is more to being healthy than the food you eat and that depriving yourself from certain kinds of foods, even if it is in the best intent, is not healthy. Because having a healthy relationship with food and your body starts with feeling good about food, not being afraid of it. 

Now, if you are a clean eater, and that works for you that is fine. This is my own experience, and I'm not saying you should change. But think about this... Why restrict yourself with food when it isn't poison, and you aren't allergic to it?

Who comes first?

Image Source

There seems to be this ingrained part of me that thinks that if my kids need something then it is important that they get it. So I tend to go without. Yes, even to the point where I wear jeans that have a gaping hole in the inner seam (upper thigh... don't stress!) until it is completely noticeable that I do actually need new pants. If my kids had a hole in their pants, they would never wear them in public again, and new pants would be purchased ASAP. 

Am I the only parent who does this? Sometimes I think that this way of thinking somehow springs from that fear of "Oh gosh! What if everyone thinks I am a bad mum??!!??!!". What? Because I allowed my kids to wear pants that had a hole in them? Sometimes I think I need to do a bit of growing up. Who gives a flying McChicken burger what everyone else thinks??

Two weeks ago, my trusty old laptop packed it in and officially decided that it was not going to do what I wanted. I had an assignment due in 5 days and my computer said nope - I am not opening an internet browser with the click of a button... I will take an hour to do that. In tears, I walked into the computer shop and bought a new one. Because you know what?? It is not worth being stressed over a computer that doesn't work. 

I am slowly realising that I am important too. Don't get me wrong. I love myself to bits, and I absolutely think I am worth new things; I just tend to put others' needs before my own. Putting others first is great sometimes, but not ALL the time. Sometimes, the most important thing is to say yes to ME.

And guess what?? This morning I threw out those jeans and bought some new ones. 

still smiling

I need to remind myself to smile sometimes.

Our washing machine broke yesterday, right in the midst of a no underwear crisis, and also in a holy crap there are a lot of bills due this week crisis! It's hard to smile in the middle of the first world problems that we find ourselves in, but last night I decided that there is still positivity in the world and a broken washing machine is not something to get fetal about! So today I am going to be thankful for all of the things that are making me smile, so here is the list...

I have not had arthritis pain for 2 days due to stronger core muscles and warmer weather.

I am healthy, I have a place to live and food to eat.

I have a beautiful family.

Cuddles and kisses, because they make everything feel better.

I have crazy, hilarious children.

And there are lots of laundromats.

I think it's important to remember that there is always something to make me smile, because happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life.

What are you smiling about today?

not going to be little for long

Something that is really important to me is making time for my kids. I study full time, which is a huge job with a house and a family to look after, but taking time with each of my kids individually is a big deal to me. They won't be little for long (if you ask them, they already aren't little anymore) and I want to cherish the time that we have together before I am too uncool to hang out with.

My little man Oliver is getting so big so fast. He is so excited about starting school next year and it is still six months away! He loves to count and do sums. He is also learning to read on reading eggs now which he thinks is just ace. I think it is exciting that he is filling his mind with understandings about the way the world works. He thinks so too. 

Thursday is our day. Usually, Oliver and I head out to do the grocery shopping, but today we opted for a pyjama day, cleaning the house, changing the beds and walking to get Ruth from school in the afternoon. 

To Oliver, walking to the school is a grand adventure. He makes up stories that we are walking through the jungle and where the path has cracked and there is a deep hole to jump over or else we will fall in. The roads can be raging rivers that we have to pretend to swim over. Everything is full of monsters and danger and adventure. I love it.

We will take time to sit on the benches along the path because we need to re-charge our compasses (the strings on the beanie that point the way). And when it's time to go again there is a spring in our step and a smile on our face.

We do our exercises on the equipment that is set up along the path. Usually this is because we have been challenged by a evil king and we need to do the exercises or they will keep our princess captive.

Best of all, we hold hands most of the way and that reminds me that one day I will be too uncool to hold hands with. For now I am cool enough though, and it makes me feel so proud to have such a gorgeous, caring, intelligent boy holding my hand as we go on our adventures. This just makes my day.

oat flour

Yesterday, being Thursday, was a very busy day around here. On Thursdays I tend to get the majority of my errands out of the way. I head into Highpoint or the Market and get lots of fresh food for our house and then I come home and prepare any meals that need preparation for the week. 

When I was out yesterday I decided that I would try to get some Oat Flour. 

I am pretty keen on keeping my food "clean", keeping our bodies healthy is a huge part of what keeps me and my family happy, but we all need cake to keep us happy too - so I make healthier, nutrient packed, versions of these treats so that we don't need to go on diets and miss out on yummy stuff to keep our bodies healthy.

Anyway, I digress, I saw the price of Oat Flour and I thought.. yeah, I think I am going to DIY that one.

I know you might be thinking...

 But it is actually a 15 minute process that you will be grateful for. No one wants to pay $10 for a tiny bag of oat flour when you can buy a 750g bag of rolled oats for $1 and grind it yourself.

 

 

I just pop the rolled oats into my mini food processor and buzz it til its nice and fine. I should note that this is much coarser than "normal" flour you can buy. You can sieve and re-buzz your flour until its nice and fine if you like, or if you have a thermomix I hear they are awesome for this (but I don't). I don't find that the texture you see here is a problem in my baking, so I leave it like this, put it in a container and pop it in the pantry. That's 750g of preservative-free oat flour for a fraction of the cost.

Oliver and I were so proud of our savings that we went and spent it on a cup of tea afterwards.

time

If there is one thing that I have always struggled with it has been time management. I often will have a huge deadline coming up and just ignore it until the last minute and end up stressed out and exhausted ensuring that I get everything finished on time. Yes - I always do get things completed, even when I manage my time poorly but this is not the point.

One big thing that I learned when I was off on my teaching rounds it was time management. This is something that I have vowed to continue to do and am doing very well at thus far. I am currently overloading at uni. This means that rather than completing the normal prescribed study load, I am doing an extra subject so that I can complete my degree earlier than I would have otherwise. I am able to do this because I don't work, I have very self-sufficient children one of which is at school full time and the other goes to kindergarten. I also set myself goals that MUST be completed. I keep a big cork board with my study planner and time table on it - I also keep a diary...

 

This is a fresh one for the new financial year.

I am finding that managing my time means that I am much less stressed at the end of the day, because I know exactly where I stand with each upcoming deadline and I know that I have used the time that I have had to work on each thing to my best ability. You can't do much more than that! Achieving my daily study / housework / sewing / fitness / kid oriented goals really puts a smile on my face.

Here are some photos of what I have gotten up to today in my well managed time.

Oliver and I made apple leather using Kate's instructions. He thinks he is a master chef and he loves to spend time helping out in the kitchen. I love to cook, so his desire to help me makes morning activity time quite easy to organise.

I worked on calisthenics head gear for the little miss. I have actually almost finished all of her costumes for this year. Hooray!!

And good old lesson plans for assignments. I actually love the kinds of assignments that I have to plan lessons for rather than just write an essay - they seem so much more relevant.

Anyway - back to it!

What are your tips for managing your time?

six months...

Six months and eleven days to be perfectly exact.

Six months and eleven days since I posted on this blog....
Six months and eleven days of thinking that I needed to make time to write....
Six months and eleven days of ignoring google plus just in case it decided to remind me that I needed to post on here...

What happens in six months and eleven days?

Lots of things happen in six months and eleven days.

You can take a road trip to Queensland and back with the world's most well behaved children.

You can have a wisdom tooth extracted and it strike back terribly 2 weeks afterwards.

You can get up very very early every morning to make time for study while the children are still sleeping.

You can go on teaching rounds and have a wonderful experience and learn a lot of skills for a future profession.

You can get conjunctivitis from your child - conjunctivitis that the doctor told you was not contagious.

You can realise that your child loves Harry Potter, and help them dress like Hermione Granger for book week.

You can discover that beanie and scarf in the bottom drawer, as it is now cold and blustery outside.

You can cook up some super tasty treats with your kids, realising that your four year old loves cooking and will help to make any meal you ask him to.

You can be grateful that you have beautiful children who love each other with the purest of hearts and would prefer to snuggle up tightly on the same couch cushion just to be close.

You can also realise that perhaps you neglected your blog and that you probably needed it in order to fulfill a deep desire for an outlet, one without judgement or bias, one that you could speak into and bring to life.

You can make a promise to yourself that it wont be six months and eleven days until you blog again...

what I truly wish for.

Today's #reverb12 prompt asks what I truly wish for. It was inspired by Cam from Curlypops.. The prompt asks that I

"Imagine a scenario where you only had one year left to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?

 What steps could you take (however small) to ensure that you accomplish this thing in 2013?"

A while ago I sat and reflected upon the things in my life that are important to me. The things that I love. The things I would truly regret not completing if I died tomorrow. For me this is not a very difficult question because I am often reflecting upon my life and how to make it better, this is something I learned to do in my late teens. But acting upon those things are generally another story. I can be incredibly nervous around people when I first meet them which tends to make the things that I want to complete very difficult.

There were a number of things that I wanted to complete when I wrote that list a while ago (actually it was around this time last year). I wanted to be happier in my own skin, to be more confident of who I am and to treat each day as a gift that is to be treasured. I also wanted to go back to university and complete my teaching degree so that I could have a rewarding career.  These are things that I have worked on this year, things that I have taken steps towards completing. 

The one thing that was on my list that I have not taken steps towards, the one thing that I TRULY wish for, is to play music again. 

For those who don't know, I love music. Singing and playing my guitar is my true happy place and although I play in my lounge room, I desperately yearn to sing in a band again. But I simply do not know where to start. When I sing, when I make music, it is the only time in my life that I am not nervous. 

I don't know what steps I would take to make my music dreams happen. I dream of recording a demo here at home (we have all the equipment) and attempting to get some gigs. I dream of writing more and putting my heart into song. 

I will start by embedding a video of me singing a song I wrote 5 1/2 years ago. Something that terrifies me, I am not sure why. The sound and video are slightly out of sync and I think (maybe) my guitar might be a little out of tune. I play this song slightly differently now (maybe because I play guitar better now), I really should re-record it, but you get the idea.

What is it that YOU truly wish for?

whoops!

I've let the last 12 days go past without any posting which I am kicking myself about. I have been very busy finalising the end of this semester at uni and ensuring I put in as much effort as I could to get the marks that I really want. I like to work hard as I think it pays off later in that I have learned as much as I can and do not need to really re-learn, just refresh.

A few things I have been up to...

 Sewing.

Celebrating another successful year for Miss-R at Calisthenics. Also celebrating the fact that we don't have to go to calisthenics practice for a couple of months.

Giving magical mummy cuddles.

Taking far too many "selfies".

I've also been doing lots of yummy clean-eating cooking, attempting to sell my car (without much luck so far), going to watch the MR play inline hockey, writing assignments, getting marks back for assignments, procrastinating, and working. I love my life, so busy and so many things that I get to do every week.

What kind of busy person tasks have you been up to or are you enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle?

blogtober 6th: intentions

It has been mentioned that setting a goal or intention for blogtober is a good way to stay motivated to post each day within the month. 

It was my goal to actually do this post on Wednesday, but if you look back on my posts, I did not post on Wednesday (because I completely forgot due to unknown reasons). I will post it now though, however delayed it might be. 

me looking pensive

So unfulfilled goals aside...

My intention is to continue to be me. 

To share the way that I share, but every day.

To involve myself in new ways and be introduced to new people. 

To read things about experiences others have had. 

To discover places I want to re-visit.

To enjoy and expand my new patch of cyberspace.
To make things.

To be generous and give. 

To continue to show snapshots of our life.



Are you playing along with blogtoberfest?
Do you have a blogtober goal?

food glorious food

For those who know me, you will know that I am currently addicted to healthy, mouth watering, delicious food. Food that looks and tastes delicious, but has no hidden nasties.

roasted vegetable salad

I have learned that cooking is essential as I have food allergies and I like to know what goes into my food so that I don't get sick.

this became mixed berry frozen yoghurt

I do really love cooking though, and serving up meals that make me drool from the smell and the way that it looks is really something that I enjoy. The eating is pretty good too though!!

mountain bread pizza

The other day I was craving spicy food. The kids were (and still are) away at Granny's farm for the week and I thought, well here is my chance to make something really awesome that I know they won't eat.

So when I was doing my grocery shop, I looked at a bunch of different marinades in the spicy section of the supermarket. There is one common ingredient in most spicy marinades... lemon. I am allergic to lemon. So rather than resigning myself to not having my spicy food that I so craved I had a look at the other ingredients on the packets and made my own. 

 

YUM!!

 So this is how I made my super delicious, droolworthy chicken that night.

I put about 500g of chicken thighs in a ziplock bag with a chilli, a can of coconut milk, some coriander, a good amount of tumeric and some other spices I found in the cupboard (I made mine pretty spicy, but you could tone down the spiciness if you really wanted to). I wanted to put in some garlic, but there's not much Australian garlic selling in my local supermarket at the moment, I must get to the fruit shop!

I sat that bag in the fridge all day. Probably about 6 hours. 

After letting it sit in the fridge, I put everything that was in the bag in my brazier pan to sear the chicken. And then chopped up a red capsicum and put it in there too. 

Once the chicken started to get a bit of colour, I put the pan in a moderate oven, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

While that was cooking, I drank some wine, chopped up some veggies to steam and cooked some rice.

The end result...

SMELLED AMAZING! 

LOOKED AMAZING! 

TASTED AMAZING!

Oh it was so so good. And was well received by the MR. I think the kids would probably eat it too. You should definitely try it!

Do you like to cook?

What is your favorite food to eat?

on the colour of my thumbs

 
I have never in my life been much of a green thumb. Despite this, Tuesday morning is quickly becoming gardening time at our place. Mr-O and I like to get out in the sunshine with the dirt and worms and pull up the weeds, plant seeds and tend to our garden. I'm actually enjoying it too!

I am making plans to make our garden beautiful. Ways that I can use the small amount of suburban backyard we have effectively and beautifully and yet still leave room for playing. To give a mental image, our backyard is not big enough for a trampoline or a swing set, but it makes a marvelous cricket pitch!

During winter we planted a veggie patch. Growing and eating our own home grown veggies, as few as there were, was really good for the kids as they knew that they had grown them themselves, they made it! But this was our first instance of trying to grow veggies, and we have a lot to learn and a lot of improvements to make. For instance about the quality of our soil, the soil on our block is very hard and generally quite awful. The front yard somewhat resembles concrete, even though I know there's none in there!

I now can see lots of worms in our garden bed as I dig in it which makes me excited about our soil improving.This has inspired me to keep it up and last week we had a bit of a seed planting day at our place.

This morning we went out and had a look at our seedling pots and some of the seedlings are starting to sprout and in a few weeks they will be ready to go into the garden which will be really exciting.

Mr-O and I are really excited about making a really awesome veggie patch this season. We are all really looking forward to eating our own veggies again.

Do you have a veggie patch?
What colour are your thumbs?

commitments...

I have spent so much time recently obeying the commands of the "important" things in my life. Kids, work, uni, housework, cooking, washing. I don't make enough time for me.

Last week I was very sick. For Wednesday, Thursday and some of Friday I couldn't move. I had spent so much time the week before staying up late, and then getting up early to work on assignments. I was drinking a lot of caffeinated drinks and eating quick, easy meals (translate - very unhealthy) and the end result was that I came down with the worst flu I have ever had. I felt almost as bad as when I had glandular fever.

It goes to show that what you put into your body is important. Food is fuel, and rest, fresh air and sunshine are what keeps the body moving. When you put the wrong fuel in your tank you become run down and simply don't go (much like if you tried to run your car on soft-drink instead of petrol). I am generally a VERY healthy person, I don't eat very many processed foods and I limit my caffeine intake to one coffee per day and a few cups of tea. More on this another time, it has taken a LOONGG time for me to wake up to the foods that I put in my body and how they make me feel inside and also the affect they have on my mood.

Last week I do believe my body was saying HOLY CRAP! What are you doing to me woman?!?!?! 

Thankfully, I am now on the mend and after a very stern wake-up call, I am back on my usual healthy diet and am doing a 7 day clean eating challenge to help my body get back to normal. I also made the decision yesterday that I would spend today doing something for ME!

I busted out my plans for my bag for the challenge and the fabric I have chosen and started tracing.

Unfortunately I am out of interfacing though (insert big fat frown here). I thought I had LOTS but apparently I am out (I want my bag to be nice and sturdy). So I will head off to Spotlight over the weekend and get some more. Here's a peek at my fabric choices though...

One of the main rules that I had for undertaking a sew-a-long was that I HAD to use fabric from my stash. I am on official fabric ban at the moment until I use up some of the fabric I already have. These two fabrics just so happened to be sitting next to each other on the shelf.

The grey fabric is a cotton fabric that I bought so long ago I can't remember where it was. But I do remember buying it to make pants. The pink is something I bought to make myself a new ironing board cover. Yes... too busy sewing nappies up until recently to bother making either of those things for myself! But when I saw them sitting together on the shelf I thought... yup! They are going to be my bag. 

The grey will be the main body of the bag and the pink will be my accent fabric. I just love pink, especially bright pinks like this one. 

Hopefully I will have more progress by Monday. Now that I know what I am going to make, I am very excited to make it.

the great croissant battle

Last week I found a recipe for croissants. I was so excited as I have never made croissants before! Knowing that I would be up late that night doing assignments, I set to work on getting the basic dough together. 

You see unlike anyone else I know, I get bored and simply bake. I am not into cooking things that are quick and easy either I love to cook things that have many specific steps that I can master. I am funny like that, I love precision. 

Anyway, the next night I popped the croissants in the oven... yum!

 

They were delicious! but not quite right. They didn't rise up enough, and didn't unravel the way that a croissant does. It's winter here, and the dough didn't rise enough in the first rise which probably was the cause of the not quite fluffy texture of my croissants.

But, yes... I cannot let a recipe beat me! I must master the croissant! So on Friday I got out my mate sunny, who is quite good at making me amazing pizza dough because he is awesome at creating the right temperature for rising dough.

 I set him to make pizza dough but put my croissant ingredients in. I had to change the recipe a little, as I also felt the quantities weren't quite right on the recipe I had found.

The result was perfectly fluffy, delicious dough that was so easy to work. Thanks Sunny!!

The thing about making croissants is that they take a long time to make! It took me a whole day to get my dough ready to the stage above where I got to roll it into those little crescents, and even then they weren't ready to go into the oven! Oh but into the oven they eventually went and mmm...

 Delicious, fluffy croissants that unraveled beautifully when I pulled the ends.

These croissants took me 8(ish) hours to get ready to bake, and then they take about 10minutes to cook after that. So they are a long-haul, many steps, precision, ahh just my style!

What have you been baking this week?

I'd love to know!