Recipe | Harrisa Spiced Sweet Potato Salad

I love warm salads, and the other day I was rummaging around in the kitchen, trying to find something that would be warm, comforting, and yet still healthy. This harissa spiced sweet potato salad is what I came up with, and it was delicious, and only 236 calories.

It's really quick and easy to make, and really tasty too.

Cut the sweet potato into cubes, place on a baking tray with a little oil (I used coconut butter), and add half a tablespoon of harissa spices. Mix together and place in the over at Gas Mark 5, for 20 minutes or until soft.

While that cooks, chop up 1 cup of raw spinach and place in a dish. Add half a can of drained chickpeas, season with half a tablespoon of harissa spices, salt, and pepper.

Once the sweet potato is soft, remove from the oven and add to the salad.

Enjoy!

Let's Try Something Whole

Hi all,

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about getting healthy. For me, when I started this weight loss journey, it was primarily about that. Weight loss. I knew I wanted to be healthier as well, fitted, more toned etc, only I never truly believed that I could be healthy. Not fully.

When I was sixteen, I was diagnosed with an illness called POTS and it completely changed my life. You can read more about how it affected me, by clicking here. But in short, I lost my good health, and that's been really hard. 

So while I've been dieting, I've hoped that if I exercise more, I'll feel a little better, but I was slim when I was diagnosed, so I never truly believed I could be healthy. Over the past few days, my outlook on this has absolutely changed. I now hope that I can be healthy, and I mean, off my medications, able to go out on my own, and get a job kind of healthy.

This has all become possible, because of a blogger that my mum found while looking into different diets. She came across the blog and book Deliciously Ella, and started to read a little about her. She's a woman, who also had POTS, and started following a wholefoods, plant based diet, in order to feel better. It worked. Two years on, she was off her medications and living a normal life.

So that's what I'm going to be trying from here on out. Gone are the processed foods, the sugar, gluten and dairy that's been in my diet for so long. I'm going back to basics, and while I will be eating a little fish and chicken along with it, primarily my diet will be plant based.

I'll be sticking to wholefoods, organic as much as I can. Eating more fruit, veggies, and things like chia seeds, almond butters, and wonderful smoothies.

I'm going to be having food in it's purest form, in the hopes that it might do for me, what it's done for Ella, and somewhere in the next couple of years, I could be healthy.

Along the way, I'll be sharing my progress, and some recipes I try. Both ones I find from other blogs and books, and some I create out of whatever I have in the kitchen.

I have no doubts that it's going to be really hard. I'm a sugar junkie at heart, but I'm also determined. I've been struggling to find diet inspiration for a while now, and what better inspiration, than getting my health back.

Smoothies and an Update

Hi all,

So it's been a while since I wrote something on here, and it's not because I've given up on the diet. I just had no internet for a little over two weeks! It's back up and running now, so I thought I'd do a quick update.

I'm currently sitting at 9st10lbs, and I'm really excited to get my weight into the double digits, hopefully this week.

I'm trying something new for July. My sister decided to do a 30 day smoothie challenge, drinking one smoothie a day, along with regular healthy meals. She asked me if I wanted to join in, and so that's what I'm doing.

Yesterday I had a grape, apple and spinach smoothie which was delicious. Today I opted for a mango and kale one, which again was really good. 

I'm hoping this will be a good way to get more fruit and vegetables in my diet, and make me stop reaching for sweet treats like chocolate and cakes.

It's no secret that I have a very big sweet tooth, and I need to quit this habit and swap it for healthier snacks.

I need to exercise more, though, because this week I've barely done anything.

So, here's hoping that this last 19lbs will go soon.

I'll Have ALL the Calories. Thanks!

Hi guys,

I'm writing this after two really bad days of calories. I'm seriously mad at myself, because this past week, I was so focused. I did a lot of workouts. I was better with what I was eating, and even though I had a day or two where I overate a little, I made sure to make up with it by exercising. 

I had a goal in mind, to lose two pounds this week, and then Thursday and Friday happened. Things went... Badly.

Part of the reason it's been bad, is that I'm in charge of cooking in my house, so when I'm having bad health days and can't do it, my brother takes over. However, recently we've both been unwell, and the rest of my family hasn't been feeling great either. So nobody really felt up to cooking, especially since in my house, it's usually three different dinners because of people's food preferences.

So the natural conclusion, was let's get a takeaway. 

My daily goal for calories is 1,200

Thursday.

I was good all day. I woke up with my mind set on having fruit, veggies, and protein. Breakfast and lunch, I was doing great. Here's a little look at what I had.

Breakfast - Kiwi, Scrambled Eggs (small portion). (153 Calories)

Morning Snack - Omega Booster Seeds, Coffee with coconut sugar. (205 Calories)

Lunch - Homemade Tuna Burgers, Homemade Cauliflower and Feta Frittas (roasted not fried) 455 Calories)

Then dinner happened.

Dinner - KFC Wicked Zinger Box Meal (Corn cob and Diet Pepsi) (1,010 Calories)

Total Calories (1,823) 

Friday

I woke up with good intentions, but since when do they get me anywhere.

Breakfast - Alpro smooth chocolate soya pudding (115 Calories)

Morning Snack - Jelly Babies (5 sweets), Wheat Free Apple Pie. (320 Calories)

Lunch - Ramen (94 Calories)

Dinner - McDonalds Taste of America New York Classic Burger Meal Large. Mocha Frappe with whipped cream. (1,240 Calories) 

Total Calories (1,769) 

So it's safe to say that I'm not happy with myself for continuing to go over my calories. Especially since this morning at weigh in. I gained three pounds! I'm so mad at myself.

I wanted, in relation to this, to talk a little about choices. I made some really bad choices the past couple of days, and I've paid for it on the scales. So now I'm regretting everything I did. Here's the thing. We were eating out, but that didn't mean I had to eat badly. Both KFC and McDonalds offer more than one salad option, and I even considered getting them, but suddenly as I was giving my order to my dad, I was asking for things really far away from a salad and diet drink. It was like I gave up on my diet and just said, I'll have all the calories, thanks!

If I'd opted to have a salad and diet drink, I could have had a meal that was under 300 calories and still tasty. If I'd felt like being a little bad, I could even have gone for a sugary drink with the salad, and still I would have saved myself so many calories.

The McDonalds burger I had, alone was almost 700 calories, and then adding on a drink with whipped cream, and fries. Insane.

I'm not saying not to treat yourself, because sometimes you just want a treat, but I need to learn to be wiser. If I've had something higher in calories during the day, don't eat a high calorie dinner. If you have extra calories for dinner, then have something like McDonalds if you want, but don't use all or more than all of your daily allowance on one meal.

Next time someone suggests eating out, I'll have to remember the number on the scale this morning, and ask for a salad!

Turning Things Around

Hi all,

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic right now, and say that I think I'm finally starting to turn things around. Last week I had a three pound weight loss, and this morning I weighed in again, and I've lost another two.

I'm now have under twenty pounds left to lose, and I could not be more excited about it. Having a good number on the scale this week, has motivated me even more to keep going, and get to my end target.

I'm a fan of the small goals along the way, and at the moment I'm aiming to get into the eight stones, by the end of July. This means losing another eleven pounds between now and then, and I have nine weigh ins to do it in. With this in mind, I knew that just because I got a good number this week, I couldn't let myself slack off.

So this morning, I did a fifteen minute core workout (Davina Fit in 15 DVD), Then hopped on the treadmill for ten minutes, and finished up with five minutes on the bike. I'm resting up now, and if I'm feeling up to it, I'm hoping to go out with my parents this afternoon, and enjoy the sunshine which has finally decided to show up!

All in all, I'm feeling pretty positive this week. 

Positive Progress: Finally!

Hi all,

As you know from my previous posts, I've kind of been losing motivation, slipping with my weight loss, and generally not feeling great. So, as of my last post, I decided I needed to refocus. I had just gained two pounds, and I wasn't happy with that at all. So I promised I would cut the junk food, stop going over calories, and be better in general.

I didn't actually manage to kick all the bad habits. Turns out, apple pie is hard to say no to. However, I was more concious of what I was eating, and went over calories maybe once. I did step up the exercise, though not as much as I could have. 

My goal was simple, lose the two pounds I'd put on. So I was thrilled, when after a semi-good week of diet and exercise, I got on the scale and I'd lost three pounds. It was truly a great feeling, that not only had I undone the bad week, but also forged ahead with my weight loss.

So, this helped my motivation a tonne, and I'm back to eating healthier foods, staying within my calorie allowance, and exercising.

One thing which has really been helping, is that my mum and I joined together and bought a treadmill for our living room. It's so great having that and the exercise bike to use, along with our small supply of weights, resistance bands and a few other bits and pieces.

I don't get to use it as much as I would like, because of my health restrictions, but on my good days, I can normally get in a good thirty minutes, So that's helping with my cardio.

I'm hoping to see about two pounds loss next week, but with just twenty one pounds left to go, I'll be happy with any loss I can get.

Kicking the Habit...I Mean It This Time

Hi guys,
As you may remember from my last post, I've not been doing fantastically recently. However I have some good news, I managed to kick the habit of eating KFC and Belgium Buns all the time. Bad news, I've swapped it for McDonald's and Apple Pie.
Oi! I don't know what has happened to my motivation, but today marks the start of a new week, and I fully intend to kick the bad habits.
No more eating over my calories. Restrict the amount of junk I eat. Maybe even try to eliminate it.
I want to get back into working out, because I've been sick for the past two weeks, but I finally feel healthy enough to tackle a workout.
Today, the sun is shining. I'm feeling motivated, and I want to get back on track with my weight loss. Today is the day to do it. It's salads, water and workouts this week.