Wednesday Worries

 

A little wisdom I stumbled across browsing Making Magique. It's important to keep perspective sometimes because when you're in your twenties it's so easy to feel totally over whelmed. We're working hard to get the careers we've dreamed of, trying to balance that with having a life and maintaining friendships, all the while panicking that we wont make rent, won't pay that student debt off on time, aren't traveling enough or aren't having enough fun. It's tricky, it's confusing, and it can be (even though all the evidence points to the contrary) a little lonely. 

But it's normal. It's all totally normal. Chin up kids, we'll make it.

Boppins Bakes: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Sometimes you just need cake. Chocolate chip with buttercream icing to be precise.

125g butter, creamed together with 125g sugar. Gradually mix in 2 lightly beaten eggs, then fold in 125g self raising flour. Add a generous teaspoon of cocoa powder and a heap of chocolate chips before baking at 180c for 15-20 minutes. Top with buttercream icing when cool and if you feel the urge (like I did) garnish the plate with strawberries. Voila!

So good that I accidentally ate three for breakfast. Ah well.

Well colour me converted...

Exactly 10 months ago today I woke up, ate chicken and green beans for breakfast (which now seems normal), and swore off C.R.A.P embracing the clean and lean life.

Admittedly I fell off the 'kick start' wagon a mere 10 days later (malteaser bunnies are in fact the devil) but all this time later it's safe to say my eating habits have changed permanently, and with brilliant results. Here's what's changed...

1. I eat meat.

When I was at uni I very rarely ate meat. Part due to the cost, part down to the fact I hated cooking it, and maybe in part down to my ignorance that I thought a plain salad was better for me than one with protein. Ah foolish me. Now a meal feels incomplete without some lean meat on my plate and I regularly snack on chicken. It's very odd.

Clean & lean & delicious

2. I eat fat.

I was fat phobic. Anything with low-fat, non-fat, half-fat or fat-free on the label would make its way into the shopping basket. Say the words "good fat" to me and I'd have looked at you like you were mental. GOOD fats?! That was a contradiction in terms to my pre-clean and lean mind. Oh how that has changed. I never buy reduced fat products, knowing full well that the ingredients put in to replace the fat are ten times worse for me than a few extra calories and nutrients. And less likely to fill me up. I'm now constantly dribbling olive oil on salads, coconut oil graces all my pans, I nibble incessantly on nuts and avocados are my obsession. All in moderation of course. Speaking of nuts...

3. I eat nuts.

Never ate them before but man are they a handy, nutritious, and sustaining snack. Keep you full, and all the good fat in them has done wonders for my skin. Even my pores have shrunk. Seriously.



We love good fats.

4. I'm no longer 'skinny fat'.

Like my love of low fat I used to be a sucker for a 'health' food. Be it a breakfast cereal, a snack bar or even a yogurt (I was totally pulled in by 'bifidus actiregularis', I mean come ON, is that even a thing!?) so called health foods made up the bulk of my grocery basket. Now I won't go near them with a ten foot barge pole. Full of sugar, additives, and general yuckiness they were probably to blame for my 'skinny fat' (I'm naturally slim but was most likely dying on the inside, pumped full of sugar) state and bad skin. Much better off without them.

5. I have more energy, clearer skin, longer hair and a flatter stomach.

All of which were on the wish list when I first the bible. Specifically the flatter stomach bit. By cutting out most wheat and avoiding gluten where I can I've really felt the benefits, and the good fats alongside lean meats have done wonders for my skin and hair. WONDERS.

It might as well be me on the cover (in my head at least).

So...

I can't claim to by clean and lean 100% of the time. I have full on carb fest weeks, still like a chocolate fix and will probably never develop the will power to avoid the biscuit tray at work. But clean and lean has worked for me and it would probably work for you. Everyone I've converted so far loves it. So try it. I dare's ya'.

*Oh and notice how everything is 'I eat'? So it's not deprived, it's totally maintainable.

I fell off the wagon.

I accidentally found myself in possession of these...

And damn they were good.

My will power cracked (I blame a generous co-worker who was offering round crisps, it was a slippery slope/walk to the vending machine once I got a taste for the CRAP) and I'm not proud of it. To be honest I'm amazed I lasted as long as I did, and throw in a double shift and freezing cold curl up and comfort eat weather and I cracked.

Rubbish excuses I know but everyone needs a cheat day and maaaan did I need a cheat day. What surprised me was how unbelievably guilty I felt afterwards, almost weak for not lasting the 14 days, which isn't a relationship I want to have with food. So a slight relaxing of the rules (fruit is coming back into my life with a vengeance) is in order. This is about healthiness and guilt over chocolate and crisps is not healthy, hopefully some natural sugars will stop me hitting the cocoa kind.

On the plus side this could be the kick start my metabolism needs, I'm on the second week slow down and HATING not seeing a difference to my body each morning. There, justified it. Almost.

Can I have coffee yet?

So it's been 8 whole days of clean and lean and I can honestly say I won't be going back to gorging on junk  anytime soon. The first three days may have been hellish (and better best forgotten) but since then I've been sleeping well, had tons of energy and have one very flat stomach. Happy days. Picking good foods has already become a habit and my afternoon energy dip and subsequent sugar craving has completely disappeared....except when people near me eat chocolate, then I act like a drug addict gone cold turkey.

I'm not going to lie, I have drunk a teeeeeeny bit. Which is very bad clean and lean behaviour. Especially during the 14 day bit. But well, it would be rude not to have a couple on a pay day night out, and as long as you resist the urge to eat greasy and sugary foods the next day there's really no harm. Plus my before bed drunken snack was oatcakes and turkey. So I'm officially a changed woman. There, I justified it.

Overall so far I love how much more aware I am of what's actually good for me as opposed to what I think is good for me. Like having protein with every meal, eating good fats (and boy do I luuuuurve me those nuts, avocados and a valid excuse to eat hummus all the time), not being conned into the 'light' and 'low fat' versions of foods, and how those cereal bars that I have eaten nearly every day of my life thinking they're doing me good are actually one of the worst things you can eat. Some chicken or a few nuts is actually the best energy boost EVER.

After a few days of literally dreaming about cakes (which is only slightly bizarre as I'm not a cake person usually), chocolate and a big bag of kettle chips the only thing I've got a craving for these days is a steaming hot Starbucks mocha. And if I can kill that craving for another week when I do relax the rules and allow a teeny tiny bit of sugary goodness back into my life, with soya milk of course and not this 'skinny' crap like before, it will taste all the sweeter. And no doubt shock my system so much I'll feel like shit and not want another. I guess that's part of how you stay clean and lean for life... mildly depressing but if I have a body like THE BODY I'm sure it'll all be worth it.

That's me on the left.

The Bible has arrived...

And by bible I mean the actual Clean & Lean book. I was improvising today and yesterday (and bladdy well as it turns out) but now I have the actual plan, a massive list of recipes and tables galore about what's bad, better and best. Although frankly the day I see cucumber and avocado as a genuine substitute for chocolate is the day I know I've lost it.

I won't give an in depth review (that's what Amazon is for) but so far I'm sold on the sugar is evil mantra, loving the 'exercise in moderation' idea and have an easy way to remember what I can and can't eat: cut the C.R.A.P.

Caffeine
Refined sugar
Alcohol
Processed food.

Simples. Well, apart from the alcohol bit. But Mr Duigan has stated that if you can't cut booze for 14 days then this is not the plan for you. And he sounded serious. Looks like my visit to Fez club on Friday will be a sober affair....good lord.

Clean & Lean Day One (a.k.a. the first post)

The detox has begun. Not a milligram of sugar or hint of a carbohydrate has passed these lips today, instead it's been eggs, spinach, water, green veg, salmon, cucumber, chicken and then some more green veg and spinach. And some green tea. Green may very well be the word of the day and so far I kind of like it.

Admittedly I'm much hungrier than usual at 11pm (currently taking an insane amount of will power not to hit the jelly babies....one wouldn't hurt....would it?), I've had a headache all day, and the lack of sugar has made me snappy and unable to concentrate. But in a strange way I can feel it's working. I didn't have my usual 3 o'clock Dairy Milk craving and I've drunk more water than I thought physically possible. So that's two immediate plus points in a sea of spinach and energy deprived detox doom.   

I think it's important to point out that I'm not doing this for weight loss. It's all about looking and feeling healthier in the bright eyed, glossy haired, glowing skin sense. It's also about breaking some very bad sugar binge habits I've picked up since I started working full time rather than bumming around in sweats watching Grey's Anatomy (ah student life). 

So one day down, 13 to go....and apparently the second is always the hardest. Wish me luck!