Budget Eats: Meal Plan 1

Hello!

Radio silence is taking a wee break as I'm finally through the stress of job hunting (which means I have a new job - hurrah!). I don't know about you, but summer seems to have kicked my wallet a wee bit. I think it's because I'm more inclined to go out and about and meet people for drinks. Which is lovely, but it means that I'm already looking at my bank account with a mild amount of fret and worry (although part of that is due to buying myself a new bike but *shush* more about her another day).

Anyway, on Twitter yesterday I mentioned that I'd managed to plan meals for a week for 2 for around £15 (lunch & dinner - breakfast is always gluten free cereal & almond milk) and a few people seemed interested so I thought I'd share. Lunches will be leftovers, either from the day before or from the 2 big batch meals (soup & rice salad) at the start of the week. I say around £15 because I'm aware I'm not taking the cost of stock, herbs & spices into account, but I'd say at the very, very most this would be £20.

I shop locally, and I'm lucky enough to have a lovely, friendly greengrocers nearby. The veg for this came to £9.28 (including 3 fresh chillis, garlic, fresh ginger, fresh parsley and a cheeky blood orange). I understand that if you have to use your local supermarket, it might not come in quite as cheap. I really do recommend trying to find a good local greengrocers if you can, because they're often cheaper and allow more flexibility in terms of how much you buy of each ingredient.

I'm not giving full recipes, just a basic overview. (although if there's anything you'd really like me to go into detail with then let me know). There's a big stock of herbs & spices in my cupboard - again, I buy the cheapest bulk versions possible. So, without further ado, here's the meal plan for this week:

Sunday evening (4 portions for dinner + 3 portions left over): 
Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup: 6 medium carrots, 1 v large sweet potato, 1 medium onion, 5 cloves garlic, 1 red chilli, 1 inch fresh ginger, cumin, basil, oregano, thyme, za'tar, paprika, ground coriander, S&P, 1 litre gf chicken stock
(Roast carrots & sweet potato until softish. Fry off onion, garlic, chilli & ginger, add roast veg & herbs/spices, add stock. Simmer for 25+ minutes. Blend, adding more water if necessary)

Monday (and a good few lunches):
Massive Rice Salad: 400g rice (cooked & cooled), 400g tuna, 1 red pepper, 1 cucumber, 4 big tomatoes, bunch of spring onions, flat leaf parsley, 4 tbsp mayo, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tbsp olive oil, chilli flakes, S&P, za'tar
(Based on this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/681634/helpyourself-tuna-rice-salad)

Tuesday:
Spinach and potato curry: 1 large bunch spinach (stalks removed), 500gish (I have no idea I don't weigh things) new potatoes, 1 medium red onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 red chilli, 1 inch ginger, garam masala, ground coriander, cumin, S&P, tumeric, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 carton chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsp natural yoghurt
(Chop potatoes into quarters, par boil, drain. Chop spinach, cook in small saucepan with 2 tbsp water until wilted - drain & cool. Fry onion, garlic, chilli & ginger, add potatoes, add spinach, add tomatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with yoghurt)

Wednesday:
Mediterranean Veg Stew & Rice: 1 aubergine, 1 courgette, 1 carton chopped tomatoes, 1 medium red onion, 3 cloves garlic, borlotti/butter beans, rice, paprika, oregano, basil, za'tar, smoked paprika, S&P, 2 tbsp olive oil
(Chop everything, Fry onion & garlic. Add other veg & beans. Add herbs. Add tomatoes. Simmer for 25 minutes. Cook rice. Serve)

Thursday:
Vegetable Chilli: 1 medium red onion, 10 mushrooms, 1 red pepper, 1 tin black/kidney/borlotti beans, 1 carton chopped toms, rice, 1 red chilli, 3 cloves garlic, paprika, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, 2 squares basics dark chocolate, S&P, 1/2 tsp veg boullion, glug of red wine leftover from a party, possibly a bit of cheese if the budget will stretch, natural yoghurt if needed, squeeze of tomato puree
(Chop everything, Fry onion, chilli & garlic. Add other veg & beans. Add herbs & spices & chocolate. Add tomatoes. Simmer for 25 minutes. Cook rice. Serve.)

Friday:
Leftovers & pasta: Whatever's left in the fridge, pasta.
(Roast whatever veg is left in the fridge. Mix it with pasta. Maybe add some cheese if I can stretch to it)

I don't really do things very exactly, hence why spices etc are just names without measures. Experiment. What works for me flavourwise might not work for you. Use these as a jumping point. This is not the world's most exciting or balanced diet I'm sure but it's cheap, relatively healthy, gluten free and filling.

Let me know if this is useful for you. I'm more than happy to share these every week if it helps!

My new love aka Peanut Butter Puffins

Hello Lovelies!

Finding interesting, quick, relatively healthy, vegan, wheat free breakfast cereals in the UK can be a pretty depressing activity. In fact, if it wasn't for Doves Farm's Chocolate Stars and Low Fat Flakes, I think I'd be a very depressed bunny indeed. Hence, I decided it was time to get a bit creative and after hearing Nicky and Laura declaring their love of Peanut Butter Puffins all the time, I decided to take the plunge and order myself a couple of boxes.

These little crispy, puffy pillows are utterly divine. They hit that perfect spot between salty and sweet with a good peanutty kick to satisfy any health bloggers nut butter cravings! They're also really rather healthy, for a processed cereal and the ingredients list is gorgeously natural! I'm sold... I can see the start of a rather expensive addiction.

You can grab them from iherb and provided you only order one or two boxes, the airmail shipping really isn't too bad (and only took around a week and a half to arrive)!

Questions:
Have you tried Peanut Butter Puffins?
What's your current favourite breakfast treat?

New Series: Teach Ben How to Cook.

Aloha!

If you've learnt anything over the past few months of reading my blog, I'd hope it'd be that I absolutely adore food. Cooking is one of my passions, especially creating interesting (but accessible) wheat-free vegetarian tasty treats. Hence when I hear a friend can't cook, I weep a little inside.

Cooking for me isn't just a life skill - it's an art form, a social catalyst, a dearly loved friend. So many of my favourite memories come from cooking for others or (at the very least) sharing food with others. But sadly, there's lots of people out there who are terrified by the concept of cooking or, at the very least, who think they can't cook. Tosh and piffle is what I say! I firmly believe that everyone can cook.... even my friend Ben.

Ben is a twitter friend of mine and an all round awesome person but, sob sob, he can't cook. Actually, that's a lie - he can cook two things. Halloumi sandwiches and Marscapone and Oreo Cheesecake. I've promised Ben that I'll not just teach him how to cook but also teach him how to love cooking but I don't want to do it on my own - I want you guys to help out too. (Also, if you're really good, Ben has promised to contribute a recipe of his own... exciting times, no?)

I would love for you to send me your favourite recipe - preferably vegetarian or at the very least easily adaptable to be featured as part of this series. We're not talking your most spectacular fancy schmansy meal here, we're talking the utterly delicious win them everytime meal.

So how can you get involved? Just drop me an email to  emilybirkinshaw@gmail.com with your recipe - try to make them as simple to follow as possible and include pictures too if you can. I'll be running the series over the next few weeks/months and featuring your recipes alongside my own! This doesn't need to be a culinary masterpiece - no recipe is too simple or too plain!

Ben will also be giving us regular updates on his cooking escapades and sharing the highs and lows of learning how to fall in love with cooking :)

I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can pull together - a community driven cookery course for everyone to enjoy! Sounds awesome dontcha think?!

Munchy Seeds Review

Hello lovelies,


You may or may not know that I am a snacking fiend! Especially if that snack happens to be salty... I've been known to chow down on 3 bags of crisps in a row. Not a statistic I'm proud of but hey, we all have those crazy days!


Since starting to exercise and look after myself a little more, I've become obsessed with trying to find interesting, healthy and fun ways to snack so I was more than happy to give these Munchy Seeds a try!

How cute is the packaging? They genuinely make me smile every time I look at them! I was sent 5 varieties - Omega Sprinkle, Chilli Mix, Vanilla Mix, Pumpkin Mix and the very exciting new Belgian Chocolate Mix with Apricot! Obviously these little babies are packed with bad boys, and this size is just perfect as a post-workout snack (or in our household, a Dr Who watching snack). I've also been sprinkling some of the savoury ones of salads and the sweet ones on bowls of yoghurt! All the seeds are roasted to bring out a lovely flavour and them mixed up with a range of interesting natural flavours and seasonings.

Omega Sprinkle:
Ingredients: Sunflower Seeds (48%), Pumpkin Seeds (20%), Hemp Seeds (6%), Rape Seeds (6%), Sesame Seeds (6%), Linseed (3%), Flax (3%)
Savoury Sauce: Soyabeans, Sea Salt & Koji (Aspergillus Oryzae)


As the name suggests, this one is packaged with Omega oils - Hemp, Linseed, Flax.... these babies pack a body loving punch :) I love the soya saucy flavouring. Salty and delicious!

Belgian Chocolate Mix with Apricot:
Ingredients: Seeds (Sunflower Seeds 21%, Pumpkin Seeds 5%), Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Dried Apricot (7%), Glazing Agents (Gum Arabic, Shellac), Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin, rice Flour, Natural Vanilla Flavouring)


I'd be lying if I said these weren't the first packet to be opened and devoured. Far tastier than chocolate covered raisins or peanuts! These went down very well in our household and I can see many more packets being purchased in the future. The only sad thing (if you're a vegan that is) is that they're not vegan :( Would be lovely to see a Dark Chocolate variety in the future....

Pumpkin Mix:
Sunflower Seeds (63%), Pumpkin Seeds (21%), Sesame Seeds (10%)
Savoury Sauce: Soya Beans, Sea Salt, & Koji* (Aspergillus Oryzae)


Fairly simple but tasty all the same. I've found these a little duller than some of the other varieties to eat on their own and have generally used them as a salad sprinkle.

Vanilla Pumpkin Mix:
Pumpkin Seeds (72%), Sugar (24%), Nature Vanilla flavouring (4%)


Ok so 24% sugar doesn't make these the healthiest of snacks but oh my goodness are they tasty! Personally, I could take them being a little less sweet but an excellent, slightly healthier alternative to sweets themselves. Really delicious!

Chilli Mix:
Sunflower Seeds (58%), Sweet Apricot Kernels (19%), Pumpkin Seeds (15%), Savoury Sauce: Soya Beans, Sea Salt, & Koji* (Aspergillus Oryzae), Crushed Chillies (1.3%)


These were probably my favourite of all the ones I tried. The addition of Sewet Apricot Kernals added some interest to the texture and I just loved the chilli kick. They were pretty spicy though so if you're not a fan of heat in your foods I'd give them a miss! For me they were a much healthier alternative to Thai Sweet Chilli crisps :)


You can get Munchy Seeds in all sorts of sizes and some other interesting flavours and varieties too! I've seen them in quite a few supermarkets but you can easily buy the whole range from the Munchy Seeds website.


Have you tried Munchy Seeds before? What did you think?


What's your favourite snack at the moment?


*Disclaimer* I was sent these for review purposes but this has no effect on my opinion. I always give my honest opinion.


Ps Sorry about the really bad pictures... my camera was having an off day and wanted to make everything a little dark and blue.

What I Ate Wednesday {1}

Hello Lovelies!

Today I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and do my first What I Ate Wednesday :)




Breakfast:

A rather delicious mix of Choc-o-Nut Cereal, Alpro Vanilla Soya Yoghurt, frozen strawberries and blueberries and some organic shredded coconut. For some reason this looks titchy but it was actually fairly epic!

Lunch:

Big salad of organic lettuce, organic beef tomatoes, 1/2 organic avocado. mushrooms, some pumpkin mix Munchy Seeds, hummus and a little agave/lemon/black pepper dressing :) I was trying to cram in as many nutrients as I could without much effort to try and make myself feel a little more well!

Snacks:

2 fruity chocolate mousse cups! Blended together 1 banana, 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup frozen strawberries and blueberries, 2 tbsp cocoa for around 5-8 minutes until thick and fluffy and then popped in the freezer for 20 minutes for a nice little chocolate mousse style snack.

Some more hummus and a bag of Ready Salted Walkers baked for a little carby pick me up... I was desperately craving salt by mid-afternoon!

Wheat Free Cookie Dough cake! I'll bring you my recipe later in the week but it's loosely based on this

Tea:

Using up the leftover chilli from a few nights ago to make some yummy Veggie Chilli Tacos again :)

What have you munched today?


What are you craving at the moment?

Spring is Here!

Hello lovelies!

Yes, I know, stating the obvious but spring has officially arrived in the Sparkle and Shade household for one reason and one reason only - our organic veg box delivery no longer contains swede and celeriac! Hallelujah! I am not a root veg loving girl.... the odd potato or carrot here and there is fine, but generally speaking, not a fan. Too stodgy and not enough like a vegetable for my liking! Let me share with today's beautiful delivery:

Oooo what could be lurking in there? (Apologies for all the shadows - crazy sun!)

A big, beautiful cauliflower!

Some yummy red skinned potatoes!

A super cute butternut squash!

Some delicious muddy carrots and lovely little onions!

An epicly huuuuge bunch of pak choi!

And a beastly bunch of Spring Greens!

I am so, so, so excited about this box of veg - it's one of the best we've had for a while! Spring greens and pak choi are vegetables I've not really cooked with much either, so it's a good excuse to find some new delicious recipes.

Despite the fact that winter was a hard slog, I really do love our veg box - it's supporting a local farmer, it forces us to eat seasonally and introduces us to vegetables we wouldn't normally buy. We pay £8.50 a week for a small veg box and that's more than enough for the two of us eating a vegetarian diet (we sometimes buy some extra mushrooms or peppers but that's about it). If you're York based, I definitely suggest you check out SB Organics :)

Do you have an organic veg box delivered? If not, would you like to/what puts you off?


What are your favourite recipes featuring the ingredients in this week's veg box?

Obsession

Hello lovelies - just a quick post for you today (I'm actually on holiday and should probably be doing something more holiday esq than blogging but never mind). This week, as it's a holiday, I've been able to indulge in some of my obsessions... the foody treats that keen this little wheat free veggie ticking along in a house full of meat eaters :) The first two are obvious....

Whole Earth Smooth Original Peanut Butter.... yum yum! This is my favourite peanut butter ever! It's super natural (Roasted Peanuts (96%), a little sustainably sourced Palm Oil and a smidge of Sea Salt, making it a little thicker and stiffer than your regular peanut butter but truly scrumptious! I'll happily eat it off the spoon, but this week I've mainly been eating it spread on Corn Cakes (like a rice cake but made with corn instead therefore muuuuch tastier!) with some choppped banana and a drizzle of this....

See how empty that is? We bought this about a week ago. I adore agave syrup! I used to be a golden syrup (naughty) or honey girl all the way, but since discovering this delicious Agave (mine is a lovely organic one by The Groovy Food Company) I find the others far too sweet. This has a beautiful smooth sweetness that works amazingly with all sorts of things. Along with my afore mentioned peanut-banana-corncake snack, I love this drizzled on greek yoghurt and banana! Yum!

The last foody obsession is something very special indeed. We rarely buy this at home because if we did, I'd probably be obese. I will eat this by the spoonful and demolish a tub of it in less than half an hour if I'm left to my own devices...

Yarden Israeli Houmous Extra aka The Most Addicitive Houmous in the World. It's the most smooth, creamy, wonderful houmous I've ever experienced. It doesn't really taste like houmous... well not what you'd normally find in your average supermarket. It's on another level entirly. It's completely smooth - almost like a really cream peanut butter and doesn't have any of the grittiness or sharpness or overly garlicyness of regular houmous. AND it has extra pine nut in the middle of it resting in a bed of gorgeous rich olive oil then at the bottom you have some whole chickpeas waiting for you. It is divine.

If you haven't tried it (and you live in the UK) head to Sainsbury's now, find the houmous aisle, locate this, wince a little at the £1.99 price tag but then just buy it. Even if you think you don't like houmous, I suggest you go buy it and give it a try. If you can have wheat, I recommend this spread really thickly on a soft white roll. If you can't, just have it on anything else you can find (I've got some lovely brown Genius bread to have mine on). Make sure you have a friend nearby to take the pot away from you at a pre-allotted time because I promise you, you will not stop.

What are you foody obsessions at the moment?

Have you ever tried the Yarden Houmous?

Pre-Workout Snacky Happiness

Hello lovelies! Today I thought I'd share some of my all time favourite pre workout snacks! Ideally, these should be munch on around an hour before exercising, but I generally find that I can munch most of them up to 30 minutes before starting my workout. Apologies for all the shamlessly stolen from Google images... my camera batteries are currently dead from being used in the Wii remotes for some epic gaming yesterday :D

Dates with a little Whole Earth Peanut Butter (or any other natural peanut butter) spread on them - packed with protein, carbs and goodness. Dates also have great iron content so are fab for us ladies who are slightly anaemic to munch on :)

A medium bowl of greek yoghurt and agave syrup - in my opinion, this is soooo much nicer than greek yoghurt with honey. The agave is much mellower and has a lower gi than honey. It's also vegan (and obviously, if you're vegan you'll swap the greek yoghurt for some soya yoghurt)

A humble banana. Not too big mind you, and not too ripe (or too underripe) - a little banana can be an excellent pre work out snack packed full of body fuelling carby-goodness :)

A small handful of dried mango. I have to limit myself with this as it's so easy to eat a whole bag of it. It's like gummy sweets but healthy!! Yum Yum! Excellent energy boost and packed with vitamins too!

A handful of nuts - my favourites are cashews so they're the most likely to be in our kitchen but you can go for whatever you like. 

Finally and most importantly......

A lovely big glass of water, squash or diluted fruit juice. This is especially important if you're exercising first thing! You must replenish your body's fluid supplies after a good nights sleep! Even if you aren't exercising first thing, it's still a great idea to drink before you go (although not too close to leaving the house as if you're anything like me you'll be desperate for a wee about 30 seconds after leaving the house!).

What are your favourite pre-workout snacks?

(Also, bonus points for whoever gets the Mario reference in this post's title)

Recipe: Protein-a-licious Smoothie

Morning Lovelies! Today I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite smoothie recipes of all time - it's packed with protein, iron and general deliciousness annnnd it has 2 portions of fruit!

Yumbarrita! You're going to need:

Around 1/3 cup Cashews (about 15-20 actual cashews... I normally just guess) - brazils work well too!

Somewhere between 5 and 8 dates depending on how much you happen to be craving their iron-filled sweetness

A medium-large banana

Around 1 cup (250mls) water..... yup, water.

Then we get to have some fun! This morning I added in:

1 Tsp Peanut Butter

A smidge of tahini

1 Tsp Cocoa

1 Tsp Coconut butter

Sprinkle of cinnamon

Sprinkle of nutmeg

I always added tahini and/or peanut butter and the cocoa but you can have a play around with it. If you're feeling extra awesome, add a handful of spinach - we didn't have any in today sadly :(

Chuck all your dry ingredients in the blender

Add your water and then blend, blend blend baby! I tend to knock it up on high for a minute and then bring it down a bit lower for 20 secs, then a bit lower again for 20 seconds and they give it a final 10 second blast on high! This makes sure all the chunks are gone :) I normally have my smoothies uber thick so have a bit more water on hand if you want it a little thinner. Finally, grab a glass, pour it out and drink till its gone!

Extra Tip: This smoothie is awesome for making a fake smoothie moustache! Hehe :D

Recipe: Veggie Chilli Pasta Bake

One word - yum! I made this on a whim today and it was utterly delicious and really rather good for you.  

Ingredients:

(Wheat Free) Pasta

Onion

2 Garlic Cloves

1/2 Red Bell Pepper

Leek

Any other bits of veg you've got lying around

Pasta Sauce/Chopped Toms

Soya Mince

Herbs/Spices/Seasonings

A teeny tiny bit of cheese

First off, chop some veggies - I went with a onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 a red pepper, a leek and about 5 tenderstem broccoli shoots (including the stems):

Next pop a pan of wheat free pasta on to boil. The heat up a splash of oil in a medium pan and saute your onion, garlic and leek over a medium heat until soft:

Once they're soft, add your red pepper and some herbs and spices. I added a little salt and pepper, basil, oregano, herbs d'provence, a teeny tiny pink of za'tar, quite a bit of paprika, a little cayenne and some cumin. If you want it more bolognesey, leave out the spices and as always, feel free to sub with whatever your favourite flavours are!

Wondering about the brocolli? Never fear! You need to add it in with your pasta water now!

Now add your soya mince to the pan with the sauted veggies and your pasta sauce/chopped tomatoes. I'd normally use chopped tomatoes in a chilli but as I had no fresh mushrooms in, I decided to use a Gordon Ramsey Wild Mushroom and Mascapone pasta sauce we had in. It's completely up to you though. If you want to make it a little creamier, you could always add a little (soya) milk to your chopped tomatoes :)

At this point, I checked the seasoning and then added my 4 secret chilli ingredients.... want to know what they are? Ok then. 1) Vegetarian Worchester Sauce 2)A sprinkle of Vegetable boullion/stock powder 3)A squeeze of tomato paste (or if I'm feeling naughty/lazy a little tomato ketchup) 4)A sprinkle of vegetable gravy granules.

Looking good! Now you just need to drain your pasta, mix it with your sauce, transfer it to a baking dish, top with a tiny bit of cheese (you don't need much at all!) and pop it in the oven on 180C for about 20 minutes until it looks golden and creamy and lovely! Deeeeelicious!

Monday's Food Musings

Hello my lovelies. A little change from the norm today as I'm scrapping my normal Monday Musings and instead I thought I'd bring you my little musings on food and a cheeky little recipe!

Today I really have felt like there's been a new start. I've felt much more in control of what I'm eating (in a good way) and much less crazy about food in general. Now I know this is only the start, but it felt like a good start. I've decided that my general eating plan is going to look something like this:

Breakfast: Homemade smoothie, Overnight Oats or Homemade delicious cereal (keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days for some of my favourite breakfast recipes)

Mid-Morning Snack: The mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack times are my big danger zones when I'm likely to grab a random bag of chips or eat 3 cakes or something stupid. Hence I'm going to make sure that I take snacks with me - homemade date and nut bars, Nak'd bars, organic/vegan yoghurts, fruit - I want to keep it fun and mix it up but keep it healthy!

Lunch: Currently I'm stuck in a hummus and crackers rut. I love hummus and crackers but I want to throw in crudites, avocado and spinach salads, jacket potatoes with big sides of delicious salads, homemade soup, wheat-free pasta salads and I'm also going to make sure there's a little treat at the end of lunch too. A little bit of homemade brownie, a few squares of good quality chocolate, fruit and homemade chocolate dip - yummy things :)

Afternoon snack: Again, when I finish work I tend to be famished hence I need to plan in little snacks here too. Quite often I find I crave something salty when I finish work (I often get tired if I don't have enough salt) so I'm planning on chowing down on corn cakes with peanut butter, a little handful of wheat free pretzels, yummy Hale and Hearty Casava crisps, Nairns oatbake crispy thing, baby sweetcorn and a little tub of nut butter.

Dinner: I just need to man up with dinner - I used to love cooking but this winter I've fallen into the trap of not making the effort. In an attempt to rectify this, I'm planning on blogging a few more recipes and also making sure that our cupboards are properly stocked! I'm going to try to avoid dessert in the evenings for the most part but will still have yummy desserts every now and again.

What I probably should point out is that I'm not attempting to lose or gain any weight really (although I'm imagining that I'm going to lose a few pounds as I've been trapped in a binging cycle recently) - this is about me re-connecting with a healthy attitude to food, which is the other reason why I'm not making this a regimented diet plan :)

My question for you today is - What do you eat in an average day?

Today it stops.

Hello lovelies.

I want to share something with you that I've been thinking about for a while and that sort of came up in another way this evening.

[Source]

I have a massively unhealthy, obsessive relationship with food.

It pretty much controls everything to do with my life. I'm in a constant state of stressing out about food and restricting my intake or end up completely overeating and binging on utter rubbish. And you know what? I hate that.

A few years ago I read a term that made a lot of sense to me... I don't really fall into having Anorexia or Bulimia by any stretch of the imagination - in fact to most people, I'd seem completely normal. But what I do suffer from is "Disordered Eating" and it utterly controls my life at times.

[Source]

But what I've decided is that today it stops. Today I am claiming back my body and claiming back my relationship with food - I'm under no illusion that this will be an easy journey, but I don't want to carry on living my life in this way.

My plan is to put together an eating plan for the next week (and the following weeks after that) and I'll be blogging about my experiences on it. I'll be posting it tomorrow (complete with a shopping list) so if you want to join me in reclaiming your body and developing a healthier relationship with food, you're more than welcome to join me. I'll also be posting a few exercises to help us/me reconnect to a healthier way of viewing ourselves and what we eat :)