Nourishing your body

is just as vital as nourishing your mind, and often go hand in hand. Feeding your body with the right nutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc will hugely effect how you feel , function and move forwards.

When you eat a biscuit to satisfy a craving but then tell yourself you may as well eat the whole packet now, how does that make you feel afterwards? When you haven’t prepared your meals, or done the food shopping so you have takeout what are the after thoughts?

 

We make the greatest excuses for ourselves, the biggest being time. Being on the go, having kids, busy social life, but for some reason there is time to scroll facebook and look at what someone else is having for dinner, or if someone booked you a fancy night out time would miraculously appear for that. We make time for what we want to, and because the consequence of not nourishing your body is not instant we often don’t make time for our body.

My journey with eating food started with my trainer giving me tips on ‘clean eating’ just after I had my second baby. I was extremely busy and tired however changing my foods to healthy variations gave me an energy boost to enjoy my children, instead of counting down the hours until my husband came home to take over. Don’t get me wrong there were days when I was exhausted and 4 years later those days can still occur, but it certainly beats feeling lethargic, and just ‘surviving’ on a daily basis.

Skipping breakfast meant I was starving by 10am, ultimately meaning I would reach for a biscuit sending my blood sugar high and crashing shortly afterwards. Changing a habit to making a smoothie taking only 1minute 45seconds (yes I timed it) involving a few strawberries, chia seeds, a dollop of yoghurt and almond milk whilst my daughter watched evolved to my daughter asking for her ‘pink’ drink every day.

I love Italian food, so I still enjoy but I switch the white pasta to lentil pasta (yes they exist and readily available in my local supermarket). I swap whole wheat wraps for beetroot and sweet potato wraps, I make my own houmous, (again 4minutes, literally blitzing chickpeas, tahini, olive oil and pink salt), I have pizza but on spelt or buckwheat bases. You don’t need to deprive yourself because there are so many alternatives readily available. Explore different aisles, swap recipes, join forums and create. Have the treats, but also be mindful so you can make conscious choices for the rest of the day. I certainly love the hash browns and veggie sausages if I have weekend away, but the rest of the meals Il be mindful of.

I became quite engrossed in the superfoods, especially after discovering chocolate in its purest form (cacao) is actually good for you. Cacao is a natural mood enhance, has more calcium than milk and more anti-oxidants than blueberries. My family and friends loved the home made healthy deserts and treats I was producing that eventually I set up my own business Pure and Raw Goodies.

My children absolutely love my Peanut butter cake, and my Matcha and Chocolate topped brownies. They are full of nourishing nutrients , taste just as naughty and certainly beat the sugar laden chocolates. Having hot chocolate now involves, cacao powder, coconut sugar, almond milk and added maca powder. Warm health boosting turmeric and matcha lattes are now the staple of every evening. The core of my work is central to my belief that nourishing the mind as well as the body go hand in hand in giving us the best chance of being the best version of ourselves.

Do check out my facebook page @pureandrawgoodies for tips, blogs and to purchase any health boosting treats. You can also sign up to my newsletter to receive recipes and Inspiring tips to help you on this journey.

There is so much choice, flavour, and variations of food available to us let’s go out there and enjoy it.