Healthy Girl 365, Day 13 - One kilo down...

It took me a bit longer than I expected, but today I celebrated my first kilo lost since starting this project! I've lost weight quicker in the past, but I'm doing better than I would have been if I wasn't trying at all. Plus, I'm not looking for a quick-fix weight loss. I'm trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle that I can sustain, and each day is still a learning process. So, here's to the next kilo... and the one after that... and the one after that...!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 12 - Stir Fry Saves the Day!

OK, it's probably going a bit of a stretch to say that this stir fry is day-saving BUT it sure was handy today. I'm going to a friend's house for dinner tonight - this friend is a freaking amazing cook at the best of times, and tonight she's putting up a Mexican feast! Mexican would have to be my favourite cuisine. I'm acting pretty cool, but I'm sooooo super excited for tonight! I do plan on being smart and not blowing out with huge portions, but I also plan on enjoying the amazing food on offer. Who enjoys having a friend over for a meal only for that friend to eat like a bird in the name of dieting? Nobody! So, knowing that I'm going to be indulging tonight, I opted for pre-damage-control options for the rest of the day. Breakfast was fruit and tea, and lunch was a vegetable stir fry - packed with capsicum, snow peas, pak choy, onion and bean sprouts. I added some Chang's Long-Life noodles and splashed in a bit of ketjap manis, hoi sin, sweet chilli and vegetable stir fry sauce for lots of flavour. You could even remove the noodles altogether and it would still be a pretty tasty dish! So, having eaten healthily today, I'm ready to enjoy myself tonight pretty much guilt-free!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 11 - Walkies!

Happy Friday everyone! Just a quick post this evening. Today we capped off a heck of a work week with a Donovan family walk. Walking (and running!) is so much more fun with these boys! It was the perfect way to end this mild-weathered Friday. My heart is happy.

Healthy Girl 365, Day 10 - A Refreshing Summer Drink

Tonight's dinner was pretty basic - french toast with asparagus - so for a treat I asked Chris to whip me up a soda lime and bitters. He's the drink mixin' man of the house. I love lemon lime and bitters, but lemonade has so much sugar - this is a great alternative that I've just started getting into. A glass of soda water with a splash of lime juice cordial, a shake of bitters and a handful of ice... perfect! I love a good refreshing drink in Summer. If you struggle with drinking enough water in the day, this is one way you can mix it up and still get a glass of water in, though obviously you should also drink plenty of water without the extra ingredients. This month I do actually plan to commit to drinking more water - more on that early next week!

Healthy Girl 365, Day 9 - Lovely Light Lunch!

Today I wanted to share a light lunch idea with you. After being inspired by a friend who had fruit toast with mascarpone almost every day for breakfast at her favourite restaurant on a trip to Melbourne, I wanted to give it a go. I tried this for breakfast yesterday, and it was so good that I decided to have it for lunch today! All you need is:
- an english fruit muffin
- 25g mascarpone
- honey
- fresh fruit
Just toast the muffin, spread the halves with mascarpone, drizzle with a little bit of honey and top with any fruit of your choosing! The fruit I used today was banana and pear. I liked the pear best... I'm also really keen to try strawberries and blueberries!

If you tend to have the same thing for lunch at work day after day, try mixing it up by reading menus online of your favourite restaurants and cafes... more often than not, you'll stumble across ideas (especially in the breakfast and appetizer sections) that are easy for you to recreate with minimum culinary skills AND are fresh and tasty.

Healthy Girl 365, Day 8 - Farewell, Coffee!

Well. This is a sorry sight. The photo above is the coffee I made for Chris this morning. Normally, you would see a second matching cup right there next to it... but not today. Or tomorrow. Or even the day after that. In order to slowly work toward a healthier lifestyle, I've decided to choose just one thing to give up each month, and this month it's coffee. You should know that I'm only a 1-2 cups per day kind of girl, and I never drink it in the afternoon, but I want to stop before it becomes a full-blown addiction. Aside from being addictive, coffee can also be pretty unhealthy (especially the way I have it, with plenty of milk and a teaspoon of sugar). Coffee apparently has some health benefits - a few websites I checked out say it lowers the risk of some cancers and type-2 diabetes. But my research has come up with more benefits for those who give it up. Though delicious, coffee can be responsible for:
- Restless sleep
- Sluggishness and lack of productivity (except during a coffee buzz!)
- A less-than fabulous smile (coffee stains teeth!)
- High blood pressure
- Increased anxiety
- Depression
- Slower metabolism

While I'm not saying that everybody should give up coffee, if it's something you might like to look into there's heaps of info out there! A couple of websites I found helpful were Give Up Coffee and Healthy Happier You!

I'm really going to miss my regular cups of coffee in the morning... Have you considered giving up anything to boost your health?

Healthy Girl 365, Day 7 - Track it! Track it all!

Why yes, a screen shot totally counts as a photo! Today I'd like to talk to you about the importance of recording what you eat. I'm following Weight Watchers which is all about tracking your food. I'm sure we all know the basic structure of Weight Watchers right? Rather than counting calories in food, you count "Pro-Points" which have been calculated through various means over the years, but are currently calculated using protein, fat, carbs and dietary fibre. Weight Watchers isn't for everyone, but I like the flexibility of the program, and the fact that it's so personalised. For paying members, there's an AMAZING app which I find exceptionally handy (I won't bore you with the details, but for info click here). Above is a screenshot of my daily tracker (I know, a pie... but it was home-made and filled with vegetables!)

For those who aren't on Weight Watchers, I hope I haven't quite lost you because the point of today's post was not to convert you to the Pro-Points system but to let you know that anyone who's trying to lose weight can benefit from keeping a diary of the food they eat each day! People have done studies, this is legit info! Whether you track things like calories, fat content, etc is up to you, but even just keeping an ongoing list of the foods (and drinks!) you consume each day can keep you accountable, and shed light on patterns between what you eat and how much weight you lose/gain each week. You can keep a notebook on hand, a list on your computer, or find a great app to keep track on your phone (there's a lot of free ones out there) - whatever works for you! But if you do keep a food diary, track the bad days too - you should find it helps get you back on the straight and narrow in no time! Google "Food Diary" for some great ideas and even templates you can print off and use.

Also, on a side note I wanted to point you to a great little post on A Beautiful Mess today, called "10 Super Healthy Recipes". After reading it I'm pretty keen to brew up some infused water and bake some grapefruit!