What are you putting in your body?

Clients ask me all the time how I find the time to eat healthily. It’s not necessarily about time… but more the willingness to make a lifestyle change. Of course I fall off the wagon and give into the temptation of chocolate or delicious fish and vinegar chips every now and then. But I’m not putting those guilty treats into my body on a daily basis. You need to be kind to your body not punish it. Food is fuel, and you should consume foods which leave you feeling energetic, healthy and ready to tackle through your day. People who work in offices are at their desks for long hours. Are you one of them? Have you been working away since the morning and it hits around 4.30pm when someone brings out a box of donuts and you reach out for one to accompany your mug of coffee? How do you feel after? Maybe you’ll experience a sugary rush of energy for the next twenty minutes but after that…sluggish, tired, sleepy, irritable?

Maybe your stuck in a daily routine rut? Grab a coffee for breakfast, a subway for lunch, some biscuits and tea in the afternoon, and perhaps something ready to cook from M&S after a long day at work? It’s really not difficult to make changes at all. I swear by this smoothie in the mornings and I make a jug full to either take in a bottle or just pour a quick glass full out in the mornings.

• 6 strawberries
• 1 banana peeled and broken into chunks
• 1 tbsp bio yogurt
• 1 orange juice only/ or cup of orange juice

Blend it all together and your good to go!

I challenge you to tell me that doesn’t look good! It’s a gorgeous pink, fruity glass full of goodness…imagine your body feeling good after downing that instead of a sprite or fanta!

That subway for lunch? Why not pop in a breast of chicken in the oven to grill before you go to bed and in the morning you can slice it and put in a wholemeal pitta with some humous, salad, and tomatoes? Healthier, tastier, gives your more energy and keeps of those pounds.

Eating is a source of pleasure, well it definitely is for me! However I can enjoy a slice of chocolate cake and not feel an ounce of guilt in consuming it….however if I had a brownie after my lunch everyday I know that my energy levels would decrease, I’d feel enormous and start imagining extra weight, and feel generally low. I’ve worked in the city, so I know what the diets are like. A croissant from Pret in the morning… a quick nip to tescos for a sandwich and a chocolate bar…after work drinks…

It’s all about balance…stock up your fridge with yummy fruits, berries, yogurt pots, bags of nuts…these things aren’t hard to fit in your handbag! Have a fridge at work? Better still stock them up there! Plan your dinners…stirfrys are quick easy and can be packed with vegetables and lean meat. Make soup at the weekend and freeze it. Couscous is ridiculously easy to cook…make a bowl full and add some roasted vegetables….

There is no excuse these days to not eat well. Food and wellbeing is covered all across the media especially TV. Organic food is available everywhere, and farmers markets are cropping up all over town selling gorgeous fresh additive free products. Regular exercise and balanced eating is all it takes. A few fresh vegetables and fruit, plenty of water and switching those refined carbs (white bread, pasta, junk food…) for wholemeal, and I promise you that you will notice a spring in your step and a change in your skin tone, energy and mindset.

One thing I find hard to tolerate are fussy eaters- there is an abundance of food out there to try that  tastes way better than scoffing simple ham sandwiches and pasta with cheese all day. Allergies are one thing, but being fussy is another. I think you have to try a new food at least three times whether you determine if you like it or not. First time I had calamari, my first instinct was that I wanted to get the rubbery thing straight out my mouth! Second time I had with a seville orange and spice dressing at Bentleys in London? Delicious. Now I love the stuff. 

A glass of fresh pomegranate juice and a chicken, red pepper humous and salad wholemeal pitta. Took me literally 20 minutes altogether including prep and cooking meat time, and im full as anything!

After all…you are what you eat, so go experiment, and squeeze out good energy from good foods to put good in your body!

Pleasure is the path to joy….

…..I had a little haagan daaz moment last night. I opened up my diary and actually saw friends scheduled in, as opposed to clients. As much as I love training my clients, I’ve had appointments all week and my own body is feeling the burn, so I am relishing the thought of catching up with friends, frolicking in Green Park, licking an ice cream, and having dinner in Richmond by the Thames and a cheeky white wine spritzer! 

I wanted to be philosophical in this post. But really I can’t concentrate on anything but the gorgeous sun blazing outside, and a day of completed unadulterated pleasure (bar the wine!). 

Sigh.

“A day without laughter is a day wasted”- Charlie Chaplin

“A light heart lives long”- William Shakespeare

“Don’t waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” – Ghandi

“Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for”.  ~Joseph Addison

A womans place is in the….

kitchen probably according to most men. I had a guy saunter up to me in the gym today, trying to evidently make some banter by the water fountain. Yes I maybe 5’2…no I’m not stupid. So I decided to be jovial, banter back evidently eyeing him up as a prospective client. I convinced him to have a taster personal training session with me, and he agreed. I could tell that he thought it would probably be ‘a laugh’ and easy. The session was far from easy, and I gave him a circuit that put him through his paces. As a result he confessed he didn’t expect such a session, and booked me up to work with him further. 

Never judge a book by its cover. A guy friends can’t understand why I’m choosing to put business before pleasure. My answer…’why ever not?!’. There’s a time for play, and there’s time for work. Surely living in the age we do, the career girl concept isn’t too hard to understand! Sorry gent’s, if you don’t have ambition then there’s the door.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

There was a time when I have naively concentrated my energies on a guy, going out my way to be all sorts of help and essentially wasting my own precious time. Was I happy? I don’t believe so. I try not to dwell on regrets. Easier said than done I know. Ever heard someone say ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained?’. Well I live whole heartedly by that. Of course not all situations you ventured into are going to be enjoyable or have the outcome you expect. However from that experience it helps you confirm what you want to doing the future, where you want to go, which path you choose to follow and what type of person you want to be. I still like to believe I’m generous, but sometimes you have to concentrate on yourself. 

I’ve been in situations where I felt helpless or at the beck and call someone or something else. This applies to my choices in both career and love. Once upon a time I was happy dancing, however that happiness faded….once upon a time my heart got broken by another dancer….however my heart healed. 

“Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally” – Eckhart Tolle – Power of Now

This is another phrase I completely agree with. Life is short and what you make it. It sounds cheesy, but everyday now I wake up and I choose to be happy, and make the most of everyday. I only surround myself with people who share the same love for life, and whether its work or play make sure I want to be in that place at that time, enjoying myself. Yes not everyday is a ray of sunshine, but you work through it and move on. 

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly—you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.” – Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now.

Life is colourful, amazing, unexpected, a blessing, a lesson….its people (bar natural forces) that can create burden’s, cruelty, bleakness and sorrow.

Is the thought of life going to dictate your mind or people? How much good do you choose to sense, and how negativity do you ior conscientiously choose to absorb?

Sometimes you need to give your mind a rest, wake up and smell the roses…because most of the time,, they smell bloody amazing!

Get your butt in Gear…

Firstly before I continue…’The Harrods Girl’ blog is no longer and this is now my blog! This is due to security reasons. So bear with me while I build up lots of posts! And continuing on….

For the past month and some, I’ve not only been on a hiatus from this blog, but also to tell you the truth its been from life as well. Or more so life has made me take a hiatus! But time off has paid off as I am now a fully qualified Elite Personal Trainer! When I was in dance college, I had this dream for myself to create a lifestyle emporium so to speak, so it’s all underway…

I may have been in hibernation but I was not hibernating! Intense past months of gruelling circuits, boxing, spinning, weight training, training systems, programs, a whole lot of theory, physiology and anatomy, nutrition and a million exams later I have completely passed! Let me tell you, those revision sessions were not pretty ( blog ban, social life ban). I dread to think how much caffeine was consumed, but it was much-needed. I worked with some absolutely brilliant people and we generally lost our marbles together over the crazy work load! It’s all worth it as I’m working (self-employed) at a beautiful health club in Muswell Hill (near Highgate) so if any of you out there  would like to become fit as fiddles drop me line, and I’ll tell you more! More posts will follow through on the matter as well! And since the weathers been beautiful, there’s no excuse for any of you not to book me up and train in one of the gorgeous London Parks…Hyde Park…Regents Park…any park!

My days aren’t any less strenuous or busy. Generally working with clients means working from 6.30am or earlier to around 10.30 in the evening. But I absolutely love it. Best thing about this job is not only meeting new clients but creating a healthy lifestyle for them and seeing the changes it makes to their mood, energy, health and physique. Little things such as altering a few changes to your diet makes a big difference in the matter of days and this is through personal experience. I’m not saying the pounds are going to fall off just like that (combination of exercise much-needed), but in terms of energy, mindset, and changes to complexion, and mood… you shall definitely notice. 

Beauty of being self-employed means today I could set the afternoon aside for myself and get on with paperwork, finishing programmes for clients…and also blog! I’m also frantically looking to purchase a car within the next few days (real reason for todays afternoon off!) so have been setting up viewings like mad. After being a harassed commuter for many years, I am extremely happy to now be working in around London with an aid of a vehicle. Sigh. No more sweaty armpits on the tube to contend with everyday. Such simple thought brings such happiness! Right while I have the time, must go train myself now….power circuit in the London sunshine….