FOOD | Abel and Cole Fruit and Veg Boxes

 I usually do a big shop at the beginning of the month, where I go to our local wholesalers (Malpass) and I bulk buy our meat, it's really good you can get 5kg of Chicken breast for £20! I then pack them up into portions and put them in the freezer, while my cat Tobias has a meat related breakdown on the floor (he actually just rolls around on the floor purring like a made man the whole time!).

I also do a regular shop in the supermarket where I stock up on cupboard essential like pasta, rice and tinned tomatoes, as well as flour to make bread. I also usually buy loads of fruit and veg, that then rots before we can eat it all and then neglect to buy any more.

I've been trying to eat more healthily lately and increase our fruit and veg intake, so to remedy our fruit and veg wastage we started getting Abel and Cole boxes delivered a about two months ago. If you don't know about Abel and Cole, they deliver local organic, in season produce directly to your house. We get a weekly Medium Fruit and Veg box (£18.75), which consists of 3 portions of fruit and 5 veg including potatoes. This arrives early morning every Wednesday (we have agreed a spot for it to be left) and is delivered for just 99p.

One of the many things I like about Abel and Cole is that there is little to no packaging, and what there is is fully recyclable. You can even give all the packaging back to your delivery driver so that the company can re-use it. Additionally, when you join you get a great recipe book, and each week you get a recipe card.

Not to mention the freebies! So far we have received a free bottle of Olive Oil (because we were referred by a friend), Eggs, Milk and Marmalade.

Both Hubs and I have noticed that all the food delivered tastes amazing, everything is so fresh and has so much flavour. Also, because the items are all chosen by what's in season and available you often end up with items you usually wouldn't buy. You can add items you don't like/want to an exclusion list and they will give you something else, and you know what you are being delivered a week in advance, which allows you to plan what you are cooking and what you need.

The box doesn't have to come weekly, you can set it up to be delivered every fortnight or monthly, or as a one off. You always receive a reminder text 2 days before your delivery to remind you, just in case you want to add something to the delivery or you need to cancel it. If you are looking for a fruit and veg box I would definitely recommend them.

Do you eat your greens? Or are you a vegetable dodger?

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FOOD | 5 Protein Packed Breakfast Recipes That Will Help Start Your Day Off Right!

I am really bad at eating breakfast, which means that I end up eating more and worse things throughout the day. I know I need to eat breakfast to kick start my metabolism and to keep me fuller for longer it should be high in protein.

Protein is especially important now that I do morning workouts because it helps you recover faster from exercise. Not to mention diets higher in protein tend to help you lose weight and keep muscle tone.

But if you are like me and can't work out how long to boil an egg ( I wish I was joking) then these 5 recipes might be more suited for you (or us)!

Baked Eggs In Ham

Yes, this looks amazing eggs and ham, high protein, no carbs and still resembles a naughty fry up!

Recipe can be found at FitSugar.

High Protein Breakfast Muffin

These look delicious and could be made the night before and taken to work the next day! Thank you to SomethingOnEverything for this Recipe.

Breakfast Berry Protein Shake

 I love fruity smoothies in the morning, as well as being high in protein it's also packed with other vitamins and minerals. Thanks Spark People for this great recipe!

Bananna Oat Protein Pancakes

And let's face it, who has ever been able to say no to Panckes???? Thanks SugarFreeMom, looks like out Sunday treat breakfast is sorted now!

Carrot Breakfast Protein Cake

Cake for breakfast??? I'm in! This recipe is courtesy of PaleOMG.

Do you have a recipe you could share?

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LIFESTYLE | Lighter Life Fast Month Trial - Part 1 #TryFast

LighterLife Fast packs c/o LighterLife

Well come to another post on my (seemingly) never ending quest to lose weight. Before taking on the Exante trial in January, I had been successfully working out and doing the 5:2 diet.

No doubt you have all heard of the 5:2 diet, also known as the Fast diet – but just in case here is a quick overview. The idea behind this diet is that you eat normally 5 days a week (i.e. healthily, not gorging too much!) and then effectively fast the remaining two. On the fast days you effectively quarter you calories, it is advised that you eat 600 calories and get your RDA of key vitamins and minerals along with fibre and protein. The two fast days should not be taken consecutively.

The reason I was drawn to the 5:2 diet was that dieting 2 days a week seems a lot easier to follow and fits in better with my lifestyle. It allows me to work out on the days that I am not fasting and to still enjoy work lunches or unexpected drinks/dinners and still repent for my food sins. The only issue I have on the 5:2 diet is knowing what to eat throughout the day to that I can concentrate at work but still stick to 600cals. Luckily there is now a solution – LighterLife Fast, which is now exclusively available at Superdrug.

The idea behind LighterLife Fast is to make life easier on those fast days providing you with four LighterLife Fastpacks^TM  for those 600calorie days. The new range starts at £7.99 for a box of four Fastpacks^TM – which is enough for one day of fasting. The Fastpack^TM options include:

• Savoury meals such as Spaghetti Bolognese and pasta carbonara
• Porridge – the breakfast favourite!
• Four delicious shakes – vanilla, strawberry, banana and chocolate
• Four scrumptious meal bars in nut fudge, crispy peanut, cranberry & raspberry and toffee flavours

LighterLife has sent me a months’ worth of their Fastpacks^TM to try and document my experience. 

My first fast day was yesterday (Wednesday), and I decided not to work out. Having really struggled with the whole food replacement thing in February, I have to say that I was completely fine. It could be that I am in the zone as I’ve been tracking my food the last week and been exercising, but I think it is also what I was provided with. Firstly the increase to 4 meals really helps. I had one of the Peanut bars for breakfast – it tasted more or less like a Tracker bar and I really enjoyed it.  I had the porridge for lunch and the Bolognese mid-afternoon, this is when I get really hungry. I was surprised as the Bolognese looks like actual food, with real spaghetti which was a lovely. For dinner I had a Vanilla shake.

So let’s get to the nitty gritty, my weight.  I’m actually ashamed to say that I have ballooned in the weeks since Exante.

Start weight: 13st 9.5lbs (I have actually lost a few pounds in the last week which is a horrific thing to admit. It’s the most I have weighed in about 2 years).

Hips: 42"

Waist: 37"

Let’s hope there is a more positive result in a months’ time!

Have you got any weight loss/ healthy eating tips, please share I obviously need them!

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FOOD | nākd. raw food bars Review

selection of nākd bars c/o natural balance foods.

Part of my goals for 2014 is to be more healthy. Overall this is not a problem since I discovered the Hairy Dieters recipe books last year which helps me make healthy, lower calorie foods without feeling deprived.

I've also got back on the gym waggon with early morning work outs on the way back from dropping Hubs to work. This is followed by a protein shake to help my body recover from my workout and porridge to keep me full until lunch.

The problem comes mid afternoon at work when I all of a sudden decide I am starving, possibly to death, right in my office in the middle of Brighton - who ever said I was melodramatic? We have fruit in the office on Monday and Wednesday, while I do try to snack on these, they just never seem to fill the hole. This then leads me to gorge on really unhealthy things that can be found in any office, like biscuits, crisps, cakes - you get my gist.

I've tried cereal bars etc, but they aren't that tasty and don't fulfil my sugar needs despite their deceptively high sugar content! Then I found the perfect natural balance foods snacks - the nākd. raw food bar range.

The range is gluten, wheat and dairy free, so suitable for people with various dietary restrictions,they count as one of your five a day and are 100% natural.They are also raw - meaning the contents are not cooked, instead cold pressed.

The bars are mainly made from dates and a variety of nuts so are naturally sweet and have a lovely moist texture. They come in the following flavours:

• Rhubarb and custard
• Pecan Pie
• Caffe Mocha
• Berry Delight
• Cocoa Orange
• Cashew Cookie
• Cocoa Delight
• Cocoa Mint
• Ginger Bread

After trialing each flavour (poor me!) my favourite bars are Ginger Bread and Cocoa Orange, which taste like Terrys Chocolate Orange. The mint tastes like After Eights too!

What is your favorite snack?

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