Health Plan

So, I spent an hour on Tuesday evening lying on the floor in front of this Buddha! It was part of my plan to help cope with the stress that the next 10 months will bring as we head towards a massive round of redundancies at work. The area that I work in is being dismantled altogether with both my job and the one I'm currently doing as a secondment disappearing. To cope with things I'm doing my best to support my mental and physical health. I love meditation and I know it works for me from past experience but I've been finding it difficult to lock into at home so this one hour drop in class with a guided meditiation was perfect. The Manchester Buddhist Centre is a really beautiful building. I went with a friend and we had a brew after at Home Sweet Home which was a nice place but apart from soya milk was sadly lacking in anything for vegans.


I was quite ill last year and although I'm loads better now I still have moments of fatigue. I've been really upping the 'raw' quota of my daily menu to try to combat this and have been enjoying sprouted seeds, raw almond butter, smoothies and flax crackers amongst the cooked food.


I've also stopped making sandwiches for lunch and am avoiding bread. I've not cut out wheat altogether though as I do love couscous like this simple roast veg salad with toasted pine nuts. The things in the tub aren't olives but are black cherries. They are one of my favourite fruits and as they are in season I'm making the most of them being a pound a punnet in lots of shops. They have lots of health benefits including containing serotonin which is known to prevent depression and aid sleep.


I am a long time smoothie lover. Occasionally I have museli for breakfast but it's usually a smoothie. I've been trying to expand from my few favourite recipes introducing extras like nut butter, coconut water, maca and carob. I also had my first attempt at overnight refrigerator oats and I loved it! Into the jar went oats, Kara coconut milk, carob, raisins, frozen strawberries and maple syrup quick stir and then popped in the fridge til morning. Looking forward to experimenting further with this and also starting to add chia seeds.


My other new breakfast addition is a shot of Matcha tea. So much more powerful than green tea in a tea bag and just packed with antioxidents. It's also supposed to speed up your metabolism to help with weightloss. I'm one week in and have lost 1 pound so far which I'm pleased about. Rather than dieting I'm just trying to make healthier tweeks to the way I eat normally. Slowly but surely.

Comments

  1. Cara Sheppard3 August 2012 at 05:12

    Good for you for taking such good care of yourself! All of the food you talked about sounds delicious and you've inspired me to make more of an effort to eat more raw, healthy foods. I've been eating way too much prepared food lately and it's not good.

    I'm sorry about your stress from work. It's very likely that I'll be laid off from my job during my maternity leave and I'm stressing about it too. I don't meditate (though would love to learn) but I find yoga helpful, but mentally and physically.

    Hugs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tea and Sympatico6 August 2012 at 19:18

      Thanks for the good wishes Cara, sending them back to you too. Yoga is a great idea and someone at work send an email round today saying they are training to be a yoga teacher and are being allowed to hold some free classes one a week in the building after work so I've signed myself up.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5 August 2012 at 01:59

    I need to look into meditation, I get stressed SUPER easily.

    I've started making smoothies recently just chucking in whatever I find. I wanted to buy linseeds/flaxseeds or something but so expensive. :| I want some omega fats!

    Good luck on the job front and hopefully this is one of those "When one door closes another opens" type situations!

    I'm always buying fruits in the £1 type offers...I buy usually organic vegetables from Unicorn but I can't afford the fruit on a student budget!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tea and Sympatico6 August 2012 at 19:16

      Yeah the stuff for smoothies can be expensive. I get the flaxseeds whole which is a lot cheaper than the ready ground ones and grind them in an old coffee grinder. For fruit I've been using bags of frozen berries from Lidl which are really good value - less than 2 for a bag that will do around 5 smoothies :)

      Delete
    2. Tea and Sympatico6 August 2012 at 19:19

      oops, £2 a bag that should read

      Delete
  3. Tams 6 August 2012 at 13:48

    That's awful, but at least you have the knowledge and 12 months to plan. You are good at what you do, and that is always in demand.

    Have you tried your overnight muesli with apple juice instead of coconut milk? walnuts are really really good in it too - and you hardly need any, as are sunflower seeds.

    1lb a week is the best way to do it. That way it stays off properly.

    Take good care of yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tea and Sympatico6 August 2012 at 19:14

      Thanks for the tip. I'm getting really into the oats. Not tried it with nuts or seeds yet so will definitely give that a go and the apple juice

      Delete

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