RECIPE - SKINNY LOW CARB CHOCONUT PROTEIN TRUFFLES

Hello lovelies hope you are having a good week. The weather in Oxford has been pretty extreme lately but I have found some calm in the kitchen.
I generally eat a low sugar diet as it is what my body loves and responds to and whenever I fancy a treat I'll usually grab an atkins bar. I recently had a week off treats and when I had an Atkins bar afterwards I noticed the artificial taste, flavours and that it increased my craving for more sweets. I also read the contents and realised it had more ingredients with names I can't pronounce which is not a good thing.

I decided to try making some sweet treats with a long list of criteria. It has to be...low carb, Chocolatey yummy, Sugar free, Low calorie, Lactose free (I'm lactose intolerant), Gluten free, High in protien, High in fibre, High in Calcium and something my husband would loved (he is soooo picky ;))

Many experiments and disasters later I came up with this amazing coconut chocolate protein truffles and oooh are they yummy.

Here's how to make it... 

I FELL ASLEEP IN PILATES CLASS #fitnessfail

Hello gorgeous army, hope your day is going ok. I had a pretty busy morning, was up at 4.20am(could not go back to sleep) which is crazy as I went to bed at midnight. Anyhoo I had a prayer meeting at 7am and went to the gym afterwards for a weight training session. Post weights, I saw a Pilates class was starting and I thought why not; I have been having super sore hamstrings from trying to grow a booty(more on that later) and I felt Pilates might help.

Walked into the class, got my mat set up and was ready to be stretched. We started with

MY VEGAN DIARY DAY 3 - DON'T JUDGE ME

Yesterday I went to bed post skinny latte and my vegan journey was in question. I woke up this morning and went for a morning cardio session inspired by Supermom Ashley Honer, I ended up jogging for 2minutes and walking for 58mins while trying to convince myself that walking is better for me.

 Anyhoo post workout I was faced with the big question AM I STILL VEGAN? I did the 'opening the fridge pondering' thing you do when you are scavenging for food and the answer was staring me in the face . The answer was Eggs, I have been having eggs for breakfast (mostly whites) for years and that had helped me maintain my weight and regulate cravings. During my 2 days as vegan I weighed 1.5kg more, felt bloated and produced weapons of mass destruction that could destroy any marriage it must have been all that rice, lentils and broccoli.

I informed my Husband and Sister about my decision to quit and they laughed at me of course then tried to convince me to stick with it. My mind was pretty made up about it, I believe in the health benefits of the vegan lifestyle but I do not think it is for me. Here are my reasons.

1. It is very high in Carbohydrates - A Vegan diet is a high carb diet and if you are naturally active it might work for you. Youtube Vegan advocates Banana freelee girl and Duran Rider are extremely active that is why they can eat all those carbs and still be slim. If you are more on the Sedentary side you are very likely to gain weight. 
2. Getting Protein is not easy - It is possible to get your daily protein requirements from a Vegan diet but it is difficult. Most vegan protein sources also come with carbs and fats like most legumes , nuts and seeds. I found that for every gram of protein I was also getting a tonne of carbs which meant an increase in my daily calories total.
3. I was always hungry- I wonder why no one tells you this, a vegan diet will make you hungry! On a day I think I ate my body weight in food but was still hungry. I am gluten intolerant so can't eat most grains so I ate a lot of rice and was still hungry, I was so hungry it was distracting.
4. My body responds better to a low carb diet- My protein sources pre-vegan experiment were mostly from eggs whites and seafood both low in saturated fat which I ate with a lot of vegetables and snacked on nuts. I easily maintained my weight this way, hunger was kept at bay thanks to the protein and healthy fats AND I did not have any problems with those nasty insulin spikes.

Those are my reasons for not sticking with the Vegan diet please don't judge me. It may work for lots of people  but my body said NO!

 I would love to hear from you, have you tried any lifestyle diet and your body said NO?

MY VEGAN DIARY- DAY 2 (My husband was right)

I woke up this morning after a rough night sleep from feeling super bloated, all that fiber from the lentils or raw broccoli really got me bad.

Breakfast- Started with a detox tea as I was feeling quite rough tummy wise, after clearing out my system I was able to eat again. I had some lentils from yesterday, a side salad with some balsamic vinegar and a coffee with almond milk; Felt pretty satisfied this time, the side salad really works as a filler-upper. We are off to ikea and a furniture store today so I decided to pack some vegan snacks, I packed some dark chocolate and plaintain chips for some energy boost and they most definitely came in handy.

Lunch- Furniture shopping was quite stressful but successful, finished my snacks by the time we got to the first store and by the second store I was hungry again and snacked on some cashews but the shopping was a great distraction. 3 hours later we were back in the car on our way home starving and considering a McDonald's (don't judge me), we resisted that temptation and snacked on some more cashews.

Dreaming of quiting- I fell asleep in the car and had a dream were I was discussing about being vegan with myself. I woke up and told my husband I was done with being vegan and he laughed and asked why? I told him about my dream and how being a vegan requires a high amount of carbs and my body can't handle too much carbs and he joked that we could have been having some chicken by now. Anyhow we stopped at the next services and went to Burger King, I popped into Costa coffee and ordered a skinny chai latte with milk not soy (yes I blew it) and bought some lentil curls they are super yummy.

Dinner - We were home by dinner time and I decided I was through with being vegan but I couldn't get myself to eat the grilled chicken in the fridge and ended up having lentils and plantain crisps for dinner.

Still feeling bloated but not as bad as yesterday.

Am I still vegan as I had a latte? Well I'll find out tomorrow 

Wish me luck 

Nemi xx

MY VEGAN DIARY- DAY ONE (Discovered the fat vegan)

After thinking about going vegan as an experiment for a while I felt today was the day.

Breakfast- Breakfast was fairly easy and yummy, I had some raw broccoli dipped in hummus with a 1/5 of a grapefruit and raw some cashews. I was off to the gym post brekkie so I had a block of dark chocolate for some sugar.

Vegan Workout- I had one of my best workouts this morning and I think its too early to attribute it to having a vegan breakfast. I decided to do things a bit different by starting with 40minute cardio(hate cardio) then weights for about an hour. Felt really pumped!

Husband finds outs- Post gym I popped into Sainburys for some chickpeas, lentils and vegetables excited to make some hummus for  lunch and lentils for dinner. Only for my husband to inform me that he bought half a chicken for me for lunch...ooh sorry babe I said, I am now vegan! He laughed and said I wouldn't last as we are going to Nandos tomorrow (this lady loves her chicken) and I told him there were vegan options. He thinks I am really setting myself up cause I live on eggs and chicken, well we'll see how long I last.

Lunch - For lunch I had some carrot sticks and some homemade hummus with some Nando's Peri Peri sauce and it was yummy but I was not satisfied even though  I was stuffed. Post lunch I decided to do some meal prep for the week, cos if you fail to plan you plan to fail. I made some carrot and celery bags, a bowl of hummus and my personal favourite a pot of lentils in tomato sauce.

Dinner- Had the lentils for dinner with some white rice( I usually don't eat rice but its vegan right??) and I ate so much as I did not get satisfied :(. I went to bed super stuffed with a tummy ache but still not satisfied. I was now a bit concerned about weight gain on a vegan diet and I found out that many vegan gain weight and speak of it in forums,  I wonder why the picture I often see of vegans are always skinny and super healthy looking. I also discovered there were junk food vegans and it is possible to over indulge on the diet so I decided to make better diet choices tomorrow as I am still in the battle against fat.

Wish me luck

Nemi xx

JUST DO IT!

I have been thinking of starting a healthy a fitness blog for a while but have been procrastinating, insecure, scared and uncertain but decided to just do it!

I am starting this blog to document my fight against fat! My journey and relationship with weight has been a long and painful one. I felt like I was born with the fat gene and for a long time I felt sorry for myself. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started actively fighting fat, I lost and maintained10kg and will be sharing my stories and journey with you.

Over the years I have tried numerous diets and exercise programs and I will be reviewing them. I will also be sharing what worked for me and what might work for you. There are numerous diets and exercise fads out there and I will save you the work by testing them out so you don't have to.

I would love to help you reach your weightloss/goals so join me and let us FIGHT FAT one day at a time!