A thought...

Been thinking about how much of my identity is tied up in my fitness. I feel I am definitely still on a journey of not just being healthy in my body but having a healthy mind too in the way I think about healthy lifestyle and fitness stuff. I'm on a journey of knowing my motives for doing things too - I feel like Gods definitely helped me to be motivated in this stuff for good and healthy reasons but know deep down there are other motives that still need weeding out.
Anyone else find this?!

Carrot cake...as requested :)

This is my favourite carrot cake recipe - and it's gluten free. The cake itself is dairy free too :) here's the recipe...

Ingredients:
3 eggs
150g brown sugar
175ml olive oil
175g gluten free flour (can use regular flour)
1tsp baking powder
2tsp cinnamon
60g raisins
140g finely grated carrot

With an electric whisk, whisk the 3 eggs together. Then add in the brown sugar and olive oil and whisk again.

Add in all the dry ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon.

Finally add in the raisins and grated carrot.

Grease either 2 round cake tins and line with greaseproof paper or one medium sized baking tray lined with greaseproof paper for a tray bake style (this is how I usually do it, it's easier to freeze half if you don't need it all at once).

Bake for 30-35minutes on 180C. The cake will spring back when you touch it if it's ready.

Frosting:
Beat 1 large tablespoon of cream cheese, adding icing sugar slowly until it is thick enough to spread. Add to the top of the cooled cake.

Snacking...

Fancy a snack and want to fuel yourself with some good stuff? How about some of these (a few based around natural yogurt 'cos I love it!)...

1. Mix Greek/Natural yogurt with a couple of teaspoons of conserve instead of a shop bought yogurt...there's so much extra sugar added to supermarket yogurts plus a load of additives. Conserve has less added sugars etc than regular jam too.

2. Make your own mix of nuts for a protein boost keeping you fuller for longer

3. For on the go - how about making up a mix of sultanas, dried cranberries, dried blueberries and dried apricots to put in your bag for later? Delicious.

4. Make yourself a quick fruit salad a drizzle some natural yogurt over the top.

5. Hummus with whichever chopped up vegetable you like for dipping :)

6. Bananas are a great energy giving snack pre or post exercise.

7. Natural yogurt with granola and fruit

8. Buy corn seeds and make some plain homemade popcorn - add a little salt for a Pre work out snack.

Gluten/dairy free and Vegan friendly delicious chocolate cake!

This recipe is for any vegans or those who can't have dairy or gluten - and it still tastes delicious! Its not the healthiest but a nice treat occasionally all the same :)

Ingredients:
180g gluten free flour (you can use normal plain flour if you don't need gluten free)
200g sugar
50g cocoa
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp vanilla essence
70g olive oil
250ml warm water

Mix all the ingredients together, dry ones first, then add the rest. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.

Once it is cool add the glaze:

100g sugar
3 tablespoons or margarine (soya variety or normal, depending)
2 tbsp milk or soya milk
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp vanilla essence

Melt the ingredients together in a pan until boiling point. When it starts to boil, turn the heat down and allow the mixture to simmer for 2 minutes. Then take off the heat and stir for another 5 minutes. Add to the top of the cooled cake. Decorate how you like!

Mixing it up...

In October last year I really felt like I needed to change my fitness regime. At the time I was running pretty much everyday with the occasional exercise class thrown in, but not very often. Although my muscles had become used to this routine my legs never really got time to recover and I think that  I'd lost some of the enjoyment of running.

Anyway, about the same time I heard about a new performance centre called 'NPC' in Loughborough and decided to go and have a look. It this amazing warehouse that for anyone who knows about crossfit looks a bit like a crossfit gym - lots of weights, frames for strength work and suspension ropes as well as bikes, boxing equipment, a rowing machine and sprint track. Not a treadmill in sight - hallelujah, I hate treadmills! The idea behind the place is a fitness centre that is accessible to all, not the meat heads that just want to lift huge weights but for people to get fit for life and be able to live life WELL. I loved the ethos of the place immediately and decided to sign up for classes.

Since then I've made it my new routine to be down there at least three times a week. I do a boxing with circuit training class, an intense spin class and a boot camp session that includes flipping huge tyres, sprints, kettle bells, boxing and more. And I LOVE it! I'm still running but not everyday and when I do, guess what...I feel SO much stronger!

Basically this is to encourage anyone who, like me, has got into a fitness rut, to MIX IT UP :) You will find different muscles get used in different sessions giving others a break and time to recover meaning your strength improves. I've really noticed it just going about day to day jobs, things are easier and tasks that used to feel quite hard work (carrying heavy things over distance for example) seem so much easier. If you don't want to spend money on a gym or fitness centre, there's no need. Crack out a few of the workouts below (or similar - there's loads on the Internet) a week to mix up you routine.

More importantly for me, it has made me realise again how much I love fitness stuff, pushing myself and making friends in the process :)

Check out NPC Loughborough: http://www.npcfit.com/

This may be obvious...

This may be obvious but being active and leading a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to include going out running or being at the gym every night. As much as I personally love those things and would encourage anyone that way, I actually believe that being generally active (i.e. not sitting around all day!) is more important. For some people, a sedentary job and home life can mean lots of inactivity and fitting in organised exercise is too much of a squeeze on their time. But how about a few of these ideas (and yes some of them will sound silly, but I'd rather look silly and be healthy!)...

* If you get the bus into work (or anywhere for that matter) get off a stop or 2 early and walk the rest. Using public transport to get to work whether its the bus or train is a great way of getting a bit more activity into your day as it usually involves some walking. And it's great for our planet too :)

* Take a small glass into work for drinking water, then you'll need to get up more regularly to refill it and you can power walk to the tap! Most of us probably don't drink enough water anyway :)

* Whenever you come across stairs, sprint them! And if you're extra adventurous take them two at a time.

* When having a catch up with a friend on the phone, walk and talk, even if its just round the block a few times. Or spend an evening a week walking and talking in the evening with a spouse/friend...it'll do your soul good as well as your heart :)

* When you need the loo at work, go to the furthest one away from your desk!

* Swap your chair for a swiss ball (pictured below) for a core work out whilst you're working! My lecturer used to do this and I thought it was a fab idea!

* If you're feeling brave and work at home, a set of press ups every hour will get that heart racing :)

These are just a few ideas. There are also plenty of short intense workouts for people who can give 20 minutes or so of their time to exercise, some of which I'll post on here over the coming months.

Get that heart pumping!