Starting again and Motivation

How can I motivate you? You know it's Monday, right? All day! So did you open your eyes this morning and think

"Today's the day!"

So what's your plan?

Coffee for breakfast while you scan Instagram and look at exotic acai smoothie bowls? A quick fast food outlet wrap for lunch? Will you hit your desk at 9am and barely surface all day? But wait! You've prepped your gym bag for a class on the way home which you'll do, poorly fuelled and depleting your energy.

Life is busy! We're all swimming like crazy and sometimes just gasping for air!

We've all seen the memes about health starting in the kitchen and how our success with fitness depends upon prepping. It's the absolute truth.  Food prepping is also one of the hardest hurdles to get your head around unless you know the shortcuts!

Yesterday's post showed you a picture of all the fruit and veggies that I bought from the local veggie store. In plastic bags. Wait, what happened to that Food Forest that was growing at Wit's and (and what does this have to do with food prep?)

Here's what happened to my Food Forest; sad hey.

One of my immediate goals is to reclaim one garden bed and plant it up with some fast growing greens; Kale, silverbeet, spinach, lettuce and herbs. This will make my food prep faster and healthier, as well as getting me out into the garden doing what human bodies are designed to do; MOVE!

Ok, let's talk breakfast. What SHOULD I eat? The only thing I'm going to suggest (note: Suggest!) is that you start your day with real food.

There are lots of quotes bandied about like 

"Eat food that comes from a plant, not made in a Plant"

And you know what, that's really sensible. Add some eggs and a yummy sauce, some roasted veggies and you have an amazing nutrious breakfast that's literally going to take you right up until lunch. You want one of those smoothie bowls from the pretty pics? It's as simple as blending your favourite yoghourt with whatever the hell you like! 

I can show you how to make garlic aioli in 20 seconds if you want. You can view my video here

 https://www.facebook.com/thejunglebodywithlara/videos/1557980477854985/


I can step by step make a smoothie bowl in the same amount of time (well it might take a bit longer if you want me to go forage for a nasturtium for an Instagram worthy pic)

You need Real Food to fuel your day. It's not hard, it's not deprevation and yes, you can still enjoy the treats that you like. It really is about motivation, planning and moderation.

And now, I'm going to go pick one of these golden orbs to have a lovely warm cup of lemon tea

Food prep (AKA it's been a month fuelled by the three C's)

Yeah March, or rather Easter. I was so bloody glad to see the back of you!

I have no self control with regards to Chocolate and Easter is the time of year when I know that food wise I'm going to fall off the wagon in a spectacular way. I ate KILO'S of chocolate, raided my kid's stash, hid wrappers in my undies drawer and there's a mountain of empty toblerone cartons behind our headboard!

Chocolate
Carbs
Coffee.

The evil three for me.

The results of a month (yes, you read right) of binging on sugary shite is that I feel like shite!

All food prep went out of the window, I binged on take aways, my belly is protesting and I'm so bloated. I refuse to get onto the guilt bandwagon anymore (much healthier headspace these days) and instead made a concious effort to get back into meal prepping this week.


First stop was the Veggie store. Here's what I bought for $92.

I was quite please to find milk and bread for $1 each, so this haul will feed our family for the week with the addition of a few items from the freezer. Definitely achieved my budget goal of $150 or less per week.

So what meal prepping did I do this morning?

Menu:

Cauliflower and bacon soup
Roasted Indian style Sweet potato and cauliflower
Sweet potato, bacon and cauliflower Frittata .

 Yum! tumeric, coriander and lemons from my tree!

 Sauteed bacon and onions ready to add to the cauliflower and stock. No cream needed in this thick yummy soup at all!

Saute onions and bacon, add to thermomix with a head of chopped cauliflower and water or stock. Cook for 15 mins at 100 degrees at speed one.

You can blitz it to your own choice of smoothness.  Miss G hates any trace of onion in her meals so I make ours super smooth.

The finished meals. Took me just over an hour from start to finish! Three days worth of lunches that are nutritious, Didn't cost much and in line with the way I choose to eat.

Starting to pull it all together: Food, Frugality and Fitness

Oh God where to begin, or rather "How the feck do I crank it all up and pull it all together?

All of this technology stuff has moved so fast in the last few years. I'm now on Instagram as well as FB, have a FB page dedicated to all things Jungle Body with Lara as well. Getting my head back around Blogger has proved interesting; I keep looking for the 'Like' button as I read other people's long forgotten Blogs :)

I think that I might start with the basis of all Health for me; The food I eat/the food I choose to feed my family.

A quick squizz of my previous posts here would tell you that upmost in my mind is always frugality and being budget aware. I have no interest in plates or bowls of food that are aimed at the young twenty somethings with double incomes and plenty of time on their hands! Nothing wrong with that lifestyle but it's not mine and I have to talk about what I know!

....Instagram....a quick moving social media platform that is great for seeing all of the wonderful things that I can't afford. Smoothie bowls filled with Ah-mazing creations hand picked by the vestal virgins and infused with the aura's of Woodland Sprites. Ka-Ching, please part with $10!

So this morning I saw a delish looking rainbow smoothie and of course immediately craved one. Never heard of a Rainbow Smoothie? It's layers of different coloured/flavoured smoothies presented in a mason jar (hello wankery alert! Show me a drink in a mason jar and my eyes roll)

Ok, so me being me, I decided that I would recreate said Rainbow Smoothie. It was before I managed to get to the fruit and veg shop so beggars couldn't be choosers with the contents of my fridge.

I started with the base of all the smoothie layers;

2 bananas
a handful of cashews
2 medjool dates
a scoop of yoghourt

Blitzed it in the thermomix then poured a small amount into the bottom of the glass. The green layer came next;

Honeydew melon.

Blitzed that up into the left over banana mixture and layered a bit on top of the banana layer (yep, It's tricky! I used a spoon).  Ok, so now I was onto the orange layer;

Carrots
2 oranges
1 red apple

Blitzed and layered again.  The purple was the easiest, frozen Blueberries. Layered on top and the end result was kind of pretty. I can see where things need jiggling but on the whole it worked, tasted delicious and there was enough for the whole family and probably cost $5 (I haven't costed it out but seriously, it was the dredges of the fruit bowl)

Pretty hey!

Health and Frugality for the win!

Ageing crept up on me!

Well I guess that it had to happen someday, after all, I AM nearly 49.

An 'interesting' type yelled across Hungry Jacks

"Hey Nanna! Are you're grandkids always so well behaved?"

I heard the words but obviously thought that he was yelling at someone else. Some one older.


I may have responded with a very curt

"Yes!" 

And then decorously sunk my teeth (yes, still my own!) in to  my Whopper®.  Now honestly I do try to smile at people, really I do!  Call me *cough* old-fashioned if you want but  I do not respond well to strangers yelling at me across a room. 

This all begs several soul searching questions;

Why am I getting so upset about being called  "Nanna"? I mean it's true, I am one
Is getting older really such a bad thing?

I'm going to be very honest here a say yes, it does upset me that I'm not as young as I feel. I look in the mirror and the reflection I see there is not one that I recognise. When did my eyes start to get hooded? I used to have such very large eyes.

What's stuck on my cheek? How strange! Oh wait, that's a crease from sleeping! That never used to happen before.

Things that I never would have believed could bother me really are!

I was always "The young mum". That happens when you birth your first at 18. 

And now I'm not.

So I guess that I need to re-frame my beliefs about who I am as a Woman. How I age.

Do I keep trying to keep up with the younger women? That's just not possible.
TDo I learn to age 'Gracefully'? Again, that is so not possible.
Do I wallow in self pity and rail against missing out? Well maybe now and again! It truly sucks that the window of youth and firmness is so bloody short!

So what's left?

Making the most of the fabulously strong body that I do have!

I am absolutely stronger and more fit than at any other time of my life, and you know what, I bloody appreciate it because I know that it is going to keep me healthy, vital and mobile well into my twilight years.

And maybe a little therapy around why wrinkles, grey hair and menopause is proving so challenging to me!

"She went mad and composted her husband!"

Or whatever happened to The Crone?

The story of how Spring was reborn after a very long Winter.

You might remember how I birthed my wee Elf, Xavier in July 2009. He'd stopped moving and yes, I fell apart. I didn't handle his loss well, fell into depression and watched my garden, my passions and my friendships die.

But like everything in Nature you can't stop growth. Spring DOES return, the earth is rejuvenated after lying fallow, seeds erupt when the conditions are right.

It's taken six years and a lot of hard work and soul searching. And 1000's of Burpees.

What the Feck? 

Yeah, I know right! My journey back to me started with fitness!

I still need to reclaim my garden, the potential is there. I'm still madly frugal, I'm still passionately against all the wankery that's sold to us (have you seen the health and fitness industry? Wait until I get going on all of their shite!)

I'm still me. But I'm stronger now and I'm determined to help other women discover their strengths!

The Crone is back!

What do you do when you have been growing your hair to get dreadlocks?

You commit to shaving your head for the charity which is very close to your heart of course!

I'm sorry that it took the death of my friend's brave boy Harvey, the Cureageous Lion to spur me into action http://harveythecourageouslion.blogspot.com.au/

Please, if you can spare a few $$$'s to raise money for childhood cancers, please do so! None of the money will come to me at all but goes straight to this charity.

https://harveyscureageouspride.everydayhero.com/au/hedgewytch

Fed up with the wankery!

Rant ahead!

Good wholesome peasant foods; potatoes, beans, lentils, seeds (quinoa and buckwheat). Things that cost minimal amounts at your local ethnic store are now mixed, cooked, baked and served at huge prices at swanky alternative cafes (as if funky blackboards and tiny tables suddenly inflate prices with each swirl of the chalk).

Vegie patties and salad $10.95! Ok ok, so the vegies were roasted in oil, honey and sesame seeds before being chilled, mashed and mixed with lentils and other binders. Tiny plates with a couple of glistening gourmet leaves (have you seen my vegie beds lately? I'm over run with gourmet frilly lettuce) and a few decorative shards of beetroot and carrot.

It would have cost $66.00 for one meal for myself and the Chirpies last Friday! What's sad is that over the road was a Hungry Jacks where I could have fed the whole family for less than $20 :(

I'm sorry but good restaurant quality food does not have to cost this much! I decided on Monday that I was going to get back on track again with prepping a heap of good wholesome foods and having them ready to cook;

*Homemade falafel mix
Dosa mix
Pakora mix
Vegie curries such as potato aloo which can be used to stuff dosa
Salads and their fixings; dried berries and nuts, cooked rice and quinoa
Roasted vegies
Rice flour rolls

The good news as well is that Miss G has been eating heaps in the last few days on this food!

*All of these recipes can be found in Higher taste the Hare Krishna recipe book or River Cottage Veg.  If you're really broke and can't afford either of these, message me and I'll send you the recipe!