My Way

It seems like forever since I've posted here... I've been read read reading everything I can get my hands on about raw food!

So far I've come to the conclusion there is no 'right' way to do raw. Everyone says that their way is the ultimate raw diet... so which is the one??

Low sugar high greens raw
Transition raw - with lots of lookalike recipes
Low fat high fruit
Cooked greens high raw
High fat raw
Macrobiotic style raw

The only way to know for sure is to try out all of them and see what feels good for me! So far, my eating style has been pretty loose. Not a lot of dehydrated foods (except for the occasional flax cracker) and mostly LOTS of salads, fruit and smoothies. I don't keep a track of my fats and usually have an avocado and some nuts every day, as well as cold pressed oils in my salads. I don't worry too much about using vinegars and spices, I eat the occasional piece of dark chocolate and have a glass of red wine on the weekend. I'm not strictly vegan, and sometimes I'll have a little bit of goat's cheese or raw milk, but my diet is nearly vegan now. I'm not going to worry about a label and how true I am to it... I'm just trying hard to stay away from processed foods, breads, sugar, icecream and the like. My diet is 1000% better than it has ever been now! As I progress on this journey I may become stricter, but this is MY RAW style - not dictated by books or forums.

Before I take anything on board I look at the people advocating that particular eating style... are they healthy? Do they have lots of energy? Are they happy? If not, then I'll keep looking for answers of my own.

Meanwhile I got a tray of 20 mangoes for $5 today so I'm off to devour a couple now... YUM!

Metamorphisis

Three weeks raw and I feel a bit like I am being made over. My ideas about myself, they way I walk on the earth and nutrition are all changing. Some days I feel somewhat overwhelmed about it all. Big picture, I want to try to live as consciously as possible, but I find I’m falling short of my ideals. Slowly slowly I’m going to try to change.

The changes I’ve made recently:
• Buy from the markets and bulk foods and REMEMBER to bring my own containers and bags
• Make big batches of food for the week – prepare in advance as much as I can
• Try to encourage others to eat more fresh fruit and veg and explain my reasons for going raw
• Buy as many ethical products as possible, if in doubt, even if it’s a supplement, I won’t buy it
• Try new foods and ways of preparing raw foods – completely different to conventional recipes
• Eat consciously, not out of boredom, social situations or peer pressure
• Say no to stress by not taking too much on board at work and in my relationships
• Keep a journal of moods and foods to discover patterns of what my body does and doesn’t like
• Start supplementing with whole foods: bee pollen, maca, MSM, slippery elm, silica and include a wide variety of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and fats.
• Eliminate processed foods including refined sugar, bread, pasta and packet foods and eat whole, fresh ingredients only

The most difficult thing has not been switching to raw surprisingly! The diet part is easy. It’s the mental shift I wasn’t prepared for. Trying to reconcile myself with what my husband eats has been hard! We sat down and had a talk and he agreed to try to be more aware of his nutrition, which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I don’t think he really cares about his health as much as I do. When he’s hungry, he eats whatever is fast, which is a problem. The worst part is, he’s a personal trainer, you think he’d understand! He’s got a genetically very lean body, so he’s never had to worry about gaining weight, but then complains when he gets the flu and I don’t or he’s dead tired and I’m still full of beans. I’m hoping my example will eventually make a difference. We’ll see. Very frustrating in the meantime!!

I love the energy I have now! I can have all my lovely fruits and nut butters, fresh salads, creamy avocado and yes.... Chocolate! Yesterday someone at the office commented ‘Have you lost weight? You look good!’. I was surprised as I haven’t been weighing myself, but I’ve lost 3kgs and my skin is clearer and softer than it was before. Wheeee! How cool when people notice! Then I can get on my little soap box and share! hehe

WOW - did someone put something in my drink?

Image courtesy Jayne Anderson

Well today I AM BUZZING! This morning I really noticed it at about 10:30am. It felt like I was full of electricity, with a clear head, lots of energy and totally focussed in a very happy mood! Not just a little bit. A LOT. It was amazing!! As I've been about 95% raw for the last two weeks, which is not a particularly long time, it's strange to me why I'm feeling so good? I thought it would take longer!

Maybe it was my breakfast???
Breakfast: 3 macadamias, 1 carrot, 1 small piece of fresh coconut, 1 tab of chlorophyll in water... that's it!

Hmmm.... time will reveal if this is a consistent life change, or a freak wonderful day!!

It's funny I used to be (of the past year) a low-carb-high-protein-whole-foods advocate, but now... I feel completely different. I want to wait and see how this makes me feel in the long run before I give my final verdict, but I must have tried every diet out there (one of the joys of battling an ED). I've been a low-carber, endured aitkens, ate only whole foods, a soup and juice faster, work-out queen, low-fat, low-sugar, I've starved myself, drank litres and litres of protein shakes, counted calories, a weight watcher, a mono-food dieter, experimented with intermittent fasting.... the list goes on! It all seems to fly in the face of what my body has been telling me all along (I've been a vegetarian for most of my life and find it hard not to be)!!!!

FRESH WHOLE NATURAL FOODS are best.
As little interference and processing as possible! THIS has been my fall back when a particular 'diet' stopped working. Yet, sucked into the false promises, I continued to abuse myself again and again. I believe in God, and I cannot believe he would make SO MANY foods that we CAN'T eat! Or three types of fats just to confuse us! Use your noggin and eat them the way He packaged them... A lovely ripe mango that smells divine, simply discard the packet (biodegradable!) and enjoy! Beautiful creamy avocados, fresh macadamia nuts from the shell, delicious cacao and a spicy shiraz... diet, what diet?!

Sorry about the evangelical tone, I'm just so happy and high today! I wish everyone could feel this way too!

For dinner I'm making some Vietnamese summer rolls with lots of fresh mint and coriander with a lime and chilli dipping sauce... so I'm off to the chopping board! Chop chop!

In the raw

My Dinner

Chop it up:
Bok Choy, capsicum, cucumber, avocado, red apple, macadamias, fresh coriander

Dress it up:
Sea salt, macadamia oil, flax oil, splash apple cider vinegar, touch of garlic, squeeze of lime

Yes, haven't you heard? Salads are de rigueur at my place! Raw food is easy, you can have a salad (let me count the ways... swoon), fresh fruit and veg, juices, smoothies, fresh coconut juices, wine and nuts, dehydrated vege chips and raw dips and pestos.... BUT I am always open to new ideas! Got any recipes? Send 'em 'ere!

Another silly snippet about me... it's been said I'm quite the nudist! Hence the tit-le (hehe) of this post! The reason? Last weekend I went away with my hubby of seven years to North Stradbroke Island (just off Brisbane's coast, Australia) and decided to do a topless sunbake on the beach. Hmmm... Not exactly risque you may say. WELL. I threw caution to the wind and decided to have a nice frolick in the waves... wait for it... also topless! It was absolutely lovely. The water was warm and aqua, the sun was hot, the waves were gentle. Perfect.

That being said, there were only a handful of other people on the beach at the opposite end! But I thought it was rather daring, nonetheless! My tan is coming along nicely too. Hel-lo vitamin D.

I must admit, being raw is throwing up a few challenges. My husband for one. He's a bacon and eggs, spaghetti bolognese type of guy. It's making things hard, especially when he expects me to cook them for him! If I make my food for him he eats it but grumbles, or pretends to like it and then gets more food at the drive-thru later! There's quite a bit of prep and cleaning up from my meals, let alone doing double all the time. I'd make him get his own, but he can't be bothered cooking after a hard day at work and if I don't make it, he'll just have toast for dinner! It's frustrating that he won't look after his health better.

Got any suggestions? Foolproof recipes to knock the socks off him?

It was the dog.

Photo courtesy Quaker Parrots

Hmm. This isn't so good. My raw diet has been having an unwanted and socially embarrassing effect on me. Yes, I'm a bit whiffy. All of this ruffage is giving me wind! I'm hoping it's a temporary phase or I'm going to have to invest in a charcoal cushion to sit on at work!! I'm pretty sure it's my body getting rid of all the gunk and adjusting to it's new fuel.... fingers crossed! After all I've only been 3 days raw.

My regular kefir smoothie, fruit, veg and brazil nuts through the day today. Tonight I had a scrummy dinner of a lovely salad! I reek of garlic now, but it was so worth it! (Maybe that will overpower my stinky pop-offs! hehe)

Red and Green Salad

Salad
1/2 a large avocado
1/2 a red capsicum
1/2 a punnet of juicy red tom thumb tomatoes
1/2 a lebanese crunchy cucumber
big handful of basil
big handful of mint

Dressing
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of flax seed oil
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Chop everything up, mix and eat! Mmmm, mmm. It was divine!

For supper I had a couple of slices of watermelon followed by 4 squares of raw dark chocolate. So good.

Actually something strange happened today! At work we all were shouted lunch from Noodle Box. I didn't really want any (trying to have as much raw as I can) but felt very pressured to have some too. I ordered a vegetarian teriyaki salad (it still had noodles in it) but when it came there was beef in it, so I couldn't eat it! Maybe the universe was helping me out! haha I was really relieved, I didn't fancy eating all of that sugary dressing or the soggy noodles and got to make my own. Nipped down the shops and got a few fruit and veg and ended up having: chopped cucumber and tomato with sea salt as a salad, a handful of brazil nuts and a small pot of organic biodynamic yoghurt. Perfect! Well, the yoghurt was probably pasturised, but it was a fairly good compromise. : )

More Raw

Photo courtesy Ecuadorian Organics

Day 2 of rawsomeness! It's a lot easier than I thought. By the way my eggplant 'crackers' came out FANTASTIC! I'm going to buy a whole heap and make them for parties instead of the real thing, I'm sure everyone is going to love them too! Maybe I'll do a garlic version...
garlic + eggplant = delicious.

Brekky 8am - Kefir, banana and blueberry smoothie, teechino tea

Snack 11:30am - Vine ripened tomatoes with a little sea salt, teechino tea (smug look, all my co-workers were noshing on lemon meringue pie at the time!)

Lunch 1pm- Celery sticks filled with a mixture of cashew butter, tahini and macadamia oil, cappucino over a work meeting (d'oh!)

Snack 4pm - Apple, dandelion tea

Dinner 7pm (at a friends) - 4 Nori rolls (as per yesterday, I bought from home), mini cupcake (d'oh! It looked so cute and was screaming "EAT ME EAT ME I'M CUUUUUTE") But, I DID say NO to the champagne! : )

Snack 10pm - nibbled on a few cacao nibs (see pic above), 3 macadamia nuts and 3 cherry tomatoes (I love going... pop!)

LOVE the cacao nibs! Nutty yumminess. I must be careful with those and not have too many, jussssst a couple when I feel a craving coming on. I'm surprised I've been feeling so good actually, I've got my period (thank you moon) and I've not had anything major yet... no ups, downs or cravings really at all. Luckily! I can't believe I was confronted with cake TWICE today. Almost escaped unscathed. Next time Gadget, next time....

Raw food

Photo courtesy Utopian Kitchen

Wow, I've been away so long this is almost a mupdate! (monthly update) This is partly because I stupidly started another blog... (which I am rethinking...), partly because work has been HECTIC and partly because my nutrition has been a little off. I hate to admit it but it's been less than stellar, in between social commitments and on and off bouts of fasting! Ugh. I think I need some consistency back and chuck the fasting out for now. My social life makes it too difficult to maintain and I keep cheating and restarting over and over. Wagon? Well there was one around here somewhere... I think it drove off about two hours ago!

Fasting is great for cleaning you out after a naughty weekend, but it is much to easy to use that as an excuse to eat badly. "I'll just have one glass of champagne and I'll detox on Monday with a juice fast." NOT a good pattern. I want to break the habit of reward and punishment and stop treating food as an emotional crutch. Easier said than done, right?

1. My first step is to start eating regular meals again. (No more fasting to fall back on!) I'm aiming to consistently eat nutritionally dense foods.
   
   
2. Restart my walking program. Nothing complicated, just 45 minutes every morning.
   
   
3. Cut out coffee again. Yes it has snuck up on me again, these days I'm having a cup a day!
   
   
4. Try eating a higher percentage of raw foods. Fresh fruits, vegetables, soaked nuts, raw milk and cheeses.
   
   
5. Save alcohol for once a week only - weekend or special occasion. I'll work up to stopping this habit, it's lovely to have a drink, but all my willpower goes out the window and I mysteriously find a chippie or pastry in my hands with NO IDEA how it got there!
   

I've stumbled upon a few interesting raw food sites (check here for a goodie) and am thinking of giving it a go! I'm against a totally vegan diet (I spoke about this here) but I'd be having my raw milk and cheeses and sometimes some raw eggs. There's another raw food diet called the Primal diet, but I'm not sure I could EVER eat raw meat (I'm a vegetarian). I like the idea of natural hygiene, preventing the causes of disease through nutrition and regular exercise. There is something very appealing about feeling and looking great even as you age.

So if anyone has any interesting raw food recipes they'd like to share, please do! I found an awesome (rawsome hehe) chocolate pie recipe....

Chocolate Avocado Pie by Anand

Serves 12, takes 15 min

Crust
1 cup pitted dates – soaked for 20 min
2 cups desiccated coconut

Filling
2-3 avocados
3 Tbsp of Agave syrup optional
½ cup of coconut butter
10 Tbsp of raw cacao powder
2 cups dates (pitted)
1 Tbsp zest of an orange (optional)
2 Tbsp raw cacao butter (optional)
1 Tbsp desiccated coconut (optional)

Directions
Process the crust ingredients until a sticky dough is achieved. Press the dough firmly into a 9 inch pie dish. Put in the fridge to set. For the filling, melt, dehydrate at 45°C, or double boil the cacao butter. Process thoroughly the remaining ingredients into a smooth creamy, unctuous mousse. Add the cacao butter. Spread onto pie crust and eat right then or place in the fridge for later. Decorate with desiccated coconut and orange zest.

I'm going to get some avocados from the markets to try it out this week!

I ate a cookie.

Photo courtesy Dessert comes first.

I ate a cookie. (Ohhhhhh YEAH.... Cookie high)

No, it's not a reason to PANIC and jump on the treadmill for 4 hours! Why? Because "cookies are a sometimes food" (to quote the Cookie Monster).

I aim to eat clean 90% of the time and indulge in treats SOME of the time. I don't feel guilty, I enjoy it. That way, I never feel deprived and start eating mountains of rice crackers to fill the empty place that says "I want a cookie, I want a cookie, I want a cookie, I want a cookie, I want a cookie!!!!!" Rice cakes aren't cookies silly! So, I eat a cookie! But not rubbish low fat cardboard ones, I'll have the BEST ones I can find, made from real chocolate and butter just like Mum used to make.

Or maybe two. : ) I love free days.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH...

Since I've had this cold the momentum of my challenge is seriously under threat! So when I'm better, instead of just adding more weeks on to the end, I'm going to start over, take new photos and get back into it. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing PROPERLY. Right?

The wonderful world of Kefir!

As a Kefir initiate, I'm so EXCITED to share with you this wonderful probiotic drink! I was lucky enough to be shown how to make it at my cheese workshop. Dinking Kefir (pronounced kee-fear) is like drinking a living zoo of microorganisms to help foster a healthy gut environment. Even more diversity than you would find in fresh yoghurt (although you need yoghurt too)! When your gut is healthy, YOU are. You can assimilate and utilise nutrients and energy from food better with no nasty bowel problems like gas or diahorrea.
For the low down on all that is Kefir check out Dom's site.

Elisabeth gave us our very own kefir 'grains' (not a grain but a culture that looks like grains, see picture above) to grow some of our own at home. It only takes 24hrs! I made some yesterday and drank my Kefir smoothie for breakfast today, put on another batch this morning ready for tomorrow's brekky. It's very easy, even easier than yoghurt because there is no heating of the milk at all.

So what does it taste like? Very similar to natural yoghurt with a sharper sourish aftertaste. Sometimes Kefir can have a slight alcohol content of about 0.5%, but not enough to stop you driving! You can drink it straight, very refreshing, or have it in a smoothie rather than milk. As it is a fermented food, the milk is much easier to digest, the bacteria in effect 'pre-digesting' the milk sugars. People with lactose intolerance might find kefir a tasty alternative to milk. You can use kefir as a started for sourdough bread, to make kefired cream and kefired butter. I've also read it can be used as a culture for making cheeses.

As for where to get good kefir grains.... I don't actually know! I was fortunate enough to be given some at the workshop, but as far as I know it has been handed down for thousands of years and originated somewhere in the middle east. Kefir grains multiply so the excess is usually shared around to members of the community. You can buy dehydrated grains, but I'm not sure what kind of quality they are. Previously, I had only read about kefir and had been unable to source it, let alone taste some!

So today I ate the fruits of my labour... well, not much labour really. I still made it though!

Kefir Blueberry Power Smoothie

1 1/2 cups cultured kefir
1 cup of blueberries
1 small ripe ladyfinger bannana
1 scoop cold filtered unsweetened whey protein (20g)
Tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Serve over ice.

It was HEAVENLY. I thought foods that are good for you are meant to taste bad too!

I'll start exercising on Monday...

Bad habits. We all have them. From forgetting to floss to forgetting to let grandma out of the cupboard, they exert a negative influence on our daily lives.

They say a habit takes 21 days to form. So if you start now, by the end of the month you'll have new ones... right? Well... no. Most people sabotage their efforts before that happens.

When starting or breaking any habit we tend to tell our conscious mind we are going to change and it’s for LIFE. On the other hand, if you tell yourself you want to try something for a finite 21 days it seems a more manageable goal. It might sound a little strange to ‘talk to your conscious’... but what I mean is we all have conversations with ourselves inside our heads - should I go to the pub or should I not, should I go to the gym or should I not? There are a hundred conversations we have with ourselves every day.

Tell yourself (your conscious brain) that you are going to try it for 21 days. When you have completed 21 days, your neural pathways will have formed already and you will more than likely continue with your new habit. Just take it one day at a time!

So this sounds pretty straight forward... why do people fail to make the change?

Too difficult. People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start out with a big goal. “I’m going to go to the gym for an hour a day!” or “I’m going to run 30 minutes every day!” The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain for very long.

Too many goals. Often we set out to do too much. We want to stop smoking, and stop drinking coffee, and make healthy choices, and do our tax on time, and lift weights. Those are multiple goals, and you cannot focus on what is the most important if you’re trying to do all the others at the same time. Or you might start with one goal, but then get caught up in another goal (to stop procrastinating, for example), and lose focus on the first one.

Not enough motivation. It’s not a lack of discipline, it’s a lack of motivation. You need to find your reason to keep going!

So how does one combat these hurdles...? There are four tools in your artillery.

1. Set one easy, specific, measurable goal

Write this down. If you don’t write it down, it’s not important. Don’t set a difficult goal. Set one that is super, super easy. Five minutes of exercise a day. You can do that. Work your way to 10 minutes after a month. Make it easy to start with, so you can build your habit, then gradually increase. Be specific, what activity are you going to do, at what time of day, and where? Don’t just say “exercise” or “I’m going to walk”. Make it an appointment you can’t miss. Stick to one goal for at least a month. Two months if you can bear it. Don’t start up a second goal during that 30-day period. If you do, you are threatening the success of your original goal.

2. Keep a daily journal

As you record each day, you will start to see your progress, and it will motivate you to keep going. And you have to make it a habit to log it right away. Don’t put it off, and say you’ll do it before you go to bed. As soon as you’re done working out, log it. Just the date, time, and what you did.

3. Tell others about your progress

Do it on your blog, an online forum, with your spouse, friends, family, a workout partner, a coach, a group or a class. However you set it up, make it part of the process that you have to report your daily workout to other people. It could be through email, or the phone, or just by telling your co-workers what you did this morning. But be sure that they know your goal, and that you are going to report to them every day.

4. Motivation - Keep it up!

If you miss two consecutive workouts, you need to look at why, and add a new motivation. Rewards, more public pressure, inspiration, whatever it takes. Think of ways to reinforce your new habits in a positive way. I read of a woman who would take her own extra soft luxury towels to the gym and put on her favourite scent as soon as she finished her workout and stepped out of a hot shower.

What are my goals?
• Get up every day (besides Sunday) at 6:30am and do some form of exercise before anything else. Even if it's only a walk. Every second day, weights.
• Consistently make healthy food choices for the next 12 weeks.

What is my motivation?
• I want to wake up and feel great at the start of each day
• My dogs get a nice walk
• Each day I'm getting fitter
• I'll have more energy to get through the working day
• I want to achieve a goal and be disciplined enough to see it through
• Feel great in my own skin
• Do something healthy that's just for me

Don't wait until Monday to start hitting your targets, start today!

The beginning. Again.

Yet again, I'm on another 'plan', 'diet', 'lifestyle', 'regime' etc, etc...

I'm not going to stop blogging about all of my foibles in the controversial world of nutrition. There's too many people out there who are like me! I know it's not PC but I'm probably going to be on a 'diet' my whole life. Whether that's for muscle gain, fat loss, boosting my immune system, allergies or more energy, I've come to the conclusion I MAY NEVER get over it and eat like a 'normal' person.

I like being weird! I really like my new Warrior Diet. I feel so freed from food and have some time on my hands again. I have energy to get through the day and I'm sleeping very well. It's made me pull up my weight lifting socks and get into the gym again. I'm actually managing to do two weights sessions a week... consistently! If other people knew I was eating one big meal a day, they would probably freak out! "Why aren't you eating!", "Skipping meals is unhealthy", "You're going to wreck your metabolism", "Saturated fat is bad for you", "Eating at night makes you fat".... Arrrrghh it goes on! (See my previous post for rebuttal of these reasons.)

'Normal' people... are you out there? What do you eat? Often I've seen women, in cafés, restaurants, at work and at home observe other women eat. Are we all alike? So curious to see exactly what the other eats. Especially 'thin' women, they are the worst of all! They see a relatively slim woman, perhaps like themselves and check whether they eat, what they eat and how much. Why do they do this? Because the unspoken, secret truth is: nearly all 'thin' women don't eat enough food.

All of the crap written in the press about skinny stars somehow losing weight without trying, or that they simply ate right and exercised... is a lie. The ones who do that aren't skinny, they are slim and healthy looking and have been for a long time. The skinny (bony) yo-yo ones starve themselves, have buliemia or cancer. That's my honest opinion.

To look thin and yet 'eat right' and 'exercise', you would have to be an athlete or bodybuilder to maintain such a low weight eating the recommendations of caloric intake various institutions cite. For example I'm 174cms high. According to my age and activity level, nutrition websites say that I should be eating 2373 calories to maintain my weight. HA! When I DID eat that much I reached my heaviest weight VERY quickly. Is there anyone out there who is slim and fit that eats as much as this?! I'd love to hear from you.

Paleo style eating

I've long been a believer that whole foods in their natural state are the best for you.

The less processing the better. Eg: cold pressed oils, whole fruits and veggies, free range hormone free meat, eggs and wild fish, soaked wholegrains, rice and nuts, limited amounts of natural sugars like honey, molasses and palm sugar, raw or at least unpasturised milk, butter, cream and cheeses.

I've taken on board the nutritional guidelines from the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Paleolithic diet. And since almost cutting out sugar completely, I have been feeling so much better! More energy, less moody and I'm sleeping very well. The first few days were hell on earth, but I'm determined to do the best thing for my health.

My rule of thumb is: KEEP IT SIMPLE and eat as little grains and sugars as possible. At the moment I'm being very strict, I'm having one apple a day only and no wine, no bread, no fruit... you get the idea. LOTS of veggies and protein, with some fats on top for satiety. Feel great and the sugar cravings are becoming less each day. Goodbye Candida, headaches and tiredness!

I’ve just started weight training again after about four weeks break (slap!) and am loving it. I’m going to be doing two sessions a week again and I’m really looking forward to it now I’m sleeping better and have more energy.

In September the company I work for is moving into our new office which is only 3kms from my house. I’m planning on riding my bike to and from work each day (how very French) which will make 4 days biking in total (ooh and 24kms). So between the weights and the biking I should get pretty fit (and save petrol)! It means I can skip my lunch hour walks and use the time for relaxing over my lunch and unwinding, instead of scarfing it down and rushing to the park! I’m still going to be doing that until we move, but hey, there’s only so many hours in the day and I’ve got to find time to move it. Right now, there is no way I’m getting up in the dark! Dark is for sleeping right?

Intermittent Fasting

There's been a lot of talk about Intermittent Fasting.

In a nutshell you just alternate eating days. The plan combines the benefits of fasting (better insulin response, detoxifying waste tissues and metabolising fat) with a Paleo-style eating plan. Check here for IF and here for the Paleo low down.

I'll be doing a 30 day challenge over at The IF Life, and posting my progress here. I've let my nutrition go of late and am going to snap back into my old healthy habits. I could also use a kick in the pants to get my exercise happening more regularly. I'm using this month to refresh and refocus.

Here are my goals for the 30 days.
1. Lose a few kilograms and gain some muscle tone back
2. Walk an hour each day and do a weights session twice a week
3. Treat my body with respect and give it HQ nutrition
4. Increase my cardio fitness to the point where I can easily run 2kms at full speed (not a big deal I know, but huge for me! I'm strong, but unfit.)
5. Feel more energised!

There seems to be a number of different intermittent fasting regimens that work well. I'll be setting up my cutoff time at 7pm. On the day I start, I'll eat until 7pm, then fast until 7pm the next day. On the next day I'll eat supper right after 7pm and breakfast and lunch (and a few snacks) the next day, until 7pm when I start fasting again.

The advantage of this regimen is that I'll be able to eat every day. One day I'll eat supper–the next day breakfast and lunch. On no days will I abstain entirely from food. This plan looks like it will work the best for me.

The method may seem a bit confusing at first. To summarize:

Day 1: eat bf & lunch (eat before 7pm)
Day 2: eat dinner (start eating after 7pm)
Day 3: eat bf & lunch (eat before 7pm)
Day 4: just like day 2... & repeat....

So basically it goes like this - / dinner-lunch-breakfast / fast / dinner-lunch-breakfast / fast /
Simple.

I've taken some before snaps to help keep me motivated and I will post them here when I complete the challenge.If anyone wants to join me, feel free to comment and I'll buddy up with you!