Passionately Paleo ....

Hi all! It has been such a long time since I have posted! I have kind of been reluctant to post again as it's really hard to know if anyone is actually reading it and it takes such a long time to write the posts and then edit them that I wasn't sure if it was worth the time. But I have been assured by a few people that yes there are some people still reading so even if there are only a few, I'll keep writing for you :) (plus the fact that I have really missed writing!) I have tried to put lots of different gadgets down the side of this blog so there are lots of different ways that you can follow me and/or comment on the posts. Ideally I would love to have some discussion regarding the things I post about, that was one of the main reasons I wanted to start blogging was to open up conversation to a larger (or smaller .... not fussy) group of people. You should be able to comment on the posts without having a google account, let me know if you can't :)

SO first things first ...........

Yes we did it! We got there! It was more like the Whole40 by the time we were finished but we made it! It's hard to know what to say about it, I know you all will probably want to know the "results" and this is where it gets a little bit tricky because my personal results are fully individual to me. They are things that I am really excited about but in saying that I think that they might not be appealing or "wow" enough for everybody to think that it's worth it! But with all that aside I want to share it with you guys because for me it's exciting .. still!! And life changing!

So let's get the weight thing out of the way ... I know it's what your all thinking so I'll deal with that first! Yes I did loose weight. I had decided in the last week that I wouldn't weigh myself because I've felt so great throughout the 30 days, felt great about myself and my self image, I knew I had lost weight because I could see it and just generally it wasn't about loosing weight but it's always there at the back of my mind, a little crouching goblin just waiting to pounce. But I gave in, I wanted to know, on the last day I weighed myself. And I was happy, so it's okay! And no, I'm not going to share my lose because there are far greater things I got out of the Whole30 and I've already spent enough time talking about weight.

So my favourite thing that happened while we were doing the Whole30 was that we did it together! I am so proud of my family! They all made such a huge effort to stick to it and try to understand why we are doing it. Even my little 3 year old! When we go to the supermarket instead of asking for things, he asks if everything has sugar in it and when I say yes he'll put it back. (It can sometimes be just as tedious having little man asking if EVERYTHING has sugar in it but beggars can't be choosers!) The kids tell everyone they meet about it and were so awesome, facing school days and lunch orders, birthdays and parties, they got through so many tempting situations, I am one very proud mummy! I love that my kids want to know about their health!

Other things that I got from the Whole30 was healthier habits, e.g. eating together at meal times at the table, don't have the need to snack anymore, don't have cravings. I also think my cooking skills are starting to improve, now that I'm more comfortable with what we can and can't have, it's easier to be a bit more creative. There have been a few occasions since finishing up the Whole30 where I have thought, stuff it, can't be bothered, let's get take away! And I just can't bear to go through with it! That's what's really amazed me is just how powerful knowing your body and being a little more educated about food can be. I feel equipt now to deal with life and food. It is a really great feeling that I'm having trouble describing but I guess it's just that food doesn't have a hold on me like it used to! And that's the life changing results that has made it all worth the while. I have no doubt I will do the Whole30 quite regularly although we are still living a paleo lifestyle, just a little less strict. 

So that's it! I couldn't have ever imagined being happy living without cheese and bread and pasta and rice and chocolate but right now, I couldn't care less about those things right now. We eat lots of yummy food! And I know I'll probably eat these things again at some stage and when I do I'm going to enjoy it and not regret it! And I believe that's what being healthy is about, enjoying the food you eat and never feeling guilty :) I have become very passionately Paleo! I'd love to hear what everyone else is "passionately", even if it's "passionately chocolate" or "passionately sleeping" (That may be me as well actually), "passionately dogs" or "passionately swimming"! I love to hear about people being passionate regardless!

Last week was my Bella's 5th birthday! Big five and oh so beautiful! We finished the Whole30 the day before her birthday so it was a real celebration! She asked if we could have real sushi (with rice in it as apposed to the riceless sushi we've been eating throughout the whole30 :)) so that was our special treat for her birthday and the rest was "technically" Paleo! 

We had a super duper tasty (If I may say so!!) Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Cake - recipe from, Paleo Spirit with a few minor changes :) It was so moist and decadent and just plain yumminess! We also had special birthday pancakes - recipe from, Mark's Daily Apple. I just made these again yesterday and all I used was bananas and eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla and put it into the blender so they were really smooth and fluffy, and then served them with healthy Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream (will post recipe soon) and .... whoa .... amazingness on a plate!! So impressed that healthy can be so yummy and satisfying!! 

All the food stuff aside, at this stage in my life I am looking at self developing! I am loving finding things that I am passionate about and I want to continue along this journey, it's a very exciting time! I just recently attended a MOPS conference (for those of you who don't know, MOPS stands for Mothers Of PreSchoolers), where MOPs leaders from all around the state come together to learn and be inspired. It was such an awesome time of rest and learning and late night chats and fun with these awesome girls ....

I feel very blessed to be a part of MOPS, to be challenged to grow and learn and develop skills, and then to be able to see all of these amazing mums growing as well, it's such an amazing group! I am very much looking forward to the next chapter of MOPS! (And yes, look they gave us microphones and let us stand on stage!! haha ... suckers)

Well that's me for now! Please comment and let me know that your reading and what parts you like about the blog (please don't tell me the bits you don't like cause, well, honestly, I'm pretty vulnerable and emotional and I will take it personally! LOL! No really .... I don't want to know! :p)

Happy Thursday Y'all :D 

Half way .....

Heeey! We're about half way through our Whole30 .... and your probably thinking whoa this has been a long 30 days but we actually restarted after making a few accidental boo boos! So we would've been 5 days off finishing but that's okay! We've made the executive decision to finish the day before my little ballerina's birthday (we'll end on Thursday 6th Sept ..... so it's The Final Countdown ...... di do dooo dooo, bu da bu baaa baaaa), it's a few days short of 30 days (well technically it would be Day 40!! And our boo boos were so very minor!!) but we like to make a big deal of birthdays in our house. Izzie has requested a sushi dinner and a surprise :) Such a precious girl! 

At this stage in my Whole30 journey, I am concentrating on sleep! I do love sleep! In fact I've always thought I've had an unhealthy relationship with sleep! But it turns out I've just been having too much of it in the mornings and not enough at night! (Sorry, I just noticed how many !!!!!! I use!) So I'm focusing on much earlier night's and much earlier mornings. It's one of my "Whole30 goals" which I will share later on this week (after I actually sat down and written them out :p). So far we've had some pretty exciting results which I love sharing!! 

1. Our family's eating habits have improved 100%! Every meal is at the table (when we're at home), together. It's so enjoyable, the kids rave about my cooking (yes, meat and veg 100 different ways), they don't complain about certain foods anymore, they eat what's put in front of them!
2. I don't feel the urge to snack in between meals anymore! YAY! I'm full between meals and now that my body isn't reliant on sugar for energy, I don't get ravenously hungry if I'm out and don't get to eat at meal time ... my body still keeps kicking on, feeding off it's own fat! Sweeeeet!
3. On the topic of my body eating it's own fat, my jeans are getting a bit looser. Yesterday I pulled my jeans out of the dryer and instead of doing my usual "Stretch and Jump" jeans routine (please tell me someone else does that .... especially straight out of the dryer!), I just stepped into them and pulled them up, did the button up, put my belt on, had to pull it in so much I don't have any extra belt holes (luckily my belt has little flowers all the way around so I can put the little spoke through one of the flowers), and my jeans had a nice little bunch in the front .... it looks real pretty! :p But very exciting!
4. Also on that note, husband thinks my back is looking slimmer .... that always makes me laugh! I hear it every time I loose weight, "Wow your back is looking slim", it always makes me think, whoa did I have a really massive back or something? What are they trying to say? Lol, so random! It must be where I loose weight from first!
5. I only noticed this one last week cause it was .. *Cough thattimeofthemonth Cough* .. BUT I haven't had any hormonal/emotional ups and downs! I had noticed since having no. 3 child, I had very prominent PMS. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed (sorry husband & kids!), but I could always tell when that dreaded time of the month was approaching as a few days before I would get quite over emotional, really needy (towards husband dear) and just generally down. This month my period caught me by surprise! There was no roller-coaster lead up! WOO! Also in general I haven't been an emotional wreck. I've just kind of cruised through this month ..... and there have been stresses, we have faced some things that would normally have me declaring "I'm going back to bed, I don't wanna deal with this" but not this month!

Who would've thought that food plays so much of a part in your day to day life. We put things in our mouths and don't put much more thought into than that! I think what excites me the most is, we're making life long changes for our family! It may be just 30 days but they are habits we'll take on for life and I just am so stoked we can do this for our children.

I've been a bit slack at taking photos of what we've been eating over the last week or so (and some of the meals just aren't worth photographing :p) but I have a couple to put up! I hate writing a new post without having photos to put in it, I'm a very visual person!

I urge everyone to always have frozen prawns in their freezer!
I managed to whip this up in ten mins when I realised I hadn't
organised lunch and husband started work in half an hour!
Salad of mixed lettuce,  avocado, red onion, prawns &
home-made mayo. Easy and tasty .... bring on summer!

This is how we keep our meals interesting! Home-made
mayo, ranch dressing, tartare sauce & pesto. The top 3
are all made from the mayo base.

Chicken breast crumbed with shredded coconut! Was a
nice alternative to breadcrumb, had a sweet taste to it.
Served with roasted sweet potato, & a roasted broccoli,
brussel sprout & pesto salad, & a dollop of ranch dressing.

Roast Day! Roast chicken with sweet potato, pumpkin &
steamed broccoli. I pushed some ghee, herbs & lemon peel
under the skin of the chicken, it was soo tasty!!

My take on spag bol! Zucchini "spaghetti", & pork
"Bolognese" ..... this was really a yummy, fresh take on
a family classic! 

MMMMmmm my favourite, roast pork, complete with
crackling and a yummy fresh coleslaw. 

SO that's a few of the meals we've had over the last week. I recently brought the pdf version of the "Well Fed" cookbook and it is amazing! I think I'll have to purchase the actual cookbook! It's so helpful, not just the recipes but the meal planning sections! It's been an absolute God-send. Go ahead, take a look at the free 30-page sampler!! You won't regret it :)

Nearing the end of the week, I hope you all have a rocking weekend! I am looking forward to a games night with the girls on Friday! Woo! Party animals :D Catch y'all later x

Day dreaming .....

With the influx of POST-tax bills (why do they always come as soon as you've spent the last dollar of your tax return??), I'm lost in a day dream of a life without money! My head goes here frequently (more than I am willing to admit!), to a life without the limits of money, free from finance, in abundant excess. See money and I don't have a very good relationship. From as far back as I can remember, it's always been messy! My problem is not careless shopping splurges or some kind of shoe/handbag/clothes fetish that has put me in massive debt, it's more that I believe that money is for living not the other way around. Which I guess is probably the main reason we have bills piling up. Hmmm ..... I just don't value money in the same way that a normal, budget keeping, house owning, bill paying person would. I would just hate to fall into that habit of thinking everything we do is for the money we earn ..... and then what? (Not that people who do own their homes and pay their bills value money over life ... I'm just talking out my bum to justify my short comings!) I guess it's like everything else in life, you have to find a balance ...... blah blah blah ..... balance shmalance! For now let me daydream :)

Do you want a sneak peak into my daydream ..... 

here we go ......

It starts off like this ..........

And then snowballs .........

And it doesn't stop there ..........

And so on and so forth ......

So there it is, I let you all in on my little guilty secret, my day dreams of houses and renovating and nice cars, veggie gardens, any gardens, travelling the world ..... *sigh* ..... one day .... one day :)

Time to go make my dreams come true ... what I really mean is turn my day dreams into night dreams ;)

Nighty Night x

Life ....

My Bella ballerina has learnt to whistle! So now she is constantly whistling, everything she hears, she'll whistle it! It's pretty cute (right now she is whistling along to the tv :p)! I've had a lovely few days with my little family. I love that we've reached the stage where we can do things with our little tribe, we can go adventuring, we can improve our health and lifestyle together, we can spend time and have fun together! When we were out in the canoe on Sunday, Theo was just exuberant, he laughed and squealed with excitement and said over and over again, "This is so much fun, I love this!". Gosh it filled me with joy! Some of you might be wondering why it's taken us so long to "enjoy" our family and I don't want you to take me the wrong way, I've always enjoyed my beautiful family through all the stages of life but I guess I'm surprised I'm enjoying this stage in life so much, cause you see, I always thought I'd be a baby person, having one baby after the other! I thought we would have quite a "large" family ..... but I find myself, mum of 3, satisfied, content and just plain stoked with life! 

The weekend before we started the Whole30 we decided to have our "final supper" in style! We hit up a fancy seafood restaurant (I call it fancy because they didn't have a kids menu and they put our napkin thingy in our laps ..... it was our 3rd choice because all the others were booked, we were hoping to completely binge at a buffet!!) and I just sat there amazed that we can take our family out for dinner now! There was no screaming for food, no spilt drinks, no up and down off chairs, just 3 kids who sat and waited patiently for their food, ate with gusto and used outstanding manners (we reminded them to use manners before entering the restaurant which seemed to turn "using manners" into a competition! I'm sure they each said thank you at least 20 times :p), it was a truly lovely experience, followed by ice cream at the local food hall :)

Training is going well although we are doing it way too late at night (sometimes we don't start until 9.30-10pm), I feel I could be reversing any good effects I should be getting from the Whole30, I'm waking up so sluggish and ugh in the mornings cause I just can't seem to get the 9.30pm bedtime down! So as soon as I've finished this post, it's training time! Apart from that it's going pretty well! This week I got my mojo back I think! After my body struggled to make it through last week and every train being a huge effort, this week I have a bit more spring in my step. And I actually have muscles in my arms now!! They are still incubating under a nice thick blanket of fat but I think they should be due to make an appearance this summer!! This is what todays train will look like:

Wednesday

A1) 5 pass thrus

A2) 6 swings

A3) 6 burpees

A4) 6 swings 

A5) 5 squat thrusts, done for 10 rounds.  Scale it if needed.

B1) 8-10 bear hug squats

B2) 6-8 clean and presses

B3) 8-10 each side zercher lunges

B4) 10-12 bent rows

B5) 8-10 curls

This will be done 3 times through with a 45-60 second break between exercises (if needed).  Take about a minute between rounds.

Ouch .... it's gonna hurt BUT next week's a light week!! YAY!! My best friend and her hubby-to-be are very game and have asked to come and train with us next week while they're in the state. Might have to chuck a few extra burpees or mountain climbs in ;) Be prepared to be whooped by this couple .....

 

Hehehe don't we look scary? No?? Oh well :p

Whole30 update: So far the biggest improvement I've noticed are our eating habits! The kids dig into every meal, get excited about a plate of meat and veg & sushi in their lunch boxes, even little Lucas will sit down and devour a plate of raw spinach. The kids are learning to eat more at meal times and snacking less in between. The fact that they are so keen to eat all their healthy foods has made this completely worth while for me! They are constantly telling me they love all my "new cooking"and boy does it put a smile on my face. For those who are wondering if they can do this with their kids, I'd say go for it! The hard first week and the occasional tanties soon subside and you are left with a child who is happy to eat and will enjoy anything you put in front of them, a child who understands a meal isn't complete without a dose of veggies and it's better to eat your greens first, and a child who thinks a special treat is a small handful of berries! One week of hard, for a lifetime of easy = well worth it!! (For us anyway :) ).

Well that's it for me for today I think, now I better get my train on, make my house a little more habitable and organise a hen's night! Have a good day all :)

Oh oh oh ... I just brought a new paleo cookbook called "Well Fed", all of the recipes are Whole30 approved and I am mega excited to start to get this Whole30 family organised and get some more tasty meals on the table :)

Today's Inspiration Pics :)

Busy times ....

Whoa .... it's been a over a week since I posted last!! So much to catch you all up on! Hmmm where to start? Just briefly, the fundraiser last weekend went well. Not as many came as we were hoping but those who did come really enjoyed themselves I think (I hope!!). I dressed up as Cindi Lauper, with a hideous pink dress, all the jewellery I could find, plus a shocking orange wig that you could have seen from space!! There was a bit of a stressful lead-up (mainly cause I'm a bit particular like that, I like things to be just so .... even if I do tend to leave till the last minute!) but the night ended up being really laid back and enjoyable! The mums did an amazing job of pitching in together and dressing up!!

I think the thing that has kept me so busy this week has been constant cooking! With the Whole30 plan, I'm finding myself needing to cook 3 meals a day, mainly cause we're newbies and haven't quite figured it out completely! The next time we do it we'll have it all figured ;) (my husband would go crazy if he heard me say "the next time we do it" :p). It really hasn't been that bad at all! It's not like any "diet" I've ever done before!! It's very maintainable the only things we've been caught up on is all the hidden sugar in things ..... the worst was BACON! Yes bacon has sugar and that was pretty devastating news!! Not just bacon but prosciutto, pancetta, ham, all sausages (even the "healthy" ones) ... anything that you could think of to eat with eggs at breakfast time, has sugar or rice flour. (I just rediscovered smoked salmon today! And was happy to find out the ingredients list read: Salmon, Salt. YAY!) Also we did manage to find one lot of sausages from a small "boutique" butcher in town that had sausages without sugar, and boy they were tasty, Lamb Kofta sausages nom nom nom ..... but at $7.50 for five sausages, (and that was on special!!!) they won't be something we buy very regularly! 

So given that we had been eating bacon up until last week, (plus some truly accidental eats last night) our Whole30 might be more like a Whole45, but we don't like to look at it that way! The last 2 weeks have just been a settling in period and now we get into it!! Also i feel that even when it's over we're not gonna jump straight back into eating crap anyway so it doesn't really matter "how long" we do it, I'd like to stay as close to this way of eating as I can, as I can really see the benefits. I don't feel hungry in between meals, I've pretty much almost completely stopped craving sugar, it's easier to say no to food (so maybe it's starting to have less of a hold on me), on the down side I have been a bit exhausted lately which could be either I need to tailor my eating to suit me better (which they really encourage you to do constantly in the book) or it could be that my body is working hard to repair itself which they talk about happening during the first few weeks.

Some of the foods we've been eating over the last fortnight! Bottom left and middle were from Salsa tapas restaurant. I emailed in advance to make sure there would be something we could order and they made a whole menu for us which was exciting! The downside is that your putting your complete trust in the chefs, hoping they don't use ingredients you can't eat! We did make a couple of mistakes though (which I realised after reading a few more chapters of the book today), the mushrooms had a sherry dressing, alcohol in any form (even cooked) is not allowed; and pancetta definitely has sugar in it! Booooo...

So all in all, the Whole30 is still an exciting life change for our family that I would highly recommend to anyone wanting change their lives. I'm learning new stuff everyday!

The other thing we've been excited about this week is our new canoe! We just brought it last week and took it out yesterday and today. We've had so much fun in it! We took it nice and easy yesterday and just cruised around a dam getting used to it and then today we hit the river and it was an entirely different trip! The river moved us along at a nice pace with occasional "bumpy" parts which were heaps of fun! My big boy Theo sat up the front of the canoe and paddled so well and my pretty Izzie sat in front of the front seat, "King of the World" style and took all the water that hit the front of the boat like a champ, so brave! 

It was the perfect mix of serenity and adventure! Love my family time :) 

Day 4 ......

So just a quick post because it's been a while! I have been flat chat with taking care of my little family and getting ready for our MOPs (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) fundraiser coming up this Saturday. It's gonna be such a blast! We're doing a spicks & specks style music trivia night complete with MOPtails (mocktails :p) and dressing up (photos to follow!). I can't wait but have a lot to do in the meantime!


Despite having only 5 hours sleep (I'm preparing the slide show for the before mentioned event!) I actually feel pretty damn good this morning, possibly the new healthy living? It has been such an exciting change for my family, every body is on board and completely doing it! The kids eating habits are improving, they are becoming more and more happy to eat their whole meals instead of constantly snacking throughout the day! Having to cook 3 meals a day has made me a lot more organised in general! My house isn't a complete bomb (It's far from perfect either!!) but I think my favourite thing of all is that we're doing it together! It's such an awesome feeling doing something, that would generally be a bit of a challenge but something that's so great for us all, together! 


I'm pretty sure we all had some pretty intense withdrawal symptoms earlier in the week! Matt and I both had very unsettled tummies for the first 2 days and Izzie had a couple of vomits Tuesday morning (could have been completely unrelated!) .... Matt and I both agreed that the closest feeling we could relate it to was having a nasty hangover! Who would have though withdrawing from sugar/dairy/wheat and all the other crap could of been so bad!?! It was good though, it kind of confirmed just how bad the stuff we were eating was and just how much of a hold it had on us and our lives! Anyways I've had some fun playing around with "paleo" recipes including a tasty Thai beef and coconut curry on cauliflower "rice" which we had for tea last night (sorry forgot to take a photo of it!), I am really enjoying the quality and tastiness of the food, stoked!!

Breakfast this morning :) Bacon cups with eggs, mushroom, zucchini & garlic inside, on a salad of red mizuno, rocket, basil, coriander and avocado. Oh and a lemon & Olive oil dressing. Who says you can't have salad for brekkie!?!

This was a special "lunch dessert" treat for the kids because they've done such a good job with the whole transition, these were ultra simple banana pancakes
(3 bananas, 1 egg, 1/4 cup ground cashews cooked in coconut oil)
topped with a dollop of coconut cream and some organic blueberries.
Gosh they were tasty (I did only have 2 thought, learning how to not binge :p )

This was my lunch yesterday. Mexican beef with guacamole! Nom nom nom.....

We had some super tasty roast pork belly the other night! I keep forgetting to take photos! BUT I am loving the food! Day 4 and we're going strong, learning the ins and outs and what we can and can't eat!

We've had a pretty heavy week with training, although we took the night off on Tuesday, as we were both feeling pretty horrid! But made up for it last night with what was supposed to be a "light" train but gosh ... ouch! Husband got his adjustable kettlebells in the mail earlier this week and so we gave them a crack last night! With one armed swings on the agenda I decided Matt's 24kg kettlebell was a bit too heavy so he "custom-made" me a weight with the adjustable bell with which I used during the train ..... later husband told me the kettlebell weighed 22kg .... I was thinking more like 16-18kg ... so feeling a bit stoked with myself! Plus we replaced bear crawls with mountain climbs because a lack of space and gosh I pretty much almost left my dinner all over the floor! I was really pushing it! 3 sets of 60 mountain climbs ..... blurgh!! But I did it and I'll do it again I'm sure :) 

Alrightie really must get back to this slideshow making!! Have a super day all and hopefully I'll post again soon but probably more likely after the weekend :D x

Warning: Food and exercise related topics ahead!

Yes that's right .... We're doing the "Whole 30"! Okay, so that probably means nothing to you .... basically it's a Paleo (caveman) based food plan .... 30 days .... meat, veg, fruit & good fats ..... hopefully amazing results! So thats the over simplified version which absolutely does it no justice at all! If you want to find out more about (and I highly advise you do but completely get it's not for everyone) go to .....
http://whole9life.com/2012/01/whole-30-v2012/
..... and soak in the amazingness that is the Whole 30! 


Okay so you should know that we are only on day 1 ..... and my enthusiasm may seem a tad premature BUT I am expecting that this will be amazing! I am a quarter of the way through the very helpful book, "It Starts With Food", that goes along side this "lifestyle change" (I hate the word diet, it completely takes away from the awesomeness you are doing for your body with this "program") and I am thoroughly convinced (no ... not brainwashed .... CONVINCED) that this is going to be an amazing 30 days for my family! Yes you read right, my whole family are doing it (Husband, 3 kids and me) ... you see this isn't a conventional diet, but more a promise you are making to your body that you are gonna treat it right, starting from now! I have done a lot of research and am more than happy to have my children take part, as I do believe they are getting everything they need from the high quality vegetables, fruit and meat we are eating..... so fear not readers I am not starving my children, they are eating very well in fact (I do consider any child that gets to start their day with bacon and eggs to be doing pretty well for themselves!!) I do, and have for quite a while, believed that the addition of dairy and wheat to my children's diet isn't necessary let alone healthy (ENTIRELY a personal belief for my family and I, no judgement guys :D) but finding a way to make it happen and be supported in it has been a journey. But I am very grateful to have my husband by my side on this one and boy does it make a difference! So here's what we ate today .... strictly 3 meals a day (the kids had extra fruit inbetween meals, cause well, they're kids and fruit is good :p) ....

MMmmm yum, might have this again tomorrow!!
Sweet Potato Cakes with bacon, eggs and sauteed spinach & garlic
cooked in coconut oil.

Lunch for Matt, Lucas & I ....
Organic chicken strips, cooked in duck fat with a salad of red mizuna, caps, cucumber,
tomato, carrots, the tastiest avocados, black olives and a dressing of
balsamic & extra virgin olive oil. The chicken was definitely the star!

Theo & Isabella's new & improved lunches.... salad & ham wrapped in lettuce leaves, quarter of an
avocado & cherry tomatoes, a banana and a kiwi fruit :)

Din dins ... tasty TASTY, like the tenderest, juiciest, perfectly pink, Tassie steak ever, cooked
in coconut oil, mushrooms & onions cooked with a bit of ghee, garlic roasted squash
and steamed brussel sprouts (which are the kids favs by far!) has left me nice and full for the evening!

So that's what we ate today! I felt VERY satisfied after each meal, all of the food was really tasty and they seemed to keep me going until the next meal. I had to push through the 3pm "want to munch on something", and right now I know I need to go go to bed before I open the fridge (I do have a little self control, I'm just trying to make it easier for myself :p) but they are more habitual hurdles rather than hunger so it is all going really well!

The goal is to feel healthier, ie. more energy, not so sluggish, not so over emotional/hormonal and to generally feel great! Also to not be controlled by cravings and ruled by food in general! Which is exactly what this 30 days is supposed to achieve! YAY! 

On the fitness side of things, I was very happy with my efforts last week, I trained Monday-Friday without much procrastination but found having 2 days off over the weekend is just no good! So I will have to put something on one of those days to keep me active and working through the weekend, maybe something enjoyable like some big walks or some family hikes? Something like that anyways :) Had my first train for the week today and it was HARDCORE! Ouch! Here's me thinking I'll be tough and use Matt's kettlebell for the swings, so I will really hurt tomorrow! This was our Z.A.P.T training tonight ....

5 pass thru's (12kg kettlebell)

6 swings (24kg kettlebell)

6 burpees

6 swings (24kg)

5 squat thrusts

10x rounds of the above then...

2/2 renegade rows with push up (12kg kettlebell ..... NASTY!!)

4 clean & squat presses (12kg)

6 swings (24kg)

4x rounds of that!

Pretty stoked I got through it without vomiting!! Yay me! 

And on that note ... bed time! Nighty night :) 

Ramblings....

Haha, I just saw the end of my last post ..... "Next week's goal, GO TO BED BEFORE 9.30pm!!!" ....... Well obviously that's going well! 


I didn't really come on here to post about anything in particular just to ramble on a bit and clear my head before bed. I did a half "Zombie Apocalypse Preparation Training" and half "Vivo Barefoot Running" train tonight and have nicely sore legs right now, always a good feeling! This was my playlist for tonight's train .....


1) All my Life - Foo Fighters
2) Happiness - Regurgitator
3) Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine
4) Alive - Pearl Jam
5) Superstylin' - Groove Armada
6) Somebody Told me - The Killers
7) Paranoid Android - Easy Star All Star
8) The Pretender - Foo Fighters
9) Work it Out - Jurassic 5 ft. Dave Matthews Band
10) Nosebleed Section - Hilltop Hoods


A slightly more angry list than usual (post argument with husband) but it felt good tonight! Was much easier than last night's train, which was my first train for 5 days, and it hurt!! AND ALSO.....

They ARRIVED!! Yay!! I'm very excited to explore fitness and training with these babies! I haven't taken them off since they arrived yesterday (okay.... I didn't wear them to bed but ya know what I mean!) and they feel pretty good. Well.... I don't really have a comparison and honestly, I have generally always worn ballet flats, thongs or chucks (all flat shoes) so the feeling isn't overly "new" as such, but I guess I will get a better indication when I get back to running.

My gorgeous little princess has finally caught on to the bout of sickness travelling around our family. She's so precious, it just blows my mind how much you can love something! We got the phone call from school to say we needed to go pick pretty Bella up cause she just wasn't doing well at all, so husband goes and picks her up and brings her home, she walks into the house, looks at me, her bottom lip drops and she just starts silently crying, so upset that she couldn't be at school, and runs up to me and falls into my chest .... such a precious moment! There is no more satisfying feeling than knowing your child finds comfort in your arms, is soothed by your words and finds security in your love! I love the moments I get to share with each one of my children!


I have been in a very strange mood of late. For about the last month or so I just have felt very .... hmmm I can't think of the right word to describe it ...... a bit melancholy, minus the depressed part ..... maybe pensive is a better word? I feel a strange sense of calm, very aware of everything yet not a part of anything. It's a strange feeling and I'm not explaining it very well! It's not a bad feeling by any means, just different to anything I've felt before! I've also found I've been probably a bit more confident and honest than usual (hence the increase in marital arguments! :p) probably more so with myself than with others. It's kind of like that feeling you get when your really fed up with everything and you find your a bit more blunt than you usually would be, except I'm not feeling it in a negative way! Hmmm I'm not sure where that was going .... lol ..... I guess it's just interesting to think about, for me .... probably not for you! 


So to end I wanted to share some positivity.... I like things that look pretty and words that sparkle with life so here's of few off my "Inspired" board on Pinterest ... you can find me here ........ http://pinterest.com/mamma_piper/

Nighty Night x 

Honesty Time ....

Okay so it's been a few days since my last post! It's been a very up and down few days.... emotionally, physically & mentally challenging. The biggest battle this week has been dealing with sick children! I'm generally not one to fuss or whine about my kids or myself  being sick, I am usually more than happy to relax, rest up and laze around with my munchkins, but I was just amazed this week at how much of a stuff around it can be when your trying to start new habits, eg. diet, exercise, routine, etc. It was just one of those weeks where everything seemed to be back to front and nothing fit together. I know it sounds like I'm just talking jibberish and I quite possibly am (sudofed is my best friend right now!!) but it was all the little things like, exercising late at night (generally at about 8.30-9ish) pumped me up right before bed making it hard to go to sleep and then causing me to wake in the morning, aching and tired. Add to that, being up a few times in the night to sick kiddies wanting midnight snuggles, and a complete change in routine with husband working afternoon shifts instead of his usual early morning shift. It just all threw me! I feel like I've spent the whole week on the back foot, just trying to catch up with life! Don't get me wrong here, I know it might come across like I'm complaining but I'm completely not, I'm just being realistic about the realities of setting new habits. 


Reality is, life happens!! Life in all of it's chaotic, spontaneous, wonderful, frustration; regardless of what you plan ..... just continues to keep on rolling. So my 2 big focuses at the start of the week, being diet & training, were pretty much none existent by the end of the week! 

Start of the week........

End of the week ........

Yes, if you look close enough, you will see a pizza box under the empty box of magnums! And I tell you what, neither were worth it, but it never seems to matter beforehand! In all honesty though, I didn't make it through even one full day on the "plan" but what else can I do but keep on trying! Oh and also, I haven't trained since Wednesday night ...... no excuses, I just didn't! (Okay I did get sick as well, but I CHOSE not to train and that's okay!)


Bah! I just had to take a big teary break, watching what I think must have been the whole weeks worth of masterchef episodes, repeated tonight. It's been on since 6 o'clock and we're up to the "family" episode. I have literally laughed and cried out loud!! My husband must think I am absolutely mental, I am seriously the biggest sook out! As soon as they bring the families out, I'm gone, a complete, blubbering mess!


On a side note, I have a strange urge to sew things right now! I've been doing a lot of sewing machine research today (all suggestions welcome!) and have added a heap of cute, crafty blogs with ideas (I'm really bad at sewing "patterns" but love to look at the ideas!) and have lots of wonderfully, colourful things floating around my scatterbrained head! I also really want to make a "Denim, Braided Floor Rug" which I found an instructional on this week. It looks really funky, so if it works out I'll post a link to where I found it :)


And on that note (completely unrelated segue) I really ought to go to bed! Next week's goal - GO TO BED BEFORE 9.30PM EVERY NIGHT. Nighty Night x

Zen Fantasies.....

I really want to  share a cool post I read called, "55 gentle ways to take care of yourself when your busy busy busy"! And honestly what mum isn't? Really, I liked the aesthetics of the page, that's an important start for me ... lol .... if it looks calm and pretty and catches my attention, I'm going to enjoy the read that much more. Really, who doesn't want to look like the fully "zen" chick, with her cool "I-just-chucked-my-hair-up-and-it-looks-amazing", off the shoulder baggy sweater, amazing skin and a really cool, "shabby chic" room to be all chilled out in! The picture alone makes me fantasise about a place where there is complete silence for longer than 10 mins, a place where I could sit on the floor without being full on rugby tackled by three children, a place to meditate/pray/think about things other than "what am I gonna cook for tea tonight?", a place where I would likely be utterly ...... well probably bored! I would most likely realise that, I probably don't want to actually be alone with my head for an extended period of time (I am a Quality Timer you know!). 

http://www.thefreedomexperiment.com/2011/10/28/55-gentle-ways-to-take-care-of-yourself-when-youre-busy-busy-busy/

I find this a lot as a mum, that the fantasies that keep me going throughout the day (and I'm not talking "50 Shades of Grey" fantasies here, guys!) are never really what they're cracked up to be! Days of quiet contemplation and sitting and admiring the ocean, have been replaced with the desire to talk and laugh and sing, really enjoy noise and my dreams of sitting on the beach admiring the colours and feeling "at one with nature" have been replace with the desire for adventure, wanting to grab one child under each arm and run into the waves, take them camping, running through forests, hiking up moutains! So as much as my fantasies have grown from wanting more than anything to just sit and take something in, to being fully involved and a part of a "Great Adventure"! (Captivating by Stasi Eldredge, a must read) All that aside, the article was a good read with a few more tips in it than just striving to achieve perfect "nirvana"!


Also I got back into training last night, it wasn't the hardest train I've ever done (I'm repeating last week's training sessions while husband has some time to wrap his head around the new stuff this week to be able to teach me next week) but I felt like I was going to vomit the whole way through, had to keep running outside to catch my breath and cool off in the night air! But I muscled through ..... yeah ... I'm tough ;) Diet has been a bit of a fail! But every day is a new day! The problem hasn't so much been sticking to the diet, cause I've been doing exactly what it says on my plan, the problem is all the stuff I ADD to my diet! Like the bowl of chilli, rice & sour cream I just couldn't resist on monday night or the fruit toast & butter (total of SIX pieces throughout the day yesterday) was just to much for my self control. I just didn't really think that much into it, it got to 11pm last night and I was still on the phone to my best friend (post workout, which normally happens around 8.30-9ish because husband works afternoon shift) and I thought, make some raisin toast, put some butter on it, put a little more butter on, eat it! It was as simple as that, no, should I shouldn't I, just ... eat it! But not stressing too much, okay I stressed a little bit when I stepped on the scales on Monday and it said I had put on 7kgs and then later that day it said I'd put on 5kg and then the next day only 2kg .... so obviously there's either something up with my scales (which there shouldn't be, they're only 6 months old) or weight really does fluctuate a lot (which I also didn't think was possible to fluctuate that much in a matter of days), so basically have decided to do monthly weigh ins instead of weekly, as to save myself from the ups and downs of weigh ins, but also probably go more on measurements than kgs. 


Everything has gone awry with little man's routine progressions since the kids have been sick and at home so might concentrate on that next week once everyone is better again. Also my grumpiness early this week ..... PMS!! It has been so much more prominent since having child number 3, I never would have noticed before! :p x