Hello and welcome to another Friday. Thank you for all your lovely feedback on my Feel Better Friday posts - I'm loving seeing the #feelbetterfriday hash tag appear on instagram and in twitter too. It seems many of you are embracing the water idea for sure!
My planking this week is slowly improving - I'm up to 30 secs. One minute does feel like a lifetime away but it's baby steps. Every second counts.
This week let's have a chat about breakkie. I am not have never been a breakkie person - I'm sure I have mentioned it here MANY times my mum taught me if you skip breakkie you can have chocolate cake at morning tea - an idea I have fiercely guarded much of my life - who doesn't love chocolate cake ?
But you know everything I read tells me that's not a great plan. And it's not.
I was also in the habit of a HUGE coffee and fruit toast on the way to work - marginally better than nothing - But with my taste buds destroyed it's no coffee for me - so I needed a REGULAR breakfast routine. I have consciously been organising a decent breakfast for myself each day. Being more aware of what I eat I've also been reading the nutritional info on packets.
I have had to ditch my favourite Uncle Tobys Natural Muesli - which I thought was really good for me - it's very high in sugar. I'd love someone to recommend a different muesli :)
Here are a couple of my favourite breakfasts at the moment - They just take a few minutes to make.
Helga Thins and poached eggs. Yum easy and I just do my eggs in the microwave in one of those little eggy poaching thingys. The eggs are cooked before the kettle boils for my tea.
Grain Bread Peanut Butter and Banana I love this - it's a little high in calories but I find it filling and it feels bad for you but it's not :)
Wholemeal crumpets with banana and drizzled with honey ( sorry I know banana again But I do like them! )
Special K Diced Geen Apple and Almond Milk. I buy the longlife almond milk - I really like the nutty taste and I only have it on cereal. The rest of the time I drink skim.
I definately function better when I have breakfast ( that's a surprise not LOL! )
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.”
― A.A. Milne
This week I have added a stretching routine in to my morning. As I have started to up my walking running and general activity I have found that I have got some aches and pains. I was not doing any stretching at all. I know so bad. I had a search for a stretching DVD because I feel very uncoordinated - I'm not a dancer, I'm hopeless at aerobics and I'm not good at remembering sequences. Then it occured to me that there was bound to be some cool stuff on You Tube.
And there is!
So first thing when I get up I do either one of these - depending on how I am feeling.
This one is a bit out there - he's a little alternative - especially some of his tummy stuff - and you have to make some fun noises but it gets everything moving and warmed up and takes about 15 minutes. I can't do the head thing at the end - but really do have a look don't be scared !
This one is much more laid back - literally - calm and on the ground mostly - I don't find it as good as stretch but I like the slower pace especially when I'm on go slow :)
After a run or walk I do this one
I only started these stretches this week and I've been enjoying them - I will keep an eye out for some more as I think it's fun to change it up. I bought a mat from Kmart for $14 so I feel all sporty and organised at home :) and I just prop my ipad up at the end and it's the perfect set up. I don't have to think about what to do I just watch and repeat. I also use it to do my plank a day I'm a little bit to self conscious to plank down at the gym.
My next little tip this week is about tea :) Some of my twitter friends have lamented that they really want to like tea because they know it's good for them but they just don't like it. Another friend always says she wants to drink tea because it's way more fun than coffee at a coffee shop- the cute teapots and tea cups and all the different flavours. I would say just persevere with it - as it becomes an acquired taste. It's a bit like if you have always had two sugar in your coffee -and then cut back to one or none - you can't go back ....
I have always been a tea and coffee drinker but mostly I drank black teawhen it came to tea - English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast - traditional tea with milk. Every now and then I would drink green tea but now I have switched over to white tea.
White tea has gained popularity in recent times as a result of its high antioxidant qualities but it has actually been around for more than a thousand years. White tea is the least processed of all teas.
Health – White tea is significantly lower in caffeine and recent research has indicated that white tea retains the highest level of disease preventative antioxidants known as polyphenols. Further studies have indicated that white tea contains more active cancer fighting antioxidants than green tea.
The tea that you get from a tea bag - is nothing like loose leaf tea - I highly recommend having a try of some loose leaf tea from a tea store if you can. I get my tea from the Tea Centre - the staff at Robina I have found really lovely and helpful. You can buy online from them as well. My favourite white tea is - Pai Mu Tan Stockholm Blend. I drink it cold or hot.
White tea, orange blossoms, rose petals, safflowers, calendula blossoms, vanilla & apricot.
Other teas that I really like too are
Cream - it's a black tea with vanilla and caramel- and when you add milk its really creamy - hence the name - I also drink it without milk
Morning Flower is my favourite green tea - though it has been out of stock I need to pop back in and see if it's back yet
.
If you just want to try something then I can also recommend Madame Flavour - which is available at the supermarket - You can see the website here - it's really fun you should check it out. I like the green tea pear and jasmine blend - It's about $5.50 for a packet of tea bags- though they aren't really tea bags they are called - diffuser pods - and they let the tea diffuse.
Leave me a comment on this post before Wednesday evening about something you plan on trying or a nice tip - I'd love some breakkie recommendations or a link to a favourite stretch and I'll choose a random person to send some of my favourite tea to and see if I can convert you :)
My final little tip for keeping it simple this week and making some changes to feel better is set yourself a little reminder.
Often that's the thing that holds us back - we get to the end of the day and think bother I really wanted to drink my water - do my plank - buy some tea - whatever the simple thing is but in the busy day to day of life we forget.
Grab your phone out now and choose one thing to set in your calendar for this week.
My reminder I'm setting is to go buy some tea for my little RAK.
Keep going with the things that have worked for you from last week - or ditch them all :) These are the things to think about ...
1. Incorporate breakfast into your routine- even if it's just one day and see if it makes a difference.
2. Try a stretch in the morning.
3. Swap out one of your coffees for a tea. Or if you don't usually drink a hot drink - then try a cold tea. ( Don't forget to leave a comment and I'll choose one random comment to send my favourite tea to)
4. Set a little plan or reminder in your phone or on your computer to make a simple change this week.
I hope you feel better :) Thanks for walking with me.
Next weeks topics - What's Gym about these days? Check ups, and a simple change that 80% of women have got wrong!
