HEALTHY HABITS: MEAL PREPPING!

Meal Prepping

The motto "prep once, eat healthy all week" explains the importance of meal prepping! Eating healthy all the time doesn't have to be a chore. The key is preparation, especially at the beginning of the week. By taking an hour out of one day to prepare some healthy meals will leave you with something wholesome to eat throughout the week and stop you from making bad food choices.

Who should meal prep?

This is perfect is you have a busy lifestyle and usually rely on take away or quick microwave meals because not only does meal prepping provide you with much more nutrition (depending on what you make I suppose) but it's also super quick and is only going to take one hour out of your week! 

Why should we meal prep?

I like to do this for uni because food on campus is really expensive and not very healthy, plus you never know what is actually in take away foods so it's safer, healthier and more affordable to meal prep instead. I only prepare meals for the four days that I have uni because other times, I am usually at home and able to make healthy options. 

When should we meal prep?

Pick one day to cook! Choose a quiet afternoon or evening to prepare a large meal that will feed you for a couple of days, or even the whole week. I like to do my meal prepping on Sunday afternoons/nights so that the food is as fresh as possible for the next four days that I have uni. 

How much food should we make?

For the purpose of this recipe, I am writing enough ingredients for five days because I know that a lot of you readers probably go to work or even uni for the usual five days a week. Of course, just tailor this recipe to your amounts and needs.

Delicious Chicken and Vegetables Recipe

Ingredients:

5x Chicken Breast

500grams of Mixed Vegetables 

3x Onions

1/4 Pumpkin

Oil (I use coconut oil)

Method:

Step #1- Cut up the onion into slices and the pumpkin into thin squares then place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes on 280 degrees. 

Step #2- Add your mixed vegetables to a steamer and leave to steam for about 20 minutes on low heat.

Step #3- Heat a pan with coconut oil in it and then put in your chicken breasts, cooking on each side for about 7 minutes on low heat. 
Step #4- After all of your different foods have finished cooking, evenly distribute them among your containers and pack some in the fridge and others in the freezer (to keep them fresher).

I hope this recipe was educational and helpful! Please let me know if any of you start meal prepping and how you're liking it as well as if you already meal prep and what you think about it!  

Do you keep the meals int he fridge or freezer?
I keep half in the fridge and the other half in the freezer (just so that by the end of the week, the food is still fresh).

How long do you heat the meals up for?
If it's just coming out of the fridge, probably only 2 minutes in the microwave but if it's coming out of the freezer 2 minutes on defrost and 2 more minutes on the normal setting.

Tweet me pictures if your recreate any of my recipes and want to be featured in my "Shared Photos" section

 

WHAT I EAT BEFORE A WORKOUT

I'm someone who loves to eat before a workout because I find that it gives me heaps of extra energy to exercise harder and longer! Sometimes the difference between eating something or not can determine how much you get out of your workout.

Almonds

Almonds are known for all of their amazing health benefits including; lowering of cholesterol levels, high in antioxidants and healthy fats as well as providing magnesium, potassium and vitamin E.  What makes them perfect for snacking on before a workout is that they are a great source of protein and they give you heaps of energy.

Bananas

This fruit is an amazing source of natural energy as they are packed with vitamins and minerals! If I am feeling tired of sluggish, these always fill me with extra energy without the crash that you would get with caffeine or sugar. It's like natures energy bar!

Goji Berries

These little berries are packed full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and amino acids! Super high in antioxidants with a score of 25,300 compared to blueberries which are 2,400. They include 18 amino acids making them a complete protein, 21 minerals and super high in Vitamin A and C.

Coconut Butter

I love to have a couple of spoonfuls of coconut butter before I workout because it is a great source of natural energy and it also promotes weight loss! If you click on the title above, it will take you to a whole other article I wrote about the benefits of coconut butter!

Greek Yoghurt

Yoghurt is in general an amazing source of protein and calcium. However, Greek yoghurt is even better as it has less sugar and usually low or no fat. It's also much creamier which will fill you up for longer and leave you more satisfied and is usually less processed!

Coffee 
Coffee is a great pre workout drink as caffeine can help you get pumper up and energised to work out. It increases your heart rate so you burn more calories and work out longer and harder. It helps you go faster and feel less tired as well as make you feel better about your workout.

HOMEMADE WEDGES RECIPE

Ingredients:

4x Washed Potatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Ground Turmeric

Cayenne Pepper

Pepper Steak Seasoning

Salt & Pepper

 

Method:

Step 1- Create wedge shapes out of your potatoes by slicing your thoroughly washed potato in half lengthways then proceeding to cut the half diagonally right then left. This leaves you with three wedges from the half a potato.

Step 2- Add your potato wedges into a bowl and massage olive oil into them.

Step 3- Add all of your seasonings into the bowl with the potato wedges and massage them in. 

Step 4- Place all of your wedges spaced out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Give them a last little season with salt and pepper.

Step 5- Bake them for about 20 minutes on 180 then another 10 minutes on 200. 

HOW I STAY MOTIVATED AND FIND TIME TO EXERCISE!

I have been really getting back into exercising lately! I sort of fell off the fitness bandwagon when I started Uni as everything was so overwhelming and I was trying to figure out how to juggle homework, blogging, YouTube and socializing not even thinking about exercising! It's not that I dislike exercising either, I actually really enjoy the feeling after an intense workout, it was just about finding the time and staying motivated. So I thought, since I'm pretty sure that a lot of other girls probably deal with the same issues, I'm writing about my tips for finding time to exercise and staying motivated.

1.YOU HAVE THE TIME

Think about it this way, a one hour workout is such a small portion out of the 24 hours you have a day. Granted that you probably sleep for at least seven of those 24 hours...but still, it's a really short period of time that you can squeeze into your day.

2. SET GOALS

If you aim for something and have a vision in mind of what you want to achieve then you're more likely to work harder to reach your goal! Say you want to loose 2kg next month, you are definitely going to work at it to make sure that you reach that goal otherwise you know that you will disappoint yourself. It has definitely worked for me in the past and even if you don't actually reach that goal, it drives you to work even harder towards the next goal you have. 

3. HAVE FUN

If you hate running then don't force yourself to go on a treadmill. If you're scared of the water then obviously don't force yourself to swim! Fitness it supposed to be fun and make life more enjoyable not make you depressed or scare the crap out of you. It seems obvious but just engage in in the physical activities which you enjoy, even if that means giving your dogs a walk or doing some sit ups, everything counts! 

4. GET USED TO IT

Make it second nature where it's instinctive to exercise everyday! By including physical activity as part of your everyday routine, it will become strange not to exercise, like a healthy habit. I admit, I am still working on this one, I honestly don't just instinctively start working out YET but it will happen..one day...hopefully!

Those are my tips for finding time to exercise and keeping motivated! I hope you found this helpful!

WHATEVER YOU BE, MAKE SURE IT'S HAPPY! + WATERMELON JUICE RECIPE ❤

We all have to do things in life that we don't particularly want to; whether it be our essay on how the ancient world influences our modern society, being forced to be nice to that customer you can't stand or doing taxes...they are things that have to be done but we really hate doing! Taking time out for things that you enjoy can help outweigh the negatives. Just make sure that you put your happiness first! If you're feeling really stressed out and like the weight of the world is on your shoulders then take a break! Don't keep continuing to stress yourself out further. Even if it's just a short break, taking that half an hour to calm yourself down and relax will really help you continue doing whatever you need to do. What I like to do to relax is stay in my pajamas and sit out in the sun, reading a book and sipping on watermelon juice. I thought I would share with you all my Watermelon Juice recipe, although it's really simple I never thought to actually make it so definitely give this one a go!

Watermelon Juice Recipe

1. Slice up your watermelon into medium sized pieces. How much watermelon you use depends on how much juice you want but generally I use a 1/6 of a whole watermelon and that makes about a litre.

2. Add your watermelon to a blender with a small amount of cold water. This will help the watermelon initially start blending. Make sure to blend until the mixture is completely smooth.

3. Once all is blended, I like to mix some chia seeds through the mixture before pouring into a glass/mason jar and garnishing with a wedge of watermelon and a straw. 

I apologize for neglecting this website lately, hopefully I can keep up to date with it more often from now on!