Message to wordpress followers

Hey Guys,

I have recently moved to a self hosted site (wordpress.org) which means I have lost a whole lot of wordpress followers (you can only transfer over emails!). If you subscribed through your wordpress account and want to continue to get notifications of my posts, please enter your email address in subscribe.

http://www.stilettosandgreenjuice.com/

For all those who subscribed through their personal email – I was able to transfer over so no need to re-enter.

Thanks!
Lyn

Message to WordPress followers

Hey Guys,

I have recently moved to a self hosted site (wordpress.org) which means I have lost a whole lot of wordpress followers (I think – can’t figure it out). If you subscribed through your wordpress account and want to continue to get notifications of my posts, please enter your email address in subscribe.

http://www.stilettosandgreenjuice.com/

For all those who subscribed through their personal email – I was able to transfer over so no need to re-enter.

Thanks!
Lyn

Healthy Food Swap Ideas!

One of the most common comments I hear when discussing healthy eating, particularly when giving up sugar is “Sugar is in everything! What would I eat?” Most people feel that it’s way too hard to avoid sugar so why bother. I am sure I probably thought this as well.

More often than not, making changes  in our lives comes with huge resistance. In fact it’s something I always tell people to expect. Normally around week 3-5 of giving up sugar or making healthy changes the resistance creeps in with a vengeance. I remember around this time I got sick with a virus and I seemed to be feeling really unwell all the time. So of course I whined and  thought ‘What’s the point I am eating healthy and I still get sick”. I wanted to throw in the towel because I expected that my body’s immune system would automatically be revved up after just a few weeks of eating healthy! It can take years to erase many years of poor eating! Not to mention the detox process you’re body goes through, so expect some funky days!

In regards to the “sugar is in everything” suggestion. Sure it is, but there is also plenty of things you can be eating without it. If you look at your diet and say that sugar is in everything it would indicate to me that you are living off processed foods so that would be the first thing to cut down on.

We have become so accustomed to eating poorly that we don’t even recognise the faults in our diets! We can’t even see that we are so limited in nutrients and we have become so lazy that our excuse for eating processed foods is always that we don’t have time to cook. I can assure you there is time. Cooking a nice piece of meat or fish only takes 10-15 mins and you can team this with steam veggies (even microwave ones of you like) or cut up some raw broccoli while your meat is cooking.

If giving up sugar is too extreme than why not just make small changes. You don’t have to give it up completely just reduce the amount you are consuming and be aware of what you’re eating. The less sugar and processed food we eat the more our taste buds come alive! You will really learn to enjoy every bite of your meal!

Here are a few simple changes you can make to reduce your sugar intake

Breakfast

 You’ve been eating

Toast with jam/jelly or honey,  commercial cereal, yoghurt and chocolate milk  ( E.g milo, ovaltine, sustagen)

Swap with

Pancakes (egg, banana and almond meal) with coconut butter and cinnamon or natural peanut butter, greek yoghurt (no sugar) organic oats with chia seeds, coconut shreds, cinnamon and banana or eggs on spelt toast, raw cacao in rice/almond milk

Lunch

You’ve been eating

Microwave meals, white bread sandwiches, Fast food burgers, fish and chips, pies, pizza, quiche, Cesar salad

Swap with

Large salads, spelt or rye bread with salad and meat fillings, brown rice with tuna and veggies, brown rice sushi rolls, grilled fish and salad, leftovers of healthy dinners

Dinner

You’ve been eating

Microwave meals, steak and chips,  creamy pasta,

Swap with

Grilled fish/meat with veggies, Quinoa and vegetables, zucchini pasta with veggie’s garlic and crushed tomatoes, home made burgers (egg plant buns, turkey, lean meat or veggie patties), vegetable lasagna

Snacks

You’ve been eating

Chips, Chocolate, Cake, Cookies, muesli bars, protein bars

Swap with

Natural popcorn, 85% organic dark chocolate, dates, fruit, veggie sticks with humus, natural peanut butter, home-made sugar-free (stevia) cakes, bars, cookies, raw nuts – there is so many things you can make!

When cooking swap Sugar with stevia, date paste, coconut sugar, organic maple syrup, raw organic cacao, apple sauce and fruit! Some of these still contain fructose so if you are totally fructose free stick with stevia.

These are all just very basic suggestions and I am happy to put meal plans together for anyone that need a little help. The point of  showing the examples is to demonstrate that there are plenty of things to choose from if you really think about it and make better choices! First step is to cut down on the obvious like soda and sweets as well as packaged meals and snacks.

I probably eat more now than ever and find there are so many choices.  Take a look at my recipe page for lots of suggestions!

Stilettos Leg Workout

Hey Guys!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I had one full of 1st birthday parties and catch up’s! I am happy to say I got through a kid’s birthday party without having too much junk food! Just a few party pies (hey it’s an Aussie party tradition to have a party pie!) and just a teeny tiny bit of soda to feel like I wasn’t missing out. I had plenty of green smoothie before and afterwards so I alkalined my body to make up for the acidic food!

We are heading into the season of party’s and drink’s and many people put on weight and eat terribly around this time of year so I hope to bring you lots of tips to support you during this time.

For those that read my FB status last week – I am pimping out my blog with a new design which I am really excited about! I mentioned on FB it would happen last week but we are having a few technical issues. It should be up this week so if you visit often and the site is down for a brief moment – that is the reason!

Considering my blog is called Stilettos and Green Juice I couldn’t help but post this fun stiletto’s workout by Cassey  from Blogilates. Go on and try it – I know you want to! Maybe when no one is watching!

Lyn xx

Peppermint Green Smoothie

Hey Guys,

As you know by now I have a Green Smoothie or Juice every day but I want to start mixing it up a little to keep it interesting! I am Lov’n this little kick of peppermint flavour in this green smoothie variation.

-1/2 frozen banana
-1 cup baby spinach leaves
-1 cup coconut milk (or other nut milk)
-2 drops best-quality vanilla extract
-2-3 drops peppermint extract

(this was taken from my wellness guru – www.kriscarr.com)

If you’re trying to lose weight I’d swap the coconut milk with rice milk although it’s fine to have coconut milk occasionally.

I really can’t get enough of green smoothies. I was super excited today when I went to a friend’s house and he offered me a green smoothie! Most people offer coffee or soft drink which I don’t drink so I nearly fell off my chair when someone was offering me a smoothie! My kind of friend! And it also made me realise the importance of a good blender. The texture of his green smoothie was like velvet, it was so smooth. Much better than mine! I am dreaming of the day I buy a Vitamix Blender! (hint to Vitamix – feel free to send me a freebie and I will promote the shizzle out of it!)

Enjoy!

Lyn xx

The Secret to Changing Your Circumstance!

Years ago I watched Oprah interview a girl who was suffering from anorexia (and probably the worst case I had seen). Another guest was trying to give her advice on how she overcame her bulimia by telling her she needs to nurture her mind. Easier said then done right? The anorexic girl responded with “But How?”

Oprah  had a profound ahaha light bulb moment when she realised that the “But how?” is the reason people continue to struggle.

“But how?”

How can you heal your pain, how can you really stick with your weight loss plan, how can you restore your health, how can you move past your negative circumstance. If we knew how than we wouldn’t be so deeply lost!

It’s a question I get asked a lot. Many people ask me how I healed my body from illness and depression and even how I  stay so thin and stick to eating healthy.

The secret is simple (but also so freak’n hard!)

You need to make a decision that you want something different from your life. Without this simple first step you can’t really move on from your circumstance as it all starts here!

You need to make a decision each day that you want to live.

I mean really LIVE – have energy, feel great, feel confident,  feel love. All those things that make your day worthwhile, you need to want it so bad that you can’t accept anything else into your life.

We always seem to accept 2^nd best into our lives. This occurs in every area of life and we stick with the easy option or what we are accustomed to. We stay in jobs we hate, relationships that aren’t working and accept that our accept our body flaws as “genetic” and here to stay.

We have been conditioned by our environment and our upbringing to believe that this is it. Life is hard and we are all battlers.

Sure life can swing us some painful curb balls but we always have the choice on how we respond. We can choose to get up and get over it, we can choose to get help or take steps towards our desires. We have a choice to live exceptional lives just as misery is a choice.

You may be going through something really terrible right now and are screaming at me that you haven’t chosen this feeling and I get it, we don’t choose what happens to us, BUT we can choose how we react and respond to our pain and circumstances.

My sister lost her best friend to suicide earlier in the year. The details are really, really horrific. It’s one of those stories that you think only happens to other people or in movies. Without going into too much detail, she was with him just before it happened and was the one to go back and have to call the police. The last 9 months have been the worst of her life and she has gone through unbearable depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress.

BUT even though her soul is on fire with pain she makes the decision every day to get up and take care of her kids and husband and try to get through this. She makes a decision that she will try to look for the good in life even though everything is pointing her to believe that life is horrific and painful. She has bad days and she has horrific days, she hasn’t felt a glimmer of a good day in a long time but she gets up each day despite of this.

It’s not easy but the point is even in the worst circumstance you can take teeny tiny steps to get through your day and choose  to try to get out of your situation.

From the age of 14-21 I was chronically ill but I made a decision that I would be healed and that illness was no longer a part of me.

Through my 20’s I battled depression on and off to the point of wanting to end my life but I made a decision that I would fight it and live a life of joy

I made a decision that I wanted to take care of my body, feel vibrant energy and health,  turn back the clock, feel amazing every day and have a great body.

I make a decision each day that I will look for the best in people and look for the best in life and with those eyes I can see miracles each day!

I have recently  made a decision to take a huge risk and leap of faith and I am going to make my dream’s happen and not settle for a work life that does not serve me or others!

When you make a decision you also need to take action. It’s not always going to be easy but you take the steps to get to where you want to be, and you make the steps with the intention that this is for life.

Write out your goals and then write out the steps you need to take to achieve this. If you’re feeling really low then start by setting very small tasks for yourself to achieve throughout the day. Last month my sister decided to find something each day that she was grateful for take a picture of it and post it on FB. This re-focused her pain and forced her to try to find something positive.

This is not a dress rehearsal, this is it. We have one shot at this so we have to give it all we have.

Everything that you desire, whether that be better health,  to lose weight, find a job you love, a relationship, healing, or whatever it is. EVERYTHING already exists for you. The kingdom of heaven starts here. You can experience it in this life but only if you make the decision to manifest it, you need to make the decision to give it everything you have and you need to make the decision that you will not give up on your goal until you see it, feel it, touch it.

Can you do that?!

What is one thing you can change this week to make steps towards your goal?

Always believing in you

Lyn xx

Kettlebell Workout from the Tone It Up Girls!

So often I watch people at the gym swing kettlebells with such bad form that I am sure they are going to throw their back out! You need to be really careful and ensure you’re back is always straight and that you aren’t using a kettle bell that is too heavy for you. I really struggle to keep a straight back so I ensure I always do my kettlebell swings in front of a mirror so that I can watch my form (something I really need to work on!)
If you’re new to kettlebells and have no idea what to then watch this video from the Tone It Up Girls. (love love love them!) You can go to their website for the printable version.

Clean Eating Grocery List

 

If you’re new to clean-eating you may feel a little lost as to what you can and can’t eat. I wanted to share with you my basic grocery list of what I always have on hand each week. Obviously I add to this but this is a good basis for your fridge and pantry.

Vegetables

• Broccoli
• Kale
• Cos Lettuce (otherwise known as Romaine Lettuce)
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Capsicum
• Avocado
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Sweet Potato
• Garlic

Fruit

• Bananas
• Kiwi Fruit
• Apples
• Frozen Berries
• Dates
• Watermelon
• Lemons
• Coconut

Grains

• Almond Meal
• Flaxseed Meal
• Quinoa
• Coconut Flour
• Brown Rice
• Organic oats

Protein

• Chicken
• Eggs
• Fish – mainly salmon
• Kangaroo meat (for the Aussies –  for everyone else it might be hard to find but it’s the most organic meat you can get, it’s not farmed like other animals and no hormones, chemicals etc)
• Organic hormone free red meat
• Tempeh
• Tofu
• Organic Pea-Isolate Protein or 180nutrition organic whey protein powder (this is for occasional consumption – jury is still out on how I feel about protein but non the less it’s in my pantry). 180nutrition is the only whey protein I would recommend and good news is they are about to deliver outside of Australia.  As soon as you try it you will notice the difference in natural flavour and consistency. It’s contains extra superfoods as well.  It’s awesome! If you’re in the US Tone It Up has released a protein powder that is supposedly pretty clean but I haven’t tried it so I can’t recommend. Worthwhile investigating. Remember the fewer the ingredients the better, and for goodness sakes nothing brightly coloured!

Nuts and Seeds

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Cashews
• Chia Seeds
• Pumkin Seeds

Oils

• Coconut Oil
• Grape Seed Oil
• Olive Oil (although not for cooking)
• Sesame Oil
• Avocado Oil

 Herbs and Spices

• Turmeric
• Moroccan Spice
• Cinnamon
• Mixed spice
• Basil
• Rosemary
• Cayenne Pepper
• Sea salt of Himalayan Salt
• Garlic powder
• (any spice is fine – I normally try out new ones with new recipes)

 Sauces

• Tamari
• Worcestershire (but make sure it’s low in sugar)
• Soy Sauce (find the most organic and low sugar one)

 

MISC

• Cacao
• Stevia
• Coconut Sugar
• Organic Peanut Butter or Almond Butter (no sugar or additives – just peanuts)
• Rice or almond milk (check the sugar content of almond milk – some are sweetened with agave – avoid!)
• Green and Black’s organic 85% dark chocolate
• Herbal Tea
• Brown rice cakes (no flavoured ones!!)
• Balsamic Vinegar – no sugar!
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Organic honey (but use very sparingly)

 

 

I really hope this helps. Print it out and stick it on your fridge. If you keep your pantry stocked with healthy foods and make the time to prepare you will be able to stick to eating healthy. It’s really not as hard as people think!

Lyn xx

 

Raspberry Streusel Bars

 

Crust:

• 2 cups blanched almond flour (I use Almond Meal)
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Pulse ingredients together in a food processor until dough forms a ball
2. Press dough into an 8×8 inch Pyrex baking dish
3. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes

Filling:

• 1 cup raspberry fruit spread (look for one with no added sugar or low in sugar)

Streusel Topping:

• ¼ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup blanched almond flour
• 2 tablespoons xylitol or stevia
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Pulse oil, almond flour, xylitol and salt together in a food processor until creamy
2. Briefly pulse in walnuts and coconut, so they are left coarse, not pulverized
3. Set streusel aside
4. Spread raspberry fruit spread over warm crust
5. Sprinkle streusel topping over raspberry fruit spread
6. Bake at 350° (160 C) for 15 minutes
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set up
8. Serve

Makes 16 bars

This is another great recipe from my favourite gluten-free website Elana’s Pantry

My Favourite Sweet Treats! (Yep they are Sugar-Free)

It’s a beautiful spring day here in Sydney and I have spent my afternoon basking in the sun at Bronte beach and walking the coastal walk from Clovelly to Bondi beach. Days like this I feel very blessed to live where I do! For those reading this from the other side of the world I hope to keep you connected to summer over the next few months! It’s always summer somewhere!

How cool is this cemetery overlooking ocean! Don’t think I am weird but I love hanging out here!

This will be my first summer without sugar and I have to admit I started to crave it this afternoon. Everywhere I looked there was people enjoying their slurpies or ice-cold cans of soft-drink! Couple’s hand in hand eating ice-cream made me feel jealous! Not to be part of a couple – just for the ice-cream! I have started to wonder how I will get through the summer without having an ice-cream at the beach. I don’t want you to think you have to deprive yourself. If I want a sugary treat I will have one, and I tend to have a cheat meal/snack a week. But in saying that you have to be careful that your cheat meals don’t become too regular because before you know it your having an ice-cream/sugary drink every day. I know that’s how I would be. I am an all or nothing kind of girl so it’s easier for me to totally avoid it!

The good news is that there lots of things you CAN have when you feel an attack of sweetness coming on. When I got home I turned to my favourite thing in the world – watermelon!! I also had a nice sugar-free hot chocolate with raw organic cacao and rice milk. seriously you won’t even know that this isn’t sugar!

So here are a my top foods that you can try to satisfy your sweet craving before you cave in.

Anything with raw, organic cacao – hot chocolate, cacao mixed with coconut oil and stevia make great chocolates; cacao, avocado and dates make an awesome pudding and cacao, quinoa and rice milk for breakfast, snack or desert.

Cinnamon – I love to sweeten my oats with cinnamon, sprinkle it on toast with coconut butter and even add it to my savoury dishes! At one stage I carried it in my handbag! It was my saviour when I first gave up sugar.

Dates – Dates are super dooper sweet. Sometimes too sweet. These are my go to snack, especially at work when I am bored and need something to sweeten up my date.

Fruit ice-blocks (popsicle or whatever you call them) – I have fond memories of making ice-blocks out of Mr Men moulds when I was little. Why not bring out the child in you and buy ice-block moulds and fill them with fruit concoctions. I like to throw a few different fruits into a blender and then pour into the moulds. They aren’t always on hand at the beach, but at least you have them at home.

Ice-magic – Remember this as a kid? Another great memory. I don’t think I even really loved the actual chocolate just the novelty of pouring chocolate on my ice-cream and then seeing it go hard! You can make your own my melting coconut butter, mixing in cacao and a little stevia then pour onto frozen fruit ice-cream! It will solidify when it sits on the ice-cream!

Fruit ice-cream – Frozen bananas make amazing ice-cream. Just throw them into a food processor or blender and there you have whipped ice-cream. You may like to add cacao or vanilla or other fruits.

Banana pancakes – this is new obsession! All you need is 2 eggs and 1 mashed banana. That’s it! You may like to add extras. Sometimes I add in 1-2 tablespoons of almond or flaxseed meal. Top it off with some coconut butter and cinnamon and it’s a delicious breakfast or snack. Some people add protein powder but if you do make sure it’s natural with no additives.

When you discover the alternatives to sugar you realise you don’t really need those foods you crave. make you’re own sweet treats and your body will thank you. They are delicious and nutritious!

I finished my spring day with a lovely summer salad. I posted this on FB a few days ago but for those that missed it – you need to try it!
The strawberries and chicken combo are sensational. And this is really high in protein so good for gym lovers!

Chicken (I grilled in morocon spice and coconut oil)
Quiona, Kale, Strawberries, Cucumber, Almonds, Balsamic Vingear (and anything else you would like to add)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and here’s to a sensational week!

Lyn xx

Ps If you like what you read and don’t want to miss free tips and ticks on staying fit and healthy make sure you subscribe or like the FB page! FREE meal plans and monthly health calendars coming soon!