Community

Early in the evening I hauled myself off the couch and went for a short run through my neighbourhood. The sun was setting, but it was still amazingly warm making the run an enjoyable one. The thing I loved most about my run though, was seeing the families out in the street. It's halloween here and while it is not widely celebrated in Australia - and in some cases frowned upon - there was a real sense of community in the air and it had me smiling from ear to ear. 

Healthy start...

Mmmm...

So here is a bowl of chopped up pear. Simple and healthy, but truth be told I am almost fairly certain that this is my first fresh pear in my entire life. If I am being honest I am sure I was fed these as a child, but I do not have any memory regarding these. I have however had plenty of tinned pears, which taste nothing like the pear that I ate. Again, if I am being honest, I have to tell you I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I would eat an apple over a pear any day of the week! 

I think my biggest achievement is that I tried something different. I didn't hate it, I just didn't enjoy it as much as other flavours I have had. Last night I also decided to try something a little bit different. I chopped up some avocado, mango, red (spanish) onion and coriander (cilantro) and mixed it together with some lime juice to come up with an Avocado and Mango Salsa as a side dish for my satay chicken. I have never really liked onion, but I thought I would give it a go and maybe I would enjoy it. I am still not a massive fan, but maybe I would enjoy it in smaller portions. The recipe for that can be found on this website.

Here's to new beginnings and moving forward!

A change in the wind..

I haven't had the most positive few months, in fact I've been feeling rather blue lately. I realised a few days ago that change needed to happen in my life, what I was doing was not getting the results I was wanting and I also found myself emotional more times than I care to admit. I really have never been the emotionally unstable kind so when I found myself crying at the intro to Gilmore Girls, I knew I needed to do something about it.

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with a long lost friend from my childhood. I hadn't seen her in almost 15 years, so there was plenty to catch up on. We got to talking about our lifestyles and her passion for all things natural sparked curiosity inside me. It was not the first time I'd had a conversation about 'alternative lifestyles', nor was it the first time I had been intrigued by somebody else's way of life. We got to talking about my poor nutritional habits and how they might be affecting me.

For a little bit of background I am a shocking eater. I don't enjoy eating vegetables, so I don't eat them. I forget to eat fruit, even though I love it I'm more inclined to buy chocolate. My idea of dinner is either take away or spaghetti and other easy meals with hardly any nutritional value and for many years, until recently, my preferred drink was soft drink - soda for all you Americans :) - or juice. Looking at this list now, I can see how bad it actually is.

So you get the point, I love pretty much any type of food that is considered bad for your health. So after meeting with my friend, I tried to give up sugar, well added sugar anyhow. I decided to cut out chocolate, lollies, soft drink, sugary cereals and basically any food that contains added sugar. Giving up soft drink was honestly one of the easiest things to do, now I don't even crave it, the other stuff, well that did not work out so well. Considering my recent blue mood, I decided to take charge of my life and start to make changes especially with my diet.

To change my diet is huge, and while I know it will be better for me, it's going to be hard to get used to. I enjoy eating and I enjoy the tastes that I am used to but I know I can do this, I used to not like the taste of water and now I am proud to say it is my preferred drink. I am tired of waiting and I am tired of expecting. It is time I grow up and take control of my life and my body and start the change, it can only get better from here. Even now as I sit here and type I feel different, I feel more positive about the direction my life is going. As I told another friend earlier, I am excited, and scared but it's good.