NUTRITION | Daily Diet Rundown: Clean Eating

This post is intended to help inspire you if you're looking to start to clean up your diet, or looking for new ideas. I have been a clean eating advocate for many years now and I by far feel the best in myself when I stick to a diet similar to the one I will list below. 

I have been a member of the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan for almost 4 years and their emphasis is on lean, clean and green. This means lean proteins, clean in terms of avoiding processed foods and green speaks for itself - lots of veggies!! I try and stick to this philosophy as much as possible.
As you will see below, I eat 5 smaller meals a day, rather than three bigger ones. Eating with smaller intervals keeps your metabolism burning and therefore burning more calories, as well as ensuring I'm less likely to snack on unhealthy foods during the day as I'm eating more frequently. 

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NUTRITION | Nectarine Summer Salad

I hope you're enjoying the warmer weather as much as I am. It's so lovely to be spending so much more time outdoors. The recipe I'm going to share with you today is one of our family favourites and it's perfect for bringing along to a summer BBQ! 

It's really simple and takes minimal preparation, yet it's really effective there's something for everyone to enjoy! 

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FITNESS | How Much is Too Much?

Remember about four months ago when there was research that said running for too long too often did more bad to you than good? Remember a month after when it was announced that it might not be as bad as was thought? I've just watched a segment on the Today show that informed me that treadmills are the least safe piece of gym equipment and there are better alternatives. What should we believe? It seems as though every day there's a new piece of research claiming something that we think is good for us, isn't as good as we thought.

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NUTRITION | The SkinnyTaste Cookbook Review

I have been a long term fan of Gina Homolka's blog, SkinnyTaste, as you will have seen if you saw my recent post on healthy eating websites. That being said, when I saw that Gina had released a cookbook; The SkinnyTaste Cookbook - I knew I had to have it! My lovely boyfriend was kind enough to get it for me for Christmas (and have it shipped all the way from the US!) but me being the idiot I can be, left it at home when I went back to Arizona! I literally spent 4 months dreaming of a cookbook I had left at home! Now that I'm back, I've been making the most of all this INCREDIBLE book has to offer. Keep reading to see just why I love the Skinny Taste cookbook so much, as well as some photos of the recipes I've made!

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NUTRITION | 3 Go-To Websites for Healthy Eating Recipes

When it comes to healthy eating, the key for me is to keep things fresh. If I had to repeat the same recipes day in, day out - my lifestyle would not be sustainable and it absolutely would not last. That being said, I'm always looking for new recipe ideas or meal guides. The three websites below are full of great resources for keeping your healthy eating regime going.

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NUTRITION | Clean Eating, At-Home Caesar Dressing

I have serious issues with store-bought dressings. I mean seriously, did you know that almost all store-bought dressings, whatever they may be (Caesar, Italian, Ranch etc.) have over 120 calories per TABLESPOON (I mean seriously who uses only one tablespoon of dressing on a salad) with almost all of those dressing having 100 of the 120 calories from fat, or a similar ratio.

I'm not kidding - check out the labels next time you're at the supermarket! What's more, these dressings are loaded up with sugar (almost always the second ingredient listed, meaning it's the second most prominent ingredient), chemicals and other preservatives that I just don't want in my body!

Caesar Salads have ALWAYS been my favourite. Ask my family, we were in California a few years ago and I would literally order a Caesar salad every single night. That being said, Caesar dressing is hardly diet friendly. Take the UK chain restaurant Pizza Express. According to MyFitnessPal, Pizza Express' Caesar has more calories and fat content than its range of Leggera Pizza's. I know what I would rather have!

I've come up with my own, at home recipe for a Caesar dressing that, whilst is not exactly the same as the creamy dressing you're used to, has the same taste and is a lot lighter on the waistline! It's also anchovy free which works for me as I hate the idea of dealing with them!

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NUTRITION | Superfood Smoothies

Ever since coming back to the US in January, I have been on a total green smoothie kick. No word of a lie, if I go a day without one, I crave them! Recently too, I began to feel like I was coming down with some sort of virus and I noticed it had been a few days since I had made a smoothie, after two days back on my smoothie-kick - I felt 100% again!

I know green smoothies can be scary but I promise you that you cannot taste whatever greens you put in them! Green smoothies are a great way to add superfoods in to your diet. Superfoods are full of just about every vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and health-boosting benefits you can imagine. See below for more information, and some recipes!

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NUTRITION | DIY Hummus Ideas

If you're a hummus addict, like me, then this post is for you! Since moving to the US, I've found myself paying out a huge amount of money on hummus! Hummus is one of my absolute favourite foods and celery and hummus is my go-to afternoon snack - no joke I will eat it 7 times a week at 4.30 on the dot. I've found hummus is SO much more expensive to by out here. For comparison, what costs me $5-$6 in the US, I pay $1.50 (£1) for at home. Crazy, right?! So, in an attempt to be more frugal this semester, I decided that I was going to make my own! I love cooking so being able to experiment has been fun! Today, I want to share with you some of my different creations! I always have a base recipe, but I've added so many different things in now that I could quite easily own to having a hummus repertoire!

These recipes are all so easy and making your own hummus is incredibly cheap so there's really no reason why you wouldn't! Of course, the biggest advantage is you know exactly what you're putting in your mouth - unlike store-bought hummus that can be loaded up with chemicals and preservatives. Also, if you have kids, this would be super fun to do with them - especially if they love hummus too!

See below for my base recipe and loads of different flavour combinations! What's great is all of these recipes are made with ingredients that you will already have at home! I had to buy the tahini paste but that's readily available on Amazon at a steal! Another great thing about these recipes are that there really is no need for accuracy so the chances of anything going wrong is extremely unlikely!

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NUTRITION | SariFoods Haul!

Don't you just love online shopping? I for one, am LOVING how easy it is to find great nutritional foods online, at a lower cost than I would in a store. Amazon, for example, impresses me every time I search for superfood's or any kind of food that you don't usually find in the grocery store.

Sari Foods is a company that sells on Amazon and recently, they were kind enough to send me their products to review for you all, my lovely readers. Sari Foods sell Nutritional Yeast, Spirulina and Vitamin C powder from Acerola Cherries. I have been really impressed with the company as a whole!  Their attention to detail and extra special customer service sets them apart from other online retailers.

For more details, as well as information about the benefits of these foods, carry on reading! 

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FITNESS | Fitness vs. Technology

In a world that is becoming more and more reliant on technology and health-concsious, it is not surprising that these two worlds have merged and there are an abundance of technological fitness products. It's turning in to a bit of a mine-field! However I do believe sometimes these products can be more of a hinderance than a help - which is totally not the point of technology! 

Below, you'll find information about the products I used or have used in the past to help me on my fitness journey, plus some great information about how these two fields are fusing to benefit people! 

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