Battling the junk food

Hello :)

What I don't understand is why on earth it is so hard to be healthy whilst in student digs?! I go from being the most motivated fit person at home to a health disaster at my uni house.

A typical example was half term last week... I went home, temporarily signed up to my local gym and got back into loosely following the Weight Watchers plan. Piece of cake! Or shall I say no cake!

I felt motivated, in good shape, healthy and I still was able to enjoy a big meal out at the end of the week. In fact I ended up losing a lb or 2, just from cleaning myself back up.

 

I head back to uni, determined to carry on a good regime and what not, and even bring back a new exercise mat that I bought whilst home. I get back on the Saturday and do pretty well. Sunday I didn't make the gym but I do some floor workouts so all is well. Monday I'm doing really well and attend a Zumba class plus a short gym sess...

And then it takes a downhill path!

After a large meal on Tuesday, I decide to head down to my local Tesco's and buy a large tub of cookie dough ice cream. And if that wasn't enough, I then grab a bar of galaxy chocolate for good measure!

Funny thing is, I don't reckon to have a massive sweet tooth but obviously I did on this night. I eat a quarter of the tub, feel like that is enough but then piece by piece devour the galaxy bar and then return to the freezer for another quarter helping of ice cream. Then of course I feel sick and think why did I do that?! Was there any need?

The next day my stomach feels gross, it isn't used to such crap I guess, and I tell my housemate she can eat the remainder of my cookie dough ice cream...I did not what that screaming at me to finish it!

At this point I'm annoyed at myself because I've woke up feeling guilty and yucky on a day that is supposed to be a treat.

It was my friend's birthday and we were heading to Nando's for tea, watching Dirty Dancing the musical and then grabbing drinks at a local Wetherspoons. Thankfully I felt OK by the time she arrived and I was relieved that I was actually hungry for chicken, rice and creamy mash (my standard there), instead of feeling sick!

But I have to think to myself...why did I still binge on junk knowing full well I would be eating something yummy the following day? Failed on self control for sure!

I guess there's still that little part of me that has the junk food addiction! Sure, I've come a long way from being known as the 'Takeaway Queen' in second and third years of uni, but I still have many moments of weakness.

The worst part is that I don't even particularly enjoy the junk food. I mean sure it tastes nice at the time but often it upsets my stomach and I feel sick more times than not afterwards...either from eating too much or just from pure grease!

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully curb my junk food cravings, but I do take solace in the fact I associate home with being healthy.

I think the environment in which you're in makes a massive difference. At home, for example, most of my immediate family are pretty health conscious and this means the food shopping usually consists of fruit, veg and the likes. At uni, on the other hand, takeaways can be a regular occurrence... I mean at home I'd never dream of getting a menu out and ordering food randomly (for perhaps just me), but at uni it's a easy option...which is a dangerous thing!

Then there's the alcohol. At home I rarely touch a drop...To be honest I don't massively like the taste of it and drinking at home seems a bit odd to me if I'm not going out. There's also the issue of it bringing on insane hunger. Alcohol always equals food for me, no matter what.

Uni, of course, usually means big nights out at least every fortnight. I can never get drunk without following it with food...McDonalds, burgers, chips, pizza...standard. Unfortunately this usually carries on into the next day and a takeaway is my hangover cure.

At home I'm also quite lucky in that I seem to have inadvertently passed on the fitness bug to my  sister, who is now an avid gym go-er. This is good for me because it generates the motivation that I sometimes lack in actually getting up and going to workout.

Gym buddies are a good thing! But make sure it's someone you work well with...no point just going for a chat! At uni I have a few friends that occasionally go to the gym but it's not often enough to make an impact on my motivation :P

It's just hard to be healthy at uni...whereas at home, it's almost handed on a plate...a healthy one! Junk food is too easily obtained at uni...It's true what they say, if you remove all temptation then you won't be tempted.

I guess I'll just try my best for now and then go home in summer and live as I really want to live...healthily!

I reckon a takeaway is on the cards this evening...so I think a good gym session might be called for this afternoon...you know, in an attempt to limit the damage!

A chocolate alternative...

Hey again. Can't keep away of late can I! But I've stumbled across something that might be of interest to those of you with a bit of a sweet tooth.

Previous to doing Weight Watcher's, I wasn't someone who was overly mad on chocolate or the likes. I was more of a savory gal. However after enrolling on the plan I somehow started craving sugar, A LOT. I guess I wasn't getting my usual greasy fixes of chips and what not, so sugar became more of a priority?!

I perhaps still can't identify with the major chocoholics of this world, but I am partial to the odd bar or two :)

Weight Watcher's taught me to eat smaller meals but then to treat myself with low cal sweet snacks afterwards...like their mini chocolate cake bites! So, in turn I grew a bit of a sweet tooth and recently I've found it hard to resist buying a chocolate bar after my Uni lunch or snacking on sweet fixes! 

Anyway... the other night, after coming home for half-term, I got given one of these...

Introducing the Sharon fruit!

I don't know about you, but I've never heard of these before! My dad and sister are doing this thing at the moment where each week they are trying a new fruit/vegetable. A good idea actually. Healthy and exciting all in one :)

I've come to love fruit and veg...you can teach yourself, honest! So I was looking forward to giving this a try.

To be honest I wasn't all that sure what to expect. It kind of looks like a cross between a tomato and an orange, but it's skin has a fairly waxy feel about it. 

Following the instructions, you eat it like I would do a kiwi...slice the top off and use a spoon to scoop out the contents. Apparently my sister thought that you ate it like an apple so has been eating skin and all!...She's still here to tell the tale but I personally wouldn't eat the outer shell :P

It's a weird taste to describe but the thing that hit me first was how sweet it was! Literally sweeter than sugar if that is at all possible?! The insides were similar to that of a passion fruit minus the seeds and the texture reminded me of a plum.

Quite an odd but rather enjoyable experience all the same. 

The good thing about this fruit is that it's SO sweet that it literally takes away any chocolate/sweet cravings that you might have had before! Prior to eating this I was considering a bar of Cadbury's, but a couple of spoonfuls into the Sharon fruit and there was no way I wanted chocolate or any dessert whatsoever. You could have put my favourite sponge pudding and custard in front of me and I wouldn't have eaten it! Says a lot, trust me! 

So my advice...if you're struggling to keep your sweet tooth at bay, give a Sharon fruit a try!

Ellie x

Twitter: @ellie1989

Feeling hungry?...Graze box!

Hello! Hope you are all well.

So, you may have seen Graze boxes being advertised on the TV (they are plugging it a lot lately!) but I thought I'd share with you my experience of them.

How does it work? Well you basically sign up online at graze.com with the idea that a box full of yummy delights arrive at your door each week. You can select what day you'd like to receive your box but it doesn't require a signature, it is letterbox sized and comes along with your royal mail post so there is no inconvenience there.

How much does it cost? This can apparently depend on the time of when you started ordering the boxes but mine should be £3.89 each week so I'll go with that. However, as I've been a graze customer before (I stopped my orders last time as I didn't really have the money), they've given me 3 half price boxes which is one of the reasons I started the orders back up.

Food? I really like the kinds of food the boxes contain as they are often nutrition in some way and provide a great healthier snack option, rather than grabbing that chocolate bar! Seeds, dried fruit, nuts, cake, dips, popcorn and bread are just some of the things that may appear in your box. You aren't 100% sure what will be in your box but you do have a certain amount of control over what you don't want to be sent. There's a rating option where you can choose to bin items whereby they'll never send it you. Then there's the options of try, like and love and a send soon. Perhaps self-explanatory but they'll try to send you the things in send soon first!

You can cancel at any time, providing it's not on the day you have a scheduled box! There's also an option to postpone boxes, say you were going on holiday or just wanted a break or something.

Here's my box that arrived this morning. I already knew what to expect as Graze email you the night before to tell you what you have in your box, if you want to peek. I personally can never resist!

Inside...

I've had this one before and really enjoyed the chopped dates, yum! I'm a pretty big fan of seeds and nuts too so this is a nice treat for me.

Really excited to try this...tea and cake are a new addition to the graze boxes. I love carrot cake but usually avoid it because of the fat content. However this is only a tiny piece and at 88 calories, I'm sure I'll be fine! :)

Another new addition to the graze boxes. I love microwave popcorn!

And finally...yum yum yum. I love the graze dips and I couldn't resist these breadsticks and dip for long. I really enjoyed this as a little lunchtime snack! The dip was delicious.

If you want to try Graze but you're unsure about whether it would be your thing or put-off by the cost, why not try one for free?! Just enter this code, 3CTZKFGT and receive a free box. Just remember to cancel after you receive it to avoid a weekly charge if you don't want to continue it!

Let me know what you think if you try it, or you've tried it! Comment here or Tweet me: @ellie1989