Mexican Taco Salad

Last month I feared eating out. In a recent post I told you how a previous dining experience became a stressful event. I can now proudly tell you that the fear of dining out is gone!

I am not apologetic for being vegan, asking for dressing on the side or making some adjustments to a dish.

I now dine out regularly which is a huge step. A bigger step is that I haven’t been getting stressed out about it (miracles do happen peeps!).

Eating vegan when dining out isn’t all that hard as most places at least have a garden salad you can order if nothing else. However I have recently had an unpleasant experience at an Italian restaurant when I asked if the risotto was vegan.

I firstly had to explain what a vegan was (she must live under a rock) and then after she rolled her eyes at me instead of writing down my name she just wrote vegan.

Her service defiantly annoyed me but deep down I know that she just doesn’t understand.

Anyways the risotto was awesome and it was the first time since I’ve had one in 7 years! Again, let me mention that I didn’t stress over it!

On Sunday my boyfriend took me to some beaches around the area that I haven’t seen before.

The beaches were isolated and so natural. There were no high rises or houses across from the beach but instead bush tracks and palm tree’s surrounding the white sand. It felt amazing to see so much natural beauty.

One the way back home we stopped into a Mexican restaurant as we were both starving.

Looking at the menu I immediately started to recreate meals in my head that I could make a healthier vegan version at home.

Naturally, raw walnut tacos came to mind as they are one of my favourite meals but I wanted something a little more authentic for a Mexican dish.

I made this meal for lunch yesterday and loved every bite. I saw a similar Mexican black bean salad on Pinterest and new it would be the perfect filling inside a raw taco shell.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

1 can organic black beans

¾ cup diced red capsicum

1.5 raw sweet corn cobs

½ sml-med red onion

1 medium ripe avocado

½ -1 tbsp lemon juice

8 cos lettuce leaves

Instructions:

1. Dice capsicum and onion and transfer into a bowl.
2. Rinse and drain black beans and pour them into the bowl.
3. Cut corn off the cob and mix into the beans, capsicum and onion
4. Place avocado and lemon juice into a food processor and mix until it is smooth and creamy
5. Serve on cos lettuce leaves

How easy is that!

Like me, everyone seems to be getting extremely busy at the moment but this just goes to show how quick and easy a nutritious meal can be.

I’d love to know your last Mexican meal that you ate and if you have tried to recreate it at home?

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

I Am Proud Of My Body

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.

I have been extremely busy but will get back into the hang of things very soon!

I am a huge fan of Kate Winslet; always have been but since reading the quote in the above image about creating a positive body image for children, I love her even more.

I admire her talent but most of all I admire the way she treats her body with respect and doesn’t cave into the unhealthy celebrity habits.

It absolutely terrifies me to see young girls being diagnosed with eating disorders and having a negative body image. The age groups for children being affected are getting younger each year.

The days are gone when the only thing you had to worry about when you were eight years old was what Barbie you were going to bring to “show and tell”.

I was actually told last week that eight year olds don’t play with Barbies anymore, they are far too old for that. I am still in shock.

I can’t say I am all that surprised. Everywhere you look there are images of photo-shopped models.

Every second advert on TV is about a new diet or a diet product to try.

The majority of movies have a token fat person that everyone picks on.

Music videos are just soft porn.

And the one thing girls do best when we get together is talk about weight loss and diet.

These are just a few examples of what young children have around them on a daily basis.

I’m not a mother. I do however want to be a mother one day and it breaks my heart to think that my daughter (or son) will be around all of these unhealthy messages.

I understand that we can’t eliminate every negative image and message from kids these days, but I do know that parents have the biggest influence on kids.

I too, have never heard one woman say “I am proud of my body”. I have heard a million times what they hate about their body but never anything that they are proud of.

I don’t blame my mum for never saying that she is proud of her body. My history of my eating disorder didn’t evolve from her. She isn’t one who fixates on her body. In fact I admire the way she has never stressed too much about it.

But I never heard her (or anyone else) say that they were proud of what they had.

Perhaps because we all didn’t want to seem “full of ourselves”.

I once remember my brother saying how awesome his muscles were and we all laughed and told him he had a big head. I can now see why we never spoke about what we liked about ourselves.

Kids have forgotten how to be kids. I see toddlers wearing clothes just like mummy and demanding baby cinnos.

We all give complements to little girls about their appearance. A child shouldn’t care about their appearance! They shouldn’t worry about their figure because they don’t have a figure to watch.

At work, I am around young kids all the time. For a few months I have been mindful of what I say around little girls. I never comment or compliment them on their appearance. I have told them that they are very important and that they have a big heart. I have told them that they can achieve anything they want in life and you know what, their smile was larger than ever and their spirits were high without talking about body image.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

Did your parent’s relationship with their bodies affect yours?

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

Loveable Pumpkin Chickpea’s

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a tendency to over dose on pumpkin. I can’t help it, pumpkin seriously goes with everything.  From sweet to savoury, the good old pumpkin is a staple in my recipes.

You know how people cover their meals that they aren’t too sure of with sauce or cheese? I’m like this with pumpkin. If I add pumpkin into a meal, I’m never worried about not enjoying it (example: my pumpkin sushi recipe).

I am not 100% in love with raw cauliflower rice (yet!). I love cooked cauliflower rice but haven’t made the full transition to eating it raw.

So today I added all of my favourite ingredients into a mix to place on a bowl of raw cauliflower rice.

It worked, I completely loved every mouthful!

Loveable Pumpkin Chickpea’s

Ingredients:

1/3 cup cooked chickpeas

1/3 heaping cup pumpkin puree

¼ cup diced red capsicum

¼ cauliflower

½ pink lady apple

Flat leaf parsley to garnish

Sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

(serves 1)

1. Boil pumpkin until soft
2. Dice apple and capsicum
3. Place cauliflower florets into the food processor and process until they become a rice-like texture. Transfer into a bowl
4. Once pumpkin is cooked, puree it and mix it with the diced apple, capsicum and cooked chickpeas.
5. Transfer the mixture onto the bowl of raw cauliflower rice, sprinkle with cinnamon and add parsley to garnish

I really enjoyed this meal (obviously, it had pumpkin in it!) and loved the colours of it!

Now it’s about time I give you an update on my wellness program!

It’s been a month since I started my affirmation program and I’m proud to say that I have kept my promise of sticking with it for an entire month (High Five)!

Thank gosh for mobile phone reminders, post it notes and my alarm, otherwise I may have forgotten about saying affirmations during the day.

Since starting the program of saying daily affirmations out loud, in the mirror and multiple times a day I have felt more self love and appreciation towards myself.

I will defiantly continue with saying daily affirmations but I will however make a change to what the original program entailed.

Daily affirmations have been known to work because when you say something repeatedly for a long period of time, you begin to believe it.

I was saying a different affirmation every day and although I said it multiple times during the day I felt I wasn’t 100% convinced by the time I got to sleep.

I will now be sticking with the same affirmation for an entire week.

I feel this will allow the affirmation “soak” in more. I will be posting my weeks affirmation on twitter so make sure you are following me so you too can feel more love and appreciation towards yourself.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

The Value In Vulnerability

Whoever said vulnerability showed weakness and powerlessness couldn’t have got it more wrong.

Being vulnerable takes courage and bravery to open up and be your own authentic self.

I have always felt a sense of embarrassment about my struggles with ED and depression.

I’d pushed people away and I wasn’t always truthful about my past and I continued to deny that I had/have struggles.

I used to feel that I shouldn’t talk about it to others and felt like my struggles would make people want to run and hide from me. I can now see that the only person running away was me.

Since moving from Sydney four months ago I have met a great group of friends and have also learnt that my fear of being vulnerable showed that I wouldn’t allow people to like me for who I really am. Instead of letting go and accepting my past and the person whom I am today, I was prepared to hold up a guard for my protection and for a decent amount of time.

Allowing myself to be completely vulnerable isn’t something I had thought of doing.

I saw the stigma behind it and wanted no part in it.

I would stick to the rules and ask for advice whenever possible to make sure I didn’t say anything inappropriate or put a foot in the wrong place.

As I have mentioned, this year is about finding my authentic self. Throughout this year I have made huge progress in finding and living in my serenity, but the fear of being vulnerable and being 100% honest in regard to my words is something I now see is what needs to be taken care of.

For the past fortnight I have been an open book. Vulnerable.

People have asked me questions and I haven’t sugar coated any answers.

I haven’t allowed myself to feel embarrassed or apologetic about my past or how I choose to live my life.

I have thrown out the book of rules that contain all the dos and don’ts in what you should do or say in certain situations and relationships. I have taken the time to dig deep and ask what I really want or think I should do, without any social pressure or other influences.

With this decision came a lot more self respect and love towards myself.

It feels as if a weight has come off my shoulders by saying to the universe “This is who I am and I’m not afraid to be me”.

This is the message I encourage all of you say to the universe from today onwards.

Vulnerability doesn’t deserve the stigma. It deserves the recognition of empowerment and self respect.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in on this topic in the comments below 🙂

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

Digestive Green Smoothie

Hi lovelies!

I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to be here for Finding Serenity in my Sunday. I had a busy day but I hope today I can make it up to you by sharing a delicious, ridiculously healthy recipe.

By now you all know about my past struggles with my eating. Because I have neglected my digestive health for many years, it is now suffering because of it.

Even though I have been eating and living a much healthier lifestyle for months now, my digestive system needs to be healed.

I can’t blame it, after all I treated it terribly and didn’t give it the tender, love and care that it deserved.

Now that I am thinking more clearly, I can see and feel just how important it is to look after your digestive system and how uncomfortable it can be when you don’t!

So this smoothie contains a beautiful cocktail of digestive loving ingredients to help reverse any damage and also heal your digestive system.

It tastes damn amazing too with great texture, so seriously you need to get involved right now!

Ingredients

1 big handful of baby spinach leaves

1 sml-med frozen banana

½ sml pink lady apple

1 tsp Bentonite Clay

1tsp spirulina

½  tsp Psyllium husk

20 ml Organic Aloe Vera Juice

8 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)

2 cups chilled water

Instructions

Blend and serve in a wine glass to make digestion sexy!

In other news..

Last week I bought the above vintage design travel mug.

I can now sip on my smoothie on the way to work and also drink hot cacao during the day (YAY).

It has two different designs on each side and most importantly it doesn’t spill!

Question: Do you drink your green smoothies straight away or do you make them and drink them later during the day?

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

Would You Like Salad With That Oil?

 

My old house mate was visiting his family about 1 hr north of me, and said we should catch up for lunch.

For most people, catching up with a friend whom you haven’t seen in a long time would be exciting, but for me it’s so much more.

Yes it’s exciting, but it’s also a nerve racking, skin scratching, panic making event that makes me want to hide in my well known wardrobe.

What will he say when he finds out I’m vegan?
What will he think of me when I say I can’t have a drink?
What will I wear!?
Will I explain to him that I’m in recovery?
Oh bloody hell, look at the state of my nails!
What if I get lost and crash on the way there?

I needed to calm down and I was overdue for a mani and pedi. Because there isn’t a vegan & cruelty free salon that I have seen (oh that’s a great business idea!) I decided to do my own mani and pedi . I bought cuticle scissors seeing as I have watched it being done many times before and it doesn’t exactly look like rocket science.

Anyway, as it turns out, it’s harder than rocket science and when performing such drastic measures, make sure tissues and band aids are on hand (no pun intended).

So after being reassured that I won’t die on the drive there and that I won’t be forced to eat meat, I said my dramatic goodbyes to my dog and hit the road.

I made it there safe and sound. I sometimes get in the habit of judging my thighs when I sit down so today I made sure I didn’t (you’re welcome, fellow drivers).

You see, although I am proud of being vegan, I do still stress over what people will think of me. So today I just tried to make my eating, not such a big deal. The game plan was to just shrug it off.

So when ordering lunch today, I asked him to order me a salad. When I did this I was thinking, god does he think I ordered this because of my ED?  Does ordering just a garden salad look typical?

I didn’t want any dressing on my salad, but I didn’t ask him to tell the waiter when he ordered because I didn’t want to seem fussy and a pain.

And this my friends is where I learnt my lesson.

So my salad was vegan – score. It was fresh -score. But it was smothered and swimming in oil.

A little bit of oil on my salad is okay but it was swimming and I am not comfortable with this.

I didn’t want to seem like a bother or be a pain so I put a confident smile on my face and acted like nothing was wrong and ate it.

When I got into my car and on the drive home, my heart was pumping pretty damn fast.

I know oil is good for you and I eat oily foods all day, every day, but I wasn’t ready for this..yet!

So although I didn’t cry, kick or scream at the restaurant (you’re welcome everyone) I did, however, feel crap all afternoon.

When I really think about it, I felt mostly crap because I didn’t speak up about what I wanted. I didn’t want to be an inconvenience, and I didn’t want to seem fussy. I felt embarrassed about asking for no dressing!

I realise now that the message I send to the universe is that I’m not worthy of what I want. This has to stop.

I shouldn’t have to apologise for being vegan and asking to leave out the cheese and if they could have the dressing on the side (please).

I need to work on being confident when asking for what I want. But geez it would be so much easier if everyone somehow knew what and when I wanted something!

 

As always your comments make me smile 🙂

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

Serenity In My Sunday: 5 Things I’m Loving Right Now

Happy Sunday lovelies,

Tonight I thought I’d list my top 5 things I’m loving digging at the moment.

I have benefited from all of these and I hope you can too!

 

Bentonite Healing Clay:

 

How did I not know about this years ago?!

When I first researched it, I scrunched my nose up at the thought of drinking clay. This is why I assume so many people don’t know just how beneficial clay is.

A few of the health benefits include:
cleansing the liver, colon and skin.
strengthening the immune system.
balancing bacteria in the digestive tract and it can eliminate parasites, viral infections and more.

The particles in Bentonite clay contain a negative charge that attracts all types of harmful toxins, bacteria, metals and pesticides so they can be eliminated from the body.

I mix 1 tsp into my daily “green” smoothie. You seriously can’t even taste it, so there is no excuse for you not to get involved in this amazing superfood!

 

The China Study:

 

I truly believe that The China Study is the one book that everyone needs to read.
The studies that were performed are so incredibly interesting and shocking all at the same time.

While reading the China Study my inner goddess was smiling on her perch, waving to everyone who has ever told me that I need to eat meat in order to get enough protein and to be healthy.

 

Coconut oil:

 

I have been using coconut oil as a body moisturizer for over a month now and I will never go back!

I was first worried that my skin would feel oily all day but it absorbs so easily and keeps my skin soft and smooth.

Interesting fact about this delicious scented oil is that it contains fatty acids that help prevent fungal and bacterial infection in and on the skin, also decongesting pores.

 

Eliminate Drama:

 

It’s been a year now since I have given up drama. This means drama television, gossiping, reading magazines or even listening to someone who is bitching about someone else.

This has made such a positive difference in my life, but recently I realised that I can created drama towards myself.
I do this by assuming things.

I assume someone is annoyed at me or doesn’t like me. I assume I’m going to fail and I create scenarios in my head that leave me feeling anxious and exhausted by all of the drama I have just created in my head.

This week I stood back and reminded myself that if for some reason someone doesn’t like me, that’s okay. Not everyone is going to like every single person they meet.

I also stoped myself for over-thinking things. It’s important to be in the now!

 

Mamma Mia Body Image Articles:

 

I can’t get enough of the articles that are posted on Mamma Mia in regard to body image and photo shopping.

Mia Freedman was the former editor for Cleo Magazine in Australia but now actively promotes having a healthy body imagine and to ban photo shopping.

I love her support and her dedication to these topics!

 

By Including all of these into one Sunday, made my day pretty damn Serine 🙂

 

I’d LOVE to know what your loving at the moment?

Have you eaten or drank clay before?

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

Perfected Baked Veggie Patties

 

Hey Fab Foodies!

Earlier this week I FINALLY created the perfect baked vegan patties.

I honestly can’t tell you how many attempts I have had to try and get the texture and flavour spot on.

I have tried countless recipes for vegan burger/patties but being the perfectionist that I am, I had a vision in my head and I needed to get it right.

It needs to be baked, not fried.

It was essential that the outside was crisp and the inside a little soft, but not like a hummus texture.

It couldn’t crumble if I were to eat it with my fingers straight from the fridge (let’s not pretend we don’t all do this).

And it had to be gluten and preferably oil free.

So I’m so happy that I have perfected the recipe!

Ingredients

½ cup split red lentils

½ a medium sweet potato

1/3 frozen sweet baby peas (Blanched)

¼ cup grated carrot

3 Tbsp finely diced red onion

1 garlic clove minced

1 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley

6 Tbsp chickpea flour

1/4 tsp (heaped) cumin

¼ tsp (heaped) cinnamon

¼ tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Decent pinch of pink Himalayan salt

 

Instructions:
(makes 9 patties)

1. Soak lentils for at least 8 hours
2. Boil lentils until cooked (roughly 15 mins). Then drain.
3. Pre heat oven to 180 degree’s Celsius
4. Peel and dice the sweet potato. Boil it until cooked then drain
5. In a large mixing bowl, roughly mash the sweet potato with a fork
6. Add the lentils into the bowl and combine with the potato
7. Using a paper towel, dry the grated carrot and blanched peas as much as possible to remove excess moisture
8. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, except the chickpea flour
9. 2 Tbsp at a time mix in the chickpea flour
10. Mould mixture into small palm size patties and place onto baking paper
11. Place in oven until golden brown ( roughly 15-20 mins)

 

I served this with my usual delicious salad which had the lot; Avo, beetroot, zucchini, snow peas, red capsicum and sauerkraut.

I’m so glad I didn’t settle until I got the recipe just right!

I’m sure you will love them as much as I do.

Question: Are you a perfectionist when it comes to cooking?

What’s one dish that took you a while to perfect?

 

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x

 

Serenity in My Sunday: Believe in Your Dreams

 

Hey lovelies!

Sorry about the late post. I wrote this last night, as my Sunday resulted in today’s topic.

Yesterday (Sunday) I was talking to a friend about why she gave up her favourite sport.
She was ridiculously good at it and had the potential to go very far in the sport, but most importantly, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

When she told me why she stopped all of a sudden, I was shocked but I could relate. I think many of us can.

Her dad told her that it would be very unlikely to be able to make a career out of her sport or ever compete in the Olympics. I assume this was to protect her from feeling disappointed and hurt if she never reached her goal.

Every time she would say her dream out loud, she was told not to get her hopes up because thousands of people want the same dream; therefore her dream was “unrealistic”.

As a result of being constantly told her dream was unrealistic or that she wasn’t good enough, she started to believe it.

Every time she would think of her goal, she got into the habit of telling herself she wasn’t good enough and that she was stupid to even think of it.

Self hate began and in no time she quit the one thing she loved and formed an eating disorder and depression.

It doesn’t surprise me, but it will always amaze me how words can create such a powerful effect on people’s lives and wellbeing.

Negative words are always louder than positive words, and when coming from someone you love and respect, nothing could be louder.

Perhaps her dad believed he was doing the right thing by trying to protect her from rejection if she never reached her goal.

Forty+ years ago opportunities to fulfil your dreams weren’t impossible but they didn’t have the resources that we have today, so maybe he was saying what he was always told.

One thing he didn’t know was that by saying these comments and by not believing and encouraging her to fulfil her dreams, this caused her a great amount of damage.

After a lot of ground work and having to remove the negative people out of her life, she just started to take up the sport again.

I could not be more proud of her. She is such a strong person physically and mentally.

What I realised is that it is so damn important to never call any goal unrealistic.

We have so many resources these days to be able to do anything we desire if we are willing to put in the hard work and dedication.

Always encourage and support others’ dreams but most importantly believe in your own dreams.

A child or friend may change their mind on their dream job every week, and instead of rolling your eyes or saying it’s very unlikely to get that job, encourage them so they can be the best they can be.

Fight for what you want and who you want to become.

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa

Black is the New Green Smoothie

Hi lovelies,

Hope you are all well!

I went to an Ethical Nutrient seminar last night for work, so I’m a little tired today but it was worth it.

I will be talking about this in a future post as I want to let you in on some new research but also the marketingbehind health products.

Today I’ll share with you my favourite “green” smoothie blend.

Green smoothies have really taken off, and for good reason!

They boost your daily green intake, they are high in fiber, packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals from the raw ingredients. And lets also not forget how damn amazing they taste!

So Green Smoothies pretty much rock, but why limit yourself to green when you can have black!

Ingredients
(serves 1)

Large handful of Baby Spinach leaves

1 small frozen Banana (or half large)

½ cup of frozen Blueberries

1 tsp Spirulina

5 drops of Stevia (or to taste)

20ml Aloe Vera juice

400ml chilled water

So it doesn’t look all that pretty but this smoothie is one seriously tasty superfood blend.

I drink this every single day.

It is a perfect after workout drink as it is high in protein from the Spirulina. Plus you get all the vitamins and minerals to keep you fighting fit.

Drinking a green Black smoothie daily is non-negotiable for me.

Because I don’t drink coffee or have any caffeine this gives me loads of energy and doesn’t give me the slump within 30 mins like coffee does.

Do you currently drink green smoothies?

 

Be kind to yourself,

Lisa x