Get Trimmer..., Honey and Olive Oil conditioner, Weekend, etc

Hi :)

Hope you had a nice weekend... I realy enjoyed mine - 2 Fitter London classes and then dinner at a friend's (Thanks Ceri!).

I know I haven't put up a Get Trimmer... post in a while, I'll be back on that this week - promise! So - the Get Trimmer... challenge is still on. If you emailed me and I haven't gotten back to you, please email me your stats and I will add them to the next blog post.

Back to my weekend - As always, I stayed in bed for what felt like forever on Sunday morning then I watched Karate Kid (with little cute Jayden Smith) and The Backup Plan (with J Lo). I was able to shower and drag myself out of bed to get some groceries then went straight back home to watch some more TV :) I didn't start cooking (I made some Goat Curry, recipe HERE) until 7pm <-- I always do this on Sundays and end up going to bed at 11!

While watching The Backup plan, I conditioned my hair with Organic Honey and Extra Virgin Olive Oil... As I've mentioned in earlier blog posts, I'm using more natural products on my hair and skin. An advantage to using brown sugar and olive oil for my Facial Scrub and honey and olive oil for my conditioner is - they taste great :p Usually when I'm rinsing manufactured products off my face or skin, I always get a little in my mouth when rinsing and not only do they taste disgusting, the 'cones' in the products end up leaving my mouth feeling coated!

Well... when I was rinsing the honey and olive oil out of my hair yesterday, some of it got in my mouth and it tasted soooo sweet. Of course my hair felt nice and soft after :)

For any one who's interested, I used: 2 heaped tablespoons of honey (it was semi solid) and 3 tablespoons of olive oil, mxed into a smooth paste, applied all over my hair and covered with a shower cap. Usually I'd use my dome dryer to help my hair absorb the conditioner but yesterday... yes, I was too lazy. Left it in my hair for a couple of hours and rinsed out.

My next post on natural skin/haircare will be on Fuller's Earth Powder: I use it to clean my hair and face - LOVE it!

Here's a pic of my (shrunken) hair after cleaning with Fuller's Earth Powder:

Have a nice week :)

Friday... again!!!

Time's flying by so quickly... wasn't it just Monday a second ago?


Just pasting a comment from my previous post:
In the midst of her said...Update for u Adura .... down about 15lb to go......yay me!

^^ Well done you! Keep up the good work :) There's nothing like progress - it just keeps motivating you to work harder :)

Hope you're doing well and still working hard to live a healthier lifestyle :) I am! I know it's not easy but once you find the things that work for you, it doesn't feel like a huge effort anymore.

I'm definitely going to get back on posting recipes here because food is a huge part of our lives and if we're not eating right, what's the point in almost killing ourselves in the gym to burn it all off? Wouldn't it be easier to eat well and exercise primarily to be healthier and *not* to burn off last night's pizza and chicken wings (been there done that)?

Have a nice weekend and take time to appreciate where you are right now. Life is nowhere near perfect for any of us but it could be so much worse... After teaching my Fitter London class in the City this morning, I saw news clips of the earthquake in Japan... wow! Just... WOW!

I'm thankful for where I am, it doesn't mean I won't keep working hard to be in a better place (all round) but I appreciate what I've achieved so far :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Yes, another video ;)

Happy Monday!

I woke up at 6.05am (after hitting the snooze button FOUR times from 5.45am!) and when I eventually got out of bed, I noticed it was bright outside :)

That instantly lifted my mood and I've been happy since then :)

It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do!

Anyway, just a few things to share:

1. If you're in London and haven't thought about attending a Fitter London class, what are you waiting for? Your first class is free so you have nothing to lose except maybe some sweat... :p I'm at most of the classes and will be more than happy to give you special treatment as a reader of my blog ;) A full list of all our classes can be found here: http://www.fitterlondon.co.uk/our_classes Just send me an email to let me know which one you'd like to try.
    
2. If you're in Lagos, I think it's time to plant the seed - Fitter London is seriously considering visiting soon. Email me if you're interested so I can keep you updated via email. I can't wait!
   
   
3. I'm really getting into being healthy inside and out especially with skincare and haircare products. Many many more blog posts (and much more) to come on that. Watch this space.
   
   
4. Check out Fitter London's Matt Whitmore's weekly workouts HERE. They're really good :)

Hope you're doing well and working hard towards being healthy all round... we can do it!

Have a nice week :)

I'm famous... LOL

Matt Whitmore of Fitter London is the new Fitness Expert on iVillage UK and I was his demo-girl in the video below:



I'm also in the current issue of FAB magazine and of course I took a picture ;)

Hope you're all doing well... and working hard towards being healthy all round, especially mentally and emotionally.

I've convinced a couple of friends to attend one of the Fitter London kettlebell classes I teach on Wednesday evenings... if you're in London and want to try one out, send me an email or just leave a comment :) All classes can be found here: Fitter London Timetable

(RE: Emails I haven't replied yet... I dont' know why a lot of emails go into my junk mail. In the future - Could you please leave a comment telling me you've sent an email so I'll check asap and add you to my Safe List.)

Happy Monday! :)

A Healthy, Stress-Free Mind... is very important

I decided to put up this post because I had a really bad day a couple of days ago - I'm fine now, no need to worry ;) I was in the worst of moods (might have something to do with the "time of the month" or maybe I was just feeling sorry for myself).

I had a bad night's sleep, I woke up exhausted and had to get to the gym in time to teach a Fitter London class. I enjoyed teaching and by the end of the class, my mood was lifted. But I couldn't train... my friend offered to train me right after the class and I just couldn't get the enthusiasm to do it... that morning I didn't have breakfast - my mind just wasn't in the right place.

I've had days like this... some people use exercise to take their minds of things - this works for me 10% of the time. I remember having an argument with a friend many years ago - recalling what I'd read about exercise being a release from stress, I decided to go for a run - BAD idea! A couple of minutes into my run, I was even angrier... mad at people who didn't get the h*ll out of my way, mad at the British weather for being so annoyingly cold and just angry! So... I stopped running and walked back home.

When my mind's not in the right place, I'm not able to focus. I'm at my best when :

• I've had 7-8 hours of sleep
• My friendships/relationships are all ok
• I don't have problems - work, life, etc
• I'm just not stressing

I can eat very healthy, very clean (no processed foods, etc) and train really hard <--- which really should result in a really healthy and fit person *always*, right? BUT on days I'm stressed, my training sessions are the most disappointing ever, I am less motivated to eat well and I just feel rubbish.

I know it's not easy to "switch off" stress or negativity but what I'm trying to work on is to not allow myself get stressed as often as I do... I try to remember the good things that I have in my life e.g. I'm lucky I found something I'm so passionate about and was brave enough to make the career change, I have great friends (well, most of them, haha!) and I am healthy. But I sometimes let the stress overwhelm me, I'll keep focusing on the positives though...

I'm very far from it but I'm soooo working on it. Hope you are too :)

PS Lack of Sleep and Stress have been known to cause weight gain... isn't that enough of a reason to avoid them? ;)

Goat Curry Recipe

A couple of weeks ago, I made Goat Curry and tweeted about it. Vickii saw it and demanded that I share the recipe.

Well, the problem with that is - I am rubbish with recipes. I just cook and go - since I made my first pot of stew years ago (omg, I'm OLD, lol), I've never been one to measure/weigh my ingredients.

I decided I'd do this right and keep an eye on measurements the next time I made it (Monday morning).

I have to apologise in advance - I was so tired so I took a couple of pictures when I started but forgot to take at the end plus I almost forgot I was cooking and was VERy close to burning it, lol! Vickii, see what I do for my friends ;)

Yes Coconut Milk is high in fat, and goat meat contains fat too BUT these are both good sources of fat (especially compared to all the unhealthy sources of fat out there). The saturated fat in coconut is "good" saturated fat as it is easily metabolized to give the body quick energy.

Goat Curry Recipe

Ingredients
1.2kg of goat meat
1 400ml can of Coconut Milk (the thicker the better)
1 Red Onion
2 x Maggi Cubes
Mixed Herbs
Ginger
4-5tbsps of Hot Curry Powder
Optional: Vegetables e.g. bell peppers

1. Chop onion, peel and grate ginger and add to a pot with the goat meat + maggi cubes and a couple of cups of water.
2. Leave to boil on medium to high heat for 30 minutes. By this time the meat is slightly chewy (yes I take a small piece out to taste).

3. At this point, you should have thick stock/broth from the meat.
4. Add the entire can of coconut milk to the boiling pot of meat + stock, leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

5. The milky contents of the pot should be creamier, if it's not, don't worry too much.

6. Add the curry powder and leave to cook for 15-20 minutes. (This is when I should have taken a picture but I didn't, sorry!)


On this day, I didn't use vegetables because.... yep, I was tired ;) If you choose to use vegetables, add them right before adding the curry powder as you don't want them to get too mushy.

Next time I make this, I'll take more pictures :)