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 :)

Get Trimmer... With A Little Help From Your Friends (+ Family)

Hi :)

Recent occurences have reminded me about some obstacles I faced when I made the decision to lose the extra 40+ pounds I had been carrying around for a few years. I don't mean everyday temptations in restaurants or supermarkets - I'm talking about my friends + family.

People in our lives sometimes aren't aware of how influential they are:

• Unsupportive Comments
  I remember cooking chicken with the skin still on, then using the stock to cook my brown rice (which I absolutely couldn't stand and this was the way I found it barely edible). I usually took the skin off the chicken at this point because it was easier that when it was uncooked. Next step was to make my "WW Stew". In my opinion (then and now), this was a much healthier way of cooking than how I used to. So you can imagine how discouraged I was when my friend saw me draining the stock to cook the rice and said, not in a nice way, "I hope you're aware this is pointless because the fat from the skin is in the chicken stock". This might not seem like a big deal but I was *very* discouraged after this because I really did think I was doing very well (and the scales were proving that!)
  
  
• Flaunting Unhealthy Eating Habits
  We all have those friends who can eat anything and everything and still look amazing (not fair! lol!). Good for them (*rolling eyes like I'm not envious*) but not so good for me at that point in my life. I wasn't expecting them to change their eating habits but I'd have really appreciated them making an effort not to inhale a bar of chocolate while I was munching on an apple and then proceed to offer me some of it... I mean, seriously??!!It would have been nice not to have people turn their noses up when I offered them some of my healthy food... but oh well, the world didn't revolve around me... although it does now! ;-)
  

My Mummy (May Her Beautiful Soul Continue To Rest in Peace - Amen) was so supportive - although I must admit she told me I was too skinny when she initially saw me (back home for Summer after a few months on WW at Uni). I told her what I could and couldn't eat and I'll never forget the first time she came back from the market with skinless chicken fillets because she'd seen me take off the skin from the chicken we had at home. My Mummy was amazing and I know you all have people like this in your life.

It really helps to have your loved ones embrace your journey to good health and it's even more helpful to witness them learn that you can still enjoy your meals minus the excessive aounts of oil, sugar, etc. It's such a good feeling :)

Some people don't realise so maybe you have to let them know how you feel...

Anybody Out There....?

Hi

I know I haven't updated in a couple of weeks but I promise I have valid excuses:

• My broadband service at home just died on me :( I spent an hour on the phone with Sky on Monday evening testing my line and.... NOTHING. Apparently my telephone line magically stopped recieving broadand signal. My "case" has been escalated and Sky, bearing in mind I specifically asked that they call my mobile phone, called my house phone and I was not home. Aaaarrrggghhh
• I had some work to do outside London most of this week but I'm back now :)
• And soo much work to do for myself and of course Fitter London.

To show how much I care, I'm in Pret right now typing up this blog post.

Coming soon - more Get Trimmer posts, haircare and skin care, and more...

Enjoy your weekend, stay healthy, dont over indulge on the weekend and... if like me, you like chocolate - opt for 70% (or more) dark chocolate as it contains less of the fillers (sugar, etc) and more of the real stuff (cocoa) - Great tip from a well-read (who's tried and tested most of what she advises) Nutritionist, Keris Marsden of Fitter London.

Until my next post..... enjoy :)

PS Just got this response from someone who attended the Fitter London Kettlebell class I teach on Friday mornings in Broadgate: "I am really enjoying the classes and find you very enthusiastic in what you are doing" <-- These are the kind of comments that keep me going :) Oh an someone who read my article on Bella Naija (Sept 30th) now attends my classes, how COOL is that?!

Workout/Spin Track of The Week

Week #5

Beyonce 'Get Me Bodied'.

Another Beyonce track, I know... Although week 3's was a Destiny's Child song.

I love the beats to this and this is a GREAT track for spin :)

This track was released in July 2007 (from Beyonce's 'B'day' album). I'm playing it in my classes this week as it's my birthday week ;)