All posts filed under: Food + Body + Lifestyle

Too Much Too Soon

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Sometimes we want to bounce back from various facets of life that have temporarily put the brakes on things.  For me, I found myself under the weather (as you will see in the below video diary) just shy of my 6 weeks post surgery.  Life had to resume to some form of normality (well so I thought) and I was jumping out of my skin to get everything in terms of family life and routine back on track, after I’d been down and out from my second diagnosis of breast cancer and my subsequent surgery for a bilateral mastectomy – I was just craving normal. Goes to show, if we ‘jump’ too soon, our body will certainly pull us up.  Here’s my diary about the message my body sent me to ‘woo up’!  You just can’t rush some things – patience is a virtue!   Slow things down if your body is telling you it needs a break!! Love Bec x

What’s Your Grocery Game?

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Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly? Do you enjoy Grocery shopping? [Me: “Hell No”]. In my ‘Single Mumma’ days, I was paid fortnightly, so I shopped fortnightly. When Hubby and I moved in together, we lived in central which meant we just went daily, we’d take in turns and get whatever we needed on demand. Mind you, neither of us would ever walk away from our daily shops spending any less than one ‘Pineapple’ ($50). I’ve also tried weekly shopping, online shopping, online/pick up. I’ve had routines that have worked and others where we spent way too much [i.e. choosing extra things we didn’t need and weren’t on the list] or, having a huge amount of wastage and filling a big garbage bag full of veggies we didn’t end up using [wastage is a pet hate of mine]. The verdict… I’m going to share with you, ‘My Grocery Game’ – Tips and tricks where I have had the greatest success. I’m not just talking about saving money and minimising wastage, I’m talking about the ‘practicality’. What suits our …

Do You Struggle to Stay on Track?

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  Do you need a little girl power?  A little inspiration to get you moving?  Keep you moving?  Or, do you need someone who is cooking a deliciously nutritious meal to post a picture so at that very moment, you decide that you might hit the kitchen and reach for the fresh ingredients instead of ordering pizza? I realised that I was relying on myself to get me going!  Promising myself things that I was not delivering on… Starting the week brilliantly and then failing miserably – with NO accountability.  Sure I get disappointed in myself, but then I might pat myself on the back, say “It’s ok, there’s always next week” [as I eat my second mint slice and a cup of coffee before bed]… coffee before bed… #notsmart What if instead of hitting the choccy biscuits, I reach out and chat to my ‘Accountability Club’ so that I can find some inspiration and strength to have another go instead of wallowing in self defeat.  You never know, there might be someone else sitting with …

Packing Away the Silly Season

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[Originally published in ENLIGHTEN – ISSUE NO. 2] You know when you realise enough is enough… when you’ve felt it for a long time, yet you seem to grant yourself permission to continue to defy what is important. You talk yourself around to avoid guilt, and you inevitably continue to sabotage yourself… Why? Because, “Heck, you deserve to have fun.” Right? [… well at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself… just one more drink, just one more piece of cheese]. When the ‘fun’, the ‘silly season’ and the ‘summer lovin’ indulgence flows well and truly into the New Year, you begin to feel sluggish. Let me tell you what I’m talkin’ about (my mum and I had some fun and made a poem)… ‘ tis the season To be jolly French champagne   And Christmas holly Chocolate and cocktails Celebrating with friends… No time for thoughts   As the BELLY DISTENDS Festivities continue… With delicious food, This keeps us all In a festive mood!   Perhaps it’s because I’ve not yet packed down my …

Dear Mind + Body

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You can see the foreword to this journal entry   >>>HERE<<< 23 October 2015 Dear Diary, And I said this to my body… “I want to be your friend” It took a long breath and replied… “I have been waiting my whole life for this” I read the above this morning on Instagram. So simple… so beautiful. It is time for my mind and body to make amends and to become friends again. I want my mind and body to be succinct; I want them to interact positively, to have fun and to feel free in a loving and accepting relationship with one another. I want the mind to have more confidence and acceptance of the body, I want the mind to have respect and admiration for the body and I want my body to have patience with my mind as it learns to love and accept itself as a whole once more. I want this relationship to be unconditional. My body endured cancerous cells multiplying and invading my lymph system, it helped show me …

Does your mind get along with your body?

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I’ll start by saying this… I’ve (my mind) been quite the bitch to my body over the years. Do you get along with your body? Does your body get along with your mind? In other words, do you have a healthy relationship with yourself? Do you put yourself down? Do you wish you were different? Do you ever look in the mirror with disgust? Do you ever hate your reflection? Do you feel pain within? Have you ever felt disconnected and not at ease? Not balanced? Not happy with yourself? I could answer yes to each and every question above. I HAVE answered yes to each and every question above (in the past)! Last year, during what I call my ‘bad year’, which was post treatment, I became incredibly unbalanced and disconnected from myself. I was confused, I was suffering from post-traumatic distress and I had truly lost myself, and everything I once believed in, actually, I didn’t know what I believed in, I was in a vortex that made me feel like I no …

Bikini Syndrome

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What is ‘Bikini Syndrome’? I suffer from it, do you? Do you hold your breath? Are you tense without even realising? You are probably suffering from what’s called Bikini Syndrome. This is a new term to which I fell in love with yesterday at yoga. Whilst it’s a new term (to me), it’s not a new concept in terms of what it means. When practicing yoga yesterday morning, Danny Freemantle of Divine Wellbeing, made a little joke and named something that all of us do from time to time – if not all the time. We were starting the class with some breathing techniques to warm our bodies. He said, “Breathe… all the way into your stomach, and let your stomach go.” It’s true I need to consciously let my stomach go, otherwise I just breathe into my chest area, leaving my stomach to remain tense or flexed. As I was breathing and releasing my stomach area, I embraced the breath which allowed me to completely let go and relax – Danny elaborated on letting …

Nine to Five

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This is not about work, this is not about the daily 9’am’ to 5’pm’ grind… Who hates mornings? Or, should I say dislike [I discourage my kids from using the word hate, I say it’s “too strong of a word”]? Who pulls the covers up under their chin when the alarm goes off? Who presses snooze button once… twice? Fifteen times? Pick me, pick me!!! Yep… I am the ‘snooze’ button queen. Though, forever the optimist! Every night… every single God damn night, I tell myself that I am going to get up early and do all the things a perfect morning should entail. Ask my husband and he will most certainly attest that EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT, I advantageously set my alarm for 6am. Do I get up? Hell no – like I said, I’m the snooze queen and I am the one that presses that button fifteen times! How can one have so much ‘hope’ of an early rise, yet time and time again, fails to do so? Of course there’s been the odd …