Daily Food Diary and SAS log

Sorry running a little behind but here is Thursday ❤️

I made my own veggie pot noodle which was amazing and the recipe will be on my YouTube channel.

If you have any questions please leave me a comment x 

Daily food diary and SAS log

Another fab day guys, Feeling good! 

Alpro go on (1.5 syns) & orange to start the day.

Zoats (courgette oats) for breakfast. Cooked blueberries 2 syns for 100g & 2.5 syns for cocoa powder.

Spinach, Kale, Mango and kiwi smoothie for a snack. 2.5 syns for smoothie mix and 1 cup of almond milk and filled the rest with water and ice. 

Lunch was mince, GF pasta, tomatoes and spinach.

Dinner was Salmon, rice, courgette, pak choi & butternut squash chips.

Dessert was skinny cow lolly for 6 syns.

Ending the day on 14.5 syns!

Follow me on Instagram x 

Getting back on track – daily food diary

So guys I’ve been so off plan it’s unreal. Two weeks ago I gained 9lbs shocking! But I went through a lot and my binge eating has been out of control.

Two days ago I managed to get some strength and motivate myself to get back on track properly. I got an SAS log and using my planner from Little Things Planners. So I thought it would be great to share with you my daily meal plan. I am also doing insta stories (videos) going through the food and diary as to how I use it so make sure you follow me on Instagram 😉

Tuesday meal plan

So I’m not doing great having my full hexa. I find it hard because no vegan cheese is hexa and I don’t drink all the almond milk. So something to work on. With the SAS log I’ve realised I’m writing after I eat, like way after so I need to reflect and change that. I must admit I’m super hungry but that’s adjusting to being back on plan and getting used to what I can eat on the fodmap diet within slimming world. 

Also the dots on the page represents toilet habits! I hadn’t poo’d in over a week so this was awesome! So I need to see how many times I go and how long between. IBS is not fun.

Any questions please leave them below. 

Thanks guys and remember!

Never Stop & Stay Strong x 

Calling all Coffee Lovers | Littles Review

A coffee a day keeps the dr away? I’m sure I read that somewhere once! I can’t start my day without a coffee so what better way that a beautifully flavoured coffee that is 2 cals per cup and syn free if you are on slimming world.

Did you know that coffee can help in your diet?

According to this piece on the NHS “coffee can make you live longer” and “Drinking three to five cups of coffee a day could help people live longer, new research has found,” The Independent reports. 

It goes on to say that the study cannot prove cause or effect and that people who drink five cups of coffee a day are no more likely to have died. There are stats and numbers on that article if you like that sort of thing, so go check it out.

I‘m not claiming miracles here but the fact that you CAN enjoy coffee without the worries that are displayed in he media make me a happy bunny. 

Little’s are a small independent company that truly deliver on their products. Being low cal, syn free and no added sugar, they take pride in creating coffee for everyone. Even down to the advertising and product design, compared to large brands they’re stealing the show ❤️ 

These are the flavours I have tried;

• Island Coconut 
• Rich hazelnut 
• Spicy cardamom
• French Vanilla
• Swiss chocolate 
• Maple walnut

With each coffee I got a taste for the time of day I liked it. I prefer different types of coffee throughout the day, maybe that’s the coffee snob in me or I just like varied flavours, you decide 😉 but for me in the morning I loved French Vanilla, it is a light and refreshing coffee and sets me up for the day. In the evening I loved having Maple Walnut or Swiss Chocolate. Maple walnut has an amazing nut aroma whereas Swiss chocolate with almond milk, tasted like chocolate so it gave me my sweet fix without using syns. I found if I didn’t use milk you couldn’t taste the chocolate, it was more like a rich black coffee.

What I love is my diet has changed slightly and I am following the fodmap diet and mixing it with slimming world. The fodmap diet is for IBS and you are basically gluten and dairy free by I’m going to explain it in another post. So there’s a lot of foods limited, including some coffees but what I find is fantastic, Little’s coffee is completely fodmap safe, so I am over the moon with that! I can still enjoy my favourite coffee without worrying.

Now I have finished all my coffee, it feels like I have went through it really quickly but I do love my coffee ☕️💜.

If you would like to order your own pop over to We Are Littles website and use the code JUSTJULIE10 for your own discount 🙌🏻 

**I am a Little’s Ambassador but I have given my honest opinion on the coffee. I will only ever share products with you that I love and have purchased previously. I do not receive anything for sharing the discount code, not sponsored or affiliated, it is purely there for you to receive a wee discount on your order.

Check out my YouTube channel for more!

Feeling like a Sunday mornin’

Morning everyone!

Today I made myself a new breakfast from the cook book Gut Feeling. If you follow me on Instagram and YouTube you will know I’ve had to change my diet to a fodmap diet for IBS. So trying to make it work with Slimming world is tough but I’m working on making it work.

So today’s breakfast;

• 40g oats (HexB)
• 170mls almond dark chocolate (part hexa)
• Cinnamon (free)
• Raspberries (1/2 syn for cooked)
• 5g flaked almonds (1 syn)
• 1 tbsp linseed (3 syns)

This was absolutely beautiful! Surprisingly so, but the best thing about it is, I am having no problems with my gut! So hopefully this will be a nice addition.

Yes it is a lot of syns but right now I can’t have chocolate or nice treats. I can’t have any gluten products to diary so it is testing. I’m trying my hardest though.

Let me know your favourite breakfast in the comments below and if you follow another diet along with slimming world I would love to know too.

Until next time guys,

Never Stop & Stay Strong 💪🏻

Be Happy Book by Sophia Husbands

Hey guys! So recently I’ve hit a low in my life. Having a mental illness, I am up and down all the time but I’m so fed up and I want to try to do things productively and try and pull myself out of it quicker than months at a time.

I reached out to Sophia and I asked her could I put her book into practice to see if it can actually help in my quest for happiness or to see things differently. Sophia is lovely and so down to earth, I even asked her to sign my book and she did, which was so lovely of her! 

I read the book and I’ve reread it. It’s a simple book to read with beautiful illustration the whole way through it. It is definitely more appealing than most “self help” books. I wanted to make notes through the book and actually use it when I am feeling bad, so then I can actually give you an honest review of situations and how I used it to help me. This has taken some time, unfortunately with mental health things can take longer to do and to focus on, I want to make sure I did it right before jumping right in. 

So the book ❤️

Right away I was met with a quote in the book;

Living life on your terms

Right away I had a click moment, so often I don’t live my life on my terms, I always adjust to other people’s, making sure they’re happy but never myself. Why is that? Maybe it’s how I was brought up but I know this is something I need to work on. I would love to build my strength and living life on my terms, with boundaries and being happy; that doesn’t seem to hard or does it?

Sophia explains a bit of her story and I felt like I had written it myself. It was relatable and I felt like I was talking with a friend going through some stuff. The words she used like “I appear to be a happy person and have a nice smile”, I must admit I get people saying to me all the time you appear to be a happy person always smiling, I even had the nickname smiler when I was younger and it’s funny that a few people who watch me on YouTube call me that name too, unfortunately it’s far from the truth. 

I had high hopes from this moment onwards.

I wanted to highlight this important message. We are so bogged down with what are the social media norms and how we view ourselves, this is why the body positive movement took off and as a photographer I delve into gender policitcs and how the social constructs of the media influences the female body. We need to love our bodies and celebrate ourselves because if we don’t, no one else will.

The book looks at being honest, taking a look at your life and if you’re not happy; you have a baseline to work to transform.

Sophia refers to when she lost her dad and what he said to her. My experience, when my mum past she told me she didn’t live a good life, she told me she settled and was unhappy. Knowing my mother was dying in front of me and then knowing she was so unhappy still breaks my heart, she was taken to soon anyway but knowing this, still kills me to this day. I always said I didn’t want to feel what my mum did but for over 10 years I’ve been unhappy, part of it can’t be helped but part for it I can try, try new techniques, complete my therapy and using guides like this, I have felt positive about it. I don’t want my kids to be at my death bed and know I hated my life. I need to change that…NOW.

You have tasks in the book to guide you into the answer you are longing for. These are straight forward questions, no leading questions and it insists you be honest with yourself. These are not for anyone to see but for you to do in private, be honest and the answers you give will help you take the next step to transform yourself.

I’m not going to lie this was hard, why is it so hard to be honest with ourselves? I know why, I felt selfish, guilty, destressed and upset. I felt all these emotions even though it was for me to help me to become happier but in turn I worried I would upset someone else, that I shouldn’t put myself first, that I should be grateful instead of complaining; goodness the list is endless. I had to step backwards then I realised if this is making me truly unhappy, then my family isn’t getting the best version of me, so in turn I need to change things that will make me happier and then maybe everyone can be happier too. I want to live for myself as much as I life for my family.

Change your thoughts and transform your world. -Richard Llover

As I go further into the book there are more tasks to do from writing lists of people who do not uplift you to, gratitude, play and set a date. Each one serves a purpose. It makes you look at each aspect of your life an evaluate it. Some are easy and some are not.

For example: one task is to have a list of people’s names who do not uplift you and delete them from Facebook. This should be a simple task but my situation is a little more complex and as I look at the unfriend, I can’t do it to everyone so I’ve taken a baby step and hit unfollow, so we are still friends but I will no longer see them in my feed.

I could go through all the things that this book has helped me with but I won’t or maybe I should do some separate detailed posts in the future for each time I use the book for help or guidance.

I’ve enjoyed going through this book, it has been hard and at times I’ve had to walk away and then go back to it. It makes me realise I’ve put the steps in motion, when something is too much to take myself away from the situation without guilt and go back once I’m ready to do so.

Once I’ve done a task I like ripping the paper up and binning it. It is a like a removal of negative energy.

I do believe this book has steps in it that are easy to do and understand. It makes you dig deep and harness thoughts, emotions and teachings techniques to deal with situations. Of course it doesn’t have all the answers, everyone is unique and has a different prescriptive. 

I would suggest that if you are using the book, to not use it when you’re feeling extremely vulnerable, I say this because when you are able to pinpoint parts in the tasks it could upset you and if you do not have a support system around you, your mood could drop. I only mention this because I feel I have a duty of care, knowing about mental health and dealing with it, doing something when feeling low isn’t a great idea unless you have a friend, carer, parent or partner close so you can have help or a cuddle afterwards. 

I would highly recommend this book. I think it is a great tool to help you on your way to happiness. I don’t say that lightly either as I know how important this is. 

Things I’ve learned from the book

• To be consistent 
• Be honest
• Set goals
• Be true to myself
• To stop worrying if I don’t get things right the first, second or third time!
• To keep practicing what I learn
• Be patient
• It’s ok to cut people out of your life
• It’s ok to cry

You can find Sophia on her website, Facebook & Twitter.

Until next time;

Never Stop & Stay Strong x