Cheat (Treat) Night

 When I started the cleanse and started blogging, my friend Emma shared her story with me and introduced me to the concept of the cheat night. Tonight I can easily say that it was cheat night, and I can't say I enjoyed it. I am 4 days through the other side of my 2 week cleanse, and am facing so many challenges now, than I did during the initial cleanse period. The cleanse seems like a dawdle, in comparison to the 4 days passed.


I want to share with you all a few things that have occurred for me over the last 4 days that are really excellent lessons that I have learn't about food and eating for myself in that they might help you if you are thinking about eating rubbish food. Thats right folks!! I have been a guinea pig for you all in the name of "Finding Health" and I can definitely say that the tests I have been conducting have been a win and a big fat old FAIL.


As I write this, my level of energy is extremely less so that the last two weeks based on the fact that my dinner was RUBBISH this evening. I have been at a pot luck dinner and disco at my sons Kindy. Claire made a beautiful quiche type dish, packed with veg and egg. Un/fortunately we were able to bring home half of it! The fact that there was half left over meant that all of the chicken and pizza and hot chips and deep fried treats were readily smashed down the gate. As a consequence of the lack of healthy food options (and I wasn't prepared) I indulged, filled my boots and now my tummy is paying the price. I feel bloated, I feel grumpy, I have an awful taste in my mouth and a very good lesson learned. 


Lesson 1 - Shitty food is not worth the energy it takes to lift it from the plate to your mouth and it does nothing good for your body.


The other thing I have discovered is that the refined sugar in food tastes so artificial and fake. I have eaten this week 2 oat cookies, 1 small slice of chocolate cake, a peanut slab and a wee honey ricey's cake (home made). The two cookies and cakes were eaten along side of fruit and the fruit won as far as taste went. I had a small slice of cake this morning at break and the sugar nearly blew my head off and the headache that came after was a pain in the arse. Sugar highs are mud, and it made me think of what they must do to kids. I had a peanut slab last night. This used to be an old favorite. After being quite excited about eating it, I can honestly say that I was under whelmed with the over all experience.


Lesson 2 - Sweet food doesn't taste as good as the idea that its going to taste amazing. I am better off snacking on a couple of dried apricots, dates and some almonds. 


The good work that I have done prior to now has yielded some really excellent results for me. I am sleeping better, I am feeling less lethargic (although tomorrow might be a little different), when my body is hungry I am reaching for fruit and veggies and nuts and seeds as opposed to chocolate bars and cookies, and I still haven't felt the need to caffein-ate myself at all. I am even craving a nice fresh RAW power salad, with carrot, beetroot and the likes. WIN

Tomorrow is always another day and I am looking forward to getting back on track, and not that I have deviated that far off it to begin with, I am kind of walking on the grass verge of healthy street today. Time to stop being a health tourist and get amongst it. Cheat day has been interesting,  a learning curve and a day that I can commit to the past. Tomorrow is another day, ending in Y, and I love days ending in Y. Be kind to yourself, eat some tasty fruit

Done and Dusted.. For Now

I have bloody well done it. I can't tell you that I didn't enjoy it.. in fact I have loved it. The hard work starts now though and I am feeling a little bit nervous about tomorrow. So many choices, so many obstacles and so many CHOICES!!!

It is interesting the word "choice". Often it is attached with such battles and trepidation. Choice is such an existential concept, easy to understand and one that is the most powerful thing that each and every human being has. Its almost like a muscle that needs flexing to combat and strive against all of the learned and automatic behaviors we possess, unless of course those choices are all ready being helpful to us in the way we are living our lives, each and every day, hour, minute and second.

One thing that I learnt over the last two weeks is that conscious choice has been a helpful allie in the face of adversity. Too often in my busy life I have been guilty of just taking the easy option, with out taking time to consider the consequence of which path the easy option was taking me. And it is ironic that I took a similar journey nearly four years ago when I decided to stop smoking.

Like anything, conscious choice takes a bit of practice and you have to want to get to know your self in relation to what your doing and why you are doing it. In the last 14 days during the cleanse I had already decided months before starting, that I wanted to give my body and mind a bit of a food vacation, and a rest from the daily unhealthy routine I had been subjecting myself to. Practicing conscious choice really starts with the moments just before doing something and pausing a moment before acting, to see if it fits with what you are doing (over all speaking). If it doesn't then you can chose to either change the action or continue with the original action. Simple as.....

Tomorrow I am definitely practicing a conscious choice to eat meat (and i cant wait), to drink plenty of water, to be mindful in my interactions with people I meet in the day, to be grateful for everything that is good, bad, and indifferent, and the list of conscious choices I will commit too tomorrow, goes on and on. Some of the choices I make how ever, will be automatic and thats just they way it is aye?

On a couple of notes on the last 14 weeks.. I said I was going to post some before and after measurements of me, and unfortunately I completely forgot. I can tell you though that I have shed a little under 4kg s, my jeans are telling me I may need a new pair that actually fit. I need a new belt too which is pleasing. I am definitely experiencing a better level of energy, and as a consequence feel like I have been more productive, spending less time on the couch and more time keeping things going, and getting schtuff done.

I said yesterday that I was going to post some links to some web sites and that, the first one I have found useful has been this one.  If you can get passed the American cheese and get through the trailer, I think you ill find the movie an interesting watch. It certainly piqued my interest to start investigating what I have been eating and what I could potentially be eating and what my body could be missing out on. More links will follow in the next few days

The absolute best thing I have gained from my 2 weeks health experiment is that I have rekindled my love affair with nutritious, healthy food. That has to be good for not only me but my family too. I am going to have a couple of days off the writing the blog thing so I promise to post something on Wednesdayso see you then.  Oh yeah and the wonderful Kauia will be starting a blog soon too.. She has some amazing ideas and I am eternally grateful to her for sharing with me, her brilliant food knowledge and ideas. Could you have a brilliant Monday please? would ya? Please..

Nearly done.. easy does it

I am sitting here keeping an eye on the code and reflecting on a near successful 14 day challenge and am feeling pretty chuffed. I have managed to cut dairy, bread, and meat out of my diet for 2 weeks. I haven't had a coffee in two and haif weeks. I haven't even had a beer. And I know for absolute certain my body has really appreciated the break.

There is definitely a change in the wind in my home now. When we did the family shop today we spent bugger all time in the aisles, and avoided all of the processed stuff, bar a couple of tinned items like chick peas and tomatoes. Spent some time at Veggie Boys in Dunedin today as well and saved a good $20 on fresh veggies. I would suggest checking them out. The fridge is fully stocked again and It is choice.

I have discovered that it is really easy to get into the habit of eating well if you give yourself the chance and stay focussed on what you're trying to achieve. Focusing on that objective (what ever that may be) in the face of pies and chips and chocolate has helped immensely. I urge you to give a week a go... and if you do make sure you get some time to prepare and stock your cupboard with some healthy natural treats. When you have a pantry full of good food, you can't balls it up unless you make the choice to take your hand to pick up the shitty food and move that food and put it in your mouth.

I am looking forward to my first beer next week. I think I am going to make it an Emmersons Pilsner. And getting back to some normal eating, the key is going to be, to just introduce a bit of meat and dairy back into the diet gradually. I am looking forward to it. I am unashamedly a carnivore. Another thing I am looking forward to also is my cholesterol test. At the beginning of 2011 it measure in the low 8s and this was concerning. Through exercising regularly I was able to get it down to just under 5 over a period of 6 months. It will be interesting to see the difference. I have lost approximately 3 and a half kg s. and when I can get to exercise a wee bit more than I am  now I expect that to improve too.

Tomorrow is day 14 and I am going to have a wee treat with some poached eggs on mushrooms. In my final post tomorrow I will post some links to some helpful websites, some recipes and also some links to information on some of the super foods that are lurking around, and that I have been trying to eat as much of as I can. Happy Saturday people, hope you get a lie in come the morning.

More of the Same

Exciting today!! I managed to get through another cleanse day unscathed, and in tact and feeling better as the days get on. I felt tired for the first time this evening when I sat down after a day in the office and a couple of hours behind the gat and mic. The cool thing I have found tonight though is that I know i need to get  my arse into gear and be ready.

There is nothing much to report today other than I have been around party food and beer tonight and I had soda water and took a few snacks with me, and that challenge was easily aced. The habits of eating well are starting to cement and I am happy to see that the bi product of shedding a couple of kg s has happened too.

I am missing meat. Last night Claire had roasted the boys some chicken. the pan was sitting there on the bench with the little bits of left overs in there. It took all of my strength and will power refrain from picking and gobbling up that bird. I am happy I stayed true to the cause.

Any hoo... thats all I have to say today. I am on track to blitzing the 14 day cleanse challenge and am feeling amazing as a consequence. No energy spikes and lulls through out the day. I am still getting the odd sweets and carbs (chips) cravings while I am at the office. The difference to the 3 week ago Graeme is that I can recognize them for what they are, just cravings, and they eventually go.

Lastly if you haven't already, and your a music lover, check out spotify, and if you love good music, check out this bloke. He is bloody good at what he does. Take it easy people. Its Friday tomorrow!

Phase Two Complete!!

I have completed the 5 day raw food phase of the 14 day cleanse (4 days to go!!) and celebrated with a little bit of roasted pumpkin and beetroot on top of my Raw Power Salad. It was very yum!! I have run into a bit of a panic this evening though, with the ensuing gig tomorrow with the close of evening rapidly approaching and no idea of the menu for tomorrow.

Throw together salad when your in the poo

As I have been saying all this time is that preparation is key and tonight I have been the very least prepared for tomorrow. Two weeks ago me would have pulled up a chair and had a wee sook about it and feel like a bit of a failure. It was time to think quick.

Briefly surveying the fridge, I spied some leafy greens, peppers, some red onion and silver beet. In the cupboard some seeds and dried fruit, a tin of chick peas and a few spices. Basically I was going to pinch bits and pieces from the recipes I had and make a frankendish.

I have cooked the chickpeas off with a little cumin and chilli and and wilted the silver beet in the pan. I chopped a little dried fruit added some seeds (sunflower and chia) and threw the lot in a wee container. I am going to dress it with a little salt and pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. I am well chuffed with myself, only because my culinary skill is limited to the odd roast, Nacho's and stir frys. Not tonight!! Tomorrows lunch and dinner is sorted!!! and it only took a matter of 20 minutes to throw together. I can honestly say hand on heart I have never eaten this much fruit and veg ever, and I think it is going to be very difficult to go back to my old ways. Time will tell of course. I am going to not worry about that now. What I will do is mindfully enjoy what I have achieved so far and sleep well. Go well..

Feeling Good About Feeling Good

Another cheese and cracker Monday survived and one more day to go on the raw food phase of this challenge. I have the majority of the days planned out but I have just realized that I have a couple of potential banana skins / eating challenges on the horizon. I am playing a gig for a friend on Thursday night and there will be beer and wine and food and the likes at this function. My plan is this........ To make enough food tomorrow night to take with me and eat during the break. I will have sparkling water if needed and enjoy the fact that I am getting to play some music. Click here to hear a little bit of what I do with my mates.

So more of the same today. Raw food and I have stocked up on the Raw Power Salad to make sure that lunch is as enjoyable as it was today. Honestly though I am really looking forward to some warmish meals and am likely to revisit the Roast Pumpkin treat that I had on day two. I can say that its very delicious and I could eat bowl after bowl of it. The key to the dish is that the dressing with a little bit of lemon juice in it brings out the beautiful flavors of the pumpkin and spinach.... to make it you do  this

Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin with Spinach and Cumin-spiced Chickpeas

Pumpkin chopped into small cubes

Garlic cloves

Cumin seeds

Spinach

1-2 cups cooked chickpeas

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

Fresh Coriander and fresh parsley

Roast pumpkin in oven with cumin seeds and garlic. Heat olive oil in a pan and add dried spice powders. When fragrant add chickpeas and cook for 5-10 minutes. Add washed spinach and wilt down (this salad also tastes great with fresh Spinach chopped through at the end, take your pick). Place in a bowl and cool till warm temperature. Add roasted pumpkin (also warm, not piping hot), fresh herbs and combine. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, S & P and your choice of sprinkles (chia seeds, nuts, seeds, etc etc).  - Kauia Moriarty

I am so fortunate to have a brother who is an amazing chef and super talented when it comes to making food look and taste superb. If you have ever had the pleasure of being cooked for by Joel, you know what I mean. This dish is something that he would definitely make and make well. This post is dedicated to you Joel, for inspiring me to get healthy, you are a wonderful brother, a phenomenal chef and a fantastic uncle to our wee grommets. Stay warm every one. Arohanui to all. 

Energy Abound!!

No explanation needed here folks. The end of the day used to consist of feeling like I was battling to get shit done, like the dishes at the end of tea, like popping a wee load of washing on, like writing a blog and being ready to go for my two wee boys. I would feel buggered, ready for bed but when I went to bed, I wasn't sleeping well when there was opportunity.

Last night I slept through. I can safely say that the lack of caffeine, will definitely have something to do with it, but I am also confident that with out all of the processed food and crap and daily cookies and chips and coffee and things would definitely, be messing me up, sleep wise and energy wise. So the proof is in the pudding. Better sleep = More energy = Happy.

Today is day three of the raw food phase of the 14 days. I have to say that the Cauliflower cous cous (recipe courtesy of MeghanTelpner.com) was a lot better today after spending a bit of time in the fridge. Mine didn't look anything like the picture but it tasted great and was really refreshing with all of the parsley and basil in it. The other thing I found out too is that you can get cherry tomatoes in a tin. Pams do a 400gm tin in tomato juice and the cherry's are in tact in the tin. It's comparatively cheaper too at $2.30 a pop as opposed to the winter price of a pottle at around 6 bucks at present. The other thing I found out about making this is that we need a proper food processer with an S blade. I cut the cauli by hand and it was a pain in the bum, but worth it later on.

Tomorrow I have the Super Raw Power Salad for Lunch tomorrow and the recipe is below. I love the fresh flavors in this one and the dressing combined with the sweetness of the fruits and beets gets my taste buds absolutely cranking.

 Super Raw Power Salad

1 grated Beet

1 large carrot grated

1/2 zucchini grated

Diced red cabbage

Spinach chopped

Handful soaked dried fruit

1/4 cup soak seeds and almonds (almonds chopped)

Dressing

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Diced 1/2 red onion

1 garlic clove finely chopped

Tsp raw honey

S & P

Sesame seeds

Combine all veg, dress and serve with a generous dollop of nut pulp hummus. 

8 Days done. 6 to go. I am starting to get a little nervous about what will happen post cleanse. I will follow my own advice and get cranking on a plan. After all thats going to help health win.

The Daily Lowdown: Whats the programme?

Week 1 is done!!!!! I am pretty wrapped. So, I thought I would share with you today, my typical eating arrangements in a day and let you in on a few tips on how to keep on keeping on when the carbs are calling . Obviously being prepared is a must in sticking to any (eating plan). Like with any plan, and having lists are key as. I bloody love lists, I even make lists of the lists I need to make sometimes... Is that weird?

So it is helpful to note too that I haven't done all of the planning and implementation by myself. In fact, when it comes to eating well, on track record, I am not the bloke that you would aks to help you out getting prepared to 14 day cleanse up a storm. Kauia has done the graft for me. She has put together the plans, researched the rationale, sussed out what has worked for her in the past, provided me with a big heads up as to what I might expect, and been really supportive before and during the first 7 days (and no doubt post cleanse too). I have nothing but gratitude for the effort and care that she has put into getting a plan together, that will work and that suits  a fast approaching 40 year old male, with too much telly time on his hands.

The day starts at about 6ish when the kids get up, and I have a largish glass of warm water, and then crack into smoothie making once the kids breakfast is on the table at around 7. This has been all I need until  about 10 when I will have a snack of maybe an Energy Date ball and a piece of fruit.

My body really knows when it is fast approaching lunch and i generally start clock watching 15 minutes til noon. In the weekends I eat lunch a little later but at work I try to eat at the same time each day. Lunch consists of last nights leftovers (tomorrow it will be Spicy Citrus and broc...).

In the afternoon around 3pm I have a a couple of pieces of fruit and maybe 10 almonds depending upon what is available at home. 3pm is traditionally a tough time of the day for most people as energy levels deplete. I have found that because I have been drinking plenty of water through out the day and having herbal teas at my leisure, I am not getting the same spikes and troughs of food related energy I used to, and that is noticeable after 7 days team. It just needs to continue, and I am sure it will.

Tea time is a treat. and happens around 5:30 which is when we all eat together in our house. The beauty of making tea is that you are fully aware of what is in your lunch box the next day. And that is part of the plan. On day one I had my food already to go sitting in the back fridge. After 4 days I started getting comfy about what I was eating and when and all I do now is that I check at about 5pm to see that I have enough of what I need to take the next day. Easy aye??

Obviously I have omitted all of the head mental stuff that is happening, and all of the 'busy' that is occurring too. Those two factors can completely fark a plan up. So if you are thinking about eating well the best thing you can do is be prepared and be mindful and present to the fact that you are doing something good for your self.

Footy and Herbal Teas....WTF

The temperature outside in fair Dunedin town is bloody freezing to say the least. I Am not worried, as the fire is cranking, and I worked out a while back that you can't change the weather so there is no point complaining about it. The kids are in bed and kind friends have leant us Sky TV for the week. That basically means that in the house of 262 its footy fever with the ABs on one channel, the Warriors on another and the remote control all mine. Nothing better to do than break out 2 or 3 little chocolate truffles, a dandelion tea and reflect on what has been an industrious and satisfying day.

At the end of day 6, it is weird sitting here, barracking for black with out a beer in my hand, but I am committed to the cause, and the cause is going well. I am becoming used to the subtleties of the herbal tea ranges, caffeine free of course, and my head is feeling less foggy, as a result of my body not having to cope with all the coffee, hidden sugars in processed food and the usual weekend beers. Along with meat though, beer wont be on the forever banned list.

Not the Berry Blunt but another smoothie The Tropical fruit Fix-up

I am really getting into the "smoothie" breakfast. I never thought I would buy into it because I just couldn't believe it would be filling enough. The one I am enjoying the most right now is the berry blunt, Courtesy of Kauia Moriarty, the talented designer of my 14 day food plan of attack. Check out this easy recipe.

The Berry Blunt

Stalk of Celery

Two handfuls – Spinach 

Water

Cup frozen or fresh berries

tsp Chlorella

Tbls Chia seeds/ 2 Tbs ground flax seeds/ Tbs Hemp Protien

1 Banana 

2 Tbls Almonds/ Pumpkin seeds/ Sunflower seeds (preferably soaked)

Honey.

My instructions are "chuck it in a blender and drink it". I haven't been using the hemp protein or flax seeds (in the recipe), and you can really throw anything you want into the blender. Don't be put off by the color either. Its green, and green means good!!

Tonight I had a scrummy beet and carrot salad, which sounds boring but got jazzed up a bit with some dried fruit and almonds and a lovely citrus dressing. I am starting to enjoy the ritual of preparing and then devouring the healthy food, and so hopefully forming some good habits along the way. I will post the recipe tomorrow. 

I got out for a wee run this morning too which was the first in a month. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to peel off a few km's in the morning. If you are thinking of doing a cleanse thing like I am undertaking, you have to try and get some exercise habits under your belt. It really helps when your feeling like you might drop into the shop for a bag of chips. Walking or running or what ever you want to do exercise wise, really helps to keep your mind off what ever it is on, and obviously the benefits and well being that exercise gives you are choice.

Rugby and herbal tea don't really make a marketing match, but I am enjoying it. Day 6, (Raw phase day 1) done.

The Little Pies and Chocolate Test

I used to have a penchant for pies. Over the years I used to have a pie a day. At high school I would usually have a steak and cheese pie from the tuck shop, a can of fizz pop, and an iceblock, and maybe a bag of skittles for lunch. Improvements have been made on and off with my food intake over the years but never sustained. Until now. If my high school self could see my today self, it wouldn't recognise me, and I am completely comfortable with that.

I have hit day 5 of the cleanse feeling optimistic. I had negotiated my way through the first four days, it was Friday and I love any day that end in 'y'. When I got to the kitchen at work this morning to fill my water bottle, the bench was full of little savories, literally just spilling out on to the floor and out the door almost all of the way to my desk.. mountains of little pies and quiches... and then I remembered that it was someones birthday morning tea, and I was in the poo perhaps.

Luckily I had seen the email the day before warning me, and so I was prepared and was able to resist the temptation on several occasions. I enlisted the help of my colleague to eat my ones for me, and she did and I was very grateful. I even took a different route to the bathroom and lunch room to avoid temptation and the taunting, and the thoughts and the voices telling me "just one little pie wont hurt". 

To cap it all off today was the day I think my body realised it wasn't going to get what it was expecting and the symptoms of detox really started to kick in. I haven't been able to shake this head ache for most of the day, and I am breaking out like I used to when I was 14. To be honest I feel like arse, being a grumpy shit, and losing my cool, but I know its only temporary, like when you stub your toe or something like that. I can't wait to exercise in the morning.

The cool thing about the raw phase that I am starting tomorrow is that, all of the lovely little date energy balls and chocolate truffles are natural and raw. I dont mean to say that I am going to make a pig of myself and hammer a dozen of them, but more use them as a reward for all of my hard work. Instead of pooping off to the servo at 8 when the kids are in bed to grab a three for $5 chocolate bar deal, I am going to be eating one or two of these little bad boys.. recipe courtesy of 

http://www.anjasfood4thought.com

Avocado Chocolate Truffles

1/2 cup ground almonds (you can just grind your own in the magic bullet!)

1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 ripe avocado
Yields 15-18

Combine almonds, apricots, cocoa powder and cardamom in a food processor. Blend until it becomes a fine meal. Add syrup and avocado and blend again until well combined.
Form balls from the batter. If you can’t get avocados, these will still work. Give and take with the ingredients till it’s reached the right consistency to form balls. Roll each ball in raw cacao. 

Keep in airtight container in the fridge for up to three days (longer if you don’t use Avocado). Freezes well.

These little guys are the bizzo. and they are tasty and healthy. 

I am too far down the cleansing worm hole now to turn back so I think the best thin I can do right now is sit back and enjoy the Raw food  5 day ride, starting in the morning, with a delicious Berry Blast smoothy. I will share the recipe tomorrow, along with some of the key supplements/super foods  that can be helpful when you are giving one of these cleanse things a crack. Thank you to Kauia and Ryan for sending us the Cocoanut Oil and Chlorella Powder. I feel very lucky. and I just know that in the morning the kids are sleeping in too. 

Whats the Goal?

Just recently our work place devised a "biggest loser" type incentive for our office and a whole heap of people enrolled. Every one started off with a hiss and a roar and gave it a good crack.  Some people grabbed excellent results (losing 15% of body weight in 12 weeks) some, including me grabbed a result, whether it was a loss or a gain and I say results because the more I think about it, the result was the goal. To lose weight and body mass, and I did that. I really admire every one who enrolled in the incentive because every one had a unique set of reasons, feelings and motives for joining, and it took courage and a big jump outside their comfort zone to have a go.

Obviously to gain a favorable result I needed to change what habits I had around exercise and eating and over come a number of head mental challenges as well. I definitely exercised more with my running peeps and played football and walked the stairs at work. I started at 99.3 kg s and lost a total of 4 kg s or just under 4% in 12 weeks (the lowest I got down to was 94 kg s but I yoyo'd between there and 97 especially when the challenge was over). I was happyish with the result but I new I could do better. I had good days and bad days during the challenge. As you do. But it was too easy to pop over to the ware house and grab a bag of chips and a little cookie time cookie, or a kit kat from the vending machine and sate my brain with the sugar and carbs it was craving. And so with every week that went by during that challenge I started to realize the main factor for my weight fluctuations was the small movement of my hand to the food to my mouth.

Let me point out that the focus of this 14 day cleanse is definitely not about losing weight, more trying to adopt some better healthy eating habits so that I can feel a whole lot better in myself  and so that I can take care of what I need to (insert life here). Losing weight will no doubt will be a bi product result of healthier food choices for sure.  But the thing I am stoked about right now how as a family we are thinking more about healthier food choices and actively thinking about the  effect of putting shit food in our mouths and the mouths of our kids. Claire tonight made corn fritters tonight but used chickpeas in it to make them a little more healthier (I didn't have any though) and the kids devoured them.

Curried Carrot and Raisin Salad : Yum!!

So today has been about getting ready for the Raw phase of the programe and I am feeling pretty good about it now, that I had a delicious curried carrot and raisin salad (provided to me by Kauia via http://www.nataliakw.com). I really needed to try one of the Raw diner recipes to get a taste but I must remember to lay off the ginger in this one.

Phase two of the cleanse will require 5 days of raw food but the beauty of going raw is that I am already eating about 80% raw foods already!!

Over all I have had a better day, enjoying my food in the knowledge that I am doing a good thing for myself. I'm even going to try a new smoothie for breakfast. Just not sure which one yet.
By the way, I am loving the comments, words of encouragement and recipe's from you too. Thank you!! Keep them coming, and if you are thinking of giving something like this a go, you will, when you are good and ready. Arohanui

Tough Days Happen

I was feeling pretty gouda after my first two successful days on the cleanse buzz, but today has been a different experience and I am putting it down to a lack of sleep and my body telling me that it is quite tired from spring cleaning out the years of rubbish I have put in my mouth. It has been a cold old day which would usually mean that I would break out the comfort food, and enjoy. Its been a tough day.

I can safely say that I haven't strayed, although I ever so badly wanted to, but obviously not badly enough. The key to me keeping true to the fight is diversion, and I have been diverting like a fury, pausing, taking the stairs, twice, drinking water and thinking of the long term gain over a little fling with some form of some carb, sugar, or both. Snacks have been my savior on day three, and once again having a plan has been the key to keeping on track.

Below is the recipe of a little tasty treat that, in the company of fruit and or veggies, are like having a little piece of candy, but not filled with the usual sweet schtuff. It is called the Date Energy Ball. (One of the many recipie from Kauia's plan that I am following and from a blog by Sarah Brighton called mynewroots.blogspot.com )

Date Balls 

2 cups dates, chopped (or you can also use some raisins, prunes, apricots)
2 cups nuts (use walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds, but pecans, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias will also work well.)
Dash of cinnamon
Sesame seeds for rolling (optional)

1. Set out a few sheets of parchment paper and a Tupperware container (you will have very sticky hands when you’ll need this)
2. Place the dates and /or other dried fruits in a food processor. Pulse until processed to a paste. Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t clean processor).
3. Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the fruit paste. Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (this is the fun part – kids love it too!)
4. Taking small amounts at a time, shape the kneaded fruit dough into small balls. You can roll the balls in sesame seeds, which will prevent the balls from sticking together, but this is optional. I like the crunch it gives and the extra boost of calcium never hurts!
5. Store in layers, in parchment-lined containers in the refrigerator until you set off on your next energy.

These little buggers are really filling and I am having a couple of them with fruit as a snack in the morning and afternoon play lunch parts of the day. 

General diner tonight for the rest of the whanau today was meat loaf with spuds and mixed veg. The smell of the meat loaf was devine and made me realise that right now I am a vegetarian tourist. I am not sure I could turn my back for good on meat, but for now it is working for me and luckily this house is a bacon cooking free zone.

Hope the lethargy, slight head aches, and tetchiness start to subside. I know it will. I will let you know when the wellbeing well and truly kicks in................................ It's kicking in right now!!

Are you on a Health Kick or something??

Roast Kumara and Crunchy Red Veg Salad w/ Tahini Dressing

Day 2 of my 14 day food cleanse experiment has been an interesting little ride. I have been asked on several occasions today "are you on a health kick or something?" To which I have replied differently depending on who asked. My responses have been defensive, enthusiastic and sometimes a simple yes, each response prompting me to think about why I replied the way I did. It's weird the way I feel almost like I need to justify myself. The only justification/reason that I can logically come to is that I want to feel good, and I must say that I am starting to already. Yusssssssssss.

Our house hold was woken earlyish this morning at about 5:30am with the middle boy up and in 'go' mode (meaning noisy, boisterous and up for a Wiggle fest). I really admire his enthusiasm at 5ish. Hes a bit like me when I voluntarily wake up at that time. Food wise I felt like I couldn't wait to hit the blender and try out a new smoothie. This morning I tried out a wee cacau type smoothie with berries and banana and a base of celery and spinach, chia seed gel and a bit of water to lubricate the blender. I approached this smoothie with a little bit more vim and vigor than day one and will probably revisit it again in the morning.

A smoothie to start of day one, may have over done the spinach

Today was quite busy at work and so having all of my food prepared and planned was very helpful. I have been the "wait til lunch to decide what i am going to have" sort of guy for as long as I can remember and generally would end up with walking a block to the local to get the lunch time $4.50 chinese lunch box and a wee diet soda. Not today sir, no thank you!  As the day progressed towards  lunch I was even getting excited about the fresh veggie salad that was awaiting me, and the tahini dressing that was going to make it all the more tastier.

I have a very sweet tooth and luckily Kauia has designed some lovely fruit, nut, chocky treats that you only need one of. At about 7:30, 8 o'clock I start to get antsy and I am now realising that it is habitual more than anything else. To combat my craving I have implemented the old strategy of waiting for the urge to punch a wee kit kat or 4-5 bickies in my gob and rinse it down with a coffee (which only until recently would have a couple of tsp of sugar in it too).

Dinner tonight was exquisit, a roast pumpkin and garlic salad with chick peas and wilted spinach and silver beat dressed in lemon juice olive oil and some rock salt.....No doubt some meaty treats will go well with this, but post cleanse of course. Shit i just realised that I am going to be vegetarian for a whole two weeks Yeeeeeiiiiiiiilkkkeeeessssssss!!

All and all though, I have been excited by the food I have chosen to eat today. Healthy food choices? Yep! which means I guess I am on some kind of health kick. Long may it reign. Peace.

Day 1- More fruit than I have ever seen in my 2 fridges

Prepped and ready, I got up this morning raring to go. My day time meals had all been prepared  the night before so all that was to do was mix up a wee smoothie and drink the bugger. My breakfast usually consists of a cup of coffee, 3 weetbix and some milk, yoghurt and maybe some tineed peaches. Five years ago it used to consist of 3 cups of coffee two cigarrettes and maybe if I could be arsed a piece of toast. It is truly amazing what can happen in a relatively short space of time and the smoothie that I had this fine morning was a little bit full on but I persevered and got through a healthy glass of it.

I am really fortunate to be getting some advice from Kauia Moriarty, who is an avid food fan, and has designed similar food plans for herself and family and friends and now me! I think one of the biggest challenges anyone might face in doing one of these food things is "where do I start?" and "what do i need to buy?"ultimately I have had good counsel and i know that I have got  good peeps in my corner to bounce ideas, thoughts and feelings, food ideas and a general touch stone for the tough times, and successes. A support crew is key.

Day ones menu has consisted of these items

Breaky: 1 Tropical fruit fix up smoothie
Morning tea:1 date energy ball and an orange
Lunch: Roast Kumara and crunchy red veg & brown lentil Salad w/tahini dressing (possibly a fart salad) and some veggie sticks with some home made pesto (which i made and is a little bit good)
Snack: 1 banana, 1 apple and 10 little almonds
Dinner: Crunchy Quinoa (pronounce kinwaa instead of quinnowa, thanks for correcting me Ryan and Tanya, not one you want to drop in the health food shop and feel like a dick) salad with a crap load of cauli, broc and brussle sprouts.

Photos and recipes to follow in a few days

I had lemon and ginger herbal tea, hot water and also a wee dandelion tea which tastes nothing like coffee. Also Its recommended that you drink plenty of water. Pee should be clear..

I did have a few moments today when I was a bit headachy, or listless.. especially carb treats seeing that it is forecast for snow in Dunedin tonight. Our lovely friend bought us over a fish pie and a block of chocolate. Admittedly I did consider the sneaky bit, but refrained. Win to me!

There have been some excellent gains today though and it is important to note them down. I have been coffee free since Thursday and this aspect is definitely getting easier. The other gains have been really pleasing. I am humbled by the supportive comments I have received from my facebook peeps, and have been absolutely stoked with the conversations that have been happening on line, around the office and in my home about food and about eating well. i really hope the conversations continue as they keep me focused on keeping on. Claire (love of my life) refrained from muffins and the likes todayand fully supported me by prepping the Quinoa salad for my tea, while wrangling three little ones. Thats love :-) This is day one.. it only gets betterer from here.

Getting Clean...

I am about to embark on a food journey that will see me eat probably more fruit and vegetables in 14 days than I have in the last two decades. Fruit has been like a real effort to eat in the past, as has eating healthily. This is about to change. Drastically.

The lead up to putting myself through a food cleanse type activity as I mentioned earlier is based on some reading and watching I have been doing lately and was reinforced tonight when on the Sunday programme they showed a story about sugar and how it is a problem in NZ. I want to do a good turn to myself so over the next two weeks I am removing carbs, sugar, caffeine and dairy from my diet, and replacing it with a whole lot of veggie and fruity goodness.

In preparation I have spent the last two hours pulsing and mixing ingredients which at one stage felt like food alchemy (in my brain) and I felt really excited while I was chopping and blending, and soaking and of course tasting what I was making. I have made my first ever pesto and roasted off a whole lot of kumara, chopped a whole lot of veg and rolled a dozen or so date balls. I am really proud of my efforts. I have put my beer drinking and nacho chewing ways on hold and am embracing the fresh!!

One thing I have found in the lead up to starting this food week has been the little mind games I have been playing with myself. As soon as I felt like I was going to go 'without' I started eating all the candy, drinking all the beer and eating all the carbs I could find. In more effective preparation though I have been coffee free for three days now, and have made a big effort to start eating more fruit and eating less bread, so that my body doesn't go into too much of a funk when the bread doesn't get delivered  next week. I am ready to give the 14 day challenge a bloody good go.

Another thing that I am really lucky with is that my family are right behind me, and my lovely wife Claire has organised things so that we could get to the shops and markets in time to be ready for Monday. I know also that she would be joining me if it weren't for her having to nurse or month old baby girl. The amount of food and seeds and things that I have bought this weekend is really mind boggling, and our fridge now is full of wonderful fruit and veggies. Yusssssssssssss

I am really excited, a little nervous about how my body and mind are going to rebel this next 14 days, but mostly excited. Photos, Recipes, lists, reactions, cost, successes , failures, and results will all be covered in a day by day blow by blow account of how this cleanse pans out. Tomorrow I will post starting weights and tummy/chest/waist measurements too, to see if there is any physical improvements as well as the what I already anticipate over all well being benefits.

Arohanui to you all.

A bit of a challenge to start with

I have been told that best way to blog is to get cracking and start writing so here it goes..... To give you a bit of back ground I am the proud father of three beautiful under fours (a wee three week old girl and two feisty wee boys) and a husband to my best friend Claire. Together under the roof of 262 Dunedin, we are muddling our way through this wonderful life. I am keen to write, share and blah about a wide variety of topics and will probably get off track from time to time, but thats me, a little ADD, a little bit of a dabbler and a whole lot passionate about a whole heap of things. Over the next bit i hope that I can provide insight to the 'whole heap'.


I want "Finding Health" to be about sharing my insight into the trial and error and success's that I have had in becoming a healthier human being. I am constantly battling with all of the usual things (and some times unusual things) associated with getting healthy (weight, food, work, time, mind, and a body thats aging, addiction). I have read a heap of stuff and had to make a heap of changes in my life to ensure that I can be around to enjoy my kids and my life. No different really than probably all of you


The main driver of starting this blog is that I have recently started reading a book and watched a couple of movies about food, and its made me think about the choices I make on a daily basis  - what is going in my mouth, whats happening to my body and my over all well being when I make the food choices I do.. and many more things that I could harp on about, but I wont yet... Now I will cut to the chase.


I started on the journey of health after I maxed out at the heaviest I had ever been. January 10, 2011, I weighed in at a mere 109.4 kg s. I was over weight and feeling pretty shitty. It took me a couple of months to get into some exercise and then gradually start peeling the kees off. It hasn't been exercise alone that has helped me lose a few kgs. I have had a few go's at moderating what I eat and drink and it is a constant battle. I love beer. I love chocolate. I love food. I can smash a cake of chocolate with out blinking or considering the consequence, and I feel under a constant barrage of thoughts, feelings and impulses about food and exercise and balancing family and work and all those other things that make a life.


CHALLENGE TIME!!! so I have read about whole foods and cleanses and detoxes and the likes. In three days I am commencing a 14 day food cleanse. To be fair I am a little apprehensive. I eat eff all fruit as it is and I like veggies but they always seem more effort than they are worth. In saying that I have an open mind and I am thinking that I have nothing to lose. I am approaching this as a food experiment where I am the guinea pig and only good can come from it. At worst I eat a whole lot more real foods and vegetables, lose a bit of weight and start new beneficial eating habits.


Challenge 1: Caffeine: Cleanse starts in three days and over this week I have slowly started weening my self off my quad shot espressos. I am feeling remarkably ok at this stage. Had my last cup of coffee today and am waiting for the DTs..


Tune in over the next two or three weeks to see how I get on. I will attempt to post something every day, and be as honest as I can and with the permission of Kauia, my lovely cleanse adviser/mentor i will  share  as much information as I can to maybe spark some interest in having a crack at finding your own health.. 
Wish me luck