I’ve had some time out from my last job and have now started a new one. I’ve done some gardening, listened to music, cooked some real nice dinners and joined a gym called MSC Performance Strength & Conditioning Gym in Birmingham, UK. I’ve also worked on upgrading this blog and my website Vortex.
What I’d like to talk about first is the Nutribullet. I initially heard about this through a friend at my last job (Thanks Karen!) and used it there and I now have my own one at home. That’s how impressed I was with it. I’ve been using it now for years and love my daily smoothies.
I’m usually a bit not with it in the morning… Night owl through and through. So the thought of eating breakfast at 7am before work is never going to happen for me. My body is… seriously I’m still half asleep! Leave me alone!
So I’m used to riding to the train station on my lovely Marin and I’ll have a cup of herbal tea (usually 2 bags of peppermint) when I get to work. I also drink lots of water.
I’d then skip lunch or have a protein snack or carb snack later around 2 -3 pm before I go to the gym. As you can see I’m not eating before mid-afternoon, sometimes later as I’m also doing intermittent fasting. When I go home I have an evening meal then start fasting again between 7-9 pm depending on my schedule that week. Some days/weeks I’ll have a lunch and have something lighter in the evening following 16/8 protocol (16 hours fasting – 8 hour window for eating) Other times I fast for longer. e.g. 19/5, 20/4, 21/3, 22/2, 23/1. I also eat from a food combining perspective as my body doesn’t like it when I mix a lot of proteins and starches together. For a great website with recipes go to Detoxinista Megan Gilmore has some amazing recipe books which I recommend the Everyday Detox and the No Excuses Detox.

Intermittent Fasting & Smoothies

I love intermittent fasting, it’s the best thing I’ve found to help me in years. It just made sense to me. There’s a lot of science behind it (I’m not going to go into that here, see this helpful video from Max Lowery and page from James Clear for more info.  What I will say, it suits my life style, I’m not constantly worrying about eating too much and best of all my body loves it. It’s a great tool in my life and helps me with my fitness goals. I usually cycle fasted and sometimes I lift weights that way too. I always listen to my body as it tells me when to eat. Here’s a breakdown of different intermittent fasting schedules I use; the beauty is you can change it up or down dependent on how you feel.
I’ve used in the past few months. all of them apart from the simple fast as I fast a minimum of 16 hours a day.
I use an app called Vora to keep track of all my fasts and eating windows. I initially started intermittent fasting as I was unwell and wanted to give my body a well earned rest.
So I also started experimenting with the Nutribullet smoothie recipes . I really enjoyed making them in the morning before I go to work as I have them either before I go to the gym or after I’ve finished as they so nutritous, light, tasty and satisfying. The key here is eating when I’m actually hungry. Our culture is so obsessed with food, we literally eat all the time. I used to fast when I was in my 20’s and had forgotten how good I felt and I’m so glad I came back to it again.
Recipe
I buy organic wherever I can as I also get a veg box from Abel and Cole weekly.
Handful of kale
1 banana
Handful of spinach
A big dollop of Meridian cashew butter or almond butter or cashew nuts
Vivolife Perform Salted Caramel Vegan Protein Powder – check out their recipes
Some soya milk/oat milk/ almond milk to max line
Cooked plain beetroot
Then wizz it up for 20-30 seconds and drink.
I keep it simple as that’s what my body likes. I always eat healthy vegan and gluten free food though that’s my choice.
I like my smoothies quite thick, I eat it with a my bubblor bubble spoon so you could put less milk or add coconut water/water instead. I bought those spoons 25 years ago and I have now just replaced the old ones.
I keep them fairly simple as my body really doesn’t like a lot of fruit, it prefers veggies. I also add sometimes a seed mix; flaxseeds, pumpkin, chia seeds or tahini.
Experiment with intermittent fasting if you’re intrigued, watch the video, read about it. Knowledge about anything that is new or different is key here. I also enjoyed being part of the Intermittent Fasting Group for Women on Facebook.
I am happy with how my body is now. I prefer this way of being as I don’t see it as a diet more a habit and lifestyle that suits me and my body.
The reason I weight train is simple, I like to be fit and strong. The weight I am is unimportant as it’s about being healthy for you, not anyone else. Intermittent fasting helps to burn fat reserves and I weight train to sculpt my muscles.
It’s been a journey of discovery and has taken me a long time to figure all this out. Happy with how my body is responding to the fitness I’m doing (walking, cycling, weight training and finally skateboarding) It’s easy to start, it’s being consistent that counts in the end. Sometimes the fasting is easier to do without the exercise so baby steps may be what is needed at first.
Listen to your body
Give it a whirl!