Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 7

November 9, 2014

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 7

I am once again in Salt Lake City (November is a good month) to see my lovely boyfriend and have been surprised at how well I have managed to stick to healthy eating this week. We discovered a lovely bakery that was walking distance from my boyfriend’s apartment called Emulsions & Fillings, and had to have a few cheeky macarons. My cheat meal 🙂 For any macaron lovers, I really recommend this bakery; the shell was perfectly textured and the filling was delicious. There were two different fillings – a cream filling and a fresh fruit filling, yum! Tonight we are planning on going to an Indian restaurant called Copper Bowl which was recommended to my boyfriend by a friend, so hopefully I can control myself haha. I LOVE indian food; the naan bread, creamy curries and sweet mango lassi … drool. Gets me every time. It’s the British in me 😛

Earlier on this week, I tried out a local and healthy spot in San Francisco called Blue Barn Gourmet on Polk Street. We both got salads and the portions were huge! My salad was absolutely delicious (if a bit expensive) and consisted of spring mix, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted artichokes, roasted mushrooms, pomegranate seeds, and roasted chickpeas. Hands down best salad ever. I then went next door to Project Juice and I picked up some of their new products 🙂 My favorite of the new batch is definitely the vegan cacao protein shake. So delicious and incredibly filling.
Who else has tried Blue Barn or Project Juice before?

Unfortunately I seemed to have developed a mild case of peroneal tendonitis. I was very lucky in that I seemed to get it after my Kayla Itsines legs and cardio workout this week! I was able to do my arms and abs, and abs and cardio workout although I was a little nervous about doing the abs and cardio workout since it involved jump rope and burpees which are a little harsh on the foot. Didn’t seem to cause any problems though thank goodness. I am still deciding whether I should take next week off and do some less high impact workouts to let my foot recover more and then do week 8 the following week.
Thoughts? Have any of you ever had tendonitis before? I would love your input and recommendations for a speedy recovery 🙂

Legs and cardio workout – The day before my crazy tendonitis flared up

That’s all from me! Flying back out to San Francisco bright and early tomorrow morning which always results in an early night for me. Hope you all had a wonderful week and let me know what you got up to in the comments below.

Honestly yours,
Alice

Blogs I love, Fitness, Health

The Balanced Blonde App

October 23, 2014

The Balanced Blonde (a.k.a Jordan Younger) is a blogger who recently released her own app! For those who do not know Jordan, let me give a little bit of background information about her.

Who is ‘The Balanced Blonde’?

Jordan was formerly known as The Balanced Vegan, before changing to The Balanced Blonde (read more about that interesting development here). She is a gorgeous and very sweet blogger whom I recently discovered, and who is one of the few bloggers in the health and wellness sphere that is relateable. She is very down to earth and is honest in how she tries to keep an active, healthy, and happy life. Jordan was kind enough to answer some questions I had about the app.

HF: Where did the inspiration come to create an app?

TBB: I wanted to create an app for a few reasons. The first and most important reason is because I am hugely passionate about bringing health and wellness to as many people as possible, and creating an app seemed like the best way to reach the largest amount of people in the most affordable way for them. There is a stigma that eating healthy has to be expensive and time-consuming. While I do invest quite a bit in organic produce and fresh fruits and veggies, I do NOT spend a lot of time in the kitchen. These apps were created for the busy, on-the-go, kicking booty young/old/everything in between business women and men, and moms and dads who want to be as healthy as they can without dedicating their whole lives to cooking healthy food. It’s all about BALANCE, yes?

Secondly… I am totally obsessed with creating as much for my readers and following as possible, and an app seemed like the logical next step. I love sharing healthy recipes, wellness tips, food photography and above all else CONNECTING and giving back to the amazing following who I appreciate ever so much. I could go on and on, but these are the main reasons. Oh! And Cyrus Kiani from TouchZen Media reached out with his expertise and an amazing plan, and the rest was history!

HF: What else can we expect to see from The Balanced Blonde and TBB app in the future?

TBB: Well, The Balanced Blonde is doin’ some exciting things over here!! I am working on my memoir right now titled Breaking Vegan that will be out in October 2015. The memoir is a firsthand account of my battle with orthorexia, my journey through veganism, and how I found balance again. The second half of the book is a step by step guide to finding balance in your life and living healthfully without letting it take over. There is a fitness guide, 25 recipes never before seen on the blog or app, and a lifestyle guide. And TBB App will continue to be updated once a month with 4 new (free) recipes per month, and 1 new (free) healthy living guide per month. I hope to continue adding and creating as much as possible! And of course TBV Apparel is up and thriving, and we are hoping to get that into stores ASAP. Right now it’s available on www.theblondeveganstore.com and we have a ton of fun with it. And of course I will continue blogging on the daily, because that’s my bread and butter! And connecting with all of my amazing peeps.

All exciting stuff, huh?!

My Thoughts on TBB app

Jordan asked via social media to email her if anyone wanted the pre-release link for the TBB app, and of course I did! She was kind enough to send me the link and I wanted to let you all know what I thought about it. I downloaded it on Wednesday afternoon and my first thoughts upon opening it were “SO CUTE!!!”. The app opens up with a beautiful collage of various recipes and then takes you to a recipes page which features breakfast recipes, dessert recipes, and more. The ‘Jars of Yum’ was probably my favorite section as I love anything that I can put in my mason jar and easily bring around with me. You can favorite recipes you like and you can also add them to a ‘shopping list’ so that you know exactly what ingredients to buy. There’s also a section where you can view Jordan’s clothing line ‘Truth, Balance, Virtue’. I think this is a great idea because a lot of times, I find browsing through online stores on my phone to be such a hassle. They are not optimized at all, whereas TBB app is 🙂

A real stand out feature for me was the ‘Guides’ section. It contains several guides which give you really detailed and informative advice. Here’s a teaser … “Debunking the Diet Myths” and “8 Tips for Losing Bloat & Water Weight”.

Stand out recipes: Blueberry Mint Cocktail, Chocolate Quinoa Dessert, PB & J Chocolate Oats, and the Mashed Avo Breakfast Pizza

The app does come with a price however. At first, like most people, I was not too happy about paying for something. But I got over that really fast because you know what? $3.99 is the price of a latte from Starbucks and quite frankly, I could tell that Jordan put in so much hard work and time into the app. The app gives you a wealth of resources and will be updated once a month with more free recipes. Although yes, you can find healthy recipes online, I absolutely love the variety and creativity of the recipes and the fact that you can create shopping lists, organize your favorites and have it all stored in one easy place. Also, just an FYI, there are no recipes involving meat. But you can add meat to a lot of the recipes if you want, and it’s always fun to experiment with meatless meals.

Do any of you know about The Balanced Blonde? What are your experiences with the app?

Honestly yours,
Alice xx

Friday Fare, Health

Blueberry Honey Chia Jam

September 6, 2014

Sounds cool right? I have been eating this blueberry honey chia jam for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it! I adapted My Whole Food Life’s recipe and used honey instead of maple syrup, although at first I did test it out with sugar-free maple syrup (from Nature’s Hollow). I personally did not find it as sweet as I would like it to be so I used honey the next time round and it came out perfectly to my taste 🙂

Blueberry Honey chia jam

So what makes this blueberry honey chia jam special? Most commercial varieties, such as Smuckers, tend to use sugar sources such as high fructose corn syrup or just plain old white sugar. I love using honey as a sweetener because not only does it have a fantastic and thick texture, it also contains a variety of minerals and chemicals.

This jam also contains chia seeds (my loves) which are a rich source of fiber, protein, healthy fats (omega-3s), vitamins and minerals. Because of their high fiber and protein content, I have found that chia seeds help keep me fuller for longer. Another bonus (like we need more) is that they are low in calories; 1 tablespoon is roughly around 60 calories!

Anyway, point being is that I loooove this jam! It is yummy, filling and super healthy. Plus, it is a fantastic way to use up any fruit which you think may go off soon. I had a BUNCH of blueberries and was panicking about how I was going to finish them, and so the discovery of chia jam was a blessing.

Blueberry Honey Chia Jam Recipe

Blueberry Honey Chia Jam

Alice Williams

A delicious and healthy way to make jam that is full of fiber!

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Ingredients

2 cups bluberries
2-3 tbsp honey
1/4 cup chia seeds

Instructions

Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor
Transfer to a jam jar or equivalent container and then leave in the fridge overnight to thicken and set

Notes

Adapted from My Whole Food Life

Feel free to substitute in different fruits, and if you do let me know how they turn out!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Friday Fare! Please remember to subscribe to Honestly Fitness if you enjoy my blog posts and please share the posts and recipes with your friends and families. This chia jam is sure to be a winner with everyone!

Honestly yours,
Alice

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