I Quit Sugar – Week Two and Three

Hello lovely bloggers!

I have just finished week three of I Quit Sugar and am feeling amazing!! Week two was not quite as great. I put my back out early into week two which left me with migraines for a couple days and headaches the rest of the week. I never knew when one was going to come on and when it did it lasted a few hours. I made it through and haven’t felt this good mentally in a very long time. I feel clear minded, focused, in touch with my emotions and less bitchy. I am not sure if this is resulting from the lack of sugar or I have taken on a more positivity attitude, regardless I love it!

On a less pleasant note, I am having some “toilet troubles” where I am not as regular as usual. I have tried putting some more fiber into my diet through spinach and extra veg, but still no change. I am taking magnesium, fish oil, multivitamins, calcium tablets and probiotics daily. Is there anything else anyone can suggest?

The weekend of week two I had something that went against the guidelines, a quest bar. It had 1g of sugar in the entire bar but did have a small portion of raspberries in it. I was so focused on the 1g of sugar and thinking that was fine that I totally forgot we were off fruit all together. I was in too much of a hurry to get groceries after my 7am Saturday workout that when I got hungry I just grabbed it and went. The only plus side to the quest bar incident was the 18g of fiber in it; I went to finally used the ladies, yay! Lesson learnt, always have sugar free snacks handy.

Yesterday my friend Gail and I went to see the Giants downtown Perth. Initially I thought we would go in for a few hours, have a little look and be home in time for dinner, but we got caught up in all the happenings and were so blown away by the Giants that we stayed and had a quick dinner. We opted for Mad Mex as I remembered reading Mexican was a relatively suitable choice for sugar free eaters. I ordered the Beef Bowl, basically a beef salad but did not even consider the sugar factor in black beans. My phone had died in the city, otherwise I would have jumped onto their website to review sugar content so when I got home I did so right away. With the black beans it was 20g of sugar for the entire serve or 5g/100g. Without black beans it would have been 1.5g/100g of sugar!! Another lesson well learnt, do not get the black beans, keep it simple and fresh!

My favourite meals: Beef “Fajita” Salad with Mexican Spiced Corn, Lemon Roast Chicken with Roast Potato, Tomatoes and Green Beans, Coco-Nutty Granola which is now a staple in my kitchen and Lemon and Garlic Prawns with Quinoa and Avocado Salad.

My least favourite meal: Roast Beef Salad with Dijon dressing – it was just a bit boring.

All in all, the meals were great and I felt very satisfied. I am so flippin excited for Clean Week! Don’t tell anyone, but I love green smoothies.

xx Sammy

ABBBC First Month In!!

I can’t believe I am going into Week 5 of Ashy Bines Bikini Beach Body Challenge (ABBBC, and no I will not write all that out again, my poor fingers). It has been an incredible experience so far and I do think I can see/feel some progress!

During my first week of ABBBC I upgraded from 3 one hour sessions a week to 6. It was so clear to me early in that this is the program I have been looking for and the positivity from all involved would be what helps me FINALLY stick it out in an exercise regime. Here is a list of the outdoor classes I have been doing:

• Boxing: A sure way to leave me drenched in sweat. Did you know boxing incudes burpees, lunges, squats and push-ups? Ya me either, but it’s awesome!
• Xstng: AKA cross training. This is my least favourite when doing it because it’s bloody hard, but my favourite following. I immediately feel the after math of exhaustion, which means it is a great workout. Like any cross training class it’s a bit of everything. We use our own body weight for most exercises and cardio, but also throw in some kettlebell swings.
• Pilates: Right, so I am really not well balanced and pilates reminds me of how bad I really am. Amazing workouts, my muscles burn during and even more so after, but I am sure the reward is worth it.
• Yoga: I have always been one for high intensity workouts that leave me wrecked. Yoga is a great reminder that being fit does not need to come from being out of breath for an hour. I love the way I feel after, especially when we have 10 minutes of meditation at the end.
• Perky Butts: Leg day baby!! Conveniently the one time I have done this class was the night before my hubby flew in from work. He hadn’t seen me since I started the program and was blown away by my butt (likely swollen from the recent workout) and how hilarious it was to watch me waddle, I mean walk.
• Chicks that Lift: Probably the biggest challenge out of them all. Turns out, I have been doing deadlifts and weighted squats wrong all along – go me! It’s pretty difficult to change old habits, but I am working on it with the help of our awesome trainers Eddie, Tess and Ash.
• Tabata: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off with high intensity intervals. Knowing it was such a short period of time did help me to work that much harder. We did push ups, crunches, sprints, weights, squats, skipping and more! Can’t wait to do this again.
• Kettlebell training: I have loved kettlebell training for some time, but Eddie still managed to find a few swings I had never even fathomed trying. I pushed my limited and increased to a 10kg kettlebell for everything.

We have a challenge every week, which you complete twice during each round (each round is 12 weeks). So far we have completed Death by Cardio, the Punisher and Workout of the Round WOR. I was relatively happy with my results in the challenges but really look forward to beating them next time.

I also had my first weigh in on Monday of Week 3. I was so nervous, I got there early and was first to weigh in. I am very happy to say that I am officially in the 30’s for metabolic years, my body fat percentage decreased, muscle mass increased, water retention increased and overall weight went down by 1.2 kilos! Yay!!!

I am still struggling a bit with sleeping patterns. We have classes at 6am Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6pm Tuesday and Thursday and 7am on Saturdays. By the time I get home from class on Tuesday and Thursday I only have about an hour until I should be in bed if I want 8 hours of sleep. I am working on other ways to help streamline the process so I can sleep properly and feel great so I will update once solutions are found.

I’d love to hear about your exercise regime?

xx Sammy

I Quit Sugar – Week One

I am so far behind on blogging it’s embarrassing. I am about to go into week four of IQS and very happy with the program. Firstly, the recipes are incredible. I am starting to realize that the meals I look forward to the least end up being some of the best (see Miso and Eggplant Bowl in my week two post). Before I divulge into the good stuff, meals and photos, I’ll address my physical and mental experience with IQS so far.

The first few days were not too bad. I had been trying to cut down my sugar for about 5 weeks before starting the program, which seemed to have helped. Of course, week one is not completely sugar free yet so I did not feel the full brunt until later. I was pretty tired towards the end of the week, but I think that was a combination of IQS8WP, ABBBC the training program I am doing and working a tad bit too much. I still had the 3pm craving but reached to nuts, veggies or halloumi instead of fruit. Side note, I have half the office grilling halloumi for an arvo snack now – winning!

On Friday my husband Shane returned from work. He works in mining on a FIFO contract, for those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, it means Fly in Fly Out. We go weeks at a time without seeing each other in person, so I am a giddy schoolgirl all over again when he finally returns home. Normally we would go out to dinner and have a few drinks but instead, I took this as an opportunity to show him the delicious food I was enjoying. I switched Friday and Saturdays meals as we had a BBQ on Saturday so his first IQS meal was Pumpkin, Sage, Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza, and a crowd pleaser for sure!

I was still ‘regular’ without any gut abnormalities at this point and quietly feeling confident that this program would be easy as! I’d later eat those words.

Favourite Meal(s): I’m sorry, I loved basically everything and couldn’t pick just one. My absolute standouts were Quinoa and Chia Breakfast pot, Yoghurt Chicken with Ginger Almond and Kale Quinoa, Chicken Carbonara and Fennel and Pork Meatballs.

Least Favourite Meal: Scrambled Eggs and Avocado on Buckwheat Toast. I did not rate the Buckwheat bread recipe very high. I was bored of scrambled eggs quite quickly and they are difficult to prepare as I exercise at 6am and go straight to work, hence tote-able brekkies are the best.

And last but not least, the foodos.

 

Fitness Challenge – Kicking Some Serious Arse

When I say kicking some serious arse, I mean mine, into shape, routine and out of bed at 5am. Here is the first honest post about ABBBC (Ashy Bines Bikini Beach Body Challenge) in detail.

I’m 1.5 weeks in and seriously impressed with the program and everyone in it. I mentioned in my previous post Where Did This Bitch Go? that everyone is ridiculously positive and supportive and the impact this has had on me already is beyond belief. I am finding my head space to be clearer, happier and more focused than it has been for years. I know what I want (to be healthy) and I am working hard to get there.

Each week we have training Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 6am, Tuesday & Thursday at 6pm and Saturday at 7am. They all run for an hour (literally, I jogged for almost an hour yesterday) and for the most part are high intensity with the exception of Yoga and Pilates. They offer different options each day and we get to organize our week based on our preferences. So far I have left my comfort zone  and tried yoga, pilates and cross training; I’m very glad I did.

Here is what my first week consisted of:

Monday 19^th January – Intro Beginners Class. Do not let the word Beginners fool you, it was intense but they made sure to show us how to do exercises properly, hence beginners. It consisted of running, push-ups, squats, planks, sit-ups and crunches. I was confident I knew how to do all the exercises properly, however I was cocky and wrong. They explained that my push-ups were OK, but they were putting unnecessary strain on my shoulders and I need to keep my elbows in line with my body. After swimming for years and being a push-up queen I tried this new technique and could barely do 5!

Tuesday 20^th January – Beginners Boxing. So much fun!! Our trainer Ashlee was an ABBBC participant herself since the beginning and is so passionate about everything, especially boxing! I previously did kickboxing and thought this would be similar, however this was full force, moving heaps, arms up and block your damn teeth style. They also threw in burpees, running, push-ups and planks just to really challenge us.

Wednesday 21^st January – XTRNG. This is the fancy pants name for cross training. I had been warned about this one but I am here to challenge myself so went and nearly died. Our trainer Eddie is a mad man, in a good way of course! He went through all the correct techniques with us and then had us complete a challenge in 25 minutes. As always at this challenge, we each work to our own ability, so we did as much as we could during that time. The exercises were burpees, medicine ball squat lifts, sit-up toe touches, kettle bell swings and a 200m (approx) run. We did this in reps of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 then went backwards so 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. I am pleased to say I managed to complete the entire course within the 25 minute frame, but just!

Thursday 22^nd January – Yoga. I was a bit apprehensive at first as I always thought HIIT was the only way to get fit but I loved every minute of this exercise and the way I felt following it. Our training Emerlyn is amazing! She taught us plenty of poses and helped to ensure we did them all correctly while focusing on our breathing. I was surprised by my own flexibility but still have some work to do. At the end of the session we had 10 minutes of meditation. Again, with focusing on our breathing, I was able to really relax and reap some benefits of meditation. My mind did drift off a few times, but it was a great experience nonetheless.

Friday 23^rd January – I used this as a rest day as I had a lot of trouble falling asleep the night before and hardly got shuteye. I went for a walk around Kings Park during my lunch break to get some fresh air and help with the headache that had been haunting me all day.

Saturday 24^th January – DNA Tower. It should be called tower of terror (see photo to fully grasp it). We did another timed circuit and again, I finished just as the timer went. We ran up and down the DNA tower 5 times (next round 4, 3, 2, 1) and then did 5 push-ups, 5 crunches, 10 lunges, 5 weighted rows and 50 mountain climbers per round (these did not decrease each set like the DNA tower did). It was seriously killer!! Good news is we had a delish brunch at a café in King Park following. I smashed my poached eggs, sourdough and avocado, yummm I want some now!

Sunday 25^th January – Rest day! Time to let my body relax and get ready for another big week of training. I started the IQS 8 week program the following day so Sunday I had some food prep to get through. I also went to see Les Miserables at the Crown Theatre in Perth with my sister-in-law. It was amazing and I highly recommend. I cried, more than once.

So you want to know my verdict on ABBBC so far? It’s the best program I have ever done, hands down. Waking up at 5am is pretty tricky, but the second I get there I feel great and really content with myself and life in general. I can see some changes within my body already. My booty is changing (for the better) and my legs feel stronger. I have been drinking heaps of water which in addition to my Franks Scrub I think my cellulite is fading a tad, YAY!!!

I shall post my first IQS verdict this week and an overview of week 2 on ABBBC. I’m loving the changes in my life and so happy it’s all coming together.

Hope everyone is having a lovely week!
xx Sammy

Slow Cooked Zesty Chicken

My slow cooker is one of my best friends. It allows me to make beautiful meals with minimal fuss and clean-up, what’s not to love! Not to mention it utilizes less energy than my oven and cost me a mere fifty bucks to buy, cha ching!! I try to use it at least a couple of times a week to cook up massive meals, then I use them as staples for lunches and quick dinners, or just freeze the remainder for a lazy day.

I was having a lazy Sunday and realized I did not have much in my kitchen to cook for dinner. I had a full roast chook, but not my usual go to herbs! Here is the recipe of what I threw together, and loved!!

1.5kg  whole chicken (change cooking time depending if bigger or smaller than this)
1 fresh chilli (use seeds if you want some heat, remove seeds if not)
2 lemons
10cm fresh ginger or 1tbs ginger from jar
4 cloves garlic or 2tbs garlic paste or ground garlic
1.5 cups chicken stock (if store bought check label for low sodium and no added sugar)
2 Bay Leaves
Thyme, handful chopped very small, or sprinkle dried if preferred
1tbs coconut oil
Sprinkle ground chilli or chilli flakes for extra heat (optional)
2 spring onions, chopped small

Serve with side of steamed greens or salad

1. Cut lemons in half and juice them, grate remaining lemon peel lightly and put aside to use later.
2. Cut the remaining lemon peel into small pieces and stuff half inside the chicken. Use half the garlic and ginger and rub inside chicken as well. Use kitchen string to pull chickens leg’s together and close the open cavity as much as possible.
3. Melt 1tbs of coconut oil in pan on medium heat stovetop. Brown chicken
4. Turn off stove heat. Leave the chook in the pan and rub grated lemon peel, remaining garlic and remaining ginger into it. Sprinkle chopped chilli on top
5. Put the chicken in the slow cooker. I normally put it upside down to optimize flavour. At this point, if you would like it extra hot, add your chilli flakes or ground chilli.
6. Pour 1.5 cups of chicken broth and lemon juice over the chicken in the slow cooker. Throw in the bay leaves, spring onion and thyme.
7. Cook for 7 hours. Try not to open the slow cooker at all; when you do it loses a lot of heat and will result in additional cooking time required. To see if chicken is cooked through at the 7 hour point, run a knife through the breast and see if it is cooked inside. Also, some suggest you can tell but the liquid colour that comes out. If still very pink liquid it is not cooked, goal is for it to be relatively clear. I prefer to be safe with chicken and look at the actual meat. *adjust cooking time depending on size of chicken you used if different than suggested in recipe.
8. Once the chicken is cooked, remove from slow cooker, cut and enjoy!

What I love about slow cooked chooks is you can get so much meat off of it!! Let me know what you think of the recipe!
xx Sammy

Almond & Berry Overnight Oats Recipe

I really love food. My schedule is pretty jam packed at the moment, so I have had to readjust my meals to still taste amazing, be nutritious, yet not be overly time consuming. Meet mon ami Overnight Oats. Put whatever the hell you want in them, just focus on what is fresh, filling and going to keep you energized through those crazy mornings.

1 cup organic rolled oats
Handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Handful of raspberries (fresh or frozen)
Tbs LSA mix
Tbs chia seeds
Sprinkle of cinnamon
¾ Cup unsweetened almond milk
handful of chopped raw almonds

I use a jar as opposed to plastic containers, however either would work.
01. Pour oats into jar
02. Mix almond milk, chia seeds, LSA, blueberries and raspberries with oats. Give it a seriously good mix
03. Sprinkle cinnamon and chopped almonds on top
04. Leave in fridge for minimum 3 hours, overnight preferred

This recipe is very filling; I love it after a morning work out! You can make them a few days in advance if you prefer!

Enjoy bitches

Where did this bitch go?

Sorry, sorry, sorry – said by of a true Canadian of course. I have been busy and kept putting off another blog post  Naughty, I know!

I started my training program on Monday January 19^th – Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge, AKA ABBBC 12 week challenge and my goodness it’s awesome! I was pretty nervous as I had heard it will completely kick my butt and it is, but I love it.

My friend Veronica has done this program for a year now and had amazing results (I’ll see if she will let me slip a transformation photo in hehe). She had been encouraging me and our lovely friend Felms to join for a little while now and we finally took the plunge. Little tip I will get into later, exercise with friends and hold each other accountable, it makes it more fun and heaps easier.

Saturday prior to the program starting they ran an information session for all Newbies or anyone who wanted a refresher. It was a great way to meet everyone, while absorbing the essential information to have as much success in this program as possible. Upon arrival we did our measurements and jumped on these fancy scales which included the following measurements:

• Body Fat % : This is something I have wanted to know for ages as I feel it’s a great measuring tool for myself. I was also terrified to find out. I came in at 30% I now remind myself that it’s a number and it’s one that I won’t see for very long because that sucker is going down!!
• Muscle KG: Another great tool! I swam competitive basically my entire childhood until my teens. My muscle has gone down so much and I miss it – COME BACK MUSCLE. Can’t wait to see this number go up while my body fat % goes down.
• Body Water %: Again, I was not very familiar with this and still do not fully understand it. I’m going to follow this up next weigh in, however if anyone reads this and has some insight here, please share.
• Visceral Fat: I understand this as the fat surrounding your organs? Again, something I need to look into further. I was informed the closer it is to 1 the better. Goal here, lower this number. I don’t want anything impacting how well my organs work.
• Metabolic Age: HAHAHA my favourite. I actually cracked up when I saw this number. I’m 40. In metabolic years Vron could be my child. This is a new joke we have, but in all seriousness, I am not comparing myself with her or anyone. It’s about becoming a better me, and maybe getting my metabolic age into the 30’s at least.
• BMR: An ideal way to calculate out how much I should be consuming daily, based on how much my body will burn.

They also told us our weight. Weight is not used as a focal point in this program. They really stress that weight loss is not a realistic way to achieve our goals and is not nearly as important as the above measurements, how we physically & mentally feel and pulling out a good ol tape measure. I love the way they view weight, however it is really hard for me to get away from the mentality of losing KGs is the best measurement (article on this to follow).

After the fancy scale time we had our chests, waists, hips (my problem tummy area), butts, thigh and arms measured in centimetres. They also asked how we feel in terms of confident and energy levels.

All these measurements, along with our photo updates (full body front, right side, left side, back) will be taken fortnightly or biweekly for my lovely North American amigos. It is up to us to take our own photos, but they do stress it is a preferred way for most to track their progress.

After all the measurements were recorded and filed to be added to our private online profiles, we went through a presentation that introduced all our trainers and had some basic eat, sleep, exercise regimes. They stress how important clean eating is to feel amazing, think clearly, achieve fitness goals and maintain a strong immune system/ great health. It’s really all about fresh produce, low sugar, removing processed foods and consuming good fats, protein and complex carbs.

It was very inspiring and really got us amped for our 30 minute exercise to follow. We headed into the 39 degree weather and did some core and butt exercises – hello pulse squats, I don’t like you very much.

And that was our intro day. I should mention that everyone was incredibly nice, positive and super duper welcoming! I left feeling so excited to get started on the program. Day 5 into the program, first week overview to follow shortly.

Cleanse, Before a Cleanse, Before a Cleanse?

Daunting title right? Read on if you are interested in hearing more about the tastiest cleanse I have ever done. As you likely read in Who’s This Bitch… Peas I am a chronic yoyo dieter. Occasionally I attempt a cleanse with full intention to complete it, but rarely do I manage to get to the end. The Nood & Pressed Earth Cleanse enabled me to break this trend!

It was early December, my husband and I had returned from a trip to Toronto and New York a few weeks before and I had continued the holiday eating mode. I was feeling disgusting and lethargic after weeks of pizza, bagels and alcohol and realised I needed to detox immediately.

My friend Vron (the gorgeous fit chick mentioned previously) suggested I look into Nood, am I ever glad I listened. Nikki Heyter at Nood is a food genius! She is a Perth based nutritionist who believes in nourishing our bodies with the right food, so we can enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Her recipes are to die for and full of flavour, whilst being simple, quick and family friendly. The detox I did was gluten-free and vegan, a lifestyle I normally stick my nose up at, but now I can see so many benefits to it!

The theory behind the pre-cleanse cleanse is simple. Your body will detox far better if it is already free of preservatives, sugars and hard to digest food. Step One consisted of eliminating red meat, gluten, sugar and ideally caffeine three days before the cleanse. Nikki appreciates this can be very trying for many, however it will make the five days vegan far easier and help you to reap the rewards.

Next is the five vegan days. Again, I am going to stress how bloody tasty the food was – it was THAT good. More importantly, the meals made me feel great and I was full of energy from the moment I woke up, until I went to bed at night. I slept better, focused more at work and was in a far more positive mindset. My skin looked great and many people commented on my “glow”. I literally enjoyed every single meal and most of them are now weekly household staples.

Lastly, is the three-day cold pressed juice cleanse – sounds terrifying eh? Nood suggests multiple cold pressed juice companies in various major cities that she recommends and Pressed Earth is who I went with in Perth. The juices were incredible, so refreshing and surprisingly very filling! I chose the classic cleanse which entails 6 juices a day, 2 green, 1 fruit, 1 citrus, 1 roots, 1 nut. I am slightly obsessed with a few of these juices now and have already purchased more! One suggestion I have is to complete days two and three of the juice during a weekend, as it did become a bit awkward visiting the loo at work as often as I did.

I am happy to say I have broken the trend and completed this cleanse twice. The cleanse is about giving your digestion a break and feeling fantastic as opposed to weight loss; however I did record this during the process and lost a few kilos. I genuinely think I have never felt better than I did while on this cleanse and highly recommend looking into both companies. It has kick started my year smoothly and encouraged me to increase my exercise due to my high energy and positivity.

Any cleansing fans out there? I’d love to hear from you!

The Five W’s and a Big Fat H

Do you remember being taught every great story contains the five W’s? From a young age it was drilled into my head that in order to have a good story you must explain who, what, when, where, why and that always awkward, how. Well here is my tale as to how this blog came to be.

Who? I’m Sammy. If you haven’t already read Who’s This Bitch… Peas , I suggest you check it out now, as I do not want to dwell too much here. I’m not very exciting, I have a strong accent (according to these Aussies) and smile daily until my face hurts. I have basically lived by the slogan “fake it until you make it” my entire life, however, reality has kicked in and this needs to change.

What? This year is dedicated to detoxing my life, inside and out. I need to change, (and to be truly happy with who I am mentally and physically), the people surrounding me and the path I am heading down. It’s going to be shocking, challenging and probably beyond frustrating at times, but I am certain it will be completely worth it.

When? Right now! During this lovely heat wave, it was only 44 degrees yesterday. And yes, I do still have to exercise in this oh so chilly weather; I hear I may sweat – whatever that is.

Where? Perth Western Australia, however I can’t put life on hold so holidays are just as applicable.

• Why? I put this as my last W for a reason. I need to make this honest and raw for my own benefit and that can be very confronting. I have many reasons why I need to cleanse my life and will go through them over the next 12 months, however, these are my major reasons at this very moment:
  I physically feel like rubbish. This is a result of the crap I have been consuming and the very little physical activity I engage in. I cringe when I look in the mirror, not because I watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, but because I know my excess fat makes me at risk for many illnesses and has made my life more difficult than it needs to be.
• I want to be a damn good mum.  I have wanted to have children since I was a bub myself; however with age and a bitof maturity, I realised there is so much more to it than just popping out a few kids (this is a horrible phrase, sorry to all the wonderful mothers I just offended). I want to raise my children in a healthy manner. I want to be able to chase after them for hours on end and wear a bathing suit at the beach without worrying if that stranger was laughing about my cellulite. I want my happiness to be real and for this to be infectious to my friends and family alike. That said, my amazing husband and I do not have any children yet, and are still a ways out from being in a position to start a family, but now is my time to prepare.
• I feel stressed, anxious and just off-balance. This is hard for me to explain, but I have known for a while that my life was spirally out of control, yet did nothing about it. You may be thinking, come on Sammy, your life is pretty great, you’re just being dramatic and you are right, it is and I am, but I can get so much more out of life if I reduce my toxicity within and surrounding me.

How? Well, if anyone has somehow managed to stumble upon my blog and actually read to this point, then this would be the part where you can chirp in and suggest anything you want. I do have some measures that I have put into place this year, which again I will outline in further detail over the coming posts, but for now a certain few deserve a call out.

• Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge Boot Camp (ABBBC)- commencing January 19th. I will be completing this 12 week challenge with two of my close friends three days a week and exercising another two days per week on my own. We have already started encouraging each other and have similar goals which I have heard should be extremely helpful (with the exception of Vron who is on her third round of the program and going to compete in a Bikini Contest, go girl)!
• I Quit Sugar (IQS) – I am starting Sarah Wilsons IQS eight week program January 22nd. I have come to realise my dependence on sugar is out of control and feel a whole foods approach is a sustainable long-term lifestyle I can adopt. My mother back in Canada has registered for the program too. She suffers from Fibromyalgia, and while maintaining a full schedule, has decided to dedicate similar amounts of time this year to healthy eating, personal mediation and exercise.
• During both programs I will be posting my thoughts, progress and how I feel at the time. Again, this is a great reminder for me to look back on during my week moments, so it will be honest and most likely blunt. I will also provide my Mum’s experience as often as possible, which should make for interesting comparisons.
• There aren’t any fancy juices or soups for mental cleanses which makes it the most difficult in my mind. I have a lot of thoughts floating around and even more questions that I have yet found the answer to , however I can tell you this, I will be removing toxins from my life, this includes people. There will be some massive obstacles like work and family, but with the supportive team I have backing me, I am confident I will be able to do this.

So, with those 900 words said, I’ll conclude this post with I am very excited for 2015 and everything it has in store for me. If anyone out there has been through similar or will be doing so, please get in touch. I would love to hear any thoughts, suggestions, concerns, or just hear from you in general.

xx Sammy