Fear of Missing Out

FOMO, or the “Fear of Missing Out” is something many of us have experienced.

It makes us stressed and nervous, sometimes even paranoid. It may happen when we are not sure whether we will take part at some cool party where anyone who’s anyone is invited or when some ’last minute’ drinks are taking place and you are forgotten.

This feeling can contribute to anxiety and depression and I’ve witnessed it with individuals from as young as five up to those that are 50.

When we miss a party, holiday, or any other social event, we sometimes feel a little down compared to than those who showed up and snapped photos. In some cases, people are even afraid to miss out on bad stuff like getting totally wasted on cheap wine!

Research suggests FOMO can take a pretty strong negative toll on psychological health. Constant fear of missing events can cause anxiety and depression, especially for young people. In more extreme cases, these social insecurities can even contribute to violence and feelings of shame. I personally think Facebook and Twitter are the two top places where people show off what they are up to and where most of us can get frustrated finding that we missed out on an event invite or some ‘amazing’ party!

I’ve experienced it as well. Going from being in a good mood one minute, to finding out that some of my friends went to a really nice place for drinks and I wasn’t invited … it completely changed my mood for the worse and I started to doubt my ‘importance’. Don’t deny it! It has happened to you as well. Only time showed me that it is ok not to be out 24/7, that my real friends will always call or text to invite me out and also I learned that if I want to be out I need to make it happen by organising my own nights out and parties.

Status updates and tweets such as “OMG best night ever!”, let us know about all the exciting activities happening while we’re home catching up with bad TV. But have no fear because if someone uploads multiple pictures and updates their status more than twice in an evening, it is usually a sign that they are actually not having the time of their life but rather a boring evening out since they feel they need to use the technology to let us know what’s happening.

So stop feeling bad or jealous! You can have the most amazing life and choose whether to share it or not! It’s your choice, but please do read between the lines and switch off your phone, ipad or laptop from time to time. The planet will always go round, regardless of you reading about it or not!

Today’s recipe is the most amazing salad I made lately and please give yourself five minutes to try it. Your body will thank you for it!

‘Go Green’ Salad

Ingredients

1.    150 grams mackerel

2.    1 cup of steamed broccoli (leftover from roast dinner)

3.    1/2 cup of steamed carrots (leftover from roast dinner)

4.    1 handful of spinach

5.    ¼ roasted sweet potato

6.    1 tbs of chia seeds

7.    1 tbs of lemon juice

Instructions

1.    Place your spinach on a plate

2.    Cut your mackerel into pieces

3.    Skater the mackerel, carrots, broccoli, and sweet potato over the top

4.    Squeeze the lemon juice over the dish

5.    Add the chia seed

6.    Enjoy!

If you really love ... Chocolate

If you really love someone, don’t give them chocolate for valentines....

I know, I know, celebrations are not the same without chocolate.... why do we do this to ourselves? Christmas, Valentines, Easter, you name it.... every single holiday comes with chocolate.

It tastes good! Fair enough but let’s make better choices, let's try and get the benefits of chocolate not only the bad stuff.

Read up and keep in mind:

Chocolate

While the delicious dessert may be packed with antioxidants, the high sugar content of most processed bars offsets many of those benefits.

Cacao, the base of chocolate, can be a healthy addition to most diets. In its natural form, cacao can lower blood pressure, improve circulation, and reduce the risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease. A bit of dark chocolate can give our thinking skills regular levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Extensive processing as well as added sugar and milk, often strip cacao of its nutritional one-two punch, causing a potential super food to drop to a fallen idol status. Luckily, healthy options exist giving chocolate a chance to redeem itself. When there’s a choice of white, milk, or dark chocolate, go for dark. Whole milk makes up the majority of milk chocolate and may interfere with the body’s absorption of antioxidants. To stave off added fat and excess sugar, look for dark chocolate with cacao content above 70 percent. In fact, the higher the cacao content, the better. Be warned though: Dark chocolate tends to taste more bitter than its milky counterpart, so if choosing super-dark varieties, opt for bars which contain some healthy ingredients like almonds or dried cherries for a flavour (and nutrition) boost.

Another chocolate worth going cuckoo for is raw chocolate, a dairy-free, unprocessed option. Raw chocolate bars are often sweetened with agave or palm sugar, which have a lower glycaemic index than cane sugar. Raw chocolate packs a distinct, deep flavour paired with a ruthless stab at the wallet, but luckily, a little goes a long way. Look for raw chocolate at local health food stores in bar or powder form. Heat the powder with water or almond milk, and sweeten with stevia for some homemade hot chocolate.

To get the benefits of cacao without the bulk, reach for cacao nibs (dry-roasted cacao beans with a nutty flavour). At the end of the day, even the most nutritious kinds of chocolate are healthful … but only in moderation!

Nxxx

Eat real food!

Right…please keep in mind that you kind of like me J but after you finish readying today’s post you might like me less J

Is a risk I am willing to take! I am not selling anything to anyone, this blog doesn’t have any adverts and no one needs to like or share anything.

Is just a message I want to send to the world J

I believe that real food can heal you! I really do believe that, body and soul! We were made to eat whole, natural, raw and homemade cooked food!

I know what you are thinking…. I heard that before, I don’t have time to cook, raw food doesn’t keep me full for long enough, buying organic or wholefoods is too expensive…

All I hear are EXCUSES!

I was just like that if not worse! But luckily enough I woke up one morning feeling crap and starting wondering…when was the last time I felt 100%?

When was the last time I wasn’t tired? When was the last time I didn’t feel bloated? When was the last time when I woke up in the morning in a good mood liking my face and skin?

To my surprise I realised that I didn’t feel great since I was 18 (now I’m 26) so pretty much since I left home to go to university.

Leaving home meant for me eating really bad food (think McDonalds and Pizza) partying until the morning (think lack of sleep, alcohol and cigarettes) plus no exercise (unless dancing in high heels counts!) So there it was - 7 years of perfect diet for failure L.

In addition to that for the last 2 or 3 years whilst trying to lose some weight I have tried way to many ‘diets’. To name a few I have tried:

·         starvation – I wouldn’t eat until 2 or 3 in the afternoon or until I will feel like I am going to collapse and then just have coffees or coke for the rest of the day ( I was 47 kg when I was doing this, anaemic and pretty much weak as a chicken)

·         calorie counting – I had an app on my phone where I will put my current weight and the target weight and the app will tell me how many calories I was supposed to eat in order to get to the desired weight in the shortest time possible, so if I was allowed 800 calories a day it wouldn’t matter what those calories were made of, the point was to stick with the number (I was about 50 kg when I was doing this and felt very tired and very frustrated, the restriction made me make bad choices and I will end up having a sandwich, a packet of crisps and maybe a chocolate bar for the whole day)

·         weight watchers, fat free, any kind of losing weight food that you can buy (little did I know at the time about how bad this products were for me, how many chemicals and how much sugar each one had, obviously I didn’t think that ready to eat meals/ microwave were healthy but at that point I just wanted to be slim, I was about 52kg at the time and feeling really rough, bad skin, bloated, no energy, lack of sleep, you name it)

So that would be the short version of my attempts to be slim and be happier with the way I look. All of that to wake up in August last year feeling like s..t!

I had been lucky enough to be introduced to Paleo at that point in my life and never looked back. I have stopped smoking, I started exercising, eating fish, meat and vegetables! I was coached, helped and read many books to keep me going, I learned how to make time for me!

I finally understood that if I don’t look after myself no one will and started to feel and see the difference! I am now 55 kg, fitting in the same clothes that I was wearing when 47 kg, I am much stronger, I have sky high levels of energy, I am happier and feeling in peace with my inner self.

Just to make myself clear again if necessary: I am not selling you anything! I am not writing a book or trying to make money out of likes and shares! I am just so pleased with what I have achieved so far that I think is important to make people aware!

Please eat! Please eat real food! Never skip meals, walk and exercise as much as you can!  Try to meditate, read and listen to the music to help you relax and rewind!

You deserve to feel better again! You deserve to be healthy and perform at your best every day!

Make a change and eat well!

Today's recipe is an easy fix for lunch/dinner or you could have it as a post workout snack as well:

Broccoli, egg and mackerel ‘salad’

Ingredients

1.       150 grams mackerel

2.       1 hard-boiled egg

3.       1 cup of steamed broccoli

4.       1 cup of steamed leeks

5.       1 tbs of turmeric

6.       1 tbs of flaxseed

7.       1 tbs of chia seed

8.       1 tsp paprika

9.       Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1.       Cut your mackerel, egg, broccoli and leeks into pieces

2.       In a bowl mix all the ingredients together

3.       Keep it in the fridge until serving

 

Asian Spinach and Salmon Salad

Keeping things interesting in the kitchen is crucial when training hard and trying to eat clean.

I always try to come up with new ideas or to take classic recipes to a different level.

Also being Paleo is challenging me to cook delicious food to keep my tummy happy and not wanting ‘bad stuff’

So here it is my version of Asian Spinach and Salmon salad:

Ingredients

1.       2 salmon fillets

2.       1 tsp of honey

3.       1 tbs of turmeric

4.       1 tsp cinnamon

5.       2 tbs fresh ginger, minced (the more, the better)

6.       1 red chilli finely sliced

7.       1 tbs of flaxseed

8.       1 tbs of chia seed

9.       ½ cup roasted pumpkin cut into cubes

10.   2 handfuls spinach

Instructions

1.       Cut your salmon into cubes

2.       In a bowl mix the honey, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, flaxseed, chia seeds and chilli

3.       Rub the mixture onto your salmon

4.       Put everything in the fridge for at least one hour (the more you leave it the more flavoured your fish will be)

5.       Put a small non stick pan over medium heat.

6.       When the pan is hot, place the salmon onto the pan and cover with a lid

7.       Cook the salmon on all sides for about a minute each side

8.       When salmon is done cooking, add the pumpkin and the spinach and mix everything together

9.       Let it cook for about a minute

10.   Place your salmon salad onto a plate

11.   Eat up Buttercup!

Weekend - Treats and Cheats

Most of us think of Monday as the day to start a diet or a detox or training... and some of us actually go ahead and are keeping the diet or the training regime but quickly comes Friday and we are very much likely to have a glass of wine, a piece of cake or maybe both.

So the question is- How do we feel Sunday evening?

After indulging ourselves with naughty treats do we feel guilty? Are we thinking that is no point of being good again on Monday? 

OR

Pleased and ready to start again?

Is weekend the time to have cheat meals and treats? Should we try and stay strong and good all week long or the only point to eat clean Monday to Friday is so we can indulge Saturday and Sunday?

I think that moderation is the key and a treat is welcome but hard work needs to precede and follow the odd cheat day!

Here is a simple, quick and easy recipe for a low calorie treat!

Mug Cake @No added sugar – Paleo lifestyle and fitness

Ingredients

1.       1 Egg

2.       1 tbs of Raw Organic Honey

3.       2 tbs of Cocoa

4.       ¼ tsp of Baking Powder

5.       pinch of cinnamon

Instructions

1.       Add all ingredients to a mug.

2.       Mix all ingredients well with a spoon.

3.       Microwave for 1 minute.

4.       Consume and don’t feel guilty!