Green Tea Cooler - Costa Style but way cheaper hehe

On the way to London a few weekends ago we stopped at the services. At the Costa they had this Green Tea Cooler which I'd thought I'd try. It was really good! So good I decided to try and make one myself at home.

In the blender I added:

Cup of Green Tea (cooled)
Handful of ice
A few mint leaves
Juice of half a lime

And just whizzed it together! So simple and perfect for cooling down with. I also reckon a big jug of this made with added vodka or rum would make a fabulous cocktail but sssshhhhh don't tell anyone I said that teehee!

Cheers!

Bacon Onion Rings! OMG!

Prepare yourselves for the ultimate taste sensation!
Ingredients:
Onion cut into rings
Streaky Bacon or Pancetta

Method:
Wrap bacon around the onion rings.
Bake in a hot oven for about 15mins until cooked and crispy.

How simple?

Enjoy!

PS- Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I've been so busy with work and life, you know how it is :)

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Do 'Slimming' clubs really have our best health interests at heart?

So last week I found myself with a little bit of time on my hands (very unusual believe me!) This is something I've wanted to work out for a while. No offence meant to any Slimming Worlders out there but I'm too shocked and disgusted not to share. It caused quite a stir when I shared my info on social media sites. But what I also found more shocking was that in the discussions/debates that took place only a few actually commented on the total sugar amount. A lot went into defensive mode (the Slimming World followers mainly!) but on the flip side I had many messages of thanks for bringing this to their attention and they seemed genuinely concerned about their daily sugar consumption.

I am not writing this to scare monger anyone. I just simply wish to draw attention to the fact that the majority of people do not know exactly what they are eating. They see the words 'Low Fat' and 'Fat Free' and assume they are good choices. It is a shame we are mislead in such a dishonest fashion through advertisers and big brands who at the end of the day just want to make a sale and get their money, do they really care about our health?

****

What I did was observed a typical Slimming World followers day. I was even lenient, 

I could of chosen much worse examples to show you!

Firstly our recommended daily amount of sugar is 90g.

This typical day abiding by Slimming World guidelines adds up to 142.6g!

Here is a detailed breakdown to prove I am not exaggerating. 

I have listed veggies and fruits but will not be counting these Natural sugars in the totals.

Breakfast:

35g serving of Frosted Wheats (apparently a healthy option B) = 11g of sugar.

Served with a Vanilla & Choc Mullerlight = 12.2g of sugar

Also served with 1 Banana & about 2 handfulls of fresh Raspberries.

Lunch:

Jacket Potato with beans and dairylea.

Baked beans = 20.6g of sugar

4 Dairylea light triangles (an healthy option A) = 4g of sugar

Large side salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and mixed peppers.

Dinner:

Super Speed Curry (SW recipe) served with Curry Loaf.

Curry was made with the following:

Tin of beans = 20.6g of sugar

Tin of mushy peas = 3.4g of sugar

and chicken, onions, courgettes and peas.

Curry Loaf Ingredients:

Batchelors Savoury Rice = 10.6g of sugar

Tin of Chickpea Dahl = 7.6g of sugar

Free Snacks:

Mugshot Sweet & Sour = 13.8g of sugar

Toffee Mullerlight = 12.3g of sugar

and an apple, pear and grapes.

SYNS:

Curly Wurly = 12.4g of sugar

Freddo= 10g of sugar

Options Hot Choc = 4.7g of sugar.

****

Bringing a total of 142.6g of Sugar.

Which = 35 teaspoons of sugar!!!

Shocked????

******

I have spent many hours now studying packages of food products that are recommended by Slimming World and I feel genuinely concerned for their followers health. I know a lot of it lays with the followers choice. So I beg of you to READ the packages before you make your 'Healthy' choices.

For example:

These new flavoured milks by Tesco which Slimming World allows you to have around 190ml as a 'Healthy A Choice'

Let me share these facts:

Tesco Flavoured Strawberry Milk contains 19g of sugar per serving (200ml)

Tesco Flavoured Banana Milk contains 21g of sugar per serving (200ml)

Tesco Flavoured Chocolate Milk contains 25g of sugar per serving (200ml)

So you are looking at anything between 4-7 teaspoons of sugar in a single serving.

This is NOT a healthy choice!

***

After watching Dispatches last night on Channel 4 about "The Truth of Low Fat Food" I feel it left people even more confused. We get told to eat a certain way and then they flip it over and we get herded into another eating direction. It was truthful in the fact that there is more sugar in a Light Apple Muller Rice than a single donut. It was truthful in the fact that many slimming club brands food products contain more sugar than fellow non slimming club brands. It was also shocking that meat labelled as 'Lean Mince' contained more fat that a normal pack of mince. If the brands can not get their labels correct what chance do we have?

My view is clear, we do not need high amounts of refined sugar in our daily diets, eating sugar creates a need/want to eat more sugar. The health effect of long term sugar consumption is>

I am so happy that with Paleo I do not need to worry about these effects any more....why?...because I don't buy any packaged foods, I shop down 3 isles in the supermarket: Meat, Veg and Fruit isles. I just worry for friends & families health, today and for their futures. I know it is impossible to predict what could happen but surely we have a role to ourselves to help minimize any health problems we could possibly face in the future.

I look forward to reading your comments :0)

Thanks for reading!

What a crazy upside down world we live! - What is Socially Acceptable?

I have been brewing this blog post in my brain for a few weeks now and thought today I am just going to put it out there. Last time I checked, this was my blog which will contain MY opinions so don't shoot me ;) ok here we go.....

What is socially acceptable?

Social Drinking

I love my detox waters, I find them refreshing, tasty and they have their benefits. I used to have a normal clear plastic water bottle that I would cram whatever goodness I could find into, mint leaves, celery, cucumber, ginger etc I would then take this out and about with me in my bag. I shall use one experience that springs to mind but it happened numerous times!

 I work as a Nanny so one day I was waiting in the playground, without thinking I stood sipping my water and thought nothing of it. Then I became aware of one woman nudging the other women she was standing with and nodding her head in my direction. This made me feel very self conscious. Then the next thing I knew she was standing in front of me and said these exact words "I have to ask what on earth you are drinking, it looks like seaweed" I replied with the list of ingredients to which she promptly then said "Urgh that's disgusting" and walked off laughing. I then watched her tell her friends and they all pulled childish playground faces of disgust (very apt this was taking place in a playground ha). I then glanced round at the other parents in the playground and noticed one lady drinking a can of Coca Cola (full sugared) and then I noticed a man was carrying a Coca Cola bottle. 

 Vs 

Sharing Foodie Photos

I love looking at peoples foodie photos almost as much as I love taking them. 

My example:

This has happened to me and I have seen it happen to ALOT of others.

I LOVE my green smoothies & Juices and I think they look great, they taste amazing and are full of bright green colour and again they carry great health benefits. But sharing this love through photos is tricky. If you upload a photo of a yummy green juice you are guaranteed to get a little comment backlash of  "Eurgh" "looks disgusting" "looks manky" "that makes me feel sick" the list goes on! 

But when someone uploads a photo of  the empty packaging of a MacDonalds meal they have just devoured, they get a load of likes and people *drool*

 Vs 

Eating Out

One of the most challenging things when trying to eat clean is eating out. Trying to suss out something on the menu that is not a carb overload or deep fried is challenge enough, let alone the 20 questions you then get if you don't want to have chips, or would like to replace foods with a salad. 

I have two examples so far of this. Visiting a local chain pub for a meal and asking to not have the peas or chips with my steak, to instead just have a side salad. The look on this woman's face was of utter horror, so much so she had to repeat it back to me "what no chips or peas???" If I had ordered my steak with chips, peas, garlic bread, deep fried mushrooms and extra chips, she probably would not of batted an eyelid.

I have also visited a Mexican restaurant recently when I asked not to have rice with my meal and got pretty much the same reaction. But if I had asked for rice, nachos and wedges he would not of cared in the slightest.

 Vs

My point I am trying to make is: 

That woman would not have approached those with Coca Cola in their hands and say "urgh why are you drinking that shit, that contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar!" instead she approached me who was drinking something I class as healthy.

In all the above situations I feel like I have been outcast just for wanting to be healthier. 

Yet it goes unnoticed when people eat unhealthily and no one says a word.

This is truly one upside down world in which we live!

Any one else had similar experiences? please share in the comments below.

Food Photo Therapy & Eat a Rainbow!

Blogging always seems to happen when I have to wait in for Gift collections from my business or courier deliveries. This morning I have both. I am waiting for a lovely customer to collect her Nappy Cake and for Groupon to deliver parts that were missing with our brand new table we ordered last week. Do not get me started on the Groupon situation, absolutely shocking service and it took us to launch war through Twitter & Facebook to get a solution for our issue! oh the power of social media!

 At the moment I am also feeling like a limb has been chopped off, due to me not having my mobile phone. It decided on Saturday night that enough was enough and it switched off never to be seen again. It is ridiculous how much I am missing it. I have had to go back to using a clock for the time, a computer for emails and when I am out I am completely uncontactable (which I think I am secretly enjoying!) How did our cavemen ancestors survive without all this instant communication? I havent quite reached the need for drawing pictures on the walls yet to communicate with my man. But it could happen ;) the part I am most saddened about is the loss of ALL my photos :( a whole year in photos has vanished. Whilst I uploaded some to my Facebook & Instagram, there were lots that I didn't and now they are gone. My own fault I know, I should of backed them up, but always in the thinking....arrr it will be fine, I will do it tomorrow!. Let's hope I have learnt my lesson now.

Those of you that know me will know that I do like taking photos and I am 100% guilty of photoing most things that go onto my plate and down the hatchet. I love to cook and like to take care when presenting a meal on a plate, I believe we eat with our eyes, if it looks good it will taste good and be full of goodness so I snap a photo. Not because I am obsessed with food......ok maybe a little, but I love cooking & sharing recipes and believe it or not some people do actually enjoy seeing my photos and will then go ahead and cook them for themselves, which I find hugely flattering. 

This comment on my Scotch Bonnet Sauce Recipe made my evening!

I also believe that taking photos of the food you are eating is good therapy and a great way to be critical of what you are eating. In my meal photos I like to see colour and plenty of it, the saying I have is "Eat a Rainbow" the benefit of eating 'colours' is all the nutrients you can gain. 

I love using Instagram, to me its like one big recipe book.(id:- LyndseyG83) (shameless profile plug!) 

I follow some amazing inspiring foodies who have the same reasoning which is great for swapping tips and gaining new ideas. I am really missing that too at the minute, whats the point in cooking nice things if I can't take a photo of it to share *wink* (jokes)

To be honest I get quite a kick out of looking back through my photos of that week and seeing all the colours that I have consumed and all the goodness I have gained and it makes me feel good.

I challenge anyone to do the same. For ONE week take a photo of every meal you consume. Then look back and be critical. Please feel free to share your photos with me LovingPaleoUK@live.co.uk and I would love to share them on the blog :)

Enjoy your week
and don't forget......EAT A RAINBOW!