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!

A Paleo Mexican Fiesta!

Firstly I LOVE Mexican food!

I remember being excited when I was with Slimming World and their magazine featured ways to enjoy Mexican the Slimming World way but now I have discovered Mexican the Paleo way and boy does it knock the socks off SW. It was even tastier, full of freshness and of course full of goodness. This was a celebration meal for reaching my 4 stone loss and what better way to celebrate than the Paleo way!

I had quite a few messages on Facebook asking for the recipes so I thought I would write them all up on here, in one place.

Lets start with the Fajitas, I used Turkey for the meat, fried in walnut oil with one white onion and peppers with a Fajita seasoning. I ditched the traditional tortilla wraps and we used iceberg lettuce instead to use as the wrap.

The sides were Salsa and Avocado Cream. 

Instead of having sour cream, I made an avocado cream which....even if i do say so myself....is one of the best things ever! Just take one ripe avocado, one clove of garlic and two tablespoons of full fat greek yogurt, whizz together until lovely and smooth. I like a kick so i added in some green jalapenos aswell!

The salsa was 5 large tomatoes, 1 red onion, 2 garlic cloves and I added in a red chili too all diced together and voila.....see I said it was simple!

We also had some cheese with I found in Aldi, nothing added on the ingredients and full fat. I love saying that, yes I ate full fat cheese :)

Then for the pier de la resistance I made some Jalapeno Poppers. Using Jalapeno peppers, slices of chorizo and pancetta. I cut the peppers in half and scrapped out the seeds. Rolled up one slice of chorizo and placed it in the centre of the half pepper and then wrapped in a slice of pancetta. Baked in a hot oven for about 15mins, until the pancetta is crisp. These were so yummy and full of flavour!

I also went all out and made a Cauliflower Mexican rice, I blitzed half a head of cauliflower in the food processor and lightly friend it with onions, garlic, peppers, chili and a spoon of tomato paste.

I could happily eat this all day every day ;)

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