healthy – Lessons I learned after I turned 30

I wasn’t going to post anything until after my highly anticipated, much needed, life changing break but I had to tell you about the Food and Mood: Baking Healthy Snacks session I went to last week because a) I’m annoyed with myself I didn’t make time to write about it sooner, b) it was fun and c) we made delicious, healthy and health-ier than average snacks.

Though I LOVE food and cooking I don’t spend too much time in the kitchen. But having a balanced diet, eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight is high up on my life priorities so any opportunities for inspiration and ideas for healthy, easy and quick to make snacks I take.

The workshop was ran by Lucy Glen (Human Nutrition & Food Science Associate Lecturer) and Melanie Toulson (Sodexo Executive Chef). This was the second session of the day and as most went for the first one it was only two of us for this, me and a graduate intern, which was awesome. We had plenty of time to bake, have a laugh and chat about everything and anything, from musicals to holidays to favourite restaurants.

The recipe were super easy to follow and Melanie had her sous chefs prepare and measure the ingredients for us, so it was even easier to do.

And behold our creations:

Banana Muffins (recipe here). Soft, moist (sorry) and not overly sweet. Perfect with a cup of tea.

Courgette Blueberry Yogurt muffins (recipe here) : Rich, dense, delicious. Probably my favourite of the three snacks we made.

Healthy Fruit and Nut Granola Bars (recipe here, at the bottom of the page). Ridiculously easy and quick to make and in all honesty, I could not believe a healthy granola bar with zero sugar could taste that good and give me such an energy boost.

I’d recommend all three as none of them disappoint.

Thank you again to the awesome ladies who ran the session.

Now, time to get to the airport and pick up the little sister!

Eleni

I follow a relatively healthy diet when I don’t eat out, but I always struggle around the Christmas period.

The amount of temptation is doubled and tripled as soon as December kicks in and I’m not good at resisting. Chocolate, cakes, mince pies, not the biggest fan of mince pies but it’s really tough saying no to chocolate and I’m out most of the time catching up with friends over lunch, dinner, festive drink etc before I go home for Christmas where I don’t even think about trying to be good.

And of course there’s Christmas dinner, the Christmas party, Christmas drinks.

Which is lovely. But it can become expensive and overwhelming It already is for me. My anxiety is over the roof and I find that the less healthy I eat, the worse I feel. And I haven’t practised my yoga for days, which has made it even worse.

So I’m trying hard to resist to temptations until at least the 14th of December, the Christmas party day,- who doesn’t want to look good in their fancy dress?- and then completely surrender.

And what a perfect opportunity to stick to healthy eating with a free make-your-own-healthy-lunch workshop by the lovely Dr Ali Hill, our BSc (Hons) Applied Human Nutrition course leader.

I loved the previous two workshops, the healthy breakfast banana pancakes and the courgette and carrot chocolate muffins, both finger-licking (though the fire-alarm in the midst of baking the muffins caused them to deflate, what were the chances!, but they still tasted amazing), so when Sarah informed me there was a another workshop, this time making a healthy pot noodle, I didn’t think twice to sign up.

It’s not just about learning new skills and coming up with new breakfast and lunch ideas, which is a big deal for me as I get bored if I keep having the same food all the time, but it’s also fun and I get to meet and have a laugh with colleagues across the University.