Chocolate is just one of those things that makes us happy. FACT! It’s actually scientifically proven too!! OH YOU BETCHA. Chocolate is a very nutritious source of antioxidants which are good for our inner health, skin, brain function and hormones. Personally I don’t need much more reason than that and that’s why I rarely go a day without some form of chocolate. And why should we? Continue reading “CHOCA-HOLIC”
Bananas have always been one of my favourite fruits. If you think bananas are just for monkeys… think again. But hey we are part monkey after all right? And a banana was probably the first solid food that you ever ate as a baby. But more to the point. Continue reading “BA BA BA BA NA NAAAAAA BANANNAA”
Food, fitness and wellbeing has been a huge part of my life the last couple of years and – so I did what every half talented minor out there with a computer did – I started a blog. Read my first blog post >> HERE.
It started off as something personal for myself and has now grown into my passion. I learnt that people weren’t interested in the sugar coated glossy fitspo crap and more about relating to other people’s personal struggles and real life issues. I didn’t realise how many people were experiencing the same things as me and thought that no matter what I wrote there was someone I could help or relate to. This is why I get so much out of my blog too.
So 12 months on, what is Kale and the Kettlebell really about? What have I achieved in opening my soul to a bunch of randoms over the global internet? What should you read my blog as opposed to one of the other thousand health and fitness blogs popping up each day? Well I’ve got you reading this far so I must be doing something half right!!
I wanted my blog to be delicious. A journal for my recipes online so everyone can share my goodness. Also because I got tired of hand writing (yes …) out the millions of recipes I came across on the net and then spilling coffee on them. Oh and practically gave myself an RSI from print screening drool worthy creations on my phone. Actually I still do that who am I kidding? Print screen is the best feature on the iPhone. Or is it the selfie cam? haha
I wanted my blog to be inspiring. You know what you are lying in bed thinking you should get up, kick goals, work out or do something productive but don’t and then you see some inspirational quote or absolute babe and boom your up and atem (at em?). Or maybe some inspiration for myself to do exactly that – get shit done!
I wanted my blog to be creative. Not just 1 cup of this, 12 push ups that. I wanted it to be quirky and expressive. Probably half the reason I don’t spell check (Rob’s mum is an editor and I can just feel her cringe at once glance of my post) or try to over write each post because I want it to be from the heart, a bit random, fun and just like me. I wanted to share stories, be weird and make people laugh. The more ‘me’ I allowed my blog to be the more I discovered about myself.
I wanted my blog to be honest. There are a lot of blogs out there and articles you read where you just feel miserable after because the people seem invincible and perfect. People who never have bad days, are always looking immaculate, abs and tans every day of the year and cocktails always in hand, no tears in sight. Well let me just tell you I have bad days, I cry, I throw it all in, I never look immaculate, I don’t have abs and I certainly don’t spend my life drinking cocktails or doing yoga poses. I used to struggle with my thoughts, my weight and overall happiness with myself. You wouldn’t have known it because I never wrote about it until recently but everyone has a daily struggle.
Yes there have been times that have been far from successful or pretty. There are times where I haven’t thought that highly of myself or the blog. I’ve wanted to delete it. Change my name. Start fresh. Be anonymous. But if you can’t stop thinking about it then don’t stop fighting for it right? I decided to keep going and the more people commented on how much they love it and how inspired they are by the way I write the more into it I got. Fair to say my blog and I went to second base ;) One lovely girl said she has recently lost 15kg and every time she felt like giving up she would read my blog. Another said she stayed up for hours one night reading it without realising the time because she was so intrigued and engulfed by my writing. Companies contacted me saying how much they loved my pages and zest for life (no I do not promote companies no matter how much free stuff they offer – I only promote what I love and works for me.) No skinny tea and teeth whitening here… Although my teeth could do with some whitening…. Anyone? Just kidding.
Have I changed as a person in the last year? You know it. The blog has made me more open and verbal about my love for health and fitness and made me stumble across some amazing fit people that inspire me along the way. The two biggest and hardest things are CHANGE and BALANCE. No one likes change and trying to find balance can also be much harder than you think.
ALLOW YOURSELF TO FIND HAPPINESS IN BALANCE;
Balance… ahh the word that we all suck at the most. I am an all or nothing person and so balance is a biggie with me. Learn how to stay up late in high heels drinking cocktails with friends on a Saturday and then go for a walk and have a green smoothie on Sunday morning. I have adapted from the 90% 10% to a more 70-30 as of late and my mind and body is better for it. I eat healthy and green to nourish and fuel my body and I eat chocolate to nourish and fuel my smile and brain! Balance is the most important part of life and a lot of people spend their whole life struggling to find it. Whether it be family, friends, work, hobbies, fitness … Anything. Find your balance.
CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TO FITNESS AND EXERCISE;
I used to think exercise was just a way to work off the bad food I ate. The gym was a chore for me, something that I HAD to do and not necessarily enjoyed. I would dread going to Attack but knew it meant I could eat cake later. I would workout for an hour plus each time and not be satisfied unless I broke decent sweat. Phwwwooooah have things have changed. Now exercise is just a part of my life, something I love and not a chore. I now workout much, much less (well pretty non existent at the moment to be completely honest) and allow myself to rest. I also found enjoyment in the non-sweaty/vigorous styles of exercise like yoga, pilates and just simply walking. Because exercise doesn’t have to be all sweat and tears.
CHANGE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD;
Uhh oh! I wrote a whole post on food relationships >> HERE as this is such a big issue in our modern society. This balance took me the longest to realise because your relationship with food can be a serious addiction. I saw food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. I cut out all the ‘bad’ food and restricted food groups, made food diaries, counted calories and cut carbs. Yikes i know!! Well glad those days are over. I learnt to eat when I was hungry not at a certain hour. I stopped punishing myself for eating bad food. I started eating foods that were enjoyable to eat and nourishing for my body and foods that I craved and liked. I learnt to eat slowly and mindfully and to enjoy every mouthful.
LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF;
I have also learnt to love myself and I can’t “stress” how much this has helped me both physically and mentally. My body is an amazing machine and I wasn’t giving it enough credit or love. Even at my lowest weight I wasn’t happy and this constant stress made my cortisol levels increase (off the rikta) which caused a world of hormonal issues. I carry my weight around my stomach like a 4 year old running around the pool with a turtle ring floatation device. But I learnt that excessive tummy fat is due to high stress levels and my mental state was making me retain that fat no matter how hard I tried to remove it. Go figure. I stopped caring about what other people thought of me and learnt to love myself. Because this is MY life. Only I can live it and caring about what others think only makes me insecure and hold back.
ALLOW YOURSELF TO LOOSE ROUTINE AND TRAVEL OFTEN;
Well I think quitting my job, selling my car and bed and flying across the world speaks for itself with this? The more people I meet along the way, the more I realise what a huge and BRAVE thing I am doing. There is so much of the world I haven’t seen and cannot wait to experience it. Even if you can’t travel as often as you like just book a weekend away to somewhere you haven’t been. Because travel is the only thing in life you can buy that will make your richer…
What’s in the pipes for Kale and the Kettlebell over the next year? More change? More balance? Eeeeeek!!! Who knows? At the moment I am traveling the world and experiencing what hidden treasures (and food) is out there. When I reside in London after Christmas I will start a new and more routined style of life and find my new locals for the daily grind. So far the black truffle in England’s lane, Camden is my fave Bonsoy flatty. Oh and when the money tree stops growing i’ll have to get a job right?
I will always be passionate about my blog and health and fitness … Because I am here to live long and happily. This little lady is going to be rocking those push ups (ok maybe only savasanas) when she’s 80! Because a body treated well – is a body for life!
Watch this space
K
So I am lying on a pebble beach sunning my backside with my toes just touching the lapping water. I am in Kotor, Montenegro without a care in the world. Nowhere to be. Nothing to be done (we do have a load of washing in our apartment going on at the moment… thanks to Rob) and no one to attend to. It has been 2 weeks since we packed up our lives into 16kg and lugged it to our backs flying half way across the world. Continue reading “EATING HEALTHY WHILST TRAVELING”
Now if there is ONE thing that I have failed at most in the kitchen – it is healthy and clean alternatives to chocolate chip cookies. In fact all types of clean cookie attempts have ended up in the cupboard or freezer for months on end and eventually in the bin. It doesn’t matter WHAT I tried, they always turned out more like rubber door stops than edible delights… until now! The biggest life lesson going around is ‘when you get knocked down – get back up’ and so I thought I would try ever so hard to redeem myself and bake some sugar-free healthy cookies once and for all. I tried a completely different technique and didn’t use any protein powder or eggs in the hope that they would resemble an actual cookie with a crunch factor. I was so surprised by the final result that I made a second batch the following day. These cookies store great in the freezer and are the perfect cookie for that afternoon sugar craving or late night crunch without ruining your healthy lifestyle. These cookies are sweetened with a date paste made from 100% organic raw medjool dates and low GI organic coconut sugar. I love cooking with (and snacking on) Medjool dates. They are natures number 1 sweet fix without the nasties and come down of the ‘white stuff’. Dates are packed with fiber for a healthy digestive system and full of essential nutrients and minerals. Try my sticky date pudding >> recipe here.
THE BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
About 16 cookies – GF SF V P DF – 15 minutes
15 medjool dates (pitted) soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes
1 cup almond butter
1 cup spelt flour (could also use wholemeal flour or quinoa/buckwheat etc)
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 Tbs flax meal or ground chia seeds
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate (quality matters – I use 70-85% Lindt dark or Raw Dark Loving Earth)
3 Tbs coconut oil melted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon (you can omit this but I am a cinnamon addict so added it without thinking twice)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
METHOD
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Soak dates in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Drain. Pour dates into food processor and process until it forms a paste. You may want to add a dash of hot water if it is not soft enough.
Mix the flax meal with 1/4 cup boiling water until a gooey gel forms. Add this to the food processor.
Add the almond butter, coconut oil, vanilla and coconut sugar and pulse until combined.
In a large bowl mix the ‘dry’ ingredients together. Pour date almond butter mixture into dry bowl and combine with a wooden spoon. Add the dark chocolate chunks and stir.
Roll into balls and place on baking paper. Flatten with a fork or your fingers and place in oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Cookies will be soft and delicate until they cool down. Allow to completely cool before transferring. I like to store mine in the freezer for that extra crunch and it also stops them from crumbling.
Enjoy!!
K
Note; I didn’t have flax seed meal at the time so I just added whole flax seeds for an extra crunch factor. If you do this you must omit the 1/4 cup boiling water as this is only for the flax ‘gel’. If your mixture is dry – add a little more boiling water. It should be sticky!
You can be a little bit creative with your cookies and add some extras like coconut, chia seeds, orange rind or goji berries… :)
I LOVE Indian food! Curries, Dahl, naan bread, raita, papdams, chicken tandoor, cheese puffs…. oh stop it I’m drooling!! But there is something about feasting out on Indian that puts you in a FOOD COMA! Maybe its the self serve constantly filling your plate style of eating or the heavy rice, naan and creamy buttery curries… who knows! Therefore we tend to put this cuisine in the ‘special occasions’ category. It is also hard to know exacatly WHAT they make their curries out of and therefore Indian cuisine is often hard for those with food intolerances. This Lamb or beef Saag is my ultimate favourite curry and with the help of the slow cooker it is SO easy to make. Literally chuck in the slow cooker and go to sleep. Prepare to wake up feeling like you are in Indian with all those aromas. Perfect dish when you are trying to impress some guests too. Continue reading “SLOW COOKED SAAG CURRY”
So its winter in Australia which means two things; our bodies go into hungry bear hibernation mode right? and the cold weather just makes us want to eat pasta, pizza and pies all day long. There is no hiding the fact that our appetites increase as the temperature decreases and we start to crave comfort foods. Therefore instead of going for an evening walk after work or hitting the gym early in the morning we chose to reside to the couch with something warm. No judge!! Continue reading “WINTER SNACKS COVERED”
“The rise of the healthy latte is taking Sydney by storm. From ‘superfood’ tonics and coffee alternatives, to organic traditional roasts brewed with fresh nut milks, these chic and healthy new beverages are gracing café tables everywhere and redefining the term ‘latte’ itself.” – Out in Sydney.
So for those who know me well, know that I somewhat skimped out on the ‘growing hair’ part of the pregnancy whilst I was being created. AND you would also know that I twizzle my hair very rapidly when it is either washed and straight (who doesn’t love playing with fresh silky hair?) or in the evenings when I am exhausted (like pretty much every night). It wasn’t until I returned home after being away for a year that my mum was in total shock about my hair, or should I say lack of, and took me straight to the health food store to get something STAT!!! Continue reading “THE HAIRY TRUTH”
Eggs are a very important part of a healthy lifestyle and one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. They are a great source of healthy fats and protein which keep you feeling full. They are also super easy to cook, relatively inexpensive and easy to transport!! Continue reading “EGGS; ALL THAT THEY ARE CRACKED UP TO BE?”
KATIE MORGAN 