Body Love: Happy distraction

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I switched on the radio on my way to work and had such a blissful drive. Why? Because I was singing along to tunes that tickled me happy. In that moment I forgot about the stress that awaited me at work or the traffic that was bumper to bumper. I just hummed and sang ever so falsely along to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

So it got me thinking about body love... When I eventually got to work, I was still on such a high but then… Dun-dun-dun-dunnnn! I was brought back to earth by an alarming statistic I found during my research on body love... 97% of women will be cruel to their bodies today. This is horrifying! That means you will say or do something bad to your body and feel bad about yourself. This is not good at all.

This got me thinking of my feel good morning distraction. The music I was listening to was so uplifting and so invigorating that it made me happy from the inside out. So I asked some of friends to send me their favourite, get-out-of-that-rut-pick-me-up-tickle-me-better-feel-good-songs to share with you! Phew… What a mouthful.

Remember that if you feel good, it is easier to love. It is easier to be kinder. It is easier to make better choices. So with this in mind, when you start feeling down, play that pick me up song that gives you that burst of happiness. Press play and soak up that joy!

Here are a selection of songs from a few of my friends! Hopefully you will find your burst of happiness in here.

Don’t let anything or anyone steal your happiness.

This is my happy song during this week! 

A tune for everyone! Take your pick and enjoy! 

I’m walking on sunshine  

Good life by One Republic 

Party by Beyonce 

Superstar by Lupe Fiasco

Closer by Goapele   

Three little birds by Bob Marley   

Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

Suddenly I see by K Tunstall  

Open arms by MC Jin 

Dancing in the moonlight

I’ve got you under my skin  

What u starting by Donn T 

A whiter shade of pale by Procol Harum 

New York New York by Frank Sinatra

Friday Food Fest: Berry Important Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! I love breakfasts. If I had more time in the mornings, I would make more of an effort to experiment with it. I want to share two breakfasts with you! A quick one and a fancy pants one! Both recipes contain berries that belong to the superfood group.

The Mishtery says:  Don't skip breakfast because you want to sleep in late over the weekend. Use that lazy day to roll out of bed and make your favourite brekkie. Enjoy!

• By eating breakfast, you wake up your metabolism and burn the kilojoules you need to lose weight.  True story!  

• All berries are considered to be superfood.
  
  Berry-licious

Recipe from Fast Food for Sustained Energy

1 c frozen or fresh berries (125 g)
1 large banana (150 g)
1½ t oat bran (7.5 ml)
5 T fat-free or low-fat milk (75 ml)
3 T fat-free or low-fat plain
yoghurt (50 g)
ice cubes (optional, but unnecessary if frozen berries are used)

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Berries not only give this smoothie the highest fibre content, but they also provide generous amounts of phyto-nutrients and antioxidants. 

French toast with berry compote

Image from http://www.taste.com.au/

 4 eggs
    1/3 cup light cream
    1/3 cup reduced-fat milk
    1/4 cup caster sugar
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    25g butter, chopped
    8 slices of thick bread
    200g vanilla yoghurt, to serve

Berry compote

    1/4 cup caster sugar
    300g frozen mixed berries

Make berry compote: Place sugar and 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high. Bring mixture to the boil. Cook for 3 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Stir in berries. Set aside.

Place eggs, cream and milk in a bowl. Whisk until combined.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Melt half the butter in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Dip 4 slices of bread, 1 at a time, in egg mixture until soaked. Cook bread for 2 minutes each side or until golden brown. Remove from pan. Toss in sugar mixture to coat. Cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining butter, bread, egg mixture and sugar mixture.

Serve toast with compote and yoghurt.

Mish Body Love

I found these pictures on the web to share with all the women I know! Love your body! You are beautiful!

 Be kind! xoxo

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Start the body love revolution! What a Mishtery!

Last week I had a bit of bad luck. My health went from bad to worse and took a further dip just for some dramatic effect. Arghh, I was so irritated because I have been dedicated to my workout sessions, just to get sick for an entire week. I am so sorry for not posting! You were in my thoughts the entire time.
I have a great short series that I am working on and it is about loving what your mamma gave you! Yes, it is about loving your body! Don’t stop now… Read on. :)

I did some research to help me to stay motivated and to keep levels of encouragement high while I work on cutting the kilos! Negative reinforcement just never works for me. So I decided to learn how to cultivate a positive body image. The better you feel about your body, the better choices you make. This applies to your body and to life in general.  It was so fascinating that I am more determined than ever to help change the way women see themselves.

 I am not the hottest and with that said, I am not the nottest BUT it is important to feel good about the body God gave me. Women are beautiful and amazing beings. We literally are the gateway to the future. In shape or not… We must love what we have and learn to appreciate that we come in all shapes and sizes... Some of us have jiggly bits, some are tight tigers and we truly have earned our stripes [quite literally in most cases]. So be bold and proud!

 Let's face it, we are not all supposed to look the same. Thank God for Kim K, Beyonce, Tyra and all the celebs who love their bodies enough to be loud about it! Not every man desires the same body type. You will be surprised to find out what men like.

It is a struggle to accept my body but I am learning to love it, so I can take better care of it! After all, it is the only one I am going to get! Do yourself a favour and find at least two things today that you like about your body and tell someone about it. Aaahh, that little boost you get is a tiny step towards finding the heart to love your body.

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Friday Food Fest: German-style!

A few weeks ago I went to my first food blogging event and had the best time! It was an inspiring get together where food bloggers in particular had the chance to exchange thoughts on blogging vs print and publishing. It is so good to know that there is a support network that exsists out there. I can't wait to attend more of these types of events.

This event sparked the idea for today's Friday Food Fest! As it was a food blogging event, we were treated to a DIY pizza, baked in a oven while you sip on your drink and enjoy blogging chatter. I hung out with the likes of Jade de Waal contest in MasterChef competition and blogger, and Sarah Graham, blogger and author of Bitten and Abigail Donnely, editor of Taste Magazine. With these tasty and light little pizza's in mind, I searched for a mouthwatering equivalent and found it in the recipe book called, Make Give Sell by Callie Maritz and Mari-Louis Guy.

Jade de Waal and Sarah Graham

Do enjoy this recipe! I know on my day of from eating right, I will be eating a pizza without a doubt! Enjoy and have a great weekend all!

Makes 8

Flamkuchen

INGREDIENTS
½ cup (125 ml) lukewarm water
1 packet (10 g) instant yeast
1 tsp (5 ml) sugar
½ cup (125 ml) milk, at room temperature
2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
a pinch of salt
2–2½ cups (280–350 g)
cake flour

for the Flamkuchen for the topping
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tubs (250 g each) crème fraîche
125 g Gruyère cheese, shaved
12 slices Serrano ham
1 onion, thinly sliced
wild rocket for garnishing

Flamkuchen
In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine the water, yeast, sugar, milk, olive oil and salt. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add 2 cups (280 g) of the fl our. Cover the top of the bowl with a tea towel to prevent splashing. Mix at medium speed for 3 minutes to form a soft dough. Add more flour if needed. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6–8 minutes, adding more flour as needed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, or until it has doubled in volume. Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Lightly grease a large baking tray. Knock down the dough and divide into eight equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough very thinly, about 2 mm thick. Place two or three pieces onto your baking tray at a time (or however many will fit) and bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the crust is crispy and golden. Add toppings of your choice and pop back into the oven if desired. Serve.

Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Lightly grease a large baking tray.

Knock down the dough and divide into eight equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of dough very thinly, about 2 mm thick.

Place two or three pieces onto your baking tray at a time (or however many will fit) and bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the crust is crispy and golden.

Add toppings of your choice and pop back into the oven if desired. Serve.

Serrano and Gruyère topping
Any good cured ham like prosciutto or black forest ham also works a treat. Mix the garlic into the crème
fraîche. Spread over the rolled out dough. Sprinkle with the cheese, add the ham and top with the onions.

Mish Fit: 7 Things I have learnt so far

As I am sitting here, I feel energetic, confident and pretty inspired. My morning did not start out this way. It started off with a cyclist giving me the finger as I took a turn at a robot, then I braved the morning traffic to work and decided to treat myself to a breakfast at i-Cafe, which is on the ground floor of the Naspers building. I ordered a Monte Cristo Breakfast while paging through a YOU Diet magazine dated 2011 while waiting. Not paying attention to the menu, I stupidly overlooked that the breakfast I ordered consisted of a ham and mozarella french toast and carmelised onions and chips. Argh, I caved and had a few chips! Bought a gift small gift and a biggish gift bag and the gift did not fit. My mind was boggled.

I knew I could not possibly be the only one having an odd day and feeling a bit bleh (for lack of a better word). I overheard a friend of mine's frustration because her day started out weird too. Anyway,it made me think of how my week was going and here are the things I discovered. I hope you enjoy it!

1. I have more persistence than I thought.
2. Two is better than one. We have read this in the Bible and this is great motivation. Exercising together is a great motivator to stay commited and to push through.
3. Warming up and cooling down is not optional! My body is not aching after I workout but, I feel like I have done a solid training session.
4. Whenever I am done working out, I crave bread. I thought this was bad but, according to studies and Women's Health SA you carbs speeds up the recovery after a good workout.
5. I discovered a hormone that is linked to stress and weight gain, called cortisol. The more you stress, the more of this hormone you produce. Cortisol is the hormone. So if you backslide, don't stress, just keep at it.
6. I found that when I eat after I workout, I am less rebelious about what I eat and more accepting of fruits and veg.
7. I discoverd the best proudly South African dark chocolate with blackberries by Chocolates by Tomes as a treat. Hmmm, truly gives Lindt a run for its money.

Mish Fit: 4 Diet Derailers and what to do about them!

A week into my slim down undertaking and so far, everything seems to be on track. The cravings are minimal and I have only slipped up about four times. My commitment to regular workouts has been okay and hopefully I will do even better this week.

But you know life happens and gets in the way of all your good intentions. What causes you to blow your diet? I gave it some thought and listed 4 reasons why my healthy intentions were derailed after a couple of days worth of good practice.

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The time-out
You have done so well, so now you decide to pig out for one night. After all you have worked really hard and earned your calorie splurge. This friends, is not wisdom. I have done this so many times.

Solution
Granted, you are allowed a break from your diet plan but the fact remains that you don’t have to go over board. A break once a week is enough. The only difference is that you can have a few more calories, so go for the fried chicken if you want but skip the chips and add a garden salad. Pick your day. Stick to your new portion sizes.

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Your hips still lie
You have not lost an inch in spite of all the exercise and eating. What is causing this? You become despondent and later tonight, you end up sitting with the Coke in a mug (to hide the shame) and slice of comfort me pie.

Solution
You might just be in a rush and your goal might be a bit outrageous. Revisit your goals. Look at your exercise routine. Workout 3 times a week to start off with and try to create a deficit intake of the amount of calories you ingest. You need a deficit of at least a 1000 per week. Do more cardio, this is the workout that truly slims you down, no matter how much you hate sweating.

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Laduma
You have shed that stubborn kilogram that makes a difference between a size 12 and 14 and you are elated! So, let’s celebrate this accomplishment with a slice of Death by calories, I mean chocolate… Stop it! Put down the spoon and back away from the plate.

Solution
When you have lost a crucial kilo and you should reward yourself. This will keep you motivated. BUT seeing as a diet plan is actually more of a lifestyle change, than just trying to fit into a smaller dress size, your reward should be apt. Opt for a great outdoor activity and soak up some vitamin D or go for a spa treatment.

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Social butterfly
You get invited for pizza or to the launch of a new restaurant or as in my case… a book launch and you have been so good and now it is going to be spoilt by a series of unfortunate eating events. The easy thing to do is say no but sometimes you just can’t get out of the work events and or nights out with your friends. What do you do? Call in diet, in stead of sick?

Solution
This scenario derails even the most committed, resulting in you pushing your diet plans to the next week. Try to find out where you are meeting up with your friends. Check out the menu online. This will help you decide in advance on the healthier option and don’t be encouraged to get anything else than what you have settled on beforehand. In case of the finger foods at an event, eat two small plates and avoid a serviette. This can be misleading, causing you to eat more. Don't load up on the pastries either.

I hope you were able to identify with these scenarios. If you know what could derail your plans, you can counter with these simple solutions. Just try it for yourself, don't take my word for it!