18 January 2013 - Lunchboxes for adults

I think I still have a strong child-like nature for my 25 years of age. Some evidence:

I'm starting university soon and found myself scanning the "back to school stationery" aisles with my eyes gleaming along with the other primary school aged kids. I bought Faber Castell connector pens and plan to spend some time connecting the texta's together to create various aircraft's and battle ships. 

I love tickle wars (but c'mon who doesn't?!)

I have a stronger appreciation than most adults probably should or would for: dressing up in costume, pass the parcel, saving coins in a piggy bank, playing in a paddling pool or sprinkler, the ice cream truck, craft days, finger painting and wearing my hair in pigtails. 

but most of all I get really super excited about what's in my lunchbox. 

I think when it comes to good nutrition a lot of us stumble due to the lack of preparation. I know I've been caught out consuming salt and vinegar chips, a coke zero and a candy bar on a lunch break when I hadn't thought ahead. So now I make sure I never leave for work without one of my half n half creations. 

By half n half I mean 50% savoury, 50% sweet and 100% good for you. For the savoury side I usually toss in whatever fresh vegetables I have in my vege drawer combined with a pescatarian source of protein and a homemade dressing. For the sweet side (and it has to be half n half for me because I have a major sweet tooth!) I usually chop up a bunch of fresh fruit, sometimes combined with yoghurt and raw nuts or organic muesli. The result looks something like this: 

Then just to add to the school lunch feel of it all I also love to take a juice box. My favourite are the V8 range of juice box's that pack in one serve of fruit and one of veg in each carton so make sure you get every last sip through the straw. 

I'm working on putting together some recipes for healthy adult lunchboxes which I will start posting up over the coming weeks. In the meantime I encourage you all to avoid the vending machine, take out joint and service station when it comes to your midday meal and get excited about packing yourself a lunchbox. 

After all, we are all still kids at heart to some degree right?  

17 January 2013 - Runners high

Tonight I set out to achieve my mid-week running goal of 7km. I ambitiously mapped out a run on Mapmyrun that was a loop I've not tried before in my area and would see my coming home after a distance of 7.5km. I set off with instructions for the loop on my hand and with little conviction that I would actually have the energy or motivation to see this long run through.

Little did I realize this would turn out to be the best run of my life.

I had a goal last year to be the fittest I've ever been by the time I turned 25, this goal culminated in the completion of the 10km Twilight run in March of 2012. After that run my fitness steadily declined as I battled with health issues, buckled under a 65hour a week work schedule and sank into something of a depression for the remainder of the year. I never exceeded that 10km mark.

Tonight I ran 10.6.

Tonight while running I battled runner's stitch, but I kept running anyway.

Tonight while running I realized my mapped route took me to a dead end road. I doubled back and I kept running anyway.

Tonight while running I felt as though my energy levels increased rather than depleted, with each stride. And the strides got bigger and faster as I ran.

Tonight while running I could not keep the smile off of my face.

I arrived home excited, determined and confident that I can and will be one of those people who achieves great things when it comes to fitness in their life. I won't take my eyes off each goal I have on the horizon. And I won't be stopping with just this upcoming half marathon. I can only get better.

16 January 2013 - Recycling symbols

Recently I received some Christmas presents from my sister who's living over in the UK and I was excited to find some different, and very straightforward, recycling symbols on the packaging of the gifts (Sis I was obviously more excited about the actual gifts than just their potential for package recycling! Love you and thank you!).

The three neat little symbols I encountered (pictured to the left) made the process of disposing of the packaging really easy for a recycling novice like me. In Australia there is just the one recycling symbol and then the various plastic number indicators which confuse me to no end. I decided I'd like to create a little chart for myself to keep on the fridge with information about my local recycling scheme that will help me to stay on track with my recycling goals for the year.

So I looked on the local council website and the information regarding what can be recycled for my area is:

- Paper, newspaper, magazines, junk mail
- Cardboard boxes and cardboard packaging
- Milk and juice cartons
- Pizza boxes
- Glass bottles and jars
- Aluminium (drink) cans
- Steel (food) cans
- Aerosol cans
- Rigid plastic bottles and containers (no Styrofoam)
- NO PLASTIC BAGS

That sounds simple enough to follow. I'd like to have a copy hanging in the kitchen as well - that encourages any guests to follow the recycling scheme while they're in our home as well.

I put a challenge out to readers to take a moment to research their local recycling scheme. You might be surprised by what you are sending to landfill that could be recycled or what you are attempting to recycle that can't be done in your local area. I read on the council site too that in our area all recycling has to be sorted by hand (so keep it clean!) and that if the percentage of regular waste in the bin is too high the whole bin will just be sent to the landfill. So it's important for us to try to get these things right while we can.

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15 January 2013 - Beauty sleep?

Last night I couldn't sleep well. I tossed and turned for about five hours until I gave up, put on my running shoes and headed out the door at 5am to run 5km. I spent the rest of the day stimulating myself with coffee, fought some serious lethargy mid-afternoon, won that fight and stayed up until midnight! The problem I have is I am a person who loves to be up early; and also loves to stay up late. I'll be up working til 3am and then get up 3hours later to get to the harvest markets. I just don't want to miss out on anything for something as trivial as sleep! I follow after my Dad I guess who holds the view that requiring sleep is a flaw in the design of human bodies and he manages to achieve an awful lot with the time that most people spend with their heads on the pillow.

Unfortunately sleep is one of those things I really need in order to be my  best self during my waking hours. When I'm tired I find I also become absent minded, demotivated, cranky and sad. But with a late night work schedule, a love of early rises and a stubborn child-like resistance to "going to bed" how am I going to create a sleep schedule that works for me? There are some decisions to be made here.

1. How many hours should I be aiming for a night? The answer I've found to this is very simple. Don't ask google. Don't ask an expert. Just ask yourself, because on this point we will all be different. I know that on 7 hours sleep I feel well rested. There are people out there that function well with 6 (jealous!) and some who need as much as 10. I'm going to start my schedule with the assumption that 7 is my magic number and if I find I need to adjust it then I will.

2. Should I get up at the same time everyday, no matter what time I've gone to bed? YES. Getting up at the same time everyday helps establish a positive daily routine, and helps you to fall asleep more easily on time at night. My favourite time to get up is about 5.30am though I often only do this about 3 times in the week because I stay up too late too often. If I want to get up at 5.30am and I want 7 hours sleep that means each night I should be falling asleep by 10.30pm, though it may take a few weeks of early rises for me to be able to naturally do so.

4. How should I pay off 'sleep debt' that accumulates when I have to work late if I can't sleep in? When I work until late and then still get up at 5.30am I am creating a 'sleep debt' that will need to be paid off the following night. How can I achieve this? By getting myself to bed earlier the following night, and still rising at my scheduled wake time the next day.

I think it will take me about a month to get used to the regularity of this routine but I think it's worth giving a try; I look forward to reporting back as to how it's going and any positive changes I notice once I'm set.

14 January 2013 - How to stay fit without actively trying

I went for another long run today, but seeing as I used the heatwave as an excuse to not run all week I didn't expect to meet my long distance goal of 7km. Instead I set out just hoping that I hadn't back slid so much that I wouldn't be able to do 5km any more.

As I was running I was amazed to realize that I would not only easily be able to achieve the 5km but that I seemed to be doing it at a faster speed and with more energy than I had a week earlier. This led me to consider what I had done that week that could have contributed to my level of fitness, without any regular workouts. If indeed my lifestyle alone is enough to maintain a steady fitness level then I think that advice is worth sharing... ( In all honesty the caffeine hit from a soy flat white I drank before my run may have also helped with energy... but for the sake of this advice holding any merit I'll choose to believe it wasn't the main factor!)

How to stay fit without actively trying:

1. Dance. While I'm working on Friday and Saturday nights I spend a lot of time dancing away behind the bar while pouring drinks. Dancing is incredibly good for fitness, is a total body workout and it burns roughly 450 calories an hour. Incorporating dancing into your everyday life is easy and fun. Say yes to heading out to the club with your friends and dance the night away, or keep it simple at home by turning the music up and dancing around your kitchen while preparing dinner. (I've been known to do this often too!).

2. Play with children. As well as working at the bar I do some casual hours as a childcare worker and I can honestly say if you need to sneak in some fitness kids will definitely help you do that and then some. If you have kids of your own spend some time actively playing with them; offer to babysit for a friend, borrow the neighbours children.... however you choose to do it time with little ones is not only good exercise but I think pretty good for the soul too.

3. Active socialization. Our day at the swimming hole yesterday was very active. In between the walking, aqua jogging, swimming and general frolicking I know I felt  the physical exertion! Next time you're catching up with a friend instead of sitting down to dinner or coffee think up something active to do together - kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, swimming or just an evening walk with the dogs. You and your friends will all feel better for it.

4. Walk more. I tend to be one of those people who parks far away from where they want to be. This is mostly because I hate driving around in circles seeking the "perfect" park when I could have already parked farther away and walked by the time I find it (or the perfect park never even appears!). Whatever the reason you have for creating time to walk try and do it as often as you can. Get off the train or bus one station early, walk to the local shops and save yourself some fuel, give the dogs some extra exercise...

4. Housework. A few days ago I described my new-found love for 'Keeping house' and listed a few of the benefits. I should have added it's contribution to my fitness levels to that list! I spent the day on Saturday vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and cleaning. This, as well as my daily laundering and picking up after myself all burns calories, lifts the heart rate and keeps the body moving. And it leaves your homely space looking great.

I am a firm believer in making time for exercise; I love my regular runs and I love going to the gym but I am glad that under the heatwave circumstances I was still able to stay fit, without even realizing it! Now that the temperature has cooled I have my eyes back on my goals. Wednesday I will aim for the 7km run I meant to do today; and next Monday it's 10km time! In between those runs I guess I'll be making sure I'm doing as much dancing, playing with children, active socialization, walking and housework as I can!

13 January 2013 - Secret swimming hole

Anybody living in Queensland will be able to tell you there has been a ridiculous heatwave lately so on a well deserved day off work my bestie Sarah and I decided a road trip to somewhere we could cool off was in order.

Most commonly overheated Queenslanders choose to do this on the coast at one of the beautiful beaches but I was not keen to get stuck in traffic and have to deal with Sunday "beach people" so we agreed to consider alternatives.

Sarah had been given information from a traveller on the couch surfers forum about a secret Brisbane swimming hole in the middle of a forest; so that's what we decided to check out.

Four of us piled into my little Getz and set off with a vague idea of where we were headed (in the style of true adventurers). Did we get lost on the drive a few times? Yes. Did the water in our bottles overheat? Yes. Did we walk too far into the forest in mid 30's heat completely missing the waterhole? Yes. Did we leave some of our picnic essentials in the car and have to walk back to retrieve them? Yes.

Was it all worth it then? YES and YES again. It was absolutely perfect. We will be back.

12 January 2013 - Keeping house

I have always been someone who is fairly disorganized with my personal items. In fact I actually remember reading through old school reports and as a five year old my teacher had felt the need to add an additional comment under the tick in the "not achieved" box for the category regarding the ability to take care of personal belongings:

"Jacinda's belongings tend to surround herself and her desk at all times!" it read. Thanks a lot Mrs Bruce. 

But she was right. And it didn't end there. As a child my bedroom would be periodically spring cleaned in a frenzy of OCD organization before I let is descend into a comfortable mess once again. In shared flats I would always show a great deal of respect for common areas but could not control my own bedroom. And once me and my husband joined forces in our house (I can imagine his report cards reading similarly to my own!) we would often find ourselves needing to dedicate an entire day to cleaning. 

This year I decided enough was enough and I would finally keep on top of things so to kick the year off I went through every cupboard, drawer, nook and cranny in our home and cleaned, organized and compartmentalized our belongings. My husband and I have kept the home in an immaculate state for the three weeks since. 

And I suddenly feel very foolish for waiting all this time before listening to my Mother's sensible advice that "if you just pick up after yourself as you go things won't get into such a state."

These are the three best things I've noticed about keeping on top of the housework:

1. I feel as though I have much more time to do the things I enjoy. 

2. I have found that one of the 'things I enjoy' is actually hanging out in my own clean and tidy house. 

3.There are less bugs

This has definitely been a lifestyle choice for the better. 

11 January 2013 - The salad dressing

Today I did something I have not done before but which I felt represented my goals for the year perfectly.

1. When the BBQ sauce ran out I cleaned out the bottle and set it aside as something I could re-use another time (rather than throwing it out!)
2. When I made a big salad in the evening I re-filled that bottle with a healthy home-made honey mustard dressing

Why have I not been doing things like this my whole life? It's so incredibly simple.

10 January 2013 - Three Things

There is a wonderful movement that I've read about and now joined that stems from a website created by Oxfam. It focuses on our ability to change the world by committing to three things that we can do in our everyday lives that will help to make this world a better place. The website has so far seen over 6,000 people pledge to do 3 things...and the numbers are only growing. Can you commit right now to doing 3 things too?