Omg, pancake day! I always get so excited for pancake day and was not going to let the 30 days to healthy living ruin pancake day for me. So I googled healthy gluten free protein pancakes. I came across a recipe that was also vegan as well as gluten free, I adapted it to include a free range egg as I love eggs so no longer vegan. It was really easy to make and I had twice as much batter as I needed so put half in the fridge, I’m hoping my boyfriend will want some tomorrow as he cannot have gluten – perfect! The batter was thicker than normal pancakes and I used my vanilla protein powder and coconut milk dairy alternative, so the flavours were really good. They looked fantastic and tasted ok. Both me, mum and dad had them. Me and dad described them as edible and ok. Now that is actually good in our books! We like things to taste sweet and bad for you so admitting gluten free protein pancakes tastes good, means they tasted good. I added lemon to mine which did turn them from nice crispy pancakes to stodgy ones, still tasted good mind.

Now who says pancakes can’t be healthy?! #proteinpancakes #glutenfree #glutenfreeproteinpancakes

A post shared by Coach Natasha (@coach_natasha_a) on Feb 13, 2018 at 4:09am PST

I prepped lunch, sweet potato and salad for me to have before work. After I ate my lunch I felt sleepy so had a fizz stick, can’t believe I haven’t napped for 9 days now, it is incredible, feel like I have more hours to my day now. My energy levels were great and I didn’t feel hungry all day. I was eagerly showing everyone at work a photo of my stack of gluten free protein pancakes because I was so proud I made something so healthy look amazing. I found out that most adults don’t do pancake day anymore, only those with kids tended to. It was heart breaking, I’m such a big child at the age of 24. After work I had a chocolate protein shake and snacked on a few nuts whilst I face-timed my friend in France. She is also doing the 30 days to healthy living with me and said she had made pancakes too this morning, that made me so happy. I had plenty of energy to go to pole fitness and even went to the pub afterwards, treated myself to a glass of water with lime this time compared to my water with lemon on day 3. It is so nice to still have enough energy at the end of a weekday to socialise with friends, whilst we are training there isn’t a lot of opportunity to chit chat, haven’t said that I think I can talk for England and definitely talk far too much! Luckily talking doesn’t stop me accomplishing the moves I work on just a minor distraction. Right, time for a herbal tea, good night readers and if you didn’t have pancakes why not?! With a world of amazing different recipes and inclusion of free from recipes there is nothing stopping you, except maybe a hatred for pancakes and that is fine.

Starting to gain some healthy lifestyle habits now. When I’m peckish my mind thinks right to fruit, veg and nuts. That is a massive difference to thinking and dreaming of eating mini boosts all the time – they are the best though, if you haven’t tried them do! As soon as I woke up I went straight for my vanilla protein shake, eggs and avocado. I did not want to get up however because I have been sleeping so well and was enjoying my sleep. I covered pre school classes at work this morning and although you don’t do personal coaching it is hard work, just lugging equipment on and then back away off of floor is a mission. The floor looks amazing and is covered with toys and equipment. I’m pretty sure half the grown ups that bring their children there secretly want to join in and be a child again.

Morning shake in bed ??

A post shared by Coach Natasha (@coach_natasha_a) on Feb 12, 2018 at 12:22am PST

Came home for lunch and had brown rice leftovers with egg and a complete hydration drink. More healthy lifestyle habits are appearing in my challenge for example drinking more and staying fully hydrated. It was such a sunny day today that our conservatory was lovely to eat my lunch in and chat with my family. Went back to work for some half term classes that went really well. I had lots of energy and felt good. I haven’t had a headache as often as I normally do so that has been a huge plus. I also don’t ache as much either, whether that is due to drinking the after workout sachets or because I am eating better either way I’m very thankful.

I have had a few people comment on how healthy my skin looks and also that I am looking trimmer – mostly my bottom looks a little smaller, now if you don’t know me my butt is huge it is 14 inches bigger than my waist! It always has been even at my lightest weight and is hereditary, thanks mum. Work was pretty easy to get through and training wasn’t tough either. I did however get a little hungry after food shopping for this week and snacked on pistachios…delicious. I haven’t been too tired or too achey to train and which is amongst many healthy lifestyle habits, exercising regularly without fatigue. About to settle down to my herbal tea and bedtime routine. I shall return tomorrow with another awesome blog post, see you there.

Ok so what I have learnt over the week is that there are around 10 tips to a healthy lifestyle.

1 – Get enough sleep
2 – Stay hydrated
3 – Snack healthy
4 – Plan meals
5 – Exercise
6 – Eat vegetables and fruit
7 – Resist tempting junk foods
8 – Eat every 4-6 hours
9 – Get enough fibre in your diet
10 – Have healthy treats

I know most of these are a given but they really are important. I have noticed that I drink far more water than I usually do on this challenge and I don’t feel the urge to snack constantly on chocolate or sweets. I had a protein shake this morning before work and after I finished at 3pm I had a fizz stick as I felt so tired. When I got home I had another shake and then had family dinner around my brother’s house. I think I ate a little too much but I don’t reckon I’d be much over 1,200 calories today. I really struggle to eat as much as I should. I’m not used to eating so often, my 10 tips to a healthy lifestyle prove I should eat every 4-6 house and I know I don’t. I usually have one big meal a day and a few snacks. However on this challenge I swear I eat far more than I would normally do. I went bowling with my friends, I’m not very good at bowling and I’m very competitive so get super frustrated when I can’t do well at something. On the other hand, if there is one thing to be rubbish at, bowling isn’t that bad of a choice in my opinion.

I didn’t find it too difficult to just drink water and I’m really liking the taste of lemon in my drink. Before I have had lemon in my water and I couldn’t taste it, but for some reason on this diet plan I can taste it far more. I should really try and work on following those 10 tips to a healthy lifestyle. If I could plan my meals better and try and stay hydrated after this 30 days to healthy living, I can definitely see that it would improve my life. My energy levels dipped a little today but nothing a fizz stick couldn’t fix. Right time to get some beauty sleep, half term is upon us which means more work for me.

Woke up today feeling amazing, my energy levels were through the roof. I had a lot planned for today and woke up a little later than expected, so rushed getting ready. I did manage to drink a chocolate protein shake and eat an egg an avocado for breakfast. I went to jump street which is our local trampoline park with my friend and messed around doing gymnastics which is my passion in life, even though I am better at coaching than doing I still feel that love for it. We stayed for two hours and I gave my friend a post work out drink to help us not ache too much and stay hydrated.

I couldn’t believe that after two hours non-stop jumping I still had the energy levels to go round my friend’s house in Wix to practice our pole fitness moves. I have been doing pole fitness for around a year now and absolutely love it. It helps me get stronger to support my gymnasts when coaching and helps maintain my flexibility. There is a lot of stigma surrounding this sport, but I love it and it shouldn’t be judged harshly, it is super hard to do and really pretty when done right. My friend has a pole in her mum’s house, a whole room dedicated to fitness was awesome. I helped teach them both how to hula hoop with a weighted hoop. They were so excited.I was with two friends and we all got better at our moves we were working on, I got two new ones infect! I felt a little dizzy so I drank some water and asked if she had any food, there wasn’t a lot I could think I can have on this challenge but I had a banana and that really helped.

And this is my Ayisha split at my friend’s house on the other hand gosh i wished I pointed my toes! 😀

A post shared by Coach Natasha (@coach_natasha_a) on Feb 10, 2018 at 1:20pm PST

When I got home I made myself dinner which consisted of chicken and vegetables. I know with this challenge you shouldn’t feel hungry but I really struggle to organise my life around the included food. I also had some cashew nuts and dried cranberries. I later had another protein shake and still had high energy levels throughout the evening. My gut is clearly very happy which is where most of our serotonin levels are and I was getting a lot of endorphins from all the exercise I was doing today. It feels good and it makes me feel fitter. I feel 100% better than I did on day 3 that is for sure!

Loving the healthy food I keep cooking ??

A post shared by Coach Natasha (@coach_natasha_a) on Feb 10, 2018 at 1:55pm PST

Was really not looking forward to this morning, it was dentist day, I was up all night reading the healthy eating information sheets provided in the fb group you join for the 30 days to healthy living I looked at on day 1 to distract me. This meant I had planned out all my meals and what to prepare. I snoozed my alarm about 5 times and when I finally got up and reluctantly waddled downstairs, I prepped my food. I had a vanilla protein shake with fibre support for breakfast, cooked up some boiled eggs and cut up some raw veggies for snacks. I made myself a chicken with, red and yellow peppers and spinach stir fry, for lunch to take to work.

Yummy yummy get in my tummy! ?lunch from earlier today ??

A post shared by Coach Natasha (@coach_natasha_a) on Feb 9, 2018 at 10:56am PST

My dentist was an ordeal, my appointment took a whole hour and I had millions of injections. I was happy that my old crown and one silver filling would be replaced with aestheticlly pleasing white ones, most british teeth are full of many silver fillings and it’s nice to think I’ll have a few less. I hadn’t taken the day off work and I didn’t quite realise I would be so anaesthesia-ed-up. I could barely talk properly and anything beginning with the word ‘B’ forget about it! My whole mouth and lips were numb and I’m pretty sure I scared all the kids I coached today *giggles*. Half my face wore off quicker than the other so I’m sure I looked real scary to the gymnasts and to be honest hilarious to my co-workers.

I had packed up fizz sticks and hydration sachets as recommended with the healthy eating information I read last night that I had on my break. Being really stupid I hadn’t thought about packing “soft” foods so didn’t even bother trying to eat my raw veggies, I mean I was clamping my lips shut with my fingers just to take a sip of my drink – carrots, celery … dream on. I decided I would eat my stir fry later when I could actually bite properly and I had a chocolate protein shake with digestion plus in. What I did notice is that although I was anxious and nervous for my dentist appointment knowing how much work I was having done, I didn’t have tummy problems. I normally get so anxious that it affects my tummy really bad and that didn’t happen which I put down to healthy eating and getting the right healthy eating information. My stir fry tasted and looked amazing. When I got home I did treat myself to pistachios and dried cranberries. Looking forward to focusing on the challenge and not having to worry about my teeth.