Why you need a slow cooker in your life

When I moved in with my boyfriend one of the first things that he purchased was a slow cooker. At the time I thought it was a bit strange but I let him get on with it. Since we have been living together it has completely changed my cooking an now I'm here to tell you why you need to have a slow cooker to make cooking healthy food quicker and to save on the washing up!

Easy to make Stock or Bone Broth
I don't digest gluten well and the majority of store brought stocks have gluten, loads of salt and other nasties in them. The hassle of making my own stock hasn't interested me before now as leaving bones boiling on the hob all night feel like a real waste of energy and e pensive for my bills. Now I throw bones in the slow cooker with onions, garlic some other herbs and it makes beautifully tasty stock without the hassle. The energy used costs less then a lightbulb which makes its a far more cost effective way. 

Quick Meal Prep
On a sunday I can throw in some veggies and stock, leave them all day to stew, come evening time I have soup for the week with no hassle from me. I easily throw together some meat and vegetables go off to work and then I have a enough food to feed a small army or two hungry adults and a couple of portions for a freezer. With a slow cooker you don't need to spend your sunday meal prepping as spices and herbs stew to make tasty meals. 

Cook Cheaper Cuts of Meat without it Getting Tough
I would love to buy organic grass fed meat but my budget doesn't always allow it. Sometimes I buy cheaper cuts of beef because its getting dangerously close to payday my. Often they're so tough I really wonder why I bothered wasting my money but now with the meat slow cooked in liquid the meat doesn't end up being tough and I'm happy eating a tasty meal without my bank balance suffering.

Add Flavour and Tenderness without Extra Calories
Cooking food with herbs and spices allow the flavours to really develop over the day, I then get tender and flavoured meat without having to use cream or butter. Also roast chicken cooked in the slow cooker is the juiciest roast chicken I have ever eaten, I actually can't go back to oven roasted chicken as its just not juicy enough.

Do you have a slow cooker? What do you use it for?

Royal Parks Half: The race that wasn't!

The problem with setting goals is not reaching them. Worst then not reaching them is realising half way through a race that you never gave yourself a chance to achieve the goal. I love running, I love racing but I will never be the fastest. I run because I love the space to think. I race because I enjoy the atmosphere and achieving a goal (the medal and eating afterwards also help)

The reason it's taken me so long to post this race report is because I'm disappointed in my time. But I would be dishonest if I didn't talk about the good as well as the bad. If for no other reason then to make sure that I don't make the same mistakes again.

I love the Royal Parks Half Marathon-it was my first half two years ago and the reason I started to run when I signed up on a whim for a charity place. This year I signed up for the ballot (and will continue to do so in the future) because it means a lot to me and the views around the parks are beautiful. It is also a massive race-something I should have remembered because I didn't allow enough time for the toilet queue and got myself into a tizz as I ran off to join my starting pen. But I had 2 minutes before the race started to find the pacers, but I stood in the blue area (the one I had signed myself up to) looking at the pacers for 1:50-2:10 - I knew I had put myself in the wrong time and was in trouble. It was too late to change pens so I just ran and did what I can and tried not to be too speedy. The problem with being in a faster pen is that EVERYONE overtakes you, you hold them up and you can feel their frustration. I also didn't have my Garmin so I didn't know what pace I was running so it all went wrong from the beginning.

I gave up trying to get that PB around mile 7 and tried to enjoy the run but to be honest not having the right pace had made me lose my steam. I had also been to my first ever barre class the day before and I hadn't realised that it would be so hard on my thighs (foolishly I'd read low impact and thought I would have been okay!) But I tried to just run and enjoy the race but I could escape the niggle I had in my head that was telling me that I hadn't even given myself a chance and need to work much harder if I'm going to get my half PB.

I finished the race and am well enough to run again, and attempt to get a PB again, but if I want to give myself a chance then I need to make sure I don't make these mistakes again!

There is also a distinct lack of photos in this post-the amount of runners meant that my photographer (boyfriend) completely missed me running round and I was fed up enough that I couldn't even muster a selfie.

Is social media bad your health?

 As an active social media user I've followed the posts with interest and do sometimes wonder if social media is a good or bad influence on my life.

I use social media on a daily basis to learn new information, to find out about events and products and to keep up with friends. (I look at millions of baby photos) My boyfriend has no interest in any kind of social media, he doesn't understand why I spend so long glued to my phone but he respects that I enjoy it. If I go on holiday I am happy to go days without checking my newsfeed and I am far from addicted. If I'm busy at work social media is the last thing from my mind, its just something I choose to check in my spare time.

But with recent famous instagrammers talking about the 'fakeness' of what is online. I'm not naive, I know people get paid to post pictures and wear products. At 29 I'm balanced enough to know people only post positive pictures online. No one shows them chilling out in their pjs on a Saturday night-but I'm not the impressional young girls maketing teams are trying to get through too. I can't justify spending £40 on a sports bra and I doubt many females my age have that disposable funds. 

Recently I've been having doubts about myself and the world of instagram. While going through my digestive issues I got really down about the state of my stomach. I made myself worst by looking through instagram and seeing lots of people eating burgers and having abs. I'm not one to comment if people are photoshopping instagram photos or if people are being truthful online but I couldn't look at those feeds. I went through my instagram and I deleted any account that I felt didn't show a balanced healthy lifestyle. I also deleted any accounts that just put up body shots and didn't educate me, inspire me or make me think. I also added more balanced accounts such as some inspriring yoga and mindfullness accounts so my feed is no longer full of abs & people eating green juices thankfully. 

I love social media and I will continue to use is everyday. But if it doesn't add to my life or make me happy then I will delete it, there is more to life outside a phone. Also I strongly believe every workout completeyl counts even if you don't publish it on social media.

Ealing Half 2015 - The Hangover Race

I've lived and worked in Ealing for over 6 months now and I've become very fond of this little Borough. When the local half marathon was advertised it wasn't perfect timing for my Royal Parks plans but I didn't want to miss the opportunity of running a local race.

But after a weekend of drinking and lots of beer I didn't feel like I was going to make it round the course, let alone be able to run. I regretted the (very tasty) beer, I regretted the (also tasty) burger and I hated my stomach for what it was going to go through for that morning.

But I did enjoy the relative snooze, not having to wake up until 7am to stroll down to the start line. I was very shocked about the amount of people who were running. I wasn't expecting the large crowd-it was double the amount of people who had run the Hackney half. So understandably waiting for the start was very slow. I put my self at the back towards the end of the 2:30 marker as I was aiming for 2:45 to save my legs for my next half in 2 weeks.

My plan had always been to take it slow and walk the hills. As I'd forgotten my Garmin I didn't really have a choice but to go with what felt natural and see how my body holds up. As I started to run I felt good, my stomach was a bit tricky in bits but the fresh air and exercise surely sorted it out. I was towards the back of the crowds (as you can see in my un-busy pictures) and got very happy in my own pace. I have no idea of my pace or my splits which is completely new to me for a race and I really enjoyed not having the pressure to either slow down or speed up. Somewhere after the 10 miles I knew I could finish and looked forward to the eating afterwards. I crossed the finish line with a finish time of 2:34 and I was mighty proud-I did walk the hills and run comfortably and got 10 minutes faster then my desired time.

I loved the race, I didn't think I would but it was great and I loved the atmosphere and running. If this was a test to see if I can run on too much booze then I can! As long as I get the training runs in and build up the strength in my legs.

For anyone wanting a Autumn race I would recommend Ealing-the hills aren't as bad as reviews make it out to be and has been voted best UK half marathon for the last two years at the UK running awards so they are clearly doing something right. It happens every year in the last Sunday in September.

Review: INNER ME 28 day Gut Cleanse

So after having stomach problems for such a long time with little improvement I started researching what I can do, after coming across the inner me page I decided that the gut cleanse would be worthwhile for me trying. If you want more information is this is the right step for you click here

The cleanse consists of 4 weeks of cutting out and reintroducing food that are problematic such as gluten and dairy. There are also limits on different foods such as one portion of brown rice of quinoa a day and only one portion of greek yoghurt. Oddly there is also limits of fruits and you can only have berries and citrus fruits, but that didn't feel limited to me. You also take a digestive enzymes and probiotic with breakfast a fish oil supplement with lunch and a vitamin D supplement with dinner. Although I forgot a lot of the vitamin D supplements, I didn't struggle going from none to that many supplements. I also didn't find the meals too restrictive but I did have to include snacks as well as if I don't eat reguarly I am a massive grump. The other part of the detox which was really easy to include was having a peppermint tea within 30 minutes of a meal, this was great for whenever I eat out and really helps settle my stomach after a meal.

But there have been marked improvement in some areas from doing the detox which I want to go into more detail about:

Skin

Here is a benefit that I completely didn't expect, my skin massively improved. Apart from a few hormonal stress spots to my face I have a big improvement to the usual spots that I get on my chest and across my back. I'm not sure if its down to a reduction of dairy products or cutting down on sugar by no longer having processed food. I am going to try and continue with both and see if I can work out which is causing the spots because I will happily avoid if it gives me the confidence I have from having clearer skin.

Bloat

I've included this photo about how my stomach has shrunk, although I clearly do still have my beloved belly. The first photo was a morning shot and the second at the end was taken at the end of the day. Before I tried this detox I was spending my afternoon unbuttoning my top button of trousers and generally feeling uncomfortable around my stomach. I don't feel uncomfortable anymore and I can wear the same pair of jeans all day long without having to unbutton trousers. I also haven't had any stomach cramps after eating which have been plaguing me for months.


I paid for this cleanse out of my own money and would happily do so again if I needed it. I would encourage everyone to visit a doctor and make sure your digestion troubles are not linked to a more serious medical condition.

High End Workout Buys

High end workout buys by susie-miller featuring a green cami

Well as my budget workout was so popular that I thought I would do a bit more imaginary workout shopping. Trying to save for the future makes my desire to blow all my money on an really awesome workout wardrobe!

How amazing are these trainers? I absolutely love the Mary Katrantzou/Adidas line and I love these turquoise palm and tropical print.
I'm also loving this vintage style nike jumper-perfect to throw on over my gym kit on my way home from a workout-although not technically high end this jumper is still currently out of my budget.
The leopard print rucksack is another adidas delight-this time design by Stella McCartney. I think the monochrome would work well with most outfits.
The sports bra is from Lorna Jane- I've been told that their sports bras are supportive and give ladies a nice little bit of padding to give a more feminine figure.
Below I've selected this yoga top from Sweaty Betty-I love their quality of sportswear and this colour is lovely.
Finally these Lucas Hugh tights have the most amazing print-at £270 they are most definitely high end and only in my wardrobe if I win the lottery but really a girl can dream.

What would be in your dream wardrobe? Do you prefer high end of budget to update your outfits?

I think I found my mojo...for the time being!

Hello, fortnightly updates were not working for me so I've decided to update you weekly on my training. As usual my blog post is later then intended, but one day soon I will improve my scheduling.

Well, I think I found my mojo-by that I mean I had 2 runs this week where I didn't feel like a failure and that was great for me! So here's how I got on this week...

Tuesday-upper body kettlebell workout. As I enjoy my kettlebells so much I've decided to be more structured and split my workout into upper & lower body. This 30 minute session included plank pull ups, floor to shoulder pulls and a kettlebell hold. Sweaty but satisfying. 

Wednesday- I did my first ever 'runch' as in running in my lunch time. As I only have 30minutes I was worried for time but I came in early to give me longer and managed a good run round my local park. 

Thursday lower body kettlebell session-this included goblet squats, weighted lunges and wall sits. I felt this the next day  when going to the toilet. 

Saturday- I ran 9 miles! No tears, no complaints! I had an audiobook and my water pack, got it done and felt proud. My double marathon at the end of September is seeming more achievable after a successful long run, but we will wait and see

How is your training going? Are you training for an autum race or just working out?