Tea for Two

I love tea. When I say I love tea I mean of course herbal tea with the odd white or green tea infusion for fun.  And when I say I love tea what I actually want to say is that I like tea its fine but I have come to love it due to the fact that coffee is definitely not my friend.  Whilst I adore it, it does not like me.  I love the way it smells when it is been ground or brewed, the way it bubbles away taunting you to add cream or milk...cappuccino, frappuccino, espresso, latte, mocha...I love them all but for now I have turned my back on the bean and befriended the leaf.

A few benefits of the leaf:

Calming

Eases stomach and digestive problems

Aids cleansing and detoxification

Some benefits of the bean:

Contains antioxidants - who knew?

Excellent for colonic irrigation procedures

A stimulant - good or bad...up to which way your bread is buttered!

If you are interested in finding out more, it may be worth a google as the internet is crammed with info about tea and coffee.  Ultimately you have to make the choice that suits your lifestyle best.  Perhaps the way to go is to reduce the intake gradually and introduce a wide range of new herbal tea flavours.  Whilst I am really into fruit, I am not so keen on it in tea form.  I do however have a real penchant for rooibos, especially the earl grey variety made by Dragonfly, now this I can and often do drink by the pint and feel refreshed and revived.

Now and again I will venture into the maze of  teas chinese and japanese and when possible love to go to the Teasmith in Spitalfields London - a contemporary twist on tea drinking .

If you decide to make the switch and take that leaf oohps rather leap drop me a line and let me know how you get on.

Happy Herbals!

Nicola x

Food 09.01.10

Breakfast

1 x bowl of millet porridge mater with water, some coconut milk spices and sweetened with xylitol herbal tea

Lunch

small bowl of calvo nero sauteed with onion and coconut milk - buckwheat sandwich with green salad, sauteed onions and courgette a scraping of humus, couple of falafel sliced, scraping of aioli 

Snacks

none today because....

Dinner

Huge green salad with fennel, radish sprouts and pesto type dressing with a large handful of red skinned potato homemade oven chips served with a naughty bit of ailoli....what was I saying about that fat?

Exercise/good stuff to encourage detoxing

Nothing - thought seriously about body combat class again in the morning and the pilatesin the evening but but but.... 

Water Intake

Still rubbish 2 glasses water and about x 4 large herbal teas 

Sleep

woke up at 8.50 - thanks to theposty with a loud knock 

bed 12.30am or later...aghhh

Feeling

Woke up tired again.

Food 10.01.10

Breakfast

1 x large glass of green smoothie - cucumber, lemon, mint, basil, flax and hemp oil, barley grass, liquid chlorophyll. I had a small bowl of millet porridge mater with water, some coconut milk spices and sweetened with xylitol herbal tea, my hubby had organic baked beans on rye bread toast...yummy which would you rather have?

Lunch

Huge bow of sauteed cabbage carrot onion and garlic with spices, tiny bit of aioli and loads of nori flakes, some soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds and some soaked and  1/2 a handful of seasoned almonds

Snacks

none - lunch was the snack

Dinner

1/3 Waitrose dahl and spinach curry with a huge serving of sauteed spinach

A kind of chocolate-ish biscuit thing made with buckwheat and minimal coconut oil as a fat ( really needed way more but I am trying) and xylitol as I had virtually run out.  Tasted like pants to start with but I did get right into it by the end of the second piece!

Exercise/good stuff to encourage detoxing

20 minutes fast walking on the treadmill - I burned 137 calories - that must be at least one chocolate-ish biscuit

1 hour yoga

30 mins in the steam room

Skin scrub with JASONS body scrub - prefer to make my own but I thought I would give it a go - seems like an awful lot of ingredients in it though

Water Intake

Still rubbish 2 glasses water and about x 2 large herbal teas 

Sleep

woke up at 9.30 

bed 1.00am or later I wanted to ring my friend and wish her well on her trip to Angola but she had already left...aghhh

Feeling

Woke up less tired again yay!