Happy Friday!  I know some of you have gone back to work this week after the Christmas festivities.  Currently I’m still on annual leave until Monday, but I have been retraining my body and easing it in to the old routine, by waking up at 6am over the past few days.  Fingers crossed this makes Monday morning less hellish, although I will miss my lie ins.

On the approach to the new year in addition to thinking about what I would like to accomplish in 2014 (if at all possible) I have also been considering how I would like to move away from the Christmas indulgences into January. 

The beginning of the new year is commonly marked by healthier eating regimes, detoxes and diets.  I’m all for healthier eating and have nothing against detoxes and cleanses if they work well for others, but I do not take comfort in the possibility that they would work for me.  Conversely, I have found that a balanced approach to eating is better suited to my body.  I pretty much eat what ever I want and that tends to be lots of vegetables and protein at the moment, which I just adore, with treats thrown in when I fancy.  At the moment I tend to eat in a ratio of 80:20, healthy and unhealthy foods respectively.  This ratio drifts either way depending on my mood, occasion and what ever is going in my personal life at the time.  If the shift is heavily on the unhealthy side of life, I don’t worry about it too much as I know that I can balance it out with healthier food later on.

This January, like everyone else I will be focusing on my health and recovering from all of that Christmas food.  I really want to concentrate of feeding my body with nourishing and wholesome food, feeding the inside to make the outside shine.  I don’t believe in diets or depriving one’s body, but I will be reducing my intake of some foods such as refined sugar.

Where my fitness is concerned I got stuck in a bit of a rut at the end of last year.  Despite enjoying my workouts they were becoming very similar from week to week.  Mainly this was due to time constraints and only being able to get to the gym after work, meaning that I get home at 8.30pm – in some respects I think I have been using this as an excuse.  I’m going to try and get up super early to get my workouts in before work…5.30 am starts, hurrah!  Obviously this will get easier as the mornings get lighter.  I would like to have a better plan of attack in place and challenge my body more. Believe it or not, the words half and marathon have crossed my lips over the past few weeks.

After a cosy night in on New Year’s Eve, consisting of pj’s scented candles, wine, dairy free chocolate truffles and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream I was ready to kick start my health focused approach by 1st January.  This has involved lots of green smoothies laden with coconut water:

This was my first smoothie in a bowl for such a long time.  I virtually loaded it with anything going.  The recipe will be shared in an upcoming guide to green smoothies next week.  In the mean time you can get some green smoothie inspiration in a past post of mine here.

There has been plenty of simple meat and veg dishes also such as venison steaks in a whiskey sauce with sprouts, broccoli and chestnuts cooked in coconut oil.

I tried something a bit different this week:

A tuna, chickpea and spinach stew, so easy to make and equally delicious.  I had this with some raw courgette ribbons.  As requested this recipe will also be making an appearance on the blog.  Looks like it’s going to be a busy month on the blog!

After my run yesterday I recharged the batteries by refueling with some porridge.  I whipped in an egg at the end of the cooking process to add more staying power.  These oats were made with unsweetened almond milk and coconut oil, topped with macadamia nuts, dried blueberries and drippy peanut butter.

I’ve really been making the most of Christmas food leftovers by combining them with healthier foods.  This selection of cheese slices was paired with red peppers, Ryvita crackers, hummus, chutney and olives with sundried tomatoes, yum!

Highlight of my week: My Chocolate, Jalapeño Turkey Chilli – recipe coming soon as part of a collection of lighter and healthier recipes for January. 

I’m really excited about moving forward in January and getting started with the new year.  I have a funny feeling that 2014 is going to be awesome.  So that I’m fully prepared to take on what ever 2014 has in store for me I want to get my body in check and shine from the inside out. 

What approach are you practicing for your eating this January?

How has your first week back at work been?