Where my travels lead me….

I know that I’m lucky enough to be able to get in my car and go places.

So for the next year I’ve decided to create a Google map of all the places I visit. I started this on 1st June as I was embarking on one of the longest car journey’s I’ve done solo for a long time, I’ve been thinking about this idea for a while so thought I’d give it a go.

I will be mapping all the journey’s I do which are more than 10 miles (mapping every time I drive into the Lincoln would get rather dull)

I will be counting all journey’s whether it’s for business or pleasure and any mode of transport too, this will mainly be in the car but train occasionally too. I will also be adding the mileage from my home as being a bit of a nerd I’m quite interested in how many miles I cover!

To accompany the map, there will be blog posts of places I visit if I think you might be interested in them.

Here is the 1st few places I’ve been in the last few days, lots more will follow…

http://bit.ly/L6dSAy

Being a judge at The British Pie Awards

On the 25th April 2012 I had the honour of being a judge at British Pie Awards 2012 – http://www.britishpieawards.co.uk/index.php?pid=1, before I talk about my day as a judge I want to sum up the awards in numbers:

1 Supreme Champion – Dunkleys – Chicken, Ham, Mushroom, Buttered Leeks & Suet Pastry Pie

1 Special Award to recognise the small producer – Morecambe Football Club

1 Chairman of the Judges – Andrew Chisholm

1 Blessing of the pie – Rev Kevin Ashby

3 Class winners for 1 company – Morecambe Football Club

17 sponsors/companies supporting the awards

18 Classes

23 Number of pies I judged with my judging partner

75% of entries were from small businesses

94 Judges

98 Entries awarded a Gold award

100 Entries awarded a Silver award

116 Entries awarded a Bronze award

118 Most entries in 1 category (Chicken & any flavour combination)

900 Number of entries

As you can see these awards are taken very seriously so driving to Melton Mowbray on the morning of the awards I was feeling a mixture of excitement & nervousness of what the day will bring.

When I arrived, I signed in and found out what class I would be judging and who my judging partner was. I was allocated the class – chicken & any flavour combination and my judging partner was Rob Freck (Proprietor of The Cheese Shop Nottingham Ltd – http://www.cheeseshop-nottingham.co.uk/). I was pleased with this class mainly as I prefer hot eating pies to cold eating pie and having worked on the Brand Chicken Tonight for over 5 years in product development so I felt I was quite well qualified for this class.

I quickly looked through the programme to see how many pies were in this class to work out the size of the task ahead and was taken aback when the number staring back at me was 118!! Thankfully there were 5 sets of judging pairs to help us with the largest class entries of the day.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and we all assembled for a welcome to the day & judges briefing by Matthew O’Callaghan (Chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association). We then all made our way to our tables to commence judging but before we tasted anything the Rev Kevin Ashby did the blessing of the pies.

The judging takes place at St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray and is open to the public, so through the day we had many visitors coming in to see what was happening. Some of the pie producers had driven to Melton Mowbray & brought their pies personally to the awards so were also present.

The staff and students of Loughborough College were responsible for heating up the pies ready for tasting and a steady stream of hot pies were brought to us. The way the judging works is that every pie starts with 100 points and points are deducted for faults. There are 6 elements to the judging of a pie:

  1. Appearance (Including Glaze/Finish)
  2. Baking (including excessive boil out)
  3. Pastry Thickness
  4. Pastry Taste & Texture
  5. Filling (Including Jelly/Gravy/Sauce)
  6. Filling Texture & Taste

So each pie was carefully dissected to ensure we were able to give it a fair score, not only did we score each pie but also wrote comments on how the pie could be improved & what impressed us most about the pie. We made sure comments were constructive to allow the business who entered the pie to improve for next year. We know that businesses put their heart and soul into the making of pies so wanted to reward them with positive comments.

The hours passed by and we were still judging, other classes had finished and were enjoying the buffet lunch that had been provided but with a record number of entries in our class we stuck at it until the end.

In total Rob and I judged 23 pies and by the last one we were a little stuffed & tired of chicken. The main flavour combinations we saw were chicken & mushroom, chicken & ham/gammon/bacon, chicken & leek, chicken curry and then some more unusual flavours such as chicken, Stilton & broccoli.

After around 3 hours all 900 pies had been judged!! We grabbed ourselves a drink and waited for the winners to be announced.

   

What a day it was, a pat on the back to the organisers for making the day run so smoothly but a massive round of an applause to all the businesses who submitted pies for us to judge, 314 entries received an award and the quality of the pies I tasted personally was outstanding, just makes you so proud to be British!!

So then I made my way back to the car, tummy slightly more rounded than normal but with a big smile on my face knowing that I’d been part of something so great. And also getting a picture with one of my favourite chef Phil Vickery! :0)

As soon as I got home, I put the date in my diary for next year’s awards: Wed 24th April 2013.

LONG LIVE THE BRITISH PIE – A world beater!!

One of Lincolnshire’s Hidden Gems

The other Sunday I was at a loose end so decided to head out to the coast to one of my favourite places in Lincolnshire, Anderby Creek.

I know we don’t have lots of crowds in Lincolnshire but if you want somewhere to go that is a complete escape from it all, Anderby Creek is the place for you.

I first found out about this place a couple of years ago when I got an email from Cloud Appreciation Society (this is not a joke & I am quite fascinated by clouds & their formations, I can see another blog post idea forming!) saying that the Worlds 1st Cloud Bar was being opened in the UK and in none other than Anderby Creek.

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/the-worlds-first-cloud-bar-opens-in-the-uk/

         

Being fascinated by clouds I knew this was somewhere I had to visit. And I have to say I wasn’t disappointed when I got there, well a little as I picked a day where clouds were few and far between but the fact that I’d found somewhere which was a place to escape to if life just got a little too much!!

The day I went recently wasn’t the best day to choose, it was lovely and balmy in Lincoln but unfortunately on the coast the cloud hadn’t lifted so was on the chilly side but this didn’t make much difference to me, I always have my coat in the car so wrapped up warm and headed for the beach.

There were some displays about the local area and some people showing how sea salt is harvested.

Once on the beach there are miles and miles of golden sand before you to walk your thoughts, stresses and worries away.  On many occasions I’ve walked along the beach to Chapel Point which is about a mile from Anderby Creek & if I had wanted to I could have carried on walking further along the coast towards Ingoldmells or heading north towards Sutton On Sea.

     

There were plenty of people walking dogs, even people out exercising their horses but as the expanse of sand is so great it doesn’t ever feel crowded.

I can imagine if you go at the height of summer it might be a little more crowded as there are a number of caravan parks either side of the road as you drive to the car park but don’t let this put you off as there is plenty of sandy beach to go round for everyone!!

There isn’t much here in way of facilities, a couple of cafes and free public toilets so when I go I pack up a picnic to eat on the beach.

So if you’ve not been here and want to go somewhere different on a day out then this might be somewhere to add to the list of must see places to visit. I know that it won’t be long before I get in my car and take the drive out to here as I just can’t resist the fuzzy feeling I get when feel the sand between my toes and the fresh air in my lungs.

Here is a link for more information on Anderby Creek: http://www.anderbycreek.co.uk/

Ladies that lunch

When asked after the weekend what I got up too I mentioned that I’d been to London on Saturday for lunch with friends this always seems to raise a few eyebrows!! So I thought I’d share with you how easy it actually is to do.

As a relatively new “Yellow Belly” many of my good friends live in the south of the country so once a quarter we try to meet up in London for lunch and it works really well and you could do this too as an easy day out in the Big Smoke.

So how do I do it?

Well we get a date in the diary as soon as we can after each meet up, finding a date which all of us (5 friends) can do is quite hard but we usually manage it.

Once I know the date and roughly what time we’re going to meet I then get to: http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ and see how much tickets are, you can book tickets up to 3 months in advance and can get some really great deals. I’ve managed to get return tickets from Newark Northgate to London for under £20 on a Saturday, which I think is such a steal, admittedly you have to park at Newark but for a day’s parking it’s only £5 and they also do some great weekend rates for parking too (But you have to pay for the parking before you travel, but I always do this anyway as it saves time queue at the pay machines when you get home!!)

It’s also worth adding that you can also buy your tube tickets at Newark too, so this also saves a bit of time when you get down to London.

But I bet you’re still thinking it’s a long way to go for lunch and it must take ages to get there?!

It’s surprisingly easy and quick to do. From my house to Newark is usually about  a 25 minute drive, usually leave longer as you never know what the traffic around Lincoln will be. The train takes around 1 hour 20 minutes to get into London Kings Cross. Going to London may seem extreme but it’s easier than trying to get to other cities in the East Midlands and so much more relaxing.

Once on the train, you can relax for the journey, yes the trains are usually full and I would advise you to reserve your seat but the atmosphere on the train is really nice, there is always an air of excitement about people heading into London especially on a Saturday.

As all my friends come from different directions so we tend to meet at London Bridge Station as it’s easy to get to on the tube network and has lots of places to eat and drink. This time we ended up at Borough Market: http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/ and if you are a foodie like me, you will be in heaven here!!

We spend a good few hours catching up over a nice lunch and then I head back to the station to catch my train home, I’m usually back home by about 8pm. I’m tired but smiling having caught up with everyone’s news. I’m connected to all of them on Facebook, email and text messages but it’s just not the same as being in the same room as them.

I regularly do this trip to London as it’s so easy but I’ve also visited York and Edinburgh too, as Newark Northgate is on the mainline to London there are loads of places you can visit along the line.               

So if you fancy doing something a bit different one Saturday, head down to London & experience life in our great capital city, you won’t be disappointed!!

Operation Body Shape – Time to start it again…

Well you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t written a post for a good few weeks; well the reason for this was that February was a complete write off when it came to working towards my goal.

It did start well but then I got sick, then work got really busy and then I just lost all motivation to do it, even though I know I was making good progress towards my goal.

But there lies a big issue.The goal I’ve set myself is very much achievable and realistic but then there aren’t really any proper parameters that will help me know that I’ve achieved it.

Changing my body shape and being the fittest I can be is all good and well, but what does that truly mean?

So I’ve been racking my brain for a more tangible goal to work towards and then I remembered that I’ve got a dress in my wardrobe that I bought  a number of years ago for a couple of weddings I was going to. It was very expensive, so it managed to survive the wardrobe clear-out in January as I couldn’t bring myself to give it away, knowing how much I paid for it. When I bought it I couldn’t fit into it but had a few months to try. Well the weddings have been and gone and still I’ve never worn it.

And here is said dress, every time I look at it I think – one day I will be wearing it and feeling fabulous.

So now I still want to change my body shape and be as fit as I possibly can, but now I’ve got something to work towards – fitting into this dress.

I am attending a charity ball on the 18th August. It’s the “Wear Your Wedding Dress Again” annual charity event (http://www.wearyourweddingdressagain.org/) and the charity they are supporting this year is Aching Arms (http://www.achingarms.co.uk/) and  I want to wear this dress.

It also puzzles me that I actually enjoy going to the gym and  I don’t see it as a chore at all. In fact when I walk into the health club I’m a member of I actually feel like I’m treating myself.  So why do I still make excuses not to go?!? Some of the reasons I don’t go are:

  • Too tired – Go to bed earlier!!
  • Will go tomorrow – as my mum says “tomorrow never comes” so need to seize today and just do it!!
  • Got an early meeting so can’t fit it in (But I could if I did a workout at home rather than at the gym).

All these excuses are so easy to overcome, yet I still find it hard.

Working for myself means that I manage my own time therefore it’s quite easy for me to manage my time effectively to allow me to go to the gym; I also tend to go to the gym 1st thing in the morning, around 6:30am and get home for 8am, so there’s no chance of work getting in the way of it. And with the days getting lighter it’s so much easier to get up.

So from this week I’ve actually writing in my gym session in my diary so that I am unable to book meetings too early in the morning which will mean me missing a session. I usually get home from the gym around 8am which gives me plenty of time to get ready for the day.  I’m also going to try to do a bit of home exercising too; I’ve got dumbbells, skipping rope and a fit ball so again no excuse to be active as well as a number of fitness games on the Wii.

Where there is a will there is a way…..  I WILL ACHIEVE MY GOAL, I WILL ACHIEVE MY GOAL.

 

Operation Body Shape – Stopped in my tracks

Well this week hasn’t been the best! I managed to drag myself to the gym on Monday morning and that’s the last time I’ve been.

I’ve not been feeling great this week. I can’t really put my finger on why, but I’ve  just not been feeling 100% so I decided that it must be my body saying that it needs a bit of a rest. I don’t feel like I’ve been overdoing it in terms of exercise, but then I know my sleeping hasn’t been great even with no caffeine and I’ve also been a little stressed of late too. I think all of this has just put a strain on my body. It’s been nice having lie-ins but I’m now getting a little stir-crazy so will be back on it on next Monday morning.

I know there are quite a few viruses and infections going round at the moment so it could be one of those; this is going to sound a little weird but half of me is hoping it is something like a cold or a virus. Why, you might, ask am I wanting to be ill?

Well, the reason for half wanting to be ill is that it’s good to be ill occasionally, as it shows that your immune system is working well really. And as I can’t remember the last time I had a sniffle, cold or anything else, then I was a little worried that my immune system might not be functioning as well as it could be.

When we are ill, the symptoms we display are the work of our immune system trying to fight whatever intruder has got into our bodies, so if you don’t get ill it might suggest that your immune system is unable to react to the invasion in the right way.

The other reason why I don’t think I get ill very often is the fact that I live on my own and  work from home too, so the amount of time I spend with other people is not as much as others, so I tend not to get colds or other illnesses from other people. Now this might sound like I’m a bit of a loner, but I assure you I’m not and I get out and about a lot, but it’s not the same as sharing a house with other people is it?

I feel that my diet is pretty good; as I’ve said in previous blogs, I cook  most of my meals from scratch and try to eat as much variety as possible to ensure I get the nutrients I need to stay healthy. So I know that if I keep doing what I’m doing I will get back into my routine within a few days and continue towards my goal of changing my body shape. I’m still eating meals off a side plate and finding that I’m now satisfied with this amount of food.

Foods to help with immunity:

  • Any purple, red and orange foods: these foods tend to contain high levels of antioxidants which the body needs when it’s under attack, so berries, sweet potatoes, oranges and red peppers.
  • Dark Green leafy vegetables: again these contain a high level of vitamins and minerals & antioxidants.
  • Nuts & seeds: both are packed fill of essential fats and minerals such as zinc and selenium.
  • Good quality protein – fish, poultry and lean red meat.

And with spring around the corner (hopefully), I’m really looking forward to eating all the lovely fruit and vegetables that are soon to be in season too.

So a little stumble along the way has only made me more determined than ever to reach my goal….

Operation Body Shape – Still a long way to go

Well after the euphoria of how well I did in January, I’ve seem to have lost a little bit of momentum with it all.

Yes, I’m still getting to the gym on a regular basis despite the snow giving me a very good reason not to go, but am finding it hard to move myself to the next level of fitness. My body is now fairly used to going and settles into the exercises well but I don’t want to settle for what I’ve got; I want to change so I’m having to really dig deep into my knowledge bank of exercises to try to keep me A: interested in what I’m doing and B: My body not getting into a routine so is always having to adapt to itself to what it’s being asked to do.

In the gym they’ve recently bought some VIPR, (you might of seen them on the biggest loser a couple of weeks ago) but basically they are different size and weighted tubes which have hand holes in them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many different exercises you can do with them so I’ve now printed off from their official website a number of exercise routines which I’m going to give a go and see what they are like.

In my first couple of blog post I’ve mentioned about me having problems sleeping. Having given up caffeine and alcohol this has helped but still I’m getting disturbed sleep. I thought I’d share with you some of my sleeping patterns. I’ve got an app on my phone called sleep cycle which monitors your sleep by picking up your movements as you sleep using its accelerometer which it translates into which sleeping phase you are in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an example of what your sleep should roughly look like as you go through phases of deep sleep and REM sleep, the one above is a theoretical chart

 

 

 

 

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This one above is someone’s actual sleep patterns, which clearlys shows the cycles of deep sleep & REM Sleep

And here are a few of my sleep patterns

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see on most nights I wake up during the night, which leads to me feel sluggish in the morning.

I know that many people suffer from sleep issues and it’s one of the hardest things to crack due to it being affected by so many different influences.

So apart from now avoiding caffeine and alcohol as much as I can, I also take a magnesium supplement every night before sleep to help my muscles relax. I mentioned Cherry Active a couple of weeks ago, so I have a small glass of that before bed. I also have a small snack of two oat cakes with some peanut butter and banana if I have any in the house.

Having a small snack before bed can help your body regulate it’s blood sugar levels as you sleep.

Other things to do include:

Having a hot bath or shower in the evening

Using essential oils to help relax you

Meditation or deep breathing to slow your body down

In terms of my diet, I’m finding this the hardest part of “Operation Body Shape”; I just love food and I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of anything ,but there is still something not quite right. So I am working hard on this bit of it to try to move on from how I feel.

Tally ho until next week

Rachel

January Review – Operation Body Shape

Well I’ve been doing “Operation Body Shape” for a month now so it’s time to review how the month has been and see what progress I made towards my goal of changing my body shape.

So in January I achieved:

17 visits to the gym

2 rowing club sessions

3 hours of Just Dance

I’m really pleased with this level of activity; I guess going to the gym is easier for me than some of you because A: because I only have to worry about myself so can go as and when I choose and B: I have always been a bit of gym bunny so getting into the routine of it all again felt pretty familiar.

So having done all this activity, the question now is whether it has impacted on my body shape; well the simple answer is yes.

I weighed myself and was pleasantly surprised that I’d lost 7lb or ½ a stone which is great and I’m really happy with this but as I said in my first post, how much you weigh is totally irrelevant. I also did my measurements and I’ve actually lost 6.5 inches across the whole of my body, which I’m absolutely delighted about, because my main goal in this process is to change my body shape so losing size is more important to me.

Overall I’m really pleased with what I’ve achieved in January and hope that this success continues for the coming months.  I’ve experienced highs and lows, which I expected, but knowing that I’ve made progress toward my end goal is very motivating indeed.

I am going to carry on what I’m doing in the gym, and increasing the intensity of my workouts to continue to push my body to change.

The food and eating bit has been the harder part to crack and I’m still working on improving this aspect, but do know that now I find it hard to eat a large meal and on occasions I’ve felt quite ill when I’ve eaten the amount that I would have eaten without thinking a few months ago.

Last week I mentioned about a couple of supplements I take. I buy all my supplements from The Natural Dispensary: http://www.naturaldispensary.co.uk/

I am a registered practitioner on the site and have arranged for you to get 20% off any products ordered from the site. So to benefit from this discount you can either order online or by telephone. If you order online you will need to register and it will ask you who your practitioner. Quote my name, then in the promo or discount code box type: RL020 and this will give you 20% off your order. If you order by phone quote password: RL020 as well as my name and again the discount will be applied.

How are you getting on with your goals for 2012? Well, I hope, and remember there are lots of people out there trying to do the same as you. Keep up the good work.

Operation Body Shape – Back on track now!!

After the blip last week I’ve managed to get back into the routine of exercise, managing 4 times at the gym (2 CV, 1 Weight and 1 swim) and also went rowing too, more about that later!!

Food wise, I’m getting there too; the small plate system is great as I don’t have to worry about over eating and I’m just being very conscious when I go into the kitchen about grabbing snacks.

I bought some Nairn’s wheat free biscuits (http://www.nairns-oatcakes.com/our-oaty-food/oat-biscuits) as a snack which I know are still biscuits but are much healthier than the normal biscuits you buy and as they contain oats they do actually fill you up. So I just have 1 or 2 when I’m peckish.

I have manage to get into lots of little routines to make sure I’m staying on track such as having some ProGreens when I get up,  a pear on the way home from the gym and oatcakes with peanut butter and banana before bed.  I take a number of nutritional supplements to make sure I stay in “optimum health” and will talk about these in the coming weeks.

The 2 that I’m going to mention today are:

ProGreens and Cherry Active

ProGreens powder – An all-natural blended variety of “Super Foods” including green grasses, sea vegetables, algae, adaptogenic herbs and active probiotics. I make a drink with this powder every morning, mixing it with water and orange juice. When made up in a drink it doesn’t look that nice, (well I would describe it as looking like pond water) but it doesn’t taste too bad; well I don’t think so anyway and have been taking it for years and I really notice a difference when I don’t take it.

Cherry Active – This is a concentrated cherry juice which you dilute with water to make a drink or you can buy it in capsule form, I use the diluted drink when I go to the gym. I find it very refreshing and not too sweet.  It contains very high levels of antioxidants which can help with sport recovery, joint care, sleep and antioxidant health (http://www.cherryactive.co.uk/index.html).

My alcohol draught finished this week when I went to London for an awards ceremony, and yes it did taste good after 3 weeks without any alcohol. But not good enough to make me go back to my old habits. I’ve made a pact with myself to only drink when I’m out or have company at home.  The fact that I know it affects my sleep and also that I go to the gym 1st thing in the morning helps me to give it a miss most nights.

Rowing this week was all a bit scary. I went out on the river in a 4 man boat, with 2 experienced rowers & 1 other beginner. This was only the 2nd time I’d been in a boat so found it hard to maintain my stroke pattern and I nearly made the boat flip over a couple of times, so my adrenaline was going crazy by the time I got back on dry land. We did manage to row up to Washingborough & back and when I got it right, I can understand why mad people like me get up and out in the cold, as it was just lovely and peaceful to be on the water. BUT I am having my doubts about doing this as I was petrified at times, and the more I think about, it the more scared I get. However, I’m not one for giving up on things as many of my friends will know, so I will just have to bite the bullet, swallow the fear and give it another go next week.

The good news is that I have started to feel that all this hard work is paying off as I do think that some of my clothes are feeling looser than they did at the start of the year. This is just fabulous and is much more motivating than figures on the scales but next week I will be weighing myself and taking my measurements to see if there has been any change in these. I will let you know my progress to date.

Have a good week and Healthy Regards,

Rachel xx

 

Motivation has disappeared this week

Well this week has been really tough, I started the week off well, getting to the gym both Monday and Tuesday, but then it all went pear-shaped!! I had a couple of early morning starts for work which meant I had to miss the gym session which just knocked my routine for six.

I also had other things going on in my head and life which meant that I didn’t stick to the healthy eating regime and snacked quite a lot. Whoops!! But at least now all the chocolate and crisps are now eaten!

It dawned on me that I’ve set myself quite a big challenge to do what I want to do and that at times I’m quite hard on myself and not good at showing some self-love.

So over the weekend, I gave myself a bit of a talking to. On one level it was to get myself back on it the next week but also to say that’s ok to fall off the wagon as long as you get back on it.

On Tuesday, I also went to Hurricane Sports (http://www.hurricanesports.co.uk/products-and-services/health-fitness-testing/) to be fitness tested as I mentioned last week. The results of the test were quite interesting.

My resting heart rate and peak flow are good, but need to work on reducing my percentage body fat currently at 45.1% which is way over a healthy level and a little embarrassing really. But I went back to see Hurricane Sports to redo one of the tests as I wasn’t happy with my performance last week and I’d actually reduced my body fat by 1% in a week so it now stands at 44%!! Still too high but least it’s moving in the right direction. I also need to work on my flexibility and core strength.

I’ve still managed to not have any alcohol which I’m exceptionally pleased about, knowing how my mood was at the weekend but I managed to not give in on temptation.

The other thing I’ve also learnt is that I can’t have any coffee at all now; I had 1 cup early on Friday morning and I have a massive come down from it during the day on Friday which was not a nice thing to go through, I knew it affected me but didn’t realise how much it affects me and my mood. It wasn’t nice to feel as I did, so now know that caffeinated coffee is a complete no-no.

Rowing also didn’t happen at the weekend due to the blustery weather as the river in Lincoln was too choppy for beginners and I didn’t fancy going for a swim, but I’m still going to go back next week and give it another go.

Right, as you can see it’s been a bit a rollercoaster of a ride for me doing “Operation Body Shape!” I know that I want to achieve my goal more than ever now. And I just have to accept that there will be some days that I just don’t feel like doing the right thing….

Until next time, have a good week

R :0) xx