Health / Fitness

One of the biggest things I struggled with over the winter during the pandemic was my mental health. And I know I can't be alone in this. Being at home pretty much every day with my whole family was quite tough. There have been a lot of memes going around about extroverts. I say take a moment to consider introverts. They are the ones stuck at home with their families with nowhere to escape for some recharge time! Why is winter hard for mental health? While not everyone experiences challenges for their mental health during the winter, it can be [...]

Towards the end of August of 2014, one of my colleagues suggested we do The Bloody Long Walk. A few others agreed and I also got roped into it. What is the Bloody Long Walk? The Bloody Long Walk is a 35 km walk created by the Mito Foundation. Its goal is to raise vital funds to cure Mitochondrial Disease, a debilitating and sometimes fatal genetic disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy, causing major organs to dysfunction or fail and can be a fatal disease. At least one Australian child is born with this debilitating genetic disorder each week. [...]

Leg day is one of my favourite days when it comes to strength training. And I know that is not the norm! I love feeling sore afterwards like I’ve put in some real effort. But after a while, the soreness can become downright annoying. Depending on what time I work out, I generally notice some soreness around 20 hours afterwards, which peaks around 24-36 hours afterwards. But there are actually quite a lot of things you can do to aid muscle soreness and the recovery process. Most of the tips below can be used for any kind of delayed onset [...]

It's not easy to work out with kids around. So much time is taken up by housework, employment, and spending time together as a family. But here are ten ways to work out with kids, you'll be sure to find one that works for you. 10 ways to workout with kids 1. First thing in the morning I know not everyone wants to wake up early in the morning so that they can work out. But it is a great way to fit a few more things into your day. I like to get up, get dressed and get out [...]

If you are anything like me at the moment, you are (stuck) at home. And I am currently at home my husband, my 3-year-old and my mother in law. Between trying to work at home, entertain my daughter and keeping the house running as close to normal as possible, something was starting to give. My gym was closed. And it didn't have any online classes. But I knew I still needed to keep active. After all, the main reason I joined the gym was for my mental health. I've been going to yoga classes at my gym since I signed [...]

I quit adding sugar to my breakfast cereal years ago, but I still add it to my coffee. But I’ve slowly been cutting back the amount of sugar I have in a coffee and even tea for that matter. I’ve always had two sugars in my coffee, even when I was drinking store bought flavoured coffee sachets. It does make me sad to admit that on top of the 10g of sugar already in it that I was adding another 10g. Not to mention my seasonal PSL habit. It was time to quit adding sugar to coffee. I've used two [...]

The importance of meal planning is touted on almost every money-saving blog and is a priority for many stay-at-home parents. But I generally meal plan because I like to know what to expect. You see I am horrible with surprises and not that good when it comes to a change of plans. But I think I've come up with the easiest meal plan. I only meal plan our dinners and I try my best to be flexible about it. Events pop up out of nowhere and there are nights when nobody wants to cook. Most of the items are stored in [...]

THE CHALLENGE I gave up coffee, for 30 days in a row. Call me crazy but I gave up coffee. I had my last beautiful brew on Friday, January 12. The surprising thing is that I don’t really miss it as much as I thought I would. I would have given it up earlier knowing that. Now don’t get me wrong, I do love the taste of coffee, that’s why I drink it. I do also use it as a substitute for morning tea, to keep me going through to lunch. But over the years I have learned that I [...]

It only takes an hour to donate blood, but it could save someone’s life. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to donate blood. I was disheartened that I wasn’t able to complete my first donation. You see, I am a fainter. I don’t like needles. I really don’t like having blood taken. Even talking about it often makes me go weak at the knees. But I just felt really strongly that this was something that I needed to do. I felt so strongly about it that I became emotional thinking about it. Since that first attempt, I [...]

I have been drinking coffees from the Nescafe Cafe Menu for at least 6 years now. I originally picked them up because I wanted to start drinking coffee (I guess because it appears to be an adult thing to do) but didn’t like the instant stuff my parents had. I've always loved the smell of coffee but never liked the taste until I tried this brand. But I think its time for a change in coffee habits. To be honest, when I first started having them I was having 1 sugar in the flavoured ones and two sugars in the [...]

On the 15th of January, I finally joined a gym. I had been considering it for a little while, mostly because I love the idea of running inside away from the elements. I follow the gym on Facebook &and noticed they were offering a very attractive deal, compared to the other 24/7 gyms in my area. I’m pretty sure all the gyms in my area are now 24/7 anyway. Back in December I started using a ‘couch to 5k’ app and was making good progress but was finding it hard to get going in the various climates of the Australian [...]

Follow me, as I describe a day in the life. As a belated (October) birthday present, I took my mum for High Tea at Hotel Windsor. I wanted to go during the week because I thought it wouldn’t be so busy but it had to wait until I had time off work over Christmas. They offer two sittings 12.30pm and 2.30pm, I thought 2.30 was more appropriate for afternoon tea but is only offered Wednesday to Sunday. A day in the life Mum also wanted to go to Chadstone Shopping Centre, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere. I’d [...]