PHEW. Anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed lately? It has been pretty darn busy for us lately with work, study, blogging, kids and attempting a social life, and things are starting to take a toll on my energy levels. I am really really tired. So tired in fact that I have made a few decisions about my diet to try and attempt to get some of my energy back.
You may remember a while ago I blogged here about listening to your body, and then last week I talked about tuning in to your intuition. My intuition has been telling me loud and clear that I really need to up my protein intake big time, or I won’t be able to keep this pace up.
I have also been learning a lot lately in my nutrition study at Institute For Integrative Nutrition about the theory of bio-individuality – the concept that no perfect way of eating works for everybody, and we have been encouraged to really experiment and listen to our bodies over our year of study.

Soooooooooooo

I have decided to try adding a little bit of fish and some organic eggs to my diet, and see if this improves my over all energy levels.
I considered eating a little dairy, but this instantly causes my eczema to flare up, so that is simply not an option.
I have absolutely no doubt that a vegan diet can provide everything you need to remain healthy, but right now I am struggling to do the ground work and preparation require to maintain a varied healthy vegan diet.
I am not sure whether it will help, how long I will trial it for, or even whether I will be able to stomach it, but I firmly believe in listening to your body and it’s individual needs, and intuitively this is where I feel I need to be right now.

I will keep you posted!

Question: What foods do you find help you most when energy is flagging?

Mmmmm Roasties. For us kiwis it is getting closer to winter, and in winter I love nothing more than a good roast dinner. As I don’t eat meat, the vegetables have to be pretty special so I am always try to think up new ways to present them. This was last nights effort, and I have to say it was pretty darned good (if I do say so myself). Roast veges always taste great with herbs, but we threw in some roasted chickpeas as well to add some crunch and protein.

I searched my favourite blogs to come up with a roasted chickpea recipe and found this one over at Healthy Crush.

For the Roasties above you will need:
Kumara
Pumpkin
Carrots
Red onion
2 cloves garlic
4 stalks (is that what you call them?) Rosemary – leaves only
1 handful of sage
Extra virgin olive oil
Rock salt

Directions:
Prepare the chickpeas as per Healthy Crush directions above
Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius
Peel and roughly chop vegetables. I prefer mine quite chunky
Peel and finely chop the garlic
Slice red onion finely
Spread vegetables evenly out over a baking tray and coat in olive oil.
Sprinkle over rock salt to taste
Sprinkle over rosemary leaves, garlic and sage
Mix vegetables lightly to ensure coated in herbs and oil and bake until tender for approx 45-50 mins. This will vary according to oven, and size of the vegetable chunks
Lightly mix and turn vegetables once during cooking to ensure even cooking and that they don’t stick to baking sheet
Just before removing from the oven, mix through the roasted chickpeas and turn oven to fan bake to cook for a few more minutes.

Enjoy

Cheers

Ali

Question: What herbs/spices do you use when roasting veges? Any delicious recipes for me?