At age 19, I can honestly say I’ve started to find balance in what I eat. I never weigh myself or count calories, but focus on eating fresh, wholesome food. I love going to Farmers Markets and buying produce that’s in season, and creating simple and delicious recipes. Lately, I love recipes which taste indulgent but are really super healthy and packed full of nutrients. These Superfood Raw Fudge Balls are a perfect example.
Why not take these bite sized delights to your next party to share, or wrap up & give as a gift 🙂
Recipe:
Ingredients–
♥ 1 cup dates (medjool work best)
♥ 1 cup walnuts
♥ 1/2 cup shredded or desiccated coconut, plus extra
♥ 1/4 cup raw cacao
♥ handful of goji berries (use dried cranberries for a cheaper alternative)
♥ handful of chia seeds
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Method–
1. Blend all ingredients together
2. Form into balls. If they fall apart, simply add more blended dates to the mixture
3. Roll in shredded/desiccated coconut
Ta-daaa!
This recipe can be altered according to taste or what you already have. Feel free to swap the walnuts for almonds or the dates for prunes. I decided to wrap about 10 of these for my ballet teacher the other day. Here’s how to wrap them up…
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Simply take 1 sheet of baking paper and 1 sheet of cellophane, as well as a longish piece of string
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Place about 10 fudge balls in the centre
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Wrap the baking paper around the fudge balls first, then the cellophane. Tie the string around to secure.
Gift complete! How easy was that? Does this look like something you’d like to make/scoff down?
Recipe by Hannah, a full-time nutrition student and blogger at Dear Asparagus!
“If someone doesn’t comment within two weeks on how great you’re looking – then you’re cheating.” – Dr Joshi.
I picked this up randomly when a lovely little bookstore near me was having a 50% off closing down sale. Never one to say no to the possibility of a bargain, I dashed in and came across Dr Joshi’s book which I’d been intrigued by previously but never bought.
While I don’t need to be slimmer, healthier I can always go for. Basically Dr Joshi draws on Ayurvedic wisdom, as well as the principles of alkaline eating to help you feel your best. You will go without a few much loved things for 21 days, incorporating plenty of fresh fruit and veggies (some are out though), gluten-free products, herbal teas, supplements and other good-for-you treats. It’s a really well designed program and leads you through everything with LOADS of information and reviews/testimonials from many of his well known clients, including Gwyneth Paltrow.
The only thing that is personally detrimental is that the majority of recipes call for chicken stock (even the veggie ones), so as a vegetarian it would be hard to follow the supplied detox menu. That said there ARE options, and I’m sure you could use veggie stock, but there’s a lotta chicken in this book – organic, free-range naturally! Which reminds me of THIS wonderful Youtube…
Despite the chicken qualms, I’d totally recommend this book if you’re game for a detox, but want to know all the little details behind how/what/where/why, in an accessible and interesting format. I really enjoyed it, go Joshi! Available on Amazon for about $21 USD.
Have you ever tried a detox or wanted to? If so let us know your experience / reason for wanting to try!
I’m a lazy, overweight exercise-avoider. I have no excuse beyond a crippling dependence on cake, and in the last year, I’ve been doing my best to try to get on top of this situation. There have been ups, there have been downs, but having recently started attending Tamara Yoga, I’m starting to feel a lot more optimistic about my rocky road to (relative) health and fitness.
Firstly, all credit to my younger sister, who after my unsuccessful week-long attempt at finding a yoga class that worked with my work schedule piped up and suggested I attend Tamara Yoga. It’s obscenely close to where I live, parking is ample and free and their schedule is so insanely varied (7.00am on a Saturday morning, anyone? How about 6.00am on Cottesloe beach?) that you’d have to be truly unlucky to not have something you could attend.
The format is thusly – some classes are fixed, some allow a rock-up-and-pay arrangement. I signed myself up for a six-week beginners course, which locked me in for that amount of time, and meant that each class built on what was learned the week beforehand. They’re wonderfully flexible with this arrangement – I came waltzing in at the week two point, and they altered the fee to reflect the five-week duration. My instructor – the effervescent Carol – quizzed me a bit on my relative level of familiarity and kept an eye on me to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.
This Buddha greets you in the foyer @ Tamara Yoga
The other option – pay as you go – means that for certain classes you can just turn up and hope it’s not horribly packed (this hasn’t happened – yet). I chose to attend a Vinyasa class at 7.00am on a Saturday morning (yes – this was extremely strange and overeager), which worryingly specified neither all levels or beginners, as many classes do. This instructor (I didn’t catch her name, but the website makes me think Helen), just like Carol, checked on what I knew and what I didn’t and came by to adjust me occasionally. Whilst it was a more advanced class than I strictly speaking should have been attending, every pose and movement had a lesser-powered option, and she was careful to specify easier variations of every motion. It was incredibly inclusive, and very considerate, and impressed the crap out of me.
♥ A class in action
But how are the classes themselves? The key word is relaxed. It’s a very informal, almost chatty format, more educational than you might expect and the wind down, meditation portion at the end (savasana) is complete bliss. The day after my first class I felt less stiff, more limber and more – centred, I suppose? And I don’t resent going at all, like I do gymming, or any other kind of exercise. I actually find myself poring over the schedule and trying to find drop-in classes I can wedge myself into – voluntarily. As in, with no one making me. This is a big deal, kids. As an additional level of awesome they provide everything – mats, blocks, straps, all manner of things. And you can buy rather wonderful yoga equipment there. I’m tempted. Watch this space.
So ultimately I’m really happy with Tamara Yoga. It’s wonderfully informal (which I love) with a great assortment of classes and highly skilled, friendly staff. It is the ultimate in non-intimidating Yoga. Very recommended!
Have you been to Tamara Yoga before? Have a penchant for cake? Lets chat below!
Tamara Yoga Classes held at The Luck Now Centre
UPSTAIRS 10/24 St Quentin Avenue Claremont Perth Western Australia
Enter via laneway off St Quentin’s Avenue across from Claremont Quarter
Review by Suzanne: she is allergic to exercise, and can only be cured with cake.
If you want to start your year off in the best way possible (and who doesn’t?!) then you’ll be thrilled with our latest competition to win 1 of 3 ultra-luxurious certified organic eye creams from Serenade Organic!
Serenade Organic is a WA owned company, and their products are 100% certified organic, free from toxic chemicals, synthetic ingredients and artificial preservatives. They’re also 100% dreamy!
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The Restore Eye Cream is a nutrient rich blend of nourishing Shea Butter, anti-aging Organic Rosehip Oil and cooling Cucumber Oil, which all work together to help keep the delicate skin around the eye supple, nourished and youthful. It also reduces minimises the appearance of fine lines AND puffiness – does this sound like a wonder product or what?
The other great bonus is that you only need a really small amount, as it’s such a gorgeous product packed full of active ingredients, a teeny bit will still do you wonders!
To celebrate this amazing find, we are giving away 3 pots valued at $54.95 each to you, our devoted readers!
Good luck 🙂 The competition will be drawn on the 30th of January…til then, if you’re keen on checking out Serenade then they have a fab little 10 day travel pamper pack for $29.95 with their three products (all 100% certified organic) which you can get into!
This Sunday just passed was the culmination of months of organising and planning, the result? The first Perth Online Beauty Media event! So what exactly is POBM? Well it’s a group of girls (no guys…yet!) from Perth / WA who blog and write online content related to beauty and wellbeing. There’s plenty of us, and it was high time that we all stepped out from behind our respective computer screens and got together for an afternoon of networking and strengthening of the online beauty media industry in WA.
It was an amazing day, held at the gorgeous Djurra Day Spa in Fremantle, with healthy raw food pizza and sweets provided by The Raw Kitchen and beautifying drinks by Emma & Toms. A host of other generous sponsors supplied items for the goodie bags (links below)!
I’ve decided to share some of the less formal photos, scroll down and check out the behind the scenes action, as well as a whole heap of blog posts from our attendees which go into a bit more detail! Enjoy!
Bloggers arriving at the lovely Djurra Day Spa!
Online beauty media girls receiving their amazing Aveda blue oil treatments
Yumm!
3 of my writer gals, Kelly, Jacqui & Adriane, chowing down on some raw food 🙂
Megan from Beauty in the Sky trying some raw pizza, and looking very cute!
