That being said, whenever I make or buy new things Dan always try's them - so if he's got something new, I'm going to try it too. This weekend I got to try red velvet cake, some kind of amazing raspberry meringue, biscuit thing and some lemon meringue dark chocolate (all things I bought for him from whole foods). I like to think that one small mouthful isn't going to have an effect on me and I'd like like to point out if he's eating something I've had before, I don't 'try' any of it. I.e regular chocolate bars etc. are off limits!
At the weekends I like to switch up my breakfasts and this Saturday, instead of having my regular protein shake I decided to have some nice warm porridge, perfect now that the weather has taken another turn for the worst! Last week I bought some oats (0.69p from Morrisons) the old fashioned kind that take 5/6 minutes on the hob. You can cook these with water - which I tried last week and seasoned with cinnamon. I really liked it, and I couldn't believe how far removed the taste of oats is from the Quaker oats sachets I was eating before. This left me wondering what's in Quaker that makes them taste so different, although the ingredients list is short it still said '81% oats', then it's just sugar and thickening agents. That's a whole load of room for sugar and thickening agents though. So my oats are 100% oats, no sugar, no thickeners, just good, clean oats. 
Saturday morning I decided to have a chocolatey, peanut butter porridge. I cooked my oats with almond milk on the hob and then added banana, a spoonful of peanut butter and a sprinkling of cacao nibs. I'm sure many of you are wondering what cacao nibs are, I was for a long time! I always read about cacao and the benefits of it in comparison to cocoa - I found this picture online which pretty much sums it up. It's essentially chocolate in its raw form which means it still has lots of nice healthy benefits. I tried a couple of nibs raw whilst my porridge was cooking and it's quite bitter (I'm a huge lover of dark chocolate so this does not bother me) but mixed in with other sweet things really brings out the flavour.
In the afternoon we sat down to watch Argo (great film) and what's a Saturday afternoon film without snacks?! Im sure most of us find it impossible to sit down and watch a film without eating something, the cinema has kindly drummed this routine it into our heads. We had Joseph's popcorn which is amazing and you should all go try it! It's not clean unfortunately and neither were the 'curiosity colas' we had with it either. Naughty naughty. Surprisingly Dan picked one of these up on our last trip to Wholefoods and he said it was the nicest cola he'd ever had - confirmed my his brother too. This really pleased me because Dan doesn't buy into the whole health food thing the same way I do! So I had to try it for myself and I picked up a cherry one too. They were so good! For you locals, apparently the little farm shop just before the A12 to Chelmsford stocks these. These colas are 'botanical' and follow the old fashion brewing process from back in the day when cola was considered a health drink!
For dinner it was Dan turn to cook, we had 'coconut chilli chicken'. We made this once before when I was at university and my food processor decided to break and it took us forever. Then last night my food processor started smoking as soon as we started making this! Cursed dish. I knew it was going to happen because my Friday morning smoothie made the house smell like it was on fire so it was no surprise. It's an amazing dish though, we'll worth the effort.
For pudding I made myself a clean(Ish) banana split. I used half a banana, Greek yoghurt and topped with nuts, cacao, pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of maple syrup... Hey, it was Saturday night...
Then in prep for Sunday, I made my own muesli! I'm not sure why this is so satisfying because it was so easy to make. I already had everything I needed and it took about 15 minutes in the oven. I simply put 2 cups of oats, 2 cups of mixed nuts and seeds (I used hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds and my nut mix which contains Brazil nuts, Marcona nuts and almonds) 1.5 cups of shredded coconut and mixed it all with a few tbsp of coconut oil then popped it in the oven on a low heat (about 120') for 15-20 minutes, turning often. I think this would have taken less time but my tray was quite small and meant the layer of muesli was quite thick. I kept mixing it around every 5 minutes or so. I poured it into a cereal container I wasn't using and had it this morning with the rest of my banana from last night, a couple of strawberries and almond milk. Now I have lovely home made muesli :) you'll find that most shop bought cereals, mueslis, granolas and unfortunately even porridge are full of hidden sugars so this is a really easy way to get around that. 
So hopefully I've demonstrated that clean eating can be indulgent and still good for you, minus the popcorn and cola ;)
One of the biggest changes in myself that I've noticed is that my threshold for junk food has lowered dramatically. You know when you have one of those meals, days, or even weeks where you just sit back and go 'oh man, I've eaten so much shit, I feel like crap, lets sort this out' ? I used to be the latter. I would go days and weeks of drinking and eating in excess before I would snap out of it. The funny thing is, we all do it, we all feel rubbish for it, we all feel great when we're living a healthier lifestyle, so why do we all fall back into the same trap? I like to think that I'm out of that cycle for good now, it's a new year and a new me and I feel great for it! I can't bare the thought of eating something like Dominoes (I'd much rather make my own), that being said, if I really wanted it - I would have it, enjoy it and move on. I know I try and drum this point into almost every single post but I just think its so important for a positive relationship with food which will lead to a positive relationship with your body.
Minnie
xXx
