The Move Nourish Believe Challenge - Week 2 - How Do You Nourish Your Body?

So Kirsty has taken off and it is my turn to take over…let the games begin, muuuhhhahahaha.

Just kidding, secretly I am tapping my toes thinking how am I going to deliver the content that this audience is used to, so that I don’t let them, or Kirsty down….hmmm.

Well we are going to have to work that out another day, because first, I’ve got to blog about the second week of the Move NourishBelieve Challenge! The #mnbchallenge was something I stumbled across on one of the many social feeds I scour, and struck me as a great way to take another look at the Move Nourish Believe philosophy and how I can bring that to my life.

The MNB Philosophy from the Lorna Jane website:

MOVE her body every day
NOURISH from the inside out
BELIEVE in herself and that anything is possible if you work hard enough

Pretty simple right – yet it is something that has a profound difference in the lives of so many people. So I signed up to the Fit Approach event surrounding the challenge, in the hope that I would not only find some motivation in the last few months of pregnancy, but also perhaps win that $1000 Lorna Jane voucher up for grabs so I could dress up in what makes me feel good post-pregnancy, as I’m pushing the pusher up a hill and sweating like the proverbial!

So week 2 was all about what we put into our bodies, and what we get out of it. The timing of this challenge was impeccable, I had a big week/weekend ahead of me with a major fundraiser taking up 4 out of the 7 days of my week, and likely to call me to the ‘convenience’ foods more often than not. Being ‘forced’ to concentrate on what I was feeding myself saved me from the end of week bloat and sluggishness that comes from not taking the time to fuel myself with healthy food and for that I was actually really grateful!

It also gave me a chance to have a crack at those recipes that I had been keen to try, but too lazy to give a shop for and have a go. First up was a vegetable lasagne I had found in the Healthy Food Fast cookbook I scored for free from SA Health. It was so easy, so delicious, I have heaps of portions in the freezer for those nights when I can’t get home in time to cook something healthy AND the book tells me how many serves of veg I am getting with each portion (though I did add a lot more vegies, just because I like to!). So that was #MeatlessMonday sorted.

Tuesday was #tyltw (take your lunch to work) day…..but I went home sick at morning tea time, and my packed lunch of lamb and salad went by the wayside. Instead, I tried to make up for it on Thursday, with #mahlwcfh (make a healthy lunch when contracting from home), and hope that it counts towards the challenges.

Wednesday we had to take the time to note down our food diary for the day – a great exercise for those who subconsciously eat and don’t actually taste or enjoy their food, and find themselves reaching for more. I have to say, it made for a funny record given how my eating habits have changed during pregnancy, I definitely eat smaller portions, but a lot more often!

So Thursday you know I had my lunch from home, but the actual challenge of the day was smoothie day. I haven’t yet ventured into the world of protein smoothies, or the super green smoothies (something about mushy spinach makes me feel queasy) so I opted for some low fat peach and mango yoghurt, low fat milk, frozen bananas and strawberries. Using frozen bananas not only makes it nice and cold, but I think stops the banana from overpowering everything else. Mmmmmmm I’m feeling like having one now!

Friday; Valentines Day. I unashamedly admit I polished off a whole lot of chocolate and loved it. That’s the thing about food, if you’re going to indulge, do it, enjoy it, and move on. It’s when we start to make ourselves feel guilty for that indulgence that we build a bad relationship with food, and focus too much on those ‘bad’ habits, often repeating them. So I LOVED my rocky road delight for Valentines Day, but I also followed the challenge and chose a recipe from movenourishbelieve.com, which saw me making these truly delicious and ridiculously easy ‘Healthy Strawberry Kiss Cookies’. Mine didn’t look as neat as the website, but they sure tasted good!

My cookies.....delish! 

You can see all of the photos of my week of challenges at my Instagram : http://instagram.com/beejm08

So that was week 2 of the #mnbchallenge for me. I was really pleased that my healthy cooking not only turned out well, but tasted fantastic, and I know that once I cut back on work in a few weeks, I am going to be taking the time to be a bit more adventurous with my cooking to excite my tastebuds with many more healthy recipes. Maybe the excitement will rub off on you too?!

Have fun baking! - Beej

PS – I promise I won’t be only blogging about this challenge or being a healthy living advocate – only one week left! But as they say, your body is a temple, the things you do, the things you fuel it with, and the way you use your mind will reflect on the overall quality of your life….so I think it’s up there in importance.