How to prevent over-eating:

For someone that spends the majority of her life thinking about her health and the importance of what goes in my body… I don’t actually have a very good diet.

The main problem for me is snacking.

I’ll snack when I’m bored, peckish, sad, stressed, and sometimes I won’t even realise how much I’ve eaten until it’s already farrr too late.

Here are my 5 tips to cut down on snacking:

1. Get busy! One of the main reasons I snack is because I literally have nothing better to do. So in order to stop myself from snacking, the time in which this would normally take place needs to be filled. This can be through getting some extra work done, or starting a new hobby. I’ve recently starting wanting to get back into my reading but anything you can do to keep your wondering hands at bay is to do something active like going to the gym.
2. Keep hydrated. There have been so many times when I will forget to drink and confuse my thirst for hunger. Not only will water keep you fuller for longer, it also helps your skin fresh. I tend to add some fruit for extra flavour.
3. Replace the unhealthy foods in your fridge for healthy ones. Snacks are not the enemy and it is definitely not the end of the world to eat them. However, usually when people snack it’s a highly processed, high fat food that only acts as a short term solution. Therefore, if these foods are replaced with healthy foods – like raw nuts, fruits and vegetables – they are much lower in calorie and have lots of healthy nutrients to benefit your overall wellbeing.
4. Plan. I find it helps to use apps such as MyFitnessPal to write out all the food I want to eat that day. This allows me to see how many calories I’m eating, as well as making sure that I’m getting the right amount of vitamins without being too high in fat.
5. Carbs are not the devil. Do not cut out carbohydrates from your diet bc you think it’ll make you fat. It won’t. Fat makes you fat. A high carb, low fat diet is more sustainable because the energy is released from carbs much slower, which means that you won’t be reaching for the biscuit tin every 5 minutes.

However, every body is different and so this shouldn’t be considered a strict guide, this is just what has worked for me.

If anyone has any other tips I would really appreciate them at the moment while my exams are just round the corner (stress eating central to be honest). Thanks for reading x

3am get-your-life-together thoughts

As a promise to myself, this year I plan on improving my overall well-being – both physically and mentally. Although I do appreciate the irony that I’m writing this at 3am when I have lectures tomorrow morning I still think I can be some kind of uber being if I just listened to my own advice.

• Get at least 8 hours sleep. This may vary from person to person but 7-9 hours is sleep is what the doc says to do but I find my peak to be around 8 and a half hours. Like right now I’m definitely going to regret not doing this, sleep is amazing embrace it when you can.
• Hydrate. I always over snack because I just never do this and don’t realise?? Like it’ll be 8pm I’m on my second bag of quavers when I’ll realise I’ve only had the bit of water that comes with brushing my teeth that morning. I definitely struggle with this one so maybe I should just get it tattooed onto all my limbs just as a reminder?
• Exercise bih. While being at university has meant that I no longer have the luxury of getting driven everywhere so I actually have to get off my arse and walk places, it has also allowed me the independence to choose my own food intake and be badly influenced by my flatmates. Therefore, it hasn’t been the best for my diet and until I can control myself to eat normally I’m gonna have to be going to the gym like every day – but most people would only need like 3 times a week so aim for minimal and then be pleasantly surprised hopefully.
• Eat your fuckin’ veggies. Like this is obvious but it just really freaks me out that my flatmates diet consists of pasta, mash potato and a variety of frozen meats. Where are the nutrients?? How are you alive?? Just find at least one veg or fruit that you love and just eat it every day, please, for my sanity.
• Skincare. Get yourself a nice cleanser, doesn’t have to be expensive. At the moment I’m using the soap and glory 3 in 1 cleanser and it’s beautiful gets the job done. But also remember to moisturise afterwards or your skins gonna be dry.
• Stretch. I’m not saying everyone should be waking up at 6am with a scented candle, birds chirping while you do 3 hours of yoga but a five minute stretch in the morning is going to do you a world of good. I don’t like the thought of dedicating my time to this (although maybe I should), so for the working guy, gal or non-binary pal you can just include this while you’re getting changed in the morning. Touch your toes, try and touch the ceiling, tie your shoe on a hard to reach surface whatever you’ve gotta do sis.
• Get your work done in advance. There’s this one seminar I have where they set at least a 300 page book to discuss for the next week and theres literally nothing worse than having to use sparknotes to try and bs your way through it. Get your work done, it’s very satisfying.

I’m definitely a hypocrite for saying all of these but I hope they help someone if not myself. X