Over the past week I’ve been blogging about staying active during the winter months and I’ve shared healthy (ish) cocktail recipes using cherry juice. In contrast, I’ve also shared a recipe for a cinder toffee coffee cheesecake so for the purpose of this article we’ll just ignore that one..! Actually, I think I’ve got the balance right in terms of ‘good for you’ versus ‘a little of what you fancy’ and I’ve been thinking about how to keep this going throughout autumn/winter.
I find it easier to be healthy in the summer when the idea of salad for every meal IS enjoyable and there’s plenty of fresh veg growing in my garden. But when the nights get colder and darker, it’s easy to comfort eat on the sofa and load up on stodgy meals. It doesn’t have to be a cycle of unhealthy dinners and no-exercise – how about making a big batch of stew with fresh root vegetables instead? Just remember that portion sizes are key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle over Winter so try not to eat too many second helpings, no matter how delicious it is!
All these vegetables are great for a healthy lifestyle and I’m SO pleased to be able to harvest a courgette and be eating it as part of a healthy pasta meal only 30 minutes later. But what I’m worried about is the lack of protein in my diet, especially when I’m forgoing meat in favour of vegetables a lot of the time. I’ve been reading up on the benefits of protein and although I eat some chicken for lunch I’m certainly not eating enough protein for it to be beneficial. It is essential for making hormones, enzymes, and immune cells, so I want to be getting my fair share of protein in order to ward off illness during the Winter. The recommendation is that we have a steady intake of protein throughout the day because our bodies cannot store protein like we do carbohydrate and fat, but I can’t be eating chicken for every meal, can I?!
This is a round-about way of telling you that I’ve just tried out a new product that has recently appeared in the chiller section of my local supermarket. I’ve tried Upbeat, which is a sort of fruity milkshake yoghurt drink and it is delicious. It contains 20g of protein which is a decent amount to consume in a portion and I’ve been enjoying it at breakfast time in order to get some of these essential nutrients into my body first thing in the morning. This is a time of day that I know I won’t be getting much protein otherwise – I don’t really have time to cook eggs for breakfast and I prefer a low fat option – so it’s good to have that boost from a product that isn’t a challenge to drink. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of those little probiotic drinks, so I was really pleased to find out that this product isn’t at all like that!
I’ve chatted to the people at Upbeat to tell them how pleased I was with their product and they have been kind enough to offer a prize bundle for one lucky Cassiefairy.com reader to win. This healthy-living kit includes a filter water bottle, insulated lunchbox, tote bag and plenty more vouchers and Upbeat goodies. If you fancy winning all of these treats, including vouchers for bottles of Upbeat to try for yourself, please enter by following @Cassiefairy on Twitter and retweeting this competition tweet.
The competition closes at midnight on Wednesday 22nd October and the winner will be contacted via Twitter.
