Wholemeal blueberry and apple muffins

My biggest downfall when it comes to eating healthily is my insane need to eat anything sweet within a two mile radius. If I could remove my love of sugar then my diet would be nearly perfect. Unfortunately that's not possible and I enjoy it too much to want to stop, so I merely compromise with myself now and again (which is easier said than done!). Pretty sure my dream home would consist of me living in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory... ok maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get the idea, I really love anything sweet and sugary! yummmy!!

Luckily eating healthily means everything in moderation, so I don't have to skip out on my sugar fix. But even with good nutritional knowledge I still find all the information the media throws at us super confusing and I know it can leave people not knowing what's good or bad for us.

Recently sugar has been associated with the tagline - sugar the socially acceptable drug, which to many people it is. Unfortunately from this statement we automatically put all foods which are high in sugar into the one group.....including fruit. One question I get asked quite frequently is whether fruit is high in sugar, and the answer is yes! Of course it contains sugar, what else makes it taste so sweet. The important difference to remember is that fruit does not provide us with the empty calories that sweets and chocolate do. Fruit is high in the vitamins, minerals and fibre which are essential for the normal functioning of our body. So we need to remember that sweets and chocolate provide us with empty calories whereas fruit doesn’t!

So based on this I decided to develop a few recipes which would satisfy my need for sugar but are also reasonably healthy. I have combined a few of my favourite recipes and this was the result! Hope you like it :)

Lou <3

Wholemeal blueberry and apple muffins

This recipe makes 10 muffins

Prep 15 mins

Cook 25mins

preheat the oven to 200⁰C

Ingredients

100g Wholemeal flour

60g plain flour

40g porridge oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

50g golden brown caster sugar

2 dessert spoons of Stevia (sweetener)

1 apple peeled, cored and chopped

1 handfull of blueberries

100ml semi-skimmed milk

50mls low fat natural yogurt

1 egg beaten

50g low fat butter melted (I used low fat lurpak)

Method

Mix in the two flours, the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, stevia, chopped apples and blueberries.

In a separate bowl add in the milk, natural yogurt, egg and melted butter and mix until combined.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients together gently stir until combined.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and sprinkle a few porridge oats on top and a tiny amount of brown sugar (this is optional, it is purely for presentational purposes).

The trick I use is to make the make the muffins slightly smaller, so the portion size is reduced.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25mins or until risen and golden.

Orgins Clean Energy Cleansing Oil | Review

So I am sitting here and realising how idiotic I was for abusing my skin for so long. Because I was fortunate enough as a teenager to never suffer seriously from acne and I never wore a large amount of makeup, I never had a real need for a cleanser. Oh how times have changed! After some extensive reading online and a lot of encouragement from my persuasive BFF and blogging partner I decided to branch out and see what all the fuss was about.

I would love to say I did extensive research which resulted in me picking up my cleanser of choice....but nope, I just walked around and the sales person convinced me enough to end up buying the origins clean energy  cleansing oil. I have to say for making a very rash purchase, I really enjoyed using it! Prior to this I was an avid  fan of baby wipes (YES I KNOW! I was practically killing my skin!). In my defence they are very cheap and handy so why wouldn't you use them?! I was a poor student my skin care routine was the last of my problems. So when I started using this oil based cleanser my skin immediately felt clearer and refreshed. I don't know how could I have lived so long without having this product within my life?! It is super easy to use as well, you cover your face in the oil and when you add water to it, it becomes a milky consistency which you clean off with a damp face cloth and it removes eye makeup as well!  As I have never had a massive problem with spots, I can't say that it suddenly helped to clear up my skin. But it was lovely to not have irritated skin after taking my make up off with my trusty baby wipes... The best part about the whole thing was that the bottle lasted me for 10 months!! So if you are worried about shelling out £20 on a cleanser then you will definitely get your money's worth from it.

If anyone else has tried this I would love to know what you thought or any  recommendations for other products. :)

Lou <3

Five Food Fixes for Healthier Skin

While it's fantastic to have a brilliant skin routine, if you don’t feed it well from the inside, this could well be in vain. The quote "what you put into life, you get out of it" comes to mind when discussing this topic. What we put into our bodies reflects in our health and appearance. Although we are well aware that often acne is genetic and hormonal, sometimes acne and breakouts can be due to a poor diet or lifestyle. So I have decided to tackle the top 5 ways to get perfect skin, from the inside out!

1. DRINK MORE WATER

You’ve most likely heard this one a million times before. The idea behind this is that increasing your fluid intake will help remove and toxins and bacteria present in body. Unfortunately the research in this area is uncertain and limited, with some studies showing an improvement in kidney function while others reported the short term effects are inefficient. I personally feel that drinking more water can be nothing but beneficial to our bodies, so this should be a point adhered to by every individual.

2. ANTIOXIDANTS

Vitamins A, C and E are antioxidants which protect our body from developing free radicals. These are nasty molecules involved in cell damage and death caused by oxidation (if you’ve even seen a peeled apple turn brown, that’s oxidation in action) obviously not ideal if we’re aiming for bright and healthy skin). Vitamin E in particular is known to help protect the body from harmful UV rays. Fellow antioxidant vitamin C also aids the mechanisms which reduce UV skin damage. Sources of vitamin E include: nuts, seeds and cereal produces. Vitamin C: citrus fruits, peppers, strawberries and blueberries etc.

3. OILY FISH

Fish in their own right have been called a superfood, helping to protect against cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer, age-related vision loss and dementia. This is all down to the wonderful omega fatty acids which exist in oily fish – Omegas 3, 6 and 9. Their benefits don’t end there, we are interested in their beneficial effects on the skin. Omega 3 specifically is known to combat inflammation which should help to reduce the red and puffy appearance of spots. So plenty of mackerel, salmon and herring will do your skin the world of good!

4. REDUCE SUGARY SNACKS

Spots and acne have in the past, been associated with hormonal imbalances, which is why it is thought so many adolescents suffer from it. Apparently 85% of us will suffer from acne at some point in our lives, so fear not, you’re not alone! Usually this will happen during our teens when our hormones are going crazy and as well as affecting every other part of our bodies, it can play havoc with our skin. Unfortunately often there is not a lot that diet or skincare routines can do for this type of acne, but it definitely does no harm to have a good diet and skincare routine. If your acne is getting you down I would definitely recommend going to see your GP to see what the best course of action is to take! :)

Sorry about that little rant..where was I??

So recently it has been reported that foods which have a high glycaemic index (GI) (high sugar foods which are absorbed quickly into the blood steam causing blood sugars to spike) can have an effect on our hormones. Basically, our insulin levels increase when we consume the high GI foods (often high in sugar) which causes an increase in sebum production (this combined with dead skin cells and bacteria causes spots to form). So eating foods with a lower GI for example porridge, seeded breads, carrots and peppers, and avoiding our high GI foods white bread, doughnuts, chips etc. can help the reduce the risk of breakouts.

5.  STOP SMOKING!!

This one should really go without saying. 2014 may already be well underway but do not use that as an excuse to avoid taking on another resolution. Apart from all the obvious health risks associated with smoking (why would you willingly put your body through that??), it is also associated with premature ageing and discolouration of the skin. Oxygen intake is reduced when inhaling cigarette smoke because of the increased levels of carbon monoxide (one of 250 identified poisonous gases in cigarette smoke..consider that!), as well as nicotine which reduces blood flow leaving the skin looking grey, discoloured and prone to more wrinkles. Smoking also depletes vital nutrients such as vitamin C which is involved in the reduction of free radicals which mentioned earlier.

The basic message I want to leave you with is EAT CLEAN. Following a healthy balanced diet will not only benefit your overall health but do wonders for your skin!

Ps, all our recommendations and advice are evidence based, but we don’t want to bore you with all the references in text. If you are keen to check the articles and research papers out for yourself let us know and we’ll happily include these in future posts! :)