Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since the last time that I posted something. I have been so immersed in writing my dissertation that I had kind of forgotten that I have a life!
Whenever I am feeling very stressed, I tend to follow a “ritual” to keep myself sane. In the mornings I like to drink a warm cup of water with natural lemon juice just after waking up. You need to think that you have been sleeping for at least 8 hours so your body is feeling pretty dehydrated at this point. Lemon also contains vitamin C so it’s a great way to start your day!
After this, I try to do at least an hour of exercise in the morning before I start doing any kind of work. It helps me to clear my mind, relaxes my muscles, gets rid of any tensions that I might have and makes me feel so much better for the rest of the day.
At the moment, I am really enjoying doing some workout videos by Keaira Lashae, The Fitness Marshall and Rebecca-Louise. If you haven’t heard of them, I recommend that you go and check them out. They are so much fun, they will get you fit and you’ll sweat like nothing else! Another alternative is to go for a walk, do Pilates, running or swimming. They are some of my favourite sports anyway!
When you have so much work to do, it is also important to eat a balance and healthy diet. If you tend to nibble a lot when you get stressed, try to have healthy snacks nearby. I made these cookies for breakfast the other day and they were a huge success! You can have one accompanied by a glass of soya milk for breakfast. They are so yummy! These cookies are also nut free so if anyone in your family is allergic to nuts, then this is a great option. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 50 grams of low-fat margarine or butter
- 50 grams of caster sugar
- 1 tbsp of Manuka honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 50 grams of wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 80 grams of porridge oats
- 25 grams of dried cranberries
- 25 grams of raisins
- 20 grams of sesame seeds
- 20 grams of pumpkin seeds
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 160 C (fan assisted – if not make it 180 C) / gas mark 4.
- Grab a bowl and use it to mix the margarine, sugar and honey together. I used an electric whisk but if you don’t own one, a big wooden spoon will work too. It’ll just take a bit longer!
- Add the egg and ground cinnamon. Mix everything together thoroughly.
- Grab another bowl and mix together the flour, baking powder, oats, raisins, cranberries, sesame & pumpkin seeds. Once you are done, add this mix to the margarine and sugar mixture and stir to form the cookie dough.
- Grease a large baking tray. Drop heaped dessertspoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the baking tray. They will approximately doubly in size, so leave enough space between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden. Don’t overcook or the cookies will become dark brown and very tough.
- Remove the cookies from the oven. They should still be a tiny bit soft to the touch. Leave them on the tray for a minute to settle, then transfer them to a wire cooling tray until completely cooled down.
- Enjoy! But remember to keep any left over in an air-tight container so they stay fresh.
I would like to find a substitute for the sugar in this recipe to make it even healthier so if you have any suggestions, please leave a comment on this post. I’d love to hear from you!
R x
