Keto Camping

For most of the time that I have been following the Keto lifestyle we have been in Covd19 Lockdown or similar and I have remained in complete control of what I eat. I did go on an All Inclusive holiday in September 2019 to Turkey but that was the last time I was away from home for any length of time. So how can I keep Keto and still go on holiday? To remain in control I thought camping would be a great start.

Now my best friend has a brand new camper van available for renting, so my first taste, as I’m not really a tent kinda gal, was a night away on quite a local campsite in the van with my friend and her two pre teens. It’s kind of a baptism of fire really being in close confines with other people’s children – but I was willing to try it……once!

We chose a campsite about 45 mins drive from home called The Old Dairy Farm in Cropredy and didn’t really know what to expect as I honestly have not camped since I got too old to be a girl guide! It was only £15 for 2 adults which I thought was a bargain.

Arriving at 8.30pm we had just enough light to get the really clever inflatable awning up and had just enough time for a quick look around site. You can tell we left in a hurry though as one of the children forgot to even bring his trainers with him but as the site is well kept it didn’t really matter!

The toilet block in the main field is new, clean and well stocked with toilet roll and even hand wash. It had 6 loos and plenty of sinks for washing and washing up, there was a bouncy castle up and a play area, and what the kids thought was another play area but it was for a different sort of kid! There is another block with showers but as we were there just overnight we didn’t investigate it.

The little part of the evening left was taken up with playing Uno with the kids in the van with the detachable table until it was time for them to sleep in the ‘top bunk’ while the adults pulled out the seats in the main cabin for the night. The dog came too and was perfect as a mini hot water bottle. The site did have a bar in a marquee and had burgers and stone baked pizza available until 8.30pm at night so if you can’t be bothered to cook you are still sorted too, and with Keto in mind I took my own bread roll but would have ordered just a burger if I had needed to eat.

Once the kids had settled in for the night they went to sleep really quickly, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I slept as I am not a good sleeper generally. The next morning we were super happy to see you could get a full English breakfast for a fiver on the site as well as toast and other options. It was simple and cheap and I have been told a bonus as most sites don’t have food available. We had a chat with one of the staff as we had breakfast and the venue was a wedding venue pre covid and now has branched into camping and caravanning and is friendly and family run and kept really well – it’s highly recommended. And with being Keto I just gave the toast to the kids and ate the sausage bacon and egg so I was sorted too!

The site felt really safe and the kids really loved the freedom of making friends in the play area. I remember as a child myself going camping and loving making friends and feeling free on a campsite. The staff do keep an eye on them too so if really felt like a lovely place to visit. And the van we were in made it feel like glamping not camping – so having said I would never go camping again I think I am coming round to the idea! This looks like the perfect place to go with a group of friends for a weekend. Top Marks. The van and awning was so easy to set up and pack up again too.

If you want to experience the same then keep an eye on MD Campers to be able to hire the van we used – we were in ‘Nikki’ . I believe they are planning an option to hire the van and drive to site yourself, or have the van all set up for you on the site ready so you just turn up and everything is sorted for you ! It really is glamping or glaravanning.

Review – Happy Nibbling Brownies

I am continuing my hunt for mail order Keto sweet treats as although I do make delicious cakes, though I say it myself, it is just nice to sometimes have something bought for you or a lovely treat that you haven’t made yourself.

I came across Happy Nibbling through the Keto Fitness Club as Carrie, who runs the business, is a fellow club member and a regular in the cooking classes. Carrie is launching her brownie business with Organic Coconut Brownies which are made without egg, gluten, grains, nuts or refined sugar. It has been fabulous following her on Facebook as she gets started on her new venture, and she already has had the required inspections and top hygiene rating which can give you confidence in this new sweet treat business.

I ordered the Raspberry Kiss brownies as they looked so good on a recent post. Currently you order from the Facebook page by sending a message and you can buy 6 or 12 brownies in a choice of Classic Dark or Raspberry Kiss, more options and flavours will be added in the future. It’s £12 for 6 brownies and £22 for 12 with £4 postage – so I just had to order 12 Raspberry Kiss – just for taste testing you understand! There will be a website in the future and a wider variety of flavours, but sensibly Carrie is building her business slowly.

Raspberry Kiss Brownies

I paid via a paypal link over the weekend and they were sent out 1st class post on Monday and were with me in time for elevenses on Tuesday. Well packaged and protected in the box and bag it came in – on opening the pack the smell that hit me was divine.

I could not resist breaking my fast early to try one, and as someone who can often be sensitive to the taste of some sweeteners, all I tasted was moist chcoclatey goodness with a hint of raspberry. Each brownie has 1.7g of carbs so it’s a treat that needs to be rationed but I am freezing the other 11 brownies to enjoy over the next couple of weeks. OK – so I may have just lied – I have frozen 6 and kept 6 in the fridge just to make sure they are as tasty a few hours later – and the 2nd one I warmed and had with a drizzle of double cream – warming the brownie seemed to release the aroma even more. Bought brownies can often be dry and hard in texture but these were neither of these things and were divine.

The biggest bonus is a really cannot stand coconut. It is not a flavour I have ever enjoyed. Since Keto I have started to use coconut flour in recipes but if someone described something as coconut I would avoid. I could not tell these were coconut based at all – huzzah!

Happy Nibbling brownies are definitely going on my list of special treats for my family to get me for treats and birthdays – and I will also feel confident in buying them for my coeliac sister or Niece with a nut allergy.

Keep on Walking – with Adventure Geek

My challenge this year has been to Walk 1000 miles and with doing mostly 2 walks a day I need to keep things interesting and find new places to walk. In my last update and progress report I have been storming ahead with my walking after a health setback in February.

First we discovered this great website called Northamptonshire Walks where we can download and follow walks all over Northamptonshire and beyond. With my walking pack ( 4 adults and 3 dogs) we have done walk 1 – Castle Ashby which was our first foray out, walk 2 – Collingtree and a couple of other walks too. These work well if you download the walk from the blog and save it on your phone just in case you have a limited phone connection and there are handy pictures and pointers to keep you on the straight and narrow. There are loads to choose from on the website and you can download an excel file of walks too which tell you distance, terrain, dog friendly and if there are loo stops of pubs en route.

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There is another local option in Northants too – Adventure Geek has walks on their website and runs guided walks both locally and longer adventures further afield if you really take to this walking lark. Julia Doherty, who I vaguely knew through business networking over the years, has been able to make her passion her business through starting Adventure Geek. My sister had been going on the local walks for a while but I was always busy – but this week I finally took the plunge and went on a new walk which included a walk through Kellmarsh Tunnel along the old Northampton to Market Harborough disused railway line.

Adventure Geek allows you to go on two walks free of charge so you can try before you buy, or you can then pay as you go £4 per walk or pay £10 a month if you plan to join them regularly. If you are at all shy or worried about joining ‘strangers’ for a walk then really don’t be – they made us very welcome, were mindful of covid protocols, and kept to a pace which meant it felt inclusive and fun for all. You can clearly see on the website the length of the walk and the terrain and also dogs and children are welcome if the walk is suitable. You can also download the walk routes as GPX files or PDFs to follow yourself if you don’t fancy a group walk.

I definitely enjoyed chatting to a few different people as we walked along, including Julia the Adventure Geek herself. It was interesting hearing about the adventures they have had walking the Camino Pyrenees and the West Highland Way which are some of the further afield trips Julia organises. I hear she has big plans to walk right across America too.

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So if you want to break out and get walking but don’t feel confident exploring the countryside alone then joining with Adventure Geek walks is both cost effective and highly recommended as a way to explore new areas in Northamptonshire.

Just keep walking!

Review – Heavenly Chocolate

Continuing my series of review posts on Keto treats this time I decided to try a Taster Pack of Pure Heavenly chocolates. These went down a storm on Dragons Den and although not clean Keto, no chocolate really is, these seem like an excellent alternative to my old favourite chocolate bars.

The Ultimate Taster Pack = 16 bars from the ‘milk’ and ‘dark’ range

I decided to just go big and get the larger of the 3 taster packs available. You can get ‘milk’ or ‘dark’ or the ultimate combination of the two. I was never a dark chocolate fan before Keto but now when I have tasted the old milk chocolate I loved it is way too sweet and my tastes have completely changed.

The website was easy to navigate the to pay, and my delivery came really quickly and was well packaged with all the bars whole and undamaged. Each bar is 30g so about the size of a mini Cadbury thin bar. There is a lovely wide variety of flavours including fruits (banana, Strawberry, orange and cherry) and nuts (hazelnut and coconut) and standard favourites like salted caramel and mint.

I am taking my time with sampling the flavours so at the time of writing this I have only tried 4, and I bought the box 3 weeks ago so I am really exercising control. I went for Strawberry first, and the smell as you snip open the bar is divine. Like I’ve found with other chocolates I have tried the smell is stronger than the taste, but the taste was really creamy and very much like milk chocolate. The Orange flavour reminded me of chocolate orange and the salted caramel was also delicious. The only one I have not been so keen on so far is the Dark Cherry, but I am never a keen fan of cherry flavours so it’s not really a surprise.

The chocolates vary in cocoa strength depending on if milk or dark, they are all dairy free, egg free, gluten free, wheat free and soy free and also they don’t use palm oil. There is full nutritional information on their website and they use inulin and erythritol as sweeteners. The ‘milk’ option is higher in carbs than the dark, just like other chocolate, so this wouldn’t be an every day treat for me on Keto, but definitely a much better alternative if I want a break from the norm at Christmas or Easter or on a Birthday!

I am having fun on Tiktok recording my taste tests for all the flavours so if you want to see more then follow me using the link below.

@alymead

#lowsugar #dairyfree #glutenfree taste testing heavenly chocolate

♬ original sound – Aloe Aly

Heavenly Chocolate do give you a 10% discount on your first order, but also once you have ordered they share with you a referral code so your friends can get 20% off their first order and you then get a discount on future orders too – so my discount link is http://pureheavenlymember.refr.cc/alisonmead if you want to try your own Heavenly Chocolate – and please come back and comment about your favourite flavour when you have tried your own.

Review – Shokoladi Keto Chocolates

Through a business networking Facebook group I am a member of, Spaghetti Besties https://www.facebook.com/groups/SpaghettiBesties I heard about a artisan bean to box chocolate maker, and since turning Keto I was interested to see if she made Keto chocolates.

There were Keto options on the website, not many and quite expensive, but with a quality product for special treats I decided I’d like to trial them and see what they are like. This wouldn’t be an everyday purchase for me but a special treat on occasion.

Irma, the chocolate maker, has a facebook group where she keeps you up to date with what she is making, and the production runs are short so when it’s gone it’s gone. She had posted about Keto Hazelnut and Butterscotch chocolate using erythritol as the sweetener and mentioned she had been experimenting with the recipe to reduce the cooling affect of the sweetener Not everyone gets a cooling effect from Erythritol but I tend to notice it a lot which makes some sweet treats unappetising for me.

When I placed the order via email, as I had a specific request rather than using the website, Irma was quick to respond with the options and I chose to have 6 small bars for £21 with £4.25 postage. The flavours I am trying are Butterscotch and Hazelnut, White Coffee with Walnut and Dark Berry Crumble. I sent the payment via Bacs straight away to confirm my order.

I was gloriously surprised to find the order arrived the very next day – even though it was 1.30pm when I placed the order. That’s a big tick for customer service and delivery as other Keto stores I have used before I have taken weeks if not months to deliver.

Neatly Boxed

The box when opened (they came in a small cardboard box) smelt heavenly of the caramel and even though I had not broken my fast yet I could not resist having a taste.

Before Keto I was not a dark chocolate fan, Although I use 85% dark chocolate in recipes I never would choose to eat it as is from the packet. I tried the Butterscotch and Hazelnut first and although the butterscotch flavour didn’t come through in the taste as much as the smell did, it definitely scratched my ‘I want chocolate’ itch.

I tried the coffee one next, which I didn’t expect to like as I am not a coffee fan – it was ok but smelt a little too strong for me so I will pass it as a gift to a coffee loving keto friend.

The Berry bar was quite dark but the berry taste came through beautifully so that was a hit too.

Ingredients

It is so nice to find a treat of a keto chocolate bar which can be eaten which I haven’t had to make myself, and I will definitely buy these again for a treat or pass the web address on to friends and family – and I am sure Irma will be experimenting with new flavours in the future too so I will be keeping an eye on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ShokoladiMalvern for more options and perhaps chocolates rather than bars in the future. The website to order is https://shokoladimalvern.co.uk/.

Irma has offered a special 10% discount on Keto chocolates to any of my blog readers until the end of September 2021 – just email shokoladi@mail.com and mention my name, Alison Mead, to get your discount.

Review – Deliciously Guilt Free

Those who follow we on social media obviously know how I love cooking my own food and sharing pictures on my Facebook page and on Instagram as I just love sharing the fabulous recipes from Keto Fitness Club. But when it comes to Birthday time, Mother’s Day or Christmas family and friends want to be able to buy you something nice – and most commercial chocolates are just not Keto friendly. And also as I am also a Forever Living business owner so I don’t want skincare of bath products as I like to use the Aloe products as they just suit me. I am such a nightmare to buy for.

So I noticed on my Insta Account a like by a company based in Cambridge called Deliciously Guilt Free so I thought it was only right if I ordered some treats from them to taste test so if I like them I can subtly pass the details on to friends and family for future celebrations.

So I asked my friend Stuart, otherwise known as The Rambling Alchemist, if he would like to go halves on an order with me so we could sample a variety of flavours and qualify for free postage. These cakes are not the cheapest as each box costs around £10 for 6 or 8 cakes, but the ingredients used fit perfectly with my Keto lifestyle and the bonus are they are gluten free too.

The flavours we chose to sample were Blueberry and Lemon Drizzle, Pecan Butterscotch Blondie, Salted Caramel Blondie and Strawberries and Cream Blondies and as it was my first order I got 10% off by signing up for their mailing list.

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I placed the order on Friday 19th March and the process was quite easy using my phone on their website. I did miss how to get the 10% discount at first but sent them a quick email and got a very quick response from Dan, thanks so much. It says on the website currently 1-5 days to dispatch the order – so I was really pleased to receive mine on the morning of Tuesday 23rd so it was only 4 days – quicker than I expected. Earlier in lockdown I ordered from a different company who took 2 months to send food I didn’t actually like!

The packaging was great, each flavour comes in a box which would fit through the postbox if it was ordered on it’s own – as we ordered 4 boxes they were well packed together. I couldn’t resist opening up the Strawberry and Cream Blondies to start as they were my first choice.

Taste test!

Now I struggle with Erythritol as I get a really bad cooling effect when I cook with it, so I tend to bake using a stevia/erythritol mix when I bake my own cakes, but these were so tasty I could tell it was Erythritol but the cooling effect didn’t bother me. You have to be careful not to eat too many sweet things at once with these sweeteners as they can have a laxative effect, but I could not resist through the day yesterday trying all 4 flavours. I experienced no side effects !

My favourites in order of preference are Pecan Butterscotch, closely followed by Blueberry and Lemon then Strawberries and Cream. The Salted Caramel was my least favourite and I probably wouldn’t order that one again, I think the others were just to full of nuts and fruit that these seemed boring in comparison. All the rest I would definitely order again. I will now freeze the ones I haven’t eaten yet to stop me eating them too quickly.

So I will definitely be recommending Deliciously Guilty Free to others – and I look forward to trying more flavours. If you place your own order use discount AMead10 for 10% off your order here https://deliciouslyguiltfree.com/

Don’t Take It Sitting Down: 4 Great Standing Workstations You Can Afford

As more and more of our work even as Network Marketers seems to be done online, I thought a post about the choices on the market for standing desks and why they can be good for us would be really useful, so this post was produced with the help of www.reviews.com :

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Office workers everywhere are taking a stand against sitting.

Increasingly, the modern workplace is a competition to see who can sit and stare at a computer monitor over the longest stretch. Workers often find themselves trapped behind a desk – usually while seated – for weeks-worth of extended workdays. Often, they barely move through each day.

When the dangers of this new immobility started coming to light, media sounded the alarm. Headlines shouted the news: remaining seated for extended periods hurts circulation and correlates with the onset of type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Dr. James Levine of the Mayo clinic set off a mini-firestorm in 2014 when he coined the phrase “sitting is the new smoking.”

One answer to the problems of sitting is to stand up. As the awareness of the threat of sitting has grown, so has the popularity of the standing workstation. Standing relieves many of the circulatory problems of extended seat time, and demands the use of more muscles in our bodies throughout the day. Who knew the answer could be this simple?

Recently, the market for standing workstations – and those able convert from sitting to a standing configuration – has exploded. This is especially true among those who work from home and aren’t bound by office design standards or low cubicle walls. Today, workers who refuse take it sitting down have many affordable options for taking a stand.

A standing workstation can be as simple as a high-top bistro table crowned with a cardboard box to raise the working surface. But for those with a little money to spend, there are some great commercially-available desks to get you on your feet. Most can be configured to your specific needs at the time of purchase. As an important bonus, many can go from standing to sitting with the touch of a button.

Reviews.com recently spent six weeks researching and testing 67 adjustable standing desks to create a guide including several outstanding options suitable for a variety of budgets, design aesthetics, and work space needs. Their full guide is available at http://www.reviews.com/standing-desk/, but here’s a selection of retailers where you can get standing desks in the UK :

• http://uk.varidesk.com/ – This style is a desktop modifier, so it sits on top of a standard seated desk and adjusts from there. It’s a very cost-efficient model for those who want to try an adjustable desk without going all-in.
• http://www.conset.org.uk/ – This company allows for lots of customization in all their models, but it looks like they may only sell through brick-and-mortar retail locations, as opposed to online.
• https://www.electricstandingdesks.co.uk/ – This company when they found they could not get Conset desks online created their own online shop so you can get hold of them in the UK.  The desks are rebranded from the Conset range, and although the website only shows the most popular models you can get in touch with them to build any of the range of desks Conset offer.
• http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/ikea/campaigns/standing-desks/ – Ikea is an affordable and accessible retailer for a great many people!
• http://www.posturite.co.uk/desks-furniture/height-adjustable-standing-desks.html – Posturite looks like a great retailer for those especially concerned with health and comfort, as they specialize in ergonomic furniture. They also include free setup with delivery, which is a real perk! Those desks can sometimes be tricky to set up.

When shopping, keep in mind differences in warranties and standard features. Be aware there are some manual crank-up desks available that cost no less than the electric kind, but come with the added drawback of shaking the contents of the desk with every adjustment. In this world, electric is the way to go.

The strong advantage shared by the desks listed here: They’re easily convertible from sitting to standing and back again. In the rush to avoid the plague of sitting, many workers have gone too far in the opposite direction. It turns out standing for too long can have its own drawbacks. Foot problems, varicose veins, and back issues can dampen the enthusiasm of those who have thrown off the chains of the desk chair. As in so many other things, moderation is key: A workday spent in a variety of postures – including sitting – seems to offer the best shot at comfortable and healthy productivity.

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.  I am so pleased with how well my blog has worked for me in 2015.

I have recruited 6 new team members this year as a direct result of them finding me through my blog.  They are from Northampton, Nigeria, Tyne and Wear, Glasgow, Ipswich and Oldham. That spread would never have been possible without my readers, so thank you for reading and sharing my words.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 230,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 10 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Now let’s see what 2016 brings !

Aloe Matters Magazine

When you join Forever Living as an independent business owner, then you may be your own boss, but you are definitely not alone.  As I have mentioned in my previous post about Online Resources you have a huge amount of support and information from Forever Living to support you every step of the way.

Aloe Matters

The Aloe matters magazine, which is published periodically throughout the year, is one of these support tools we have.  The magazine is available in traditional paper format, as featured in the current Aloe Matters Competition, but also it is available as an on line magazine full of interviews, product information, hints and tips and recipe ideas for those following the Fitness Program too.

This is a great magazine to read as a customer to find out about new and exciting products, but also as an independent business owner it’s a great resource we can use to support our business.

Example Content

The current magazine, which is available until March 2016, has the following articles available – either click on the links to view, or get in touch via the Contact Me link above for your own paper copy.

• Build your summer body this Winter – Forget crawling away; prepare yourself for the coming year with Forever’s tips to super-sizing your workout.
• Marcus Leach:Standing at the centre of the world – Not everyone is bold enough to face their fears, but Marcus Leach was determined to battle through.
• Winter walks – The UK can be truly spectacular this time of year.  Breathe in its beauty on one of these four fantastic featured walks.
• Be your own boss – Former PE teacher Chloe Edwards shares how she made a dramatic decision that transformed her life.
• A flawless makeover – Find out how our flawless by Sonya makeup transformed one reader’s look, plus tips on how you can easily transition from day to evening in just a few easy steps.
• Beat the chill – Don’t let the cold air ruin your holiday. Find out how you can beat the chill with the help of Forever.
• Pet-friendly products – Forever love animals so much; we even have a pet friendly product range, designed to benefit our 4 legged friends.
• Why Forever? – What exactly makes Forever stand out from the network marketing crowd.

So what are you waiting for – request your copy now or have an good browse on-line.  And if you are interested in starting your own Forever Living journey then get in touch now and see how you can join my team.

Success Day

It’s a dark wet December Day,  wet and miserable outside,  but I’ve come to the NEC in Birmingham for the last Forever Success Day of the year.  The energy and excitement levels in this room banish all thoughts of the dark dreary weather outside.

So what is a success day all about?

First it’s about recognising the accomplishments of business owners who are working in their business,  whether you are new to Forever and you have had your first promotion,  or if you’ve been in the business for a long time and built your own team to hit the higher levels.

Those successful business owners all started on the first rung of the ladders like myself and the rest of my team.  At success day you hear many business stories which are wonderfully inspirational,  and you never know when that little nugget of information will inspire you.

Sharing tips for success

As well as the recognitions,  the other huge part of success day is learning from successful business owners.  It never ceases to amaze me how the top leaders in our business are so happy to share their top tips,  about the products,  recruiting team members and how to build your own business.

Marketing Tools

At Success Day all of the recommended retailers who supply the information and tools which can make your Forever Business so much easier also have stalls where you can pick up fantastic products,  books and advice to help you run your business. It’s a great place to pick up banners,  display materials,  and fantastic personal development books.

Personally I can never resist the product offers and I always go home with a bag full of products I can then pass on the offers to my customers.  I always save more money on these offers than I spent on my success express ticket!

So what are you waiting for.  Dates for Success Express in 2016 are already set.  Get those dates in your diary and come and be inspired in 2016. #successday