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 – 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.

Elliptical Bike – ElliptoGo

I am always looking for new and interesting ways to stay fit and keep my motivation up.  Since my right total hip replacement in February 2007 at the age of 36 my health and fitness have improved immeasurably.  I went from needing crutches if I was going to be on my feet for any extended length of time to walking 100 miles a month in 2012, you can read my story on previous posts.

The problem with walking is it can get a bit boring!  Even in the lovely local forest here by where I live, and in order to keep moving and keep my motivation up I’m always keen to look for new things to do.  I did do 2 triathlons in 2013, but running is not great for a person with a hip replacement, it could shorten the lifespan of my titanium and ceramic hip, and I definitely don’t want to do that.

I do also love riding my bike, but I find the seating position leaning towards the handle bars can cause problems with my neck, and my hands and wrists ache if I’m on my bike for any longer than half an hour.

So when I was on a hip replacement support forum on facebook and saw an elliptical bike mentioned I was intrigued to find out if this might be a suitable alternative to a traditional bicycle, as it was mentioned as something great for people with joint replacements or who couldn’t run due to injury, as there is no impact, and you are in a more upright position which would be better for my neck.

So I looked up elliptical bikes and found the ElliptiGO website, and arranged a test drive locally here in Milton Keynes.  When you first see the bike and go on it, especially in a limited space where you need to keep cornering, it certainly is an odd experience, and I wasn’t sure I was going to take to it, so we thought long and hard before making our mind up.

Choosing my model

After a 2nd test drive in April to compare the new ElliptiGO ARC with the ElliptiGO 8C, we decided that my knees and hips would be most comfortable with the 8C, we finally placed our order, and I took delivery on Friday 6th May.  It all looked rather large and a little bit scary – you can tell by the look on my face!

Progress

I am writing this blog 2 weeks on, and after initially being worried about feeling slight discomfort in my shoulder whilst on the bike, I think that may have been me clinging onto the handlebars for dear life, and now I am getting more confident my grip is relaxing and I’m feeling less tension through my arms.

I went on a few short half hour rides to start with, coasting for a breather on the downhills and using the 8 gears to great effect on the uphill stretches.   This weekend I took a longer trip out, choosing a route with several options to turn for home if I felt the need, but I was very pleased to manager to stay out for over an hour and cover over 12 miles (20km) in total with no lingering aches and pains in my arthritic joints.  As a comparison on my mountain bike I can’t go out any longer than an hour without getting problems in my wrists and hands.

The point of getting the bike is so I can get out and about in our beautiful Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire countryside without aggravating my joints, and early indications are that the Elliptigo 8C is doing just that.  I’m also having fun linking with other riders through Strava and I’m quite chuffed to say I seem to be keeping up with the other riders quite well.  I was even faster on my Elliptigo on an uphill stretch today that I used to be on my traditional bike.

First Ride

Here is a short video of my first ride.  Thanks to Idai Makaya for the test drives and support in choosing my new toy!

 

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 !

Learning to be a good blogger

Being new to this blogging lark, I have been looking for hints and tips to try and help me to be a good blogger. I was really pleased to find that a good friend of mine, Alison Neale, was running a free webinar today called “7 Tips to Blogging Success”.

I have known Alison through my hobby of bookcrossing since I first joined the book sharing website in 2003.  Alison runs her own proof reading and copywriting business called The Proof Fairy, and amongst other things she offers WordPress installation and hosting and blogging and article writing services.

Webinar Screenshot

This Webinar was Alison’s first, as although she had presented the same talk at networking meetings, running a webinar with no face-to-face contact and feedback is completely different.  I must say though, I could not tell that this was Alison’s debut at running a Webinar.  She took the attendees through her clear and concise slides, making her points and expanding on the content in a very professional manner. I now have some more hints and tips on becoming a good blogger, including ideas for content to make this blog more interesting.

Now it is just up to you, my readers, to decide if I am doing a good job! To contact Alison Neale and see if she can help you with your blogging too then visit her website – www.theprooffairy.com