But it's Friday, just a few more office-bound hours to get through before that first Friday night gin & tonic with two days of freedom stretching out before us. And let's face it, after such a revolting week, surely next week can only get better. So with fingers firmly crossed for the sun to get himself in gear in time for tomorrow morning, here's the round up of what I've been up to this week when I haven't been dodging puddles and cowering under my umbrella. This week I've mostly been...
Blending up a storm making delicious and super healthy smoothies. After eating pretty much non-stop for nine days in the Philippines over Easter, I've decided that drastic measures are necessary to get myself summer ready. In just under a month, junk season will kick off in Hong Kong which means a lot of time on boats in bikinis. I've never seen the point of fad diets though and I'm very suspicious of any diet that seems too good to be true (a diet that allows you to eat burgers albeit bunless ones a prime example). I really feel that the best way to shed the pounds is to get into the habit of eating healthily and sticking to it. Which is why when I read about the Clean & Lean Diet in Grazia at the tail end of last year, I sat up and took notice. The basic premise of the diet is to eat food that's as near to its natural state as possible, to eat organic and to eliminate toxic foods (alcohol, white sugar, pesticides etc). James Duigan, the diet's creator, counts Elle McPherson and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley among his clients and if there's even a slither of a chance that I might get a body even verging on either of their bodies by following his simple rules, I'm in.
This week I've been following an improvised version of the diet based on recipes and tips from James' Bodyism website. By far my favourite part of the diet is starting the day with a smoothie. We're not talking sugar-laden, brightly coloured, shop bought smoothies but home blended concoctions made from market fresh ingredients. I thought I'd share the recipe I've been using for the very scary looking but actually super delicious green shake...
Green Shake
Ingredients
1/2 granny smith
2 sticks of celery
a handful of spinach
1 tsp of grated ginger
1/4 cucumber
couple of sprigs of mint
1/2 glass of coconut water
lots of ice cubes
Directions
Whack everything in a blender and blitz until smooth (although a few unblended bits give the smoothie some texture and helps to fire your metabolism up, no need for perfection here). Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Yesterday my brand new Clean Lean Cookbook arrived along with a bumper pack of Body Brilliance supplement powder (neither essential to follow the diet but I'm a sucker for having all the gear...) I can almost feel my body becoming leaner and cleaner just looking at them. I'll post an update when I've done my Bodyism homework and tried and tested a few more recipes.
Image via: www.dailymail.co.uk
Building up to a Juice Fast. While we're on the theme of eating and getting healthy a brand new juicery has just opened in Sheung Wan in Hong Kong, the Genie Concept. I haven't managed to venture down to the shop just yet but it looks fab. Owned and run by best friends and Aussie expats, Melanie White and Cara Grogan, the shop serves fresh juices, smoothies and coffee but the girls' USP are their juice cleanses. Choose from a one day, three day or, for the super brave, five day programme and the girls will deliver straight to your home or office a set of six freshly pressed, meal replacement juices made using a state of the art hydraulic cold press (keeps all the good stuff in the juice apparently). I think a cleanse would be an ideal way to kick-start a new healthy eating plan and I'm definitely keen to try it out so watch this space...
Image via: www.thegenieconcept.com
Dreaming of upsizing from my teeny, tiny shoebox-sized flat to one of the 12,000 ft penthouse duplexes in the brand new Frank Gehry building, the Opus. A work of art in itself, Gehry's first building in Hong Kong is showcased in this Grand Designs on steroids short film: http://www.opushongkong.com/en/Film.html.
Wishing I was en route to weekend two of Coachella. With a line-up to end all line-ups, desert pool parties and Tupac resurrected by Snoop Dogg, last weekend, by all accounts, was pretty epic. This weekend the bands and artists are gearing up to do it all over again and boho-chic boys and girls are flocking to California to join them. From the Black Keys to Florence + the Machine and Grouplove to Feist with a little bit of Santigold thrown in for good measure there's no question that its going to be a weekend full of awesome music.
Music aside, last weekend saw some gold star festival dressing. Our top picks? Rihanna's studded denim cut-offs, Dree Hemmingway in THAT Dolce & Gabbana pepper print midriff top and the ever-stylish Kate Bosworth in a variety of festi-fabulousness (we want to be her).
Image via: www.latimes.com
Image via: www.vogue.com
Image via: www.telegraph.co.uk
www.graziadaily.co.uk
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