Update October 2016

If you are an Aspiring Creative person then please visit: http://leonamatuszak.com/coaching/

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Super Wonderful Superfood Smoothie recipes #1

Hi everyone :)

So as promised, here are some great tried and tested superfood smoothie recipes for you to taste and love. They are the result of an 18 month Superfood journey which keeps growing and expanding. Get ready for a more vibrant, more healthy and more energised you!

Remember the rules with your smoothies:

RULE #1- Start with small amounts and build up to larger amounts over time (eg. TEAspoons not TABLEspoons to start)

RULE #2-  Use more water for smoother, thinner smoothies and less water for more thicker smoothies (its all about your preference)

RULE #3- Experiment with the flavours! Get to know the tastes of each superfood so you can get a 'feel' for what you like. Mix it up! Make your own recipes!

My high speed blender has a litre jug, so these recipes make around 750ml.

 Every Day Morning Power Smoothie #1
- 2 tall glasses filtered water
-1 tbspoon Spirulina
- 2 tbspoons shelled Hemp seeds
-1 tbspoon Barleygrass or Wheatgrass powder
- 1 banana 
- 1 quarter of a large cucumber
- a few fresh leaves of spinach, beetroot leaves or whatever green leaves you have in the fridge
and
- 1 thick slice of honeydew melon.

--------------------------------------

Every Day Morning Power Smoothie #2 
- 2 tall glasses filtered water
-1 tbspoon Spirulina
- 1 tbspoon Sun Warrior Protein either natural or vanilla
- 2 tbspoons shelled Hemp seeds
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 banana and
- 2 slices of honeydew melon.

--------------------------------------

 

Treat Yourself Power Choc Smoothie
- 2 tall glasses filtered water
- 1 tbspoon Sun Warrior Protein either natural or vanilla
- 1 tbspoon shelled Hemp seeds
- 1 tbspoon cacao powder 
- 1 teaspoon of Maca
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of cinnamon
- about 12-15 cashews or almonds
- 2 small bananas or fruit of choice

ENJOY!

Much love,



Leona
Helping you to create the life you've always wanted
http://www.createyourtruelife.com

Superfoods update and new smoothie tip!

Hello!

Its been a little while since I wrote a blog post, life has a way of flying on by doesn't it!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am still on the detox lifestyle and loving it :)

In fact, I have been trying lots more variations of superfoods - keeping that variety happening for a fun, inspired life!

So, I'm going to share one thing with you here and thats a variation on my favourite water based smoothie and that is:

ADD NUTS :)

In particular: ALMONDS OR CASHEWS.

A couple of months back I had run out of my all time favourite high protein superfood: Hemp Seeds. I was thinking, oh no, what can I do? So I searched my food cupboard and found a bag of Almonds.

That morning, I poured about 10-15 almonds in with my smoothie and wow, it was deeeelish!

If you have a high speed blender you don't need to soak almonds beforehand, but alot of people do and they recommend it, so as I always say - experiment! Try it for yourself and see what you prefer.

Since then I have experimented with both almonds and cashews on different mornings and wow, they are just beautiful, adding tons of creamy lovelyness to your smoothies as well as being high in good fats that are ESSENTIAL to have in your morning smoothie.

More posts coming soon with *new* recipes and more info on superfoods!

With much love


Leona x
www.createyourtruelife.com

My first year with Superfoods!

I am super excited! I have now been taking Superfoods* for well over a year and I wanted to share my experience with you.

*Superfoods to me means any food that goes above and beyond normal nutritional values eg, plants that have high percentage of protein, rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and polyphenols.

When I first started taking Superfoods I took them in tablet form. I steadily increased my dose until I found that tablets were just a bit frustrating. So I changed to powdered form. This enabled me to get both a higher quality of superfood plus I could now increase my dose much easier.

When I switched to powder form I bought a really gorgeous high speed blender. Since then I have been having a superfood smoothie every morning. As soon as I wake up I have a slice of lemon, fresh ginger or fresh nettles in hot water (depending on the time of year) and then after around half an hour to an hour later, I have my smoothie.

I cannot recommend having a superfood smoothie every morning enough!
There are SO many benefits. Here are my top 3:

1- Ease. Put everything in the blender, whizz for 20 seconds, drink, rinse out glass and blender - 10 minute breakfast - done.

2- Digestion. Superfoods are often high in protein and this protein (and all the other good stuff too!) gets absorbed into your bloodstream super-fast, unlike the slow amount of time that meat protein takes to digest.Because of this quick apsorption rate you'll feel energised, so superfood smoothies are great energy boosters too!

3- Optimum Nutrition. Your Superfood smoothies are so loaded with vitamins and minerals that you're unlikely to find a higher nutrition based meal than a smoothie first thing in the morning (compared to eggs, toast, muffins, cereals and other common breakfast foods).

There are plenty of other good reasons too! Improved memory, stronger nails, skin and hair, improved circulation, anti-ageing, boosts immune system, reduces allergies, anti-inflammatory, hormone balancing....oh, the list goes on and on! You can also SEE the difference in my face - the photo with me in the orange scarf on the left was taken 18 months ago. The one on the right was taken a month ago.

BEFORE SUPERFOODS

AFTER A YEAR WITH SUPERFOODS

 

My Superfood Smoothies are always water based, although adding rice, oat, hemp or almond milk can be really tasty, depending on what flavours you want to mix together. This is what I love about Superfoods, you try all these new tastes and then you get to experiment with them to find the combinations that taste great and feel great for you! 

http://www.createyourtruelife.com

My favourite Superfood without a doubt is Spirulina and is the one I have been taking right from the start of my 'detox lifestyle'.

 My current favourite Superfood smoothie recipe is this:

- 2 tall glasses filtered water
-1 tbspoon Spirulina
- 2 tbspoons shelled Hemp seeds
-1 tbspoon Barleygrass
- 1 banana and
- 2 slices of honeydew melon.

Blitz in a high speed blender for 20 seconds. Drink and enjoy!

If you are going to give this a go, I recommend that you start off with teaspoons instead of tablespoons, increasing the dose after around 30 days and maybe even put a little natural sweetener in there too such as melted honey or dried fruit (choose dried fruit with no added vegetable oil or preservatives).

There are SO many fab Superfoods that I am going to write a blog post on my favourite Superfoods over the next few weeks.

I look forward to sharing with you the wonderful world of Superfoods!

With much love



Leona x
Helping you to live the life youve always dreamed of
http://www.createyourtruelife.com

The Cacao Dilemma - with Cacao recipes!

The Cacao Dilemma ..... includes some simple Cacao recipes! 

I felt compelled to write a blog post on cacao, having read and heard so much about raw chocolate.

My reason for getting attracted to it recently was that After 5 months of being on wheat free/dairy free/sugar free 80% of the time, I was still getting chocolate cravings! I'd kept on with my dried figs and fresh fruit on all sweet cravings, but chocolate just has that smooth, velvety texture that it couldn't help but creep back into my imagination.
 
I had heard mostly good things about Cacao and only one negative, so I decided to buy some Cacao powder. I had been feeling really tired one day after my workout as I was about to come on my period. I was looking for something I could take that could balance out my hormones. So I made a Cacao, hemp seed, lucuma, banana, manuka honey and water smoothie. I've got to say that it was powerful stuff! whoa! You definitely can have too much of it! I listened to my body for the next few hours and noticed a significant improvement in my energy levels. By the evening I felt back to my usual self. My Conclusion - what a fab pick me up! I think this is due to the high content of magnesium in cacao which is what most women start lacking during the time of their period.

5 days later I had a cacao, lucuma, manuka and soya *warm* mug of chocolate. It was good!

5 days after that I had a water, cacao 1tbsp, hemp 2 tbsp, lucuma 1 tsp, mace had tsp, banana, melon smoothie :0) :0)

2 days later I tried this mousse: water, cacao 1 tbsp, 1 avocado, 1 banana, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, 1 tsp lucuma, half tsp maca - YUM! Oh this one is SO recommended!

A few weeks later I was looking online and for some reason everyone seemed to be talking about how cacao is this amazing health food and how it can cure illnesses. For me, it seemed like something good, but I couldn't see how having a cacao smoothie over a spirulina smoothie (for example) could be just as beneficial for my health. Something didn't seem right. So I decided to call up some nutritionist friends and ask their opinions. I was speaking to one particular nutritionist friend and he was saying that cacao can stimulate the adrenals and thus some people can have a hyperactive response to consuming it.

One month later I had been considering this cacao dilemma and in the process wanting to experiment with some new superfoods. So I bought some wheatgrass powder and barleygrass powder. In 2007 I had experimented with growing wheatgrass, but didn't keep it up for any length of time due to the technicalities of growing it. Instead of using cacao when I came on my period, I decided to use spirulina, wheatgrass and barleygrass in my morning water based smoothie. 2 days before I was due on, I was feeling my typical energy slump, so I made this smoothie. That evening, I had so much energy that I went for an extra workout! I never usually work out on that particular evening, but I just felt driven to do so! It was really amazing. This was the turning point for me, I realised that simply eating more superfoods is all you need to do to keep your energy levels up.  
Now that its been nearly a year since I've been consuming superfoods on a daily basis, I can say that without a doubt, superfoods have massively contributed to my consistent energy levels and wellbeing.

Since then I have still made my own raw chocolates and cacao based smoothies. Cacao is obviously a million times better for you than the 'chocolate' that is sold on the mass market as it contains no dairy and no sugar. So if you want guilt-free chocolate, then this is the only way to go! Food is both nutritional and social isn't it? So its fun to have fun with it and not be so serious all the time. Once you've got into the swing of your new way of life (for me it was 90 days no wheat no dairy no sugar) its great to live by the 80/20 rule - eat the high nutrition based foods and foods you grow yourself 80% of the time, and then enjoy the odd glass of wine, raw chocolates etc, 20% of the time. 

If you haven't read it already, here's my 6 month update: http://createyourtruelife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/6-months-on-detox-lifestyle.html
My One year update is coming shortly!

Thanks for reading, till next time, 

Much love,








Leona x
 Helping you to live your most authentic life
http://www.createyourtruelife.com

Effective Goal Setting and Creating Fulfilling New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! 

Today I uploaded a new Video talking about New Years Resolutions and Goal setting. 

I talk about a new approach to this, one thats more heart-based and will make you breathe a sigh of relief! 

Its all about non-attachment, flexibility and enjoying the process. I know what you're thinking - Sounds good already!

Enjoy!

With Much love,


Leona.
Inspiring you to Create Your True Life.
www.createyourtruelife.com

3 ways to have a Happy Family Christmas

http://www.createyourtruelife.com

Christmas Holidays can be exciting for many, but also daunting too. With so much going on it can be easy to loose yourself and get caught up in unnecessary and unbeneficial dramas.

Here's my top 3 tips on  
How to make Christmas Holidays with the family run smoothly:

1 - Prepare.

Try to ask yourself as much questions as possible about your expectations of the Holidays. 

For example, What kinds of situations do you not want to get into and why? What's kinds of things are you worrying about? Who or what do you avoid at this time and why? 

Then answer these questions in depth. Get a notebook and write it down. Confronting them in your mind first before they happen, will make it much easier to deal with at the time. Writing them down also helps put your issues into perspective and can help you look at things in a different way. Try to think of different kinds of solutions to your issues.


If you're in doubt ask, "If I were someone dealing with this situation in the best possible way, what would I do?"

2 - Let go.

If you have issues with particular people you are about to spend time with, the best thing you can do for the moment is let it go. Put your issues to one side and practice forgiveness. Whatever has happened in the past is for now, in the past and imagine this day is like a fresh start. Really imagine it. Close your eyes and run the whole thing over as if its gone the best way it could. Repeat this until you really believe that its a possibility and that you're ready to make it happen.

If the issues run deep or are more pressing, then ask to meet the person for a calm discussion before the holidays. Choose a neutral meeting point where you both feel relaxed. Never get into a heated debate on Christmas day, where the alcohol is flowing and you'll probably say things you'll regret.

On the Day, if you're doing the best you can and the other person is not thinking or acting in a good way, then rise above it, at all times. Remember the promise to yourself to let it go and make it run the best you can. You are the most important person in your life, be kind and gentle with yourself and stay true to yourself in every experience.


3 - Contribute.

Contribute to the celebrations in some way whether its a small or large gesture. Find something you can offer and offer it. Whether it be bringing a dish you have prepared, a game you can all play or a playlist for the party. There are endless ways!

If you're going to a party, then think about the hosts, what would they really appreciate from you? Maybe its as simple as helping with the washing up? Or why not ask them if there's anything you can do for them? Saying certain things can also be a form of contributing. Try telling someone that you really appreciate them. It doesn't even have to be for a particular reason!

When you contribute it makes you feel part of the action and you have a renewed sense of belonging. Plus it makes you feel really good!

Remember it's your Christmas. Celebrate it how you want to, not how everyone expects you to. Bring your personality to the occasion. Try doing something differently. Give others a break and allow yourself to relax. The Christmas Holidays can be a tense time, but they can also be one of the most rewarding times of the year.


With Warm and Sparkly Wishes





Leona x

Dedicated to helping you Create Your True Life
Empowering Self Development Sessions in person or via Skype
www.createyourtruelife.com