Tuesday 10 March 2015

Gorgeous for Good | Day #2



You guys probably already know that I am collaborating with Sophie Uliano to go through her Gorgeous for Good thirty day program (prior to the books release in April). I am so lucky to have the lovely Liz as my gorgeous buddy, and I will be doing weekly posts about our progress. I will be giving a full review of the book and the program at the end of the process, but for now I want to simply set the scene.

The Gorgeous for Good is an introduction to setting good habits for life, that will help you feel energetic and confident as you age. It looks at four overlapping areas: skincare/beauty rituals, food, exercise routines and mindfulness. The idea is that you try new ways of doing things, and eventually at the end of the 30 days, find your own approach, that you will be sticking to for good. Since you will feel so fab that you would never want to give it up! It rolls out slowly, the first immediate change is food (unless you already eat that way), it eases you in into everything else.

Food.



 The diet is predominantly plant based, with only a few recipes including eggs and feta cheese (but also giving vegan alternatives for these ingredients). The meals are all planned out, but how closely you follow is up to you as long as you stick to the principles. I like to experiment in the kitchen, and since I try to eat as seasonal as possible, some recipes will be getting minor adjustments. I have decided to make at least one meal exactly as in the daily plan, but let my imagination fly with the rest (obviously sticking to vegan choices as much as possible and keeping an eye on the protein, healthy fats etc). So yesterday was officially completely vegan for me, and Mr RF by proxy (we normally take turns to cook, but since I will be cooking every day for this program, he is all of a sudden extremely happy to go predominantly vegan). Today is the day when I get my Riverford organic box delivery, so it was time to make good use of what was in the fridge. I made my version of "everything salad" for lunch, which did include some left over organic cheese. I never use milk, but I really enjoy an occasional cheese board. It is more of a rare treat though, so 28 more days without it is not going to be hard. I love love coconut milk, so I was completely shocked when I did not enjoy coconut yogurt. I did not make one myself (there is a recipe, but I'm just a bit funny about fermenting my own food), so maybe I need to try some other brands? If you guys have any suggestions I would very much appreciate them!

Beauty

Now Liz has a skincare routine that is very similar to what is in the Gorgeous for Good book, mine on the other hand is very far in terms of the amount of steps taken, not how 'green' the products are. It is a good thing for once that my beauty and sample stash is huge, so I have assembled a routine that seems about right. The beauty routine will be kicking in tomorrow.



For the morning I chose Suki foaming cleanser or valia face wash, akamuti orange blossom water, samples of vit C serum (I don't actually like the ingredients in this so wouldn't get a full size even if it is fab), La Bella figura barbary fig seed oil samples, gaia creams veggie cocktail, devita spf30.



For the evening I chose Kris D'amour cleansing balm or Ren cream cleanser (both are almost finished so I want to use them up, and in the view of recent developments I will no long be purchasing ren), akamuti orange blossom, pai rosehip oil.



For my body I chose gaia creams veggie cocktail and Lyonsleaf body butter. I will stick to my soaps and the same hair care as I use now.

Exercise.

So far has been very manageable, we shall see how I handle it since you are supposed to be doing it 6 days a week. The idea is that you incorporate cardio, flexibility and strength training in your weekly work out plan. I have an underlying health condition that I don't really advertise, but I feel that it is relevant to mention here. The exercise that I do has to be somewhat adapted, for example I wouldn't be able to do all types of cardio (but walking and dancing is fine), and I can't do all the yoga poses (I see a yoga teacher every fortnight so I do have an adapted routine). I will also have to be very mindful with weights, but I am very excited to explore all the possibilities.

Mindfulness.

Will be incorporated in the next few days, so far I had to choose a space where I could be by myself and undisturbed for 15 minutes. In a flat of two whole rooms it is a rather easy choice.


The biggest challenge so far for both Liz and I has been the food preparation. To be making three different dishes every day (granted breakfast one doesn't take that long), while working morning to evening is very time consuming. My decision has been to make enough for dinner so that there are left overs for lunch, and then I just make my breakfast and juice in the morning (leaving the juicer cleanup for the evening).

The lovely Ru (short small sweet) is also taking part, so I will be having a peek at how she is doing.

10 comments:

  1. Loved this write up! even though ive been talking to you throughout the day. Reading this has been really encouraging! I'm also using a valia face wash. However i'm using up my Jasons 20spf. I have been looking for a higher spf for ages. but for now, jason with do!

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  2. Amazing post Tammy!! I'll be cheering for all of you girls along the way! xx

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  3. Sorry, maybe I should know this. But what recent developments mean you will no longer be buying REN?

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  4. Yay! I think having it all in one place helps put things into perspective :) spf is tricky to be honest I'm not hundred percent happy with devita, but also need to use it up! Xx

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  5. Thanks Liz! Support is most welcome! Tomorrow will be tough since I won't be able to bring my own lunch and it's likely that I won't get home till very late... No idea what I'm going to eat, and how I will fit in the excercise lol

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  6. Unfortunately they have been bought out by Unilever

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  7. Lot of organization Tamara but i think it's worth it! This is a nice challenge! I'll follow you to see the development xx

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  8. Really thought about signing up and hopefully getting to do this with you but just felt that I'm not in the right state of mind what with my internship and everything being up in the air. That said, I look forward to following your and Ru's progress and both your gorgeous buddies and learning things along the way :) On a different note, what's the news with Ren? Feel I've missed something! Xx

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  9. This is the first time I hear of Gorgeous for Good (sorry missed your previous post!) but I really love the idea of setting good habits for life in different areas of wellbeing/healthy living. It does seem like a challenge though so good luck!
    Look forward to the coming posts about this.

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