The Healthy Goose

I am 21 years old and have suffered from eating disorders for the past few years. Now fully recovered I am working on making the best possible me and enjoying the things my eating disorder stole from me. About to take off to the east to see what the rest of world has to offer. This is my journey.

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[thehealthygoose]

Bruschetta and strawberry yogurt smoothie for lunch yesterday! So refreshing after a hard morning catching the sun. The tomatoes had lots of fresh basil in them and weren't oily at all! Perfect 👌

[thehealthygoose]

Okay so currently location: Thailand. The food here is fantastic for healthy eating. Plain boiled rice is a huge thing here and you can order it with all things veg, chicken and cashew. This is what I eat for breakfast most days. Banana pancakes with a side of warm, melted peanut butter. Here on the island of Koh Tao the pancake looks more like a Victoria sponge cake and has banana coins all throughout the middle but I assure you it's all light, fresh and healthy 👌

[thehealthygoose]

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself! These waffles were just $7 each from 'The Little Waffle Shop' In Wellington. They were absolutely delicious. I had a Snickers flavour (bottom waffle) which was covered in chocolate sauce, peanuts and caramel.

[thehealthygoose]

Stir fry and travel planning 🌏 Currently in Rotorua, we managed to find the largest cheap food store I've ever seen and bought a huge pre packed veg kit and marinated chicken! Extremely flavoursome and full of goodness!

[thehealthygoose]

Humous, feta, squash, spinach, courgette, mushrooms and onion! How much goodness can you get on some fresh bread for $10/£5 😱 found this on the menu for one of the cafes in Cairn's botanical gardens. It was light, nutritious and has inspired me for future meals to make myself.

[thehealthygoose]

This was delicious! Smoked salmon, capers, cucumber, cream cheese, lettuce, spinach in a spinach and herb tortilla wrap! Incredibly filling for while I explored the koala sanctuary. The drink was called a strawberry supreme and was made with natural greek yogurt! I am currently on a small island off Townsville called magnetic island. If I can find healthy food here I can find it anywhere!

[thehealthygoose]

Homemade breakfast this morning! Fibre filled cereal, passion fruit yogurt and banana. Mango and orange juice on the side 👌 fully fed and ready for the day!

[thehealthygoose]

This was my first ever acai bowl! I had it in Noosa Heads, Australia but you can get them all over the coast. This one was called a 'Noosa bowl' bought from the 'Noosa Juicer'. It had so many healthy things packed in to it including fresh granola and honey. They are about $10 to buy which is around 5 english pounds. Not overly cheap but really worth it and so healthy!

[thehealthygoose]

This was $14 from a Mexican restaurant in Byron bay, Australia. And it was amazing! Fresh spicy chicken, beans, tomatoes, rice and loads of veg. They get the portion size just right here too. For lunch we have been making salads, which I will post in the next couple of days. It's all so easy and cheap to make. Australia is also really up on chia seeds and acai bowls, I'm determined to try one as I've heard loads of great things about them. I'll let you know the verdict! Exercise wise, we walk everywhere! A couple of days in Sydney we walked 9 miles each day! Tomorrow we're going surfing too which I've heard is very tough!

[thehealthygoose]

Pancakes & iced tea! We had these nearly everyday in bali. They were always freshly made and often came with banana. These ones were with fresh berries and on the last day I asked for some dark chocolate on the side👌

[thehealthygoose]

Cashew chicken👍🏻 this was so good! The first meal I had in Ubud. It had loads of veggies in it too, it's surprisingly easy to eat well here in Bali. Everything is so fresh!

[thehealthygoose]

I can’t quite believe how quickly this has come around. This time next week I will have begun my adventure to the East. At first this was just something Laura and i would talk about and then we realised it was actually a possibility. Especially since neither of us were quite sure what we wanted to do after we graduated back in July. I feel so lucky i will get to share this experience with my best friend. 

We kick off our adventure on the 29th December heading for Kuta, Bali where we will spend New Years. Two weeks later we are heading to Sydney, Australia for six weeks where we hope to move up the coast. I also have some relatives in Brisbane who i am hoping to see. Next on the list is New Zealand where I am meeting one of my uni flatmates for 5 days before exploring the island. Finally we are heading to Thailand for 3 weeks to finish topping up the tan before heading back to England.  

I have to admit i am slightly scared. for a number of reasons. The first I suppose would be that of every normal person, what if i forget something really important?! Like my passport, or insurance documents (which of course I’ve promised myself i won’t need). One of the scariest for me is the possibility of running out of money. I have worked so hard to be able to save enough to go and as long as i budget I should be fine, but it is still in the back of my mind. 

The third is a reason which is almost as exciting as it is nerve racking - unplanned and unknown. Neither of us have ever done anything like this before and there is only so much you can gain from talking to those who have (although we have both done our fair share). But this very frightening fact is exactly what makes me so excited. The people we will meet, places we will see and things we will do. What could be more exciting. 

The final one is, for me one of the most worrying. What will i be eating? Some people have told me in Bali all the usual Western food is available, like burgers and chips and pizza. But of course being health conscious, this wasn’t much comfort for me. Some have told me to avoid street food while others say go for it. I’m told while there is the risk with street food, it is far more fresh and healthy than western food. I feel it would almost be foolish not to at least try it in Bali. I’ve heard exciting things about the smoothies they do too, all made with really fresh fruit.  Moving on from Bali I fear I will have a different problem in Australia where everything is far more expensive, especially healthy food. 

But I will not let this affect my travels. My only aim is to fuel my body with as much healthy food as possible. I don’t feel that exercise will be a huge problem. I plan on walking with my rucksack alot, swimming, running and cycling where i can should keep me fit! 

So for the next few months I will be blogging about the things I get up on on my adventures but centered around the theme of health in the hope i can show other ED followers they can do the same thing.         

[thehealthygoose]

'It's not about how far you have to go, it's about how far you have come'

I know, how many times have you heard that one before right? Until recently I never really liked the phrase to be honest. But I had a realisation a few days ago that enlightened me to the true meaning of this painfully overused quote. 

Rewind 3 years, or even 1 year. I would have probably felt sick to my stomach with all the crap I had fed myself. Then I would continue to feel so low I wouldn't even want to leave the house and suffer endless self hatred and loathing. The circle was inevitable and unstoppable. Or so I thought.

So when a couple days ago I was kicking myself for letting old habits seemingly slip back in, I stopped and thought... Yes maybe I have over eaten a little. Yes maybe I have put a little weight back on. But am I in uncomfortable pain from the amount of food I have consumed? Am I embarrassed for people to see me? Today I spontaneously met up with a guy I have been chatting to for a few weeks and had the best day I have had in such a long time. Rewind 3 years and there is no way in hell I would have put myself in that position.

I am so proud of how far I have come in the last year. There were times I never thought I would be able to go through one normal day without worrying about food. There were times when I never thought I would be confident in my own skin. But now I have carved my own rules to live by:

1. Eat to be healthy - Anything I eat is to nourish my body. That also means eating when I need to and sometimes eating things that please my mind.

2. Be an inspiration to others - I aim to live my life as though I am a coach. As though I am helping someone else. You'd be surprised how hard you can be on yourself and also how easily you can give up on your goals.

3.   Love thy self and thy body - your body is the only one you have. Love it by fuelling it with healthy food. Give it the endorphins it needs by exercising. Push it to the limit by trying new things.

4. Don't worry about how far you have to go. Look at how far you have come!  

[thehealthygoose]

Day 3/10. These pancakes I made from oats, 1 banana, 2 eggs and a scoop of protein powder. On top i drizzled choc shot, honey and meridian peanut butter. They were so good! Especially post work out for brunch ☑️

[thehealthygoose]

Day 1/10 🍵 my uncle's carrot and coriander soup I'm having for lunch. Let's see how I feel in ten days time. I'm aiming for 10 super healthy days.

[thehealthygoose]

These last few days have been the worst I have felt in a long time. I feel swollen and angry and frustrated. Everything was going so well an now I feel like I'm back to square one. BUT. I have at least one thing to keep me going. Travelling. I have just booked 4 months of travelling with my best friend and I can't bloody wait. Feeling like this is so shit and the sad reality is it always seems to surface when I come home. At the moment I live with some relatives in a different part of the UK while I work to save money. But every time I come home I just feel like shit.