Books I'm Currently Loving

I have been an avid reader my whole life; reading is an outlet for me, an escape which allows my introverted mind to run off into another world. My dad has always called me 'Bubbles', saying that my head is full of them and my mind exists in a space which no one else truly understands. Recently I have reconnected with my love of reading, the power of words is incredible. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, but I would rather read those words ten times over and paint my own picture instead. Recently I have spent many sleepless nights reading some books that have truly inspired my outlook on life.

1. It - Alexa Chung 

Okay so I know I'm slightly late on the bandwagon for this one, but I finally bit the bullet a few weeks back and bought 'it' (of course I splurged on the hardback version because it is pretty much the most beautiful coffee table book ever designed). The book is a mixture of memoirs, fashion, lifestyle and photographs, but it resonated with me in a way I never imagined it would. I have been a huge fan of Alexa ever since her ELLE cover shoot and interview back in 2010; she has the most beautiful and whimsical approach to life and this is a book I could read over and over again.

 "I don't expect everyone to like me. It's just not realistic or how the world works. If someone I've never met is mean about me, it doesn't matter. But I cannot express how frustrating it is not to be believed"

2. Everything is Going to be OK 

My friend Ellie gave me this book for my 19th birthday. That time of my life was a hard one, and I think I would say this is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. It's a small book and I have had it to hand every day for the two years ever since. It is just full to the brim of the most beautiful, positive and inspiring quotations all beautifully illustrated.
"Dare to wear your heart on your sleeve. Dare to shake off negativity and cynicism. Dare to hope, to dream."

3. Be Body Beautiful - Lucy Mecklenburgh 

As mentioned in a number of different blog posts, my main priority for 2015 is health. A surprising number of people don't understand my dedication to this at all. People find it hard to grasp that someone who weighs what I do could be classified as unhealthy, unfit and have a less than ideal percentage of body fat (something which has significantly decreased over the past month *woo*). Lucy was in the exact same position as me before overhauling her lifestyle and founding 'Results with Lucy', she described herself as 'skinny-fat', something I can largely relate to. Her book is unbelievably inspiring, it tells her own story, promotes a healthy and positive outlook on body image and is packed full of nutritious, filling and healthy recipes. 

"Learn to love yourself. If you don't accept yourself, no one else will"

4. Eat Yourself Happy

This little beauty of a book was a surprise gift from my boyfriend (left on my bed along with a big bar of Fruit and Nut, slightly contradictory but the thought was there). He knows that I struggle with food. A combination of my allergies, not having an oven in my flat and sheer laziness have lead to me developing a routine of eating a combination of chocolate, cereal and cheese on toast for dinner. He also knows that I struggle with stress. Badly. This book actually manages to address both those things in one go, listing a whole manor of foods and recipes to help combat stress, lack of sleep and anxiety.

"By taking control of what you eat and drink, you can help your body get back to a place of calm, so that both physically and emotionally you are much better equipped to deal with whatever life throws at you"

Happy reading

The Perfect Gluten Free Snacking Solution with Snackly*

Living gluten free, potato free, banana free, MSG free and artificial sweetener free can make food shopping a daunting prospect, my choices are so limited and food is something that I just do not enjoy. When I go out for a meal, it is more a case of ordering the one dish on the menu that I can safely eat rather than ordering something that I actually want to eat.


Anyone that knows me will know that I am not very good at meals. If it was up to me I wouldn't eat lunch or dinner and would instead spend the whole day snacking and grazing on food that is far too high in sugar and far too low in nutrients. This is something that I am actively trying to change, but in the meantime making small changes towards finding healthy snacks is a priority. Then I came across snackly- the an amazing company which deliver boxes of organic, healthy, gluten free snacks to your home or office every week for just £7.95.


Snackly.co.uk is such a cute little company, think graze box but gluten free. The company set out every month to discover healthy and indulgent gluten and wheat free snacks from independent producers around the UK, and each product is handpicked based on taste, quality and variety in order to create a box containing a mix of six different coeliac suitable treats. My box arrived last week and I have already chomped my way through the majority... it makes a lovely change having a variety of natural products to choose from rather than having to reach for a highly processed gluten free supermarket alternative.

If you fancy trying a snackly box for yourself then use code AMYELIZABETHFASHION to get 50p off your first order... Enjoy :)

Lesser Known Benefits of Going to the Gym

To say I'm not really a sporty person is a little bit of an understatement. I remember being so nervous in one of my first ever ballet lessons that I wet myself,  a story that both me and my dance teachers (who had the pleasure of reminding me of this fact every dance lesson until I was 18) find really hilarious, but to a shy three year old it was a horribly intimidating experience. 

My dislike for sport only increased with my age; although I was no longer wetting myself on frequent occasion, I did have a habit of hiding in the bushes during cross country runs and rejoining in with everyone on the last lap, and the number of notes feigning migraines to excuse me from having to play netball in the freezing cold probably rival the page count of War and Peace. I have always relied on the fact that I was on the 'slim side of average', and therefore my health must be OK. But when I hit 17 my health took a serious turn, my immune system decided that it no longer wanted to cooperate and over the space of two years I endured countless doctors appointments, blood tests and even a few hospital admissions. I have worked incredibly hard over the past few years, finally becoming someone who I am proud to be. I overcame my anxiety, I beat my illnesses and I am now working hard on becoming a healthy, strong and happy person.

Part of this involved me rejoining the gym, but along with seeing an vast improvement in my strength in the two months since, I have also noticed monumental changes in all sorts of areas in my life. I never thought I would write this but going to the gym is now something I enjoy. I have listed just a few of these little changes below...

1. Confidence - Walking into the gym to rejoin in November I didnt feel anything close to confident. Confident in my body, in my fitness, in myself or confident that I'd actually find a routine that I could stick to and see the benefit of. It was almost like walking into the lunch hall on your first day at a new school; not being at the gym for weight loss reasons, and having never lifted a weight in my life I just felt lost. But through support from a Personal Trainer, and now through my own training I have found a flow that works for me. I am still an insecure person, but I have a new found confidence in both my mental and physical strength. In two months I have improved much faster than I ever thought I would and these successes are only spurring me on to reach bigger and better goals.

2. Mind - People say exercise releases endorphins... I've been told it creates the same chemical reaction in the brain as when you give a hormonal woman a bar of chocolate. (Whoever said this was clearly a man and has never experienced the pleasure that is eating a bag of minstrels straight out the fridge at the end of a stressful day). Joking aside though, he did have a point. Strangely, coming back from the gym really does make me feel good about myself. I get a buzz from pushing myself to try something harder, and enjoy educating my mind and my body into a new way of training. I am mentally kinder to myself now. I am learning to be my own cheerleader, to love, treat and respect myself the way I want others to. Tonight I tweeted that I am happier, stronger and more proud of myself than I have been in a long time, and hand on heart that statement could not be more true.

3. Resilience - Failure is hard. Someone recently told me quite bluntly that we need to fail. Failure teaches us to appreciate success, rejection makes us stronger and admitting defeat is not a sign of weakness. Strength is how well we react to these inevitable traits of human life. Training has taught me that unless we allow ourselves to fail we will never improve and never leave the safety of our comfort zone. For years I have clutched to things I know I can succeed in, absolutely terrified of entering a realm of the unknown or pushing myself to try at something new, clinging to my safety blanket to the point where at one stage of my life there were days when I was frightened to leave my room. I have learnt that it's OK to fail, it's OK to fall. Fall seven times, stand up eight. With each fall you drop further and it can be harder to get back up- I know that to be all too true myself, but I'm still here and I'm stronger for it. I will keep pushing, I will keep failing and I will keep standing back up.

I Love... Peachy Passionfruit*

Summer is my favourite season... True to my pieces nature, I am a complete water baby. I love nothing more than being surrounded by water (probably where my absolute obsession with baths comes from). I also love the heat, and am incredibly sensitive to the cold. If I could, I would spend my whole summer away, lying on a lilo on the pool reading book after book after book. Sun + water + reading = my happy place. You probably think it's a bit weird that in the middle of winter, and in a blog post that's meant to be about shower creme I'm banging on about summer, but I do have a point I promise!

In the middle of winter, for me there is nothing nicer than something that reminds me of summer. Summer scents and tastes bring back those nostalgic feelings and memories, so for me, when I first smelt the amazingly fruity and tropical 'Peachy Passionfruit' bath and shower creme from fairly new and ultra affordable brand 'I love...' (available in Superdrug), I absolutely died and went to heaven. I think it is safe to say it is possibly the nicest smelling shower creme I have ever encountered, it is sweet and summery, but still fresh and clean. Although I am a huge lover of sweet smells, I only like to use shower gels, deodorants or body butters which also have a fresh or airy smell (I am the type of person who will spray everything in my room with febreze cotton fresh about 3 times a day). This shower creme is the perfect combination of both. What a winner.

The bottle is absolutely huge (like literally the size of my head- yes I have a very small head but you can't argue with a head sized product!), and it only costs £2.99 (the other scents are currently on sale for £1.45), so you literally can not lose! So if you're feeling a bit down in the dumps suffering from the winter blues, I definitely recommend this product to inject a little bit of summer into your life.

Sunday Thoughts

Happiness is an inside job, don't let anyone else take that much power over your life.

 Over the past year or so I have changed exponentially as a person. I spent so many years of my life trying to achieve things for other people's happiness; living, reacting and responding to other peoples choices. It wasn't until someone who was incredibly instrumental in a lot of the changes I've made told me that to care for yourself, to prioritise your own happiness and to most importantly love yourself how you wish to be loved by another is not selfish; it is essential for a mentally healthy and fulfilling life.

Recent weeks for me have been difficult. I had university exams (if you've read any of my other more personal blog posts, you can probably make a good guess about how well I coped with this stress), I faced rejection for something which knocked my confidence, and I was disappointed in myself for my fitness efforts, feeling like the progress I am making does not equate to how important the journey is for me. I'm trying to make changes to both my mental and physical strength; something I have feared for a long time. Sometimes it can be hard to admit that where we are is so far from where we want to be, and that thought can be so disheartening. These weeks have felt like a struggle, moving two steps forward, one step back. I have to remember that that is still one step forward. Still one step in the right direction.

I've learnt, and am still learning that you can't compare your beginning to someone else's middle. Where you start from is unique to you and progress no matter how small is progress. Failure is hard. But without it, we wouldn't appreciate success. The hardest part is not the rejection itself, it is getting up and moving forward. Even more recently I learnt that that in itself is strength. 

So when you feel so far from your goal and the end seems unreachable, remember only to look back to see how far you've come. I may not be where or who I want to be, but I am far from where and who I once was, and closer to getting there than I was yesterday.

Gluten Free Blondie Cake Bites

One more day of revision to power through. Why is it so hard to motivate yourself when the end is so close?!? I've been spending hours in the library for the majority of days since early December, so last night I decided to have a chilled night at home and did some more gluten free baking!

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

125g caster sugar

125g gluten free flour

2 medium eggs

white chocolate chips

milk chocolate chips

Method

(This one was actually a sort of 'make it up as you go along' experiment)

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Mix the flour and sugar together before melting the butter and adding it to the mix. Add both eggs and stir until a smooth batter is formed and add any little extras... I added both white and milk chocolate chips but nuts, raisins etc. would also work well! Spoon into a loaf tin/ baking tray and cook for around 35 minutes (this depends on the size of your tray/ thickness of your batter though so make sure you check it's fully cooked before taking it out!)

This was literally the easiest gluten free recipe I've followed so far... it's so lovely to have finally fallen back in love with baking again!

Switching Off

I think my off switch is faulty. The problem is my life has no real routine. I am a full time student during term time, I am the treasurer of two university societies, I'm on the Victoria's Secret PINK campus rep street team. My brain is constantly trying to juggle 1000 different commitments, and even when I am not working through coursework, revising for exams or organising and attending events for my other responsibilities, my brain is constantly working at 100mph thinking up new blog post ideas, photographing products, editing photos, writing content. I wake up at 5A.M. every morning no matter what time I get into bed the night before. There is very little time in my day that I can commit to nothing but myself and my own wellbeing. 

Recently, I have made a conscious effort to put aside at least one hour every day for myself... An hour where I try not to think about the long list of things I need to achieve that day, I try not to touch my phone, I try to switch off and not worry about anything at all. Below are a few of the little things I do to switch off, I hope they work as well for you as they do for me;

1. Take time away from technology - find something you can do where you literally have no temptation to touch your phone, tablet, laptop etc. For me, I like to go and sit in the sauna at the gym. I lock my phone away in my locker and become completely disconnected- no one can contact me even if they want to. Sitting there gives me time to think and collect my thoughts. In fact the majority of my blog post ideas are thought up either in the sauna or in the bath (another fantastic place to disconnect from technology for a while).

2. Make your bed somewhere you want to spend time - I love sleep. The best part of my day is when I crawl into bed at night time... Unfortunately, me and my bed seem to have a love-hate relationship. I love being there, but my body doesn't really like sleeping there. Or anywhere. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to actually function everyday off the lack of sleep I seem to acquire. However, if you make your bed as comfortable as it can possibly be, even when sleep is a struggle, at least your body can enjoy some form of relaxation. For me, this comes in the form of fairy lights, candles and scent diffusers. I always have a book and my diary in my bedside table, and try to reach for these at 2A.M. when sleep has escaped me.

3. Make your mind clock off at the same time as your body - Whenever I am finished working for the day I get straight into my dressing gown or pyjamas, to try and teach my brain to make the mental association that now it is officially 'down time'. Putting loose and comfortable clothes on can go a long way to helping your mind feel much more relaxed, as feeling physically comfortable and at ease will help your mind to feel the same.

Let's Talk about Body Shaming

[I didn't really have an appropriate image for this post, so I decided to share a little collage of Christmas snaps with you instead]

This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot recently, and after a quick scroll through twitter it's easy to see that a lot of other people have too; from the barrage of abuse that was sent at Gemma Collins whilst she was in the I'm a Celebrity jungle, to the 'skinny shaming' All About that Bass lyrics- The bottom line is: body shaming is wrong whether the person is fat, thin or an average weight. When did it become acceptable to judge someone else on their appearance, or visibly try to upset someone based on something which may not be in their control?

Here's the reality of my situation: I am 5foot4. I have never bought an item of clothing that is bigger than a size 8 in my life, and I have been subjected to a number of different body shaming encounters on various occasions; from being told I need to get some meat on my bones by a stranger in the gym; to being told by a man on Oxford Road in Manchester that I'd be really fit if I had a boob job; to once being laughed at for eating a bowl of pasta for lunch (oh no, actual carbs). You can't win. If you are seen eating someone is judging your choice of food, if you're not seen eating it is assumed you must be skipping meals. If you go to the gym you're obsessed with your looks and if you don't you're lazy and unhealthy. I appreciate that we all have different opinions of what is attractive, but please, if mine or anyone else's natural body shape is not one that appeals to you, don't go out of your way to ruin our day by telling us that. 

We have come to develop the idea that 'real women' are curvy, and we mustn't all feel obliged to conform to size zero. Although I am all for positive role models showing off different body shapes, that doesn't mean that someone who is naturally small or lacking in curves can't be beautiful too. Why does it have to be one or the other? Just because I wear a size 6 does not make me less of a woman than anyone else. Why does the fact that I am not naturally curvy detract from my ability to be a human being? If 'real women' are curvy, then what am I? Women have fought for years for equality, the vote, better jobs, the right to earn the same as men, and yet we sit here and in 140 characters or less manage to degrade everything they fought for by tweeting that a 'real woman' is not defined by her achievements but by her body shape. 

The worst part of the situation however, isn't just the trolling or laughing about other people's physical appearance... it is the fact that we live in a culture where girls actually bond over body shaming themselves. I can't help but think about the scene in Mean Girls where the Plastics are continually picking holes in their appearance, and turn to look at Cady expecting her to do the same. Not only is it expected for us to laugh at fat people, skinny shame thin people, but we are expected to dislike our own appearance too.

Over the past few months I have been working incredibly hard to change my outlook on life, shift my priorities from worrying about trivial things to focusing on important things like family and health. It is all too easy to forget that what is going on inside your body is far more important than what it looks like on the outside, and it only takes a quick look at my medical history to know my inside needs some serious work. So instead of judging me for going to the gym, assuming that my reasons behind it are pure vanity, why not respect me for trying to overcome my poor health and become stronger both physically and mentally. Everyone has a choice: to judge someone on face value or to take time to understand their situation and judge them for their personality. Remember: it costs nothing to be nice.

'If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how very different our ideals of beauty would be.'