Autumn is well and truly here and while I miss the warm mornings and extra light at night, Autumn is one of my favourite seasons.
5.30AM - One of the reasons why I love Autumn? It marks the end of daylight savings! I find it's easier to hop out of bed when I can see the sky is going to break open soon. My morning routine is the same as summer, although I must admit, I have started taking an iron supplement as well as oil pulling, aloe vera juice, warm water, and a B12 supplement (I'm not even joking). My iron had always been on the lower side, even when I was eating meat, and after three years of no red meat I know my body needed a boost. Just to confirm - there is PLENTY of plants that are high in iron (dark leafy greens, legumes, brown rice, quinoa, oats, nuts, broccoli, beans, sweet potato), I'm just not getting enough of them/absorbing the iron efficiently to maintain a sufficient level of iron in my blood. I definitely don't plan on this being an ongoing thing - just a bit of a kickstart to get my levels back up to an acceptable range. To top it all off, I can't take tablets whole, so I break them up and eat them crushed. The iron supplement I'm taking tastes like a ground up prawn - disgusting!
6.30AM - You'd think in the cooler weather I'd be eating more warmer breakfasts but it's probably only once a week that I deviate from my standard smoothie bowl breakfast to something different. I've been playing around with my waffle maker recently trying to perfect a gluten-free berry recipe for The Sweet Meadow's winter menu. Almost there!
12.00PM - I don't know why but I tend to feel hungrier earlier in the day as it gets cooler. I rarely have salads at lunchtime now unless it's with something warm. I'm obsessed with a vegan sausage roll recipe so I've been eating a lot of those as leftovers for lunch, with some tomato/capsicum puree and a salad.
3.30PM - My snacks are always the same - raw cucumber, and a few pieces of fruit. Apples and pears are in full swing so I've been eating a lot of those. Yellow William Bartlett pears are my favourite. If you are eating them green you are missing out. Wait until they are yellow with a few brown marks. Heaven!
6.30PM - Dinner time. It's always something hearty - we've been eating a lot of soups lately. Some nights I'll just have a whole plate of roasted vegetables using ingredients from the late summer harvest (corn, pumpkin, eggplant, zucchini, potato). Pasta is something I eat at least once a week. I'm using the last (literally) of the fresh basil in the garden with the last tomatoes I can get my hands on. Farmers grow tomatoes all year round these days, but you can honestly taste the difference when they're not homegrown. It's only six months until I start planting them again so it's not that long to wait in the scheme of things!
9.00PM - I always finish my day with a ginger tea. I find it cleanses the mouth and is probably the reason why I rarely (I'm talking maybe once a year) catch a cold. Ditch the packet tea and just chop up a fresh one! I like to drink it at least an hour before going to bed so I'm not up at an ungodly hour for the toilet. Going to bed after 10pm has become the norm for me, which is something I need to improve. They say the quality of an hour's sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight, so it pays to prioritise sleep. Plus it means you have more time to dream.
