The last ten days have been crazy! At the start of this challenge I thought I knew what the difficult aspects of it would be – finding things that I would enjoy or be able to eat. I am finding as each day goes on that this is not the case at all and a world of healthy food is slowly unfolding before me. I never imagined that I would feel to full after these portions and that it would be difficult to want to eat!

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For me the first three days were an uphill challenge – mainly it was just trying to work out what counted as a portion and initially finding recipes to try. Day four and five was when things started to turn around – it was a weekend so having BF there to support me in experimenting and to help me eat things. It was around this point though that I had the worse breakout since I was 18 – for some reason this sudden change in diet meant that I was destined for nasty zits for two days.

Other than that though, from there is was more about finding clever ways to deal with left over fruit and veg from other dishes – this is when I really started to hit my stride. It has made it more fun and exciting working out out what I could create to use up supplies before they went out of date. I have ended up with creative smoothie sorbet, creamy tomato and onion chicken and even a wonderful strawberry meringue dessert! i have never eaten so much colourful food nor had so much fun in the kitchen.

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By day nine and ten by mid afternoon I have often now managed to eat 5 portions of fruit or veg! I have even managed to lose 3 and a half pounds without trying! There is still a lot more for me to learn on this incredible journey but it is so wonderful for all the support that bloggers, companies, friends and family have given me so far.

The things I have learnt though go beyond just recipes though – it seems being healthy means no ready meals (which is good as they are foul), my kitchen will be a mess for the rest of the month, my food photography sucks, as does my vlogging, it is not easy to work out when eating out how many portions of fruit or veg you may have had and that apple pie fruit bars are disgusting.

The biggest change though is definitely how I have been shopping – the focus is now all in the fruit and veg aisle with almost 75% of my time in shops spent there compared to the up to 5% whizzing though or picking lemons for lemon pie… The fridge is now always full of various fruit and veg, and we don’t have a very big one, so stocking anything else is now just hard.

It does feel great at the moment though – each day I reach 5 a day and its wonderful to know that I have managed to achieve that! It could be so easy to throw in the towel at any point but they is why I am so glad that I did this as a blog challenge – there is almost something egging you on so that you don’t fail.

I am already a third of the way through this incredible journey and it all seems to be going up from here! I have some wonderful recipes from the likes of Graze, Riverford and various bloggers that I finally feel ready to try (mainly because I have almost used up left overs from other recipes!). I still have a lot of days left though so I am really happy to try out and share any recipes that you may have. Despite still having 21 more days of the challenge left, people are already asking me what I’ll be doing at the end of this month – will I carry this on or will I go back to my bad and unhealthy habits. I think that is something that I will have to discuss closer to the end of the month – it is still too early and I already have plans for what my challenge will be next month.

Now I must say a big shout out to the Innocent smoothie drinks – for the first few days I found it really hard not to reach my daily goal without them. At only 57 calories and counting towards 1 portion of fruit and veg a day it was such an easy way to add something so yummy and even made the task seem less daunting.

Tomorrow I’ll be a a hen do for a wonderful friend but I won’t let the ball drop! I already have plans on how I am going to maintain this even when out and about with others. It does mean though that I will be sharing an incredible interview with Dream Fitness from the lady that runs their smoothie bar all about her personal journey through fitness and food, and how she is using her experiences to help others. I really do recommend that you read it (and if you live near Bognor Regis to go visit them for a smoothie.

So bring on the next ten days!

Have you ever done anything like this before? What is your favourite recipe for fruit or veg? Have you lost weight just from adding extra fruit or veg to your diet? I would love to hear from you so leave a comment below! 


Annabelle

Annabelle has lived in Exeter, Bournemouth and London but now live in Brighton as a freelancer. With a love of baking, sewing and social media, she is now starting her own blog.

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