Fly away with me...

I do a lot of travelling. I fly at least once a month, if not more. So it's a good thing then that I love airports. I find them fascinating for people watching as well as the fact that they are packed full of the excitement and anticipation of all its travelers off on their many adventures. I love wondering where each person is going or guessing their nationality. You can learn a lot by just sitting and observing people. I guess it's a good thing I enjoy it so much as I sit here on my 5 hour wait for my connecting flight! I'm just back from Oktoberfest in Germany with my Husband.

When you travel a lot you begin to realise how nearly every airport is the same. Selling overpriced, cardboard food and packed full of cheap, sugary convenience snacks and drinks. Not to mention the lack of readily available drinking water.

So here are my top tips for travelling and trying to keep healthy.

1) First rule of the scouts is 'be prepared'. Bring food with you! Rice cakes and hard boiled eggs are perfect. They are light and don't take up too much room. They can be eaten with your hands and they keep well for long periods of time at room temperature. I always throw in some full fat real butter in a little tub too. An excellent source of good fat providing it's Irish and from grass fed cows. Here you have a quick and easy meal that has your clean carbohydrates, lean protein and good fats. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and you can bring them anywhere. Not just for airports!

2) Did you know reusable water bottles can go through security? Even if they are over 100mls! I always have a quiet, smug giggle to myself watching all the girls going through security who completely forgot the 100 ml liquid rule (which btw is completely redundant now. Who do I talk to about getting this removed?! Obama?) I always feel bad seeing them squeal with horror as the security guard tries to wrestle their oversized bottle of Clinque eye make up remover from their hands as they clutch it to their chest like it's their first born child! 

Anyway providing the bottle is empty and you show it to the security guards along with your zip locked bag or minis they have no problem letting it through. (I can regularly be spotted in Cork airport guzzeling the end of my water just as I approach the X-ray scanners!). Almost every airport has a water fountain airside, typically located outside the toilets, so once you are through security checks you can refill it and drink away to your heats content.

This will save you paying €3 for 500 ml of water (seriously Ryanair? Gold is cheaper!) and also make you drink more as you can go back and refill it as often as you want. It will also save the environment as you are producing less waste in disposable bottles. 

I've had my reusable bottle for nearly 4 years now and it has been to 4 continents with me! I have only bought a disposable bottle of water maybe twice a year since I got it. That's a massive saving on finances, the environment and as it's always glued to my side it reminds me to drink more.  Win win win. Check out my post here on the importance of hydration and how much you should drink each day.

3) Be selective with your food. Wander the airport, see what alternatives there are, is there a small shop or newsagents that might sell something healthier than the restaurants or on board menus. Ryainair have now marked all their menu items with the dietary requirements. There is still only 1-2 items that are gluten free (1 is their ketchup!) but at least you can make informed decisions when you do travel. They are still miles ahead of Aer Lingus who have 1 Gluten Free item on their menu! Which is friut! Good food will make you feel better when flying. Lots of water will help you feel less tired and groggy. You just need to put in the effort!

Happy travelling my little wanderers! Keep exploring and discovering new lands

Rustic Stone, Cocktails and Rice Cakes!

So myself and my sister just spent a girly weekend in Dublin. We are both clean eating aficionados and could be seen leaving the Cork border with the car stocked with easy, on the road, clean eating snacks. We had had rice cakes, eggs, cooked turkey, spinach omelettes and some hard sheep's cheese. Anyone who knows me knows I bring food everywhere I go. It's the only way to ensure you've a supply of healthy, fresh foods. My tupperware tower is ever growing! My sister has just lost over 3 stone through sheer hard work of eating clean and training dirty (I know, sorry, there is no magic pill, it actually does take hard work!)so it's handy we are on the same page.

Travelling while trying to eat clean can be difficult and preparation is key. On the flip side I'm a big advocate of not missing out on the fun just for the sake of trying to be strict with your diet. Just chose carefully when you want to break away and decide if you think you've worked hard enough before hand to really deserve it. We enjoyed many a wonderful cocktails in Opium Restaurant, Dublin with our friends on Saturday night celebrating (wait for it) 2 recent engagements, an upcoming wedding, a birthday, a new job, an upcoming move of country and an unsuccessful wedding dress shopping day! Phew. We had passionfruit and honey prosecco (drool!), a fresh ginger, orange and schnapps concoction and my personal favourite basil, cucumber and Hendrick's Gin swirl (they are all healthy right?!). We paid the price on Sunday but a treat once in a while is well deserved. (Watch out for an upcoming post on 'cheat meals and treats' and when you should have them.)

Anyway, back to my point! As we we trawled Dublin shopping and our legs got weary it was time to eat. We were both prepared to spend the next few minutes scanning menus and signs looking for somewhere even remotely healthy to eat. As we both only eat gluten free my first instinct is to look to the bottom of the menu to the legend as most restaurants these days mark what is gluten free along with vegetarian. Then I scan upwards to see what is suitable for me. We passed a few restaurants but noting seemed to appeal to us. 

The head chef and creator of Rustic Stone, Dylan Mc Grath

And then, there she was, like a shining beacon across the road we saw Rustic Stone. The name itself made me think at least they would have a nice, hearty salad or meat board we could tuck into. Imagine our delight as we scanned the menu when we realised every single dish is marked clearly with the nutritional details. I think we may have hugged and high fived each other we were so excited. This would mean we wouldn't have to be those 'difficult' customers who quizzed the server if foods contained certain elements.

On the menu they have marked everything with symbols if it is:

Gluten Free

Wheat Free

Lactose Free

Diary Free

Sugar Free

Nut Free

Super Food

Vegetarian

I'm not joking. We were besides ourselves. Tasty, nice restaurant food and we would be fully informed on what it contained. You'd think when you are paying money in a restaurant you'd know what you are paying for but often you are totally in the dark. This was heaven.

The waiter also handed us a Raw menu where everything on it is raw (dudh!) and even this made us salivate. Some dishes are even marked with little helpful pieces of information on the food items contained in the dish. Did you know mustard contains lots of antioxidants and is good for your skin? It was like someone crawled inside my head and made a restaurant from my dreams. Maybe we were delirious with hunger but I really couldn't fault the place!

Yes I was 'that girl' that took a picture of the food before she ate it. I got a wonderful eye roll from the waiter!

After much discussion we both ordered the Mightly Mustard Salad with a side of Polenta chips and Potato and Pesto chips to share. Check out their menu here for all the amazing dishes we wished we had tried! 

Typically, we also checked the dessert menu before even ordering our main meal and it was all I could think about as we ate our food. We both got the Chocolate Mousse with Chocolate Soup and guess what...The whole dessert is sugar free! It sure tasted good. We rolled out of there on a superfood, satisfied, soupy high!

You have no idea the discipline this took to take a picture instead of lifting the bowl to my face to drink in the chocolatey goodness!

Not only was all this food amazingly tasty it was nutritious, well informed and the service was excellent. People often think healthy food is bland and this just proves it is absolutely not.

From what I gather the restaurant is known for it's hot stone style meats which you cook yourself at your table, they have an extensive wine and cocktail list and Monday nights have half price cocktails. Just another reason to visit!

I am aware I sound like a blubbering idiot who loves every restaurant I go to but actually I'm quite the opposite. Having worked in restaurants growing up I'm highly critical and service is often one of my gripes. Just ask my friends about the Green Tea incident at brunch ("there wasn't even a string on the tea bag!")But the Rustic Stone staff were a nice mix of attentive without fussing.

I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone with an interest in healthy eating and also to anyone who likes delicious food. So basically everyone. Almost 90% of the menu was 'clean' which is so refreshing considering usually when I eat out there is 1 or maybe 2 choices available,often with me having to make modifications.

The chef is Dylan Mc Grath and as you can see here he has a passion for nutrition and has been awarded a Michelin Star. I wonder is he single...?

You can check them out on Twitter and Facebook here.