You probably know by now that over the last year I’ve tried to improve my diet and exercise and generally live a healthier lifestyle. This has included a range of changes but at the heart of it I’m just generally being more conscious about what I put in my body and trying to eat more nutritious foods and a balanced diet. I try and take vitamins and supplements to aid in this but I don’t always remember and despite being immeasurably healthier than I was this time last year I still get tired and rundown due to generally being a bit of a busy bee and having a constantly evolving to-do-list.
I was asked just after Christmas (which seems like an age ago) if I wanted to try ‘Alibi’ – a new ‘Pretox’ drink. I was initially very unsure – first thinking it was going to be a detox where you only drank their drinks and nothing else, and then thinking it was some kind of whizzy energy drink. Interestingly it’s actually neither of these things and has zero caffeine and nothing artificial. What it does have is a blend of 19 essential vitamins, minerals and natural herbal extracts. I really liked the idea of a ‘grab and go’ health boost and at the time I had the mega post-Christmas weight blues and wanted to get back on track with my health after two weeks of stuffing myself with turkey and Chocolate Oranges.
I was pleasantly surprised by the taste, they taste like a fruity fizzy drink – but not too sugary or full on in flavour. I started taking one to work with me every day and it really did make me feel more refreshed and awake in the afternoon after a few days of taking them.
Once I got back into the swing of things with my diet and fitness routine I didn’t feel as much of a need for them so I kept a few back in case I went through another period of feeling rundown and under the weather. And boy did that come last week, as you may have seen from my post about the stress and pressure of blogging. I felt exhausted, stressed and long work days and other commitments meant no opportunity to go to the supermarket and so McDonalds and other unhelpful food choices made an appearance. If I hadn’t had any left I still definitely would have bought a few Alibi’s to keep me going and make sure I was putting some good things in my body alongside the bad.
Alibi kindly also gave me £40 to put towards an activity or a treat when I felt like I had more energy because of their drinks. I have been holding it back waiting for the right opportunity and with last week being a bit of a tough week, plus it coinciding with my turn to choose something for date night, I decided to treat Tom and I to dinner. Tom was really supportive in my stressful week even though it was a difficult week for him too and we tend to keep each other buoyed up so I thought we deserved a bit of a treat. It always sounds a bit stingy but I’m a massive fan of voucher websites so I treated us to one for two drinks, two appetisers and two main meals at Café Shore, a lovely waterside restaurant at Sandbanks in Poole. The voucher cost £35 so I still had money left to treat Tom to a beer!
Tom had potted Ham Hock with a black pudding scotch egg, picalilli and melba toast to start…
I had tempura prawns with sweet chilli dip….
I had a fillet steak for my main, with peppercorn sauce…
… and rosemary and sea salt chips…
I forgot to take a photo of Tom’s main course but he had Dover Sole, yum.
On top of these we also had berry purée Proseccos, all sat by the window looking out at the harbour. Beautiful. It was such a perfect evening and a real highlight to an otherwise tough week. Thankyou to Alibi for the kind gift, and for giving me the boost I needed last week and after Christmas.