Fitness and Healthy Eating with Marks & Spencers

Y’all know I love a bit of M&S around here. I am not lying when I say it is one of my aims in life to be able to live off M&S entirely. A) Because their food and home range are fab B) because I’d be hella rich by that point. After working with them a few times, I got to chatting about my half marathon (thank God that’s over!) and they kindly sent me some workout gear and healthy living food to try. As a blogger, I know receiving things off brands can be seen as a grey area sometimes and after working with M&S so many times, I’m taking a step back for a bit because I only post a few times a week and I feel like my blog was slowly becoming an M&S fan club more than anything. I will still be harbouring my love for them indefinitely though, even if you don’t see as much of them here.

We all know I’m a M&S food fan, but I’ve never tried their healthy range. The website (here) has actually laods of information on there, including a healthy eating menu planner, healthy eating for kids, and even an email for their nutritionist if you need any questions answered among others. Good for the busy women (and men!) who don’t have time to research it all themselves. The health ranges include “Balanced for you”, “Guilt free snacking”, “Active health”and “Count on us”. I was sent something from each, except Count On Us. The ranges have been developed with experts to ensure maximum nutrition, maximum taste, minimal empty calories and that kind of thing. The Balanced For You range has high protein and healthy carbs and lower calories, the Guilt Free Snacking range are al under 150 calories, and the Active Health range all have loads of vitamins and minerals that support the immune system. But obviously what you all want to know is, do they taste good?

In short, yes. Yes they do. I was sent some of their snacks, some soup, a ready meal and some energy juice things. I won’t lie to you, I did not have the healthy snacks at appropriate snack times like I was meant to. I came home, hungry from the gym, tried the mint crunch bar* and loved it so much I the other two within the space of around 10 minutes. So yes, very delicious but advisable to buy as and when you need one because calories add up when you eat them at once. Shock horror! The popcorn* is nice, but in all honesty I don’t think it is as nice as Metcalfe’s or Propercorn, it just needs a tad more flavour for me. If I had my way I’d have crunchy, sugar coated popcorn though so personal tastes!

My favourite of everything I was sent was the super sweet potato and black bean soup*. Smooth soup bores me (I basically only have it when I fancy mounds of bread and butter) so having something as wonderfully chunky as this was a nice change. It had the texture and taste of chilli, without the meat or calories, and was filling enough to have half with some bread and save the rest for later. It’s got a kick, but I wouldn’t class it as spicy. The roasted butternut squash and mushroom bake* was also really nice, and unlike most ready meals you could taste the seasoning and spices and herbs and everything. The portion size was a little small so I paired it with salad and vegetables, but I think it would go amazingly with pasta too. The active health juice boosters* were a nice little pick me up in the morning before the gym, but I probably wouldn’t buy them again because I eat healthy enough to not need the extra boost.

I was also sent some gym wear which I was going to take a picture of me in but to be completely honest with you, I’m harbouring a complete Easter chocolate baby and the thought of posing in tight gym wear makes me want to vomit a bit. Instead, here is my favourite picks from the sports range on the M&S website. They do pretty sports bras in bigger boob sizes! Unfortunately, and I say this sincerely, the back size only goes down to 32. PLEASE M&S if you read this, there are some of who who have a smaller back size and bigger boobs and we would looooove your sports bras to reflect this. Quality wise, the top and leggings I was sent (the yellow vest and grey leggings here) are really comfortable, true to size and breathable. As in, I can work out and not get clogged up by body heat and sweat. Phew. I’ve binned my Karrimor ones (which i bought on the cheap from Sprots Direct) as they really do not match up in quality or comfort.