Crazy Sexy Diet adventures, roasted sweet potato cubes recipe

If there is one woman who is responsible in a large part for my huge interest (er, obsession?) in eating healthy food and living a healthy and happy life, it's Kris Carr. If you're American, or tuned into American blogs, you'll have heard of her before - but she's not as well known in Europe, so for those of you like myself who came to her story late: Kris Carr is an American former actress and dancer who was diagnosed with inoperable stage IV cancer around eight years ago.

Talk about a shocking diagnosis...her world changed in an instant and she decided that to take control over her situation and her canSer (as she spells it), she had to change what she ate, what she drank and what she thought. So she assembled a team around her - doctors, oncologists, nutritionists, yogis and more - and said bye-bye to the Standard American Diet and hello to a vegan, high-raw diet crammed with fresh organic juices and embraced a life of positivity and power. Deciding that 'life is too sweet to be bitter', she grabbed her camera and made a film about her experiences along the way. Called Crazy Sexy Cancer, it introduced others to her lifestyle and life approach and spawned two books and a website. Eight years on, she's living well - her cancer has not advanced and she says she's in great health.

It was through her website, Crazy Sexy Life, that I first heard of Kris Carr, around two years ago. I am very fortunate in that I have never had cancer but like everyone I know, I have had family members and friends diagnosed with various forms of the disease. So my interest in Crazy Sexy Life was optimising my health and hopefully reducing my chance of getting cancer. You don't have to be a veggie to benefit from the tips on this site - it's a great place to visit if you want to check out some recipes for veggie food or to read some thought-provoking articles.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, Kris has just released her third book - and her first that's aimed at a broad market. It's called The Crazy Sexy Diet and just reached No 1 on the Amazon list, which is a pretty amazing feat. My friend Jo bought me a copy for Christmas (and one for herself too!) and in the past week I've been trying to follow the Crazy Sexy Cleanse, by adding more raw juices and smoothies to my diet, keeping very low to no gluten, low to no sugar and lots of healthy foods. I'm not doing it to lose weight but to get me back into the swing of cooking healthy food and eating more vegetables after the Christmas break.

Crazy Sexy Diet tells you all about how Kris eats. And it's funny - to me a few years ago this would have seemed impossible. No meat, no chicken, no dairy, no (or low) gluten, no (or low) white sugar, fresh green juices, gluten-free grains like quinoa, lots of beans and raw vegetables. Back when I was in university, I lived on a diet of Special K for breakfast, chips for lunch (I didn't eat bread for a year back then and there was nothing on campus to eat but chips that didn't have bread or cheese with it), Lucozade to drink and a few Dairy Milk bars in between. Not to mention all the other crap I ate too. I'd say there were weeks that a vegetable didn't pass my lips! But because I was slim I thought I was fine...despite having IBS and later discovering I had extremely high cholesterol.

I probably wasn't any different to most people out there when it came to food, especially comfort eating. And it took years for me to change - and I'm still changing. I'm still finding out about healthy foods and how to prepare them, still getting rid of unhealthy foods out of my diet, or at least reducing how often I eat them...but I'm conscious too that it's important to not be dogmatic about it. While I no longer eat Dairy Milks, I couldn't live without high-quality dark chocolate; and I do love Kettle chips, and probably eat them more than I should. It's that 80/20 thing...having treats (like vegan cupcakes) but eating well the vast majority of the time.

But as I really and truly believe you are what you eat, and that eating this way has brought my cholesterol down to normal, keep IBS at bay, my weight stable and helps me feeling in good shape, I know this is not just a temporary thing.

So back to the cleanse.What have I been eating?


Well, fresh juices and smoothies at home, and some lovely lunches...homemade nutty granola, Nakd bars, fruit, a soy yogurt here or there (not included in the official cleanse) and, well, when my friend Kim sent me a bar of dark chocolate as a pick-me-up...it would've been rude to not sample some!

It can be hard to get a quick healthy meal together so one thing I've found really handy this week is Dee's Wholefoods burgers. These Omega burgers are jam-packed with vegetables, gluten-free grains and hemp seeds, and I've eaten about four this week already...!

On Tuesday I had these with half a small avocado, homemade salsa, Irish gem lettuce and sweet potato cubes.

These cubes are so easy.

Sweet Potato Cubes
Serves 2

You just need:
1 Sweet Potato
1tsp - 2tsp coconut oil (or olive oil)
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

If not using organic sweet potato, peel then cut into cubes (if organic you can scrub and leave the skin on).
Place 1tsp of coconut oil into a deep baking pan and place into the oven while pre-heating to about 200degrees (celsius).
Take out the pan after a few minutes - the oil will have melted, so add the sweet potato and toss to ensure it's covered.
Then sprinkle on your spices and toss again to ensure they're all coated. Dot with the remaining coconut oil if you wish.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges have begun to brown. Delish!

The following day, I had them with polenta, greens and sprouts - and lashings of sundried tomato pesto. This pesto is expensive but so utterly delicious!

Do you find the taste of sprouted beans a bit too intense? I add a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar - it sweetens them right up!

I think what this shows is that healthy eating doesn't have to be boring, or take ages, or full of bland foods. It is so easy and fun to eat this way. I wouldn't go back to the Special K and Dairy Milks for anything.

What have you been eating this week?