Skip to main content
0
Tag

benefits

Apr 17
Love0

Coconut Protein Pancakes

By Nutrition

When I was real young, me and my family went on a holiday to Marius. I don’t really remember that much about the trip. On our first day, my sister (who was about 4 at the time) managed to swim out of depth in the resort pool. My poor mum had to dive in, fully clothed to rescue her. A few days later we went to play (maybe not play) with the giant tortois which were on the beach. While feeding the a tortois coconut, Hannah managed to stick her finger in its mouth, clearly the tortuous didn’t know the difference between finger and coconut and munched down on poor Han’s hand. I have never heard a scream quite so loud in my life.

Despite Hannah’s traumatic experience with coconut. She is now a coconut lover, and managed to create this fantastic coconut protein pancake recipe which I am absolutely obsessed with!

LOVE YOU HAN!

Coconut is a definite ‘superfood‘.. The word superfood is kind of thrown around with no meaning now. But if your going to have any superfoods in your life. Make it coconut

Coconut oil is a saturated fat. It is made of medium chain fatty acids, which are digested and go straight to the liver to be used as energy

Eating medium chain fatty acids can help increase the metabolism, causing the body to burn more calories throughout the day, resulting in weight loss!

People who have coconut oil in their diet, have been said to have a smaller appetite. This could be due to the fact that it is an awesome supply of fuel for the body which reduces hunger.

Coconut oil is high in good cholesterol (HDL), which helps to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body. This means means a healthier heart and reduced chance of heart disease.

Coconut oil can help fight obesity. The fat which builds up around the belly is the worst kind of fat. It clogs the organs and significantly increases chances of ill health and disease. A number of studies have been done to prove adding coconut oil to the diet can help to reduce fat which builds up around the abdomen. 1 2

So Its the weekend. Make these amazing pancakes and feel brilliant while you melt away that belly fat!

Coconut Protein Pancakes

Pancake Ingredients:

30g coconut flour

25g vanilla whey protein powder (I use sweetened with stevia, natural)

1/4tsp xantham gum

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g coconut yogurt (can sub with greek yogurt)

2x egg whites

50ml coconut milk (can sub with water)

(1 tbsp stevia optional)

ghee or coconut oil for the pan 🙂

Topping Ingredients:

25g vanilla whey protein powder (I use sweetened with stevia, natural)

50g coconut yogurt

10g desiccated coconut

Directions:

In a mixing bowl combine all pancake ingredients other than the coconut milk. Mix until combined and slowly add the coconut milk until a REALLY thick paste (you might not need all of it). Heat a good quality, non stick pan on the hob and add a little coconut oil or ghee for frying the pancakes. Turn the heat to super low. Using a 1/4 cup size scoop, add the pancake mix to the pan in small blobs (yes they should be really thick little blobs). Allow the pancakes to cook on for a few minutes checking regularly so they don’t burn. Flip the pancakes and cook for a few minutes on the other side.

For the topping mix the protein and the yogurt together and pour over the pancakes. Top with the desiccated coconut and enjoy

Notes:

I LOVE cashew butter so also added melted cashew butter here which was AMAZING!

Apr 12
Love0

Mint Chocolate Protein Smoothie

By Nutrition

A lot of people don’t understand the importance of protein in the diet, or understand the health benefits of having a high protein diet to supplement training. Protein is an ESSENTIAL nutrient for the body, made up of branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s), responsible for growth and repair of muscle.

Protein is super filling so having a high protein diet will allow you to reduce calories without constantly feeling hungry

Protein has a high thermic effect which means it takes a lot of energy to digest in the stomach. This means you burn more calories actually digesting the protein you eat, than you do carbs or fat 🙂

Research has proven that a high protein diet can increase bone density and prevent bone diseases.

Not only is protein responsible for growth and development, it also prevents muscle breakdown when on a reduced calorie diet. BCAA’s prevent the muscle breakdown for fuel allowing the body to burn body fat. This results in fat loss from FAT instead of just weight loss from MUSCLE AND FAT!

Many of my clients first starting out really struggle with their protein intake. They struggle to actually include the amount of protein they need in their diets to gain some lean muscle mass while dropping body fat. Chomping down chicken breasts all day can become a little boring, which is why I love using protein powder to make super food shakes. They are so yummy and filling and a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Bellow is a super high protein recipe which is gluten free, virtually fat free, and can be made dairy free. It contains a number of health benefits from the added raw cacao and sprulina, which are both powerful antioxidants and supply the body with essential nutrients.

Mint Chocolate Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 50g fat free Greek OR coconut yogurt
  • 30g natural vanilla protein powder
  • 150ml water
  • 1/4 tsp xantham gum
  • 10 ice cubes
  • 1 tbsp  raw cacao
  • 2 tbsp stevia (more or less to taste)
  • 5 drops peppermint extract
  • 1/2 tsp spirulina

Directions:

Add the yogurt, protein powder, water, xantham gum and the ice to a high speed blender and blend into a thick shake consistency. Remove half the mixture from the blender and add 1 tbsp stevia, peppermint extract and spirulina to the blender. Re blend this half of the mixture until all smoothly mixed. Pour this half of the mixture into a glass and put the other half of the mixture back into the blender. Now add cacao and stevia to this half of the mix and blend until combined. Carefully spoon the chocolate mixture over the mint layer of smoothie into the glass…. Tadddddahhh!! Beautiful high protein minty chocolate goodness.

Notes:

I can recommend the protein from The Protein Works called Naked Whey Protein 80. It is sweetened with stevia meaning its not full of artificial RUBBISH…. http://www.theproteinworks.com/referral-program/MTgwMzAzajJ0/

Top with nuts, seeds, bee pollen or which ever super foods you wish for added vital minerals and vitamins

Mar 31
Love0

The Importance of Yoga for Gym Junkies!

By News

I have to admit. Yoga use to be a purely physical activity for me to increase flexibility and core strength. I didn’t understand any of the other stuff. During the Pranayama breathing I would usually be looking around the room checking out other girls gym gear, while in Savasana I was asleep or thinking about food. And god! The chanting!!!! I had no time for that crap. I just wanted to get bendy.

I thought the yogic lifestyle was some crazy religion! I didn’t understand the mental benefits of yoga and had zero appreciation for any of it. However, I was totally noticing a change in my head space. Even though I wasn’t actually concentrating through the majority of the classes. I was becoming much less stressed with work, and finding myself feeling more content with life in general! Not only that I was getting stronger in the gym. My range of movement was increasing massively and I wasn’t getting so sore post workout.

I wanted to learn more about yoga. I wanted to find appreciation for the other elements of yoga not just the physical postures, and learn how it can benefit my life!

When arriving in India I was in for a shock. On my first day a fire ceremony was organised to welcome the new students to the course. This consisted of a lot of chanting, prayers and singing around a fire. Coconuts were burnt to represent heads to release negative energy and we were called up one by one to throw rice and ghee on the fire. I sat in shock thinking ‘what the hell is this crazy cult I have come into…’.

After a few days I totally settled in and learnt to embrace this new lifestyle. Meditation was always a struggle though. It was scheduled just before breakfast every morning. By this time you have been up since 6am, done 2 hours of yoga and 30 minutes of pranayama. I was fucking starving. Meditation for me consisted of day dreams about crazy breakfast. Bacon pancake stacks and PROATS!!  This did improve over time and I think I actually managed to have no thoughts (even if it was for about 30 seconds at a time)

After about 6 weeks I started noticing a real difference in myself. I was so calm. And not only that I was getting super bendy. Totally seeing a real improvement in body internally and externally. My core strength was insane!! My muscle definition was great (even though I was only doing resistance band and sand bag weight training) I was totally shocked with my progress.

From 9 weeks of yoga training in Patnem my whole outlook of health, fitness and training has changed. I have learnt the absolute importance of flexibility and range of movement for optimum health and function of the body. Not only that I have learnt that everyone needs to concur their mind before any real changes can happen in the body. If you HATE your body and drag yourself to the gym to train like it’s a punishment. This will not work! If you have zero confidence and worry too much about what other people think of you. You will spend your whole life trying to look how everyone else wants you to look.

We must learn that everything is impermanent and we should not find happiness externally in numbers or achievements because the same thing which causes you happiness one day will cause you sadness the next. I used to be the worst for it.. ‘When I can squat 80kg I will be happy’…. Then when I squatted 80kg it was still not good enough. I was looking for the next best thing. ‘When I lose 3kgs I will be happy’. Then I when I lost 3kg I was still not happy. This was still not good enough… ‘when I have those Nike’s I will be happy’.. Got those Nike’s, appreciated them for about 3 days and now they are muddy. The key point to remember is you can’t be happy with anything in the WORLD until you’re happy with yourself 🙂

So why should gym junkies practice yoga, on a regular basis to supplement their training??

  1. It improves range of movement meaning you can go deeper in your squats and lower in your deadlifts.
  2. Yoga increases core strength which supports big lifting exercises and gives you killer abs!
  3. It calms and balances the nervous system which is often put under stress or damaged with heavy lifting.
  4. It improves circulation helping your muscles to be fueled correctly for recovery and GROWTH.
  5. Yoga improves body awareness and mind/body connection, boosting self-esteem.
  6. Yoga increases the ability to be in the present moment and concentrate, which gives you insane focus during workouts in the gym as well as on the mat!
  7. Through practicing yoga you can achieve a calm mind and reduced stress. This can help with optimum body function, resulting in muscle gains and fat loss, due to a reduction of the hormone called cortisol in our bodies.
  8. Yoga decreases body fat.
  9. It teaches you funky arm balances and inversions which are always fun.
  10. It puts you in a much happier and content state of mind allowing you to enjoy life to the fullest!!!

Happy Bending 🙂

Close Menu