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White Chocolate Protein Coconut Bars

By News

I don’t like chocolate. I LOVE IT! It is the hardest food for me to stay clear of in my diet. I’m obsessed!

If you look on an ingredients list of your average chocolate bar, there are tones of ingredients which are pure chemical shit and are so awful for your body. Chemically produced and unnatural ingredients are alien to your body and cause inflammation and stress to the system while putting your body in an acidic state. That’s why for general internal and external health, it is so important for us to fuel our bodies with healthy, natural foods.

Raw cacao is one of the best beauty foods. It is packed with anti oxidants and has contains powerful phytochemicals which prevent winkle formation. Raw cacao helps to prevent the skin for UV damage, while boosting skin hydration and reducing redness. It helps with circulation to increase blood flow, nutrients and oxygen supply to the skin. Raw cacao is one of the best natural magnesium containing foods to add to your diet to help calm the central nervous system and regulate heart rate which helps with recovery after a hard training session :D. Raw cacao contains the beauty mineral sulfur which is essential for strong hair and nails and beautiful skin. It is also a feel-good food which raises serotonin and endorphins in the brain which increases happiness and libido.

So if you want healthy hair, beautiful skin, strong nails and good sex then get on the raw cacao 😀

White Chocolate Protein Coconut Bars

serves 12

Ingredients:

For the white chocolate coconut center:

  • 100g raw cacao butter
  • 80g un-sweetned desiccated coconut
  • 50g vanilla casein
  • 10 drops of coconut extract

For the dark chocolate coating:

  • 100g raw cacao butter
  • 50g raw cacao powder
  • 30g vanilla or chocolate casein

Directions:

Melt the raw cacao butter in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water over heat. While you wait for the cacao butter to melt, combine the coconut, coconut extract, and casein in a big bowl. When the raw cacao butter is melted, add to the other ingredients and stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour the mixture into bar shaped silicon molds (or if you don’t have the molds use a shallow, square/rectangle glass dish) and place into the freezer to harden.

Melt the raw cacao cutter in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water over heat. While you wait for the cacao butter to melt, combine the raw cacao powder and the casein in a bowl. When the raw cacao butter has melted, mix it into the raw cacao powder and casein mix. Keep stirring until you reach a smooth consistency. Once the coconut white chocolate has hardened, remove from the silicon molds or the glass dish and cut to the size you want each bar. Place each bar individually into the dark chocolate coating making sure it is completely covered then place on a tray covered with baking paper or tin foil. Once each bar is completely coated with chocolate, place back into the freezer until the chocolate layer has hardened. Once the outer chocolate has hardened. Remove the bars from the freezer and do a second coat of chocolate around each bar with the remaining dark chocolate mixture (if you need to reheat the chocolate mix, put it in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water until it has melted again). Place the bars back into the freezer until the final coat has hardened. Any left over chocolate can be drizzled over the top for decoration. Best kept in the freezer in a container.

Notes:

While the outer layer of chocolate is still soft, try adding other super foods for decoration. Try bee pollen, gojji berries or pumpkin seeds 😀

 

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

Chocolate Beetroot Smoothie

By Nutrition

Vitamin D is seriously lacking in my system right now.. I miss the sun!! A lot of people often ask me about my supplementation with my training. When participating in intense exercise (weights or cardio).. The body is at risk of free radical damage. Antioxidants found in foods you eat will fight this free radical damage. A lot of people cannot physically pack enough superfood into their daily diets to get enough antioxidants in their systems. This is where supplements come in handy…

My Top 3

1. Spirulina

If your a veggie hater or purely need to up your intake of minerals and vitamins then spirulina is great! It will contain all the nutrients your regular multi vitamin will have along with very high iron and B-12 content (found in meats) so great for vegetarians. It also high in protein and contains essential amino acids which makes it a great addition to your diet when pregnant or when trying to increase immune system.

2. Wheatgrass powder

The powder form is great but if you can juice your own fresh thats the best!! It has twice the amount of vitamin A than carrots. Higher in vitamin C than oranges. It has all kinds of vitamin B, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus…. and the list goes on. Similar to spirulina it contains all essential amino acids. It helps detox the liver and cleanse.

3. Omega-3

Unless your eating fatty fish (salmon) every day then you need this in your life!!..Omega-3 can help improve cardiovascular health and control diseases which involve chronic inflammation such as atherosclerosis. It can help mental disorders like Alzheimer’s and depression. It improves brain function, improving intelligence and preventing memory loss. Some studies show it helps with fat loss in combination with exercise. I make sure I have 2g EPA and 1.5g DHA.. find this by looking at the back of your fish oil supplement.

 

Todays recipe is packed with superfoods and protein to aid muscle growth and increase metabolism to improve fat loss efficiency. Real easy to make and a great post workout meal!

Chocolate Beetroot Smoothie

Ingredients:

serves 1

  • 1 roasted beetroot
  • 1 scoop natural vanilla protein powder
  • 1/4 tsp xatham gum
  • 1 tsp maca powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp raw cacao powder
  • 1 tsp stevia (to taste)
  • 200ml almond milk (more or less depending how thick you like it)
  • 5-10 ice cubes

Direction:

Put all the ingredients into a high speed blender and wizz up. Add more or less almond milk depending how thick you like it.

Note: add grated dark chocolate curls for decoration

 

Raw Salted Caramel Slice

By Nutrition

I must say.. England has really hit me hard. Rain. Wind. Cold…. Rain again. The weather is fucking shocking here. When the weather is shit, All I want to do is get my bake on. I have created so many wonderful treats in my 2 days since returning home. My kitchen in England is so well equipped by my wonderful mother with the best equipment and super foods, so I have gone rather crazy in the kitchen. 

My 3 months traveling have been the best 3 months of my life. Leaving Melbourne in September got me panicked about not having gym access when ever I wanted. And sometimes possibly not having a real choice of the food I had to eat.. (with 1 frying pan and a temperamental stove). Although to my surprise, we managed to fill the whole trip with wholesome healthy superfoody goodness and used the most bazaar equipment for exercise (please see my instagram for photos).

With January just around the corner I wanted to talk a little about new years goals. Goal setting in your fitness journey are essential for success. First thing i’m going to hit you with is SMART. Now your all like ‘fuck off Charlie thats what my school teacher nagged on about. BUT ITS TRUE! So many people come to me and say ‘make me skinny‘… By what date? How much weight do you want to loose? Is that realistic?… If you set that goal for when January comes around. You will fail. Also.. NEVER set your goal to get skinny. Skinny is not cool. And you won’t get skinny. You want to get fit and healthy and have a strong toned bosssss body!

Specific

‘I want to loose 8kgs of weight from fat and tone my shoulders to improve posture,while building muscle on my butt to give me a sexy as hour-glass figure’ THATS MORE LIKE IT.

Decide a plan which is specific and gives you focus to your training. This can help someone like my self (if you have a personal trainer) make you a specific, unique fitness and nutrition plan to help reach your goal.

Measurable

Put a number on it!! Take bodily measurements and look how many centimeters you want to loose from your waist. Look into how strong you are in a particular area, e.g. Squats. and increase the amount you can lift by 20kgs. Body weight goals are not so great as you may put on a heap of muscle, but they can be used for a guide.

Achievable

‘I want to loose 10kgs in a week’….Sorry NO! That ain’t gonna happen. Firstly if you loose weight mega quick. You will pile it all back on.. FACT. Slow and steady wins the race…. Check back in my posts on Metabolic Damage!!

Relevant

Okay this ones a little obvious. Your not going to set a goal of how many burgers your can eat in 1 hour are you!!

Time

If you have an event coming up. definitely make this event your goal. If your wedding is in 10 months. Make this the long term goal. Your must also set short term goals to hit on the way to keep your fitness journey super high of motivation. So often people will say….’Fuck it. Its 8 months till I have to put that bikini on. One large pizza won’t hurt’. If you set goals to achieve in 1 months time. This won’t happen!

 

Once these goals are set. Get your ass in the gym. Get your apron on in the kitchen and smash those goals.. I have great January deals coming up for online and personal programmes to help you hit those goals. Contact me for more details 🙂

In the mean while. Enjoy these taste raw goodies…

Raw Salted Caramel Slice

serves 12

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

3tbsp desicated coconut

2tbsp walnuts

1tbsp powdered stevia

1.5 tbsp powdered stevia

1tbsp melted coconut oil

Caramel Layer

1 cup cashews

1 cup pitted dates

(4-7 tbsp hot water)

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1/2tsp salt

Chocolate 

6tbsp melted coconut oil

3 heaped tbsp raw cacao

3tbsp maple syrup

2 drops of vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Put the dates and the cashews into soak in some warm water and leave to one side.

Put all bottom layer ingredients in a blender and wizz up for around 3 minutes until all ingredients are combined. (you may have to scrape down the sides a few times).. Get your self a shallow dish. Press the bottom layer evenly into the bottom of the dish and place to one side.

Drain the cashews and dates and place in the blender with the vanilla and salt. Blend until a smooth consistency is reached (you may have to add the hot water while blending to get a less thick caramel).. Once the caramel is smooth and delicious. Pour over the first layer in the dish and leave to one side.

To make the chocolate. Combine the melted coconut oil, cacao, maple syrup and vanilla in a bowl and stir until combined. Pour over the caramel layer and place the dish into the freezer

If you are patient enough… Wait over night then take out and cut into squares. Store in the fridge 🙂

 

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

By Nutrition

So I took the morning off work today as i’m feeling sore as anything. I have been having Bowen Therapy which is amazing but makes you achy and tired the next day. Bowen is a non-manipulative, non-invasive, holistic massage treatment and soft tissue remedial therapy to facilitate healing of the whole body. Its almost like trigger point therapy. The muscle fascia is rolled over the muscle in certain areas to trigger the bodies natural healing process. This means any injuries or bad alignment kind of fix them selves…. What am I saying!!!  I have no idea about the science behind it but let me tell you its bloody fantastic! Why?! Well my mum had awful back problems for months due to a long term coccyx injury from when she was pregnant with me (sorry mum). She has seen osteopaths, physiotherapists, chiropractors, and all sorts of therapists for years and no one has been able to fix it. She then got recommended Bowen therapy when she was at absolute rock bottom… (she could barely walk at this stage). Anyway… This Bowen therapist has totally realigned her whole body and she is able to run again, go to the gym and go rowing again with absolutely no pain! WOO 🙂 I always get minor lower back pain and a sore knee which I generally ignore, so I thought I would make an appointment to see if this could be fixed. Turns out my right leg was shorter than my left due to my pelvis being out of line. My hamstrings were literally frozen trying to compensate for this which was arching my lower back causing pain. My right shoulder was also totally out of line which pulled my upper back muscles and caused my right pec to be inflamed! Shit.. And I was ignoring this for so long! Two sessions in and my legs are the same length 🙂 My shoulder is back inline and my lower back pain has gone!!! What I want to get onto is that just because your fit and healthy it doesn’t mean everything is always working how it should be. Having minor imbalances in the body can cause major injuries later on in life. It can effect form for exercises in the gym and cause other inuries where muscles try to compensate for imbalances. For example.. A bad squat form may be due to a pelvic tilt and tight hamstrings which can cause the glutes to not activate and make major muscle imbalances. This will also cause pain in the knees and can lead to extreme pain later on in life.. LOOK AFTER YOUR BODY!! I totally recommend this type of therapy to anyone who does weights training. It is so important to take care of your body. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be in a wheel chair at the age of 40 with fucked knees and a bad back! We all bust our asses off in the gym to be ‘healthy’ and ‘fit’ while we ignore minor niggles and pain. You only get one body.. Don’t ruin it. Don’t buy that new dress.. get some bowen therapy. Invest in your health, it will last much longer than clothes or handbags 🙂

Speaking of being healthy and fit.. I have an ammmmmazing new recipe for you beauties. We DO NOT want to fill our bodies with crap which is why I try to healthify  high calorie, high sugar, high saturated fat goodies… because no body has time for that shit!!

So for those of you who read my posts. I am OBSESSED with peanut butter.. and chocolate. As a matter of fact, its in most of my recipes! Another thing I LOVVVE is cheese cake mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…. So here we have peanut butter, chocolate cheese cake! Its gluten free and by omitting the cheese cake topping, it will no longer be cheese cake 🙁 but it will be dairy free. WOOO

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

makes 10

  • 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 50g gluten free oats
  • 100g mashed sweet potato
  • 40g raw cacao powder
  • 100g peanut butter
  • 50g honey
  • 50g raw sugar
  • 10 drops of caramel stevia
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 50ml almond milk

Topping: (optional)

  • 150g cottage cheese
  • 50g raw sugar
  • 50g peanut butter
  • 1 scoop vanilla whey

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees. Place all cake ingredients into a blender and mix until a smooth consistency is reached. Pour the mix into a baking tray and make the topping. For the topping add all ingredients to a bowl and mix/blend together until smooth consistency is reached. Blob the mix over the cake mix and carefully swirl into the cake mix so it is partially combined. Put in the oven and bake for 50 minutes (its a long time, but its worth it) They should be a little gooey when you remove. Allow the cheesecake to cool and cut into slices.

Note:

To add some texture to this recipe, try mixing walnuts through the cake mixture after blending 🙂

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Sweet Potato Protein Brownies

By Nutrition

Hellllll.. I’m going to get straight too it and say these are the best thing I have ever created in the kitchen! I mean Jesus Christ. These are fucking fantastic. I cannot wait to share the recipe with you!! Look at the name.. I couldn’t even work out what to call these things because no words can describe their greatness..

Okay sorry.. Blowing my own trumpet slightly here

Melbourne’s weather has been absolutely shocking this week. Why did no one warn me how bipolar the weather is here! Literally I walk to work in a fricking thunder storm. Two hours later I leave work to a stint of gorgeous sun. By the time I have walked home its blowing a hooly again and pissing it down with rain. Not Cool!

On the plus side, my ‘bulk’ is going absolutely fabulously. I have gained 1cm around my hips… 1 CENTER METER. Sounds like a pathetic gain but this is such an achievement for me as my glutes refuse to grow.. EVER. Only down side is my obliques have ballooned from the amount of heavy squats and dead lifts I’m doing, so I no longer have a waist. Just can’t win. Body sculpting is the most frustrating thing sometimes!!

The great thing about these brownies are that they provide you with protein, carbs and healthy fats making them the perfect post workout snack!

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Sweet Potato Protein Brownies

Ingredients:

Makes 9

  • 350g peeled sweet potato
  • 1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 100g natural peanut butter (or other nut butter)
  • 100g honey
  • 50g low fat greek yogurt
  • 20g wholemeal flour (use coconut flour for gluten free)
  • 50g oats
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein (I used Optimum Nutrition)
  • 75g dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Chop up sweet potato and steam, boil or microwave untill soft. When cooked, add to mixing bowl along with all other ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, then blend/whisk ingredients together. If the mix is too thick add a splash of almond milk. Pour the mixture into a greased or lined baking tin. Add the chocolate chips and slowly stir in. Because the mixture is warm from the sweet potato, the chocolate will begin to melt slightly giving that ripple look through the brownies. If you want your chocolate chips to stay whole then wait for the mixture to cool before adding the chocolate chips. Place baking tin into the oven for 20 minutes. They should be slightly gooey when you take them out the oven. Cut into 8 slices and leave to cool (if you can control your self)

Notes:

Try adding chopped nuts to the mixture along with the chocolate chips to give them more texture 🙂

 

Protein Ice Cream

By Nutrition

We are lucky fuckers this week here in Australia because this Friday is Anzac Day. That means another long weekend!! YAY.. Seeing as easter weekend was a bit of a blow out, food and money wise… This weekend will defiantly be a chilled one!

One of my clients came in today, first day back after the long weekend. She managed to not eat a single piece of chocolate this weekend! Not just chocolate, she didn’t cheat once.. Respect for that. Although she seemed annoyed at why her family and friends were so confused when she didn’t eat roast dinner, or indulge in the chocolate on offer. A lot of people struggle to keep old friends when moving to a fit healthy lifestyle and find they annoy their family.. This should totally not be the case. Firstly I will come back to my last post on getting the balance. If your healthy and on track 90% of the time you will see results. This is why you must plan cheats for times which are convenient. It would have been the perfect time for my client to have a cheat with her family and friends this weekend but she had it mid week instead!!  PLAN PLAN PLAN… Secondly, your going to piss people off if your out for lunch or dinner and you don’t eat anything. Don’t do it. You will not enjoy your self and you will kill the atmosphere for everyone else. Not only that you will get tones of comments like ‘are you starving your self‘ or ‘are you sure you don’t have an eating disorder‘.. Nothing more annoying than that!! Lastly, don’t talk about it, live it. No one wants to sit and listen to miss fitness in the corner who talks non stop about how long she worked out this morning and how she hasn’t eaten chocolate for 5 weeks in a row. THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING. Your friends and family will see how awesome you look so don’t lecture them about it! Give it time and people will be bugging you constantly to find out your ‘secret’ 🙂

So protein ice cream is something I eat daily. It is made with casein protein which is a slow release protein. It is digested and absorbed over a longer period of time. This leads to a constant supply of amino acids to the blood stream for up to 7 hours. Studies show this continual supply of amino acids may significantly slow down the break down of muscle while your asleep and fasting! This makes it the perfect bed time snack. The beauty of it is you can make it fit your macros. If your fat is low you can add a spoon of peanut butter. If your carbs are low, add some puffed brown rice for some crunch. If your proteins low add half a low fat, low carb protein bar. And if you don’t have many macros left, it’s delicious on its own!! 🙂

Ingredients:

Makes 1

Ice cream base:

  • 1 scoop of casein protein (I use 100% casein, Optimum nutrition in vanilla)
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 200ml unsweetened almond milk
  • 100ml water

Flavorings (optional):

  • 1tsp raw cacao powder
  • flavored stevia (caramel is great)
  • 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp PB2

Directions:

Blend all the ‘base’ ingredients in a blender along with any additional flavorings wanted (I sometimes add all of them for a reeces peanut butter cup flavor). Place mixture in a bowl/tub and freeze for around 3 hours. Remove from the freezer and place back into the blender. Blend until smooth and ice crystals gone. At this point, if you want a thicker ice cream you can add a pinch more xanthan gum (a little goes a long way). If the ice cream is too thick and will not blend, add a splash of water. Put the ice cream back into a bowl and add any toppings..

Enjoy 🙂

 

Healthy Nutella Cookies

By Nutrition

When I am food shopping I purposely avoid the chocolate isle. My weakness is chocolate. So with easter looming, this is a hard time for me! The super markets have begun to fill every isle with chocolate deals. Not just the chocolate isle.. Every single isle!!!! Not only is there cute little chocolate bunnies and eggs on offer. The Nutella is half price.. HALF PRICE!! Why would they do this. I fricking love Nutella. Fortunately I managed to control my self and slowly strolled to the veggie section where I unenthusiastically filled my basket with leafy greens.

With an uncontrollable Nutella craving, I decided to whip up Nutella Cookies. This recipe was a complete fluke by throwing ingredients together and I have no idea how they taste so bloody good. They are dairy free, low in saturated fats and so speedy to make 🙂

Nutella Cookies

Makes 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 10 drops of liquid hazelnut stevia
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp nut butter (I used natural peanut butter)
  • 1 cup of wholemeal flour (approximately)

Dircetions:

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Put the nut butter in the microwave for around 1 minute or until soft. Add all wet ingredients together and stir until combined. whisk in the raw cacao then slowly add the flour. The mixture will form into a hard dough like consistency which you can mold with your hands. Split mixture into 4 and mold into 4 cookies. Place  cookies on baking tray and bake for 8 minutes. These taste the best out the oven. So If you manage to not scoff the lot, store in an air tight container once cooled.

Note:

Try dipping in almond milk. Literally the best thing ever!