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Jan 11
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Peanut Butter ‘QUEST’ Bar Recipe

By Nutrition

After the Christmas and New Years antics are over,  the cold weather seems to really kick in. The Christmas decorations are pulled down and the left over alcohol stashed away.. ‘Dry January’ They all say.. It’s like the fun police came in and really fucked shit up. No more parties, no more naughty food, and defiantly no more fun…

This however, should not be the case. A new year is really time for new fun, new goals, new ambitions.. blah blah blah, sounds so cheesy but life really is what you make of it. If you allow life to become boring it will. There is this thing we all have. It’s like our safety bubble. I believe life gets fun and exciting when we push outside this safety bubble. This could be by trying new things, pushing yourself to achieve your new goals or purely doing something which scares you. If you plod along doing the same thing your whole life, guess what?… You will get bored. It’s inevitable. And what stories will you have to tell your kids…. grandkids… I wrote a super detailed post on my blog a few weeks back about goal setting for the new year. Please take a peak for some help on setting those new year’s goals, to push yourself to your limits and achieve great things!!!

In saying this, while you’re making your new goals, please take time to remember the things in life which are great. Every day I like to think of a few things I am grateful of. Today.. Right now.. I am grateful for bacon. MMMMMM bacon..  I am currently on a plane to India and just got served what looked like vomit in a bowl. To be fair, it didn’t taste…. toooo bad. But I want bacon. Today I am also grateful for my fabulous family I have who support me in everything I do. And finally I am grateful for cuddles. Because cuddles are great!!!! 😀

For many people weight loss is a goal this new year. Don’t hate the body you have now.. I hear so many people say ‘I hate my body. I will be happy when I’m slim’. Okay, your body may need some TLC and you may be a little over weight. But love your body, love the fact you have damn legs to go to the gym and train, and that you are capable of losing weight. Love that you can afford to buy healthy food to fuel your power house body, and love the game. Weight loss is just a silly game we play in life. If you live life a little less seriously you WILL be healthier and happier and you will lose weight quicker too!!

So remember to push your boundaries. Do crazy shit but don’t forget all the wonderful things you already have in life.

I am heading to Goa, India, to complete a 500hr yoga instructor course. Follow my time on Instagram @charliefrancisfitness

And for now… WHO LOVES QUEST BARS. Here is my super easy peasy protein bar recipe which is low in carbs, super high in protein, and is peanut butter flavour!! It don’t get much better than that.

Peanut Butter ‘Quest’ Bars

Ingredients:

Makes 9

3 scoops of vanilla casein

8tsp/120g(ish) vita fiber (order from musclefood.com)

12g/1tbsp PPB (powdered peanut butter)

40g 100% peanut butter

1tsp melted coconut oil

Directions:

Firstly, combine casein and PPB in a small blender/nutribullet. Add the peanut butter and the coconut oil and blend until combined. You should kind of have a slightly lumpy powdery consistency at this stage. Now the tricky bit. Add around half the vita fiber to the mix and blend until combined. From this point you must only add very small amounts of viter fiber at a time, blending imbetween. When the mixture reaches a stage where you can just form it into little balls that stay together. Stop adding vita fiber. Too much will cause the bars to flop into a blob after forming them into shape. Add a little PPB to your work top to act as flour and roll the stiff mixture out, as if making cookies. Roll to approximately 2cm thick then cut into bars. Store in a container in the fridge to help maintain the shape of the bars and try not to eat them all at once.

Notes: Try adding a tsp of peanut butter on top of one. DEVINE!!

Peace, Happy New Year.

Nov 22
Love0

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 🙂

 

 

Aug 21
Love0

Pumpkin Protein Cake

By Nutrition

Alcohol and fitness are not really two things which go well together. Many people ask me how bad alcohol is and how much they can drink while still improving their bodies?! Alcohol consumption relating to fitness is generally not an area discussed. You will often see fitness fanatics stay home while their friends go out drinking to ‘save the gains‘… They seem to think having a few drinks will cause their muscles to fall off and give them a beer gut. This is really a load of crap..

People talk about the work/life balance and getting it right. People also should think about the fitness/life balance and getting that right. Yes drinking may not be optimal for the best physique. But when your old and frail looking back at your life. Do you want to be the person who stayed home and got an awesome body?!! Im going to explain simply how to keep a great body while being able to enjoy alcohol.

Alcohol has about 5.6 calories per gram. It is liquid form which does not fill you up meaning your left hungry. This is why you get in from a night out and eat a whole pizza and a bar of chocolate….

Alcohol effects testosterone levels very slightly after binge drinking, although not enough to take any negative effect on the body. Studies show that even drinking alcohol post workout won’t reduce muscle strength and gains. Alcohol will not increase muscle protein synthesis (using muscle as energy).. Which means your muscle will stay totally intact while doing a bar crawl.

Alcohol its self is not fattening. It cannot be stored as fat in the body. However. When consumed, it takes priority so fat oxidization from the body cells (using fat as energy) will not happen. It is the sugary crap in alcoholic drinks along with the consumption of drunk eating which will cause fat gain.

So.. How do you drink while preventing fat gains…

  • For that day, reduce fat and carb intake to allow for extra calories from the alcohol which will be consumed
  • Keep protein levels high to prevent muscle protein synthesis
  • Have sensible beverages.. a beer will have 12g of carbs in it, while cocktails will range between 10-20g of carbs. Stick to dry white wines which contain <1g of carbs and spirits (mixed with soda or diet drinks) contain almost no carbs.
  • Limit big nights out to once a week due to the increased risk of disease caused by alcohol…. We want to be happy and healthy. Not diseased alcoholics!
  • Finally.. Don’t come home and eat the whole fridge. This will cause fat gain!

Now.. Don’t use this an excuse to go out and get shit faced every weekend because thats not healthy.I strongly believe in everything in moderation. So what if you get absolutely smashed every once in a while. So what if you eat a pizza to your self occasionally… Having one healthy day will not make you slim and healthy. One day of drinking or one day of eating crap (make sure they are on separate days) 😀 will not make you fat and unhealthy. Don’t be a square meat head with no social life because thats not something to be proud of!

Following up from my last high carb post for re-feed days. This is a delicious, high protein, low fat (almost no fat) recipe using my faveeee veggie. PUMPKIN:)

Pumpkin Protein Cake

Ingredients:

Makes 16

  • 75g protein powder (I used vanilla flavor)
  • 4 egg whites (for lower fat) OR 2 whole eggs
  • 300g pumpkin puree OR roasted/microwaved pumpkin
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 150g oat bran OR oat flour
  • 100ml unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a cake tin with a little coconut oil. Put all ingredients in a mixer/blender and mix until a smooth consistence is reached. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife comes out the cake clean. (everyones oven seems to cook faster than my shitty oven)

Tip:

For extra texture, try adding nuts, seeds of cacao nibs to the mix after blending 🙂

Jul 15
Love0

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 🙂

May 02
Love0

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 🙂

 

Apr 08
Love0

Healthy Protein Brownies

By Nutrition

There is nothing more awkward than going to see a comedian who isn’t actually funny! Most of the time they probably are quite funny but I just don’t understand the jokes. I went to see Franky Boyle once who was great. Well… What I could understand of it! His accent is so strong I spent most of the time trying lip read the jokes. By the time I had figured it out, the joke was finished and I was the only one laughing! CRINGE… So the comedy festival is on in Melbourne right now.. It is mad coming from Cornwall where there is very little going on for most of the year to this!! Melbourne is constantly buzzing with festivals, shows and events which is a real treat for us country bumpkins. After the epic fail watching Franky Boyle, I insisted that we go and watch a comedian from the UK with no accent so I can keep up with the jokes. We managed to get tickets to Doc Brown. If you haven’t seen him before it is essential you either watch him on YouTube or get to one of his shows. Frickin hilarious!!! The evening was topped off by going to a stunning bar on south bank with some friends.. so spoiled!

I also managed to go to a fitness expo this weekend. 3 girls. On a re-feed day. With heaps of freebies. Imagine the situation!! A lot of protein bar samples were consumed lets just say that. This was such an eye opener to some of the shit which is on sale advertised as ‘protein bar‘. Just because it says protein bar on the label this does not mean healthy.. Watch out for this. Most of the time your eating the equivalent to a protein pumped mars bar which is not cool for the waist line! Loaded with sugar and saturated fat! Saying that there are some great bars out there such as Quest Bars which have no sugar, low fat and are made with good quality ingredients! The best way is always to make your own though, as you can customize recipes to fit your nutritional needs 🙂

One of the bars I tried was a protein brownie. The brand I cannot remember but it contained the ingredients of a brownie with added whey protein. How BULLSHIT is that. It annoys me what people are being tricked into eating this crap. Brownies are famous for being ridiculously high in calories. My daily allowance of fat and sugar would easily be covered in a big slab of brownie. This sucks… I love brownies. I have not yet eaten a good, yummy healthy brownie.. I have been trying to create a healthy brownie which doesn’t taste like ass for months now and I think I have finally nailed it. My boyfriend actually questioned how healthy it was while eating them because they taste so good! YAY result!

Make sure you get baking these in time for easter to distract you from all the heaps of chocolate… Treat your family and friends to a healthy brownie for a good easter present. They will thank you after when they have not gained half a stone from the easter binge!

Healthy Protein Brownie

Makes 8

Ingredients:

  • 100g oats
  • 70g chocolate whey powder (I use Optimum Nutrition)
  • 25g raw cacao
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 1 egg white
  • 10 drops of liquid stevia (I used caramel)
  • 100g wholewheat flour
  • 200ml water
  • Pinch of salt
  • 100g dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Combine protein powder with water, eggs, salt and stevia and whisk until smooth consistency is reached. Combine cacao, flour and oats in a separate bowl and slowly mix into the protein/egg mix. Fold in the chocolate chips then place mix into a greased baking tray. Bake in the oven for roughly 12 minutes. You want the top to be firm but still a little bit gooey inside. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Note:

The brownies taste best warm when the chocolate chips are melted. You can always reheat them in the microwave for 40 seconds on a high heat!

 

 

 

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