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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 16
Love0

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Beetroot Protein Blondies

By Nutrition

Finally some great weather in Melbourne again this week! Hitting about 20 degrees every day 🙂 YAY.. Good week for nice weather as I have been flyering the streets all week for a promo we have on at work. Their are so many ups and downs being a promo girl. One minute everyone who walks passed smiles and accepts a flyer. The next minute a grumpy old man tells you to fuck off and you loose the will to live. I was just delirious most of the time as I was doing this on top of my usual personal training split shift (6am-10am then 4pm to 8pm). I have to say i’m glad promo week is over. Yesterday everyone could clearly tell I was over it and I was giving off the ‘wrong vibe’…. This resulted in a total of 4 fuck offs. I genuinely wanted to cry.. On the plus side, I have so many new clients from promo week so I can’t complain 🙂 🙂

Today I woke up with glands in my neck the size of golf balls. So I finished work, came home and passed out on the sofa for about 3 hours! On top of this I ate sooooooo much… I feel I need extra energy to fight off getting ill… (well thats my excuse). I’m also taking a few days off training which is super hard for me. I get stuck in my head that my muscles are going to fall off if I take like 3 rest days when I know this is clearly what I need. Its important to give the body rest. Listen to your body. If you feel like crap, don’t train. Often after taking 3-4 days rest you will actually come back stronger as well which is always amazing 🙂

So seeing as my sweet potato, protein, brownies were such a hit with all you fitness fanatics… I decided to make something similar. Clearly due to my stupidly long working hours this week, my head wasn’t screwed on properly and I thought… FUCK IT. Beetroot!!!! BEETROOT.. Bet your all thinking ‘eww gross‘. But for real. These are so yummy. The only reason I used beetroot was because I wanted to make them pink. Yes I could blab on about the health benefits of beetroot. But all I thought was YAY PINK! I also took on the challenge from one of my clients who wanted something gluten and dairy free to bake… Soooooo.. These are GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE!!!! Not only that. They are free from refined sugar. WOOO 🙂

Beetroot Protein Blondies

Ingredients:

Makes 12

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 100g gluten free oats
  • 100ml unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 scoop of gluten free, dairy free protein powder (I used brown rice(vanilla))
  • 100g almond butter
  • 300g sweet potato (peeled)
  • 10 drops of vanilla stevia
  • 100g roasted beetroot
  • 30g gluten free, dairy free dark chocolate
  • 50g gluten free, dairy free granola (I used my homemade granola)

Dircetions:

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Take the sweet potato and boil/steam/microwave until soft. While the sweet potato cooks, combine all other ingredients except the chocolate and granola. Once the sweet potato is soft, add to the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth consistency is reached. Pour the mixture into a cake tin and top with chopped dark chocolate and granola. Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes. You want them to still be slightly gooey when you take them out. Once cooked, remove from tin and allow to cool. They taste best when warm and can be re heated in the microwave 🙂

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 22
Love1

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 🙂

 

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!

 

 

 

Apr 05
Love0

Frozen Peanut Butter Protein Slice

By Nutrition

I am ill.. I never get ill, ever! I am awful at being ill because I hate doing nothing. My appetite has also gone which is totally weird from usually being hungry 24/7. The only cravings I am having is for sweet stuff so I made these high protein goodies.. I am TOO excited to share this recipe with you as it turned out like 100 times better than I ever expected. The truth is they were meant to be fridge bars but I messed up.. After playing around with different flavors, I managed to throw something together and left it in the fridge for a few hours. As I went to slice the bars I found they were a gooey mess.. Brilliant. This was a job for the freezer. Thank god after some time in the freezer, they transformed into chewy,melt in your mouth bars of goodness. They are incredible. I use to be obsessed with those ice cream cookie sandwiches.. I think I can almost say they are better than ice cream cookie sandwiches (and thats saying something).. The only bummer is that I can’t take them to work because they will go back to the previous gooey fridge mess! Dammmnnnn… Each bar is super high in protein (17g if using Optimum Nutrition whey) with no sugar or saturated fat. Perfect for a post workout snack.

Protein Bottom Layer

Makes 8 Ingredients:

  • 100g oats
  • 1tsp xanthan gum
  • 100g peanut butter
  • 10-15 drops of liquid stevia to taste (I use English Toffee flavor)
  • 200ml almond milk
  • 4 scoops of protein powder (I use Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Whey)

Directions: Put peanut butter in a the microwave for around 45 seconds or until runny. While waiting for the peanut butter, blend together the protein powder, almond milk, stevia and xanthan gum. Add the peanut butter and oats to this mix and stir until a thick paste is achieved with no clumps of oats. Line a tray (about 7×7 inches) with tin foil or grease proof paper. This makes it far easier to get them out!! Place the mixture into the tray and spread out evenly. Now for the chocolate topping…..

Chocolate Topping

Ingredients:

  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 2 tbsp almond milk

Directions: Break up dark chocolate into a bowl and add almond milk. Microwave for 20 second intervals for around 60 seconds,siring in between. When all the chocolate has melted and a smooth consistency is reached, pour over the protein oat base. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before placing in the freezer. For best results leave for 24 hours before slicing. When slicing, remove from the tray and use a very sharp knife to cut slices. Store in the freezer and allow to thaw for 3-4 minutes before eating (else you might break your teeth) Note: Serve with a coconut milk coffee.. You will not be disappointed!!!

Mar 24
Love0

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Nutrition

Monday came way too quickly this weekend and to top it off the weather is crap! Melbourne is slowly moving into winter. After spending the last 3 month in 30-40 degree weather, I cannot handle the cold right now. Got to work at 6 am for my first client today who brought me a box of frosties.. FROSTIES!!! I haven’t been able to find frosties in the supermarkets in Melbourne since arriving in Australia. They are my favorite cereal to have on my re-feed days and she clearly got fed up of my whining and got me some! Absolute BABBBEE!!

So my re-feed day is not until Saturday 🙁 and with a massive sweet craving I decided to bake some goodies.. These cookies are soooooooo yummy! They are low fat with no refined sugar. With just 70 calories per cookie.. (6g carbs, 1g protein and 4g fat)

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 13

Ingredients:

  • 100g oats
  • 50g dessicated coconut
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 scoop of protein powder (I used Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Ice Cream)
  • 10 drops of English toffee stevia
  • 30g of dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a bowl and stir until an even dough is formed. Mold 13 balls with hands and place on a baking tray. Carefully flatten balls and put 4-5 chocolate chips on each cookie, pressing them in to the dough. Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes.

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