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superfood

Aug 09
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Summer Superfood Salad

By News

When most people think of salad, they think of the pathetic portion of old lettuce leaves with tomato and cucumber that you get as a ‘side salad’ in some restaurants. People say ‘I hate salad’… Well of course your going to bloody hate salad if you have always eaten really bad salads.

Salad is an amazing way to pack heaps of amazing veggies into one meal and make it super yum at the same time.

Summer Superfood Salad

Ingredients:

serves 1

Salad:

  • 200g sweet potato (can be substituted for beetroot, butternut squash, carrot, or parsnip)
  • 1/2 a bag (125g) of cooked mixed quinoa (can be substituted for rice)
  • 100g cooked chicken breast (can be substituted for any other meat or fish)
  • 1 handful of brocilli
  • 1 handful of asparagus
  • 1 courgette
  • 5 raddishes
  • 1/2 cup sprouted mung beans (I sprout my self but you can buy in shops)
  • 50g low fat feta cheese (can be substituted for goats cheese or halloumi)
  • 1/2 an avocado

Dressing:

  • 1tsp cashew butter
  • 1tsp harissa paste
  • 1tbsp sweet chilli sauce
  • 1tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Chop the sweet potato and place on a baking tray with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Place in a pre heated oven at 160 degrees for approx 1.5 hours.. Turning as cooking. (I like my sweet potato super cooked). When the sweet potato is almost ready you can prep the rest of the salad.

Place the broccoli and the asparagus into a steamer and cook until only just soft. Once cooked place to the side to cool

Spiralize the courgette to make courgetti. If you don’t have a spiralizer you can simply grate the courgette.

Slice the radishes into super thin slices using a peeler or a long grater.

Cut the feta and chicken into little cubes or slices

For the dressing combine all ingredients in a bowl or better a small blender and mix/blend until smooth.

The avocado.. God this bit is hard. If you cut the avocado in half then leaving half in the skin you cut strips to around 3/4 of the way down. You then carefully remove the skin of the avocado and fan the slices out to make it look super pretty. Failing this.. if you don’t care so much how its going to look. Just chop it into cubes.

The quinoa can be hot of cold depending on your preference.

Finally once the sweet potato has cooked, combine the sweet potato, quinoa, broccoli, asparagus, courgetti, radish, mung beans and feta in a bowl and lightly mix being careful not to squish it.

Put the mixed salad onto a plate and top with the chicken and fanned out avocado followed by the dressing.

Enjoy 😀

Notes:

Try using different greens, different roast veg and different meats. This salad also works well with a satay dressing

 

 

 

 

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

Nov 27
Love0

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

 

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