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Oct 13
Love1

Abbey’s Before and After Transformation

By Transformations

BEFORE

AFTER

Abbey Kent – Student

Before I met Charlie I was the biggest and unhappiest I had ever been. I had no motivation or drive to do anything, the number on the scales was going up and up and my clothes were getting tighter. Then one day I decided that enough was enough. I finally plucked up the courage to email her – I really wish I had done it sooner! Charlie is the most amazing girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, from day 1 she was just a complete joy to be around, she knew what she wanted to do with me but also knew what my personal end goals were. She took the time to explain that being healthy isn’t just about exercise, it’s more about the right nutrition too. I can hand on heart say that if you are debating whether to train with Charlie, debate no more. She gave me back so much confidence and happiness and I now love my body!

Aug 15
Love1

Get The Basics Right

By News

People are very uneducated on how much of an impact nutrition can have on their training and body composition. I love the quote ‘Nutrition can make a good athlete great, and a great athlete good’. A person could be a potential olympic gold medalist but due to a shitty lifestyle and poor nutrition they are just an average joe.

The full potential of any person will never be achieved with poor nutrition.

Its simple really..  train hard, eat clean, stay hydrated, recover well. You MUST get the basics right before faffing around with anything else. The amount of people who ask me ‘what exercise can I do to get a flat stomach‘. If I were to ask that person. ‘how many hours do you sleep at night‘.. ‘how many pints of water do you drink a day‘ or ‘how much junk food do you eat in a week‘.. They might not realise how much of an impact that has on them getting a flat stomach.

You can do all the ab exercises in the world and eat crappy food, sleep 4 hours a night and be dehydrated and NEVER get a flat stomach..

The body is like a machine working on cogs and if one of the essential cogs isn’t working then the whole system won’t work as efficiently and optimally as possible. As a nutrition coach I always consider the bigger picture and never take a one size fits all approach for clients. Each person comes with different problems and stresses. Everyone has different lifestyles and are all educated in fitness, health and nutrition to a different level.

 

 

Psychology is always over looked. External factors should always be taken into consideration such as home life and stress, as well as how lifestyle impacts the way you eat. The group you may socialise with will have a massive impact on your diet and lifestyle. If your family or friends have a very unhealthy diet and poor nutrition, this is going to negatively impact your ability to stay on track.

Your mind set will always affect what you achieve. You must set goals that you believe in and know you can achieve to ensure you are always motivated. Along with mindset, it is essential to debunk myths to make sure you do not have incorrect knowledge from online forums or magazine articles.

Most women think that lifting weights and eating high protein diets will make them ‘massive’ or ‘bulky’. People may also believe that skipping meals and using fad diets will help them to loose weight. Knowledge is Power. Ensure your facts are from a reliable source. Not Heat Magazine!!

Genetics must always be considered. How one person metabolises fats and carbs will be different to another due to genetics and lifestyle. I love the quote.. ‘Genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger’. When you claim you are over weight because of genetics, its important to remember your lifestyle will MASSIVELY contribute to the fact you are over weight. Genetics can never be purely to blame.

The key to success is consistency. Its better to be 80% good 100% of the time than be 100% good 20% of the time. We all know that person who will go on a juicing diet and smash the gym only to burn out after a few weeks and call it a day for another 3 months! Don’t be that person!

Before you fill your diet with fat burners, weight loss shakes and fucking juicing diets (don’t get me started on juice diets). Get the BASICS right! Start going to bed at a reasonable time and recover well. Train hard and smart. Master your daily diet and drink plenty of water. The most important thing is to achieve good and consistent daily habits and behaviours! Create lasting lifestyle choices to make a better YOU!

 

If you liked this article check out my post on ‘Clean Eating Is Ruining Your Life‘

 

Aug 09
Love0

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

 

 

 

 

May 06
Love0

Clean Eating Is Ruining Your Life

By Nutrition

Clean Eating. Another crazy diet in the fitness industry draining the joy out of life!

Clean eating… What the hell is clean eating? Nobody seems to know what foods are classed as clean and what foods are….. Dirty? I guess you can call it dirty? Clean eating pretty much means eating lots of veggies and whole foods, while cutting out refined sugar, starches, bread, red meat, salt, chocolate, cake and all things that make life worth living.

Clean eating is trying to make the normal people who eat normal food feel like they are dirty. ‘Look at you, you filthy animal, eating bread, your dirty’.

Healthy whole foods with no refined sugar or preservatives are obviously very good for you, A balanced diet is essential for life, for a healthy life. But honestly, I have been known to eat a krispy cream doughnut (or two). There is always a place in my heart and my belly for doughnuts. I also like salad, like real salad with ALL the veg! I eat oatmeal for breakfast and quinoa vegetarian bean chilli for lunch. Does this make me a good person. A ‘clean’ person? Do you think better of me for eating all this fantastic clean food?

No?..

Obsessive clean eating is an actual eating disorder. People who are obsessed with eating clean could be suffering from ‘Orthorexia Nervosa’ which literally means fixation on righteous eating. They become completely consumed by what they are eating, how much and how ‘clean’ the food is. Eating only ‘clean’ foods will eventually result in a massive break down where you will find yourself slumped on the floor, crying, covered in nutella and frosties.

I believe in balance. A little bit of everything is not going to kill you, nor will it make you unhealthy or fat. The beauty of flexible dieting is that you can fit most foods into your diet. As long as your micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and fiber intake is hit each day, then there is no harm in including some ‘dirty’ food in your diet. It is more than just calories in and calories out as your body also has a certain amount of protein, fats and carbs it requires to achieve your desired body composition. This macro nutrient intake is different for every person.

 

I do not advocate eating shit food. If you have MacDonald’s for lunch every day you need to fucking sort your life out because that is not okay. If you have MacDonald’s once a week. That is fine. It’s also okay to eat ice-cream and cake. Just not all day every day! It’s healthier to include these foods into your diet in small portions to keep you sane and prevent crazy junk food binges. Everyone says your body can’t gain fat from one cheat meal. You wouldn’t believe how much fat your body can store from just ONE massive binge.

Instead of draining the happiness out of your life by restricting fun foods like ice-cream and cookies, just keep small portions of all your fave foods in your diet, make those foods fit your macros. I PROMISE.. You can get lean when eating ice-cream and doughnuts and burgers and pizza. You will also be a much happier person for it.

 

p.s If there are any great doughnut companies out there I am open to sponcership offers

Mar 14
Love0

Cinnamon Danish Protein Thick Shake

By Nutrition

Here is one of my fave shake recipes. Great as breakfast or a post workout snack

Cinnamon Danish Protein Thick Shake

Ingredients:

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a high speed bullet blender (if you don’t have one of these you can also use a hand blender)

Blend until a smooth consistency is reached  if you want the snake to be thicker add a little more Xantha Gum. If you want the shake to be thinner. Add more milk or water

Notes:

This recipe will work using any flavour protein powder. Check out the other flavours you can get on MyProtein and get creative.

If you like this shake. Try one of my other shake recipes here>>>>Chocolate Beetroot Smoothie or Mint Chocolate Protein Smoothie

 

 

 

 

Sep 20
Love0

Salted Peanut Butter Protein Soft Serve Ice cream

By News

Women spend a huge amount of their lives working on their appearance. To be exact we spend an average of 6.5 hours a week which is 335 hours a year. That’s an average so if your a fitness junkie that number will likely double or triple.

It is SO important to take care of your body and care about your appearance. It is healthy to exercise and want to eat well to improve your appearance and nourish your body. Although there is a fine line between caring about your appearance and obsessing over your appearance. It becomes an obsession when a person begins to judge their self worth on their body image.

This is unhealthy for the mind and body and can lead to mental health issues.

Over 50% of women have negative thoughts about their bodies every day. Just under 80% of teenage girls!! It is shocking that society puts this much pressure on women and girls to get the ‘perfect body‘. What the hell is the perfect body?? We are extreme self critics, and pile a huge amount of pressure on our selves to look a certain way.

75% of women have behavior issues and unhealthy thoughts or feelings related to food or their bodies.

Your self worth should not be determined on how flat your stomach is or how big your boobs are! Your body may be your temple but it defiantly is not who you are. You are not a bad person because you carry an extra few centimeters of fat around your waist!

Being negative about your body will not improve anything. It will not make you loose weight or tone up. The only way to make change is with a positive mind.TRUST ME. I lost 10kgs of body fat with a negative, body hating mind and still at 10% body fat I hated my body. In my mind I was never good enough.

I never took the time to love and appreciate my progress and was constantly beating my self up about how I looked. Slaving away in the gym for hours, for what? To still hate my body and have an unhealthy mind!

To change your body you must love and accept your body. Positive things happen to positive people!

Im not saying its okay to be fat. There are a lot of people who will happily sit on their arse all day and watch TV while consuming their body weight in junk food. This is not okay!! Do not fill your body with shit food. RESPECT YOURSELF.. Focus on health. Create a healthy body internally and externally. Create a healthy mind through positive thoughts.

BE HAPPY 😀

Salted Peanut Butter Protein Soft Serve Ice cream

serves 1

Ingredients

  •  500ml water
  • 1x flat tbsp xantham gum
  • 50g yogurt (I use total 0% fat)
  • 1x scoop (25g) vanilla protein powder (I use http://www.theproteinworks.com/products/protein-shakes/naked-whey-protein-80.html use code CF180303 for free protein powder at the checkout)
  • 10g low fat peanut flour
  • a large pinch of pink Himalayan salt
  • 20x ice cubes

Directions

Add all ingredients to a high watt blender (like a nutribullet) and blend until smooth. If its too thick add a little more water. Too liquid and add a teeny bit more of xantham gum 😀 If you don’t have a nutribullet you can use a hand puree blender 😀

Notes: I like to add cinnamon and maca powder for a super-food kick. Try topping with bee pollen, nut butters or seeds

 

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

Apr 07
Love0

Carrot Cake Batter Protein Oatmeal

By Nutrition

When In India I was introduced to Ghee. I swear ghee is like the cure to every problem in life in India. Its like super-food butter. I was a lover of butter when I was younger, although we all know that spreading big chucks of the dairy goodness on your toast is not the key to optimum health! Ghee is clarified butter which has been heated to remove the dairy. This removes the lactose and casein meaning people who are usually suffer with negative effects from dairy, can eat ghee!

Ghee is a pure fat made up of medium chain fatty acids. These are absorbed directly to the liver to be burnt as energy instead of going into the adipose tissue to be stored! It contains significant levels of antioxidants, vitamin A E and D which reduce free radicals in the body and boost the immune system.

Ghee is rich in Butyric acid and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which together are essential for a healthy digestion system, and also help improve the immune system. They increase the metabolism supporting fat loss goals, and are said to enhance muscle growth! Ghee also contains Omega 3 helps reduce the bad cholesterol level in the body.

Basically eat GHEE..

It can be added to foods where butter or other oils would be used. In cooking or on bread. Even as a salad dressing. Here is a recipe which is a super yummy way to add ghee into your diet

 Carrot Cake Batter Protein Oatmeal

Ingredients:

Serves 1

  • 1 cup water
  • 100g grated carrot
  • 50g oats
  • 1tsp ghee
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4tsp ginger
  • 1tsp stevia
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 scoop natural vanilla whey (I use My Protein)
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 tsp xantham gum (optional, makes the egg whites thicker)

Toppings:

  • Bee Pollen
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Cashew Butter
  • Walnuts
  • Greek Yogurt
  • Desiccated Coconut

Directions:

Add the 1 cup of water and the grated carrot to a saucepan and heat until the carrot is soft (approx 3 minutes).. Add the oats, ghee, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and stevia and continue to heat stirring regularly. While the oatmeal thickens, in a separate bowl, mix the protein powder with 3tbsp of water so it makes a thin paste. In another separate bowl, with an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites (and the xantham gum if using) until stiff peaks form. Once the oatmeal looks nice and thick, add the protein paste mix and stir until combined. Now add the whipped egg whites to the oatmeal and stir quickly until no lumps are left. Turn off the heat and allow the oats to stand for around 2 minutes.

 Notes:

Try subbing the Carrot for other vegetables like beetroot or courgette

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 🙂

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