Peanut Cinnamon Endurance balls

Developed for endurance athletes. They are absolutely ideal for before or after your event. These balls provide a good smack of carbs for muscle recovery and readily absorbed fats in the form of MCT. The cordyceps and maca are your featured adaptogens to support mitochondrial efficiency (access to energy) and fight oxidative damage and stress the tissues may experience during your training. 

The chew factor on these make them epicly morish and that crunch that sneaks in from the cacao gives a really nice rounding to the mouth feel. You may want to make them without the honey if you like it a little less sweet but you will lose a little of that all important carb content. 

Cinnamon does things to peanut butter. They’re such a classic combo and palatable for kids which makes whipping these up a super fun family venture. Watch them squish the balls in their hands and giggle in contention with that mouthful of dreamy, gooey, nuttiness. 

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup dry rolled oats
  • ¼ cup Almond meal
  • ¼ cup peanut butter (plus extra for lashing atop)
  • 1 tbsp MCT oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1tbsp chia seeds
  • 1tbsp cacao nibs
  • 1tbsp Maca powder
  • 1tbsp Cordyceps mushroom powder
  • 1tsp cinnamon and a pinch of salt

Method:

  • Add dry ingredients to a bowl and mix together. 
  • Create a well and add the remaining ingredients.
  • Combine into a paste that should stick together, form into balls. 
  • Use a fork to lash with peanut butter and garnish with cacao nibs and chia seeds etc or store to set in fridge straight away. 

Optionals:

Freezing these and then coating with melted chocolate is an easy way to turn these endurance and performance enhancing bites into a satisfyingly chewy dessert. 

Macros:

The above makes 8 balls. The following macros are per ball.

Each: 111cal 3gP 6.4F 10gC

The Power of Cordyceps Mushroom

Increase oxygen utilisation and strengthen your respiratory power for a boost to your endurance and stamina as well as supporting your immunity and recovery. 

If you want to know more about how you can eat to support your performance goals, book your nutrition consult below.

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Toasted Pistachio and Dil Dip

To be scooped and spread on eggs, fish or red meat. If you can BBQ it (as the season calls for) then you can enjoy it with this dip.

It’s sharp and mustardy tang lends itself well to fattier cuts of meat but it still does wonders with chicken breast and white fish.

Pan toasting raw pistachios prior to their blending is well worth the 5 minutes for the flavoursome oils to be released.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup raw pistachios*
  • 1 bunch of dill
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 TBSP of seeded mustard
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • salt to taste 

Method:

  1. Heat a pan to medium heat and toast your pistachios, stirring and jarring them in 30 second intervals over 4 minutes.
  2. Rid your herbs of the bulk of their stems, trying to use mostly the tender leaves, add to blender. Allow pistachios to cool before adding to blender with the rest of your ingredients.
  3. Blitz until all is smooth and dreamy.

Macros:

The above makes 10 serves, the macros described are per serve:

Each: 46cal 1.6gP 2.8gF 1.3gC

Hot tip:

If you would like to freeze it will keep better with a dash of olive oil but this will increase calories.

It will otherwise keep well in the fridge for 7-10 days, separating slightly but coming together well with a good stir.

*If you cannot toast the pistachios yourself, substitute for roasted 🙂

Your Hormones and Hunger

Much of your hormonal signalling happens on a clock (your body clock). You are wired to feel hungry at the same times everyday! This makes perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint as it also means your system can be optimised for digestion. If your body knows it has to digest foods at a certain time the mini systems within that will be primed to do so.

Ghrelin is the hormone that makes you feel hungry. It also also released in greater quantities due to a lack of sleep. So less than 8 hours can cause you to feel hungrier when you don’t actually need extra food. So be aware of that and understand snack attacks can come from not enough sleep.

Feelings of satiety come from comes from the release of a hormone called Cholecystokinin (CCK). It sends signals to your brain that you have had enough to eat. This signalling is disrupted by eating too fast, eating while distracted or over consumption of packaged or processed foods.
More of this hormone is released in response to protein and omega 3s

So what should you do with this information?
Key take aways are:

  • Get 7-9 hours quality sleep a night
  • Eat adequate amounts of protein in your meals
  • Eat slowly and undistracted
  • Avoid processed and packaged foods, opting for fresh and whole foods.

If you would like someone on your team to guide you through a better relationship with food and to understand your body better, then reach out!

I would love to hear from you!

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Pumpkin Pistachio Bread

Call it a fall treat if you wish, I shall be eating it year round and as we drift into Summer. This bread is so versatile for picnicking, keeping handy for lunch or easy dinners and your grandma loves it when you bring round a loaf to go with her home made soups.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup boiled pumpkin pieces, skin off
  • 1/2cup pea protein powder
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup pistachio
  • 1tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp flax seeds
  • 1 tsp ground cumin seed
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano leaves
  • pinch of baking powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste 
  • A little olive oil for greasing

Method:

Your hot tip of the day is to double the ingredients so you can freeze a few slices if you would like to have something easy to chuck in the toastie machine through out the week

  1. Pop the kettle onto boil a litre or so whilst you skin and chop 400g of pumpkin pieces to go into a pot. Once the kettle is boiled, let the pumpkin cook in the hot water and a little salt until soft, should take around 7 minutes.
  2. Get your oven preheating to 190 degrees Celsius
  3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, fold all dry ingredients together. In a cup, beat your one egg.
  4. Once the pumpkin has softened, drain water and let cool. Once it has, mash and mix with the egg.
  5. Add the wet ingredients to your bowl of dry ones and blend to form your dough. From here you can scoop it into a bread tin, top with a couple pistachios, oregano and place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes. Check by carefully inserting a skewer into the centre, once it comes out clean, you know the bread is cooked!
  6. Top with all yummy things and share with those you love best, and even those you love second best.

Macros:

The above makes 6 serves, the macros described are per serve:

Each: 148cal 11gP 6gF 11gC

Your Metabolism

It happens in every cell of your body. It (base metabolism) keeps you alive.

The pace and function of your metabolism is up to the mitochondria. Mitochondira are these incredible little power-packs, the motherboard of each and everyone of your cells! Their function varies hugely by hormonal status, age, genetics and more.

Metabolism can slow down as you age and your mitochondrial health declines but there are many things you can do to offset this.

A slower metabolism does not necessarily mean you cannot have control of your weight. Your nutrition, exercise regime and an effective recovery protocol can help you achieve the shape and health you want.

What is metabolic syndrome?
Metabolic syndrome is on the rise due to modern lifestyles. Symptoms include horrendous things like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, heart attacks etc. It feels like a lack of energy, not being able to sleep well or get the most tout of your day when you are awake. It can be avoided.

You can slow your metabolism and harm your mitochondrial health by:

  • Smoking and drinking
  • Going on drastic weight loss programs. Your body will ultimately go into survival mode by slowing your metabolism right down in an effort not to starve, a process called ‘metabolism adaptation.’
  • Lack of movement and exercise.
  • Having poor gut health

You can increase it by:

  • strategic cold exposure
  • Choosing whole, unprocessed foods.
  • increasing muscle mass
  • getting your heart rate up regularly with HIIT training or similar if that is safe and appropriate for you.

No. Chilli, coffee etc do not have any significant effect on raising your metabolism.

  • Key Take Aways
  • Take opportunities to move and enjoy a good balance between cardio and resistance training if weight loss is your goal.
  • Choose unprocessed whole foods (not from a packet)
  • Crash diets are not effective for long term health. Choose sustainable, enjoyable and effective.

If you would like someone on your team to guide you through your training and nutrition to improve your metabolic health then reach out below!

I would love to hear from you!

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Wild Black Rice and Pumpkin Risotto with Egg

A rice who’s sensational chew factor is surely only matched by the gooeyness of perfectly boiled egg and creaminess of in season pumpkin.

Life is short. Therefore, batch cook rice and you may even like to mix through some basmati if you find that more digestible than wild rice. From there you can get creative with your extra rice throughout the week and according to what produce happens to be on offer.

7 ingredients, 1 pot! To save you cleaning time for all the other exciting endeavours that life has to offer!

Ingredients:

  • 500g boiled pumpkin pieces, skin off
  • 1 cup wild black rice
  • 2 eggs
  • 1tbsp stock
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano leaves
  • Salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

  1. Slice de-skinned pumpkin into thumb sized chunks and pop into a large pot with the 1/2 cup of rice, 2 egg, 700ml boiled water, the stock and pinch of salt. remove the eggs after 4-5 minutes. Allow to boil away for another 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is super soft. Using tongs, remove the pumpkin and let the rice simmer on its own on a low heat for a further 20 minutes or until cooked to a texture of your liking.
  2. The remaining water should have soaked into the rice but if not, drain a little out. Shell the eggs.
  3. Add the pumpkin back in, folding together along with garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Sauté 2-3 minutes and spoon into a bowl and top with egg sliced in half, garnish with fresh herbs or dried oregano.

Macros:

The above makes 2 serves, the macros described are per serve:

Each: 347cal 11gP 6gF 11gC

A special thank you and shout out to my amazing client for the basmati rice tip and all the other hot cooking tips you share. You are a gem!

Lifestyle and Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain will affect 9 in 10 of us, a sad statistic that you can avoid through a couple key lifestyle changes and some exercises and stretches that will nurture you past pain.

Contributing lifestyle factors

Don’t be nervous, you don’t have to change a whole lot and the the little things you do get to implement such as:
– regular desk breaks
– stretches
– key exercises
– and walks
feel great! Little activity breaks throughout the day will also serve to help you stay focused and productive.

What are some drivers of lower back pain?
Our modern lifestyles mean we spend a fair bit of time sitting at a desk, in the car or on the couch etc. Rounding of the shoulders and tight chest muscles are the more noticeable postural dysfunctions that result. Sitting though; puts our hips into flexion, basically anytime our legs are bent up from our waist. This encourages our hip flexors to adaptively shorten. We all know how it feels when we have spent a long time sitting down without a break, tingles, numbness and stiffness, a lack of blood flow and muscles tightening up. This then causes a tightness to develop in our hips which then leads to pain that radiates into the lower back as well as loss of hip extension and an inability to use our glutes. The erector Spinae (muscles that run up and down your spine) through lack of core and glute engagement will also adaptively shorten, pull on the spine and cause pain.

This can feel like:
– An ache in your lower back
– Poor posture and difficulty standing tall and proud
– Tightness and pain that can reach all the way up to your neck
– Pain through the glutes (bum) as well as trouble developing them.

Be your own passion project! You can correct these muscular imbalances and dysfunction with some simple exercises to get yourself standing tall and proud in no time.

Check out the links below to find follow-along workouts you can do from home.

10 minute Glute and Core workout
Upper Body Posture Workout

If you would like someone on your team to get you pain free and feeling your best then reach out!
As an experienced and qualified trainer I am confident we can get you where you need be.

Find out more and get started!

San Choy Bow

A gift of messy, fresh goodness from the East.
Bits will fall out, peanut butter will land on your chin and the sensation of spice meeting lime, meeting the crunch from the lettuce and chew in the savoury mince will have you wanting more.
So don’t be shy, do have fun decorating and go wild in your local asian grocers.

Ingredients:

  • 500g chicken breast mince
  • 1 thumb of ginger sliced
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 1tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp apple sauce
  • 2 tbsp mixed spice
  • 2tbsp dark soy
  • 1tbsp oyster sauce
  • The vessel and the toppings
  • cos lettuce leaves
  • bean shoots
  • spring onion
  • fresh coriander
  • 100% pure peanut butter
  • lime wedges.

Method:

Heat a non-stick (avoid teflon) pan to med-high, then add chicken mince and sliced ginger, season and allow to cook with intermittent string for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add tomato paste, apple sauce, soy sauce, tamarind paste, oyster sauce, sliced garlic cloves and mixed spice.

Take to medium heat and allow to simmer another 5 minutes. While it does so, prepare cos leaves on a plate and slice spring onion and lime wedges.

Next; spoon the mince filling into the cos ‘boats’ sprinkle with bean shoots, drizzle with peanut butter and bedazzle with spring onion and coriander leaves.

Serve with lime for squeezing and bare minimum cutlery. This is interactive eating at its most delicious, get your hands sticky and involved. Get some serious sniffs of that flavour in as you bring each boat to your face for a mouthful.

Macros:
The above makes 3 serves. The following macros are per serve:

Per serve: 287cal 12gC 7.3gF 43gP 

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Sesame Seaweed Salad

Simple and summery, like a trip to an asian coastline. Easily made into a meal with the addition of baked tofu, salmon or poached chicken.

Between the fragrant coriander, saline seaweed and nutty sesame seeds you are so covered for mouthwatering micronutrients.

These light, easily digestible greens will have you loving the season’s warm stirs.

Ingredients:

  • 1 avocado
  • 2 Lebanese cucumbers
  • handful of spinach
  • 1/2 red onion
  • bunch of coriander (a couple leaves saved for garnish)
  • sprinkling of sesame seeds
  • the dressing
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1tbsp fish sauce (omit if plant based)
  • 1/2 thumb grated ginger
  • 1tsp apple cider vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste 

Method:

  1. Peel and thinly slice the avocado. Finely slice the red onion and cucumber (leave the cucumber skins, food waste sucks and their skin is packed wth nutrients!) Tear the seaweed into strips and add to a bowl with spinach and coriander.
  2. Shake dressing ingredients together in a small jar and pour over, let the seaweed wilt a bit and then top with your sesame seeds and a few extra coriander leaves.

Macros:

The above makes 4 serves, (double up if you have the whole tribe over for a bbq or half it if you just need to look after yourself and next day’s lunch) the macros described are per serve:

Each: 127cal 3.5gP 9gF 8gC

We served our salad along baked salmon fillet and cauliflower for a light and nutritious dinner. (You can’t see carbs because we had ours after dinner in the form of chocolate oat dessert cups, which are as good as they sound.)

For nutrition plans and advice that:

  • respects and celebrates your individual needs
  • understands the need to balance family, social life and work commitments
  • is realistic and sustainable
  • without loosing the joy and delight to be taken in meals and food

    Then reach out! I would love to hear from you and get you feeling your best!
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Roasted Tandoori Chicken, Sweet Potato Steaks and Greens with a Drizzle of Spiced Lemon Yoghurt

Your initial time investment is a short and sweet 5 minutes of mixing the marinade together and coating the chicken to be marinaded for 24 hours.

From here, you can achieve the wafts of eastern scents pervading your kitchen from a perfectly roasted meal in just 20 minutes.

A stunning balance of high quality protein, fats and carbs. What else would you want for the mid week?

Paleo, gluten free, dairy free and extremely nutritious and satiating.

Ingredients:

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • 1 bunch broccolini
  • 1/3 cup coconut yogurt (for marinading)
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tsp garem masala
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • pinch of salt and pinch of pepper
  • 1 tsp chili flakes
  • 1tsp ginger powder
  • 1tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seed
  • sumac to garnish and enhance

The Sauce to go atop can be prepared the night before and will keep 4 days in the fridge (so long as your coconut yoghurt is within that use by time frame)

It’s stunning on curries, fish and stir fries so feel free to do a bigger batch if you wish.

  • 1/2 cup coconut yoghurt
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 tsp cardomen
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • pinch of salt

Simply mix together with a fork or whisk until smooth

Method:

  1. First pre heat your oven to 200 degrees celsius and get a a litre of water onto boil in your kettle or stove top. In the meantime, finely slice your sweet potato.
  2. Line a tray with baking paper or a smidge of coconut oil and arrange your chicken and sweet potato slices. Spoon remnants of your yogurt marinade onto the sweet potato and pop into the oven for 16 minutes.
  3. Place broccolini into a pot and blanch with your boiled water for about ten minutes so t retains a lovely crunch and sweetness.
  4. Once the chicken and sweet potato have roasted, remove tray for the oven safely and use tongs to arrange the chicken and sweet potato onto a plate. Shake excess water off the broccolini to go onto the plate.
  5. Drizzle with a your yogurt sauce, sprinkle with sumac and you are good to go.

The above makes 2 serves. The following macros are per serve:

Per serve: 669kcal 39gC 31gF 58gP