Monday, 13 June 2016

Quick easy dinner

Hasslebank chicken with mozzarella and tomato

 

Ingredients x4
- Chicken Breast x4
- Beef tomatoes x2
- Mozarella
- Butternut squash

Directions
- pre heat oven to 180
- Slice into the chicken breasts to make separations
- slice the beef tomatoes in little macaroons
- slice the mozzarella up
- put tomatoes into he chicken slices skin facing up
- put the Mozarella into the gaps with the tomato
- cook for 20 minutes and then take out and push all the tomato into the chicken, put back in oven and cook till chicken is cooked through

- Mean while skin the butternut squash and make into noodles and cook them in the oven for 20 minutes until soft

This meal is clean healthy, perfect for mid week meal, it is also slimming world and Paleo friendly 

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Low carb meal ideas



Meatza
I love my carbs I won't lie pasta, pizza, and the naughty carbs as well

However there is always ways to make food healthier, so to do that I make a meatza every few weeks as it is a firm family favourite, it's basically pizza on a meat base hence meatza! You can also make it in a cauliflower base.

Recipe
375 g mince meat
An egg
Mix together with seasoning and lay out on a baking tray, put in oven for 10 minutes

Toppings
Onion
Spinach
Tomatoes
Bacon
Mozzarella

(Toppings are endless and what ever yo fancy)

Cover mince base with toppings, pop back in oven for 10 minutes


Sunday, 5 June 2016

Pancakes


This morning I really fancied pancakes, I have such a sweet tooth for breakfast, I would happily choose pancakes, waffles over a cooked breakfast any day, however traditional sweet breakfasts are actually worse than you than a 'fry up' due to the fat and suave and all the extra toppings that you choose

Here is the recipe that I used, I made it up but the pancakes turned out lovely

1 egg white
2 whole eggs
A splash of coconut milk
A quarter cup of coconut flour 

Make sure you cook them small to flip them over as they are thinner than normal

To make the sauce
A scoop protein powder
Splash of coconut milk

Top it off with blueberries and pear

Friday, 3 June 2016

I really didn't want to go to the gym

Today I had every intention of going to the gym, I had a healthy breakfast, a healthy pre workout, took the kids to nursery and then I carried on walking straight past the gym and straight home

The sun was shining the weather nice, and as everyone knows in England we are very lucky when we get sunshine so we need to make the most of it


So what I did was got my weights and I made up a leg workout consisting of 10x10 squats
10 x10 walking lunges
10x10 split squats
10x10 weighted hip bridges
10x5 superset 10x5 kettle bell swings and kettlebell glute squat

Safe to say I am dead, feel so much better because I exercised in the fresh air 

No excuses, even when you don't feel up to going to the gym there is always ways to exercise 


Thursday, 2 June 2016

Jamie Eason live fit

I have completed Jamie Eason live fit, it was a 12 week programme split up into 3 sections, each section was broken up into 4 weeks, and the exercises changed every 2 weeks. 

Live fit is a free programme designed by Jamie Eason and is found on body building it is a website which gives free workouts, free advise, nutrition advise from top athletes in the bodybuilding world. It is great to use if you are a beginner or an expert as it give you workout videos, etc.

Jamie Eason has another workout which isn't up on bodybuilding but can be found on her page, it is called from flat to all that, I started that programme a while back to help me get back into routine after my holiday, and will be going back to follow that programme from start to finish and will write a post on it.
show me the weigh


Overview of the programme
The nutrition plan that is for the programme is a good starting point to look at, if you have been eating poorly, then I fully advise taking a look at it, and having a look at the allowed list of foods, that way you can kinda create your own plan if toy don't want to follow the plan. 

I used the allowed foods and made my own meal plan, I did try to stick to my plan as best as possible but did sway a bit but I am only human

The first stage of the programme which is muscle building: weeks 1-4
- no cardio
- 3 sets of 12, 
- exercises are simple to help build up muscle and to perfect form
- simple but effective

Second stage of the programme which is muscle endurance: weeks 4-8
- cardio is added in to help start to shed some of the body fat
- higher reps low weight
- low reps high weight mix to help keep your body functioning
- workouts are still kept simple with videos to help and also alternatives if you find something hard, or can't do due to gym
- lots of super sets which is great, but sometimes hard to do depending on your gym layout, I sometimes had to walk from 1 end of the gym to the next just to do a superset and hold both equipment which can be deemed as rude

Third stage which is the cutting stage: week 8-12
- circuits are added in which sometimes is hard because your gym layout may mean you are wandering around he gym, and having to try hold 2-3 machines at the same time which isn't really easy to do
- plyo exercises are added in which is a great alternative to weights and helps with the cardio and makes it feel like you have worked out harder
-long workout, some of the workouts can take up to 2 hours to do which isn't really something that I can do, I normally run to e gym before my shift at work so by time I have finished I would have to get straight to work which wasn't really something I wanted to do

Overall this is an excellent programme for beginners or someone that hasn't done strength exercises for a while, this programme gives you an excellent structure and each programme gets harder and progresses you, it give you chance to get stronger, build strength and also to cut body fat whilst regaining your strength

I would fully recommend is programme to any one, especially people that are just going around in circles and do not feel that they are progressing 

Monday, 30 May 2016

Homemade nakd bars

Nakd bars are great, high in sugar but only because of the fruit however they are not the cheapest to buy so making your own is great

150g cashew nuts
6 whole dates
90g cherries 

Place the cashew nuts in food processor and blend till fine breadcrumbs and then pour into a bowl
Put cherries and dates in processor and blend till broken
Slowly add cashew nuts into mixture
Pour mixture into a container or lunchbox, make sure tightly packed
Cover and place in fridge for at least 2 hours
After 2 hours take out and cut into 8 equal bars
Wrap each bar and keep in the fridge


Sunday, 29 May 2016

Homemade oat bars

shop bought bars can contain a lot of sugar and added ingredients, if you make your own you can control what goes in it, especially if you are giving them to your children

Here is some basic ingredients to make your own bars, however you can go creative and add what you want

3 cups basic oats
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of nuts
1 cup of mixed fruit, such as cranberries, and raisins
1 tbs pure maple syrup or honey
1 cup of milk
1 tsp cinnamon
Protein powder (optional)

Pre heat oven to 180
Mix all the ingredients together
Line a baking tray and pour ingredients in
Bake for 40 minutes or till cooked


Multi level pyramid schemes

Herbalife, what is it? Is it good for you? Does it work?
Herbalife was fonded in the 1980s according to the website Herbalife it promises to change your life through a balanced diet and using their products and exercise. The website does a really good job at selling the product, by stating how to advancing sports nutrition through scientific research, they have done an excellent job at promoting it by stating how they have people with PhDs working for them, scientists etc, to he average,person they would be feeling very excited that they will be looked after by all these people and the products will be excellent. 

The principle of Herbalife is to help you loose weight through their shakes and their protein bars, the website has a meal plan for you to follow, it is basically shake for breakfast, which is 220kcal it does give you other examples such as porridge, scrambled egg on toast , snack is their protein bar or fruit etc, lunch is another shake, snack is protein bar or their soup, and dinner is a proper meal

This sounds ok, easy enough to do, however it is also very similar to slim fast etc, 2 shakes and 1 meal, however the products on the website do not give you the ingredients that are in them, they state they are high in protein from dairy and soy, but does not state the sugar or the fat content, or the carb content, now on other websites such as dolphin fitness which is a website that sells protein products, it states all the nutritional value of the products that you are purchasing so you can actually see what you are putting in your body.

The thing is with this is how little calories you are actually putting in your body, if you are drinking two shakes a day and having the protein bar as 1 snack, which is 140 kcal and then the soup which is 104 kcal you are only taking in 684 kcal so for dinner you are allowed a meal now even if the meal was 500 kcal you would only be taking in 1,184 kcal a day, when the average person should be taking in around 1600/2000 calories and most of that is before you do any physical exercise, not just your average days walking. 

Do you see why people see results with this product? It is to do with how little calories they are taking in, now we all know what happened if they stop the product, they are likely to pile on more weight which leads to yo yo dieting, things like is isn't really long term because your body will eventually stall and you will up your exercise, or try to but with the little amount of energy your body is taking in, you will become ill.

On the website it gives you career opportunities, and people will get in contact with you promising excellent career opportunities, excellent benefits of selling, you will see people on social media sites like Facebook saying how they are doing really well selling the product, have a great team behind them, going on holiday etc, now his makes it sound so exciting, all you have to do is promote the product and sell it, and you make money, great.. You are told that two really big stars are using the product, Christian Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, now these stars are paid millions of pounds to endource this product, but if you think about it they really won't be using it, they play football which requires 90 minutes 2 times a week, they train every day sometimes twice a day, now they need to be taking in more than 1,184 calories a day, especially as they are male, so please think about this before signing up to the product because they are promoting the products.

Herbalife is what is described as a multi level pyramid scheme, a multi level pyramid scheme is based on people distributing the products and people buying the products, the people at the bottom of the pyramid will not be earning any money and the people at the top will be he high earners, people are recruited with the promise of earning big money, working from home and being able to quickly move up the chain, the more you sell the more money you make. To join Herbalife you need to buy the products, you will then receive a discount on the products, you then have to sell the products in any way you possibly can, by door to door leaflets, by promoting he products on your social media site, pyramid schemes this website describes pyramid schemes in better detail, but basically you won't be making any money till you make your way up the pyramid scheme, and most people won't be doing that because they won't get enough people to buy he products.

Most people that distribute Herbalife are not people with any background knowledge on health, nutrition or fitness, I'm not saying that everyone should have that background knowledge, but personally if you do not know what you are selling how do you expect to sell it, I have been as,ed on many occasions to sell it, and to start with the idea of earning extra money did seem like a great idea, until I reseated the product or the lack of research I could do on the products, as the website is great at saying how they have all these amazing people working for the product but lack any information on the product it self, personally I am a big believer in eating food and exercising, the old saying eat less move more works well for me, however I certainly know I need more than 1000 calories a day to survive let alone if I am doing exercise. 

Recently I have been told I would be good at being a coach for them, and that I am wasted in my job! I am a fitness coach I am also saving up to do a nutrition course, now I work in a gym and coaching people would be good, and giving them advise on nutrition, which I am not yet qualified to do, however the Herbalife people automatically think they are qualified to give nutritional advise to people, now unless you have done a degree in nutrition or done a course and worked your way up for 7 years, you are not qualified to give nutritional advise, also these people coach people exercise etc, just because you have done your level 2 fitness exam, which any one can do, does not mean you are greater than the next person, it is a hard job being in the fitness industry and there are always new things to be learnt and researched, Herbalife being one of them, before you decide extra income is good, make sure you research the product you are trying to sell.

Would you buy a product by someone who is just a Joe Bloggs from across the road, that has no knowledge in the fitness and nutrition industry? I know a lot of people are after quick fixes, have tried it all and are still depressed about their weight, but please do not take to shakes as a way to do it, there is enough information on the Internet, books, join a gym, even go to the doctors and get sent to a dietician who will help you! Sign up for slimming world or weight watchers which also have great results (I will do a post on them) do it as a family, just please make sure you eat.

Juice plus what is it? Will it work?
Juice plus was founded in 1993 so it is actually a relatively new product, juice plus, juice plus states how it is hard to eat fruit and veg a day, so have concentrated the best part of 30 different fruit and veg and put them into capsules, that adults take two capsules and children take one a day. 

Here is a quick run down on the programme thanks to a weigh loss website what is juice plus?
- meal replacement plan with 3 elements
- cut down on calories by substituting meals for shakes or bars
- up your fruit and veg intake
-supplement your diet with juice based tablets

How to follow the plan:
- detox for 2 weeks
-replace 2 meals a day for 2 weeks
-take the juice plus supplements

Yet again it's only around 1000 calories a day, just like Herbalife, which is why people, especially very overweight people see the results

It is yet another pyramid scheme so only the people on the top will benefit from it, it contains a lot of chemicals in the shakes and the capsules, only the people with the products can see what's in them as the website are very good at hiding them, and just promoting how amazing it is to have the products.

You will get results if you are severely overweight, the same as if you cut down to 1000 calories without the shakes, the same as if you would to just drink an average protein shake at every meal rather than food.

Please do your research properly before falling down those routes, and remember photo shop is a lot of people's best friends



Friday, 27 May 2016

Post workout meal

Post workout for me is my lunch as I tend to workout lunch time once I drop the children at nursery

So I need to make sure it has all the correct macro and micros to help repair my muscles from my workout


Veg sausages
Salad
Sweet potato
And fig jam


One pot meals

I love one pot meals, as a busy mommy it makes my life so much easier

Here is my dinner, it is chicken and chorizo jambalaya 

One onion
One pepper
Tim of tomatoes
Chorizo
Frozen diced chicken
Cajun spice
Rice
Chicken stock

Put it all in the pot and cook till the rice has cooked takes about 40 minutes in total