Staying Strong to Stay Lean

I had a mammoth strength session this morning. But I have a confession...I dont think I have lifted anything heavier than my bike (non carbon bike, mind you, up and down 5 flights of stairs!) for months and months and, well, you get the picture.

What prompted my return to the lifting of the heavy things? This great little info session by Dr Rick Kattouf regarding obtaining and maintaining optimal weight for endurance athletes. One of the main points I took away is that he gets all of his athletes to strength train 3 times a week all year round. Regardless of if it is racing season or not. He believes the strength training, along with eating every 2.5-3.5hrs is the key to maintaining performance and weight. And really, without sounding like a twat, I knew all of this, its just that things very easily fall by the wayside when you are training for triathlon. I mean, you have to try to run a lot, and ride a lot and swim a lot and its very easy to get in to the trap of skipping core and strength work in favour of a few more kms on the bike and intervals on the track. Well, those days are over. Back to strength training. I will let you know what impact it has.

And my delicious breakfast after my Schwarzenegger rivaling workout? A Choc Beet Smoothie. I know, I know, getting rather creative in the smoothie kitchen aren't I?

Choc Beet Smoothie

Serves 1

300mls Almond milk (or any other, you know the drill)
1serve Pea protein
Handful of baby spinach
1/4lge Beetroot, roasted
1/3lge Banana
1-2t Organic cocoa powder
1/2c Ice

 
Then blend, blend, blend

I promise I will work on the camera skills. Until then lets all pretend that I get a 5 year old to take them.

Have a great day!

After my dalliance with testing the 'efficiency' waters, it was back to business this morning. It is, after all, racing season. And I am, reportedly, going to attempt not to drown in my first Tri on April 1st.

I did a great little run session this morning that I thought I would share with everyone. What is so great about it is the fact that no matter how experienced (or inexperienced) you are at running, you can still get this done. So the plan was...

10min jog warmup
5 x 3min at 10s or 20s below race pace with a 1min30s recovery jog in between
10min jog cooldown

And because I am terrible at following directions and I can't leave well enough alone, what I actually did was this...

8min jog warmup
6 x 3min at 20s or 40s below race pace with a 1min30s recovery jog in between
6min jog cooldown

It felt awesome and my pace kept improving as I went which really affirmed what I already know - I am build for distance, not for short sharp speed.

Now if you are new to running and thinking this is all too difficult, never fear. Just make it simpler. I wouldn't expect you would have a garmin, but you can buy any old sports watch from a junk store and just run hard for 3 mins and then walk or jog for 1min30s and then go again. You might need to do a few less intervals, but as the weeks go by add one more interval a week and you will see changes very quickly. Also, if running is a challenge for you, then make your warmup and cooldown a brisk walk. Good luck! Tell me all about how you go.

And now for the breakfast of champions. (Champions in their own backyard, but champions none the less)

Fruit and Veg Smoothie

Serves 1

250ml Almond milk (or rice, goat, cow, soy, oat)
1/3 lge Banana
Big handful of spinach
2 handfuls frozen berries
1 serve pea protein (or soy or rice or cow)

Blend and enjoy

Train hard, eat hard.

Don't forget to tell me about your run sessions!

A Cheese to Treat you Right

The last time I tried to train according to my heart rate I ended up having to run so slowly I injured myself and couldn't run for 6 weeks. Go figure. But that was long enough ago now for me to have training amnesia and a new found desire to improve my cellular efficiency when it comes to swimming, riding and running.

Friday I set off on a nice 8km run, with the aim to keep my heart rate around 145bpm, just to gauge where I am at in terms of efficiency. If running so slow that you are able to hold a pretend microphoone and sing 'Love on Top' by Beyonce is efficient, then i'm there. I averaged 6min45sec km's at that heart rate. I usually run comfortably at 5min20's. So what does this mean?
1. My efficiency is poor. Sad face
2. I should see great improvement in my times when I build my efficiency and I have so much room for improvement. Happy face.
3. I am a multi-talented multi-tasking sing/runner

After April, bring on the base training.

And now to food. How I loveth thee.

Cheese and I have one of 'those' relationships. Everyone has had one. I love cheese, but it don't love me.

Every now and then, I get all nostalgiac, remembering back to how much fun we had together. And I go right back to cheese and it ends the same way every time. Cheese is just incapable of treating me good.

Those of you who can't eat cheese will know, that life is not quite the same without it. Pasta isn't as flavorsome, lasagne seems pointless and pizza is a bit boring. So you will understand when I say that finding how to make an easy, healthy, dairy free parmesan cheese, is possibly the most exciting food find I have had since superorbs.

This recipe has only 3 ingredients and can be made in under 2 minutes. I like to make a batch and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Whilst i'm sure it would keep for at least a few weeks, it has never actually lasted that long at my house.

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

1/2c Raw macadamias
2T Nutritional yeast
1/4t Himalayan sea salt (or other salt)

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor and store in the fridge.

I hope this cheese treats you right, just like you deserve.

Scientifically Proven By Science. Pffffft.

There was a study published recently, in which overweight subjects were placed on a calorie restricted diet (1400cals a day for women and 1600cals a day for men). Half of all participants ate a breakfast consisting of 600calories, which included something sweet like cake or biscuits as well as the usual breakfast fare and the other half had a regular breakfast of 300 calories. All groups ate the same amount of total calories per day.

On average the participants from both groups lost the same amount of weight. The participants were then allowed to return to their regular eating, but continued with either their 300 calorie or 600 calorie breakfasts.  The results? The group who ate 300 calorie breakfasts averaged a weight gain of of 24 pounds and the group who ate 600 calorie breakfasts averaged 15 pounds of weight gain.

Now the research findings included highly intelligent ideas, such as that eating cake for breakfast helps with weight control and may stave off hunger cravings later in the day. What is so amazingly crystal clear to me, and what should have been the primary finding,  is that diets do not work. Calorie restriction does not work. Whether 15 or 24 pounds were re-gained, the point is that some of these people have had their weight fluctuate by over 12kg in the space of 6 months. How healthy is this?

Lasting weight loss happens when people identify why they overeat or make poor food choices and put sound habits in place to change their lifestyle, such as increasing physical activity and eating simple, wholefood diets. Lots of wholefoods. These foods contain the very things that help our bodies to work properly, so why would we restrict them?

On that note, I have an absolutely delicious rawfood recipe for you today

This is my fave salad lately. Its fresh, its light and it is quick to prepare. Don't let the fact that it does not contain and meat or animal product put you off. Its full of fibre, essential fatty acids and green goodness.I challenge you to eat this 3 times a week and see how you fel.

Raw Zucchini Sunflower Salad

Serves 1

1 Handful baby spinach, shredded
1/4 Avocado diced
6 Baby tomatoes halved
1/2 Lge zucchini diced
1 Spring onion diced
2T Sunflower seeds
2t Tamari or soy sauce
1t Sweet chilli sauce

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy.

Oh, and remember...no cake for breakfast. Much love x

I Like Pina Coladas

What better time to try and incorporate a stiff drink in to your breakfast regime than on a Monday morning? I kid, I kid. But I was looking for a little bit of smoothie-inspiration. You see, I have been eating my Choco-nana Smoothie (see earlier post because, well, it rocks) for breakfast 6 days a week since the beginning of time. I may have taken some liberty there - I think its more like 4 or 5 months.

Enter the Pina Colada smoothie. A delicious mix of pineapple, organic coconut cream, almond milk and pea protein. Now, for ease during the week, I actually pre-made the pineapple and coconut cream in to smoothie cubes and froze them. A small moment of brilliance on my part. It happens every now and then around here. 

I used certified organic coconut cream because sometimes the regular stuff can come from areas of the world that make a brilliant vodka red bull but have less than brilliant food regulations. I bought pre-chopped pineapple only because it was on special. Feel free to buy your own and chop away. If you do buy your own make sure to leave the core in - its a great source of bromelain which is a potent anti-inflammatory and helps with digestion. I used pea protein and almond milk, but as always these can be changed to what ever you prefer.

First I made the smoothie 'cubes'. In the blender I combined the pineapple (about 2 cups chopped) and 120mls of the organic coconut cream. I blended it until it was well combined and then poured in to a silicone muffin tray.

Now I would NEVER in a million years bake with these things, but they are great for freezing stuff. They can be purchased from a thrift store for about $2.

I froze the pineapple mix overnight and in the morning I mixed up my smoothie.


Pina Colada Smoothie

2 Pineapple Cream smoothie cubes
250mls Almond Milk
1 Serve Pea Protein

Blend, blend, blend.

"I like pina coladas ... and the taste of champagne"

The Old Switcheroo

Happy Sunday people! In keeping with the spirit of my new philosophy of 'do what makes you happy' I threw the schedule to the wind this morning, stood on my balcony and decided that a nice long trail run was in order. It didn't disappoint. It was 9km of sunshine filled, glistening bay, Garmin free, chilled out bliss.

Now Sunday may be Church day for some, but in this household, its cooking day. I usually make 2 savoury dishes and something sweet so that lunches and snacks are minimal fuss during the week. 5am wake-ups and long work days usually mean I don't have a lot of energy for cooking or preparing in the evening, so this way all the prep is done.

Now i'm a bit of a foodie so whilst I wouldn't say all of my recipes are terribly complex, I wouldn't say that they could all be made by those who are less gifted in the kitchen. Actually, that's a lie. They could be made by those who are less gifted in the  kitchen, but I can understand why they might seem too intimidating for some of you to try. Here is where the old trick of the old switcheroo comes in handy. (What? you don't remember that old trick?!)

Those poor folk who get to encounter me on a daily basis will have heard me talking about 'good, better, best' when it comes to diet and lifestyle. People are very often wanting to know if a food is 'good' or 'bad'. I like to think of thinks on a scale. For bread, my scale would go something like this;
White bread (with yeast) = skip
Wholemeal bread (with yeast) = good
Wholemeal bread with nuts and seeds (with yeast) = better
Wholemeal Spelt/rye/oat bread without yeast = best

The same system can be applied to muffins. Oh, how I love muffins. Obviously you want to skip the white chocolate raspberry muffins at Maccas. And best case scenario is to make your own from scratch with dried fruits and nuts and seeds. But today I just wanted a chocolate muffin that tasted like a chocolate muffin but that has some kind of nutrition in it. Enter the fixer-uppered Vitarium Choc Muffins.

This muffin mix can be purchased at most major supermarkets and it is a gluten, dairy, egg and nut free muffin mix that uses a stevia sweetner mixture, which means, as the packet says, its low in sugar. Now, truly wholefood muffins these are not, but with a little bit of tweaking, they are a very easy, very quick 'better' option.

The directions caled for butter, milk and eggs and so I substituted the milk for water and the butter for another egg. The result is less fat and a less dense muffin and thanks to the eggs they pack a bit more protein. Then I added to the packet mix, once prepared as directed;

4T Chia seeds
1/2c chopped Walnuts

The result is that the muffins have crunchy tasty goodness in them, and they are now packing fibre, essential fatty acids, magnesium and vitamin E. Oh, and I forgot to mention they are delicious!

How to Read Nutrition Labels - Part 3 The Last Hurrah!

Ok, lets get the important business out of the way first. How was everyones weekends? What? You didn’t stage your own personal triathlon at 6am on Sunday. That’s a shame. It was fun.

Now on to more pressing business. The 3^rd and final installment of reading nutrition labels. Sounds serious doesn’t it?

This post is going to be all about how to read the nutrition panel on a label. You know, the box with all the numbers in it. I’m not going to lie, this is the most challenging part of reading food labels and if, after part 1 and 2 you find this overwhelming then

Do me a favor and please don’t give up on all of it.

Get comfortable with part 1 and 2 for a few months then when you’re ready, step on up to the plate my friend.

So in the words of Run DMC – “it goes a lil’ something like this…”

All food is made up of Macronutrients. The macronutrients are;

Protein

Carbohydrate

Fat

Fibre

Water

Then there are Micronutrients. I would like to say that all foods contain macronutrients, but then I remember that twinkies exist and I feel that statement would be incorrect. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of micronutrients and we discover new ones all the time. You would have heard of micronutrients such as;

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Lycopene

This list could last pages. My concentration could not.

So before we move on to the nutrition panel I will give you an uber brief rundown of what macronutrients do so that you can start to get an understanding of where we want to position them in our diets. This is by no means a definitive list. If you wish to surrender hours of your life that you can never get back then I recommend the light holiday reading of “Advanced Nutrition & Human Metabolism by Groff, Gropper and Hunt”. I kid, I kid.

Back to my point.

Protein is responsible for the repair of cells, it is needed for your immune system to function properly and an integral part of hormone balance, including the hormones that help to regulate your appetite and mood etc.

Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel source of your body. They are easily utilized as energy.

Fats make up part of the wall of every single one of your cells and so are essential to life also. Fat is not the devil. They are not called essential fatty acids because they are optional. You need fats for hormones, skin, brain function etc.

Fibre contributes to the balance of good bacteria in your digestive system and keeps you regular. Remember, if you don’t poop you die. I am not lying.

Water. Can’t live without it. Its that simple.

Some nutrition panels will have percentage values on them. These are meant to indicate the percentage of your daily intake. They very kindly put these on chocolate. But beware, the percentages are usually based on the diet that a moderate sized male who exercised most days would require. They are as valuable as the label on the packet of cookies that says ‘Fresh Baked’ but has a useby date of Oct 2013.So glad our government payed people to devise these.

You could go on and on analyzing nutrition panels but I find their value lies in quickly being able to see if a food is mostly carbohydrate, protein or fat. From this you can start to see imbalances in your diet. For instance if you are starving an hour after breakfast, look at the nutrition panels of what you eat. Are you getting at least 15g of protein in your breakfast to give you a slow steady release of energy? Or is your breakfast all carbohydrate?

If you want to investigate your own nutrition needs in terms of energy, protein, carbohydrate etc then consult a nutritionist, dietitian or do some of your own research (but remember to use quality sources)

And here is where I leave you. Keep it simple. Enjoy mostly ‘real’ foods. Strive for balance. Enjoy your life (I mean, that’s a ‘duh’ one, but sometimes we need to be reminded). Peace out.

How to Read Nutrition Labels - Part 2 Avoid the Jazz

Watch out for the jazz. Not the music, the words that food companies slap on to food labels to help us to form all sorts of ideas about the contents inside. When it comes down to it, these words rarely mean anything and whilst they are not totally misleading, they are really not far off. Here are a few of my favourites;

'Natural' – this word means nothing when it comes to labeling. There are no restrictions as to what it can and can’t be applied to. A muesli bar that contains 5 teaspoons of sugar can be called ‘natural’ because, you know, at some stage, before it was heated and treated and refined, that sugar was in a sugar cane plantation. And it has oats in it.

'Nature Identical' – this too, is really non-descript. ‘Nature identical flavors’ are chemically identical to natural flavorings but are prepared or extracted using chemical methods. ‘Natural’? Nuh-uh.

'Fat Free' – now this one is sneaky. A lot of the time when this word is put on to labels, it is applied to foods that never had a fat content to begin with. Like rice. People read this and think 'fat=bad. Rice=fat free=eat 3 cups a day'. Good plan for an ironman, not a great plan for a truck driver. Then there are the times when this is applied to foods like yoghurt. Lots of processes have to happen to take the fat out of the yoghurt. Thats alls i'm sayin'.


'Sugar Free' – BEWARE! Maltitol, sorbitol, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose, just to name a few. One word to describe these chemicals – rubbish!

And then of course there are the things that are ‘with added’ - like ‘with added calcium’…written on a bottle of orange juice. Or ‘with added fibre’ on the whitest bread you have ever seen. Puh-lease!

So when i'm looking at food labels I look at the ingredient listing and the nutrition table and disregard all the buzz words written on it. If it is fat free or natural, all will be revealed when you real the important facts on the back of the pack.

How did you go with reading ingredient lists? Next up is a crash course in macronutrients (Protein, carbohydrates, fat, water and fibre) and how I quickly assess a food by looking at the nutrition panel.

Enjoy your weekends kids. Over and out.

How to Read Nutrition Labels - Part 1 K.I.S.S

Ok. I have had some requests for posting. Apparently, some of you guys are confused, very confused and all in a tizz trying to decipher the mumbo-jumbo that is nutrition labels. So, I thought I would tell you the basic rules I use when choosing my foods.
The great part is that I think you will all be pleasantly surprised by how simple it is. I will give you the basics and the facts, and whilst there are always some exceptions to the rules, just try and remember we are not aiming for perfection here. You could give yourself an ulcer trying to achieve perfection with nutrition. The aim is to be healthy, happy, balanced human beans. Insert smilie face here.

So - because I want to keep it simple and I dont want to bore you, I am breaking this up in to a few sections.

Section 1

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

Im going to preface this section by saying that if it doesn't have a nutrition label eg, it is in the fresh fruit and veg section, then the chances are its good for me. Big tick for all foods in the fruit and veg section in moderation. Moderation and balance is key. A little potato in its jacket a few times a week is great if you really love them. A kilo of mashed potato every night for dinner may not be as healthy. Use your noggin - it all makes sense!

So, once I have identified a food that does have a nutrition label, the first section I look at is the ingredients listing. In Australia the ingredients listing on foods should be in order of the largest component of the item to the smallest. So, for example, if sugar is the very first item listed, it means it is the largest component of the food. If sugar is 8th out of 9 ingredients, then there is probably not a huge amount in there.

The second thing I look at is the actual ingredients.
Can I understand what all of the ingredients are? eg. do I know what high fructose corn syrup is or how its made?
Are they in their whole form? eg high fructose corn syrup and plain corn are very different. The more mumbo jumbo in the ingredients listing, the more that has been done to it and remember - we are trying to keep it simple.
Does it list preservatives, additives, colourings etc? eg. I usually identify these by checking for numbers like 'sweetner 951'. If I have to say 'what's that' then I choose to say 'no thanks'. Now before you start asking if aspartame causes cancer or if it is really so bad, just go back to the golden rule. Keep it simple. They dont grow aspartame in the ground and you cant make it in your kitchen so my theory is that its just not a food!

So once I have looked at all of this info I begin to make my choice. If the ingredients are all whole foods and then towards the end it lists 'Acidity Regulator 332' and this is the best option of all the different branded products, then this is what I go with. Let me give you an example - these are the ingredient listings of 2 well known soy milks;

Filtered water, soy protein (3.5%), corn maltodextrin, vegetable oils (sunflower, canola) [contains antioxidant (tocopherols) (contains soy)], cane sugar, minerals (phosphates of calcium, potassium and magnesium), acidity regulator (332), antioxidant (ascorbic acid), vitamins (A, B12, B2, B1), natural flavour.

and the other

Filtered water, whole organic soybeans, tapioca syrup, Jobs Tears (a select type of barley), sea salt, calcium carbonate

Ok - so how did you go?
The second is my pick. Its simpler, has more whole foods and less additives. I think its important to point out that whilst i'm a fan of good nutrition, i'm generally not a fan of adding vitamins and minerals to foods. When vitamins and minerals are added to foods they are often synthetic forms and highly processed. Plus, if you have a great wholefood diet you should get most of the vits and mins you need anyway!

Give it a whirl next time you're in the supermarket and see how you go.


And remember, as always, this is general info and if you want specific information tailored to your needs then you should visit your healthcare professional.