No Bake Paleo Cookies

I wrote a while back about eating a paleo based diet 80% of the time.

I also like cake.

These two things don’t naturally sit together.

So when I came accross some sweet paleo recipies I decided I needed to give them a go.

Last week i tried to make paleo cookies.

Not too much mess!

And… they were a success!

They tasted like cookie dough and satisfied my sweet tooth … and were huge (a bit sticky but i think that was me measuring the ingredients wrong).

Plus because I added protein powder they were also a high protein snack which is a win when you are trying to hit your protein for the day.

Ready to chill

So I’m just going to leave the link to the recipie here because I can’t lay claim for inventing these!

https://thebigmansworld.com/2015/11/06/healthy-no-bake-giant-paleo-cookie-for-one/

If you are trying to follow a paleo plan I can highly reccommend giving them a try!

The finished product

No Jazzy Title, Just an Honest One Today

I’ve struggled to train recently. I’ve also struggled to hit a calorie deficit in the last few weeks, having some really good days food wise and then some days where I’m dramatically overeating all the wrong stuff. This has coincided with not feeling 100% myself.

I don’t know why – nothing has happened to make me feel down and there hasn’t been any reason for my training or food intake to be affected. Often I find the two go hand in hand though – so if my training or diet isn’t great I will feel a bit low and when I feel a bit low I’ll eat my bodyweight in chocolate and train less.

I’ve realised that I, like most people I imagine, get myself caught in self – destructive cycles where if one thing isn’t perfect it feels like nothing is right, and in turn I let myself sabotage other areas of my life. I get a downer on myself where I feel like everything I do is substandard. The last few weeks I’ve questioned myself on so many things that to others may seem ridiculous and been upset about things I should have brushed off.

One thing I’m getting better at though is recognising this in myself, because this is when you can step back, get some perspective and draw a line.

Realistically I’ve still trained 2-3 times every week for the past few weeks, as well as teaching and running a half marathon – so I’ve not really been lazy.
I’ve finished the last two weeks in a calorie surplus which isn’t great, but I’ve hit my protein goals and I’m not overweight so I’ve not done any lasting damage.
I’ve been a bit down but I know I’ve had some stressful situations to deal with plus been poorly so this isn’t the start of something terrible, I’ve just let myself get a bit stressed.

What I’ve started to try and do when this happens is train – no pressure- just go to the gym and do something (and enjoy it) and then eat nice but fresh food that isn’t processed and sugar filled. Normally I’ll start to feel more positive quickly just from this little system.

Three points from this:

A week or so ago was Mental Health Week and there were lots of great posts- but people struggle all year round so don’t be afraid to speak up at other times if you feel like everything is getting to be just a bit much.
Sometimes depression doesn’t affect you all in. Sometimes you are perfectly fine and functioning just not feeling 100%. This doesn’t mean it’s any less important to recognise and deal with it – and being aware of how you feel and how you can improve your mood can sometimes help you catch yourself.
For me – physical wellness and mental wellness are closely linked. Small habits make a big difference to my mind-set.

15 Tips to Help Improve Mental Health

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week I wanted to offer some ideas of simple things you can do relating to fitness and nutrition to help improve your mental health and manage depression and anxiety:

1) Drink water

Most of us don’t drink enough water at the best of time and if you feel low the chances are you will drink even less. Fill a water bottle and sip throughout the day. Dehyration causes fatigue and has been linked to feelings of depression so drinking water is a cheap, low effort way of helping you feel a bit better.

2) Vitamin D

This can help make you feel better natutally. You can buy supplements, a light box, possibly use a sunbed or even better get outside and get some fresh air at the same time. Little effort required for a potential improvement in your mood.

3) Fish Oil

Omega 3 has been linked to improving symptons of mild depression. Make the effort to take a supplement each day – you can buy it in liquid form if you can’t swallow tablets (and are brave!). This was one simple habit that has worked well for me.

4) Eat regular meals

When you feel low eating proper meals at regular times can go out the window. Set an alarm for regular intervals and eat a small simple meal when it goes off. This will help stabilise your mood and create a feeling of routine and normality which can help when life feels like it’s crumblig around you.

5) Eat colourful food

Go to the shop and buy lots of different colourerd food. If you don’t feel like cooking buy prepared veg and fruit. Eating a variety of colours will mean your getting a variety of nutrients and will help improve your mood as well as your health.

6) Eat simple healthy meals

Eating healthy foods can have a dramatic affect on how well your mind feels. If I’ve had a bad week a simple healthy meal can help me feel more positive and in control of my own mind and body. It may sound stupid but when i eat well I feel like my body feels better and I’m looking after myself which in turn makes me feel brighter within myself. On days like this I won’t have the energy to cook a fancy meal so I go for a simple piece of salmon I can microwave or grill and a pack of microwave veg. 10 minutes to prepare a good quality meal.

7) Try some alternative meal prep

The holy grail of fitness freaks! Cooking is the last thing you want to do when you feel depressed. So if you find yourself having a good day make the most of it and prepare so batches of food that you can freeze. Then on days you just can’t face cooking you can defrost one of these meals and still eat something homemade.

8) Buy a slow cooker

Slow cookers allow you to make healthy tasty meals with little effort -and a casserole is brilliant comfort food. They are great for preparing a comforting meal without much effort and will make you feel better thab turning to chocolate and other quick food sources that we often crave when we feel low.

9) Drink less coffee

Adrenal Fatigue and depression / anxiety are linked. Too much coffee puts you at risk of developing adrenal fatigue – drinking less will help reduce stress levels. You could try a herbal tea instead which many people find helps then relax.

10) Walk

Getting outside helps you move more -that will help your mental health. Fresh air will help lift your mood. Being outside will help increase vitamin D intake. Walking can help clear your head. Walking is free. In short one of the best and most simple things you can do to help yourself.

11) Exercise

As I said moving has been shown to help manage many mental health issues. You may not feel much like it but it can be in any form and doesn’t need to be for long periods of time to help. Start small and build up as you start to feel like you can.

12) Dance

Stick music on and just move to the music. Music can improve mood as can moving which makes thos fun activity a win win mood boosting activity.

13) Try group exercise

Nerve wracking and requires motivation. Sounds awful if you aren’t having the best day. But if you can push yourself to walk into the room you can find exercise, motivation, good music and social interaction in one place. It’s hars to leave a class not feeling at least a little bit more positive than when you walked in.

14) Join a team or club

Another nervewracking idea. Another idea which will allow you to exercise which will help your mental health and get to meet new people, another great mood booster. It can also help boose confidence which will help your mental health dramatically.

15) Try yoga

A chance to challenge your body and stretch along with a focus on breathing and mental wellbeing. You could try a class or find a free video on You tube. You could do and hour or even 5 minutes. Whatever you feel like at the start there is an option you could try out and you may feel more relaxes by the end of it.

Do you have any other tips for improving your mental health?

Paleo

Recently I’ve been eating a Paleo based diet which has been working out pretty well for me.

When I say Paleo based I don’t mean strict Paleo. I’ve tried that previously and never found it sustainable.

The ‘strict’ way I managed 21 days. I ate only meat or eggs, veg and fat in the forms of nuts, oils and avacados. No dairy, fruit, carbs – even potatoes. It worked well – I lost weight, body fat, looked super lean. But it was hell. I was grumpy, craved everything and felt dizzy and weak frequently. It actually put me off trying a more relaxed form after the 21 days were up. But after trying IM fasting and deciding that wasn’t for me my trainer suggested I give Paleo another go, but this time trying his more flexible version.

I did and now I’ve settled into eating a Paleo based diet for four days a week and then just eating sensibly the other three days.

Generally I eat Paleo Monday to Friday as my job means I’m office based these days and then I can have treats over the weekend when I’m out and about.

This Paleo means I eat:

Meat
Eggs
Veg
Potatoes in small quantities
Avacado
Nuts
Fruit
Almond or coconut milk

I also drink protein shakes to hit my protein targets.

I don’t eat:

Bread
Pasta
Rice
Sweets
Chocolate
Crisps
Refined sugar
Honey or syrups
Milk
Cheese
Yoghurt
Processed foods

The three main benefits of this are:

It’s easy to hit your protein target for the day
It’s hard to over eat and end up in a calories surpluss (in fact I frequently end up in a large deficit on these days)
It makes me feel less bloated and more energetic

On the other three days I still try and eat Paleo around 80% of the time but I will add in some other carbs and some treats to satisfy my sweet tooth. I still make sure I hit my protein target.

This means

Mentally I don’t feel like binging as much as I used to because I know I am ‘allowed’ foods I like every week
I make up some of the deficit built up earlier in the week whilst still not ruining my progress

I use this system to hit a 15-20% calorie deficit accross the week (a safe deficit) and to hit my protein target of 160g a day (2g protein per 1kg of body weight) without having to count calories or track macros obsessively.

It allows me to eat A LOT (my workmates will attest to how much I eat) and to eat a lot of good quality, tasty food with lots of colour and variety. I don’t need to rely on meal replacements or processed foods so much any more (which can make me feel sluggish). Added to drinking lots of water its an eating system that has left me feeling good (and lean).

It’s also a flexible enough system that if someone brings in Cosco Carrott cake (my drug of choice – one word – sugar!!!) to work on a Tuesday I can swap my Paleo days -enjoy some cake and just eat Paleo on Friday instead.

It won’t work for everyone and there’s lots if other ways of managing your eating out there that work for others but this is a flexible, safe and healthy option that is working well for me.

Motivation (and the weather)

I struggled to put my thoughts on paper today, so I recorded it instead.

https://youtu.be/L2C3O6mnNrE

This is just my opinion and some may disagree but hopefully you still find it a little interesting.

I’d like to stress that people train and eat certain foods for all sorts of reasons and I understand for some dissatisfaction is an excellent motivator – in which case why not stick with what works.

But i think positive motivators and choosing activities that you actually enjoy and fit into your life can have such an impact on physical and mental health.

It did for me.

Jim Buddy Protein Donuts

I just need to tell you about these.

So I was sat at my desk on Wednesday when a colleague came over to tell me about a protein donut he’d tried.

My work colleagues know I like cake!

Now I know I need to hit my protein target daily AND as I’ve said I like cake!

Come Friday therefore there was a box of 6 Jim Buddy protein donuts sitting on my desk!

I gave one to the person who told me about them (I’m nice like that!) which left 5 for me to sample.

And my verdict is… try them!

They do 4 flavours (Chocolate orange, peanut butter, vanilla and banana cream)
The are £2.79 each (so think Krisy Kreme type donut with protein)
They are decent size- for the calories I was a bit worried they would arrive and be bite size!
They are only 99 calories per donut
They have 8-10g of protein per donut
They are pretty low in sugar
They look like Krispy Kreme donuts!

I’ll be totally honest you can tell it’s not normal donut – but they kidn of remind me of the doughy donuts you get at the seaside.

Plus they have icing on – the peanut butter icing actually tastes of peanut butter.

It’s like a sweet treat that isn’t going to set your diet back by miles

Now they aren’t cheap and at the moment I can only get them delivered so they will be an occasional treat.

My hope is soon a local shop starts stocking them!

The website to buy them is https://www.jimbuddy.co.uk/shop-now

And actually the UK website has lots of other cool things on I want to try too! https://www.proteinpickandmix.co.uk

*Note: I purchased these as normal just to try them and the company are not aware I have written this review- it’s totally independent and my opinion!

Intermittent Fasting and Me

Earlier this year I tried IM Fasting.

When I first heard about it towards the end of last year it sounded like the most bonkers idea ever.

Only eat for 8 hours a day.

Like seriously- how are you supposed to do that!?

But I am strongly of the opinion that you can’t say something doesn’t work for you if you haven’t given it a go. I also know people who do it and it works for them.

So for two months earlier this year I experimented with IM Fasting.

Quick summary in case you aren’t familiar with the concept:

You eat for an 8 hour window each day. That could be 10.00-18.00 / 12.00-20.00 / 8.00-16.00 or any 8 hours to suit your day.
Then you fast for the other 16 hours.
You eat normally – no other gimmicks
You eat the same number of calories you need to eat as per any normal healthy eating plan just in a shorter window
Whilst fasting you drink water and black coffee
Some people suggest adding coconut oil to this (some say this means it’s not fasting!)

Day 1 was hard. I decided to do 12.00 to 20.00. After teaching spin at 7.00 waiting another 5 hours to teach was torture. This slowly subsided over the next few days and my body got used to functioning in hanger mode.

I experimented with my windows and found different slots worked better on different days depending on my schedule.

Evenings were tough- once I got home I wanted to eat. On some levels IM fasting was good for this as it stopped me eating just because I was sat on the sofa. On other levels it was a mild form of torture.

I tend to teach both first thing in the morning and also last thing in the evening with an office job in between so my days are long and moving for 16 hours a day on 8 hours of eating took its toll.

I’ll be honest – a large amount of this toll was mental. There were days I would have felt so much happier if I’d have eaten and by sticking to my plan I actually made a bad mood worse.

PMT symptoms were timed by ten!

I’m active and my TDDE is pretty high. I struggled on a lot of days to hit my calorie target.

If I ‘broke’ my fast I felt guilty- guilt is never great for the mindset.

I did find I could eat more carbs and fatty food with less effect on my weight.

I discovered I like coconut oil in black coffee.

I realised I won’t die if I don’t eat for half an hour (always a worry previously).

But ultimately, I realised for a happy headspace I need to eat when my body tells me it needs to eat.

So after a couple of months I decided to stop, take another look at my eating habits and find a system that worked better for me.

Upshot- IM Fasting is (in my unqualified opinion) safe and works for some people. If it works for you that’s great and I wouldn’t dissuade people from trying it. For me and my schedule I need the flexibility to eat when I want and find the restrictions of a feeding window negatively affect my mood.

I’d love to hear other people’s experiences with this method of eating.

Easter eggs and the art of patience

Happy Easter.

Probably my favourite holiday.

Because I like Easter Egg chocolate more than any other chocolate

And I get four whole days off of work.

Thats four lie ins, four days with no classes to teach (well that’s a lie I’m teaching a Body Pump tomorrow night but almost four days), four days to slow down, do the bare minimum, do it at a leisurely pace, drink too much champagne in my pajamas on a whim because I can.

I have trained each day too – just 30 to 60 minutes – because I wanted to.

Friday I did weights and went for a short run

Yesterday I did Murph (I don’t like Murph, I’ll write about that one day)

Today I did 30 minutes of HIIT in my living room.

So far I have eaten 3 easter eggs. Plus a fair few mini easter eggs. I still have one left.

My calorie intake this week will probably be double my energy expenditure.

I don’t feel guilty about this. It’s just one week.

After I trained this morning I looked at myself in the mirror and saw some definition in my stomach.

Only a little (and excuse the mismatched outfit i threw on – i wasn’t planning on taking a selfie!) but it’s progress. And this was after I’d eaten a whole easter egg for breakfast.

This was my breakfast today by the way.

You can not have the perfect diet, not be the best athlete in the world, not be 100% ‘on it’ all the time and still get results.

The fact is lasting results take time. Lifestyles have to be compatible with your actual life and sometimes you will have days where you aren’t as ‘on it’ as others.

Consistency is a word banded about in gym land a lot. It’s important. So is patience. Most of us have no patience. I know i’m often guilty of this. But I also know I’m starting to see real results – from a years worth of hard work. Not 6 weeks or a few months but from not giving in after a few weeks because I didn’t already have a six pac. Patience.

When i started writing this post I wasn’t really sure what it’s point would be.

I’m still not. I was just feeling reflective. Sometimes you need to reflect a bit to gain some perspective.

Now excuse me whilst I go and find that last easter egg…

Meal Prep Time

If you are into fitness the chances are at some point you will have given meal prep a go.

During the week I leave the house around 6am most days and return around around 9/10pm so having food with me is vital if i don’t want to live off a diet of McDonalds and junk. So i tend to meal prep twice a week -Sunday and Wednesday.

Now I a) hate cooking and b) am not very good at it so meal prep companies that deliver food to your door to pop in the microwave always sounded appealing. It also has the added bonus of variety (when you cook yourself its cheaper and more efficient to make many portions of the same meal). It is however expensive which has always put me off. Last week, however, I got an offer for 10 meals for £2.90 per meal from Nutribox Meals so I gave it a go and placed an order to see if it is in fact worth the money.

I placed my order via email and the customer service was brilliant. My first 6 meals arrived on Monday and the last 4 arrived Thursday so they were all fresh. The food was well packaged, so far so good.

Nutribox offer a variety of options from 1 meal a day upwards. I selected 2 meals a day. You have the option of picking from set meals (of which I picked five) or building your own meal from a list of proteins, carbs, veg and sauces (I selected the option to substitute my carb for a second veg on the five meals I ordered from this option). Normal prices are around £4 per meal depending on volume ordered.

Every day I made my own breakfast and snacks and then had a Nutribox meal for lunch and dinner. The food was tasty, portions for me felt small (but i eat a lot so this doesn’t actually mean they are small) but flavours were nice. On a couple of meals one of the veg portions ordered were missing but overall I enjoyed all the meals.

My take on the good and bad moments from my week on meal prep delivery:

Pros

Reduces cooking time
Plenty of variety
Flexibility on what meals contain
Decent amounts of protein in each meal
Variety of vegetables available
Plenty of flavour
Great taste
Portions are controlled
Can get delivered anywhere – i got mine delivered to the office for ease!
UK wide delivery

Cons

Unless you can afford to order ALL your food online you will still have to do some meal prep
Expensive
Need fridge space!
If you eat a lot like me the meals may feel small!
Human error means you may get the odd ‘wrong’ meal
The sauces are a bit on the small side

My takeout after a week- if i had more disposable income I would order meals every week to take away having to meal prep and to know I was eating sensible portions and good quality meals. Plus I would order from this company – their service was great. However given that i eat around 3,000- 3,500 calories daily the amount of additional food I would still need to buy mean it isn’t financially viable for me right now.

So for now I will stick to making my own meals but I won’t say that I won’t revisit the idea of meal prep delivery again in the future. If you are interested in the idea of using a meal prep company I would suggest you check out this site! http://www.nutriboxmeals.com

I should note that this review is independant of Nutribox Meals. I purchased the meals as a customer using a general offer and not in return for a review.

A Fishy Post Today

I was always slightly bemused by people taking supplements –what can these little tablets do to help you? If you eat well surely you shouldn’t need anything extra?

This may be the case but in the last few years I have started taking, and been converted to the value of two supplements – and ant to focus on one of those in particular.

Let me just start by clarifying – this is not a sales pitch! I don’t work for Herbalife, Forever Living, Juice Plus or any other company. I don’t believe that taking a tablet every day can get the nutrients of 30 different fruits into your body. You need to eat proper food, a variety of foods and actual foods with lots of colour in them in order to look and feel good. This being said taken in conjunction with a good diet some supplements can add benefit. A multi vitamin is a no brainer just to ensure you get anything you might have missed from your diet that day (like having a protein shake to increase your protein intake). The other supplement with huge benefits in fish oil.

I started taking fish oil a few years ago whilst I was suffering badly with depression. I was on anti-depressants and had tried several types without finding one that suited me. I had never been one to try alternative therapies but I was at a point where I didn’t feel I had anything to lose so I bought a self-help book and tried the things it suggested- including taking a high dose of fish oil.

Obviously it took time and a lot more than just some fish oil to get better but I think it made a difference and I have continued to take the supplement ever since and I notice the drop in my mood if I forget to take it for a few days.

Apart from being proven to a help alleviate depression and anxiety it has shown to potentially have numerous other benefits including: reducing the risk of diabetes / cancer / cardiovascular diseases, improving brain function, increasing your sex drive, improving fertility, improving the condition of skin and hair, helping the immune system and even helping manage your weight.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money- the pots of vitamins which some companies charge £10 plus for will provide nothing that you can’t get from a supermarket own brand. The one thing I would mention about fish oil is it comes in different doses and you need to establish how much you want to take and then work out how many tablets you need to take from there (ideally you want to take as few tablets as possible to hit your daily dose). You can buy fish oil in a bottle (in case you don’t like taking tablets) however be warned fish oil in this form TASTES LIKE FISH OIL.

If you are considering taking any supplements I’d recommend this be something you look at.