Useful Lists …

Protein is an essential part of any diet – a building block of bones, muscle, cartilage, skin and blood. Assists recovery post exercise and can help reduce hunger (and so help achieve a calorie deficit in some instances).

I try to eat around 160g a day.

Having an idea of what foods are high in protein can help keep you hit your protein aims without having to religiously input everything you eat into My Fitness Pal.

15 High Protein Foods (protein per 100g)

1. Salmon – 24g

2. Turkey – 30g

3. Prawns – 15g

4. Chicken -33g

5. Pork – 23g

6. Pumpkin seeds – 30g (100g of seeds is a lot though!)

7. Lamb – 25g

8. Beef Jerky – 30g

9. Cod – 18g

10. Cottage cheese – 10g (a tub is normally 25-30g)

11. Greek Yoghurt – 10g

12. Canned tuna – 25g (a tin is normally 100g drained)

13. Lean beef – 36g

14. Quinoa- 5g

15. Cheddar cheese – 25g (this is the equivalent to 5 mini babybels though!)

My Unexpected Breakfast Hero

Last week I had a bit of a rubbish week nutrition wise – and I know to be honest it was largely down to my breakfasts.

Some people say they can’t eat breakfast- I am the total opposite- I need a good breakfast to set me up for the day.

Last week I just found myself not enjoying my normal breakfasts – I just didn’t fancy them and I found that this dissatisfaction towards my breakfast prep quickly spread to all my other meals and I soon found myself snubbing my home made meal prep and opting for carbs upon carbs, sugar and generally processed, stodgy not particularly beneficial foods.

I decided that this week I needed a week away from Paleo. I still think overall it’s the system that works best for me but I also know I occasionally get myself into a tizz and whilst I’m there restriction doesn’t really work.

So I ordered some meal prep for my main meals for this week (blog to follow later this week) and decided that for breakfast I would eat what I fancied.

Now I walk past McDonalds to get to work – and I teach first thing so by the time I do walk past I’m normally pretty hungry. This week I’ve just gone in and ordered what I fancied. This sounds pretty unhealthy, and yes they were high calorie meals, but actually, when you look at it, as breakfasts go they aren’t as bad as I first thought.

Here’s my thought process:

Traditional Breakfasts

Crunchy Nut Cornflakes with semi skimmed milk (30g)

180 calories

31g carbs

4g fat

6g protein

Porridge with semi skimmed milk

243 calories

19g carbs

4g fat

8g protein

Two slices toast with butter

380 calories

56g carbs

16g fat

8g protein

Now I got these numbers from MyFitnessPal so I don’t claim they are 100% accurate. These are the type of things we traditionally eat in the morning. They are all quite low in calories and protein and high in carbs. For most people a 30g bowl of cornflakes is probably unrealistic – have you ever measured out a bowl of cereal- a suggested serving is massively disappointing! My issues with these breakfasts is that, whilst they are low in calories they don’t provide me with much protein (and I try to eat 160g a day) nor will they fill me up – which means that any calories saved at breakfast are likely to be made up in snacking mid-morning when I get hungry. Mentally they also don’t particularly satisfy me so again I’m much more likely to snack –an on stuff I shouldn’t snack on at that.

In comparison, this is what I had at McDonalds the last two mornings:

McDonalds Breakfasts

Three pancakes with sausage and syrup plus extra sausage and bacon, Flat White coffee

988 calories

117g carbs

37g fat

39g protein

Sausage egg and cheese bagel with extra sausage and bacon, hash brown and Tropicana

1,058 calories

87g carbs

56g fat

45g protein

These breakfasts are about 70% higher calorie wise. For some this would be extremely detrimental to their daily calorie intake granted. However I burn 3,000 to 5,000 calories a day so I actually do need to eat a lot of calories each day to avoid a detrimentally low deficit. A thousand calorie breakfast therefore isn’t the worst things as my subsequent meals are unlikely to reach that level. In addition these meals filled me up AND satisfied me. I felt like I had had an enjoyable and filling breakfast and didn’t feel the need to start snacking an hour later. The protein content of the meals was also high, hitting around 25% of my daily aim.

For my requirements then these higher calorie higher protein meals actually work better for me than the more traditional ideas of a breakfast. And because I’ve felt satisfied and enjoyed my breakfast I’ve found it easier to stay on track the rest of the day.

Now normally when I’m following a Paleo style diet I have this:

My Go To Paleo breakfast –

Smoked salmon trimmings (half pack), 3 eggs and tomatoes

277 calories

5g carbs

22g fat

31g protein

This has the benefits of being high in protein and low in calories and fat whilst also being filling. I know it’s better for me than a McDonalds breakfast. Realistically I know for my long term health I need to eat this more often than I have a McDonalds breakfast. Yet when I’m really not feeling this of a morning then rather than letting my whole day fall away because mentally I’m not going to be satisfied, because I know that today I’m going to throw a mental tantrum, the odd McDonalds breakfast won’t hurt.

In conclusion – as a society we tend to group things as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. However whether a food will work well in your diet or not actually depends on so many factors- what you eat the rest of the time, what you burn, how it makes you feel etc. Rather than following accepted ideas about different meals we should look at our own situation on any given day, week or month and pick options that benefit us best in that moment – even if that might sometimes seem an unusual choice.

I’m not a trained nutritionist nor am I suggesting that you should have McDonalds for breakfast every single day – just that sometimes we need to look outside the boxes we are currently in and objectively review our options because no foods are simply good or bad – it’s never that black and white.

My Personal 10 Commandments for a Healthy Life

Aim to hit a 20% calorie deficit across the week. Find a system for doing this and stick to it- don’t be swayed by new fads. My system is to eat to Paleo principles (not strict Paleo) 4 days a week and then allow myself three days where I can enjoy treats (read cake).
Start your calorie week on a Friday. You are more likely to have a calorie surpluss at the weekend – this allows you Monday to Thursday to pull back and still hit that 20% weekly calorie deficit if that does happen and stops you feeeling like you are being overly restricted.
Eat at least 2g protein per kg body weight every day (for me 160g). This will make you feel full, help your body recover from training and means Carbs and Fat will look after themselves.
Drink 3.5 litres water a day (this is based on based on 30ml water per kg of body weight plus 500 ml for every hour of exercise – I just average out based on my normal training week).
Drink a max of 3 coffees per day.
Take a multi vitamin and fish oil supplement every day.
Have a little bit of dark chocolate each day when on your period if you suffer with cramps (magnesium can help relax muscles reducing cramps, and sugar can boost your serotonin levels which can drop – hence feeling like you want to cry). I believe Kale can also help reduce cramping but for some reason doesn’t hold the same appeal as chocolate!
Train in a way that suits your life and your week. I don’t lift as heavy as many and my sessions are shorter than most people I know – but they fit into my working life allowing me to stay consistent enough to see results. If it’s going to be tough one week to fit in your training – adjust your plans to feel successful.
Stretch every day.
Get up 30 minutes early and develop a morning routine that helps set you up for the day. I like to get some day light, drink a large glass of water and read a chapter of a book (as I don’t get much ‘me’ time during the rest of he day).

Credit – Ricky Long, who bullied me into most of these things – but they work!

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/243767835762478/

Instagram @rickylong42

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

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.