One of my favourite breakfast options is an overnight porridge pot.
The recipe is so simple. All you need is:
1 cup of oats
1 cup of liquid
Fruit – banana/berries
1 tbsp flax seeds (optional)
1tsp agave syrup or honey (optional)
Put all these ingredients in a lunch pot, mix together, cover and put in the fridge overnight.
Enjoy.
In the world of cooking, there are dozens of gadgets and tools to help you create a culinary masterpiece. But having looked at all these, I’ve stripped it down to an essential list. Here are my top 5:
What would be your 5 kitchen essentials? Leave a comment and let me know.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @fitnutfoodie
I’m a big fan of exercise, especially in the gym. I’ve been going for quite a few years now, with just a few months gap here and there.
In this time I’ve learnt a lot and I want to pass my knowledge on to you. Here are 3 easy exercises you can do either in the gym or at home to help tone up:
1. Push up
Its simple but its extremely effective. All you need is your body weight and enough floor space to stretch out. It works lots of key muscle groups and is quick and easy.
Challenge it: move your hands inline with your forehead and do ten reps. If this is too easy, move them a little higher.
2. Wide grip pull up
Another simple body weight exercise but not as easy as you might think. This works your back, particularly your lats, and your biceps.
Challenge it: pull up and hold for 5 seconds then drop halfway and hold for another 5 seconds then lower all the way. Repeat.
3. Squats
One of the most important exercises you can do. Your legs are the biggest muscle group in your body and most of us use them everyday. But the squat doesn’t just work your legs. Its great for building a strong core and improving cardio vascular.
Challenge it: piston squat – this is a one leg squat and quite difficult to keep your balance and requires a lot of strength. To help you out, do the squat in a door frame for support.
1. Eat clean
2. Plan ahead
3. Track meals
4. Exercise
5. Eat more on workout days
6. Drink lots of water
The other day I bought some raw cacao from a health food shop in London after having read lots about how beneficial it is to your health. Here is what I’ve learned so far:
Nutritional facts
This superfood has many potential benefits to you health and wellbeing. These include:
– Lowering of bad cholesterol – packed full of antioxidants
– Improving your mood
– Known to reduce the risk of cancer by neutralising free radicals in the body
– Lowering blood pressure, resulting in better circulation
– Natural aphrodisiac
What to watch out for
Although all of those great benefits are very appealing, overindulging in this superfood can be bad for you. Thought of as a stimulant, too much can potentially have negative effects on your sleeping patterns, much like coffee. Other side effects can be found across the web.
Tasty recipes ideas
Now that you know how nutritional Cacao is, I’m sure that you’ll be wanting some ideas of how you can best use this ingredient. So that is why I’ve searched the web for some great recipes for you to try out.
Raw brownies – http://www.acouplecooks.com/2011/09/raw-brownies/
Chocolate chia smoothie – http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/chocolate-chia-smoothie-recipe/
Cacao snack bars – http://www.choosingraw.com/five-minute-raw-cacao-snack-bars/
Chocolate protein trail mix bark – http://www.northcoastnaturals.com/blog/north-coast-naturals-chocolate-protein-trail-mix-bark/
Fudge fridge cake – http://gourmandeinthekitchen.com/2014/no-bake-chocolate-fudge-fridge-cake-recipe/
Need a bit more convincing?
I hope this has given you some idea of how beneficial this amazing bean can be to your overall health. If you wish to learn more about Cacao, here are a few websites that should prove useful.
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/beverage1/a/raw-chocolate-nutrition.htm
Where you can buy it
Many health shops stock raw cacao, including Planet Organic and Whole Foods Market. I picked mine up from a little shop called Alara for just over £9. You might be thinking this isn’t cheap, and so did I when i found out the price. But as you only need a tiny bit, it lasts for ages.
Here are a few websites you can visit to order yourself some from (UK only):
GoodnessDirect.co.uk
BuyWholeFoodsOnline.co.uk
EarthFare.co.uk
So that’s a brief overview of this amazing (and slightly addictive) superfood. If you have any questions about Raw Cacao, or would like to share your insights, i’d love to hear from you. Simply comment on this post and i’ll get back to you 🙂
First things first. Happy Mothers Day to all you amazing mums 🙂 especially my mum who has done so much for me and I couldn’t ask for more. Love you lots!
So this week I have found 6 healthy recipes that I wanted to share with you. From sweet treats to savoury snacks. Check them out and tell me what you think.
Nacho seasoned roasted chickpeas – http://myvega.com/vega-life/recipe-center/nacho-seasoned-roasted-chickpeas/
Hazelnut hemp protein bars – http://www.northcoastnaturals.com/blog/healthy-hazelnut-hemp-protein-bars-plus-a-giveaway/
Veggie cobb salad lentil bowl – http://soupaddict.com/2014/03/vegetarian-cobb-salad-lentil-bowl/
Apple and spinach smoothie – http://www.sweetandsavorybyshinee.com/apple-spinach-smoothie/
Chicken, pepper and rice bento – http://justbento.com/handbook/rice-cooker-bentos/bento-no-76-chicken-and-pepper-rice-cooker-bento
Healthy sweet potato fries – http://www.wellnesstoday.com/recipes/healthy-indulgence-sweet-potato-fries
As always, I’m keen to hear what amazing, healthy recipes you have, so please send them to me at james@fitnutritiousfoodie.co.uk or via twitter (@fitnutfoodie) and I’ll feature them in next week’s post.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy eating 🙂
I love smoothies. This statement is particularly true for this recipe.
Having found the original idea from someone else online, I decided to add a few additional ingredients to the mix.
Ingredients
1 banana
1 cup of almond milk (or any other milk)
1 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
2 tbsp oats
Half avocado
Handful spinach (optional)
Dash of cinnamon (optional)
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend for 20-30 seconds. Serve. Enjoy.
The original recipe can be found here:
http://www.carolinemiliartiss.com/peanut-butter-power-breakfast-smoothie/
If you have any great smoothie recipes that you’d like to share, simply send them to me via twitter (@fitnutfoodie) and I’d be more than happy to share them.
Throughout the week i’ve been collating some healthy recipes that i’ve found on various websites. Below are 5 that I wanted to share with you this week…
Pear, ginger and oat smoothie – MomonTimeout.com
Quinoa, tomato salad with pomegranates – Dailyfix.co.za
Thai Green Curry – OurFourForks.com
Vege borrito bowl – TheRookieCook.com
Black bean mole burgers – CoconutandBerries.com
Raw almond, coconut energy bites – MindBodyGreen.com
I’m always trying to find healthy, nutritious recipes online, so if you have any recipes you’d like to share then simply send me a tweet (@fitnutfoodie) and I’ll feature it in the next 5 healthy recipes post.
Just before you go, if you haven’t done so already, you can follow me on twitter to keep up-to-date with all things fitness and nutrition related, from top-tips to recipe ideas.
Hope you enjoy!
I’m a big fan of milk alternatives, like Almond and Soy. This is mainly for health reasons as natural milks are lower in saturated fats, which is good for your heart.
Although I tend to buy my own almond milk from the supermarket or health food stores, I was interested to know how I could make my own.
So after searching the web for a bit, I found the following recipe from thekitchn.com by Emma Christensen…
———
Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds, preferably organic
2 cups water, plus more for soaking
Sweeteners like honey, sugar, agave syrup, or maple syrup, to taste, optional
Equipment
Bowls
Sieve
Measuring cup
Blender or food processor
Fine-mesh nut bag or cheese cloth
Instructions
Soak the almonds overnight or up to 2 days. Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with about an inch of water. They will plump as they absorb water. Let stand, uncovered, overnight or up to 2 days. The longer the almonds soak, the creamier the almond milk.
Drain and rinse the almonds. Drain the almonds from their soaking water and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water. At this point, the almonds should feel a little squishy if you pinch them.
Combine the almonds and water in a blender. Place the almonds in the blender and cover with 2 cups of water.
Blend at the highest speed for 2 minutes. Pulse the blender a few times to break up the almonds, then blend continuously for two minutes. The almonds should be broken down into a very fine meal and the water should be white and opaque. (If using a food processor, process for 4 minutes total, pausing to scrape down the sides halfway through.)
Strain the almonds. Line the strainer with either the opened nut bag or cheese cloth, and place over a measuring cup. Pour the almond mixture into the strainer.
Press all the almond milk from the almond meal. Gather the nut bag or cheese cloth around the almond meal and twist close. Squeeze and press with clean hands to extract as much almond milk as possible. You should get about 2 cups. (See Recipe Note for what to do with the leftover almond meal.)
Sweeten to taste. Taste the almond milk, and if a sweeter drink is desired, add sweetener to taste.
Refrigerate almond milk. Store the almond milk in sealed containers in the fridge for up to two days.
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And thats it! I’m going to give this recipe a go and will feedback my results 🙂
I wanted to tell you about this e-Cookbook that I bought a few weeks ago that was written by a Youtuber that I subscribe to and regularly watch. His name is Michael Kory and he has a channel called Michael Kory Fitness. He regularly posts videos about cooking healthy, nutritious food for a lean body lifestyle (the name of his previous channel). He also uploads videos for gym routines, which are really informative.
Anyway, after producing several videos he decided to combine all of his recipes into an e-Cookbook. Being a fan I downloaded it and it was completely worth it. There are literally hundreds of recipes from protein pancakes to chicken caesar salad. It’s perfect for those of you are just getting into the nutritional side of working out and the experienced one’s among you. MK has written it in a way that makes it really easy to follow, plus it includes all of the macronutrient statistics, which are essential for tracking your daily intake.
If you want to know more about it I’ve listed the links to the e-Cookbook’s below. Enjoy 🙂
Breakfast: http://michaelkory.com/collections/e-books/products/breakfast
Lunch & Dinner: http://michaelkory.com/collections/e-books/products/lunchdinner
Dessert & baked goods: http://michaelkory.com/collections/e-books/products/desserts
Full cookbook: http://michaelkory.com/collections/e-books/products/complete
Fit Nutritious Foodie 