I'm Puzzled - The Power Of Protein

Hi there beauties!

Are you out sweating in the sun? Whether it's sweat from lying on the beach with nothing but a bikini on or it's from running, swimming or riding your bike - I approve! 

I am on my computer writing this post (obviously), but I get my workouts done too! I was thinking about what to make this post about. Like, if I just started training, what would I like to know? I remember being confused and uninformed about protein powder. So many of the bloggers I was following were bying that stuff by the bucketful! I knew it would do something for your muscles, but what exactly that was I couldn't tell? My cousin then asked if we should buy some and share it just to see if it works. I've been searching the net to find stuff about it, but there's so many people saying different things, I don't know what to believe! 

I read that the "natural" amount of protein in your body are used for various things besides growing muscles - like growing your hair and nails too. Therefore it needs to divide the protein around for all the tasks and when you increase your protein intake the body has more stuff to work with on those muscles. Does this make any sense? No? Yes?

If you are an athlete or something fairly similiar it should do great for your body. Everybody agrees that your workouts are nothing without protein. But then the question is, how much protein? If you, like me, train 5-7 times a week an hour each day, you shouldn't be needing protein shakes according to experts. You should be able to absorb protein through your meals. A healthy breakfast with eggs or high protein yoghurt/skyr, lunch with little bread and a lot of fish maybe and dinner with low fat meat like chicken or turkey and salats with lots of beans, broccoli and sprouts. You can search for other foods with protein, but these are the ones with most in it. 

If you drink or take protein supplements, they say you should do it 3 times a day. One when you wake up in the morning, fresh out of protein in your body after many hours sleep, one after your workout where the muscles are still working and one right before bed, so your muscles have something to work with during the night. Days when you do not work out you should still drink a shake or similiar right during the day - they say you shouldn't forget that because your muscles are recovering and need the protein even more! So remember that! No workout doesn't mean no shake!

Well, according to studies I should be getting my daily protein, but I still agreed to share that protein powder with my cousin because I'm too curious! And because I wanna help you guys!

 I got the protein powder the week I left for my vacation, so I haven't truely gotten around to try it for real, I just gave it a go after a workout or two. 

We bought the 100 % WHEY Gold Standard in the Chocolate version. And I know this sounds absolutely delicious, but I will never get use to the taste of that much protein! Therefore I have worked my way in the kitchen, making a recipe for you guys for the best protein smoothie ever! I eat it for breakfast after my workout! Yummy! I'll show you guys down at the end!

So yeah. There's not much conclusion to as what protein does and if you should drink more of it - if you're overweight you can't use it to lose weight, it actually works the other way around. You should eat healthy meals with lots and protein so you get the right energies and not just air and protein. But I still think I will test it. And if nothing else, I have some delicious powder to various cake recipes and a GREAT smoothie!

The amazing protein smoothie ala Nanna:

 - About 30 gram of 100 % WHEY Gold Standard Chocholate mixed with fat free milk 

- 5-6 frozen strawberrys 

- 1 banana

Mix your protein powder and the milk to a shake in a shaker - then pour the shake in a blender with the berrys and the banana and BAM! Best smoothie ever!

LCHF Living

Do you want to eat real food (as much as you like) and improve your health and weight? It may sound too good to be true, but LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) is a method that has been used for 150 years. Now, modern science backs it up with proof that it works.

There is no weighing your food, no counting, no bizarre “meal replacements,” no pills. There is just real food and common sense. And all the advice here is 100 percent free.

Introduction

A LCHF diet means you eat less carbohydrates and a higher proportion of fat. Most importantly you minimize your intake of sugar and starches. You can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.

A number of recent high-quality scientific studies shows that LCHF makes it easier both to lose weight and to control your blood sugar. And that’s just the beginning.

The basics

• Eat: Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
• Avoid: Sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes).

Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low fat products.

There are solid scientific reasons why LCHF works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of insulin, the fat storing hormone, drops. This increases your fat burning and makes you feel more satiated.

Eat all you like

• Meat: Any type, including beef, pork, game meat, chicken, etc. Feel free to eat the fat on the meat as well as the skin on the chicken. If possible try to choose organic or grass fed meat.
• Fish and Shellfish: All kinds: Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring are great. Avoid breading.
• Eggs: All kinds: Boiled, fried, omelettes, etc. Preferably choose organic eggs.
• Natural Fat, High-Fat Sauces: Using butter and cream when you cook can make your food taste better and make you feel more satiated. Try a Béarnaise or Hollandaise sauce, check the ingredients or make it yourself. Coconut oil and olive oil are also good options.
• Vegetables that Grow Above Ground: All kinds of cabbage, such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes etc.
• Dairy products: Always select full-fat options like real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, Greek/Turkish yogurt and high-fat cheeses. Be careful with regular milk and skim milk as they contain a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low-fat products.
• Nuts: Good to eat instead of candy in front of the television (preferably in moderation).
• Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not a super strict or sensitive. Good with whipped cream.

Avoid if you can

• Sugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals. Preferably avoid sweeteners as well.
• Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, French fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. “Wholegrain products” are just less bad. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK (unless you’re eating extremely low carb).
• Margarine: Industrially imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. Has no health benefits, tastes bad. Statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
• Beer: Liquid bread. Full of rapidly absorbed carbs, unfortunately.
• Fruit: Very sweet, lots of sugar. Eat once in a while. Treat fruit as a natural form of candy.

Once in a while

You decide when the time is right. Your weight loss may slow down a bit.

• Alcohol: Dry wine (regular red or dry white wine), whisky, brandy, vodka and cocktails without sugar.
• Dark chocolate: Above 70 % cocoa, preferably just a bit.

Drink most days

• Water
• Coffee: Try it with full-fat cream
• Tea

Feeling Peckish?

Lately I have been on a "diet", I hate to call them diets, because basically it´s called: a new way of life, but diet sums it up quite nicely... Carryon...well I  have been on a diet, where I want to lose 10 pounds in two months. Sounds easy, right? But I am THE WORST, when it comes to dieting. On a day to day basis I live healthy, but I just can´t seem to get rid of the last pounds, mainly because I ALWAYS feel peckish, when I have been dieting for a couple of days. I´m now on day three and the cravings or hitting me HARD! So I decided to search the internet for some nice healthy snacks, or should I say healthier snacks.
And here´s what I found...and notice that they all contain chocolate, because I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate Chia Pudding

ingredients (3 portions)

4 tbsp Chia seeds
peel and juice from 1 orange
1 tsp of vanilla powder
9 tsp of raw cocoa powder (Raw is milder, so if you are using regular I would taste it as you pour it in)
6 tsp agavesirup
3 dl extra creamy coconutmilk  

Crush the chia seeds and pour all the other ingredients together. Mix everything well and put in the fridge for a couple of hours or over night. I personally think it taste better if you make it in the morning and eat it at night. :D Cut some pieces of fruit and sprinkle on top. I personally like strawberry, mango & banana.

Image from: www.carmellassunnyrawkitchen.com

"Healthy" Nutella

ingredients (1 portion)

250g of sun dried dates
100g of hazelnuts
3 big tbsp of raw cocoa powder
3 tbsp of coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla powder

Pour hot water on top of the dates and let them hydrate for about 1/2 hour. While they suck in the hot water, toast the hazelnuts and when done, let them cool. Cut the dates in small pieces and put them in a bowl with the cocoa powder, vanilla and coconut oil, and blend the mixture until smooth. Try to massage the shell of the hazelnuts and blend them until it looks like flour. Mix the hazelnut flour with the cocoa mixture and if it is a little too dry, pour a little water in. 

Image from: www.irunonnutrition.com

Comfy Chocolate pieces

ingredients (1 tray portion)

100g of cocoa butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp of lacuma powder (not necessary)
1 1/2 dl raw cocoa powder
3-4 tbsp of agavesirup
1 big tbsp of hazelnut butter
a little vanilla powder

Melt the cocoa butter together with the coconut oil on low heat. Stir in the lacuma powder and the agave sirup. Then ad the raw cocoa, vanilla and hazelnut butter and stir a little more. Then pour it in a tray and place in the freezer for a couple of hours. When you take the tray out, cut the chocolate mixture into bite size pieces. Keep the pieces in the freezer, otherwise they will melt and you can easily eat them directly from the freezer.

Image from: www.thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.dk

Eat Your Breakfast!

Yes, well, I guess the headline says it all.
In a previous post I showed you guys some healthy recipes I thought looked interesting. It turns out I am lazy as fuck. Sorry for my French.. But it's true! I haven't made a single one of them, barely even considered making them in the morning. I did do one thing though. Every singe morning. Yes, brace yourself, I make a smoothie every morning! This is big stuff for me! I never been very good with the whole "breakfast-thing". Don't get me wrong, I ALWAYS eat breakfast, I'm just not very thrilled with your ordinary cereal/oatmeal. For me a good breakfast could easily consist of a slice of pizza or maybe even some spaghetti? As you probably already concluded, this is not very healthy, so I don't eat that, even though I really want to. That's why it's been really hard for me to eat all the normal breakfast stuff and I have a hard time eating the same thing over and over, I have to mix it up a little. So imagine my surprise when I've been eating the same thing for months now and I'm still looking forward to breakfast! Amazing! So I thought I would share my knowledge and show you guys what it is!
And what does that has to do with working out, you might ask? Well, your body needs energy to go and do all the amazing things it does all day - like working out! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, this is not just some random thing your mother told you! It's true! So you better start eating. Now. Do it!

We're going to start out with barries - frozen! 

The white stuff is not yogurt (but you can use that as well)
It is something we in Denmark call Skyr and I have absolutely
NO idea what it's called otherwise? It's filled with protein and
therefore keeps you full for a very long time. Very low on fat though.

A banana!

BLEND IT!

Add cereal or nuts or anything else you'll like!

Your Diet Is Everything

Hello there!
As you probably guessed through the headline, we are talking about diet today. And I don't mean a diet as in eating less and counting calories, but I mean your diet as in what you eat every day and how eating healthy can become a lifestyle.
I'm very much against cutting everything unhealthy from your life, that's no fun. You don't want to be that one friend who's just gonna stare at everybody else eating Ben & Jerry's. Nope, you don't want to be that friend.

First thing first, you have to learn to control your portions. If you, like me, treasure food more than anything it's sometimes very hard not over eating. This is all about self control and it's hard, trust me! There's no other way than to tell yourself, "stop eating". Once you get going it gets easier because you break a habit and when your stomach gets use to eating less you simply won't be able to eat big portions anymore.
A lot of people are afraid of feeling hunger, some people never get to feel hunger because they eat all the time. Tell yourself it is okay to be hungry when it's time for dinner and you will also enjoy it a lot more than before. Make food an experience for your tastebuds and taste every single bite rather than making it about eating as much as possible. 

Water is also an important factor not only when working out, but in general. It's important to stay hydrated throughout the entire day and if you carry a water bottle around it's a lot easier remembering to drink plenty. Before dinner you can drink a big class of water which sometimes helps not to over eat.

The biggest problem most people run into when wanting to lose weight and get fit is doing without candy, chips and in general all snacks. These things along with high sugar drinks like a coke are a big setback from a fit body if consumed every day. It's been said that sugar is addictive and therefore a terribly hard habit to break. Again, I am against cutting sugar from your life completely, but eat it in moderation. I chose to not eat candy and not drink any high sugar drinks from Monday to Friday and that's working pretty good. Should it happen I'm asked out on a Wednesday and offered sweets I'm not gonna say no. You still need to remember to live a little, the point is you basically just have to do a lot of thinking when putting stuff in your mouth.

When all this is said, I found some recipes on my beloved Fitblr community on Tumblr where people share their ideas and thoughts about fitness and workouts and also very interesting recipes! I never been a fan of all the alternative "let's turn unhealthy things to healty things", but I came across some interesting stuff I really wanted to try out. I'm gonna post a few of them here and try to make some of the stuff doing the next week or two and show you guys the result!
Here's what I found:

The Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffin:

Ingredients

2.5 cups oats

1 cup low fat greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 TBSP ground flax seed

1 tsp vanilla

2 bananas

SMOOTHIES!

 

 

Green Smoothie - 1 cup baby spinach, 1 cup kale, 1 pear, 1 ½ cup of orange juice, and 1 frozen banana.

Chocolate Peanut Butter – 2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 TBL peanut butter, ½ banana, 1 cup almond milk, ice.

Mango Ginger — 2 cups frozen Mango, 1 cup frozen raspberries, 1 banana, ¼ cup chopped ginger, squeeze of lime, yogurt.

Strawberry Date — 1 date, 1 ½ cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup almond milk. Optional: 1 scoop protein powder or 1 TBL of flaxseed oil.