Monthly Archives: November 2012

Body transformation: Week 1

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Week One – Diary

Obviously just at the beginning of my journey into the project get fit, look lean and eat clean!

The eating side of this will always be the challenge, I love food and my loves are Fruit (specially fresh juices), Bread, Milk and Chocolate (lots of it)… Also the food love for Pizza and stuff like that. I’m into creating my own meals from scratch, right down to the sauces etc.

To be clear I’m not doing this to lose weight and get skinner, I’m happy with my body shape I just want to tone up, get some muscle definition, and get healthy and lean. My focus areas are my legs and glutes. I want definition and firmness.I did a body fat percentage test which I was 19.7% . I want to reduce this down to around 16%.Taking progress photos, have to be the most nervous part of the process, but can also see it be quite vital. I will be able to see those weekly changes. Looking at the three photos (especially the back one) I can see instantly all the changes I want to make. Glutes and legs are my main concern! BRING ON THE WEEK.
EATING
Eating has been good this week, I’ve been strict on myself but it hasn’t been too hard. Those cravings for chocolate would have the be the worse and funnily enough I feel like I have withdrawals from getting rid of the fruit juice I was drinking on a daily basis. Still adding fruits to a lot of my cooking, salads etc.
TRAINING
I trained 5 times this week – cardio, weights/strength and HIIT

Grain free sushi!

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Image

 

Ingredients

  • 2 long continental cucumbers (also known as Telegraph), try to pick the fattest ones
  • 1 avocado, roughly chopped
  • 1 salmon steak
  • ½ Spanish onion, finely dice
  • Some ghee
  • Tamari or other wheat free soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger to serve

 

Instructions

  1. Heat a little ghee in a frying pan until sizzling hot. Season salmon steak with a little sea salt and pepper, fry on high-medium heat for 1 ½ minutes on each side. Set aside and once cooled down, pull the flakes apart and remove any visible bones. Mix with the Spanish onion.
  2. Cut cucumbers into even 1 1/2 – 2 centimeter thick rolls. Using a small knife, carefully cut out the flesh of the cucumber making sure the walls stay in tact. The easiest way to do it is by placing the rolls flat side down and rotating them slightly as you cut through the flesh. You can always cut the flesh out roughly and then carve the walls carefully by holding the ring in your hand.
  3. Using your fingers fill each ring with some cooked salmon. Press the mix inside the ring down leaving the top half unfilled. Fill the top half of the ring with the avocado. Push the mix down well, even if some of it starts spilling over the top. You can just wipe the edges before serving.
  4. Serve right away or refrigerate for later. You can take these to work for lunch or bring a large platter to a party.

 

Recipe courtesy of: http://www.eatdrinkpaleo.com.au

Weekend workout: Pursuit of the outdoors!

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Well if you live in Dubai your probably jumping for joy at the fact its cool enough to enjoy being outside now :)
If you live in a country where its beautiful outdoors, get this one in for the weekend!

Capitalise on some vitamin D
Get sweaty
Challenge yourself

Ok! so here it goes. Find yourself a beach or strip of land that runs approximately 1km.
You can do this out on the street. But yes you may be that weirdo in the neighbourhood popping squats and push ups on your neighbours lawn. HEY! someone’s gotta provide the entertainment right?
Doing this on the sand will add intensity. More bang for your buck if you ask me!

You can either do this for distance every 50m,100m or 200m ( you choose)  if you have a timer set it for intervals of either 30, 45 , 60 or 90 seconds. Obviously the shorter the interval the higher the intensity.

At each interval perform the following;

  • 10 air squats
  • 5 burpees
  • 10 pushups
  • 5 jump squats

Sprint to the next set point.

This should be pretty hectic. You can play around with distances, times, intensities and exercises. This is just an example.
Great little weekend interval workout to get ya going!

Why grains are killing you. Truth.

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It is something I have been meaning to write up about myself. But Jeff from CrossFit Impulse has done an exquisite job summarising why grains are ruining your health and fitness goals.

Personally I have been off grains for around 6 months now and have seen a noticeable difference.
My energy increased ( not getting tired slumps after eating) , my fat decreased, bloating vanished, digestion 150% better! and I just felt lighter in general.

I know muesli and fresh bread are yummy but when you look and feel amazing, who cares about them anymore? I certainly don’t!

PS I know my last post was anti fruit juices also. Im not a ‘anti’ buzz, trust me there are plenty of awesome foods out there! Just wanted to hit these two on the head together. Bam! done :)

Check it out!  http://crossfitimpulse.com/why-grains-are-killing-you

Fruit juice. Is it good for us or not?

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JUST WHAT IS THE SUGAR CONTENT OF FRUIT JUICE?
We’ll use orange, apple, cherry and grape juice as examples. Even with no sugar added, fruit juice contains about the same amount of sugar as the same amount of soft drink. Because apples, oranges and grapes are naturally full of sugar. (No surprise there: Processed sugar comes from plants, usually corn or sugar cane or sugar beets.) The table below compares the sugar in 12 ounces of juice (no sugar added) with 12 ounces (one can) of Coca-Cola. If you look at the nutrition label on a can of Coke or fruit juice, the “carbohydrate” is mostly sugar. Four grams of sugar carbs equal approximately 1 teaspoon of sugar.

 

12 ounces of >>>>>>> Coca-Cola Orange Juice Apple Juice Cherry Juice Grape Juice
Total carbohydrates 40 g 39 g 42 g 49.5 g 60 g
Carbs from sugar 40 g 33 g 39 g 37.5 g 58.5 g
Sugar (teaspoons) 10 tsp 8 tsp 10 tsp 9 tsp 15 tsp
Calories 145 165 165 210 240

 

WHAT DOES THE CHART TELL US? It tells us that no matter which juice you choose, they all have more calories than the same amount of Coke. It tells us that juice — 100 percent juice, no sugar added — contains about the same amount of sugar (or even more — 50 percent more for grape juice) as the same volume of Coke. For this comparison we used: Classic Coke, Tropicana HomeStyle Orange Juice, Walnut Acres Organic 100 Percent Apple Juice, Eden Organic Montmorency Cherry Juice (no sweetener added) and R.W. Knudsen Unsweetened Concord Grape Juice. The numbers in the chart were calculated from the nutrition labels on the containers.

Source: http://www.hookedonjuice.com/

 

Turning your breakfast eggs into a faux sweet treat ( it totally works! )

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INGREDIENTS
  • 1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp coconut milk
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. In a lightly greased pan lay out the apple slices and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes
  2. In a bowl mix together the eggs, coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg
  3. Pour the egg mixture over the apples
  4. As the omelette sets run your spatula around the edges to let the uncooked egg run to the bottom
  5. When the eggs are cooked, turn the heat to low and let cook an additional 2 minutes
  6. Flip the omelette once and cook for 1 more minute
  7. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top for presentation