Creamy Tuna Pasta for Lunch?

Do you think “Creamy” and weight-loss don’t mix?  Think again my friend!  This yummy recipe is a great mix of carbs of protein, in a delicious creamy sauce which can be easily adapted for any taste!

• 1/2 cup of uncooked wholemeal spiral pasta (35g) 120cals
• 1 95g tin of tuna light (John West) (drained) 55cals
• 2 tablespoons (50g) of Easi-yo natural unsweetened yogurt 35cals
• spices eg. dijon mustard, chilli flakes or lemon and dill

Cook your pasta (add in double the volume of water and microwave for 8mins), drain, and simply stir in the tuna and yogurt. 

205 cals

18.2g protein; 24.4g carbohydrates; 3g Fat (40:54:6)

You can easily make this even more nutritious by added some frozen veg into the pasta as it is cooking (100g of a peas, corn and carrot mix is an extra 80cals for example). It is also very low fat so if you like you can add in some higher fat options to add flavour in place of some of the pasta!

Another option is to use salmon in place of tuna or to use either in one of the many flavoured single serve portions now available!

Adventures in… Cross-fit!

I’ve heard so much about Cross-fit in recent years, particularly since the appearance of Commando Steve on The Biggest Loser.  He has been a great ambassador for the program in that he epitomises the philosophies behind it.  Functional fitness and strength, a strong mental attitude, and well-rounded physique.
For anyone who has no idea of what Cross-fit is.. check out this u-tube video!

A new cross-fit group has started up in the Rockhampton Fitness Centre so I took the opportunity to go check it out and see what it is all about.
Costs:  First class is free, and after that it depends on if you are a member of the gym or not.  For each class, $7.50 for members, $20 for non-members, or for a 10 session pass it is $150.  There are also fortnightly and monthly unlimited passes for $75 and $170 respectively.  Remember to contact them directly for updated costs, discounts for emergency services personnel, or any specials that might be running!
When:  Classes run for an hour which include a walkthrough of the WOD and what progressions are available so you can work at your own level.  There are morning classes, Monday to Friday at 6am, and evenings at 5.45pm.  Also a Saturday class runs at 9.30am. 
Contact: I contacted them through their face-book page and they were prompt at returning my message.  You can also contact the Rockhampton Fitness Centre (aka Norm’s Gym) directly by phone.
I went along on a Friday night to be blessed with only one other person in the class.  Friday night generally has a low attendance due to it being.. well, Friday night!  I would recommend going along on a Friday for your first class if you want a more personal introduction! 
I was also assured that there is generally a good representation of women in the class.  The skill level is generally at a beginner to intermediate level as the program has only started recently in the area, so if you want to start, now is a great time to do it!
On a personal note, I am very impressed with my first workout. It was a 20min AMRAP of what looked like a fairly easy workout, once my progression modifications were made anyway!).
Warm-up: 3x (200m + 10 long jumps) then stretching

• 2 Muscle-ups (1 = 3 jumping chins, 3 tri-cep dips)
• 4 Headstand Push-ups (1 = 1 Pike Push-up with Feet Elevated)
• 8 Kettlebell swings (12kg)

And of course we ended with some stretching.
I managed 7 and a bit rounds.. my goal was 10 so I will be repeating this again to beat myself! 
And therein lies the attraction of Cross-fit.  You not only get to challenge yourself every single workout, but you also get to really see your progress by recording your personal bests for any workout that you do!
Even though I am not a member I am seriously considering buying that 10 session pass so I can do a couple of more classes and see how that fits in with my training.  I really enjoyed the session itself, I enjoyed the feeling of motivation that comes from trying to beat the clock and the encouragement from the instructor and other participants.

Learning to Love… Yogurt!

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I suffer from food aversions.  I struggle to eat some foods and am very wary of use-by dates or any sign that a food may make me feel ill.  Yogurt is one of those foods.

As a child I remember thinking yogurt was just kind of gross!  There was always runny bits on top, it wasn’t sweetened, and it never really sat well in my stomach.  It was on the ‘yucky’ food list and wasn’t eaten. 

Your parents dietary habits and tastes are passed on to you through exposure, and by your parents reactions to certain food.  I can remember thinking of yogurt as something that was foreign and something that went ‘off’ quickly.  I also remember my mum recently describing yogurt to me as just that!

I don’t want to pass this on my kids so I have made a commitment to battle this issue head on – with an Easi-yo Yogurt maker!  I’ve tried it this week and it has been great!  It is simple to use, and just using the standard, unsweetened version gives you a whopping 68cals per 100g!

Our 12wbt snack recommendation is 100-150cals, with two snacks per day.  Because I tend to get hungry at night I try to keep my snacks close to 100cals so I can save a nice 100cal protein based snack for just before bed to help me sleep.  The yogurt really does this nicely as it provides a nice mix of both carbohydrates and protein.

As 100g is only 68cals, this gives plenty of room to add flavour to the yogurt by adding fruit, spices, honey, or to use it in other recipes in place of higher fat options such as sour cream!  Today I tried cinnamon and honey at a whopping 92cals – perfect!

Cinnamon and Honey Yogurt

• 100g of natural unsweetened Easi-yo (prep as directed) – 68cals
• 1 teaspoon of honey – 20cals
• cinnamon – 2cals

Just stir the honey and cinnamon through the yogurt and enjoy!
92cals
3.9g Protein; 11.3g Carbs; 3.6g Fat (20:60:20)
If you want a higher protein ratio, just add some plain protein powder to the mix.  Just remember this adds calories, but for those of us doing lean and strong, protein calories are adventageous to building muscle so, in my mind, are considered 'freebies'.


This is extremely cost effective! The prepared yogurt lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge and makes 10 x 100g servings.  The satchets cost about $4 each if I remember, even less if you buy them in packs: that is .40c per serve!  And at only $25 for the kit, you will easily save money over the long term!

What have you done today…

To make yourself proud?

Well yesterday I went for a run (5km including the warm up and cool down walk) and avoided excessive eating of chocolate.  Today I have avoided crap food, chose not to eat take-out, and laid down the law with my son!
And I rocked it at the gym!

Jeni  <-- one workout closer to Awesome!

Balance

I have 5kg to lose, I’m in a healthy weight range and even my waist is within the healthy guidelines.  Is my lifestyle healthy?  No way!  I so easily fall back into the bad habits of take-out of laziness as soon as the pressure is turned up a little bit.

I don’t know what to do about it, except to just keep on improving one step at a time.  And each time I slip back a little less.

I have decided not to do the Michelle Bridges 12wbt program this round.  I have the program and recipes, I have the skills I need to do it.  I just need to make it a priority and right now, I have too many other things going on to really justify making a 12 week program a priority.  My health, yes, it is a priority and I will focus on health and well-being.  But the program itself is too time-consuming as a whole, when you take into account new recipes, new meal plans, learning new exercise programs and schedules, watching the videos (which I’ve seen before anyway) and mindset lessons, participating in mindset lessons, fitness tests, milestones, and then jumping on the forums, blogs, facebook, and twitter!  Phew!  Yes, it is a lot to do the program as a whole but for those who desperately need to turn their lives around – it is important enough, and necessary enough to commit that time.  But not for me!  I’m doing okay and I am here because I want to get healthier, not because I am slowly killing myself!

So the last few weeks of April will be about finding balance.  Finding a way to make my goals fit my life.  I want to have happy kids, a clean house, my PhD, and a fit and healthy lifestyle for my whole family!

Saturday mornings are for cleaning up and shopping so that is what I am doing this morning!  Currently cleaning, then doing a meal plan, and then shopping and planning for a big cook up tomorrow!

The importance of lifestyle.

You cannot ignore lifestyle in your quest to become a better, fitter, healthier you.  You can nail your nutrition, you can exercise like a demon, but you are doing yourself a great disservice if you then go and sit on your butt for 16hrs staring at a computer screen, or if you are sacrificing your sleep time to stare at a television for a couple of hours, or even to go work-out at 4.30am in an already over busy schedule.

Our lifestyle is really just a collection of habits, things we do automatically without really thinking.  While most of us dig in and change our exercise and nutrition habits, we forgot about the other stuff.  Sometimes we might make changes to our lifestyle as we do this without really considering the consequences.  The two areas suffering in my life:

Incidental Exercise

Now, most people I know seem to increase their incidental exercise as they go on a ‘health’ kick.  Riding a bike to work, taking the stairs, parking in the far corner of the carpark, etc.  But some of us (i.e. me) seem to decide somewhere in the back of the mind that since we workout, we need to “rest-up” throughout the day so we aren’t too worn out.  This is especially the case for people on low calorie diets, or people who are not getting enough sleep (that is me!).  My work (PhD) is fairly untaxing, but as a mother I do have a fair bit of housework to do.  I don’t workout on days when I do a big lot of housework.. because I am already exhausted!  Yes, I am a big BABY!  This is going to change from right now!  It is the exercise you do between workouts that is going to burn fat – what is the point of building up your metabolism if you are just gonna sit on your ass?  It’s like installing a V8 engine in your car and then just letting it idle all day in a bid to use up all that extra petrol you have: you would use a lot more petrol if you actually got out and drove it! 

Sleep

It is fairly common knowledge these days that sleep is vital to weight loss.  Lack of sleep increases cortisol production which means we retain fat ‘just in case’ (after all, if we don’t have time to sleep then we must have some kind of emergency going on!).  I hear of so many people who decide to ‘fit in’ their hours exercise at 5.30am or 9pm at night and rather then ensuring they make up their sleep, they just do without!  Early morning exercise is great.. but you need to head to bed early and not sit up half the night watching television or facebooking!   Caffeine is not your friend either, so other then a cup in the morning – ditch it!  It totally messes with your sleep cycle and sleep is hard enough to come by!  My problem is the late night ‘relaxing’ where I sit up in the quiet post-bedtime and watch some television and facebook till midnight.  Not only does this encourage extra food consumption, it eats into valuable sleep time preventing the repair of muscles, making you less likely to have the energy burn calories the next day, and just simply makes you feel like shit.

Goals for this week:

1.  Increase Incidental Exercise

2.  Increase the amount of sleep you are getting!

Mighty Balls of Power

These mighty balls of power will have you pumping up the iron and kicking arse in no time!  Designed to have a complete balance of macronutrients that is beneficial post-workout to those doing heavy duty training, these little babies are gonna feed your muscles so they grow big and strong!

And yes, I know they look like sheep poop!
Serves: 12 – make in advance and keep in the fridge or freezer
Just under 100 calories per serve if 12 balls are made, I make mine into about 18-20 balls so they are around the 50-70 calorie mark – Two or three are perfect a filling snack on the go!
4 tbsp (or 80g) Crunchy light peanut butter, Kraft
1 cup (or 90g) Quick Oats, Uncle Tobys
2 tbsps of Protein Powder- chocolate flavoured if available (Figure, Natures Way)
1 tbsp LSA mix
1/3 cup  (or 45g) Craisins ** (Ocean Spray)
Optional: 1 tbsp of cocoa baking powder if you can’t get chocolate protein powder or like a stronger chocolate taste!
You do need a food processor to make these up! 
All ingredients can be placed into food processor or add one at a time while mixing with a cutting attachment that will dice up the cranberries and oats into a fine mix.  The mix should just begin to bind but still be powdery.
Pour the the mix into a bowl and add a little hot water.. you shouldn’t need more then a 1/4 cup so add slowly and mix with a large wooden spoon for a few minutes before adding more as you want to be as dry as possible so they are not too sticky.  It will form a doughy ball when ready.  Just roll into balls about 2cm in diameter.
The total mix comes to about 1200 calories so just divide that by the number of balls to get an approximate calorie count per ball.  Remember though that protein powder will differ so it might be an idea to work it out based on your own ingrediants!
You could also substitute about 10g of shredded coconut for the LSA.
Now, the downside to these are that they are 35% fat but in a diet that is otherwise lean, they a good way to increase your fat intake.
Good points.. 22% protein, 43% Carb
They are not sweet but they fill my ‘chocolate treat’ craving.. something real chocolate doesn’t even do!

** note: if anyone knows were I can find some unsweetened cranberries I would love to hear from you!

Enjoy!