Stress

Stress… sometimes it is really obvious that we are feeling the effects of stress. We feel tired, we seem to get sick all the time, we don’t sleep well and we feel irritated or overwhelmed. Sometime the effects of stress are less obvious. We put on weight, we cant seem to get as much out of our workout, we cant even think about working out. At times like these we often turn to coffee, chocolate and food in general to stimulate us, pick us up and get us going. Sadly that’s just what we don’t need. We don’t need to pick our selves up for an hour or so only to crash again. We need deep down at the foundations of our energy an overhaul.

Today I was in a beautiful clothes shop where both the sales assistant and a customer were bemoaning their weight gain.   In a very insightful moment the customer said “it’s stress isn’t it. How can you help over eating when you are stressed?”  I was at the time listening to Brendan Brazier on my ipod talking about stress and what it does to your body. Needless to say I took it as a sign so here I am writing a post on it.

Stress is caused by many things, external and internal, from our thoughts to our environment to our diet- it can all cause stress. Exercise causes stress. Food can cause stress.

Quite simply if we eat food that is heavily processed we cause our body stress. If we eat fresh raw minimally processed food we support our bodies and gradually we out weigh the stress with great nutrition.

I could go into a bunch of scientific proof about what your body does when you eat cooked refined foods and adrenal stress but to me it is a no brainer.  Pizza, burgers, chips, bread, pasta… it is all junk. Yes it might taste good, why wouldn’t it but that doesn’t mean anything in terms of being good for you.  I used to coach people with addictions- there is a lot of stuff that feels good that most people will point out are just outright bad for you, body and soul.

So what is good for you? Think long term, deep foundations. Raw food every day even if it is simple salad will nourish you in a way that the Standard American/Australian Diet of heavily processed and cooked food does not.

Could you have a salad with red, green, yellow, and purple vegetables?  Could you have a green smoothie once a day? Could your salad dressing be made by you instead of out of a bottle? Could you enjoy a simple fruit salad?

What if you did just one thing every day? Swapped a few key things or just decided not to eat any more refined wheat or sugar? Do you think that in a month or two you would notice the difference. That after some time your body would have more energy since it isn’t fighting a battle with processed food.

Maybe then you would have the energy to find that exercise that made you feel great. Whats yours? Yoga? Running? Netball? Do you want the fun of a team, the camaraderie of a couple of close friends or the time to yourself to think?

Is it a little everyday or a couple of times a week?

Would you feel better? Would you look younger? Don’t underestimate how badly stress ages you prematurely. There is nothing like good living to put a glow in your skin that you just can’t get over the counter.

So what do you say? Are you worth it?

Ready to stop stressing your body out and do something positive, one step at a time?

protein fudge brownie

I wrote this recipe forApril because we both run, both care deeply about nutrition and sometimes want our proteins without a huge amount of nut fats. These make great healthy kids snacks.

This is a great high protein snack for after a workout or if you just need something to keep you going for a couple of hours. I have eaten some pretty strange tasting protein bars in my time- some look great and taste like wax or have a weird after taste. I think it is because of all the ingredients that aren’t food- they are additives or vitamins and minerals isolated from food. That just seems so wrong to me. I like food, actually I love food. Real food, not food-like substances.  Try this out and see if it works for you.

Recipe:

50g pea protein powder

25g hemp flour or protein (flour will be grittier)

4 tablespoons tahini (there is the fat source)

Either ½ teaspoon Stevia (zero carbs) or 2 tablespoons agave/honey (better flavour but has carbs)

Flavour with

1 tablespoon raw cacao

¼ tsp ground ginger (anti inflammatory)

¼ tsp ground cinnamon (anti oxidant)

¼ tsp mixed spice

4 drops vanilla essence

A little bit of water to mix

Optional- ½ cup dried berries like cranberries or currents if you don’t mind the carbs. They need to be small pieces as the brownie will crumble if they are too large. You could always soak and puree them, the brownie will just be slightly denser.

Mix well together in a large bowl. Once it seems to be all mixed through start adding a little bit of water at a time until you are mixing something that resembles cookie dough- it will be in a few big lumps that when you press together forms a dough.

Line a small container with clingfilm (right up the sides and leave some spare) and put the dough in the container. Put the extra cling film over the top of the mix and press down to compress the dough into the shape of the container. Place in fridge.

When it is cold cut into 4 bars. Store in the fridge.

This doesnt have a massive amount of calories if you use stevia. There is some healthy fat from the tahini and plenty of bioavailable protein. You could add rice protein and have a perfect mix of aminos.

I find this brownie delicious and because it is so high in protein if I have it sometime after my green smoothie in the morning I get through to lunchtime without needing any morning tea.

If I’ve come in from a 28km run and had my quick carb hit then this is my 20 minutes later recovery bar.

I have heard so many different recovery programs for endurance running so this may not be yours but it works beautifully for me.

Please leave your comments on how well this recipe worked for you and if you improve it then I’d love to hear from you.

Tahini Balls

Here is the Gwinganna Retreat recipe for Tahini Balls. They are great if you are craving something sweet but good for you. Often our cravings are really for vitamins and minerals that we are lacking and these tahini balls are full of calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, phosphorus and potassium to name but a few. These make fantastic healthy kids snacks as well.

Recipe:

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup raw honey/ agave nectar

1/2 cup L.S.A

1 cup dried fruit (goji berries, currents, apricots, sultanas, prunes, the options are endless)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until it begins to form a ball.

roll into walnut sized balls, roll in coconut and store in the fridge.

Perfect 3pm snack or lunch box treat.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

We love chocolate in this house so we fiddle about with raw recipes and we  came up with this. The kids love it and so do I… too much. This  makes  wonderful healthy kids snacks.

Raw Chocolate Fudge

1 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup grated cacao butter

1/2 cup macadamia butter

1 cup agave/ honey

1 Tblsp vanilla extract

pinch macrobiotic salt

pinch cinamon

pinch chilli (Optional)

Method:

In a food processor combine cacao powder, salt and macadamia nut butter.

place in a bowl.

Mix in the agave, vanilla, cinamon and optional but very yummy chilli by hand.

Melt coconut oil and cacao butter in a glass bowl over hot water.

Mix melted oils into cacao powder mixture by hand until smooth.

Pour into a pyrex dish and place in the freezer for a couple of hours until firm.

Cut into bite sized squares and place in the fridge.

These are best stored in the fridge.

You can also pour the mix over dried fruit and nuts before you freeze, inspired I know!

What about cranberries, currents and brazil nuts? Or dried apple, apricot and almonds?

mmm mmmm- the possibilities are endless and quite delicious

Pour mixture into a glass pyrex dish

Place in freezer for 1-2 hours, until firm

Cut into squares and serve

Store in refrigerator or freezer to maintain proper texture and consistency

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