You got your ticket?

 

Saw this when I was driving home from the gym today!  Thought about stopping off ;) But really it's the little things that still amuse and entertain me about living in this country..

If you haven't tried some protein fluff then you are really missing out!  The people at proteinpow.com have some great recipes but this stuff just rocks my world.  It really feels like you are having a REAL cheat meal.

All you need is 1 cup of frozen strawberries 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 1/2 scoops natural vanilla whey, 1/2 tsp xantham gum and a blender! It's that simple.

Here's the linkage :)

http://www.proteinpow.com/2011/09/strawberry-protein-fluff.html

It turns out a little like this

Yeah silly question!

And on that note.. I'm off there. :) Have a great day!

The low Carb Pumpkin Bread experiment

Today I am trying out this recipe from foodsofapril.com for Low carb pumpkin bread.  Since moving to America from the UK I discovered the bread (as is the case with alot of the food - le sigh) is very very different than in Europe.  In Ireland is it fairly easy to buy fresh baked & whole wheat bread.. All in all a pretty clean bread. In fact even store brand bread would go stale, blue mould and hard in a matter of days and even on occasion my bread have mould on when I bought it!  Some might say ewww disgusting but I say YES!!! Little or no preservatives!! (that's right call me weird).  Bread in the states will no joke last in your pantry for weeks and weeks.. if not shock horror months. It's frankinstein bread!!!!  So since moving here and revolutionizing my diet I have cut down on eating bread drastically (difficult for the Irish white bread and potatos are a staple) substituting instead for wholegrain rice, quinoa, leaves, greens, sweet potatos and the like. If I wanted a carb fix and oooo yeah don't get me wrong I love 'em.. (don't leave me with the bread basket at Cheescake Factory alone!!) I began eating Ezekiel sprouted grain bread very occasionally or baking my own.  So here is another type to add in the mix. Low carb pumpkin bread! Thanks to April of this blog for the recipe.  Unfortunately it appears she is no longer blogging which is a shame as her recipes really do look awesome.

Here's the linkage :)
http://foodsofapril.com/?p=4347


The macros look like this:

Makes 1 loaf (8 slices)

Each slice 107 calories, 2.5 grams of carbs, and 7.5 grams of protein (with golden flaxseed)

With the dark flaxseed: 94 calories

For the higher protein version, each slice is 85 calories, 2.5 carbs, and 14 grams of protein

She suggests subbing protein powder instead of the flax seed for a higher protein version (more like JE pumpkin protein bars) and baking for 45 mins instead of 30.

Here's the ingredients I used (minus the water) :

The finished product om nom nom...

Fresh from the oven with some natural peanut butter on. Yum. But yeah.. what isn't yum with natty pb on let's be honest?

You Are More

I just wanted to share this for some encouragement today.  God has really been speaking to me recently about how I am more... more than my past mistakes, more than the names and lables people call or have called me, I am more than my job title; which I've humbily had to give up the past year, I am more than my finances which evidently go hand in hand with the latter.  And although God has gifted me with this body in fact the very temple of his spirit which I endevour to look after and push to the limits.. moved in wonder at how amazing his creation actually is... I am more than that, I am more than how I look or how heavy I can lift.  I am first and foremost his child. And I am LOVED.  As long as I woke up this morning and still had breath in my lungs I have a purpose.  I have a calling on my life.  And so do you.

Back To Beastmode

Today I kicked back into normal gym life at Bailey's beach location after being "out of town" as they love to say here in the US and moving between apartments.  For the past few weeks I've visited a few new gyms (yay for free trials) and worked out at out at my apartment gym.  Don't get me wrong I still managed some good interval, circuit and free weight workouts (No excuses! BOOM!) but it was hardly beastmode and you could say I was rather glad to be reunited with Mr squat rack!! The apartment gym only has dumbells up to 50lbs and it's go heavy or go home these days so I single arm dumbell row more than that sooo needs must!!

So the two questions I'm pondering tonight are... stay at Bailey's for the time being or move gyms and if I should start back up Jamie Eason's Live Fit programme? The JE programme really revolutionized the way I eat and work out and although it does not seem to work for all it worked for me.  So after trying many different ways of eating or "diets" (hate that word  - it makes me "hangry" just typing it) and different training programmes do I return to the old favourite?  I've been reminded "If it's not broke don't fix it?" I have gained back 20lbs since finishing the trainer, although I am sure alot is muscle I would really like to strip back at least 20lbs and a few points on the body fat % to say the least.  I'll let you know what I decide and hopefully you can follow my journey.  I can't wait to get started and post some recipes I've found and tried recently for some really yummy stuff; including probably the best peanut butter cookies I've tasted in a while and also some low carb pumpkin bread.  Excited much!

Welcome To PPP

Well everyone has been telling me for a while now to start blogging. Whether it be regarding my "whirlwind" relocation from my birth place of Northern Ireland to sunny Florida nearly exactly 1 year ago to the day, or about my God given passion for all things health and fitness and clean eating related. So here goes! My blogging gloves are off! Hope you enjoy. <3