Ingredients:

½ Cup Cocoa
½ Cup Hazelnut meal
5 Dates
¼ Cup Water

Take the pips out of the dates then put everything except the water in a food processor and blend as much as possible.

Very slowly add a little bit of water and keep whizzing in the food processor. You want it to get to a point where everything forms a giant ball in your food processor. You may need more or less water depending on how juicy your dates are. I used just under ¼ cup.

Once everything is mixed as good as it can, roll into balls. This made 9 for me.

Keeps well in the fridge.

Notes and variations:

Use more or less dates depending on how sweet you like it, keeping in mind this will alter the water quantity. Make sure you get fresh loose dates as the packaged ones are very dry and often contain added sugar and sulphites. You can use almond meal instead of hazelnut meal, or even peanut butter. If you have a good food processor you can use whole nuts. Cacao powder is way better than cocoa powder (nutrition and taste wise) and using this with raw nuts would class this snack as “raw”. The variations you can do are endless. Try some cacao nibs for crunch, a dash of cinnamon, dried cranberries, or roll the balls in desiccated coconut.

 Mushroom And Fetta Mini-Frittatas
Healthy, high protein, gluten free & sugar free

Ingredients:
1 Large portobello mushroom
3 Free range eggs
5 Tbsp coconut cream
¼ cup Goat’s Fetta

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and put muffin liners in your muffin tin.

Finely chop mushroom (or any other vegie you’d prefer such as capsicum, spinach, broccoli, zucchini etc) and put an even amount in each muffin mould.

Beat eggs with coconut cream, then pour equal amounts into each muffin mould over the top of the mushrooms.

Top with some crumbled goat’s fetta.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 6 regular muffin-sized frittatas.

Generally speaking, saying things like “I don’t eat sugar” and “I’m gluten free” are easy ways to break free of the social pressures of eating foods that don’t do you any favours. Chefs understand these phrases and are quite happy to make simple alterations when you are eating out.

If you are eating at a friend’s place, let them know your dietary requirements in advance. If it’s too hard for them, offer to bring a dish to share or invite yourself over early to interfere help with the cooking.

If you think that avoiding unhealthy food will leave you hungry in these situations then it is easy to have a snack before you leave home, or have a snack when you get back home. Keeping some hard boiled eggs or some leftovers in the fridge is a quick and easy option.

Sometimes we make poor food choices in case we offend the host. More often than not, our fear of offence is unfounded.

Sometimes we make poor food choices because we don’t want to have a discussion on why we choose to eat well. People who don’t eat well don’t understand why you would want to eat to support good health. They get defensive about their own poor choices and try to justify that it’s ok for you to eat crap too.

“Go on, just have one. You can work it off later.”
Because I’m a trainer, and I also train myself hard for events, I hear this all the time. I often say I’m training for something in particular and I need to eat to support my training. If you are not training for a particular event, you can simply say you are training hard at the moment and always feel better when you eat better.

“Why won’t you have any sugar? You don’t have diabetes.”
This was said to me recently and I immediately replied with “Exactly, and I want to keep it that way.” That solved that problem in an instant. No one can argue with that. With around 300 Australians being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes DAILY, eating for your health and prevention of disease, especially if it runs in your family, is extremely important and your friends will respect that.

“What’s wrong with a slice of bread?”
I get this a fair bit, particularly because I’m not celiac. While I am not allergic to gluten or wheat, and don’t feel any of the usual effects of intolerance, I know that when I eat it I gain fat and when I don’t I lose the fat. That is a good enough side effect for me to avoid it. “Wheat makes me feel bloated” is a good answer to this.

“You ate a healthy dinner, surely you can have a little dessert.”
Yes, of course you can, but you know that it isn’t going to help your cause. Most people can understand a temporary change in diet but don’t understand permanent change. I find you get little reaction to a response like “I could have dessert, but I’m going dessert-free at the moment.”

I certainly don’t advocate abstaining from treats for the rest of your life, so if you want to indulge, choose the events that are worthy. If you have a large family then eating cake at EVERY birthday party probably isn’t a good idea. Choose the most important celebrations and make sure you really do enjoy the food. Eating some sausage rolls just because you can is not a good reason. And if you eat slower to savour the taste, you will realise they taste pretty crap! But if you go out for your own birthday and there is a really nice dessert on the menu, then eat it slowly, savouring the taste and textures, and you will enjoy it even more.

I get plenty of questions, as well as absolute statements, from people looking to justify eating junk food such as “Can I have wine since it is just fermented grapes?”  “I only use brown sugar,” “I only have ONE biscuit,” or “Is it ok to eat low fat Fruche?”

The thing is, if you have to ask, you probably already know the answer. I don’t enjoy being the Nutrition Nazi but when you are regularly justifying or fooling yourself why you are allowed to eat high-sugar highly-processed diabetes-causing foods with each meal then you will never reach your goals. Sure, the odd thing here and there most likely won’t set you back, but at some point you will have to decide if you’d prefer to drink wine every night or reduce body fat. You can’t have both.

When you find yourself asking these questions, ask yourself, “How will this food item get me closer to my goals?” I GUARANTEE you will find your answer!

Here are some sample conversations you might have with yourself:

“Is it ok to have a biscuit with my morning tea?”
“I want to reduce my body fat, so is eating a biscuit going to help me?”
“It’s just one biscuit… Everything in moderation”
“Actually, one biscuit every day is half a pack a week and half a pack of biscuits won’t help me at all.”

“How about low fat Fruche?”
“I want to reduce my risk of diabetes and cancer since it runs in the family. How will this help me?”
“It’s low fat! It must be good!”
“Let’s take a look at the ingredients. Lots of sugar, 6 different thickeners, gelatine, 2 acidity regulators, colour and preservative. These ingredients will not protect me against disease.”

If you’re not sure about a food item, have this conversation with yourself. You already know if you should be eating it or not.

Look up a running program online and you’ll find it usually contains 5-6 days of running and 1-2 days of rest. Occasionally a day will be marked as “Rest or Cross-train” without further instruction, but more often than not there is NO strength training component at all.

Some runners believe that the best way to get better at running is to run more but if you have poor biomechanics and muscle imbalances you will be one of the 50% of runners that are injured. Strength training is IMPERATIVE for runners to run the best they can. Avoiding injuries, strengthening weaknesses and having the ability to run with good form will ensure you can run for many years to come.

I used to avoid training my legs for fear it would negatively impact my running training but I have since learnt that stronger legs equals stronger running. It doesn’t matter what distance you are training for, if your legs are stronger you will have more power with less effort.

Even if you are an ultra distance runner you don’t want to waste time doing high reps with light weights. If you want to get stronger you have to lift HEAVY. Squats, deadlifts and cleans should be done with heavy weights at low reps. You will not gain unwanted bulk if you keep the reps under 5. You only need one or two weights sessions a week to see improvement and soon enough you will be laughing as you overtake your competitors on the hills!

2. Wearing The Wrong Shoes

There is such an overwhelming choice of runners to wear it is hard to know where to start. Highly cushioned shoes with gel or air and stability enhancing shoes that can cost up to $280 promise a comfortable ride but despite the advent of high tech running shoes, the rate of injury has not changed.

For most people, unless they have a genuine deformity, choosing highly cushioned or stability shoes should not be a priority. Remember if you are in a shoe shop and they ask you to STAND on a piece of equipment while they GUESS your RUNNING style then their suggestions may not be valid unless you will be using your shoes mainly for standing around in. I am a huge proponent of minimalist running – that is, wearing racing flats or shoes that give you a barefoot feel. This is definitely not for everyone so my main advice is to wear shoes that are comfortable!

I am always surprised at the number of people who suffer blisters and toe nails falling off when this could easily be prevented by shoes that are the right shape for your feet. Always consider the length, width, height and shape of the insole. If you feel like the shoes need ‘breaking in’ then you should consider the fact they just aren’t the right shape for your feet. Shoes should feel good straight out of the box so always try on as many as you can. If you aren’t happy with any then go to another shop and try even more models!

3. Not Listening To Your Body

As stated before, it is said that 50% of runners are injured at any one time. I have not met a runner who has not had time out due to injury. Runners can be a crazy bunch. We have goals and don’t let anything stop us from getting there, even if it means suffering pulled muscles, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, ITB syndrome, tarsal tunnel syndrome and stress fractures. We are usually so stupid that we will continue to run through pain just to tick off some extra mileage. I find this is particularly the case when following a program and not allowing flexibility in the rate of improvement. Just because a program says you must do a 3 mile run does not mean you have to do it if you are not ready for it yet. You might be ready for it next week but if you keep pushing ahead when you know you are experiencing abnormal pain then you are not listening to your body.

If there is anything that does not feel right then something MUST be done about it. If a day or two off running doesn’t fix it then you may have to outsource your pain treatment. Sports doctors, physios and podiatrists will know more than your local GP so find one by recommendation and don’t just give them money and hope the problem will go away. Do the stretches and strengthening exercises they tell you to do so you can get better. And if they only treat the symptoms not the cause, then find someone else!

If you pay attention to points 1 and 2, you may find this point 3 a little easier.

When you have a challenging metabolic circuit sometimes the going gets so tough you don’t know if you can make it to the end. Your heart rate is so high and your muscles are so fatigued you don’t know if you can do just one more minute. That last minute can seem like an eternity. If you are tough enough to get through those last 60 seconds you are tough enough to get through anything.

Training to get stronger and fitter is training to get tougher in life.

After the debauchery of Christmas I’ve decided to issue a challenge.

NO SUGAR for 7 days from January 1st 2012.

Just 7 days! January 1st – 7th.

Let’s clarify a few things first. Sugar is sugar. Natural sweeteners are sugar. Artificial sweeteners are sugar. And zero calorie sweeteners are sugar. This is about kicking the addiction not just to white sugar but to the taste of it.

Natural sugars in whole foods like fruits and vegetables are of course fine and healthy. Anything added – natural or artificial – is banned!

So that means no sugar, maple syrup, honey, stevia, xylitol or coke zero! For 7 days only.

On the 8th day eat whatever you like. But I urge you to consider how you feel, if you really want it, if your taste buds have changed and if you do want to reward yourself with ice cream on a hot summers day, assess how you feel afterwards. I would LOVE to hear how you go. Perhaps you will continue the month sugar-free

I had a few fitness goals this year. My deadlift goal was 120kg and I didn’t quite get there, but 105kg is still an improvement on last year. My squat goal was 80kg and I smashed that by getting to 90kg quite some time ago! My body composition goal went backwards, although I learnt more about nutrition and how my body responds to some foods, so now I need to apply this knowledge.

My organisational skills also improved and I now have an AWESOME system in place for fitness programming for 1:1 clients and group sessions. This is huge for me as not only have I made this task quicker, but the system has built in periodisation (to avoid stagnation and ensure progress) and an exercise library so I don’t forget some of my old favourite exercises.

I am also very happy to report that ALL my clients are now fitter, stronger and closer to their goals. Sometimes I get quite a shock when I notice they can do things more easily, pick up new exercises quicker and recover faster from high intensity exercise. This is SUCH an inspiration for me and helps me improve too.

Whether you met your goals this year or not, are you BETTER now than you were 12 months ago? If not, what stopped you? And what can you do to ensure you will improve from now onwards? Every little bit counts. If you just pick ONE thing you can do to improve yourself and apply that every single day then that alone will be enough to make an impact on 2012. If you pick just one new thing each month, then imagine how great 2012 will be for you!

Counting calories is not only detrimental, it’s completely pointless. And here’s why:

Firstly, do you know your basal metabolic rate (BMR)? If you do, how did you find it out? From Google? Your BMR is how many calories your body uses at rest to stay alive. Do you have a fast metabolism? Maybe the BMR calculator you found didn’t account for that. What if you have a slow metabolism? And how do you know it is slow? How slow IS it?

Let’s say you’ve been to a university and had a PhD student hook you up to a machine and measure your BMR. If you’re going to count calories, the next thing you’ll do is then measure how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and then make sure you eat less than that. But how do you know how many calories you’re eating? Got a pocket calorie counting book? Or use one of the programs online? There are handy phone apps for this too! You’ll probably have to weigh everything to the gram in order to find out your figures. Some of the calorie counters are really handy and will tell you how many calories in a medium sized apple so you don’t have to weigh it.

In this situation, what constitutes a medium sized apple? And do you include the calories in the core? And at what point does a medium sized apple become a large? What happens when you switch from your usual pink lady to royal gala? They must have different calories, right?

Counting calories like this can bring out OCD traits and even bring on eating disorders. When you make a sandwich, you’ll have to keep track of how many thin slices of tomato you add. When does a thin slice become a medium slice? And are they thin slices of cherry tomatoes or roma tomatoes? Was that one or two cups of lettuce? Packed cups or loose? Two raw mushrooms or two cooked mushrooms (there IS a difference)? The inaccuracy of counting calories and the obsession with calculating each meal can lead to anxiety, social interruptions and even eating disorders.

What IS a calorie anyway? One calorie is the amount of energy required to heat one gram of water by one degree Celsius. This is 4.184 joules. This is not what is used when measuring the energy of food. When reading food labels, you are actually reading kilocalories. A kilocalorie is often abbreviated to Calorie with a capital C. A Kilocalorie, kcal, or Calorie, is how much energy is required to heat one kilogram of water by one degree. This is 4.184 kilojoules. Kilocalories and kilojoules are what you see on food labels and are the measurements you’ll find in the various calorie counting books and websites. A Calorie is the imperial measurement and since that is what is used in the USA, most of our foods report calories too. Kilojoules are the metric measurements and you will find these listed on all Australian food labels. So now you know what a calorie is, how relevant is heating water by one degree to what you consume? I don’t have the answer to that.

Even if you can accurately weigh all your food and have had it all tested to see exactly how many calories you consume, how do you know how many calories you ABSORB? Because this is what really counts, isn’t it? If you have digestive dysfunction, unbalanced hormones, allergies or other issues, you will not be absorbing everything you consume. The type of foods you eat also affect how much your body absorbs. As an extreme example, if you eat a handful of wood shavings, because it is non-absorbable fibre, you will not be consuming any calories. A handful of wood shavings may even be a negative calorie food as your body will burn many calories trying to process it. By the way, I am NOT advising this as a diet to lose weight! I do not know of any method of finding out how many calories you absorb in your food.

To add to this calorie counting madness, NOT ALL CALORIES ARE CREATED EQUAL. 2000 calories of cake and champagne sounds like a great way to spend the day, but your body does not process this the same as 2000 calories of salmon and salad. Even though it is the same amount of calories, you could well gain weight with the cake and champagne, and it’s possible you could even drop significant weight with the salmon and salad.

Now what about the calories burned during exercise? Some treadmills and heart rate monitors have a calorie tracker in them. But how do these machines know how many calories you are burning? I have briefly mentioned how the body adapts to exercise previously, so even if you do have a ballpark figure for the number of calories burnt during a 30 minute walk, as your fitness increases, your 30 minute walk will not burn the same amount of calories as it once did. This same theory applies to any exercise such as running or lifting weights.

If you have ACCURATELY been able to track your calories in and out, and produced a change in body shape. What happens next? If you are smaller than when you started, your BMR will be less. So if you want to lose more weight, then you will have to reduce calories even more. Some people get by on only 800 calories a day yet don’t lose weight. Why is this? It could be due to illness, imbalanced hormones, slow metabolism or combination of all of those. MANY people in this situation LOSE weight when they INCREASE calories with healthy clean food. How is this physically possible with the calories in, calories out theory?

So if you think counting calories is THE way to change your body composition, I put it to you that it is the most inaccurate method of measuring anything your body consumes or burns.

Calories do play a part. Obviously if you eat 5000 calories of fresh healthy food you will end up heavier than if you eat 1800 calories of fresh healthy food. But there is no way for you to easily and accurately measure your BMR, food consumption or exercise, so why count them?

Some people do very well counting calories. Of course they are not accurate, but if you use the same heart rate monitor to measure your calories burnt during exercise and the same program for counting calories consumed, you can get a ballpark figure of what works for you.

Unfortunately I have found many women in particular find this method brings on negative emotions and actions. Some find it tedious and become overly obsessive. It’s also not uncommon to develop an eating disorder.

I am a big believe of the KISS method. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Unless you are aiming for a super low level of body fat like that required for a body building competition, there is NO REASON to complicate your nutrition.

I have found THE BEST way to reduce body fat is to eat fresh unprocessed food. When you make this change, you will undoubtedly reduce your calorie intake WITHOUT having to count anything. If you want to gain muscle, eat MORE. If you want to reduce size eat LESS. You do NOT need to be more scientific than that since it is simply not possible.

Meals

• The traditional meals of roast turkey and vege or bbq prawns with fresh salad are actually good for you. Be sure to fill up on this so you don’t find yourself picking at the less healthy options.
• Alternate a glass of water with each glass of alcohol. Aside from the obvious benefits, this keeps you fuller so there is less room for the unhealthy stuff.
• If you are going to a party where you *know* there will only be unhealthy options available, bring a plate of healthy food. Fresh fruit kebabs or home made gluten free cookies (Elana’s Pantry has some good ideas) will be welcomed by your hosts and their guests.

Desserts

• Fresh fruit is so refreshing on a hot summer’s day. Stone fruit, berries and mangos are all in season and a great alternative to heavy pudding and custard. You will feel content after your meal instead of stuffed and bloated.
• Being a chocoholic, I prefer to reach for chocolate treats instead of fruit pudding. If you are the same, consider some raw chocolate (from health food stores and some posh supermarkets) or some strawberries dipped in dark chocolate.

Exercise

• On Christmas day I have always enjoyed getting up early and starting the day with a long run. Everyone you meet is so friendly and it’s a lovely start to the day.
• If you struggle to stay on track with regular exercise, take this as an opportunity for some brisk evening walks. You’ll get to see the Christmas lights as your meals digest.

Parties

• It is important to enjoy yourself and if you have been dieting strictly, a diet break can help boost your metabolism. You probably don’t need to eat junk and get drunk at every party so if being a food nazi is not for you, pick and choose which events you will indulge in.