Homemade Chocolate Energy Bars!

Click above for the full recipe video

Suitable for anyone who needs an on the go fuel source.

Enjoy!

Rice Powered Bike Race!

I completed my first ever organised cycling event today.

The Birkenhead North End CC 5 Mile Time Trial

Click above to watch the video (im testing out the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S3).

My fuel for the race, which took place in the evening, was a bowl of egg fried rice with some hot sauce, and greek yoghurt. Afterwards I needed an SIS energy gel to keep the legs going to get home. 

An excellent experience, 2000 calories burned, including the ride there and home. Completed the event in 13 mins and 14 seconds with an average speed of 21.9 mph.

All as a warm up for the Wild Wales Challenge on Bank Holiday Sunday, 82 Miles, 10,000ft of climbing. Oh God.

I Cant Lose Any Weight!

Please check out this video first guys:

Basically I am weight training to maintain my muscle mass, and doing a lot of cycling for my cardio, in the region of 50-80 miles per week.

See Strava Here

Although I am eating at a calorie deficit, my weight loss has slowed down a lot, and I feel if i eat more, i will gain weight (which I refuse to do, as it makes cycling harder and I am entering cycling events). However, in addition to cycling, I practice Jujitsu once a week and lift weights 1 or two times a week, so more cardio will be hard to fit in around my working week. I eat relatively clean, no cheat meals but a kind of IIFYM style and dont take any supplements.

Any suggestions or insights as to what is going on?

Stem Cell Burger - Worlds Leanest Protein?

So after a long time in a lab in Europe, boffins decided to cook a burger patty which had been grown from the stem cells of a living cow. It all sounds a bit odd, but raises interesting points:

Advantages: 

Far less harmful to the environment in production
Less animal slaughter
Less focus on growing crops for animal feed
Possible alternative meat for vegetarians?

Disadvantages:

Costs £215,000 per burger
Hasn't been properly tested
Apparently tastes a bit different, lacks flavour

Check out my thoughts here:

An interesting point i picked up on, was that as it is grown from the muscle fibres of a cow, it doesnt contain the naturally occuring fats which would be present in a living animal.

Imagine bodybulders getting hold of a chicken breast with no fat or a prime steak with near pure animal protein - I can see the supplement industry going wild for this.

Lose Weight For Summer

Losing weight is simple. There are millions of websites, blogs, weight loss groups, gyms, personal trainers, and corporations (read: Weight Watchers) that over complicate things.

There are two main factors which will aid in weight loss:

Move More

Eat Less

.....and thats essentially it. Generally, if you eat 2000 kCal a day, and you move around enough so that you expend 2,500 kCal every day, you will be at what is known as a calorie deficit. Through the space of a week, you will have burned off 3,500 kCal, and that is nearly the same amount of calories as one pound of bodyfat.

There are many ways of keeping a tab on how many calories you are burning. Apps such as Myfitnesspal, my favourite, can help a lot. Try tracking everything you eat for a few days (and i mean everything). You will be surprised how wrong you may be with your estimations beforehand.

Track Your Calories













Track Your Weight Regularly

Dont worry about supplements for now. Thermogenic Fat Burners for example may have their place, but can vary in their effectiveness and some people can be very sensitive to stimulants.

You Are What You Eat!

You might be able to get all of your daily calories from chocolate, but you will be badly malnourished and feel terrible. If you eat nothing but chocolate, which for instance may be 30% fat, 60% Carbs (refined sugar) and 10% Protein, then how do you expect your body to drop to under 10% fat so you can see your abs? In this case, a calorie is not equal to any other calorie.

If you want to lose weight as a bodybuilder, you are going to lose some muscle size. Deal with it. In order to minimise this loss, keep your protein level high. The reason for this is when your body starts to break down for fuel, you will still have enough protein passing through your system to replace whatever mass gets used up (a very basic overview).

Cutting out a Macronutrient

It works, but its probably not worth it. Once you come off the diet and eat carbs again for example, your body will adjust and you might find yourself back to square one. Good for competitors & models who have to hit a deadline, not so good for longeivity and good health.

Be Smart, Eat Sensible, Train Hard.

 

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Why Should I Be A Vegetarian?

 Is Vegetarianism a wise choice?

I am fairly new to the whole vegetarian lifestyle. It has been a few years since I initially became fully aware of the crap food I was eating and the effect on my body and decided to make a change. More recently I began to implement a vegetarian mindset into my diet. In the last 2 months, I admit I have eaten meat, but only for 3 meals (when it was inconsiderate and easier in the situation as to not be a pain in the ass). I would consider my diet at the moment to be 99% vegetarian. I have no craving for any meat, even though being an omnivore all my life I know how good it can taste.

There are different types of Vegetarian diets, and I chose the Ovo-Lacto type. This basically means I will eat eggs and dairy. This is purely a choice based on nutrition. I have always consumed a lot of these and to block them out would not only restrict my efforts for a healthy lifestyle and also drive me nuts.

There is also the Vegan camp who choose no animal products whatsoever. I disagree with Veganism, and this is because all the vegans I have met seem pale and malnutritioned. Obviously those who know the diet type well and do enough research can lead a full and healthy life as a vegan but the majority do not, and this isnt safe. Fair play to you if you do.

When I first started reading up on Veganism I came across this video, and yes, it is shocking and yes it did change my mind. If you're not easily shocked, its well worth the time to watch it all. Bear in mind it is taking place in a vegan restaurant and is slightly biased but a good vid anyways.

But the main reason for taking on a 99% vegetarian diet is a combination of my first hand experiences in the food trade and my attitude towards sports performance.

Where Does Meat Come From?

I have seen many abbatoirs and farms, and many are clean and well looked after. However I have seen a lot, and many more are filthy. They often smell unpleasant and I have seen plenty of common practices involving the carcasses of animals to be prepared for food which have knocked me sick, because I never stopped to think about it beforehand. Most people choose not to, and thats fine. But for those who are interested, they will definately find vegetarianism the more appealing choice.

Another disturbing video - discretion is advised, but it is very well known amongst the veggie community.

Sports & Veggies

There is nothing anywhere to say that an athlete needs to eat meat. Yes its easy for protein and you get a big hit of vitamins but there is also the bad side such as cholesterol and contamination through the food chain (take mercury in tuna for example).

My aim was to lose weight for a cycling tour. I weighed nearly 14 stone and that was gonna kick my ass on the big climbs up mountains, and vegetarianism has helped me shift 1-2lb's of bodyweight a week for the past 3 months, and long may it continue!

For cycling, the main nutrient needed for performance in my experience is sugar, in the form of glucose and dextrose. These are fast acting and can supply your muscles with the fuel you need for a full days riding, or as a quick shot before and intense period.

For bodybuilding however, sugar is generally not very welcome. It is know sugars can spike insulin and unless you know about insulin spiking, its best left alone. Bear in mind there is 4 calories per gram of sugar also, and when that could be substituted for the equivalent in protein, sugar doesnt really have a place.

Protein can be sourced quite easily when you think about it. Whey protein is more popular than ever, its quick, convenient, and it works. Eggs, if you still want to eat them are a staple bodybuilders go to food. Other foods such as tofu, beans, quinoa, lentils, cheese, milk and many many more also pack more than a good share of protein so as long as you are careful and count the amounts you eat, you are good to go. Bear in mind beans and the like tend to not be complete protein, so you have to mix and match to get all of the types of amino acids which make it up.

 Basically it is up to you and your opinions.

Dont be pressurised into eating meat, many people wont understand your choices.

Know your reasons, so if people ask, give them a good answer.

Know your goals. Why are you going veggie?

 

 

 Here's just a few of the thoughts I went through before changing my diet.

The Pros and Cons of a Veggie Diet

 Pro's:

• Eating less or no meat and replacing these parts with extra veg or fruit allows higher quantities of plant based vitamins and minerals to enter your system.
• Meat takes longer than fruit or veg to digest.
• Eating gram for gram meat or veggies, veggies will fill you up more. 100g of Broccoli is a bigger volume of food than 100g of Steak.
• Free your mind from the suffering that would have happened to an animal when it was slaughtered should you be now chewing on its muscle fibre....
• Increased digestive health
• Find food sources out in the open should you be stuck. Cant just grab a leg of lamb on the road. The lamb will most probably object unless you're the Bear Grylls type and ready to slaughter and prepare your own food.
• Your food wont have come from an abbatoir with suspect standards.
• Most of your food will be low fat.

Con's:

• Those who eat meat have easy access to high levels of protein
• There is also quite a substantial amount of naturally occuring creatine in products such as beef.
• Fruit and Veg isnt perfect, and can contain pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified products.
• Organic foods are generally more expensive.
• You may have to supplement with multivitamins
• Its easy to get stuck in a cycle of the same food
• Friends and family might not accept the change initially

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
40 Quinoa
1 Banana
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Can Mushy Peas (300g)



Cut around the stalk of the pepper, and remove the top. From there you can scoop out the insides, most will come out with the stalk.
Slice one banana into small chunks.
Boil and simmer the quinoa in 250ml water for around 12 minutes. When ready, scoop with a spoon into the hollow pepper. Place on a baking tray and put in a preheated oven for about another 12 minutes.
In the meantime, fry the banana with some low cal spray, and put the mushy peas in the microwave for a couple of minutes.
Hopefully it will all come out at the same time, and be ready to eat!

Video Recipe

I added some extra coleslaw just for the hell of it (not counted in the macros below).

Approximate cooking time: 20 Minutes


Approx 470 Calories
93g Carbs
29g Protein
4g Fat