Blueberry Blender Blast

First up put the cashews and the water/green tea into a blender and give it up to 60 seconds of blend time. You don’t really want any chunks of cashew in your drink so it’s best to do a little more if you are unsure. Once you have given that a god thrashing, throw in the blueberries and protein powder and blend until its all mixed, but nice and thick as well.

Should take you all of two minutes to make, drink and clean up. No more “I don’t have time to eat well excuses” my friend!

Let me know what you think.

5 Ways to Add More Vegetables (and fruits) To Your Diet.

We all know that it is important to eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, and chances are that you need to increase your intake. Not many people really do get enough, especially when it comes to the vegetable part.

Fruit is typically sweeter, more enjoyable and more practical. For instance you can just grab and apple, orange and banana in the morning and throw it in your bag. Not so appetising or easy to do with brocolli, celery and capsicum.

So how can I add some more of this high fibre, nutritious, lean body food to my diet?

1. Get a good blender. Start with green tea (chilled) or water as your base and have at it. You can mix and match vegetables and fruit to get great flavours and a heap of nutrition. One blended shake like this could have more nutrition in it than the rest of your normal diet!
2. Saute it with onions. Just about anything tastes good when you saute it with onions in a pan. Add a little bit of your favorite flavored olive oil, some garlic or salt and add it to your chicken or beef.
3. Home made guacamole/salsa. Start with an avocado, some sauteed onion and tomato. Then add your favorite vegetables to make your very own signature dish. Once again serve it as a side to your chicken or beef, or you can use it as a healthy alternative to store bought dips.
4. Think fruit not grains for breakfast. Replace your favorite grain based breakfast cereal with your favorite fruit and go from there. Add some yogurt, mixed nuts or blend it with some cottage cheese. This also works well with berries!
5. Always carry fruit. It is a great idea to have a piece of fruit on stand by. This way it will be your first port of call in case you need a snack, or are going to be late for your next meal. No more running to the store for a chocolate bar or going to the take away for lunch, have this on stand by and you be able to keep the diet horrors at bay!

Let us know your favourite, most practival way of increasing vegetable or fruit intake.

Tea, tea and more tea.

It would be no surprise to you that I am a big fan of green tea for its health and fat burning benefits.

I would drink somewhere between six and nine cups per day on average. I find this a great way to keep hydrated and also find that I am not reaching for snack food between meals when I am regularly drinking a cup.

But there is a time when enough is enough. There is only so much green tea you can drink before you go crazy!

As they say, ‘Variety is the spice of life.’ One look into my kitchen pantry will be evidence of this.

Currently I have the following teas at my disposal:

Plain Green Tea
Peppermint Green Tea
Vanilla Green Tea
Lemon Green Tea
White Tea (not to be confused with black tea and milk)
Black Tea

One of my goals at the moment is to try a new, zero calorie, drink every week. A quick trip to the tea section of your local supermarket will make this very easy. ‘New’ products are coming out regularly and given that you can get anywhere between 10 and 50 serves of tea (leaf or bagged) for the cost of a cafe made coffee it is a very cheap alternative.

I like the idea of a tea swap meet at work. When I get a new tea to try I will bring some into the gym and give a sample to my colleagues and clients and they will often reciprocate.

This is a great way to keep things interesting and perhaps try something that you wouldn’t have chosen yourself.

This week I want you to get out there and try something different with a positive impact on your health.

It may be trying a different tea. It may be swapping a coffee for a tea. It might be to have your favourite tea without milk. It might be to have your tea or coffee without (or even with less) sugar.

All of these are easy to try and you might surprise yourself with what you like. Many of these are habits rather than choices. There is no real reason why you do it other than that’s just the way you do it.

Let me know what your favourite tea is if it’s one I haven’t mentioned.

Hobart Personal Trainer’s Favourite Lunch

This has to be my all time favourite lunch.

Why? First of all it gets a tick in all of the nutritional boxes. Protein – Tick. Vegetables – Tick. Good Fats – Tick.

It’s dead easy to make, stores well (make it the night before) and will help you lose inches off your waist (unlike many other quick and easy lunches)

And because I have to eat it, there is a massive tick next to TASTE. That’s right, even healthy food should taste great.

The Super Ultimate Tuna Salad Lunch – Makes one large or two small serves.

160gms tuna shredded
Seasoning (salt/pepper/other mixed seasonings)
2 tsp mayo (the real, full egg stuff unless allergic)
3 Tbsp avocado (mashed)
1.5 Tbsp shredded parmesan
1 cup cucumber
1/3 cup red onion
1/3 cup chopped tomato

Throw tuna, seasoning, mayo, parmesan and avocado into a large bowl. Mix all together. Add remaining ingredients and mix lightly. Accompany with a green tea of your choice.

Afterwards, you might want to give the teeth a brush, or grab some sugar free gum. Tuna and onion, great for your body and health, not so great for the breath!!

Feel free to mix and match some of your favourite vegetables in there or let us know what special seasoning mix you are using.

Enjoy!