Here we are, just about mid-winter, and many clients are friends are heading for the tropics in the coming weeks for some Vitamin Sea and Vitamin D! So I thought I would share some tips on how to stay active on your upcoming vacation. Typically for my husband and I, most of our vacations revolve around sports - most often we travel to surf, ski, bike or hike, with some R’N’R on the side either in the evenings or as a rest day in between. However, our recent European trip involved a lot of sight seeing, and relaxing on beaches with calm seas. Although we enjoyed our trip, for the most part, it did not revolve around a sport as it usually does - so I had to consciously work activity into my day. Check out some of the photos from our trip - on these days we incorporated beach walks, biking, hiking, and lots of walking into our trip. When it comes to fitness and leanness, there are a few important components that come into play: your Resting Energy Expenditure (the amount of calories your body burns at rest just to stay alive, also known as REE), the thermic effect of food (certain foods actually burn more calories while consuming them than others), as well as physical activity. All of these components together are referred to as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. In order to keep your TDEE high, it is therefore important to include physical activity in your day, as well as include thermogenic foods in your diet. So here are a few things that I tried to incorporate into my days during our holiday to make sure I was still keeping my TDEE up:
If you like what you have read, and would like to train with a certified fitness professional to reach your goals before or after a vacation, contact me! You can also subscribe to our newsletter.
You can also try subscribing to one of my Beachbody workouts to complete at home anytime, or maybe even on vacation!
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A warm bowl of noodles can be really comforting on a cool fall or winter day. Last week, I did a post about alternatives to traditional pasta, so this recipe uses Shiritaki Tofu noodles as an alternative. And by the way, these noodles are approved by my husband, who is NOT a health nut. Always a good sign!
Ingredients: lean ground beef, (125 g) tofu shiritaki noodles (1 package) Beef broth (0.3 cup) 1 onion broccoli rabe (0.5 cup) red pepper (0.5 cup) red pepper flakes (1 tsp) Instructions: 1. Saute onion and lean ground beef in casserole pot with coconut oil until meat is lightly browned. Toss in red pepper. 2. Add beef broth, red pepper flakes, toss in broccoli rabe. 3. As a final stage, right before eating, toss in noodles. Season with salt, pepper if you liked this recipe, please share it! And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness! Taking the time to meal prep at least once per week is the secret to fat loss. When we have healthy, homemade food ready to eat in a pinch, we make better food choices. In this video, I review some of the steps to meal prepping, and have outlined them below. I also showcase my FAVOURITE new cookbook in the video - SIBO Family Favourites. For any of you experiencing digestive distress or diagnosed with Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, I highly recommend you check it out. So far, I am LOVING it! Steps to weekly meal prep1. At the beginning of week, or on the weekend, make a menu of what you will eat overnight. Make enough so that you can have the leftovers for lunch the next day.
2. Use your favourite cookbook for recipe inspiration. Check out my new cookbook, SIBO Family Favourites. 3. Write our the list of ingredients you will need to purchase from the grocery store. 4. Go purchase groceries (make sure not to go to the grocery store hungry - eat a meal or have a snack first as this eliminates the possibility of you making poorer food choices when you are hungry. 5. Come home, put groceries away, but leave vegetables out. Pre-chop your veggies for the week, and store in tupperware. 6. Make at least 1-2 meals on your meal prep day to keep you going for at least a couple days at the beginning of the week, if not the whole week. 7. Make sure to pre-cook carbs (quinoa, brown rice, roast sweet potato or squash). Make sure to make a batch of protein (could be baked salmon filets, for instance), and pre-chop your veggies, so you can throw it altogether for a quick meal in a pinch! If you liked this video, please share it! And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness! During the cooler, wetter months, many of my clients have been looking for alternatives to traditional pasta. In some cases, something that is more nutrient-dense, something that contains less calories, or something that is gluten-free. In this video, I review some of those options and have listed them below as well. Here are some of the alternatives I go over in the video:
Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness! MMMMmmmmmm fat bombs. Balls of delicious fatty-ness. As the name suggests, these little paleo/keto-friendly balls are filled with healthy fats, some protein and a mix of omega 3s and some omega 6s, and will hold you over until your next meal - that is, if you are even hungry on a keto-style diet.
I have been experimenting with some keto-style eating recently and whipped these fat bombs up as a snack, inspired by Canadian Keto-Queen, Leanne over at Healthful Pursuit. Technically, these are not 100% keto because of the vanilla extract, which contains alcohol sugars. However, you can substitute the vanilla, or just omit it altogether. You can whip these fat babies up in 15 minutes and they require zero baking. I repeat, zero baking! Who has time for baking?! Not me, at least not unless it's the weekend. Plus, in the heat of the summer who wants to turn on the oven? Until next time, enjoy the fatty-ness! Prepared in 15 minutes | Makes 9 balls Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup almond flour 1/4 cup chia seeds 1/2 cup hemp hearts 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp melted coconut oil 1 tsp sunflower seed butter 1 tbsp cold coffee (leftover from the morning) 1 tbsp cacao powder 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon 1 tsp pure vanilla extract Instructions: 1. Place flour, seeds, hemp hearts in a mixing bowl and mix with fork. Add melted coconut oil and mix in thoroughly. 2. Add sunflower seed butter and mix in thoroughly. 3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. 4. Form balls with ingredients, place in cookie tin or tupperware and keep refrigerated otherwise the balls might be a little crumbly. Tip: To make these balls, 100% keto, you could add an artificial sweetener. I would recommend stevia. -Nikki Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness. To Learn more about the Ketogenic Diet, visit the Healthful Pursuit blog, by Leanne Vogel, nutrition educator and Canadian-Keto Queen!
EXTRA TIP: You can also try other goodies like raw cacao nibs, sunflower seeds, or other nuts. I also like to add a pinch of bee pollen on top of my topper!
-Nikki Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness. To Learn more about the Ketogenic Diet, visit the Healthful Pursuit blog, by Leanne Vogel, nutrition educator and Canadian-Keto Queen! Swap out your rice for a more nutritious version: blend up your cauliflower to rice size, and use it instead of a bed of rice. It is a great option for Paleo and Keto eaters, and if weight management is an issue for you, it is a good option for an "anytime meal", aka non-post workout meal.
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![]() I really like recipes that I can make in a single pot, kind of like this one. Less steps involved, and less clean up. First and foremost, I've highjacked this recipe from my best and oldest, friend, Alexandra Goodman, Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Owner and Operator of Whistler Christmas Dream. She originally made these for me at her place and I devoured them. I've modified it slightly by replacing buckwheat flour with her original recipe, which called for quinoa flour, but you could use either. These mean green guys are a good way to use up any excess leafy greens you've got loafing around in your fridge, that are either fresh or just about to get wilt-y. Ingredients: Head of Kale Other leafy green options to add: spinach, beet and radish greens Cupped handful of almonds 3-4 cloves of garlic Medium onion 1 egg 1/3 cup of buckwheat or quinoa flour 3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast Instructions: 1. Place all ingredients in food processor. Blend on high until ingredients are ground into tiny pieces. It should look like a gritty green mixture. 2. Heat frying pan with coconut oil, form small patties with your hands and lightly fry the patties until browed on one side, then flip. (Make sure patties are small enough to easily flip with a spatula). 3. Let cool and enjoy, or keep refrigerated for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are tasty with eggs in the morning or even as a dinner side with salmon or chicken. Note: You can also keep the gritty green mixture in your fridge until you're ready to eat a patty fresh. -Nikki Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness. Despite it's name, Buckwheat is not a grain, but is actually classified a seed. Half a cup of Buckwheat contains 6g of protein, which is actually the same protein content as quinoa. Buckwheat can also be a great gluten-free alternative.
As someone who experiences gut dysbiosis, (an imbalance of good to bad bacteria in the small intestine), I have actually found that Buckwheat sits well with me, compared to other grains that tend to cause bloating and a whole other range of symptoms that I will spare you from. So I've tried my hand at making Buckwheat granola, and it's a fun alternative to an oat-based granola. There is no added sugar in this recipe - just straight up seeds and spices. You can eat it alone as a granola - good post-workout snack, or use it as a smoothie bowl topper too! Ingredients: 2 cups of water 1 cup of raw buckwheat 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds 1/4 cup of hemp hearts 1-2 TBSP of coconut oil 1-2 TBSP of Ceylon Cinnamon 1-2 TBSP of Cacao powder (optional) Option to also add other winter spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, mixed spices Option to add maple syrup or honey if you want a sweeter granola (I tend to not add sugar but eat with fruit instead) Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees on convection. 2. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of buckwheat. Stir occasionally. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Drain access water. Let cool. 3. In a large bowl, mix cooked and cooled buckwheat with seeds, hemp hearts and spices. 4. Melt coconut oil over stove or microwave, drizzle over the buckwheat mixture. 5. Mix it all together in the bowl and then place on a baking sheet. 6. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, remove to stir, then place back in oven for another 10-20 minutes, removing half way through for another stir until desired crunchiness is reached. -Nikki Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness. One of my favourite foodie places in Whistler is Olives market in Function, and this recipe is inspired by them.
I also don't drink coffee for digestive reasons, and so I am always looking for a Latte alternative - Rooibos lattes are great and now this one will be another staple. More about the ingredients: Tumeric has anti-inflammatory properties, e.g. good for any kind of inflammation or bloating related to digestion. Pepper is known to help with the absorption on turmeric. Ceylon Cinnamon is a thermogenic food, which may help increase metabolism and calorie burning by enhancing thermogenesis - a process in which the body burns calories to utilize the foods just eaten - converting calories to heat. So lots of goodness in this Latte. Enjoy! Ingredients: Cup of almond milk Tbsp of turmeric Tbsp of Ceylon cinnamon Dash of pepper Dash of bee pollen or organic creamy honey Instructions: 1. Place all Ingredients in pot and whisk until reaching desired temperature. Note: I used a Nespresso milk frother, which also works wonders. -Nikki Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for outdoor fitness trips, recipes, and tips and tricks on everything Stand Up Paddle, & fitness. |
AuthorNikki Johnston Beaudoin is an outdoorsy Mountain Mermaid, and the Founder of Sea to Sky Fitness. Categories
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