Clean Eating

July 8, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

The below table explains perfectly how I feel about exercise and what has been working for me for about a year now.

High intensity cardio:

Running/sprinting
Interval and circuit training
Spinning
Mountain biking
Fast paced swimming

Strength and core training, Weight Lifting and Plyometric Exercise

Yoga and Pilates for strength
Core exercises like planks, crunches etc.
Weight lifting such as bicep curls, squats, pull-ups, dips, bench press etc.
Burpees, mountain climbers, ninja jumps and bear crawls etc.

Clean Eating

Whole foods and natural foods to be eaten whilst eliminating processed, in packet foods.
Whole grains like brown rice, millet, amaranth, and quinoa are great as unrefined carbohydrates. You should avoid all refined carbohydrates such as white bread and white pasta.
The more raw fruit and veg you can eat, the better.
Lessen your intake of fat, salt and sugar. This becomes easier when you cut out all processed foods.
Eat 5 to 6 small meals a day, keeping your blood sugar steady. (I like 3 meals with 2 large snacks.)
Just drink water, smoothies and homemade juices / not from concentrate juices. (Lots and lots of water.)
Don’t eat things which are full of growth hormones, adrenaline, mercury, saturated fat, cholesterol and nasty antibiotics. (Meat, fish, shell fish, poultry, game, dairy, eggs etc etc.)
Get active. Not only does it decrease fat, strengthen and build muscle, and help you burn more energy at rest, it keeps your heart, lungs, and bones healthy and strong.

In summary, a plant based clean vegan diet will fuel you through the top two tiers. What you eat is 70% of the effort required. Don’t make it a diet, make it a lifestyle change and never look back.

Here’s a typical 2 day’s food:

	Monday	Tuesday
Breakfast	Porridge	Blueberry pancakes
Post Workout	Protein shake	Protein shake
Snack	Nakd Bar	Banana and orange
Lunch	Spiced Eggplant-Lentil Salad with Mango	Tofu and broccoli stir-fry with rice noodles
Snack	Banana and peanut butter	Baby carrots with hummus
Dinner	Kale, avocado, tomato and courgette salad	Bean chilli with cauliflower mash

Please feel free to ask any questions!

Let’s talk about fats baby! Let’s talk about you & me!

April 9, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

Fat gets a really bad rep in the media. Low fat this and low fat that. A healthy vegan diet is naturally low in fat. We must strive to remember however that fats help in the transportation of certain vitamins around the body, improve skin and hair, insulate and protect your internal organs and especially the fatty acids, help with nervous function and therefore brain power.

If you eat junk food that is laden with fat and do very little exercise, of course you’re going to put on weight. You can also be at risk of heart disease and cancer. However if you eat a small amount of healthy fat each day, you can improve your health, lose/maintain weight and look great.

So what are the fats to avoid?

Chinese takeways or any takeaways for that matter are often deep fried in vegetable oils or lard. An average takeaway can have up to 20 grams of fat. That’s a woman’s entirely RDA. Having a takeaway isn’t forbidden, but it’s probably better to make it more of a rare thing than a regular thing.

100 grams of crisps (a couple of bags) contains over 30 grams of fat. Don’t even think about going for the low fat versions either. Cut them out altogether. They are nutritionally void, especially if you’re trying to lose weight or stay fit.

Fast food burgers and chips are again absolutely full of fat and especially trans and saturated fat which are really bad for your heart and circulatory system.

Cakes and sweets are also loaded with unnecessary fat that you don’t need.

junk-food-sm

What are good sources of fat then?

Linseed and flaxseed. I put half a teaspoon in a smoothie or on porridge everyday and it doesn’t taste of anything.

Now this might surprise you, but leafy green vegetables. They don’t provide huge amounts, but they do have enough Omega 3’s to keep you going. I love kale and spinach and I’ll eat it for both lunch and dinner if I can.

Avocados are quite calorific and that’s because they are full of good fats. As long as you don’t eat like 5 a day, you’ll be fine. I generally have about 3 a week and normally in salad, although I do like making guacamole out of them.

Nuts and especially almonds and hazelnuts. They are at their best when they are unsalted and eaten as a snack instead of a bag of crisps. images

Good luck guys and make healthy choices.

C.R.A.P!

February 5, 2013February 5, 2013 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

Let’s talk about C.R.A.P!

Carbonated Junk

Refined Sugars

Artificial Shit

Processed Foods

One of the first things you can do is cut all the crap out of your diet. It’s a really small change and it makes a huge difference to how you feel and how you look.

Carbonated Junk

By this I mean fizzy drinks and yes, all of them: Waters, colas, lemonades and other carbonated juices.

By cutting out the average 2 fizzy drinks a day (UK), you can save yourself up to 400 calories and you may be able to reduce the chances of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndromes and cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure amongst others.

photolibrary_rm_photo_of_energy_drinks

What should I drink instead?

Herbal tea – This will give you a natural boost without caffeine and counts towards your 8 glasses of water a day.
Water – Will hydrate you, keep you focused and help keep hunger at bay.
Not from concentrate juices – As an occasional treat these juices are full of vitamins and minerals.

Refined Sugars

White sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, fructose, and ALL artificial sweeteners are included here.

Studies suggest that because refined sugar is basically an empty calorie like alcohol, it should be consumed in moderation. Personally I’d get rid of it all together and here’s why:

It leaches minerals and vitamins from the body.
It is tough on the digestive system, often causing bloating and discomfort.
It is linked to type two diabetes.
It creates an acid environment in the blood stream, which will give prevalence to certain types of cancer. It also means the body is over working to try and alkalise the blood. (Cancer cannot grow in alkaline environments. Read acidosis theory.)

But I really like sweet things!

That’s ok. There are loads of ways to sweeten your food without adding refined sugar. Some natural sweeteners include maple syrup, molasses, stevia and agave. I like to add fruit to sweeten things. For example on my porridge I’ll add a chopped banana and some raisins. Fruit sugars will also give you more quickly available energy. I love to have a banana smoothie before a good workout.

Artificial Shit

I’m really talking about sweeteners and food flavourings here, with the most notable being aspartame. This is the sweetener used in squash and diet drinks. It has been known to cause immediate effects such as headaches, mental confusion, dizziness and seizures. It also forms harmful chemicals in the body such as formaldehyde which leads to metabolic acidosis and can cause kidney failure and blindness as well as creating an environment where cancer cells can thrive.

My advice? Stay well clear, always and forever.

Processed Foods

Any food which has been canned, boxed or bagged is classified as processed food. For example an apple is not a processed food, but an apple pie is.

Processed foods are bad for your health because they often contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar. Over consumption can lead to obesity, high blood pressure and cancer.

t1larg.food.dye

I’d say treat yourself to occasional (once a month) processed treat, but in the meantime try and make things from scratch. See what you think of this kidney bean burger:

Ingredients:

A tablespoon of olive oil
Two large handfuls of cooked kidney beans
5 cloves of peeled garlic

Method:

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor
Lightly fry in olive oil

Serve with a large, fresh salad.

So there we have it. Cut the C.R.A.P and start your journey towards a healthier you.

Queer Vegan

Food, fitness and culture from a queer, vegan, metal head.

crap

Clean Eating

Let’s talk about fats baby! Let’s talk about you & me!

C.R.A.P!