Legumes

You’ve all heard of them and probably had them on your plate at one point or another. Legumes are packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber with no added fat or cholesterol! They also account towards your daily vegetable serving! Legume family includes: Kidney beans, peas, soybeans, peanuts, green beans, lentils, chickpeas and alfalfa.

So why should you introduce legumes into your daily diet??

1. High in Protein

Legumes are a great source of plant-based protein. For example a cup of Chickpeas contain up to 15 grams of protein and white beans contain 19 grams!! If your goal is weight loss, eating enough protein can also encourage satiety and keep you feeling full while increasing your metabolism and the amount of calories you burn after a meal!

2. Boost Your Heart Health

Legumes have been shown to decrease cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation.

3. Stabilizes your blood sugar

The high amount of fibre in legumes works to slow the absorption of sugar in the bloodstream and maintain blood sugar levels.

Don’t like the taste or idea of eating legumes? Well here is a delicious recipe that uses legumes in a sneaky way!!

Chickpea Protein Bars

Ingredients
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup packed, very soft dates (about 6-8)
¼ cup peanut butter (or any nut/seed butter, e.g. almond, sunflower seed, tahini)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
⅔ vanilla protein powder
⅓ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), toasted
⅓ cup dried cranberries

Method
1. Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with baking paper

2. In a large food processor, process the chickpeas, dates, peanut butter, vanilla and salt until smooth, stopping and scraping the sides of processor bowl.

3. Add the protein powder, pepitas and cranberries. Pulse until very well combined and mixture looks like a dough ball (if not, add a bit more protein powder).

4. Press mixture evenly into prepared pan.

5. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or freeze 1 hour until firm. Remove from tin and cut into bars, Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks (or freeze for up to 2 months). ENJOY!!

Sweet Cinnamon

Cinnamon is sometimes referred to as one of the healthiest spices in the world.

This superfood may already be sitting in the pantry – and a tiny sprinkle goes a very long way! It’s antioxidants abilities are what makes it especially beneficial to include into your diet. Just as little as 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon added your diet daily can have positive effects on your blood sugar levels, digestion, immunity plus heaps more! Adding a higher dosage of cinnamon can be extremely beneficial as it can help towards improving heart disease risk and even cutting your chances of diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases! AMAZING!!

Just to give you a little bit more on the contents of cinnamon. One single tablespoon of ground cinnamon contains:

0 grams of fat, sugar, or protein
4 grams of fibre
68 percent daily value manganese
8 percent daily value calcium
4 percent daily value iron
3 percent daily value vitamin K

Cinnamon can be included into your diet whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner! For example your morning coffee! Most of us are adding either creamer, milk (whole or skim) sugar, or butter to your coffee to improve its taste at some point. If you're looking for something different, though, try a new twist with a dash of cinnamon. This sweet, sharp spice can do so much more than improve coffee's taste! Adding cinnamon to your morning coffee can prove to be very beneficial. According to a research conducted, the simple act of smelling cinnamon can help to improve your processing capabilities and ingesting the spice is even more beneficial. The study participants were better able to complete tasks when eating cinnamon, and improved their attention overall. This is due to cinnamons ability to improve your brain's cognitive processing, spur brain function altogether, and help you master your visual and motor responses! Hopefully this makes you think twice before adding sugar to your coffee!

To help you start introducing more cinnamon into your diet, below are my fav cinnamon inspired recipe!

Golden Cinnamon Sweet Potato

INGREDIENTS
1 Medium sized sweet potato, diced
1 - 2 tablespoons of cinnamon
Drizzle of olive oil or coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt

METHOD
Pre-heat oven to 400 Degrees F. Toss the sweet potato in the cinnamon ensuring all the sweet potato pieces are evenly covered, place on a baking tray in the oven until golden brown. Serve with a fresh salad, add to your omelette or by itself for a healthy snack!

4 Quick & Easy Breakfast Ideas

Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day as it breaks your overnight fast and kick starts your metabolism! So starting your day with a nourishing meal with set the tone for your day ahead. Here are my favourite brekky options that are super quick, easy and healthy!

Protein Smoothie
I love my Banana & Strawberry smoothie to kick start my day! Add a scoop of protein powder and top with crushed nuts, seeds for an extra boost! Check out my recipe HERE

Granola Parfait
Combine 1/2 cup of organic unsweetened greek yogurt with 1 cup of berries, a 1/3 cup of granola and a tbsp of chia seeds.

Easy Peasy Scrambled Eggs
All you need is 2 eggs 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms and 2 handfuls of spinach. Whisk together and add to a pan lightly coated in coconut oil. Stir the eggs intermittently until they are light and fluffy!

Egg Bowl
Saute your favourite greens (such as spinach, kale) in olive oil or coconut oil with a sprinkle of chilli flakes until slightly wilted. Add sautéed greens to bowl with two eggs (poached, fried or boiled), 1/4 of an avocado and a sprinkle of slivered almonds.

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All you need to know about Protein Powder!

Keeping in theme with last weeks blog post on Protein! I thought I’d provide you guys with a little insight into the world of protein powders!

What are Protein Powders?
Protein powders are dietary supplements that contain a high percentage of protein. This protein is derived from a variety of different food sources, including:

• Rice
• Egg
• Milk
• Pea
• Hemp

Along with the raw form of protein, many company fortify their products with vitamins, minerals, greens, additional fats, grains, fibre and/or thickeners.  So although protein powders come directly from whole food sources, they’re not whole foods themselves.

For Vegetarians and vegans, rice and pea isolate proteins are powerful on their own. But mixed together, they're the first vegetarian protein that can compete with animal-derived proteins and meet the demands of hard-training athletes!

Next question! Why would I want to use a protein powder?
Regardless of your individual goals, its important that you get enough protein in your diet and protein powders can be very helpful if you aren’t getting enough from whole food!

As the protein market has exploded with an array of brands, values and ingredients! Here is a list outlining the strengths and weakness.

• Rice protein – Hypo-allergenic, gluten-free, neutral taste, economical. 100% plant-based. May be derived from genetically modified rice.
• Egg protein – Fat-free, concentrated amounts of essential amino acids. May upset stomach.
• Milk protein (includes whey, casein, calcium caseinate, and milk protein blends) – May enhance immunity, high in BCAAs, contains lactose, highly studied. May cause digestive upset or other symptoms in people sensitive to whey, casein, and/or lactose.
• Pea protein – No saturated fat or cholesterol, highly digestible, hypo-allergenic, economical. Rich in lysine, arginine and glutamine. 100% plant-based.
• Hemp protein – Provides omega-3 fats, most forms provide fibre, free of trypsin inhibitors, can get in raw form, high in arginine and histidine. 100% plant-based.

Just remember you get what you pay for so by choosing the “cheap” protein powder you most likely buying into a product with higher amounts of lactose, fat, filllers etc..

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