DAY 28- GEORGIAN AUBERGINE ROLLS
Georgia is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever visited, and its cuisine is as unforgettable as its sceneries.
DAY 27 - PLANTAIN CHIPS
This month the team at TSTM are publishing health Paleo recipes. Our professional chef Helena is leading the way with the Paleo challenge we’ve set, but she has asked me to add a couple of recipes in the final week. How can I compete with a professional chef?
Paleo snacks are often a struggle for most people, so I was thinking my first recipe should be a snack. Plantain chips can be eaten hot or cold. You can make up a large batch and save them for snacks. Green plantains are a resistance starch, which makes them suitable for diabetics as resistance starch does not raise insulin levels. Resistance starch is also very healthy for the gut microbiome, you can read more about it here.
DAY 26 - Paleo Banana, Carrot and Walnut Muffins
These Paleo Muffins are an old favourite. Back in the day when I was competing in marathons, triathlons and Ironman events, I was always looking for healthy snacks to eat. These Paleo muffins were high on my list and a batch of 10 would never last long.
These muffins are loaded with bananas, shredded carrots, and walnuts. These easy muffins have NO added sugar – they’re sweetened entirely with bananas! They’re the perfect on-the-go snack.
Women's Health: Diet, Training and Hormones - Part 1
As the saying goes “men are from Mars, and women are from Venus.” So should we eat a different diet? It’s not that simple, but there are some valid reasons why specific diets have different gender outcomes. Body image and social pressure affect both men and women in terms of health and happiness. Unfortunately, many health and fitness professionals make the problem worse by encouraging unrealistic goals that can have detrimental impacts on the wellbeing of their clients. This is especially true for female clients as their hormones can be easily disrupted by the wrong diet or training methods.
Give your clients a licence to eat carbohydrates
Is there a nutrition secret to going harder, faster, stronger, and longer? There is a whole mythology built up around “eating to perform": protein powders, carbohydrate back-loading, intermittent fasting, post-workout macronutrient ratios, etc. We've been told that carbohydrates are bad for us? But don’t we need carbohydrates to fuel our high-intensity training sessions? One of my teachers used to say, “most people don’t deserve carbohydrates, you can have carbohydrates in your diet, but they have to be clean carbohydrates.” The best way to determine if it’s a clean carbohydrate is to ask the questions, “did a caveman have access to it?”
DAY 24- COD FILLET WITH GINGER
Cod is one of the cheapest options at the local fishmonger’s, a go-to towards the end of the month when finances run short. I love this recipe with fresh ginger!
DAY 9- BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND COCONUT CURRY
I often use sweet potato instead of butternut, cavolo nero or chard instead of spinach. Also, the recipe was originally vegetarian. I like to add diced veil/beef/pork depending on what I have at hand so I don’t have to worry about preparing proteins on the side. I often use bone broth instead of vegetable stock, again depending on what I have.
DAY 8- VEAL AND POTATO STEW
Another one of those dishes you wouldn’t find in a restaurant. My grandma would slow-cook it for hours and the smell of the herbs would fill the flat. Not your go-to recipe if you’re hungry NOW.
DAY 7- BONE BROTH
Bone broth is one of the richest sources of proteins (collagen and gelatin that can’t be found in muscle meat), amino acids (such as glycine, proline, glutamine) and minerals (calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc). It can improve gut and cardiovascular system functions, skin health, bones joints and muscles, liver and kidney function, brain and eye health, immune system function and sleep quality.
DAY 6- SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI WITH ROCKET, BASIL & ALMOND PESTO
This recipe was created by our friend Alessia Beltrame. She has been working as a chef for years, has a background in pastry and is extremely passionate about food. Most of her recipes feature potatoes in a way or another, an ingredient that’s very popular in her home region in the North-East of Italy.