Blog

My mission is to provide recipes that are healthy, tasty and cost effective. 

Over Christmas I was doing a lot of cooking for all the family. As a tradition, I like to make breakfast pancakes, but as one family member had a gluten sensitivity, it threw up a dilemma. What was going to give the pancakes both the desired texture and taste, without using typical gluten containing products?

Enter Spelt and Buckwheat. Although Buckwheat is gluten free, Spelt is not. For those with a gluten sensitivity, Spelt is often tolerated far better due to how much easier it passes through the body. This is likely due to it being more water soluble and having a high fibre content. 

As well as being a good option for my family member who suffers with a gluten sensitivity, these two alternative flour options also have important health benefits.

Buckwheat may reduce the risk of disease in the body due to it being high in antioxidants. Due to it being rich in fibre just like Spelt, Buckwheat can also support you to have an healthy heart. 

Aside from it being a great source of fibre, Spelt contains other micronutrients that support different functions in the body. These include vitamins and minerals such as thiamin, copper, manganese, niacin and phosphorus, vitamins B2 and B3.

Ingredients (serves 4)

3/4 cup of buckwheat flour 

3/4 cup of spelt 

3 x medium bananas

3/4 cup of semi skimmed milk 

1/4 cup of honey 

1 x tsp of Ceylon cinnamon 

3 x tsp of baking powder 

1 x medium egg

1 x tsp of coconut oil 

Directions 

• Combine all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and stir well
• Blend bananas, honey, egg and milk together in a blender
• Slowly add wet mix to the dry mix thoroughly stirring
• Heat coconut oil on a non stick pan till melted on a low to medium heat
• Add a palm sized amount of mixture. Allow it to cook until small bubbles start coming through
• Flip the pancakes and cook roughly 1 to 2 minutes on the other side
• Remove and enjoy – try serving with blueberries and plain Greek yogurt

Calories per portion – 326kcal

Protein (per portion) – 18.52g

Carbohydrates – 120.8g

Fat – 4.6g

These super simple bars are a great alternative to your average shop bought protein bars. They’ve also got some good numbers on the macronutrients in each bar so can easily be slotted into your meal planning as a decent high protein snack.

I’ve used whey protein but feel free to swap out for a vegan option. I’ve chosen whey due to its concentration of Essential Amino Acids, (EAAs), especially the branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine and valine. There are however some good vegan options that contain a very similar amino acid profile. Any questions or recommendations about this needed, please drop me a comment and I’ll try and help how I can! 

Ingredients

• 170g x oats
• 130g x peanut butter 
• 45g x honey
• 50g x unflavoured whey protein powder
• 35g x sultanas or raisins
• 150g x fat free Greek yogurt 
• 50g x 85% dark chocolate
• 2 x tbsp of cacoa powder
• Grease proof paper

Method

• Combine oats, protein powder, raisins/sultanas and cacao powder in mixing bowl and mix thoroughly

• Roughly break up the chocolate and add to the mixture, mixing evenly

• Mix the honey and peanut butter in a microwave safe dish and pop it in full power for 20/30 seconds. Remove and stir together.

• Add honey and peanut butter to the dry mixture and again evenly and thoroughly combine

• Place grease proof paper into a baking/pie dish and poor in mixture. Use the back of a large serving spoon to press down the mixture as evenly and compactly as you can

• Place in the fridge for 1 hour to overnight. The longer the better really, as makes it easier to cut up the bars.

• Cut the bars up and store in the fridge.

(Look at the below numbers and divide by number of bars)

Protein: 125g

Carbohydrate: 209g

Fat: 113

Calories. 2358(kcal)

These melted chocolate pancakes are a sweet treat favourite for me. They’re a perfect post workout choice or just great when I’m needing to manage a sweet tooth craving!

They’re a simple way to get a good dose of protein and carbohydrate in whilst also keeping your calories quite low. This could be an ideal option for someone cutting weight but seriously craving some sweetness in their diet. 

Ingredients 

• 2 x medium eggs
• 1 x medium egg white
• 1 x medium banana
• 25g of 85% dark chocolate
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder

Method

• Crack two eggs into a blender

• Crack third egg and separate the yoke before adding the egg white to the two previous eggs

• Add the whole banana and baking powder

• Blend thoroughly

• Heat non stick frying pan with few squirts of low calorie frying oil

• Poor desired size of pancake worth of mixture out onto the pan

• Allow to cook on low heat for around 2/3 minutes or until bubbles are coming through the mixture

• Break up one square of chocolate into small pieces and place in centre of the mixture

• Roll over the pancake and roll completely into a log

• Press down gently with spatula across the rolled pancake to ensure inside is cooked

• Role onto plate, slice and enjoy!

Calories & macronutrient breakdown

422kcal

23.3g protein

29.7g cho

Fat 15.1g

This post workout treat is a banger to get your recovery game on after a morning workout. Getting your nutrition right post workout is very important to supporting recovery. The timing of your nutrition starts to become even more important however, when you’re preforming multiple workouts in a day.

Carbohydrates

Your stored carbohydrate, known as glycogen, is the preferred and primary fuel source for maintaining repeated bouts of high intensity exercise, (think sparring, pad work, circuits & sprints). 

Glycogen is stored mainly in the muscle with a small amount in the liver. Your glycogen stores can take up to 6 hours to fully replete, so getting that process started quickly is important, especially if you’re planning to train again that day.

So when planning the first post workout nutrition to take in, there’s a few things to keep in mind. Carbohydrate is king for performance and as such, it should be your priority. Not only does is fuel subsequent performance later that day, but it also supports muscle and water retention, (which contrary to some advice, is actually a very good thing when training hard!).

How much carbohydrate you consume post workout will depend on how much weight you have to loose and the intensity of your next session. This shake dosnt replace your post workout meal, but it does get the recovery session started. 

Protein 

Second up in your shake, some high quality protein to support the recovery process. I go for Whey as it has all the EAAs required by the body and is affordable. By all means though, and especially if vegan, check out other options on the market such as Soy.

Protein aids the body’s adaptation to exercise and recovery from it. Protein can also act, as caffeine, as an enhancer to glycogen re synthesis, in the absence of optimal carbohydrates.

Protein is often lauded as the essential ingredient post workout and although very important, probably takes second place to carbohydrate if you’re training again that day. 

Caffeine 

Lastly, caffeine. Caffeine is a great performance enhancer and one you should consider pre exercise as it can act to reduce your perceived rate of exertion. For more on that read my previous post about it here; https://nutrition4fighters.co/2020/08/31/caffeine-the-athletic-performance-enhancer/

Ingredients:

• Semi skimmed milk 250ml
• 1 x tbsp honey
• 25g x whey protein
• 1 x tbsp of cacao
• 1 x shot of coffee 
• Water hot to preference

Method

• Combine milk, coffee & hot water, (quantity may depend on your preference to coffee strength. The more water, the weaker the taste)
• Add honey
• Add whey (or protein powder of choice) & cacao
• Preferably blend in blender but if not possible, just mix in your shaker bottle

Total: 302kcal 

Carbohydrate 32g

Protein 31g

Fat 7g