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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

Getting protein into the diet is an essential for building and maintaining lean muscle mass, as well as crucial for supporting recovery from training. It can sometimes be tricky though to do this without just eating chicken breasts and chugging protein shakes.

The Chocolate & Walnut Protein Loaf is a great mid morning snack with a good amount of carbs and fats to keep you going. If you want to lower the calories a little and are thinking about something to have fairly close to a workout, consider dropping the walnuts and chocolate, replacing with dried fruit such as raisins.

I’ll give you the full calories ,(kcal), and macronutrient breakdowns below. Divide 1513 by the number of slices you chop it into and you’ll have a good idea of the calories & macros for each slice. Saying this I have given you numbers per slices if you cut it into ten pieces, which depending on your loaf tin, is about right.

Ingredients: 

• 350g oats 
• 2 x medium bananas 
• 50g walnut halves
• 50g of unflavoured whey protein powder (or protein of choice)
• 2 x tbsp honey
• 2 x tbsp cacao 
• 2 x medium eggs
• 200g low fat Greek yogurt 
• 40g of 90% dark chocolate (anything over 70% is good)
• 2 x tsp baking powder 

Method

• Preheat your oven to 175c and place grease proof paper in a loaf tin
• Place oats in blender and blend till all are ground up
• Place oats, protein powder, cacao & baking powder into a bowl and thoroughly stir together
• Chop up the walnuts & chocolate squares roughly, then add them to the mixture
• Place bananas, honey & yogurt into a blender and blend till completely smooth
• Combine smooth mixture to the dry mixture in bowl and thoroughly mix together
• Spoon out mixture into the the loaf tin and smooth it down with the back of a spoon
• Place tin into the preheated oven for 45-60 mins
• Allow 5 minutes to cool after you’ve removed from the oven
• Enjoy!

Total Per slice (10 slices)
Calories: 1513kcal (150kcal)

Carbohydrate: 355g (35.5g)

Fat: 95g (9.5g)

Protein: 145g (14.5g)