Tag: nutrition

Pre or Post Workout Pancakes 

by Nutrition 4 Fighters, posted in Recipes

Here is a super simple tasty pancake recipe for you to either cook straight up or batch prep in advance to stick in your lunch box before you head out the front door.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggs🥚
  • 100g Quark🐮
  • 3 x tbsp of skimmed milk🥛
  • 100g white flour⚪️
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder⚪️
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract🍨

The standout ingredient of these tasty pancakes is Quark. Quark is often advertised as a yogurt alternative due to its consistency, however it is actually a cheese!

As well as a banging breakfast choice, these pancakes are absolutely perfect pre and/or post workout due to their decent carbohydrate and protein content. Aside from being a great source of protein, Quark is also very low in fat and a good source of calcium.

I’ve worked out calories for these pancakes using simple white flour and included it in the recipe as it’s an easily used by the body both pre and post exercise. It’s also incredibly cheep! I have however used various other flours when making them including spelt and wholegrain. Both of these work well and give a slightly different texture and nutrient profile, (for example you may wish to use a whole grain option to up the fibre content).

Method

  • Combine eggs🥚, quark🧀, milk🥛 and vanilla extract 🍨 together in a blender.
  • Add flour⚪️,baking powder⚪️and blend thoroughly.
  • Place a palm✋🏿size into a non stick frying pan 🍳 on a medium heat 🌡️.
  • Wait for bubbles 🫧 to start coming through and flip it over for another couple of minutes ⏲️.
  • Serve with fresh fruit 🍓🍒🫐as a great accompaniment 👌

Kcal: 588

Protein: 35.5g

Fat: 12g

Carbohydrate: 80g

Melted Chocolate Oats

by Nutrition 4 Fighters, posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

This is an absolute favourite morning brekkie option for me and an absolute perfect option for those who get a sweat craving in the morning.

One of the standout ingredients here is dark chocolate with a cacoa content over 70%. Personally, the darker the better for me. I’ll happily go 90-100% in the choc and switch out the Nesquick for raw cacoa powder. I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea though and from a calorie perspective, lower % chocolate really won’t make a difference, (and may well be less calories!). There is however a few reasons that opting for higher % cacao chocolate could be beneficial for health.

 Cacao has a number of qualities that support it being placed alongside so called “superfoods”. Cacao has a high concentration of flavonoids which are compounds that can lower blood pressure, improve blood flow to the heart & brain, and also fight cell damage. 

Cacao is also rich in prebiotic compounds that feed the microbes that occupy your digestive system. These support digestion, destroy harmful bacteria and help to control your immune system. 

Ingredients

  • 45g oats
  • 1 scoop/25g of unflavoured whey protein
  • 2 x squares of Lindt 70% plus dark chocolate (or similar dark chocolate 70% or above)
  • 125ml semi skimmed milk
  • 1 x tbsp of chocolate flavoured Nesquick

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180 degrees
  • Snap chocolate pieces up evenly
  • Combine all dry ingredients in small oven proof bowl apart from chocolate
  • Add milk and stir thoroughly
  • Add chocolate pieces evenly throughout bowl
  • Place mixture in the oven for around 15-17 minutes
  • Remove from oven and give 3-5 minutes to cool. Now serve and enjoy! 👌

Calories: 486Kcal

Protein: 36g

Carbohydrate: 29g

Fat: 13g

If you’re a big porridge fan, also give this recipe for Banging Baked Oats a try. Here we replaces chocolate for peanut butter and add banana, making it a great pre training breakfast https://nutrition4fighters.co/2022/03/17/banging-baked-oats/

Chocolate & Cinnamon coated Coffee beans

by Nutrition 4 Fighters, posted in Uncategorized

Here’s a tasty little pre workout treat/pick-me-up for you. There’s some great evidence behind caffeine as a performance enhancer and it’s one of the few supplements that the science is pretty much unanimous on.

If you want to find out more on the how and the why behind caffeine as a performance enhancer, read this previous post for more information; https://nutrition4fighters.co/2020/08/31/caffeine-the-athletic-performance-enhancer/

Try these chocolate coated coffee beans between 40 and 20 minutes before you workout. 

Dosage:

Performance enhancing effects are seen from caffeine at a dosage of 3-9mg per kg of body weight. Your average single coffee bean reportedly contains around 6mg of caffeine in it. To support you doing the calculations, 35 coffee beans weigh 4g which equals 210mg of caffeine. 

Let’s take a 70kg fighter. To workout the caffeine dose I’ll take a midway recommend dosage of 6mg per kg of body weight – 6 x 70kg = 420mg needed. I weighed 35 beans with 6 x 35 being 210mg. 35 beans weighed 4g so double that to 70 beans at 8g and you you have roughly 420mg of caffeine.

Ingredients: 

  • Unground coffee beans
  • Dark chocolate (70% plus)
  • 1 tsp of Ceylon cinnamon

Method:

  • Melt dark chocolate in the microwave until it’s liquid
  • Add coffee beans and stir
  • Empty coffee beans onto a non stick surface of plate or tray, (try using small piece of butter, margarine or grease proof paper).
  • Dust over with cinnamon
  • Leave in fridge over night
  • Break up and enjoy

Warning:

In honesty it’s extremely difficult to predict exactly the caffeine content in a coffee bean. I’ve read it can be potentially half or even double the 6g proposed. Therefore, if you’re really looking at tracking and serious on dosages, in reality the best option is to go with a caffeine supplement, (it just won’t taste so good!).