Recipe for nice cream

If you haven't heard of nice cream and are a big ice cream fan this recipe will be right up your ally! I only tried this for the first time a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I could have eaten it by the bucket load. The good thing about this recipe is it has so many variations and you can really make it your own based on what you like.

Choc Almond Nice Cream

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1 1/2 tablespoons almond, coconut and cacao nut butter

1/4 cup milk

Method:

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, adding a little more milk if required to make it your desired consistency and place in bowl. Shave a small amount of dark chocolate on top and enjoy!

Alternatives - cashew butter or frozen berries or cacao powder

Recipe for Healthy Potato Bake with baked chicken

I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking of late to make some healthy meals and thought I would share a few of the recipes with you today

Vegetable bake with Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

5 potatoes
3 large handfuls baby spinach
1 brown onion
2 carrots
2 tins diced tomatoes
1 small tin coconut milk
2 chicken breast fillets

Method:
Preheat oven to 180. Slice sweet potato, potatoes, onion and carrots into approximately 1cm thick slices. Place into a casserole dish with baby spinach, diced tomatoes and coconut milk and toss until all combined. Cook for 50 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
Meanwhile place 2 chicken breasts on a tray and bake for 25 minutes or until baked through.
Slice up chicken breasts
Place Vegetable bake onto plates and arrange chicken on top

Feel free to add any other vegetables you enjoy - turnip, swede and pumpkin would all be great additions

Alcohol and how it may impact your weight loss journey

Let's face it we all enjoy a glass or two of alcohol, be it wine, beer or spirits, every now and then particularly coming into the silly season of Christmas, New Years and all those endless parties. So can I still drink alcohol and lose weight? Or at the very least can I still drink alcohol and maintain my current weight? In short alcohol of any kind is not great for weight loss as it is what I call 'empty calories' (meaning you get no nutritional benefits for the amount of calories you are consuming), it also promotes fat storage and decreases muscle growth. Once you begin consuming alcohol it takes away the glycogen built up in our livers which makes us hungry meaning not only are we consuming the empty calories of the alcohol but we are also more likely to consume fatty take away foods which also sabotage our weight loss.

Alcohol can impact on the liver, stomach and kidneys due to it irritating the lining of the stomach and gradually weakening the kidneys and liver meaning all 3 don't work as efficiently as our bodies require them to. If these organs are impaired we will not be able to break down our food as effectively which will effect our ability to absorb nutrients and maintain a healthy body. So how is alcohol absorbed? Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream extremely quickly with approximately 25% absorbed in the stomach and the remainder through the small bowel. Absorption is affected by food in the stomach (drinking on a full stomach slows absorption of the alcohol), carbonation of the drink being consumed (champagne is absorbed quicker then non-sparkling wine) and the concentration of alcohol within the drink (the higher the concentration the faster it is absorbed so choose low alcohol options). At least 90% of the alcohol is processed in the liver taking approximately 10 hours per standard drink to be completely processed by the body. This is why we can offer wake up after a big night out still feeling intoxicated and why police are often doing RBTs in the morning as it is likely you would still be over the limit.

Something you need to keep in mind is for every gram/ml of alcohol you consume that is 7 calories or 29KJ. If you think about that the AVERAGE Australian male should consume 8700KJ per day. This is all the drinks, main meals and snacks throughout the day. And I say average because this does not fit for everyone, if you are someone who is really active then you may need to consume more than this, there are many factors which influence the amount of kilojoules we should consume each day including gender, age, fitness levels and ethnicity. So what are the best options when consuming alcohol this festive season?

Common drinks and calorie/kilojoule content:
Beer - 139 calories / 581KJ
Light Beer - 104 calories / 435KJ
Wine - 120 calories / 502KJ
Cider - 210 calories / 879KJ
Vodka and club soda - 64 calories / 268KJ
Champagne - 84 calories / 351KJ
Rum and coke (small glass at pub) - 120 calories / 500KJ
Sangria - 167 calories / 698KJ
Martini - 69 calories / 289KJ
Vodka and 1/2 can red bull - 110 calories / 460KJ

It is also really important to keep up water intake throughout the night as well as alcohol can cause dehydration, leading to headaches and feelings of fatigue so try and match your alcohol glass for glass with water.

Hopefully this helps you to choose your alcohol wisely if you are looking at losing weight or going out throughout the next couple of months.

Simone
xx