Powerful Pancakes!

Healthy Pancake Recipe

One of the biggest and most prevalent problems regarding nutrition nowadays is the notion of depravation. In other words: suffering in order to be healthy. Think about that last sentence. Suffer to become healthy? Rather than dragging you down, your eating program aka diet should be empowering, energy giving and delicious. That’s why I’m sharing this healthy and taste-bud satisfying pancake recipe with you. It’s my favourite as far as pancakes goes and it tastes great, so try it out.

Ingredients:

·      4 eggs

·      1/3 cup of ground buckwheat

·      1 banana

·      1 TBSP of peanut butter

·      3 4cm squares of dark (85% or more) chocolate

Instructions:     1. Place all ingredients into a plastic cup.

                          2. Using a hand-held blender, mix all ingredients until smooth

                          3. Use coconut oil on your pan to make the pancakes

Tip: If it’s possible, buy free-range eggs and make the pancakes slightly more underdone. This will make them nice and gooey inside!

Did you like it? Have any criticism or praise? Then comment below! Thanks!

How To Become Smarter: Enhancing Intelligence And Boosting Brainpower

Reading time: 5 minutes

Lose 100 pounds of fat? Sure. Lift 700 pounds of iron? Doable. But increase your intelligence? Nope. At least that’s what most people believe. We are told that our genetics are the determining factor on how smart we’ll become and there’s not much that we can do about it.

This theory has been proven false. More and more legitimate research is being published that shows just the opposite: using targeted brain training one can improve different aspects of their intelligence.

But not only can you increase your intelligence, you can also make your brain work better by eating the right foods and taking the right supplements. Even exercise has shown to help your smarts, as it can help create new brain cells (neurogenesis).

So what should you do? How can you improve your working memory, which supplements can help protect your brain? In the following I will report my findings on this fascinating topic.

Dual N Back And Lumosity: Brain Training

1.    Dual N Back: Dual N Back is a game that bases off of the original N back game. Although the application is simple by design, it requires all of your attention and can lead to frustration relatively quickly. Explaining how the game works is a difficult task, the best way to learn it is by playing the game yourself a few times. But I’ll give it a shot: There’s a screen made up of 9 square boxes. (Picture: “IQ Boost” App)

Every few seconds, one of the squares (except the middle one) goes red for a brief moment. Simultaneously, a voice tells you a letter. 

It’s your job to memorize which square turned red and which letter was said along with it. There are different “N backs” in the game: lets take 2 back as an example. If you’re playing 2 back, you have to always remember the last two squares that turned red and also the two matching letters. Then, when for the third time a square alights and a letter is said, you have to check if it matches either the letter, square or both (or none). If it’s a matching letter, press “audio”. A matching square requires you to press “visual” and if both categories match, press both. If there’s no match, you don’t need to press anything.

You’ll find that each dual n back program is a little different, but all adhere to the same principles I just stated. My favourite version is called “IQ Boost” which is only available for your smartphone. You can however get many different versions for free on your computer as well.

Now let’s look at the exciting part, the science. At this stage I’d like to point out however, that I am by no means a neurologist or biologist. What I’m sharing here is awesome research that I’ve come across and think is legit.

The idea of the dual n back task is to improve your “fluid intelligence” (Gf). Fluid intelligence is basically “responsible” for logical thinking and problem solving. The flag ship study that brought attention to the dual n back program was done by Susanne M. Jaeggi and Martin Buschkeuhl among others. Students where prescribed a dual n back training program and had their fluid intelligence tested before and after the training. The results? An increase in fluid intelligence was evident.

I train an average of 7 minutes per day on the dual n back task, in the informed belief that it will help my intelligence. If you’d like to go deeper into this topic, I’d recommend you to read the following: https://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-add-2-75-iq-points-per-hour-of-training/

http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Science-Building-Brain-Power/dp/1594631271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414088823&sr=1-1&keywords=smarter+dan+hurley

2. Lumosity Another brain training tool I use is called Lumosity. It seems like a well backed up brain-training program, as there are numerous studies that suggest benefits from doing it. I use the free version about 3 times a week, it’s fun and challenging so I see no harm in doing it. Instead of explaining all the different games, just download their free app onto your smartphone, sign up for free and see how you enjoy it. If you’d like to see some of the research that suggests benefits of the program, check out the following link. http://cdn-hcp.lumosity.com/uploads/completed_research_post/original_paper_file/3/Ng-2012-ESCoNS.pdf

Those are the two brain training tools I use regularly and think very highly of. Both dual n back and Lumosity are for free (although you can pay for Lumosity to get more access) and they have science backing them up so I see no reason why one shouldn’t use them.

Smart Food: 3 Nutrients That Boost Brain Power

1.    Creatine. One of the most studied molecules in the fitness world, creatine has been shown to significantly increase muscle mass and physical performance. Not so well known however is its positive effects on boosting memory and brainpower. Creatine aids in the “fuelling” of your neurons (along side ATP) and therefore one can consider using it as part of a brain boosting, healthy lifestyle. If you're a vegetarian then you're in luck: studies have consistently shown better results in vegetarians then in omnivores. This has to do with the fact that vegetarians hardly get any creatine in their diet and therefore have lower creatine levels to begin with. Bottom line: if you're a vegetarian, creatine will most likely increase your brain's performance substantially, whereas if you're an omnivore the benefits of creatine supplementation will be milder. 

2.    Fish Oil (DHA). Docosahexaenoic acid, also known as DHA is a substance found in fish oil. It’s an essential building block for our brain (roughly 30% of your brain is DHA) and has been proven to be especially helpful in children. But there's also benefits for adults: improved brain functioning and prevention of cognitive decline are some of the benefits one can reap from consuming fish oil. Aside from its positive effects on the brain, the omega 3 fats that are in the fish oil are also a potent anti-inflammatory. It’s one of the few supplements I take on a regular basis and would recommend to almost anyone who isn’t eating enough fatty fish (most people are omega 3 deficient).

3.    Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT). MCTs are fats that are found extracted in MCT oil but are also naturally present in coconut oil, palm oil and butter. They’re a special type of fat, as they’re directly transported to the liver in their original form and then used for energy (unlike most fats, which are processed and reassembled in the intestine). MCTs are well known for their ketosis inducing properties. Without going into detail, ketosis is basically a state in which your body is using fat rather than carbohydrates for energy. Current science supports the idea that ketones are the preferred source of energy for your brain. From my own experience I can say that I tend to have more focused energy available for longer periods of time when I’m eating a higher fat/MCT and lower carbohydrate breakfast.

                There are a lot more nutrients and brain training games that I could include into this blog post. The cognitive enhancing methods I've listed here are the ones that I’ve found to have a lot of strong research behind them and they’re also methods that I use.

                 I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Comments of any kind are greatly appreciated!

Healthy Hot Chocolate Vanilla Crumble Recipe!

Protein Packed Hot Chocolate Vanilla Crumble

I’ve been experimenting a lot recently with awesome recipes to upload onto the blog. Pancakes, ice creams, fudges etc. it’s all coming your way. I just have to get the exact ratio of the ingredients right and take some good pictures and then I’ll upload them all. Although my healthy recipes taste great, they don’t seem to look as good as they should.

So until I’ve figured that out, I thought I’d give you an awesome recipe to try now.

Serves 1  (Gluten and soy free)

-       2 TBSP of peanut butter

-       1 ½ TBSP of vanilla whey protein

-       2 4cm pieces of 85% dark chocolate

-       1 ½ TBSP of cacao powder

-       1 banana

Directions: Place the peanut butter, dark chocolate and banana into a mixing bowl. Put it into the microwave for 1-2 minutes (until it’s hot and mixable). Add the remaining ingredients into the bowl and stir until everything is blended well together. Enjoy immediately!

Yes, I know it doesn’t look that great. I didn’t think I was going to upload the picture, but it tasted so good that I had to J. 

       What’s Wrong With The Food Pyramid And How To Fix It

Reading time: ~ 5 minutes

We live in a world in which whole grains are glorified “super foods” and animal products/ meats are demonized as cancer and heart failure causing foods. This so called “balanced diet” that we’ve been lead to believed to be good for us, is actually a high carbohydrate and low nutrient -eating program that isn’t the answer to reaching optimal health and performance.

This is the food pyramid recommended by the USDA from 2005.

                                                 As one can tell, grains and wheat products should be the staple of our diet (~6-11 servings per day) if we were to follow the food pyramids recommendation.

There are many problems that pop up if we do this. For one, grains (and other foods listed in that section, see picture above) are comparatively low in nutrition and high in carbohydrates. On top of that almost all of them contain the protein gluten, which is known to cause issues in a lot of people. Although grains can be part of a healthy diet (especially if you’re working out) they should only be seen as an icing on the cake, not a substantial part of your diet.

 Foods that have a high nutrient per calorie ratio are the ones we want to be eating a lot of. I’d put non-starchy vegetables such as kale, spinach, bell peppers etc. on that list, but also foods that are not quite as popular amongst the mainstream media, e.g. egg yolks and humanely raised meats. These are foods that are all loaded with vitamins and minerals, whilst some also contain a good amount of essential amino and fatty acids. The egg yolks and certain meats are important; they do not form the majority of what’s on your plate however. This is where the non-starchy vegetables come into play.

Food Pyramid Switch #1: Replace the grains that form the baseline of the typical food pyramid with non-starchy vegetables. How does this change your diet? You’re now eating vegetables with the majority of your meals, which means you’re eating around 7-11 servings of non-starchy veggies a day. This ensures that your body has plenty of Vitamins, Minerals and Fiber. You’ll feel an increase in energy and recovery, decrease in body fat and improved digestion amongst many other benefits.

Food Pyramid Switch #2: The second adjustment we’re going to make is to put protein sources where the veggies used to be. “Protein sources” is a very broad term, as it is made up of meat, eggs, low sugar dairy, plant proteins and more. When it comes to meat and animal products, quality is extremely important. If you can’t buy high quality meat, make sure to eat the leanest cuts of the animal. Vice versa, if you can get a hold of free range, grass fed etc. meat, than go for fatty cuts. This has to do with the omega 3 to omega 6 ratio but also toxin storages. Animals that are treated poorly usually have more toxins in their body, and those toxins are stored in their fat.

Back to the point: protein plays an essential role in building and regenerating tissue and it’s also a thermogenesis inducing macronutrient. This means that protein increases the energy expenditure of your body and therefor can be seen as a weight loss tool.

Food Pyramid Switch #3.1: The third most important food group of your diet should be a combination of fruit, starchy vegetables and pseudo grains such as quinoa and rice. These foods should be consumed thoughtfully, as they contain a decent amount of carbohydrates. In my opinion, the quantity of carbohydrates that you consume depends primarily on what your goals are and how close you are to reaching them. An obese person with insulin resistance who’s looking to lose weight would probably benefit from a slightly lower carbohydrate diet. An athlete with 8% body fat who trains with high intensity 5x week would most likely be better of on a moderate- high carb diet.

Food Pyramid Switch #3.2: This category has got somewhat the same importance to your diet as the third most prevalent staple of your eating program (Food Pyramid Switch #3.1).

Food Switch #3.2 swaps the fruit category in the USDA pyramid with fats in the form of coconut oil and coconuts, avocados, grass fed butter, eggs/egg yolks, fish (also contained in the protein section of your new food pyramid) nut butter and nuts, fattier cuts of meat, cacao etc.

The reason why I value the “carbohydrates” section as much as the “fats” section, is because they can both be used for energy. Typically you’d want to be eating either more fats and less carbs or more carbs and less fat (this excludes fatty acids such as EPA and DHA, they should be consumed regardless of whether or not you’re eating higher fat or higher carbohydrates).

In summary: eat foods from 3.1 and 3.2, but don’t mix saturated fats (e.g. butter) with carbohydrates as this can lead to weight gain.

Food Pyramid Switch #4: Now that we’ve got vegetables as the baseline of our diets, followed by protein rich foods and then carbohydrates and fats, we’re going to look at the icing of the cake: sweeteners and supplements. By sweeteners I’m referring to both sugar containing (honey, bananas etc.) and non-sugar containing (stevia, xylitol etc.) forms. Low calorie sweeteners/taste enhancers such as aspartame and MSG are to be avoided at all costs!

As far as supplements go, it’s best to find what you’re lacking in your already well-established diet and then supplementing it. Whole foods should always be a priority though. The supplements that I’m currently taking are fish oil and protein powder.

REVISION: 1. Non-starchy vegetables (e.g. spinach, kale and bell peppers)

                      2. Protein (e.g. grass fed meat, eggs, fish and hemp protein)

                  3. Carbohydrates (e.g. lower fructose fruits, sweet potatoes, quinoa, buckwheat) or fats (coconut oil, grass fed butter and egg yolks)