Protein Balls & The London No Gi

Last weekend I competed at the IBJJF London No Gi Open. I was entered for the Gi competition as well, but sadly no one entered my division, so I chose to pull out of that competition and just do the No Gi.
I don't really train much without the Gi as training with the Gi is so much more interesting.
My fight was great, she got the take down, I went for the triangle, but she slipped out so she remained in my guard. I pulled her head down with 2 hands and apparently you aren't allowed to do this in no Gi, but it doesn't say it anywhere in the penalties section of the IBJJF rule book. I was a bit baffled, but carried on going for wrist locks, then a Kimura. My opponent was really good at defending everything I came at her with. She almost passed my guard, but I managed to get up and take her down. Our points were even, apart from that stupid penalty. I eventually lost the match.
It was a great fight and I'm pleased that I competed. It makes me even more determined to be better. My team mate Kat Gibson went on to beat my opponent and win Gold.
Now time to train hard for the English Open......

This morning I caused quite a stir at Mi-Gym with my Almond and Cashew butter balls.
Click this link to see how I made them. http://www.kineticmartialarts.co.uk/#!protein-balls/c1hjr
Enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash & The IBJJF Worlds

Last week I returned from a very successful visit to California, for the Master Seniors World Championships in Long Beach near Los Angeles.
I have only been a blue belt since February this year, but I have had a succession of competitions this year at my belt level and wanted to really test myself. I spent the summer making mistakes and learning from them. Learning new techniques and improving on the ones I already knew.
I knew in the back of my mind that I'm going to have a busy year next year as my boyfriend and I are planning a new venture, so it will take up a lot of our time. So, before that happens, I wanted to do something awesome, and to really test myself. The Masters Seniors worlds was it!
Earlier in the year I was inspired by higher grade British BJJ ladies, Vanessa English, Yas Wilson, Gret Zoeller and Anna Mayne, who all competed in the Adult worlds Championships. In BJJ the divisions are separated by belts, weight and age. For the over 30's you can fight in Masters and over 35's Seniors. I am now senior 1, which sounds ancient, but I don't feel it.
For the first time ever I could compete against people who were my age and not a 16 year old phenom who has been training for 7 years.

From reading previous blogs, you will know that my diet has been strict. I've been on holiday and hardly drunk a drop of alcohol, stayed away from sugar, made cakes for family and not indulged myself. It hasn't been easy!

I knew that I had to sacrifice a lot if I wanted to succeed.

When I arrived in LA, I was worried about the 11 hour flight and how much water I would retain on the flight. I had made some enquiries, and once I had landed, I put 10 drops of Dandelion root in my water before bed and low and behold, the next day the water I held from the flight was gone. I actually weighed myself and couldn't believe I was 55.2kg. I was so shocked I asked my uncle (who I was staying with) to check his scales to make sure they were correct. They were!!

Leading up tot he competition from the flight, I had 2 days to get in the zone. I'm lucky to have family in California to stay with and they were brilliant! My uncle Eddi was a Judo brown belt when he lived in England and didn't know much about BJJ, so I gave him the run down, showed him some of my fights online and briefed him about the scoring. I even showed some moves on my cousin Jared, who was up for being arm barred!
My auntie Stacie was just so happy to have me there visiting and was excited for the competition. I get the feeling that my other cousin Evan thought I was crazy. Haha

On competition day we arrived at the venue with plenty of time. It was such a huge venue within the California state university. The IBJJF had set out 12 mats, the most that I had ever seen at an event. All the Referees were standing on the mats in their suits ready for the first fights at 10:30am. My belly had done about a million somersaults at that point.

I had already seen a couple of guys from Carlson Gracie, so my mind was at ease that there would be someone shouting for me at the side of the mats. I warmed up, saw my first opponent (The current world Champion) and went to get checked.
My Gi that was given to me to wear, didn't pass the IBJJF standard Gi Check, so I had to rush back to where my bag was and change in to my trusty old faithful, slightly smelly Gi that has passed the IBJJF test twice before. As soon as I put it on, I felt at ease and much better.
I went to the mat, nervous, but confident. I had to win this match to put me in the final of the championships. I did! I won by an advantage. It was that close and Gina Sanchez really kept me on my toes. She was so tough, but I guess I was a little bit tougher.

Half an hour later it was the final. I was there with Vera Brown who I had already spotted earlier. We fought and she got 2 points for a sweep. She was a very tough opponent and much better than me. She was well worthy of the Gold medal and title of World Champion. I took the Silver medal.

The Worlds Senior 1 featherweight final

An awesome lady, Vera Brown winning the final

Blue belt Senior 1 feather weight finalists

Silver in the Worlds Master Seniors Championships

 I did compete in the absolute, but my thumb injury was niggling and I lost another close fight by 1 advantage. I was kind of relieved that I didn't fight on as my thumb felt busted.

After the competition I indulged for a couple of days, I got the glass of red wine that I had craved and ate bread, potatoes and non paleo desserts. That's what it's all about, as long as we know when to stop and go back to the Paleo eating way, then thats fine.

My family took me to the Pumpkin patch where every kind of pumpkin could be found.

I found a spaghetti squash that we don't currently have in the UK. We bought it along with others and the day I was leaving, my uncle and I cooked it.
We cut it in half and put it on a baking tray skin side up and cooked it in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Once cooked, I scraped the inside out of the skin and it became very spaghetti like, hence the name. I placed it in a bowl and added Black pepper, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese.
It was delicious!

I kept the seeds, brought them home and will plant in April to have my own batch of Spaghetti Squash.

I had a brilliant time in California, and I'd recommend the competition to any BJJ competitor. Life is about making things happen and having a great time doing it.

Traveling with paleo

This week I returned from a road trip to Spain with my boyfriend Jason. It was my parents 40th Ruby wedding anniversary. We had been planning the trip for a few months and when it finally came around, it felt a bit surreal. I had never driven in France before and certainly not driven down to Spain. I had done with my parents when I was 14 years old, but doing the drive yourself is a different story.
When we planned the trip, I wasn't planning on competing in the worlds, so I didn't think about food and snacks for the journey. That was the last thing on my mind.
A few days before I wanted to prove to myself that I could eat Paleo the whole way to Spain and back.

When being on a Paleo diet, the key words are organisation and preparation.

I had made a batch of Protein bars

You can find the recipe here: http://www.kineticmartialarts.co.uk/#!protein-bars/ctpz

I had cut up a whole Pineapple to snack on throughout the trip

Nakd bars kept our energy up

Jason's Egg and cheese Salad filled a nice hole

This was accompanied by some peppered Mackerel

Once we arrived in Spain, I kept my food healthy and always opted for the fish dish if we ate out or at home.
I did have a cheat day while I was there as it was my parents anniversary and the Chocolate beetroot cake, Raspberry Cheesecake I made and my mum's tiramisu had to be tried. I literally had the smallest piece and felt so sick after!!
It's amazing how you feel when you eat sugar after not having it for so long.

The journey back to England via Berritz and Paris was a little different as we drove through the night and didn't need any meals, so I pretty much lived on Almonds and Cranberries to snack on.

We stopped in Berritz for breakfast and had the most awesome scrambled eggs. I don't think I have ever had any so lovely in all my life!

When we left Paris, we hadn't eaten much at all. I had bought a Banana and ate it for breakfast. We were in a bit of a rush to get around Paris and see as many sights as possible and not waste any time. By 2pm we were on route to Calais to catch the Euro tunnel train.
My belly was rumbling for the first time in what seemed like forever. Eating Paleo, you never seem to get too hungry, so it was a bit weird having this feeling. Thankfully when we stopped to fuel up, there was a decent cafe that served really healthy Paleo friendly food.
My salad had chicken in it, but I soon picked that out and enjoyed what was left.

So now there really is no excuse to travel and not eat healthy.

When I left England on 7th September I weighed 58.1kg. Today I weigh 56.5kg. A perfect featherweight!

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Paleo Ice lolly's

It's been a while since I have put anything on here. The reason being is that I'm still in the process of moving my recipes to my website. It's a lengthy process when you have so many to transfer.

Since I last blogged, a lot has happened. I have signed up to the IBJJF Masters / Seniors worlds competition in Long Beach, California. The competition is  on 5th & 6th October. I gave myself 8 weeks to get prepared and drop 2.5kg.
I walk around at a really healthy 58-59kg, and for my size I feel good. For the competition I will be fighting in the Feather weight division of 58.5kg with my Gi on. This morning I weighed 58.1kg and have 4 weeks until the competition and to get myself to a respectable 56.5kg.

Last week, the stress of the competition set in. My training has been very good, my strength has been very good, but my running (what I need to do to drop the weight) has been very bad. In all honesty, I really dislike running. To me it's not fun and it's so boring. I only managed one 20 minute run in the whole week. Not only that, I stressed myself out about not being able to eat chocolate, sweets, bread or anything else that is not Paleo. I don't even really eat a lot of junk, so I don't know why I was stressing so much. I know that I was a nightmare to live with last week. Just ask my boyfriend Jason! Thankfully this week has been a lot better and the realisation that the competition is just around the corner is very much a reality and I'm enjoying being healthy.

Since Monday I have run 4 times, done 2 strength classes and tonight will be my 3rd Jiu Jitsu class of the week. I'm happy with that and I've still got tomorrow's training to go.

As it's been lovely and warm this week and the Indian summer is definitely settling in nicely. I thought what better way to enjoy it with a Paleo treat.

Here is a lovely recipe for Paleo Ice Lolly's. Just click on the link and it will take you there.
http://www.kineticmartialarts.co.uk/#!paleo-ice-lolly/c12m6
They are great for adults and even better for kids as the only sugar in them comes from the Raspberries.

Enjoy!

Spinach smoothie

For a while now I have been wanting to make a smoothie, a green one, only because I have never tasted one. Yesterday morning I had no choice but to make one. There were no eggs, tomatoes or mushrooms to make  an omelette for breakfast, but I did have some ingredients for a smoothie. One of the reasons I wanted to try a smoothie for breakfast was to see how long it would be until I felt the need to eat again. I never really imagined that it would keep me going for long. I made my smoothie at 6:30am and by 9am I felt that I should eat something, only because I was going for a crossfit session and I wanted to make sure that I had enough energy.
Eating every 3 hours is perfect, as it keeps our metabolism motivated and on the move, it's when we starve ourself that the body goes in to panic mode and holds on to fats because it doesn't know when it's going to be fed again.
Food is fuel, and just like a car we need to keep fueling it to keep it moving and running well.
Anyway, back to the smoothie.
Here is how I made it.....

Ingredients:

Handful of spinach
1 lime, juiced
1.5cm sq of Ginger, grated
1/2 a Mango
Tablespoon of Almond butter
Splash of water
8 cubes of ice

Method:

In your blender, crush the ice, then add the spinach, lime juice, ginger, Mango and almond butter. Push everything to the bottom of the blender and add a splash of water. Blend until everything is smooth and has not lumps or bumps in it.
And thats it!

I was pretty amazed at how luminous it looked and pretty scared that it was going to taste awful, even though individually I love all the ingredients.
It tasted lovely and was a pleasure to have something different for breakfast. The great thing about smoothies, are that the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Chocolate Orange Cake

A while ago my friend from training, Hugh, asked me if I could make a Paleo cake. I searched around for recipes and stupidly I printed one off and forgot where I got it from, so I can't give thanks to such an amazing recipe and beautiful cake.
This weekend I am having a cocktail party at my house with friends to celebrate the summer and just have a get together. The cake will be the centre piece, surrounded by mostly Paleo cocktail food. The evening will be mainly Paleo, with the exception of a high dosage of alcohol.

Here is how I made this delicous Chocolate Orange Paleo cake

Ingredients:

2 oranges
6 Eggs
3/4 Cup of honey
4 Cups of ground almonds
3/4 Cup of Cocoa
Teaspoon of Cinamon
Pinch of seat salt

Method:

Steam 2 oranges in a pan for 60 minutes by adding boiling water from the kettle and keeping the heat on a medium heat. I put the timer on and we did some other things around the house while they were getting soft.
Once 60 minutes has past, discard the water in the pan and let the oranges cool for another 20 minutes.
Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees C.
Cut the oranges in to chunks and add to a food processor. Whizz up, then add the eggs and whizz some more. Add the honey and whizz for a final time.
Put the ground almonds in to a mixing bowl and add the wet ingredients. Fold everything in and then add the cocoa powder, cinamon and salt. Mix everything well, then add the ingredients to a lined cake tin and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked right through, testing with a knife pierced through and coming out clean.
The cake tastes nice warm or cool. It's versatile like that!

If you want to add a little bit of naughtiness, you can make a Gnash to cover the cake. Gnash is not Paleo as it's made from Cream and Chocolate. It's only meant for cheat days!
Melt 100g of Maya Gold Green and Blacks Chocolate (it has an orange taste to it)
Add double cream and whisk until the chocolate and cream becomes thick like icing. Use as spatular to cover the cake, then place in the fridge so that the gnash hardens slightly.
If you wanted to add more chocolate and cream, you could cut the cake through the middle and cover the outside to make it extra yummy.

Enjoy!
Jolie

Summer Salmon Fish Cakes & Cashew Salad

Last weekend was an awesome one for my team mates and instructors at Carlson Gracie. It was the IBJJF Rome Open and the European No Gi Championships. The team smashed it on the Saturday in the Rome Open and with almost everyone taking Gold and the team coming 3rd place in the competition. On the Sunday we had Taylor become European No Gi champion for a 2nd year and my team mate Alistair Tweed became Senior 3 Blue belt Champion for the first time. Alistair works so hard in Jiu Jitsu and balances work and family life like most, so when I heard that he became champion, I was over the moon for him.
Our Carlson Gracie Essex coach Sam Gibson won the Adult brown belt featherweight division. It was great news for Sam as he has trains 3 times a day and just recently Sam has been winning everything. This weekend made me feel very proud to be part of Carlson Gracie Team.

After my weekend in the UK, I was having a bit of a detox. The sun was out and so was the Pimms!
My friend Lauren came over for dinner and a catch up and a very healthy dinner. Lauren finds it really difficult to digest wheat and dairy. The Paleo diet is perfect if this is a problem for anyone.
I have made regular fish cakes in the past that include potato and bread crumbs, so the change to a Paleo version couldn't be that hard..... It wasn't!
Here is how I made them....

Ingredients:

2 Pieces of Salmon Fillet
1/2 a Butternut Squash
1/2 Large Sweet Potato
1/2 Red onion
1/2 Cup of Ground Almonds
Mixed Herbs
Pepper
1 Egg
Coconut Oil

Method:

Peel the sweet potato and butternut squash and cut in to cubes. Place in a pan and bring to the boil. Once the squash and potato are cooked and nice and soft, drain the water from the pan completely.
Dice the red onion.
De skin the Salmon Fillets and cut in to pieces.
Mash the Sweet potato and Butternut squash until there are no lumps. Add the mixed herbs and black pepper to taste. Add the onion and salmon and make sure everything has been mixed well.
Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk.
Place the ground almonds on a plate.
Take a handful of the fishcake mixture and make in to a ball. cover with some of the egg, then roll in to the almonds. Do this until all of the mixture has been used up. I got 5 fishcakes from my mixture.
Heat a pan with melted coconut oil and place the fishcakes in the pan and cook until lightly brown to seal them together.
Once they have been pan fried, place them on to a baking tray and cook for 10 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees C.

I served the fishcakes on a bed of salad with fried (in coconut oil) cashew nuts, and stilton cheese.

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Protein Coconut Flat bread with Raspberry & Blueberry Jam

My last competition of the summer has come and gone. I competed in the Bournemouth Open on 15th June. It was a brilliant competition and I competed there last year as a white belt. Last year I won a Silver medal, and this year I managed Gold. I only had one competitor in the blue belt division, and she was a really tough cookie. Her defence was brilliant and she kept me on my toes. I managed to win on points.

Since the competition I have relaxed my diet a little, but not too much. I seemed to have upped my exercise and found a new routine by going to the gym or swimming at stupid o clock! It's keeping my weight balanced and at a nice healthy 58kg.

The Bournemouth open is my last competition until October when I'll compete in the IBJJF London Open. I'm really excited about that comp as I know there will be a lot of ladies entering, and for the first time I will enter in the Masters division. I have no problem fighting in Adult, but a 35 year old against a 16 year old can be quite a struggle!

The summer will be a combination of hard training and attending a lot of seminars. Last Saturday Carlson Gracie Jnr was over from Chicago and I had the pleasure of learning some awesome techniques. Not only did he show some great guard passes, sweeps and submissions, he is also one of the nicest guys in Jiu Jitsu.

One thing I really love about the summer is the fruits. Raspberries are my favourite and they are everywhere at the moment.
I wondered if it was possible to make a healthy Paleo friendly Raspberry jam. Most jam's are full of sugar and give me a proper sugar rush. I find this with most things now that I buy and haven't made myself.
Paleo Jam is possible!
Here is how I made it......

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Frozen Raspberries
1/2 Cup of Blueberries
2/3 Cup of Honey
Juice of 1 Lemon
These ingredients make one pot of Jam

Place the frozen Raspberries over a medium heat in a saucepan. Cook until they are heated and the juice comes out. Then add the Blueberries, honey and lemon juice.
Mix everything well and reduce the heat. I cooked them on a low heat for about 20 minutes. Unlike regular Jam, this doesn't thicken that much and stays a little runny. It's still gorgeous and goes lovely on Coconut flat breads. See the recipe further down....

Once the Jam is cooked, sterilise a jam jar by cleaning it thoroughly and drying it in the oven at a high temperature. Put the jam in the jar and the lid should suck down after about 5-10 minutes when it has cooled down.
Serve the jam cool on a Protein coconut flat bread.....

Protein Coconut flat bread
Ingredients:

2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons of coconut flour
2 Tablespoons of whey protein
Tablespoon of coconut oil
Makes 3-4 flat breads. The recipe is easily doubled to make more.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the flour and protein. Once mixed well, roll in to balls and flatten.
Cook in a pan with the melted coconut oil on a medium heat.
I made 2 small flat breads and one larger one. The large one was cut through the middle and fried in the middle too as I found that it didn't cook all the way through.
They are best served warm with the Paleo Jam or Cashew butter, or both!

The Cashew butter I use is from www.bulkpowders.co.uk If you place an order over £15 and use the code JB68500, you will get £5 off of your order. Cashew butter is so yummy and thats all it has in it, no dodgy stuff.

Enjoy!
Jolie

Cod with Prawns & Samphire

It's been a while and I'm really quite shocked that it was 22nd May that I last posted, but I have a very good excuse. It's that time of the year when I get very busy in my normal life, not to mention fitting in the organisation of Chelmsford's first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu open on 2nd June.
It was a great event, and a lot better than I expected. Over 150 competitors and a great team helping at the event to make it run smoothly. The local paper was impressed with the event and gave us a brilliant write up.

Since that weekend has passed, my normal job has become so busy and training and cardio have to slot in somewhere. I start work at 8am and my gym opens at 6.30am. I can manage a 30 minute intense work out or a decent swim before I start work, and BJJ training in the evenings as usual.
A friend of mine asked me yesterday 'When do you ever sleep?' I do sleep, and I get a decent amount, I'm just very good at organising. Including my breakfast. To keep Paleo, I have started making my Aussie style omelette in the evening, letting it cool and cutting it in to quarters to eat after the gym or swim in the morning. It saves me so much time, and the omelette is just like a quiche, but without the pastry.

Lunch or dinner is made with love as always and now is the season where Samphire is at it's best. It comes from the sea and I guess its similar to seaweed, but not as noodley. It goes with all fish, and in this dish I made it with Cod, simple oven steamed cod with lemon and a few prawns, and parsley to garnish.

Here is how I made it.....

Ingredients:

Cod
Prawns
Samphire
Lemon
Parsley
Pepper to garnish
Coconut oil

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees celcius
Place the cod in foil with a squeeze of lemon, some black pepper and the prawns. Seal the foil. I make my foil edges in to a kind of cornish pasty as it's easy to check if the fish is cooked well.
Cook for 12-15 Minutes.
Just before the cod is ready to be taken out of the oven, place the Samphire in a pan with a little coconut oil and cook for a few minutes.
Serve with the Cod and a fresh slice of Lemon.

Healthy food is simple isn't it?

Enjoy!

Jolie x

Salmon Hot Pot

Life has been very busy lately. Busy with work, busy with training and busy being social. I'm not complaining, I love it when life is full. When it is, I still make time to eat well and very healthy.
On the lead up to the British Open last weekend, I had to be really organised making sure I had enough good food to take to work with me or make quickly when I was at home. I was borderline with my weight and had to be super careful as I had been for the past 5 weeks.

An old friend gave me this idea for a gorgeous filling meal. It's Salmon Hot Pot. It's so quick and easy to make and from start to finish will be ready on the table in 20 minutes. I know this because I had 45 minutes to get showered from the gym, dry my hair, make myself look pretty, and feed myself with something healthy before going out to work for the evening.
There was no chance that I was going to ruin my diet on the lead up to the British Open by making just a snack to go.

Here is how I made it.....

Ingredients:

Courgette
Carrot
Bell Pepper
Whole chilli
Bok Choi
Mushrooms
Salmon Fillet
Vegetable stock
Ginger
Black Pepper

Method:

Boil 2 pints of water and add the vegetable stock.
With a vegetable peeler, peel the courgette and carrot so they are long and thin pieces, a bit like thick noodles. I didn't use all of the veg, just half.
Chop the Pepper, chilli and mushrooms as well as the ginger and put everything, including the Bok Choi in a wok style pot if you have it, if not, a regular pot will be fine.
Slice the salmon in to pieces.
When the veg is cooked transfer to a large bowl that you will eat from and add the salmon to the dish. The salmon will cook in the bowl from the heat of the stock and won't over cook.

That's it, simple isn't it!?

Just so you know.....

I am now the new Featherweight blue belt British BJJ Champion

Eat healthy and feel good, then stand at the top of the podium.

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Paleo Pizza

This week I've been doing a little experimenting. I received some Pea Protein in the post, and even though Pea is not Paleo, I wanted to try Josh Palmers Brocoli and Pea Protein bread. I did as the instructions said and added some herbs to the mix. It was ok, nothing special, a bit rubbery and after 2 slices I wasn't really interested in it anymore. Maybe it would make a good pizza base? So I cut it length ways through the middle and made a pizza from it. Still nothing special. Maybe the fact that it had Broccoli in it and I never eat broccoli, it plays havoc with my thyroid (as mine is slightly under active) and makes loosing weight that little bit harder.
After searching around, I found a recipe for a paleo pizza base and in true Jolie style, I change it to make it my own. You know what!? It's not bad at all, and thats why I'm telling you all about it.

Here is how I made it....

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of whizzed up Cauliflower
1/2 Cup of ground Almonds
1 egg and 1 egg white
1 tablespoon of coconut oil


Method:

Heat the oven to 200 degrees C
Steam the Cauliflower until cooked and whizz it up in a food processor. You need 1/2 cup for the pizza base. Then add the ground almonds, eggs and melted coconut oil to the mix and whizz until it becomes a paste.
Transfer the ingredients on to a baking tray and make in to a flat circle (pizza base) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If you want to bottom to crust, you can flip over and cook for a further 3 minutes.
I made 2 small pizza's.

For the topping:

Per Pizza
2 Table spoons of Chopped tomatoes
1 Table spoon of Tomato paste
1 Teaspoon of mixed herbs
1/2 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Onion Powder
Topping of your choice - I chose mushrooms, sliced plum tomatoes, and slice of red pepper
Goats Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Basil

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and get creative with your topping!
Cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the base has crisped.

Here is how mine turned out....

The Base before baking

 Toppings complete and ready for the oven

Pret a Manger. Nom, Nom, Nom

Enjoy!

Jolie x

No bun Veggie Burger and Sweet potato fries

Being a veggie, I have tried all of the veggie burgers out there and I can safely say that Linda McCartney 1/4 with mozzarella is by far the best tasting and no way rubbery that some are.

Last year after the Bournemouth Open, we all went round to Alex D'Souza's house for a BBQ. I made sure that we got the good ole Linda Mc Veggie burgers for me and everyone else tucked in to their meaty delights. One of the guys who was cooking at the BBQ couldn't believe it when he took my burgers off the BBQ. He thought they were meat and I even asked him to taste them to prove they weren't. He still thought they were beef, but they couldn't be!

I'd love to make my own veggie burgers, but today I'm going to cheat and just give you an idea how to eat them without having the bread bun. It is of course Iceberg lettuce. I made the burgers and oven cooked a flat mushroom with cheese and placed them in to a couple of lettuce leaves.

The sweet potato fries were really easy to make. I sliced them in to strips and covered them with some coconut oil and black pepper. You could add salt to them too, but I'm leaving the extra salt out of my diet for a while. 

Voila!

Enjoy!!

Tip: Pour out the juice from the mushroom before eating. If not, it will get very messy!

On the go snack from Nakd

Everyone has been caught out somewhere, no food in the bag and in need of something to cure the hunger pangs. It may not even be that, you may need something healthy for a pre work out snack. This is just it!

Nakd bars are all full of goodness and no chemicals what so ever! They are very Paleo friendly and perfect for a healthy snack. Most supermarkets stock them or you can buy them direct from their website in bulk and with free delivery. It makes them slightly cheaper than the stores, but the best thing is if you sign up to their newsletter. They often send out emails telling you of new products and special discounted offers they have on. It's worth a look here http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd/

Watch out for some of the bars, not all are wheat free.

Ginger bread and very berry are most definitely my favourites!

Paleo Bread

The last 2 weeks haven't been that great for me. My diet has been superb and clean, but my weight just hasn't shifted. I have a competition this Saturday in Brighton and was aiming to be at 56.5kg, but I'm still sitting at 58kg. I took the advice from a friend of mine who is a personal trainer and also an MMA fighter, that I need a cheat day and to load myself up with carbs to get my metabolism working again. It seems my body has got used to the diet I'm on and nothing is shocking it in to dropping the extra 1.5kg I am carrying around with me. I have stepped up my training to twice a day, gym in the morning and BJJ in the evenings 5-6 days a week. I had a cheat day in Saturday like my friend told me to, Porridge in the morning followed by a late lunch of Wholewheat pasta cooked in Balsamic vinegar. After eating the pasta, I wanted to go to sleep, in fact I did, I had a nap on the sofa for half an hour! Carbs bring me up, then crash me back down. I will have a healthy carb filled cheat day each week to keep my body dropping the weight.

On to the main subject of today. Bread! My friend Natasha is a bread fan and has a sandwich every day for lunch. She gave me the task of finding a recipe for Paleo bread and I found it!
At first it was a little dry and a bit hard to swallow, I think it was the coconut flour, but I added one more tablespoons of olive oil and it has given the bread the moisture that it needed.

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

8 Eggs
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 Cup of Coconut milk
3/4 Cup of Coconut flour
3/4 Cup of Chia seeds
2 1/2 Teaspoons of Baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 tablespoon of Rosemary
1 Tablespoon of dried Sage
1 1/2 Teaspoon of cider vinegar

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees celcius
Beat the eggs and add the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the Coconut flour, Seeds, baking powder, salt, Rosemary, Sage, and cider vinegar to the mixture and mix well. Your mixture should be nice and fluffy.
Line a loaf tin with baking paper and bake in the oven for 65 minutes or until golden.
The bread will not rise.
Turn out on to a plate and eat warm with a layer of almond butter, or make cheese on toast, or wait until it's completely cool and make a nice cheese and salad sarnie with it.

                        

The Chia seeds really make this bread delicious and high in protein. It's an alternative to the real thing and great for those who are wheat intolerant.

Enjoy!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip cookies

Why not start the week with a treat?
I set out to make some Paleo bread, but realised that it takes 90 minutes to bake in the oven and I'm off out training Jiu Jitsu in a short while and I wanted to rustle up something quick.
So I made these Chocolate, chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:

150g of Ground Almonds
2 Tablespoons of Honey
40g of Coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
30g of Green & Blacks 85% Chocolate - cut in to pieces
Grated willies Cacao

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 130 degrees.
Melt the coconut oil and honey in a pan
Add the ground almonds to a mixing bowl and add the melted oil and honey to the mixture and also the vanilla extract too. Add the grated cacao and when it is all mixed in, add the chocolate.
form small balls of the mixture and place on a baking sheet. I got 11 cookies out of my mixture and garnished them with a flaked almond.
Bakes for 20 minutes
Cool completely until diving in.

Thanks to www.thehealthychef.com for the idea. As usual I put a little Jolie spin on it, but didn't have to change too much.

Enjoy!
Jolie

Strictly Paleo

This week I have been back on the Paleo 100%. I'm being really strict with myself now until after the British open. No cheat days, no alcohol, no carbs!
Since competing in the Abu Dhabi pro trials back in February, I have been on and off Paleo. Eating few carbs, and lots of Haribo, Green & Black Chocolate, and my ultimate downfall, cakes and biscuits! I have kept my training up, but not been running as much. Thankfully today my weight was just 58kg. I have 2 weeks to drop a minimum of 1.5kg for the Southern Open, my practise run for the British.
The unfocused eating habits all changed this week when my focus was on my goals and my goals are competing to the best I can. I train a lot more than I did last year, my diet is better and I feel fitter. I have a lot to prove to myself at this years British Open. I messed up big time last year and was so annoyed at myself. Even though I am a higher belt grade this year, I'll be in a lower weight catagory and have a lot more knowledge and competition experience.

What I have found in the Jiu Jitsu comunity is how many people are now following the Paleo diet. A friend who I see often at the women's open mat, Jenny, is now on her way to dropping a weight division, feather, like me, but she is a white belt. She asked on facebook what the best way was to drop weight without training. I butted in and said 'follow the Paleo diet'.

I'm not going to lie, you don't feel great when you start off. I found that this week when I got back on the wagon. I felt a little tired and my stomach felt strange. By the 3rd day, I felt better, had more energy. Someone described the first week of Paleo as having flu like symptoms. It's not like that at all. You just feel a little low in energy as your body adjusts to the change in diet.

Today is Saturday and the sun is shining, I've trained already today, even though it was tough training I feel like I could train a whole lot more.

Speaking of training. Since I stopped my crossfit membership and gone it alone (in my regular gym). I found that there is everything I need there and I have everything in my head to push me to keep going, especially since I have been given some really great WOD ideas.
My friend and one of my training partners at Carlson Gracie Essex in Colchester, James Wheatley has a really awesome blog. James is a personal trainer and a Muay Thai coach, as well as the only Ginastica Natural (look it up on YouTube) teacher in Essex, maybe even England?
You can find out more about James's workouts on his blog here:
Zenshin Fitness Systems
Honestly, check it out, he's a really kool guy and knows what he's talking about.

I'm waiting on a delivery of cashew and almond butter on Monday, so unlike most, I can't wait for the weekend to be over so I can get it. I've got some more ideas for Veggie Paleo food up my sleeve ready to share with you. For now though, it's Saturday and having a night of Chilling with DVD's with the boyfriend and Chilli leaf Taco's for dinner. Mmmm

Have a great weekend!

Jolie x