From the gym to school pick-up in T-10 minutes? Back to back meetings with hardly enough time to pee, nevermind eat? Lifemin taking over your weekends?

Sound familiar? Time-crunched days are stressful enough without trying to build in quality meals, so sometimes we need a little help to get us from A to B (or from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner). Here’s a quick protein ball recipe I whip up on Sunday evenings to save me a trip to the corner shop. While I’m not adverse to the odd Mars Bar, we can avoid making a habit of reaching for sugary snacks and fuelling the resulting hunger-famine energy crash cycle by filling our handbags/kit bags (and our bellies) with these quality, slow-release, recovery-boosting bites.

All you need is a food processor (if you don’t have one, get one; I promise it will change your life). In 10 minutes flat you’ll have created 15 balls of hunger-busting bliss.

What?

• 1 cup pitted dates
• 3tbsp nut butter (my preference: Pip & Nut Maple Syrup Peanut Butter. I’m Canadian. What do you expect?)
• ¼ cup raw cacao powder
• 1tbsp chia seeds
• 2/3 cups rolled oats
• 1tbsp Pulsin hemp protein
• 1tbsp coconut oil

How?

1. Pulse the dates in your food processor until the mix is smooth. They may form one big ball – that’s normal due to their sticky texture.
2. Add the oats, chocolate, chia, peanut butter, protein & coconut oil and pulse again for one minute, or until evenly mixed and the oats are in fine fragments.
3. Roll into 1 inch balls. The texture should be sticky enough to hold all the ingredients together, but not wet enough to make your hands sticky.
4. Refrigerate and tuck in when hunger strikes. They will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge. Mind you, it’s unlikely they’ll stick around that long.

Need an excuse to eat more protein balls? Join me for any of my weekly classes, held privately or at Sweaty Betty Wimbledon and Paola’s Bodybarre Wimbledon. More information and timetable here. 

As a trainer and someone who loves to train, I never underestimate the importance of quality nutrition. Exercise is only part of the picture when it comes to establishing a healthy lifestyle, and finding healthy places to dine out means you can complement that lifestyle while sharing it with your friends. In London we’re spoiled for choice and eating out doesn’t have to mean compromising your nutrition.When you want something more wholesome than burgers and pizza, these are my five go-to hangouts for healthy grub…

East London

Grounded

With a horticultural interior theme and a homegrown menu selection, grounded is precisely how I feel every time I step foot in this new East London cafe. It’s recently become a weekend non-negotiable for my husband and I. Even if I don’t have time to enjoy their freshly baked sourdough and perfectly soft poached eggs, I’ll compromise by picking up an organic coffee and carrot and apple muffin. It’s pretty much my favourite thing in the world right now – so yum and nutritious, and keeps me going through all my Saturday afternoon classes! The Grounded team really won me over when they opened early so I could pop in for a green smoothie before hopping on the tube for my morning commute. When I move to Southwest London in two weeks, I may just to ask them to come with!

O Food

Ever envied the glowing skin and glossy hair of the Danes? Steal a trick from their (recipe) book and check out this Copenhagen-inspired sandwich cafe in Spitalfields. Lots of organic bread variations, protein-packed fillings and innovative dressings transform this little known gem from a typical sandwich bar to a feel-good food destination that won’t offset your healthy eating habits. For a balanced weekend treat, I went for the Prawn Star on Rye (Don’t think cauliflower goes in a sandwich? You have to try it to believe it!), and split half with my husband’s Hook on Sourdough (traditional fish frikadelle with dill tartar; one of the more indulgent options on the menu). All washed down with complimentary cucumber water – a nice touch that doesn’t go amiss!

Central London

Caravan Kings Cross

I have to admit, my recent experience at this much-talked-about Australian restaurant almost exclusively inspired me to book a holiday to the land down under this autumn. Its good reputation is very well-deserved, with innovative small plates served up in a beautiful warehouse setting that’s just oh-so-London. I practically melted with love for the Chickpea Chips with Chipotle Ketchup. They also served a special Miso-Roasted Aubergine that was so good I tried to replicate at home (with some success, too – give it a try here). It’s easy to be virtuous here and pick from the many yummy lean fish and salad plates, but I do recommend treating yourself with a couple naughty plates – it would be a crime to miss the Smoked San Simon Cheese and Jamon Croquettes. And do polish off your meal with a coffee. Be warned: it’s both delicious and very strong. Great before a tough HIIT workout (just give the croquettes some time to go down first).

Muriel’s Kitchen

Fancy lunch on a porch swing, with homestyle cooking and a side of home interiors inspiration? Then head to Muriel’s Kitchen in Soho and sample the ever-changing daily salads with a protein selection of your choice – the Salmon Steak is my favourite and the portion is always very generous. The nutty mushroom salad pictured here was the perfect accompaniment, and fully convinced me to give mushrooms more credit beyond their cameo appearance in my weekly stirfry.

West London

Good Life Eatery

The brainchild of two LA-inspired entrepreneurs, The Good Life Eatery opened two years ago and quickly became a Chelsea institution and Instagram sensation. Superfood salads, healthy Bowls, energising Smoothies and guilt-free Desserts like raw peanut butter brownies attract health-conscious Londoners from far and wide. Substantial portions and inspiring ingredients keep them coming back for more. Insider tip: If you’d like to work with me, you can invariably lure me into a meeting with an invitation to the Good Life Eatery. See you there!

Where’s your favourite place to tuck in to health-enhancing chow? If you think I’ve missed an unmissable eatery, help me expand my horizons and leave a comment below ;). Thanks for reading!

Brit x

In case you haven’t heard, slogan tees are in. And not just any slogans – healthy slogans. No longer is it enough to demonstrate a healthy lifestyle with enviable muscle tone and glowing, well-nourished skin, now you have to wear your favourite foods on your chest.

It started with a simple four-letter word: Kale. An admittedly humorous play on the iconic collegiate jumper. Then Charli Cohen joined the kale crowd with her statement ‘Dressed to Kale’ tees. And most recently, Deliciously Ella has toted around her own brand bags and jumpers with messages like ‘Peace Love & Kale’ and ‘Peace Kale & Coconuts’.

Not to worry – the other superfoods haven’t been left out. ‘Chia’ is another health- and style-boosting slogan championed by the wellness elite. I’m certain there’s a factory somewhere in China churning out thousands of ‘Quinoa’ tops as we speak. I’m personally hanging tight for the self-mocking ‘Keen Wah?!’ variation. Think I’m running out of steam? Think again. It’s time to ‘Meet Your Matcha’.

While you’ll have seen all these ingredients on the very pages of this blog, I poke fun because there’s a somewhat misleading message being overlooked in this mass mantra marketing. And while the title of this post may seem rather extreme, it is technically possible to destroy your liver (the body’s metabolic processing centre) with too much of any one vitamin.

The liver is where fat soluble vitamins – A, D, K and E – are stored. It helps to preserve the delicate balance of your body. But what happens if you ate, say, four times your RDA of vitamin E (prevalent in kale) and neglect other vitamins as a result? I speak from experience when I say your body won’t like it. It will try to flush out new and stored foods to address the potentially toxic imbalance, preventing absorption of the good stuff with which you were trying to nourish your body in the first place.

Now I’m very aware that there are more people eating poor, vitamin-deficient diets out there than there are people whose food intakes revolve around kale. And the mass marketing messaging certainly must be to incorporate more superfoods in our diets, but I want to remind health-conscious eaters and key influencers within the nutrition industry to place that message in the context of balance.

Almost every failed diet programme out there ultimately disappoints because it throws the body out of balance. Cut carbs and you’ll lose weight because there’s no glucose to burn and the body must turn to other sources – like muscle breakdown to turn proteins into fuel for basic brain and body function. The scales may please you temporarily, but body composition tests would be significantly more alarming as lean muscle tissue is compromised. And when you do reintroduce carbs? The body has learned to hold onto sugar stores for dear life, and that means converting them into fat stores so they last longer. Read: the return of the spare tyre.

What I detest even more than low-carb diets are eating plans that recommend not eating. Remember the cabbage soup diet that permits you to drink as much liquidised cabbage goo as you want? Certainly, cabbage is a great source of vitamins C and K. But down a gallon of it a day and you won’t retain an ounce of either. Plus your body will go into starvation mode and become a fat-storing machine as a means of survival. Who can blame it? It’s simply responding to attempted death by poison!

The point of my rather dramatic argument is that the reigning rule of healthy eating will never change. Balance is king. Every macro and micro nutrient depends on the presence of the others to perform its best. Even fat requires the presence of carbs in order to become an accessible source of fuel. And while superfoods are indeed super, they’re only super as a complement to an already balanced diet with an array of lean proteins, healthy fats, unrefined carbs, and the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals (tip: mixing up red, orange and green fruits and vegetables is a simple and effective check).

So eat superfoods, but eat them in moderation – just like everything else. You’ll save yourself stress, money and probably a bad tummy in the process. Plus, you’ll have a little room left over for the odd Magnum. Almond or Dark Chocolate Espresso for me, please! Just in time for Britain’s +30 summer!

Peace, Kale and Snowcones to you all.

Brit x

Living in London, I enjoy getting out and trying all the latest cafes, studios and activities on offer, but sometimes you just can’t beat the fun you can have at home. So when one of my best friends said she wanted to come over and carve pumpkins, I embraced the chance to relive our childhoods. Yes, you can guess that we both spent our formative years in North America.

My Jack-O-Lantern is on the right. I was going for the exotic supermodel look with almond-shaped eyes, arched brows and a thin elegant nose, but the finished product wasn’t quite what I envisioned. My friend’s on the left, however, was every bit as goofy as she had intended. You can’t go wrong with geometrical shapes!

Pumpkins carved, I felt inspired to finish the deed by dispatching with the stringy innards and roasting the remaining seeds. Although I haven’t eaten homemade pumpkin seeds since I was a child, I now appreciate the health benefits more than ever. A handful of the magnesium-packed seeds is great for generating energy pre-workout, and it’s an ideal superfood to add to smoothies because it’s rich in fibre and can help to slow the absorption of other ingredients.  Their high omega content also means they work to regulate insulin levels and prevent the type of sugar spikes that can lead to Diabetes. And because they’re extremely high in tryptophan, snacking on them before bed helps to promote a solid night’s sleep.

Roasted pumpkin seeds

Step 1: Clean and boil the seeds

First, you need to clean the lingering ‘pumpkin guts’ off the seeds, and to do this I boiled the whole lot for 10min. Although sugar pumpkins (the smaller ones traditionally used to make American pumpkin pie) yield crunchier seeds, the process of boiling the seeds of larger pumpkin varieties can help to improve their texture before roasting.

Step 2: Dry the seeds

Now this is important. After you’ve boiled the seeds, you need to drain and thoroughly dry them. Having not roasted pumpkin seeds for many years, I admittedly forgot this step, and my resulting seeds were just a touch slimy as a result.

Step 3: Season to your liking

Here’s where you get to have some fun. Some people love sweet pumpkin seeds – think brown sugar and cinnamon or chilli and lime zest – but I fancied a more savoury option of olive oil, salt and paprika. Garlic is a popular ingredient in pumpkin seed recipes, too. Feel free to play around with flavours and be creative – there’s no right or wrong.

Step 4: Roast and serve

I roasted my pumpkin seeds at 200 degrees Celsius for 45min, taking them out twice to give them a stir and make sure they were evenly spread across the pan.

Although I mainly used my pumpkin seeds for snacking – and for blending in a smoothie or two – there are loads of ways to incorporate them into your diet. For instance, they work as a great alternative to pine nuts when making your own pesto. You can mix them with other nuts or dried fruits for a healthy high-energy trail mix when you’re on the go. Or combine them with kale, quinoa, chicken and tomatoes for a superfood salad worth bragging about on your lunchbreak. And if you’re feeling more indulgent, you can caramelise them in some brown sugar and use them to decorate a cake.

Lessons learned

At this point, I’d like to say I’m also preparing a post on pumpkin pie, but alas I must reveal that the ‘meat’ of the pumpkin rots just like any other vegetable. So after a week exposed to the open air, my poor Jack-O-Lanterns began sprouting mould from their eyes and had to be urgently expelled from my flat before they stunk us out! This I consider to be my most frightful Halloween experience yet. Sometimes, food really is just for fun. So if you’re planning on eating your pumpkin, don’t expect to gaze on your carefully carved masterpiece for more than a day before digging into the shell and boiling its contents down into a delicious pie mix.