Product test: Quest Peanut Butter Cups

So, a week ago I bought these awesome looking and sounding Quest Peanut Butter Cups, which I have wanted to try for quite a while now. The idea seems simple enough: take a beloved sweet like the peanut butter cup, which is not exactly healthy, and make a healthy version of it, sell it under the name of "Quest Cravings". In Quest Nutritions case, being concerned with people's protein intake and all, this means loads of protein, low or next to no carbs. 

The nutritional info reads as follows:

Serving Size: 2 cups (one packet contains 2 cups), 50g

Calories: 240

Calories from fat: 150 (well, peanut butter ain't exactly low fat)

Total Fat: 17g (of which 35%, 7g are saturated fats)

Sodium: 240mg 

Potassium: 230mg

Total Carbohydrate: 10g (of which 3g dietary fibre, 1g sugars, 3g Erythritol [well, that sounds healthy])

Protein: 20g

So far, so good. Sounds okay, on the ingredient list the first listed items are protein-supplement mixes (Heraprotein-Isolate and Milkprotein-Isolate, so it's not suited for vegans) and actual peanut butter, plus unsweetened chocolate. Nutritionally, this isn't too bad. But. The taste is gruesome. If you've ever had a real Peanut Butter Cup (Reese's), you will know the second this thing touches your lips that nope, this won't help your cravings. If you have never had one, leave this thing on the shelf and take a real Peanut Butter Cup with you. Might be nutritionally worse, but at least you get some taste for the calories you consume. The chocolate is way too bitter (maybe try stevia for sweetening?) and the consistency of the whole thing is off-putting. It might be due to the fact that obviously the packet I grabbed hadn't been stored correctly, but the chocolate was also covered in this white film chocolate gets when it's getting old. So maybe the taste of the chocolate would have been better, but even that would not have saved the whole thing.

The cup itself. As you can see, the chocolate is already gone off and it doesn't look too attractive.

To put it in a nutshell: Nice idea, but terrible execution. Which is a pity because I usually like Quest's products. But this is the reason why people always frown upon healthy alternatives to sweets and baked goods. 2/5 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

Life changes even the best of plans... I'm doing Gains, Lean Gains

and isn't that the truth. In June, I had decided for myself that I wanted to go down to Bantam-weight, to get a feeling for my body at 61,2kg (135lbs.). Little did I know. I am not entirely sure how I ended up doing what I did, but at some point I noticed that I was actually working out harder than ever and my muscles were sore as hell more often than they were not. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of sore muscles to some extend, but I also know that to actually build muscle, you have to eat more than your normal calorie intake, because your body needs energy to build and protein from which to build new muscle fibres. So, hanging around at a caloric deficit of 500kcal/day seemed like a terrible waste of workouts. 

The actual math is something like this: To actually build muscle mass you need a positive energy balance of at least 500-1000kcal a day. You also need to get about 1,2-2g protein per kilogram of body mass. For me at about 65kg that would be 78-130g of protein a day. Fuck a duck with a Christmas tree. You know how much more I have to eat to get to these figures? Especially with no sugar involved? Thank heavens, there's peanut butter, nuts and other healthy stuff high in calories. 

You also have to get a good amount of carbs, because they fuel your workouts and keep you powered. Also, recovery is easier and faster when your body is able to refill its glycogen stores (that's basically the tank that keeps the energy your muscles are burning while working) relatively fast. So, you should try to eat within 30 minutes after your workout. 

So, gains, yes? We are going to do gains, body? The treacherous thing with gains, however, is that I have a tendency to underestimate my caloric intake and I always want to be on the safe side: did I really eat enough to turn this pain into muscle? Or even worse: justify eating loads with "yeah, I'm doing gains right now"

I have tried a system last summer that actually worked pretty well for me: Lean Gains.

My biceps after a month of gains

Lean Gains is basically another form of intermittent fasting; meaning you don't fast for a longer amount of time, but for short bouts at a time. The most popular form of intermittent fasting these days may be the 5:2 diet (I tried that, too, for a while, but that's a whole chapter of its own), but lean gains don't quite work like 5:2. With 5:2 you eat 5 days of the week normally and on the two remaining days, you eat less than 600kcal (men) or 500kcal (women), with the fast days not being on consecutive days. 

Lean gains, however, make you eat enough food to build muscle, but - as the name already says - promise to keep you lean. You have to calculate your daily caloric intake via a formula based on your basic metabolic rate, your level of activity and whether it's a rest day or not. See the infographic at the bottom for more info. After that you need to know, when to eat. You got 8 hours a day within which you eat those calories. The rest of the day, that would be 16 hours on Planet Earth, you fast. You take BCAA supplements, but you don't eat. For me the schedule looked as follows: 

5:30 get up, drink a cup of tea (because I don't do black coffee)

6:30 go to work

10:00 breakfast break, biiiiig breakfast

13:00 lunch

15:00 dinner (because most of my workouts begin around 17-19 o'clock and I can't move on a full stomach)

17/18 (just before workout) small energy boosting snack

18-10 FAST

You'd think this is hard, but actually it isn't. Because of work, my mind is mostly kept off eating in the mornings anyways and 10am is the first chance I get to have a break and thus breakfast. The only clear disadvantage is, that you're feeling full for those 8 hours you are allowed to eat, but also you crave food like it's not even funny anymore. Once you get to eat, your metabolism starts revving up and it goes full speed baby. 

This does work. I did not gain any significant weight during my gain phase and I've been eating A LOT. I have gained water weight, though, because I usually don't eat that much carbs.

Still, there are some Downsides to this method:

1. Keep in mind that you are meddling with your metabolism. If something feels off, don't continue with this until you know it's safe (consult a doctor, personal trainer, dietitian, etc.).

2. Food cravings, baby. And those ain't funny.

3. Food babies and inability to move because you just ate 6 hours straight and well... now it's time to train. I look like I weigh twice my weight most of the time because during the hours I do eat, I carry a heavy food baby with me. And sometimes, when I don't time my eating right or had something more difficult to digest, it actually does get in the way of effective work outs.

4. Hunger. Like, you're going from one extreme - the foodbaby - to the other, namely hunger. Your body in a fasted state wants food and it makes itself known. Those pangs are short and go by rather quickly, but if you have a tendency to get hangry (like I do), those can be very inconvenient. 

Upsides:

1. Lean gains. Need I say more?

2. feeling really satiated without the guilt. 

3. something you really did not want to know: incredibly regular bowel movements.

I found this on the interwebs when I was looking for info on this issue and I found it very helpful:

Sore muscles, happy pain?

When I woke up this morning, it took me a moment to get up, because I was so sore. I took a short inventory and my upper body was really beaten up, but my lower body was still a little sore, too. Especially my gluteus medius, part of my bum. 

My schedule this week was Sh'Bam on Monday evening, Spinning and CX Tuesday morning as well as striking practice and Body Balance Tuesday evening. Wednesday I went to a Body Pump class in the morning and - finally - grappling training in the evening. So, I deserved the soreness, but still. I like being sore up to a certain point. If it exceeds that point, I get whiny. And today was a whiny day. Everything hurt, and since I do physical work, I really felt it most of the time. 

Which brings me to the point of this post. There are all these motivational fitspo pictures saying that "pain is weakness leaving the body" or "no pain, no gain", but should you really go for that burn every time? 

Sure, being sore gives most people a feeling of accomplishment. It is a way of proving to yourself that you put in the work. You can tell your friends about your sore legs, post about them on social media. All of that. Oh, and it is totally worth it, posting about accomplishments on facebook, twitter or the social media outlet of your choice. Studies showed that it actually helped keep up motivation in people who set themselves the goal of getting fitter. 

This just as an aside. That burn you feel while working out is lactate acid that accumulates in the muscle and the pain you feel when you're sore are microruptures in your muscle tissues and when they heal, they grow back stronger (if you give your body the right nutrients to grow). So, to gain muscle, does it have to hurt? No, it doesn't. But it's a walk on a tightrope, because you have to hit the zone where you challenge your muscles enough to encourage growth, but you can't come on to strong. At the same time, you shouldn't go to hard, but you have to go hard enough to challenge your body. And that's probably why most people like being sore. It's almost instant feedback that the workout did come through. And that's okay. However, keep in mind that being sore means that - in a way - you're injured. And as it goes with all injuries, you have to give your body time to heal. Take a rest day. You deserved it. 

In that spirit, I had a great rest day today. I walked a lot ("Walk it off") and had good food to give my body the material to bounce back stronger. 

So, enjoy your soreness and your rest day!

Recipe: (Recovery) snack by Miesha Tate

So, Miesha Tate posted the recipe for a well-balanced snack (well-balanced in regard to macro-nutrients) on her instagram the other day, and of course I had to try it. It had peanut butter in it. 

The recipe is simple enough;

3/4 cups vanilla yoghurt

1/2 scoop protein powder

2 Tblsps Peanut Butter (there it is)

1/2 cup Granola

Mix these together in a bowl and enjoy. Good for recovery after training or just as a snack to fend off sweet cravings (it's true!). It's fat to protein to carb ratio is great, as I've already said, but you should keep in mind that it is by no means low calorie, so if you're on a diet, really integrate it into your meal plan, so there's no bad awakening.

Thank you, Miesha Tate, this will be a new go-to snack of mine. 

-K

No Sugar Challenge

I got a problem with sugar; I'm either off it or on it. Being off it means, I get all my carbs from fruit and veggies. Being on sugar means that I'm eating enormous amounts of chocolate, ice cream and cookies. And when I'm talking about enormous, I am talking about a whole tub of ice cream or a whole chocolate bar (the 100-200g kind, not 30-40g). During my graduation weekend I've eaten so much junk food that of course all my eating habits went out of whack and my body is craving fatty and sugary foods again.

This was the first helping at the kebab and pizza buffet where we went for my graduation. The first helping still contained salad. :D

This weekend is Midsummer in Finland, which means tomorrow the stores are open for a limited amount of time and on Saturday all the stores are closed. I got no chocolate or ice cream here at home. So, I'm going cold turkey, because no matter how hard I'll be craving sweets, there's no getting them. And - at least to me - the first two days are always the hardest. 

Now, this has nothing to do with losing weight or anything, but consuming sugary sweets makes me feel a bit off. Plus, I get acid reflux pretty easily. And I don't get the energy I get from "real" food. Actually it is quite paradox, how I love to eat chocolate and ice cream when I know that they make me feel bad. In the end, I've decided to stay off sugar and fatty food until August. Which is going to be a challenge because summer is ice cream time. On the other hand, I've probably eaten enough ice cream for two life times. ;)
My aunt is coming to visit me next weekend, so this is going to be a real challenge, but on the other hand, nothing like a challenge to make it more interesting. 

Instagram + food = obsession

Has anyone else had to deal with this? I joined instagram about a year ago and I didn't really use it for a while. And then, all of a sudden, it happened: I started taking pictures of my food and I started following people who took pictures of their food and now I am addicted to instagram. I myself am posting about one food post per day (!!!) and I like 4-6 food posts of others per day.
On the plus side: I have been getting so much inspiration food-wise, it got me to try out stuff, I would have never tried out without instagram and somehow it feels good when about ten people like your breakfast :D

But now seriously; it probably is really annoying for people who are not interested in food or healthy living, etc., but I believe there are some positive sides to instagramming food:
1. you get inspired to use new food or to use food you have at home in new ways
2. it looks delicious
3. you can get a lot of information about other people's way of life and eating. I am following several people who are following a mostly or completely vegan diet and I got interested in it as well and this spring and summer has been seeing me dabbling with a vegan way of life. I could not go completely vegan, but more about that in another post.
4. if you are posting your own food, you become more conscious of what you're actually eating. Not just what kind of food you are eating, but I'm talking living-in-the-moment-wise: You prepare your food, you take a pretty picture of it instead of just stuffing your face as fast as you can, you see the picture, you say sth about it, you post your picture and by then, you really realised what delicacy you are about to eat and you savour it a little more. And afterwards you can look at it and know: wow, that was really good. It makes you more aware of the process of preparing and eating food. Which is - nowadays - something that can get lost during the hurry of everyday life. Enjoy your food! :)

This is the kind of stuff that goes onto my insta these days. @viviane786

Yosa Sport

Today I tried out a new kind of "yogurt" in the widest sense of the word; it's a 100% plant based, milk free, soy free oat snack. The consistency and taste is just like normal yogurt, but without the lactose and bloating effects dairy has.

Plus, it is made for people leading an active life, so it contains 5g of protein per 100g and only 73 kcal. It is sweetened with stevia, but that doesn't effect the taste. One serving is 200g (so 10g protein and 146 kcal).

For me, this is a great thing, because I am actually not supposed to eat dairy after lunch (because of the bloating and going to bed and stuff), but I love me some yogurt or quark after dinner. So, you can imagine that this makes me very happy. :)

breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, that's not only an old saying, but also a hard fact. Breakfast gets your metabolism going and if you skip breakfast, your body won't be able to perform at its best and your metabolism will be sluggish all day, meaning that you need more time to digest and use the food you are eating.

I have been eating egg white omelettes or protein pancakes for a while but they don't really deliver the energy I need, because they are lacking good carbs. So, after trying out a few things my breakfast nowadays (at least on days when I know I'm going to train, and train hard) is either cereal with a little vanilla flavoured whey protein and one egg or porridge.

I love porridge and I spent the last few weeks perfecting my breakfast porridge; I tried adding several things, but some of them didn't work (e.g.: never add frozen berries and milk directly, because the citric acid in the berries will make the milk clump) as whey protein for example doesn't really dissolve in water. However, I found some strawberry soy protein in my cupboard and thought "what the heck, just try it". It was actually good. The soy protein dissolves really well in hot water and the result tastes great. :)

Here's the recipe:

300ml water
150ml 4-grain-porridge
1 tbsp soy protein powder.
1 dash of salt.

heat water in a small kettle, add salt and soy protein, stir until protein powder is dissolved and wait for the water to boil. Then add the 4-grain-porridge (rolled oats are okay, too) and stir until your porridge has the wished consistency. I myself like to add a teaspoon of cherry or strawberry jam for taste.

The best thing is that grains contain loads of fiber, so even if there's a lot of carbs in your porridge, you also get a lot of fiber (which isn't digested) that makes you feel full and lessens the net carb value.

Good morning to you! :)