diet – Page 5 – MISS HOLLY P

misshollyparish health

The Protein Ball Co Review

The lush people at The Protein Ball Co were kind enough to send me one of their sample packs to try all the different types of protein and flavours!

Photo taken from The Protein Ball Co website

They 3 different types of protein to cater to different tastes and dietary requirements- vegan protein, whey protein and egg white protein! They come in 6 delicious flavours- peanut butter, cherry and almond, goji and coconut, cacao and orange, coconut and macadamia and lemon and pistachio, so definitely something to suit all tastes!

The bags have 6 balls in them and are seriously surprisingly filling! My two favourite flavours by far were peanut butter (whey protein) and cherry and almond (egg white protein). They are so lush and feel just like you’re having a treat, you can also really taste the flavour which they say they are which can be rare with snacks like these.

I have been taking them to work as part of my meal-snack-meal-snack-meal-snack sequence of eating and they’re just perfect for pre and post workout. Half a bag for a mid afternoon refuel and then the other half of the bag after the gym to get that protein hit to repair!

You can order them direct if you wanna give them a try from The Protein Ball Co online store and its free delivery over £30! Also if you don’t fancy buying in bulk you can get the from Holland and Barrett online and in store and they’re included in their buy one get one half price offers so even better value! For a full list of stockists to see where you can grab them here!

All bags have under 200 calories and they range from 7-10g of protein!

So what are you waiting for?? Get yourself some to try! Whats not to like? Gluten free, wheat free, GMO free, vegetarian and all natural!!

Definitely my new favourite snack and I can’t wait to restock!

Have you guys tried these? What did you think?

Thanks for reading! H x

misshollyparish health

Exercise for PMA

Hey friends,

It’s Friday night and I’ve just got home from a jog, not a long one but enough to take my breath away. The route and scenery on my travels were severely mediocre but none the less I’ve got home feeling so invigorated and re-energised. I was so exhausted when I finished work today that I sacked off the gym and I felt lethargic and grouchy…until my run! Now I feel that same sense on mental clarity that is consistent after every time I do any kind of exercise that challenges me.

All my life I always thought I would be someone who despised exercise and fitness forever, but a few years ago when I found myself broken from a crappy breakup from an even crappier relationship alongside being overweight, down on myself and pretty all around depressed I decided it was time to do something about it and I hired myself a private PT. To cut a long story short this was the turning point in a long journey which I am still on (much of which I will delve into deeper at a later date) where I discovered the power of positive mental attitude which I never could have even considered was an option until I started regular exercise.

Not only does it make you feel so positive that you are moving in the right direction with whatever goal motivates you to do it but you feel so much lighter, more cleansed somehow. My thoughts are cleared, possibilities seem endless, ambitions seem reachable. It just makes the cup half full. It opened my eyes to something that anyone can do that physically- and more vitally for me mentally- makes you feel so much better. I’m not super fit by any means- sometimes I wouldn’t even say I’m fit, I can’t run for more than about 1.5km without stopping and I still have only managed 80% of a body attack class but there is something to be said for trying your absolute hardest and gradually getting better.

If you have a pair of trainers and some road to run I highly recommend it if you’ve had a bad day. Nothing like it to clear the cobwebs.

Has any one else got any stories like these?

H x

misshollyparish health

My Fitness Pal- A life saver for weight loss

Hey lovelies!

I know this is a really well known app but it surprises me still how many people have never heard of it when I’m raving about it so I thought I would share the features and benefits. If you are considering trying to lose weight, start a healthy eating regime, go on a new diet, change your existing diet by going vegan or veggie or just like to keep track of what you eat my fitness pal is amazing, it will track, educate, inspire and help you on your journey! Its available in the Apple app store and or Android too for FREE!

My fitness pal for me personally- more than anything- just opened up my eyes to how many calories you can sometimes intake without even realizing it! One great thing is that it has a scanner facility so you can physically scan the packet of what you’re going to eat and it inputs all of the information for you, you just need to alter how much you ate of what you scanned, there is of course a manual feature too! You input how much exercise you have done, how much water you have drank and handily it also has a built in pedometer so it will tell you how many steps you have done and what that is in calories burnt. The range of foods stored into MFP is just so vast and amazing, including many popular restaurant chains too so you can still stay strict and focused even when eating out! For the more advanced trackers you can add tour foods by the single gram too if you don’t want to approximate.

When you first sign up it will take all of your details such as- your height, weight, goals and activity levels and then based on the information you have supplied it will work out how many calories you need to eat to achieve your goals, this doesn’t always have to be weight loss, it can be to help you gain weight too or just maintain. You can also put progress pictures on there too so you can really visually see the development of your goals. As you update your weight progress there is a graph too which measures your loss/gain or shows the maintenance.

A feature that I find really interesting too is the nutrients and macros. Nutrients shows you where you are sitting VS the RDA or a custom goal you have set yourself. This is so good because you could possibly be really lacking in a certain nutrient or having too much of something- commonly for a lot of people this will be sugar from overeating even good things like fruit and too high cholesterol from eating too many eggs or other high cholesterol foods.

The macros feature is like a pie chart of the balance of your macros- macros are your carbs, protein and fats and again is a good way to track if you are having a well balanced diet.

So what do you have to lose? It’s free, if nothing more it is a fantastic digital food diary, it certainly could teach anyone a thing or 2 about their own diet and what they are eating and it congratulates you when you do well!

Thanks for reading! Has anyone else found this or any other app really handy? I couldn’t live without this now!

Hx

misshollyparish health

Sweet Potato Toasts

Hey there folks,

I saw on an Ashy Bines Facebook video these sweet potato toasts and she made it look so easy I thought I would give it a go. I did a savory one and a sweet one so I had a couple of attempts.

Now as somebody that really struggles with bread and gluten and anything wheat based in general I have to make the choice of sacrificing toast (because

lets face it I’ve not found a decent store bought gluten free bread that doesn’t fall to bits- please enlighten me) or eating it and having a very painful tummy ache, many trips to the ladies and a good few days of bloating. I thought this looked perfect!

I started by taking my sweet potato and cutting into slices about 1-2mm in thickness. I tried cooking these in 3 different ways, Ashy did it in the toaster, this did not work for me but if you have a more powerful toaster you may be ok, under the grill from raw (turning regularly) and lastly and most successfully and the quickest I microwaved the slices for a minute and then grilling (also turning regularly)

After this for this particular dish I tried a microwave poached egg hack- half a cup cold of water in a mug, drop in the egg in and cover, microwave for 1 minute….. Worked ok but prefer the traditional method personally, good if you are in a rush or limited on cooking appliances.

I then finely chopped up half and avocado, jalepinos and cherry tomatoes, seasoned with chili flakes and black pepper… and applied all to my 2 pieces of sweet p toast! It was pretty delicious too!!

Then the sweet course…..

For my second trial I used the microwave then grill method on my sweet p and I applied a decent spread of Meridian peanut butter and applied some blueberries and sliced strawberries and it was delicious!!

Has anyone else tried these?? I feel brimming with ideas of different concoctions! These can be so easily adapted for a vegan diet, or the meat lover too by adding and removing and always nutritious and gluten free!!

What have you tried or feel free to make a suggestion for me to try!

Thanks for reading,

H x

misshollyparish blog

Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss

Evening friends,

Just a quick one I’ve been trialling recently- Apple Cider Vinegar for weight loss.

Now I’m not trying to prove anything groundbreaking as there is masses of content on this out there in the virtual world about this I just want to share my experience without the fluff and facts- if you would like to find out the scientific stuff click here for a good source.

Since I have started doing this 2 weeks ago I 100% have noticed a difference- on my stomach particularly. I’ve been doing one table spoon in a glass of water first thing everyday but some of the girls at work have been doing it before every meal for an extra kick.

My stomach is my problem area- it’s chubby for starters, bit of a tyre like poodge going on particularly my lower tummy, I get bloated easily, retain water and also sometimes don’t have the most reliable digestion.

Two weeks on and HEY PRESTO I can wear tops tucked into high-waisted skinny jeans! Topshop Joni and Jamie’s specifically!! I have never ever been able to do this before so it has definitely altered the shape of my stomach. I haven’t been doing any ab work as a test- just my normal gym sessions and healthy diet!

I just wanted to share with you if you’re struggling to shift a few pounds or if you wanna crank your diet up a notch- my bottle of Aspalls ACV was like £3 so give it a go folks! I hope you all see the same results!!

When selecting go for raw and unpasteurised and “with the mother”, the Bragg one is very popular but slightly more expensive. Aspalls has done the trick for me! Available at Holland and Barrett, health food stores and most supermarkets but they may not have the variety.

Please let me know your results!

H xx