Paleo Rainbow Birthday Cake

I made this 6 layer, pretty much paleo cake for my daughter, Liv's, 10th birthday.  it was very tasty!

Click here for the recipe!

Feed yourself fertile!

One of my on-line clients has asked for a load of recipes and food lists that would help with fertility.  In compiling a list of things, it strikes me that lots of folks out there might be interested in how to eat more healthily to improve their chances of falling pregnant.

I am not promising that eating any of this will make you fertile, just that it gives you the best possible chance to have a healthy body that is well-nourished and in the best possible position to nurture a baby, with a mixed and varied diet that is rich in the basic food groups and macronutrients.

While there is plenty of evidence to support the idea that cutting down on sugar, alcohol caffeine and nicotine will improve your chances of conceiving and carrying a baby full term and that a diet rich in macronutrients is better placed to conceive, there are still going to be perfectly healthy, nourished folk for whom it won't happen and I wish better nutrition would change that but that's a promise I just can't make.

Anyway, here are some recipes and ideas that will nourish you along the way, whichever road you're on - even if you are not looking to conceive any time soon, or you're a man!

Fertility salad:

Cucumber

Cherry tomatoes

Lettuce

Fresh flat leaf parsley

Fresh basil leaves

Fennel

Sunflower seeds

Toasted pine nuts

Toasted hazelnuts

Walnuts

(Good for lunch)

Fertility fruit salad:

Blueberries

Dried apricots

Chopped orange

Kiwi

Mango

Blackberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Sprinkle with toasted sunflower, pumpkin seeds, almonds and coconut.

(Add a dollop of Greek yoghurt to make a good breakfast)

Pink Fertility Fruit Smoothie:

(frozen fruit is fine)

Handful of strawberries

Handful of raspberries

½ banana

Tbsp Greek yoghurt

Tbsp oats

Tbsp ground almonds

Milk to loosen if necessary

(Makes a good breakfast)

Green Fertility Fruit Smoothie:

One kiwi

Handful of kale or spinach

One apple - grated

½ banana

Tbsp Greek yoghurt

Tbsp oats

Tbsp ground flax seeds

Milk to loosen if necessary

(Makes a good breakfast)

Blue Fertility Fruit Smoothie:

 

(frozen fruit is fine)

Handful of blueberries

Handful of blackberries

½ banana

Tbsp Greek yoghurt

Tbsp oats

Tbsp desiccated coconut

Milk to loosen if necessary

(Makes a good breakfast)

Fertility Trail Mix:

Mix up a shed load and keep in an airtight container for on-the-go healthy snack

Toast:

Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin seeds

Chia seeds

Separately toast desiccated coconut

Toast:

Almonds

Hazelnuts

Warm:

Tbsp honey

Tbsp coconut oil (or butter)

Grated rind and juice from large orange

Mix all ingredients together and allow to cool.

Fertility ‘Cous cous’

Either make up some quinoa (a great source of vegetable protein)

or

grind up some raw cauliflower (another great source of vegetable protein)

To this, add diced:

Carrot

Cucumber

Red, yellow and orange pepper

Celery

Apple

as well as:

Chopped black olives

Chopped anchovies

Capers

Chopped walnuts

Chopped cornichons or gherkins

Drizzle over olive oil, add a grind of black pepper and a sprinkle of paprika and mix well, serve with protein of your choice – Good with eggs, fish or Feta.

(Good for lunch)

Fertility veg stir fry accompaniment to protein lunch or dinner:

Green beans

Broccoli

Courgette

Asparagus

Red and yellow pepper

Brussell sprouts (chopped up)

Garlic

(Good for lunch)

Fertility Beef Chili

Ground beef

Onion

Tomatoes

Red peppers

Chopped spinach

A tsp cocoa powder

Black beans

Kidney beans

Fertility Chicken Chili

Chopped chicken or turkey

Onion

Tomatoes

Sweet corn

Yellow pepper

Courgettes

Chickpeas

Chestnut mushrooms

All your normal chili con carne spices

Other great foods:

Meat, liver, fish, shellfish, eggs

Spinach

Greens

Cauliflower

Sesame seeds

Liver

Lentils

Bananas

Add a tsp or tbsp of chia seeds or ground flax seeds to whatever seems appropriate.

Things to avoid:

Cut down to one cup of coffee a day – in the morning, decaf for the rest of the day – keep your caffeine in check, watch your intake of tea and chocolate – avoid diet coke!

Avoid soy products

Avoid alcohol

No smoking

No sugar

Avoid wheat

No time to hit the gym? No worries!

Total Fitness is an holistic thing, involving many different areas.

We're not just talking cardio-vascular fitness or muscular strength and endurance but things like core stability and balance, coordination, agility and speed as well as having a well-nourished body and enough sleep and fresh air.

It may come as no surprise that the clients who come to me more than once a week see quicker and more obvious results than those who come once week.  However, even if you don't have a Personal Trainer or gym membership, it's still possible to tone up those muscles and improve your cv fitness, balance, coordination and strength by being clever about how you train.

So this post is how to use little pockets of time when you can't be doing anything else to maximise that time with quick, clever little workouts that don't involve changing your clothes or trekking to the gym.

Here are some examples of times when you are a captive audience at home:

Waiting for the kettle to boil
Running a bath
Sitting on the toilet
Cooking a meal
Making a phone call
Drying your hair
Brushing your teeth
Washing up
Sitting at your desk
Watching TV

I'm sure you can come up with more.

Have a go at some of these exercises whenever you have spare seconds or minutes:

1     Pressups - against a door, on your knees or full pressups.  As many as you can do in one go, whenever you have a 30 seconds spare.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your shoulders, abs and arms.  Good for core stability and balance and if they make you out of breath, hot and a perhaps sweaty, good for cardio-vascular fitness.

2     Jump squats - squat as low as you can go, jump up and straight back down into a low squat.

Good for cardio-vascular fitness as well as muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and and good for core stability and balance and coordination.

Burpees

3     Burpees - Jump up and squat down, hands on the floor - jump your feet back behind you so you end up on a straight arm plank position, jump your feet back forwards into a squat position and jump up.  If you add a press up into the move when you get to the straight arm plank position, they become 'bastards'!  Ha ha ha!

Bastards

Excellent for cardio-vascular fitness as well as muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and and good for core stability and balance and coordination.  If you add in a press up, also good for muscular strength and endurance in your shoulders, abs and arms.  Good for core stability and balance and if they make you out of breath, hot and a perhaps sweaty, good for cardio-vascular fitness.

4     Skipping - you don't even need a rope!  Use an imaginary rope, these are actually much better than regular ropes as they don't trip you up, they don't get tangled and they never get lost!  Try double unders for a real hard cardio workout!  Go for a s long as you can or have time for.

Excellent for cardio-vascular fitness as well as muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and and good for core stability and balance and coordination.

5     Air squats - start with feet shoulder width apart, toes slightly pointing out.  As you lower into the squat, keep your chest and head up, lower your bum right into it and make sure you can still see your toes.  Then push back up through your heels.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and and good for core stability and balance and coordination and if they make you out of breath, hot and a perhaps sweaty, good for cardio-vascular fitness.

6     Planks -  with your forearms on the floor in front of you and your legs out straight and toes on the floor behind you, tense your core muscles and hold your body off the floor in a straight line for as long as you can.  try to beat your record each time or do 30 seconds a pop.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your abs and back.  Good for core stability and balance.

7     Lunges - Take a large step forwards and, keeping your back straight, focus on bending your back knee so it almost touches the floor and your front knee so it makes a right angle.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and and good for core stability and balance and coordination and if they make you out of breath, hot and a perhaps sweaty, good for cardio-vascular fitness.

8     Triceps Dips - Use a chair or two to help you.  Begin with bent knees, progress onto straight legs and then raised legs and keep your fingers facing forwards on the edge of the chair.  Lower yourself up and down, using your arms to support you.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your arms and shoulders, specifically triceps - that's bingo wings to us British women!

9     Static squat - Stand against a wall and lower yourself until your legs are at right angles and lean slightly forwards so your back is off the wall.  Hold for as long as you can.

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your thighs and bum and good for core stability and balance.

10   Calf Raises - Stand on a step on your toes and raise yourself up as high as you can go and then lower than the step.  Keep going until you feel the burn.  Do a couple more into the burn but no more as you'll end up needing anti-inflamatories from the docs!

Good for muscular strength and endurance in your calves and good for core stability and balance.

If you get into the habit of doing these whenever you get a minute spare, you need never go to the gym!  The latest research suggests that short, sharp bursts of exercise, like this, are potentially more beneficial than longer bursts.  And definitely more what paleo man would have been doing in his hunting and gathering lifestyle.

If you look at animals in their natural environment this is the kind of thing they do: lots of long, slow movement with quick bursts of intensity.  If you try to get warm and out of breath, this is a great indication that you have raised your heart rate, which is vital for maintaining or improving cardio-vascular health.

Let me know how you go!

Krish x