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Eggplant & Cauliflower Vegan Curry

This flavourful, dairy-free vegan curry is packed full of vegetables, coconut milk and is delicious over a bed of phytonutrient rich greens.

Keyword Cauliflower, Curry, Dairy Free, Eggplant, Greens, Vegan, Vegetables, Veggies

Servings 8 Servings

Calories 253kcal

Author Jasmine Dolotov

Ingredients

• 3 Cups Eggplant Cubed
• 1 Large Head Cauliflower Chopped
• 2 Cups Baby Kale

Curry Sauce

• 2 Tbsp Tomato paste
• 200 grams Onion about 1 large or 2 small
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger grated
• 1 Tbsp spice (garam masala)
• 3 tsp curry spice
• 3 tsp cinnamon ground
• 2 Cans Coconut Milk Regular (not light)
• 0.5 Cups Fresh Dill Weed finely chopped
• 0.25 Cups Fresh Parsley finely chopped

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Wash, dry, chop your cauliflower and eggplant into cubes and place on baking tray
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle Himalayan salt and garlic powder. Roast for 30-40min or until fork tender.
• Saute the onion for 5min in coconut oil. Add in the garlic and ginger for 2 min. Add all the other spices for another min. It should smell fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste, 1/4 cup of the baby kale and both cans of coconut milk and let it simmer gently on low.
• When the eggplant and cauliflower are roasted, add them to your curry. Add the fresh herbs (dill & parsley). Mix well. Test the flavour and adjust to your preference.
• Serve your curry over a bed of fresh baby spinach.

The post Eggplant Cauliflower Vegan Curry appeared first on Audience of One Fitness.

Those two factors play a larger role in our health journey than we give credit for. 

Let’s dive into the first question about sleep.

Did you know that lack of sleep

• Induces sugar cravings (your body is looking for quick sources of energy)
• Increased fat storage and lack of human growth hormone* (see below why this is key)
• Increases stress induced obesity (a hormonal condition) 

If you are not getting a consistent, deep, quality sleep of 7-9hrs, your health (and weight loss goals) could be poorly affected. 

Why? Your body does a lot of work while you sleep! 

Quality sleep will 

• Increase glucose metabolism. If you don’t get enough sleep, it is harder to metabolize the glucose coming into your system 
• Regulates neurotransmitters responsible for appetite (leptin & ghrelin)
• Boosts Human Growth Hormone* (regulates belly fat and metabolism) 
• Repairs and mends injuries 
• Normalizes cortisol during the day 
• Improves memory 

*Human Growth Hormone is super important for overall health, playing a vital role in cell regeneration, growth and maintaining healthy human tissue, including that of the brain and various vital organs.
HGH is made by the pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain.
HGH helps children grow taller, increases muscle mass, and decreases body fat. HGH also helps control the body’s metabolism—the process by which cells change food into energy and make other substances that the body needs. HGH also plays a role in your mental health… promoting healing in your mood and cognition.  It’s a positive cycle with sleep. 
HGH is produced during peak hours of the night and the more HGH you have, the more restorative your sleep becomes.

**Other than sleep, human growth hormone can naturally be increased through high intensity exercise. Research suggests that the exercise-induced growth hormone plus endurance exercise associated with load, intensity, duration and frequency are the determining factors in the regulation of HGH secretion. An exercise intensity above lactate threshold and for a minimum of 10 minutes elicits the greatest stimulus to the secretion of HCH. HIIT workouts are effective in promoting beneficial well-being, health and positive training outcomes, while stimulating HGH.

We don’t want you to stress about not getting enough sleep… that won’t help

Consistent sleep routines can help us achieve quality sleep. We need to proactively create a wind-down routine that will create the environment for deep restorative sleep.

Here are our Top Sleep Prep Routine Tips: 

• Keep a regular sleep schedule: 
  • Big swings in your sleep schedule or trying to catch up on sleep after a week of late nights can cause changes in metabolism and reduce insulin sensitivity, making it easier for blood sugar to be elevated. 
• Wind down with a calming activity in dim lights 30-60min before bed (bath, journaling, or reading).
• No screens or bright lights at least an hour before bed (tv, computer, phone, etc).
• Your sleep environment should be completely dark and cool (less than 67F). Use blackout curtains and unplug or cover every light source. You can also consider wearing a soft eye mask to further block out light.
• Consider using a white noise machine. They create a consistent environment and drown out sudden sounds like car horns or snoring that could wake you up. We used these for our babies to sleep and noticed that we slept better with them as well! Even when travelling, we bring a white noise machine for consistent sound to cue our brains it’s time to sleep.
• The last thing you should fall asleep to is a positive thought. Consider reading something that is uplifting to your spirit or practice gratitude or prayer. If thoughts of worry or fear come up, write them down and tell yourself you will deal with it tomorrow. 
• If you sense you have any further tension, do some slow purposeful deep breathing or muscle relaxation exercises. 
• Timing: we won’t tell you when to go to bed, but based on your normal wake time count back 8-9 hours.  Set your routine early enough so you have enough time to wind down and are in bed with the opportunity to sleep 7-9hrs.  We can’t force ourselves to sleep but we can create the opportunity and consistent environment and routine to set ourselves up for success.  
• Note that extra cortisol can rise in the evening if we stay up too late (2^nd wind) or are exposed to blue light. If you are currently staying up too late and want to create an earlier routine, start incrementally moving back 15min every week.  Our bodies like habits and routines; take small but consistent steps towards your goal.

Some other great practices to wind down before bed are deep breathing, taking a relaxing bath (Epsom salts are full of magnesium and can further promote muscle relaxation), reading, and stretching.

The more we can calm our mind, our nervous system, and relax our muscles, the better we can enter into deep, quality sleep.

Try this 5 min stretching session as part of your nightly routine:

Studies to support the information in this blog about healthy sleep:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15583226/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4308960/pdf/nihms595693.pdf

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27117840

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25450058

https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article/59/9/2126/14525/Sleep-Restriction-for-1-Week-Reduces-Insulin

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18517032/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8627466/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10984255/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33440789/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14655916/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30827911/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31180469/

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“Honesty is the best policy
and spinach
is the best vegetable.”

Popeye the sailor man

Spinach is loaded with vital nutrients and minerals that our body needs to thrive (Vit K, C, Magnesium, Iron, Folate… to name a few). It’s high in fibre, an anti-inflammatory, immune booster and helps our skin glow. The benefits are numerous!

Personally I’m not a big fan of raw spinach salads… blah. Therefore, I’m always looking for creative ways to add it into our meals. Today’s dinner recipe was created because a friend gifted us with a 140g box of fresh baby spinach. I was determined to use it ALL up, make it taste phenomenal, and have my kids love it. The secret to not tasting or feeling the texture of spinach was to pre-blend it into fine tiny pieces first. Then once I added the coconut milk to the blender it mixed really nice and smooth for the sauce… the kids had no idea how much incredible spinach they were consuming in every bite! You won’t either! =)

This is a dairy free butter chicken recipe (hence the name butter-less!). Our family loves creamy sauces, but unfortunately butter, cream and milk does not digest well for us. Therefore, I swapped out the traditional ingredients for coconut milk. There are different types of coconut milk you can buy. The ones in a can and not the carton will work best. If you like a thick, creamy sauce then go for the premium brands that say coconut cream, not light. Or you can just scoop the cream off the top of the can and save the coconut water for your morning smoothie (great for added electrolytes after a workout!). What I love about Indian food recipes is the incredibly fragrant spices and flavours. Making a dairy free butter chicken doesn’t sacrifice on flavour at all… in fact I find the coconut milk compliments the spices beautifully.

If you are part of our nutrition kickstarter program and working on adding in extra protein and plants each day, this meal will be a great source! Each serving contains 24g of protein! The coconut milk provides some healthy fat and you’re getting a solid portion of vegetables from the cauliflower, spinach (obviously!), mushrooms and onions. If you want to add in extra vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, etc), this meal would accommodate them nicely!

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Coconut Spinach Butter-less Chicken Recipe

This dairy free version of the classic and fragrant Indian dish Butter Chicken is not only allergen friendly, but also packed with iron rich spinach. Each serving contains 24g of protein!  This creamy, delicious and healthy coconut spinach butter-less chicken over some cauliflower rice is one of my family’s favourite dinners.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Butter Chicken, Coconut Milk Butter Chicken, Dairy Free, Spinach

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Author Jasmine Dolotov

Ingredients

• 140 g spinach
• 1 onion large
• 2x 400 ml cans of coconut milk thick, not light
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms
• 796 ml can of crushed tomatoes
• 2.5 lbs boneless chicken breast cut into small cubes
• 1 ginger size of a thumb
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp spice (garam masala)
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp Himalayan or Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 cup plain unsweetened coconut yogourt Optional
• 3 cups cauliflower rice pre-"riced" or grate a head of cauliflower

Instructions

• In a blender or food processor, pre-blend  the spinach into fine pieces
• Add coconut milk and continue blending with spinach
• In two separate pans, caramelize the mushrooms and onions on low heat in coconut oil
• Combine the mushrooms and onions into one pan. Add in the ginger and garlic for 2-3min
• Then add in all your spices and sugar, mixing well until fragrant
• Add the chicken and pour the spinach, coconut milk mixture into the pan
• Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15min until the chicken is cooked.
• Saute your cauliflower rice in a bit of coconut oil
• (Optional) add 1 cup of plain coconut yogourt to the chicken and sauce at the end once the stove is turned off (will thicken slightly and take some of the kick out of the spice if you prefer mild)
• Serve the coconut spinach butter-less chicken over the cauliflower rice. Enjoy!

Notes

The post Coconut Spinach Butter-less Chicken Recipe appeared first on Audience of One Fitness.

In your adult life, it’s pretty unlikely. Most of us are desperate for more energy. So where do we find it?

The truth is that it can’t be found. However, energy is renewable. Have you ever noticed that the vacation you so desperately needed, didn’t actually give you more energy when you returned? Instead of looking for an escape, let’s talk about what is in our control and what is out of our control. This is key when designing our lives for ultimate energy production. In this episode, Jas and Stef have a conversation about basic practices that we can control in our lives to replenish our energy.

Let’s start the conversation now by taking inventory of the things that drag you down the most. What stresses you out? What is weighing on your heart? Is there something you dread doing or hearing? Think on it and then process it. Reflect on it verbally with a friend, or in writing to yourself. If you can’t name it, you can’t change it.

 It is a strange thing to meet digitally, but let’s get to know each other.

I love adventure. I hate being bored. I think the world would be a better place if everyone spoke multiple languages and walked a few miles in other people’s shoes. My health goal is to keep proving to myself that I am more capable than I think, and to inspire others to do the same (especially my two sons). Ok your turn – what do you love, what do you hate, what’s a quirky ambition and what is your health goal? 

Coach Stef

The post Finding More Energy appeared first on Audience of One Fitness.

Serving: 7-9 patties

Ingredients:

2 cans(133g) of tuna drained 

2 eggs

¼ lemon squeezed

7 Tbsp gluten free crackers, ground up

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, herbs to season

Directions:

Beat eggs and lemon juice in a bowl; stir in cracker crumbs to make a paste. Drain the tuna and if needed use a paper towel to soak up extra moisture. Add tuna to the paste until well-mixed. Season with spices, black pepper, garlic and herbs. Shape tuna mixture into 7-9 1-inch-thick patties.

Fry in a hot pan with some coconut or grapeseed oil about 5 min per side. Check to make sure it’s cooked through.

Enjoy!

~Jasmine

Does planning and cooking healthy meals every night stress you out? Check out our top 5 tips here.

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I recently listened to an interview with Matthew McConaughey and I loved what he had to say about resilience.  We are not expected to thrive all the time; however, we do need to continue to show up.  Resilience means you are in it for the long haul.  The classic example is the Tortoise and the Hare. Don’t run out of steam before the race is finished. Utilize your energy efficiently so that you stay in the game and continue to move forward.  (For ways to improve your natural energy levels, check out our two-part podcast series on Energy).

Have you benched yourself, or are you staying in the game?  Will you continue to show up for yourself? For your family? Your dreams? Your passions? 
Stand up and take a step forward.  You don’t need to run, just take a step in the direction you need to continue in.

Let us know in the comments below who and/or what are you continuing to show up for?

Next, let’s chat about expectations and how we can get ‘anticipation fatigue.”

How do You Deal with Expectations?

Let’s take a specific example that I think we can all relate to.  What is your expectation for when Covid will be “over”?  Is it by January 1, 2021? Have you conserved enough energy to ‘get through’ this difficult season to make it to that date?  What if it’s not over then? What if it goes on for several more years?  This is when ‘anticipation fatigue’ can set in and our energy levels will run into serious trouble.  Buckle down for the long haul and if the season ends sooner, you’ll feel relieved and have extra in your energy bank account left. 

No expectations = lack of direction/motivation, but too high or specific expectations can equal real discouragement.

What has worked for you in the past? How are you utilizing your energy efficiently for your expectations? Let us know below.

Train To Be Strong

How do you prepare for seasons of challenge, hardship, and drought? You TRAIN.

We use fitness programming to challenge not only our bodies to become stronger, but also our MINDSET. When our belief system, thought process, and mindset is sharpened and strengthened through purposeful training, we will be READY for any season that comes. If you’ve had the experience from fitness programming in the gym (or living room!) where you encountered challenges that required you to buckle down, dig deep , and push through to overcome, THEN you will pull from those moments to overcome all future challenges.

Fitness training is not only great for your heart health, energy levels, weight management and immune system, it’s also the best way to strengthen your inner being to be strong for life.

Not sure how to get started? Let us help you! We have small group training classes all online. You get personalized coaching in the comfort of your home within a community who values you, your experiences and your goals. Send us a message (info@ao1fitness.com) or check out more details here: https://ao1.teachable.com/p/thrive/

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Hey guys!

This week we are doing a 1-week WATER CHALLENGE!

As things start to heat up outside and as you continue to exercise, we need to be aware of how much water we are drinking. Our body is roughly made up of 60% water, but we lose water every day by breathing, digesting, exercising, sweating, and urinating. When we drink diuretics, like coffee and alcohol, we should drink even more water. 

MOST of us should probably drink MORE water each day to keep our bodies running at optimal performance.  So, let’s do this water challenge together!

STEP 1: Determine how much

The big question is… how much?  The amount will depend on your BMI, your climate, and your daily activity. According to WebMD, we should be drinking at least half our weight in fluid ounces of water every single day. The Institute of Medicine says an adequate intake of water for a female adult is 75 oz. (that’s 9 cups) and is 100 oz. (or 13 cups) for a male adult. That doesn’t include the water found in the foods we eat (which makes up about 20% of our water intake/day).

If you want to know more specifically how much water you need try this handy, free water intake calculator I found online: https://www.gigacalculator.com/calculators/water-intake-calculator.php

STEP 2: Track it

Here’s what you need for a water challenge:
First you need a water bottle.  If it doesn’t have measurements listed on it, then simply fill the bottle up and then dump it into a measuring cup to know how much a full bottle equals.  This will help you keep track.  Once you finish drinking a bottle, mark it down.

Secondly, grab our FREE handy water tracker pdf below.

Or there are lots of easy apps that help you keep track of your water and some even send you reminders to drink up!  If you have a fitbit, you may have one already.  If not try some other great apps for free.

 

STEP 3: Stay Accountable

To successfully complete a water challenge, we recommend accountability. Find a friend to do this with! Check in with each other every day of the challenge. If you’re looking for an accountable online community, join one of our personalized online fitness and nutrition coaching programs.. We do these challenges together.
Each day with your accountability check-in and answer the following questions
1. Did you drink your water goal today?
2. What did you do well today?
3. What did you learn today?

 

Additional Tips:

• Get hydrated ASAP in the morning
• Continue to sip throughout the day
• Carry a water bottle wherever you go
  • it should be within view and within easy reach
• During high heat and exercise, drink enough to compensate for lost fluids
• Drink water before, during, and after exercise
  • Prior to exercise, drink 17 to 20 ounces.
  • Every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise, drink 7 to 10 ounces.
  • Following exercise (whether you’re thirsty or not), drink 16 to 24 ounces.
• Don’t wait for thirst cues, that’s too long.
• Check your pee colour
  • pale yellow means you’re optimally hydrated
  • darker yellow means you need more water.
  • *some vitamins can distort this colour
• Sugar, Chemicals & Caffeine do NOT count!  Your water-log should include only fresh, pure WATER. 
  • You may also include herbal tea. 
  • You may add some pure flavor to it by infusing with lemon, lime, cucumber, fruit, or fresh herbs. 
  • You may consume a small amount of coffee, caffeinated tea, or alcohol but don’t count it as water consumption.
  • Do not consumer energy drinks, juice, pop, or anything with additives. Your drink should not contain sugar, sugar substitutes, ‘natural flavouring’ (another word for MSG!!), nothing, nadda, none!  Just pure clean water!

Let’s get started

Grab a water bottle, pick a start & end date, download our pdf tracker (form below) or an app, stay accountable with your community, and let’s get hydrated!

 

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Athletes know that it’s what happens between your ears that matters. In sports, successful athletes are constantly seeking challenges because they have a growth mindset, to the point where they can often do the seemingly impossible.

“People in a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it. The bigger the challenge, the more they stretch.” Carol S. Dweck

But even more important than a sporting event are obstacles, challenges, and opportunities for growth in LIFE. How you approach the situation often can determine the outcome. If you look at it with a limited belief and go no further, nothing can be accomplished. But if you believe that you are capable of giving maximum effort, push past your comfort zone, then the possibilities are endless.

“The moment that we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability, we will be brittle in the face of adversity” (~Josh Waitzkin – Chess Grandmaster and Martial Artist)

?️ Join us in this episode of AO1 Conversations to discuss how you can approach life with a growth mindset

Pin it for later

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What action or habit would make the greatest positive change in your health? Why haven’t you done it? What has stopped you from implementing it?
For most people, they start out with lots of motivation and gusto. Life, challenges, tiredness, business, etc creep in and soon the positive actions that could have led to healthy long-term habits stop.

Want to finally create the habit of exercising consistently? Want to stop the unhealthy habit of snacking on chips?

We need to utilize the time we are most motivated (at the beginning) to set ourselves up for success long-term. With a few clarifying questions and tips you can establish healthy habits that will serve you for a lifetime.

You are more capable than you think!

Let us know what habit you are implementing (or breaking) at this time! What have you tried that worked for you?

The post How To Make (or break) a Habit appeared first on Audience of One Fitness.