Great meals for energy and recovery…

Recovery smoothie – A blend of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, ½ banana, a cup of almond milk or rice milk, & a tablespoon of shelled hemp seeds. This meal provides essential fats, protein and fibre. For additional recovery nutrients, such as magnesium and amino acids, add 1 tsp of Ultra Muscleze powder.

A breakfast “Green” drink – choose spinach or watercress and blend a handful in a food blender, with a chopped apple, some lettuce leaves, a slice of fresh peeled lemon or lime, a few fresh mint leaves, a thumb nail size of sliced fresh ginger root, and enough water to cover. Pour into a glass and drink.
 
* Other great juicing or blending foods include carrots, red peppers, cucumber and celery.

Lean meats or fish (excellent sources of branched chain amino acids) and plenty of green vegetables

Salad box – Use brown rice or other gluten-free grain/seed such as quinoa, and add the cooked grain to flaked fresh fish, or tinned fish (salmon, sardines, tuna), or lean meat such as grilled chicken or turkey, and serve with plenty of raw salad ingredients of your choice. Go for 7-10 different salad ingredients. Dress with some balsamic or apple cider vinegar – and season with fresh chopped coriander, basil, mint or other fresh herb.

A 2-3 egg omelette with chopped courgette and garden peas

A handful of nuts and 2 pieces of fresh fruit

A 40-50g portion of raw seeds

A good quality “raw” energy bar, e.g. Nakd bars or Trek bars – www.eatnakd.com

Homemade fig, hazelnuts & raisin bars

100g dried figs
50g raisins
20g hazelnuts

Place all the ingredients in a food processor with an S-blade, and process until the mixture mixes well, and begins to form a ball of dough. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface, and using your hands, shape into a large ball, ready for rolling. Roll the dough with a rolling pin, and then cut into equal-sized bars. Wrap each piece in kitchen paper (this will make them slightly less sticky), and refrigerate overnight, or until firm. These are best refrigerated for a couple of days.

Apple and Almond Granola…

50g organic almonds (soaked overnight and then rinsed and patted dry)
25g organic raisins
25g organic pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds
1 large organic apple, cored and chopped

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and mix on “high” for 30-60 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, process again and then serve immediately into a bowl, and top with live natural yogurt.

Avocado and ricotta mash – mash a small ripe avocado with 2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese or hummus, a little lemon juice, herb sea salt and black pepper. Eat with some raw veg crudités – choose a selection of raw carrot, courgette, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap or mange tout peas, cucumber, red pepper etc.

Quinoa kedgeree – Boil/steam 100g of quinoa, and add a flaked haddock fillet OR other fish, 1 chopped boiled egg and finely chopped fresh parsley, and/or coriander. Serve with a large green salad, or 2-3 steamed vegetables.

Chicken Miso Soup with Noodles, Ginger and Spinach
This is not only a delicious & highly nutritious soup-type meal, but it’s also quite “functional” too! It’s perfect to get more minerals into the diet, as well as natural salts for rehydrating after exercise!

Serves 4

Two tubs (300g each) fresh chicken stock (or make up from stock cubes)
2 sachets of Miso Soup, or 1 dessertspoon of Japanese Brown Rice Miso (try the brand Clearspring)
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into thin strips, i.e. “julienned”
1 bunch spring onions, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal
190g pack cooked skinless chicken breast fillets, sliced quite thinly
225g bag baby spinach leaves
250g noodles – try soba buckwheat noodles, or rice noodles

Place the stock, 500ml boiling water, miso soup paste or sachets and ginger in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add the carrot and half the spring onions and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the chicken and spinach and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Stir in the noodles, return to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes until thoroughly cooked through. Ladle into large bowls and serve immediately, garnished with the remaining spring onions.

Cooking tips and variations…
If you can find some dried mixed sea vegetables (e.g. arame, kombu) in a health food shop, add a handful to the soup at the same time as the noodles. You could also add 200g cooked prawns instead of the chicken, heating through with the noodles. You could also substitute the spinach for a 200g pack green pak choi, washed and chopped.

N.B. Particular amino acids called the branched chain amino acids – valine, leucine and isoleucine – or BCAAs are crucial for recovery. Branched chain amino acids are different from other amino acids that make up what we call “protein”. There are 22 amino acids found in the human body, yet hundreds found in food. BCAAs are potent stimulants for building and repairing muscle. Lean meats and fish, as well as non-meat sources such as hempseeds are excellent sources of BCAAs.

Ultra Muscleze powder is a product of Nutri Ltd – Tel: 0800 212 742 (Ref 130219).

Share/Bookmark