January 2016 – Authentically Arwen

Uncategorised

HANGRY Omlette

January 31, 2016February 24, 2016 Authentically Arwen

Have you ever had one of those times when you get home late from work or the gym. Tired, starving and feeling like if you don’t eat something in the next few minutes, you won’t be responsible for your actions? Well, I certainly have. This recipe is ideal in those very situations. Not only is it tasty and satisfying, but it goes from fridge to fork in less than ten minutes. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

3 Large Eggs

40g Feta Cheese

50g Pancetta (or bacon lardons)

2 Big handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Cost per portion: €1.34 (I shop in Aldi, prices correct as at 30/01/2016)

Method:

Turn on your grill. Put your plate in to heat.
In a hot, dry pan fry your pancetta until crispy and sizzling. This should take about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Return your pan to the heat.
Whisk the eggs in a large jug
Chop up the Feta into small cubes and add it to the eggs
Add the pancetta to the eggs, stir and pour your mixture onto your hot pan. You won’t need any oils as your pancetta will have coated the pan.
Drop the spinach leaves onto the omelette. Don’t worry if it looks like it’s too much, it will reduce in size.
Fry the omelette for about 3 minutes. If you lift the edges with your spatula, the underneath should be a lovely golden colour.
Pop the pan under the grill for another 2-3 minutes. Believe me, this is much easier and safer than trying to flip it!
When the eggs are set and the cheese is melty, you’re done.
Simply fold the omelette in half, transfer it to your heated plate and enjoy!

Nutritional Information:

Kcal per portion – 472

Fat – 35.4g

Protein – 34.8g

Carbs – 2.2g

Articles

Time to Eat?

January 29, 2016February 24, 2016 Authentically Arwen

21^st Century life is lived at a frenetic pace. Establishing a work/life balance is like a juggling act with career, family, home life, training, friends etc. all vying for their piece of the pie. Something has to give, but which of the little balls are you going to let drop? Increasingly and alarmingly the answer seems to be food. I constantly hear from friends and colleagues that they simply don’t have time to prepare meals.

It’s really not surprising that people feel this way, an entire industry has grown up around convincing us that it’s true. You’re too busy to prepare meals, they will tell you, why not let us deliver the food to you, or hand it to you through your car window!

I want to call bullshit on this! Food is the very foundation on which your life is built. Your nutrition fuels every function in your body. I would say to anyone that if you genuinely don’t have thirty minutes to cook and eat a meal, your life is not manageable. I would argue that the act of cooking goes beyond simply producing a meal, it also has a profound effect on your relationship with food. It connects you to what you are eating and invests you in your nutrition in a way that dialling a dinner never can.

Growing up as a child in the 80’s money was too tight to mention. Take away meals were rare and restaurant trips happened once in a blue moon. One thing that was always constant, no matter how tight things were, was the nightly family dinner. Every evening my mother or father would prepare a meal for us and we would sit and eat as a family.

Through the years I have read innumerable cookery books and watched countless hours of celebrity chefs on TV. I still believe that the vast majority of what I know about food and cookery, came from watching my mother as a child. It worries me greatly that the next generation will grow up never having had this opportunity to learn the basics, because our generation didn’t have time to show them.

Even with the best of intentions, creating a habit of preparing meals at home can be difficult. With that in mind, I am going to release a series of easy meal ideas on the blog over the coming weeks. No, the pictures won’t impress your friends on Instagram, but I do promise to make them simple, affordable and accessible. Each week I will publish a new meal idea together with the nutritional information and the cost per portion. I am confident that I can provide you will plenty of ideas which will be quicker and cheaper than ordering a take away.

Bon Appetit!

Articles

The (rx) Body?

January 27, 2016February 24, 2016 Authentically Arwen

Magazines, movies, models, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc. Everyday we are bombarded with thousands of images of “ideal” bodies. Through the generations what defines the perfect female form may have changed, but the fact that it is defined has not. The idea that as a woman, there is a prescription for how your body should look, is something I think we need to challenge.

Like lots of women, I have struggled with my weight and body image for most of my adult life. Naturally slim as girl, in my early twenties I began to put on weight. It crept on slowly, almost imperceptibly until I found myself fat, sick and unhappy. It was time to make a change.

I tried lots of things that promised the world and delivered very little, until I eventually stumbled across Strength and Conditioning. I began dropping weight, gaining strength and was initially extremely excited to be on this amazing journey. However, it was not long before I discovered that the weight of other peoples’ opinions can be just as burdensome as the excess kilos.

This is what I have learned about the 21st Century (rx) body;

Women should have flat tummies, but not visible abs
Women should have neither bingo wings nor biceps
Women should have big glutes, but definitely not quads

It is ridiculous in the extreme. Since beginning to train, I have lost count of how many times I have been advised “make sure you don’t get too skinny” or “make sure you don’t get too bulky!” One particular woman told me that she would prefer to starve herself than have muscles in her arms. It was when I heard her say this, that I realized that we women are truly screwed.

Whether your goals are based on performance or aesthetics, they are your goals. If you want to lose weight to flaunt that bikini, or increase strength to compete in Power Lifting, girls, it is entirely up to you. Don’t allow anyone to dictate to you what your body should look like. Trends and fashions will change, they should not be the yard stick against which you validate yourself and your efforts. As a health conscious person, you get to control how you eat and how you train, you don’t get to control how your body will respond to it.

You may believe that “strong is the new skinny” or you may not. Building a body that is healthy, happy and confident is what matters. Work towards your own goals, and if you are lucky enough to have is all figured out, enable your sisters to do the same.