food – ShakeUpFit

July 22, 2016 — 1 Comment

Red pesto – #FeedMeFridays

Blender Pesto Blended Pesto

A simple and delicious twist on the traditional pesto recipe. For anyone that loves tomatoes as much as I do this recipe is packed with them and can be used in so many different ways.

Ingredients:

15 cherry tomatoes
150g sun-dried tomatoes
50g fresh basil
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 tablespoon of dried mixed herbs
30g grated parmesan

As simple as throw them all in a blender and whizz up until a blended, nice consistency

Ciao for now! x

Published by mbennardo in #FeedMeFridays, Food Tips

Tags: cheese, cherry, cook, food, puree, Recipe, red, tomato, tomatoes, twist, vinegar

July 1, 2016 — No Comments

1st of the Month! – All change

all-change

Hello all my lovelies

Today is the first day of July and it signals big changes around the world, in the yea and most importantly on this blog.

Speaking to some of you, it seems a lot of you really enjoy these blog posts but we need a bit more consistency and a bit more planning so....here it comes.

From today I'm going to try and post once a day, every day. I'll be talking about lots of different things but the majority of them will be about your health, happiness and fitness. Not only that but I'll be categorising my posts and each day will be themed around a certain topic which are listed below.

Feel free to read them all, read only the days that you find relevant and more importantly try them out. I want to help you all think more about being healthier, being more aware and trying to make any changes, small or big to work towards your happiness and health.

Posts will start regularly from tomorrow so keep an eye out. If you want to help me spread the word, likes, follows, shares would all be much appreciated!!

Categories:

#StretchSundays - if you like a good stretch, love yoga, have never done yoga but want to try it out in the comfort of your own home or just learn more, this is the day for you! I'll be talking through some of my personal favourites, explaining them and even filming a few demonstrations for you to give a go

#MoveMondays - all my dance moves will be released on Mondays. I'll talk about the benefits of dancing, post some instructional videos and even talk you through a few of them

#TalkToMeTuesdays - I want you to engage, discuss, debate and yes, even disagree. I'll be putting up my opinions on various topics and asking yours

#WellbeingWednesdays OR #WetWednesdays - mid-week will be split and dedicated to two topics, general well-being and getting fitter and enjoying the water. This will be the day we might talk through meditation one week and the week after talk about how to improve your swim stroke

#ThrowbackThursdays - one of my favourites. I've already introduced this into my classes with a throwback tuned introduced on the first Thursday of the month but these posts could be anything. Music, dance, exercise or even old toys! Tying them back into your health

#FeedMeFridays - obviously no week would be complete without some food. These will be my favourite recipes, easy tips on how to stay healthy when out and about or even how to mix up your food prep in ways you might not expect

#SkinliciousSaturdays - completing our week will be our Saturday where we'll be taking a look at what goes on your body. The main focus of this will be the amazing Tropic products but also we'll start sharing some extra knowledge and getting you to ask questions about your current regime

I hope you like the topics and like what's to come in the near future, I love writing them and sharing my thoughts with you all. If you want to have something specific shown then just drop me a line and I'll do my best to include it!!

Looking forward to what the future brings and remember, life isn't about getting to a destination it's the journey we take to get there.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #FeedMeFridays, #MoveMondays, #SkinliciousSaturdays, #StretchSundays, #TalkToMeTuesdays, #ThrowbackThursdays, #WellbeingWednesdays, #WetWednesdays, Beauty, Fitness, Food Tips, General, Recipe, Therapy

Tags: breath, clean, cosmetics, dance, days, expand, film, fitness, food, healthy, holiday, meditate, more, move, old, retro, salsa, shake, shakeup, shimmy, skin, stretch, sweat, swim, talk, throwback, video, vintage, water, wellbeing, wet, yoga

January 31, 2016 — No Comments

Day 31 – a month in summary

This month has been an outstanding one. Since leaving my banking job at the end of November, December was pretty quiet but January has seen things gain a huge amount of momentum.

I've given you a few recipes, explained some of the moves we use in our upcoming choreography and tried to explain the basics of protein, carbs, fats, fibre and loads of other bits that should be useful to you when thinking about your food intake.

Not only that but you've been on the journey with me as I've started to teach yoga to children and become an ambassador for an amazing range of skincare products.

Hopefully there has been lots for you to learn and you've enjoyed doing so as I've certainly enjoyed writing it and listening to how you've all used my posts or written comments on them.

I will still be writing posts but probably not with as much frequency so keep watching this space and keep enjoying them!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in General

Tags: Beauty, calorie, chill, choreo, count, diet, end, finish, food, health, healthy, jan, january, kids, knowledge, learn, meditate, month, month end, moves, nutrition, posts, relax, skincare, tropic, yoga

January 30, 2016 — No Comments

Day 30 – Travelling and eating well

This post is more relevant today as I've decided to head off to Paris for the weekend and one of the hardest things about travelling is eating right!

When you're away it's easy to fall into the habits of bread, excessive carbs, ice cream, cake, sweets etc and that's fine now and again but be careful you don't reverse all the hard work you do day in and day out by pigging out.

I have had experiences in the past where I go crazy, enjoy all the things that I haven't been eating back at home and then I feel lethargic, reluctant to go out and explore or even crazily take a nap while I'm in a beautiful new place.

Here are a few top tips from me for staying healthy while on the go:

Travel time - try to plan and pack something for the journey. I find that is the hardest time to eat well because most of the time flights, trains, buses or even drives are starting really early in the morning and you just want something to eat and don't have much time to make something. Make it the night before and try to be as good as you can. I had a Eurostar this morning at 8.10 am which meant I had to be up for 5.30am (to be functioning even slightly!). Last night I boiled two eggs, made a home baked baguette and inside put a mashed avocado and some fresh home baked ham (I roast a whole joint then slice it and freeze the slices in small packets to use at a later date). Not only that but when I made my morning smoothie yesterday morning I made double the quantity and simply drank that today. All that was done at 6am this morning, very blurry eyed was to eat the baguette and drink the smoothie in front of the TV while I mentally woke up and packed my stomach full of good things to start the day.
Learn some basic language - let's be clear here I'm not suggesting you learn the entire language but if there are specifically things you don't like or really love then learn that word. My favourites are the word for vegetable, avocado and fresh juice. That way you might still want to be a bit naughty but you can't go wrong if you've asked for some grilled vegetables on the side. Equally if there is something you specifically don't like then learn it! No point complaining there are mushrooms in your meal if you didn't learn the word for mushrooms which was staring at you from the menu description!!
Research some cool restaurants - have a look online and see what restaurants are around. Not all of them have to be super healthy but you can normally check out menus online and see what foods people offer so why not plan a little bit about where you could go for an evening.
Have fun and treat yourself - don't get too caught up in trying to be good the entire time you are away. Yes you shouldn't go crazy and eat 5 cakes in a day either but give yourself a treat, you are on holiday. Try not to stress too much about it but equally do not be counting calories.

That's all for now but if you know you are going away then you have a checklist of things to do for your trip anyway....plan your food as part of that checklist!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in Food Tips, General

Tags: aware, cake, care, change, dare, food, fun, health, health aware, healthy, holiday, life, long, plan, restaurant, self, to, treat

January 16, 2016 — No Comments

Day 16 – Carbohydrates

Today we're discussing the infamous CARBS. Now when you all think of carbs you immediately think of bread, pasta, potatoes and think 'oh they are bad for me', 'I can't eat those', 'they'll make me put on weight'.

Now what if I told you Carbohydrates are one of the most important things your body needs. Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy. It uses it for everything you do, breathing, moving, sleeping and yes, in some people's case, exercising. So on those 'no carb diets' how do you get your energy?

This is the bit that will confuse you. Carbohydrates are in much much more than what you expect.

Carbohydrates are in grains, beans, bread, pasta and a whole host of vegetables.

Does that mean Carbohydrates aren't bad for you?
When we say the word carbs, the ones that immediately spring to mind are the infamous carbs. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. What do they all have in common? Well 1, their colour, and 2, all of them except the potatoes, are highly refined. Which means they do not start out as white. The bread and pasta are refined to remove all the fibre out of the grains, which makes them easier to digest. Without those our body struggles.

So how do you know where to get your carbs from if it's not these places? Try this list:

leafy greens have the lowest amount of carbs out of the vegetables, this is your spinach and kale
anything with a stem or flower is next up on the list. Broccoli, mushroom, artichokes and cauliflower all fall into this category
the fruit of the plant are next up on the list. This includes anything with seeds in them. Aubergine, squash, peppers and avocado.
highest on the list are root vegetables. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam and other starchy vegetables

Now what that means practically, check out the steps below:

Reduce the amount of refined carbs you eat day to day. Find alternatives. Wholegrain rice instead of white rice, wholegrain bread instead of white and sweet potato instead of white potatoes.
Bulk up on vegetables. Eating enough of the good vegetables in their natural forms will mean you still get the carbohydrates you need but with all the extra vitamins and minerals that natural, whole foods will give you.
You can still eat white carbs, but my rule is you need to earn them. When you've done intense, high energy exercise your body will benefit hugely from an instant shot of carbs and the refined carbs can give it. Eating white carbs straight after intense exercise will give your muscles back the energy they have burnt, much quicker than it would do naturally and will reduce the amount of pains and aches you will feel the day after exercising.

So carbs aren't all that bad, you just need to understand them and know them properly and they can be added to your diet. Remember, the key to eating well is to understand your food, understand your body and use them both together effectively.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in Food Tips, General

Tags: carbohydrates, carbs, diet, eat, food, green, leafy, refined, roots, shoots, vegetables, white, whole food

January 8, 2016 — No Comments

Day 8 – Sleep, sleep, sleep!!

We all know it, we all love it and we all wish we could do more of it as it's our escape from everything we're not happy with....like work! haha

But what exactly is sleep and why is it so important? Do you know how important it is for your physical health? or your emotional wellbeing?

Sleep is a really important time for your body. It regenerates, heals and generally does all the repairs it can after what's happened during your day.

There are however some foods that are great in helping you get a good nights sleep which I've listed below for you with a brief explanation of why they are good for you:

Fish - packed full of vitamin B6 which is needed to make melatonin which is a sleep-inducing hormone
Yoghurt - calcium can be quite difficult to get enough of and being calcium deficient has been closely linked to bad sleeping patterns
Whole Grains - rich in magnesium which is also great for helping sleeping patterns
Kale - sometimes the flavour of kale doesn't appeal to everyone but actually kale is a huge source
Bananas - full of potassium and another food that is rich in vitamin B6 which is needed to produce melotonin
Chickpeas - also packed with vitamin B6 so more excuse to make home made hummus!

If you want more information, you are constantly waking up tired or just not feeling rested enough, check out this brilliant article from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute and use it as an excuse to have a duvet day this weekend!

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in General