Plantain Lasagna

Plantain Lasagna

Ingredients:

-5 ripe plantains

-4 egg whites

-1 onion, chopped

-3-4 garlic cloves

-1 ½ sweet pepper (green, red, yellow)

-500g lean turkey mince

-1 ½ can of chopped tomatoes 

-4-6 tablespoons coconut oil (maybe more)

-Cottage cheese

-Season to taste  

Method

-Peel your plantains and slice them lengthwise into long strips, about a half inch thick which is usually 4 slices per plantain.  

-Heat 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil in your non-stick pan to about medium low temperature.  Add the plantain strips and cook for 3-4 minutes per side; they will need to be lightly browned and soft. Drain them on paper towels.

-Lightly fry the peppers, onions, garlic and the turkey mince together until they are soft and then add the tomato sauce and your choice of seasoning.  

-Let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

- Place a layer of cooked plantain slices into your casserole dish.

-Spoon the meat sauce over the plantains and add a layer of cottage cheese on top

- Apply another layer of plantains and repeat the process.

-Beat the four egg whites and pour it over the casserole.  

-Let the eggs soak in for a few minutes and then bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes.  

Topshop x Adidas Originals Collection

If you're anything like me and you spend a lot of money on training gear, then this is music to the ears.

Topshop and Adidas Originals have announced their first collaboration.

This is definitely an example of where fitness meets fashion. The full collection has 20 pieces and items range between £25 and £90-which is quite reasonable.

From the looks of things, Topshop have given Adidas originals an urban makeover which blurs the line between fitness and fashion, meaning you can wear the clothing for either purposes.

The collection will be released on March 20th 2014 online and in store. I know I will definitely be purchasing a few things, will you?

G

Hamstring: The Forgotten Muscle

The hamstring is probably one of the most forgotten about muscles and that’s probable because they can't be seen in the mirror, so people may think they're not as important as the Quadriceps (quads). Personally, I’m just lazy, so once I’ve done my variation of squats and lunges, doing hamstring exercises are the last thing on my mind.

However, recently I found out that I might suffer from knee problems because my Hamstrings are weaker than my Quads. I know knee problems are quite common in females and after having a read around the problem, I think this might be something a lot of females might relate to.

Before I go any further, I think I should explain the function of the Quads and the Hamstring and how they relate to your knees.

So your upper leg contains two opposing muscle groups, your Quads and your Hamstring. These muscles together, move your hip joints and your knee and stabalise your knee.

Your Quads flex (bend) your hip and extend (straighten) your knee and your hamstring extends (straightens) your hip and flexes (bends) your knee. In most cases, the Hamstring tends to be weaker than the Quads because the Quads are bigger and are used more frequently in day to day activities.

I’ve suffered from ‘bad’ knees for about a year now. I went to physio, completed my rehab exercises and home works and had the all clear to go back to weight training, but things were never the same.

It is important to have a balance between your Hamstring and your Quads because a strength imbalance increases the risk of injuries, such as damage to your muscles, ligaments and joints. As your Quads contract, your Hamstring lengthens and if you’re Hamstrings are too weak, your Quads will pull your Hamstring faster than it can lengthen, which may be too forceful and that’s where the injury starts.

Putting this into context with my own training regime, it all makes sense. I rarely train my hamstrings anyway, in comparison to my quads, so this does not come as a surprise at all *sigh*.

So how can you fix this problem then? It’s simple, train your Hamstring!

There are several exercises that can be done, which I will list below:

1.     Stiff Leg Deadlift 

2.     Lying leg curl 

3.     Good mornings 

4.     Exercise ball curls 

5.     Kettlebell deadlifts 

6.     Glute bridge 

All these exercises should help increase the ratio between your hamstrings and your quadriceps, which should hopefully fix the problem.

G

 

Can you increase your breasts through exercise?

Recently, I’ve had a few comments from several people about how small my boobs have gone ...and on reflection…its true eccckkkkkk

I blame the cardio to be honest, because when I first started working out, I was a 32DD and now I’m a ...never mind! But anyway, I’ve done my research and I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news first…

Unfortunately, breasts do not have a lot of muscle tissue in them, so they are not like your glutes, where if you were to go crazy on the squats and lunges, you bum would get bigger. Your breasts are pretty much made up of fatty tissues and the size of your breasts depends on how much fat your body stores in certain places. This is based on things like your genetics, weight, health and age. So, in my case, my fat stores in my stomach, legs and bum. However, although breasts have limited muscle tissues in them, the muscles that lie underneath your breasts (your pecs), are responsible for the ‘perkiness’ of your breasts.

The good news is you can make your breasts more predominate and “perky” by increasing the size of your pecs, which in most cases, should make them appear bigger.

How can you do this? Simply by doing the exercises and eating the specific foods I mention below.

Exercises

Dumbbell Chest Press

Using two hand weights, lie on a mat or stability ball or incline bench. Your knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle. Hold dumbbells next to your arm pits with knuckles facing forward. Count to three as you push the weights up away from your chest, until your arms are almost straight above you. Slowly lower back to starting position using the same number of counts.

*At an incline, the chest press builds the top of the chest directly underneath the collarbone. This pulls skin upwards, causing the breasts to be lifted.
  

 

*At a decline angle, the lower part of the pectoral muscle is worked, which is directly under the fullest part of the breast tissue. The extra muscle depth provides structure underneath the fatty tissue, pushing it both forward and slightly upwards.

Dumbbell Flys

Lay in the same position as you would for a bench press. Instead this time, place both hands above your chest with arms straight, elbows slightly bent and knuckles facing out to the side. Open arms out wide and lower your arms until your elbows are in line with your shoulders, taking three or four counts. Bring back to starting position using the same amount of counts.

The dumbbell fly works the centreline of your chest, which will give you the appearance of more cleavage.

Isometric Chest Contractions

Stand straight with your knees slightly bent. Grab each end of a towel and hold it straight out in front of you at shoulder level. Now pull the towel at opposite ends at the same time, using small pulsing motions. Try to keep the towel taut in between pulses. Continue for one minute, repeat three times.

Push Up

Lie stomach-down on the floor with your arms bent at your sides and your palms flat against the floor. Push up with your arms to raise your torso, keeping your knees straight and your toes on the floor. Continue pushing up until your arms are straight. Lower yourself slowly back to the floor, then repeat.

This provides almost the exact same benefit as the flat chest press, except many more muscle groups are engaged when you do this bodyweight exercise. Your abdominals, hip flexors, lower back, quads, triceps, calves and obliques all have to pitch in to complete this motion.

Food

Estrogen is the main hormone responsible for breast growth and development. This hormone helps females to get right body curves and also plays an important role in breast growth. By eating foods higher in Estrogen, you will boost your natural Estrogen production, which should help your breasts grow.

The recommended foods are:

• Apples
• Plums
• Peppers
• Cucumber
• Beets
• Rice
• Barley
• Wheat
• Sunflower
• Parsley
• Clover flax seed
• Soybeans
• Kidney beans
• Peas


Please remember, like any other fitness goal you are trying to achieve, results are not gained overnight. It will take hard work and consistency, but if you stick at it, you will get there in the end.

G