Protein Pudding and Interval Training

Whew - what a week it has been!

I started back up at my music teaching job on Monday with the elementary kiddos and BOY am I whooped! I had a great first week back, with almost every class doing their personal best and really feeling in charge instantaneously with my classroom management and procedures, but it is nonetheless exhausting to be ON constantly when teaching in front of a class!

That being said, I haven't blogged in awhile and I thought it time to share a little snippet of both diet and exercise with you all in the blogosphere!

First off, my incredible husband found yet ANOTHER way to incorporate protein into our diet. PUDDING! Mmmmmm, yes, you heard right! Who says you can't still enjoy decadent tastes and textures while eating healthy?! This pudding uses pumpkin puree as the base, which is low in calories and high in fiber and protein itself! Here is the recipe. It is literally one of the most dark and creamy things I have tried in a long while that is very low calorie and absolutely guilt free PLUS still giving you some nutritional value!!

High Protein Chocolate & Pumpkin Pudding

 

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

]Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can unsweetened pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (Brett and I used 100% DARK CHOCOLATE, OH YEAH!)
• ½ cup all-natural, sweetened chocolate protein powder (vegan or whey... we used whey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ cup almond milk or lowfat dairy milk (we love our Silk!)
• Optional: additional natural sweetener to taste (e.g., stevia, honey, maple syrup... BUT we didn't sweeten it at all, the protein powder did enough of that for us!)

Instructions

1. In a blender (we used our Ninja) or food processor, process the pumpkin, cocoa powder, protein powder, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended and smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl or blender pitcher with a spatula.
2. Add half of the milk to the blender or processor; process until smooth, then scrape down sides, Add remaining milk; process until smooth. Taste the pudding and add additional sweetener (a little bit at a time) if desired.
3. Scrape into a big container or into individual jars or ramekins. Cover and chill at least 2 hours for it to thicken and for the flavors to blend. (We could only wait 1 1/2 hours before trying it.. and it was FABULOUS, but would have reached its perfect level of thickness had we been patient! :)

Nutrition Information

Serving size: ½ cup Calories: 71 Fat: 1 g Carbohydrates: 8 g Protein: 10 g (FEW variances might pop up depending on your protein powder, but it is still a very low calorie high protein treat!!)

Next up, I am going to speak on interval training. This type of exercise has truly been a life changer for me. It saves me time in the gym, and I reap huge benefits physically from it. When you do interval training, your body pushes incredibly hard for short spurts and then fights to recover in short spurts of rest, causing huge peaks and valleys in your heart rate which is OPTIMAL activity for fat burning! 

There are a lot of different types and variations on interval training, but a simple one to start out trying is simply choosing this easy format: 4 exercises, each performed back to back with no rest at 30 seconds per exercise, followed by 30 seconds of rest before beginning the next round. That is a 2 1/2 minute circuit, which you can continue on as long as you wish! Usually you can do 10 to 12 rounds to bring your workout up to 25 or 30 minutes. 

This may seem redundant at first, doing the same moves that many times, but when you are first starting out, it is an effective way to get into the swing of HIIT and to really work on your form staying proper and keeping track of the exercises in your brain! :)

This is a great app I use that you can create your own customized intervals within for free and alter each workout if you so wish! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timerlist-interval-timer-for/id769031985?mt=8

Give it a shot sometime! Today I did 30 seconds of burpees, then in and out jacks, then jump squats, and lastly floor sprints followed by my rest. Try to add some variance in pure cardio moves followed by some strength based moves, OR you can just focus on pure cardio! Whatever floats your boat! If you want to know more about HIIT and find out some of my favorite go to moves, let me know!

Take care, and happy Saturday!

Court