December, 2014 - AnnaTheApple

December 15, 2014

So excited

The weekend has just flow by. I can’t believe how close to Christmas we are now! And how close to Ben and my next holiday – wooo wooo!

At the end of January we’re off to Florida to go and do some theme park craziness (though missing out Disney World as it didn’t rock our world at all the last time we went) for 8 days, and then travelling to Dallas for 6 days. The first part of the holiday we’re going with a couple friend of ours, Kate and Jamie, and they are literally obsessed with theme parks and Florida. They’re going for two weeks which was just too hardcore for us, which is why we’re then going to Dallas.

So this weekend gone we went up to Bristol to stay over at Kate and Jamie’s house on Saturday to get down to the Holiday Master Plan, i.e. where we want to go, what we want to do and more importantly what kind of restaurants and food we like and want to go to. Jamie is a HUGE food enthusiast and loves all the American-style food and, well, food in general. Jamie is like the male version of me basically. Food is important to us!

They cooked an amazing feast of food. Honestly it was incredible.

There were tortilla chips with dips, oven-roasted hot and plain chicken wings, corn on the cobs, home-made burgers, crispy bacon, ranch dressed slaw and regular salad and my personal favourite RIBS.

Ribs are one of my favourite meals in the entire world. I adore them. It was such a good spread, but it didn’t end there.

Pudding!

Home-made brownie, hot fudge sauce and Hagen Daaz vanilla ice cream. Oh my life. All in a special Mickey Mouse bowl (sink?). The photo above really doesn’t do it justice but as you can see there was a HEFTY amount of ice cream there – a slab I would say.

We all stumbled to the finish line in states of absolute fullness and severe feelings of sick. We literally sat there in silence (I’d like to say a satisfied silence, but it was more a silence of necessity as movement in general was painful at that point). I regret nothing though 😉

What was really fun was we took Alfie with us and he got to meet their pug, Doug. They seemed to get on well – though Alfie refused to allow Doug to sniff his bottom. Not sure what that means in Dog Code. But Doug didn’t mind Alfie having a sniff. I like to think that this is Alfie asserting his Alfa male status 😉 Or just being grumpy!

We had such a fun evening, ending in a random Harry Potter quiz to get us ready for the mayhem ahead. We’re all huge fans of Harry Potter, roller coasters and general silliness that it will just be like being a kid again I think. And we’re staying in the same hotel which is a walk or a short bus ride from Universal Studios so it’s perfect. And we’ve got tickets to an ice hockey game!! It should be mental 😀

The next morning we all went for a walk with Alfie and Doug to their nearby park and had a nice long walk – the conversation never veering far from the impending holiday. We are all SO excited.

We got back and Jamie did a fabulous pancake breakfast for Ben and Kate. I brought my porridge (what did you expect?). My friends know what I’m like (apple obsessed, porridge lover…) so they didn’t mind. Ben was in chocolate chip, cream and syrup heaven though.

He stacked up his three pancakes (first batch) with white and milk chocolate chips in between each layer, coated with golden syrup and then finished with cream. He loved it. I’m actually not a massive pancake fan (or crepes for that matter) so America in that respect is a little disappointing at breakfast for me. I’d much prefer just my regular porridge as the idea of lots of sweet stuff in the morning doesn’t do it for me. When we last went to Florida we had a villa so I could satisfy my porridge need by making it myself but this time we’re in a hotel. It might be time for me to branch out. Watch this space…

And then we were on our merry way back home. It was such good fun and I now have a list of restaurants that I’m subsequently going to peruse through. Does anyone else do that? Find restaurants beforehand and then look through their menus? It gets me really excited about what’s to come!

And so we drove back home, Alfie on my lap. He hates travelling in the car but when he got to look out of the window he was more impressed.

What do you eat for breakfast on holiday? Do you branch out and have something different? Any recommendations for a pancake un-enthusiast?

What’s the most exciting part about going on holiday for you? For me a big part if trying new foods. But going with friends now is going to add a brilliant new element – and we’re all similar to each other in different ways so it makes things very easy.

Do you enjoy roller coasters?

December 11, 2014December 15, 2014

MyProtein Review – take 2

I’ve recently been sent some products from MyProtein to review. I’ve previously done a MyProtein review before (find it HERE) and I quite like the company, hence my willingness to do more product reviews for them. The website has a lot of different products on offer, from supplements, protein powders, nutritional items and accessories all related to fitness and health. I got to choose a few items, so here we go.

Glucosamine Sulphate (find HERE)

This is a supplement you take one of every day and it provides 1000mg of glucosamine sulphate, which is a naturally occurring nutrient that is a major component of our body’s cartilage (it’s basically in the fluid around the joints).

It’s aimed at those who wish to have optimum bone health, especially those who are very active. I’m so hyper aware of my body and any impending injuries or current injuries that this really appealed to me. Anything to help, you know?

It’s quite a large tablet to take but I’m sure you could split it in two to make it easier. I can’t say I’ve felt a difference from taking this (though I have only been taking it for a week or so) but I had no side effects. Also a lot of the reviews on the website profess positive views on it’s ability to help with pain in the joints and “clicky” knees. On further investigation I’ve found it’s actually used as a treatment for osteoarthritis. To be honest, I don’t think I need to take this but I think if you do experience clicky knees or painful joints it might help.

MSM Powder (find HERE)

MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) is a form of sulphur and provides a flexible bond between the proteins for your hair, skin, joints, tendons and cartilage. This is a bag full of MSM power of which you take 1g daily alongside food.

This is ideal for, again, people who are training long term and to help them get the right balance of nutrients for the body.

I drink it in the morning mixed with squash (yes I’m still addicted) and I can’t taste it at all. Again I have no side effects from taking it but I’ve also not noticed any benefits (but again, I’ve only been taking it for just over a week). Similarly to glucosamine sulphate, it’s used for osteoarthritis and also join inflammation, bursitis, tendonitis…which was all very good news for me with my latest injury woes! Very timely indeed (though I’m pretty sure I don’t have osteoarthritis!!). For £5.99 it’s not a bad price considering you only take 1g a day so it will last a fair while.

ZMA® (find HERE)

This is another tablet-form supplement with a blend of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. The benefits are that magnesium helps with the body’s electrolyte balance, bone and teeth maintenance along with the supporting of the nervous system, muscles, protein synthesis and helps reduce fatigue. The zinc supports the immune system, metabolism, the maintenance of testosterone levels, it supports your vision, skin, hair, nails and bones. It also has a protective element against oxidative stress. The vitamin B6 helps to regulate your hormones.

I think this is clearly a good supplement for anyone, not just for those with fitness inclinations. I have to say that I’m quite impressed with this product. I read the reviews on the website and found it aligned with what I’d found: very good, deep night’s sleep! Perhaps my opinion was influenced by what I read, either way I’ve been sleeping brilliantly. OK I don’t get up at 5am anymore so that does help too but genuinely my sleep has been pretty damn good. I’m a very light sleeper but I wake up a lot less in the night now. Who knows! It is a more pricey product however at £28.99, though the tablet is a more reasonable size if that’s any consolation…

CoconPure Oil (find HERE)

This is a very large tub (460g) of 100% organic coconut oil, unrefined and non-bleached. Coconut oil is a very healthy oil as it’s rich in lauric acid and medium chain triglycerides, so though it is high in saturated fat most of this is good fat (not the same as that found in chocolate and cake) and is metabolised differently in the body.

Coconut oil can be used in so many different recipes. I often fry my vegetables or eggs in it, or melt a tablespoon of it and toss some roasting vegetables in it. It adds a very subtle coconut flavour to my meals. You can also use it in baking. MyProtein actually has a quite interesting article on the usages and benefits HERE.

For £9.99 I think this is an absolute bargain for the quantity and quality you get. I’m very pleased with it and use it probably every day.

Overall thoughts: As I said, I’m a fan of MyProtein. Though there is a danger of just wanting to buy everything from the website. When you read about the benefits that certain supplements provide you can get carried away wanting to be sure you’re not missing out on some vital vitamin or mineral. I’m sure if you were sensible you could get a lot of these benefits from eating a well varied and balanced diet. However for those who want to be certain and are maybe nervous they’re missing out then it’s ideal, especially for people like me who are injury prone! Anything that could support my body and help me get stronger is something that instantly appeals to me.

If you take supplements, which do you take?

Do you use coconut oil? What’s your favourite use of it?

Have you use MyProtein before?

***Full Disclosure: These products were sent to me for free by MyProtein.com but all opinions are my own.***

December 10, 2014

The definition of insanity

…is doing something over and over again, expecting a different result. That’s me right now. You might be able to guess where this is going. It can hardly be a surprise and you’re probably as bored as I am about the whole thing. For that I can only apologise, but I assure you no one is more fed up of this than me.

Running and me are taking a break. I’m pretty sure it’s long overdue. Injury after injury. I’m so tired of it all. I’m tired of dreading every run. How will it feel? What’s going to go wrong? And even when it goes OK I still wonder how long will it be before I’m injured again. The injury I have at the moment, which is gradually going away, is merely the straw that broke the donkey’s back.

I was thinking about it over the weekend and I was surprised at how unstressed I was about not running at the moment and how I actually wasn’t missing it. I’m not training for a race so there are no worries. But I let my mind wander to what my feelings would be if the weeks continue and I’m still not running. My heart started to race and I felt myself getting stressed.

My dad asked me why I run, I say “because I love it and enjoy it” and he replied “are you enjoying it at the moment?”. Honestly? No. And I haven’t properly enjoyed it for a while now. I loved the Berlin marathon but every run leading up and the runs after have been tainted by injury or the worry of injuries to come. This isn’t fun anymore.

So I’m going to take a break from running. For how long I have no idea. It might be weeks or it might be months. Deciding this feels like the world has lifted off my shoulders, which in itself says something really. I’m almost certain I will defer London. I want to run London confident and happy after running strong the months before. And, my current injury aside, even if I was running well at the moment I would still feel the same as my head is in a rubbish place – the doubt and the fear is constant. I’ve begun to resent running. I resent how much it consumes my moods and makes me a rather awful person to be around when I can’t run. And it’s not just the marathon, it’s running in general. At the moment I have absolutely no desire to run. The love and enjoyment has disappeared.

I’ve joined a gym (again) and I’m going to do classes, like circuits, spin and body pump, and use the rowing machine (which I always love) and other machines and just do whatever I fancy there. Right now I don’t want to think about running, training plans, marathons, races or injuries. I just want to exercise with abandon – feel the endorphins and sweat. I don’t run to lose weight (ironically I’ve lost weight not running – how weird is that?), I exercise because there’s something so primal and basic about it. You feel accomplished, invigorated and on top of the world. If running can’t do that for me right now, I’ll find something else that will.

The sad thing about this is it’s all so repetitive (I’m sorry). I was in the same position last year and similarly decided to take a break. I think my issue before though was I got back into running as soon as I could and went straight into marathon training for Paris in April and from there it was a spiral of constant running and injuries. This time I just want to do whatever I fancy without any time frames, limits or goals. Who knows, London might still happen but I have no ambition to train for it at the moment or in the coming weeks. I want to go to the gym, sweat it out, get strong and feel good. And hope my love for running will return at some point.

Have you ever felt ‘enough is enough’ with something?

Have you got fed up with a type of exercise?

Are you injury prone? If not, what’s your secret? 😉

December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

Berlin Christmas markets

Well that’s my second Berlin trip this year done and dusted. And I must say I don’t feel quite as in pieces as I did after my last one, having not run 26.2 miles this time!

Though I’m still shattered. I left for Gatwick Friday afternoon and met up with two of my friends before flying into Berlin to meet the other two. We were staying in my friend Charlotte’s parents house so the whole trip was very cheap (let’s not talk about how my taxi there and back from the airport cost more than the flight itself…). We got to her house late that evening.

The next day was a whirlwind of Christmas markets, Starbucks, SO much food and lots of girlie chatting, as you can imagine. It was cold but thankfully we had no rain so we wrapped up warm and did lots of walking so it was fine.

The first Christmas markets we went to were on the grounds of a beautiful German palace in Schloss Charlottenberg.

Charlotte is German so having someone there who can fluently speak the language is just perfect. She knew how to get everywhere and where was good to go. Like our own personal tour guide 😉

There were so many Christmas markets all over the city and they were all such good value for money. The food and drink was very well priced and not extortionate like it can be in the UK for this sort of thing.

The food on offer was just incredible. Chocolate covered fruit, gingerbread, stollen, marzipan everything, cookies, biscuits, bread, cheese, meat, chocolate, sweets…I could go on. I tried as much as my stomach would allow. I shared a skewer of chocolate grapes with one of my friends (surprisingly refreshing) and later had what I can only describe as a marzipan teacake (bottom left). It was marzipan-flavoured marshmallow fluff covered in dark chocolate. Lovely but messy! Top left was a big blob of sponge filled with plum jam (sauce?) and covered in vanilla custard. I shared that with two of my friends but I only had a couple of bites as, disappointingly, it did nothing for me. A bit bland and not that sweet for my tastes!

One of my friends had a waffle with Nutella on it and it looked AMAZING.

We then enjoyed a nice walk around the palace grounds and then hopped off to the Postdamer Platz area for a bit of normal shopping and sushi lunch.

Berlin has so many sushi restaurants and we all love it so it was the obvious place to go. I do love a conveyor belt as well – you can be very choosey! 😉

There were a few markets here as well to mooch around which were also very good.

As evening was drawing in we headed to our final market in Ku’Damm, where the broken church is (I ran past this in the marathon as well). It was beautiful with all the lights. It did get busier as it got darker but it was still very pleasant. My friend and I decided to share a ginormous cheese pretzel and a ginormous sweet pretzel (covered in sugar and chocolate – words cannot describe jut how bloody delicious this was).

Cheese pretzel heaven right there

We later also shared a meat skewer. She was my partner in crime in trying different foods. We managed to get lost from our other friends when we became distracted by large meat skewers. These things happen 😉

Though we did find the problem with wandering off… we lost our German translator and struggled to work out what kind of meat it actually was. Turns out the guy just didn’t understand the English word “pork”. It was very tasty though.

We then spent the evening in PJs with our duvets and hot chocolates watching Love Actually. I think I’m pretty set on Love Actually being my favourite Christmas film now. It’s just perfect.

The next morning we left before eating breakfast so we could have a late breakfast/brunch out. Though it turned out we didn’t actually start eating until about 1pm due to the length of time it took to get somewhere good for restaurants and then the service was so slow! But it was worth it in the end.

We then did some more shopping and moseying around the sights and then headed for an early dinner (we had to leave for the airport at around dinner time).

I think my favourite sushi are the ones with butternut squash (the dark brown filling ones) and the egg ones. SO good. With miso soup I was literally STUFFED.

Then we headed back to Charlotte’s to pack and get ready to go. But first Charlotte’s mum had made an epically amazing sticky toffee pudding (funny to eat such a British pudding considering how Germany everything else had been!)

Just to tide us over for the flight, you know? 😉 As you can probably tell, it was delicious.

A perfect weekend of fun, catching up with friends and indulgent food. I fully recommend Berlin for the Christmas markets. Very cheap, lovely atmosphere, lots of home-made items in stalls selling clothes, jewellery, decorations, etc. and all the food and drink was to die for!

Have you ever been to Berlin? Or Germany?

Do you enjoy Christmas markets? What do you look out for the most? For me it’s all about the sweet treats!

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Fuelify Review

Once again I have another review for you guys. This time it’s from Fuelify. Fuelify are a subscription box that specialise in sports nutrition snacks. Each month (or fortnight) they send a snack box containing around six to eight products, such as energy bars, hydration tablets and gels. What’s great is you can also just buy one box without a monthly subscription – so an ideal pressie for a pro-fitness or running mad friend at the very reasonable price of £11.99 (otherwise it’s £9.99 for a monthly subscription or £8.99 for a fortnightly one).

When the box arrived it really reminded me of the Graze boxes (which I love and get every other week – I’m a serial snacker, what can I say). But inside was packed full of different items all geared towards helping you either prepare for your workout, help you during your workout or recovering afterwards. When you sign up to the box you say whether your male or female and what kind or workouts you do: cardio, weights, endurance, or high intensity so the box can be a bit more specific to your needs.

What did I get then?

Mine was nicely in tune with my running needs – so lots of gels, hydration tablets and snacks.

Luna – Nuts over Chocolate Bar

This is apparently “created by and for women” (source) though why men can’t enjoy it as well I’m not sure! (Let’s not get into a Yorkie bar debate…).

Calories per serving: 180cal
Fat: 6g
Of which saturates: 2.5g
Carbohydrate: 25g
Of which sugars: 10g
Sodium: 190mg
Protein: 9g

It’s rich in folic acids and calcium which is always good – especially for hair, nails and bones, and it’s high in vitamins A,C and E.

Taste-wise this was really good. Very chewy, nice and sweet but not overpoweringly so and moreish. I was happy to munch on this one afternoon between lunch and dinner and the amount of protein does help stave off hunger. The ingredients list is rather long sadly and there are quite a few different forms of sugar in there, but organic so there’s a silver lining. I would say it’s a nice treat to help tide your hunger over.

Elephant Food – Super Charged Chomp

This stuff is dangerously good. A mix of organic 70% cocoa covered cranberries and buckwheat with raw cashews, coconut and organic puffed brown rice and sunflower seeds. To help boost your energy, vitality and immunity. All organic with no added preservatives, additives or “nasties”.

I forgot to check the nutritional info out but I think it’s safe to say you don’t eat it all at once! There’s a lot of calories to be had quickly here if you’re not careful due to the nuts, seeds and chocolate covered cranberries. That being said, it’s a very nice snack to dig into throughout the day. Though I did find myself picking out the chocolate and cashews…

Bounce Energy Ball

This little thing is packed full of macadamias, cashews and coconut and high in protein, fibre and antioxidants. It’s 100% natural and gluten free.

Calories per serving: 160cal

Fat: 7g

Of which saturates: 3g

Carbohydrate: 19g

Of which sugars: 8g

Sodium: 0.095g

Protein: 9g

It’s nice and tasty with a very definite coconut flavour to it. Very chewy! It does have a slight synthetic protein aftertaste though. Ideal to pack in your handbag to eat on the go or before a workout. Though I do like my snacks to get a bigger bang for the buck though in terms of calories. I want to feel like I’m eating something bigger if it’s 160 calories, you know? But tasty nonetheless.

Honey Stinger – Strawberry High Energy Waffle

Containing 21g of carbohydrates this is an energy boost probably best just before exercise. It contains zero trans fats and it’s completely organic. It’s a thin layer of honey with a natural strawberry flavour between two waffles.

Calories per serving: 160cal

Fat: 7g

Of which saturates: 3g

Carbohydrate: 21g

Of which sugars: 8g

Sodium: 55mg

This really reminded me of the stroop waffles you can buy to go with a cup of tea or coffee. It’s very sweet and very tasty. I could have done with about five it was that moreish! Good job there’s only one in a pack as this could get out of hand otherwise. Ideal to give you energy just before a race if you want something more than just a banana or a gel.

Honey Stinger – Organic Energy Chews

These are little chews (they look like gummie sweets) that offer a gluten and dairy free energy source. They contain naturally occurring enzymes, multiple carbohydrate sources and no GMO’s. One bag of chews gives 100% recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and also contains honey, amino acids, and antioxidants.

Calories per serving: 160cal

Fat: 0g

Of which saturates: 0g

Carbohydrate: 39g

Of which sugars: 27g

Sodium: 80mg

Protein: 1g

Fibre: 1g

I thought I’d hate these as I’m not a big fan of things like this but I loved them! Very chewy, tasted like sweets and a really nice fruity flavour. Big thumbs up! Very handy for when you’re on a run as well, especially if you don’t want to have an entire gel at once.

Gels

I haven’t tried any of these gels yet mainly because I’m not doing any long runs (or running at all) so it would be a waste (whereas the earlier energy chews looked a bit too much like sweets for me not to try despite not running…). However, I can’t wait to be able to try the gels – especially the SALTED CARAMEL one. How good does that sound?? On the Fuelify website you can see the vast range of different gels they provide in their boxes, which is brilliant. Not everyone’s stomach gets on with certain gels so having the opportunity to try a few different ones without committing to a huge boxful is a really good idea. Part of me was tempted to just open the salted caramel one to try…but then I thought I’d probably be bouncing off the walls with useless energy haha.

Honey Stinger Gels – gluten free, organic, contains electrolyte and natural fruit flavours.

PowerGels – 26.7g carbohydrates, contains a mix of glucose and fructose sources for faster energy absorption than just glucose. “Research has shown that consumed regularly during exercise, a mix of glucose and fructose can increase the amount of carbohydrates that can be digested and used by working muscles up to 55 percent which can lead to an improved performance on average of 8 percent.” (Source).

GU – 22g carbohydrates, 20mg caffeine (good for me!) and contains electrolytes.

Powders and Tablets

On a similar note I didn’t want to open these just yet either. The Nuun tablets I was very excited about as I already know I love these (see my review HERE). Each tablet gives 360mg of sodium, 100mg of potassium, 25mg of magnesium and 13mg of calcium. Really low in carbs and zero sugar (8 calories per tablet). Perfect to top up on the electrolytes lost during a hard workout.

The SIS GO electrolyte powder is to be used before and during exercise (like the Nuun tablets) for fast hydration and sustained energy. Unlike the Nuun tablets, this does contain carbohydrates (37g per 500ml serving, giving 147calories) which are easily digestible and quickly absorbed for fast energy. It also contains essential electrolytes. This one sachet is one serving.

Final thoughts: I loved the Fuelify box. It contained such a good amount of different products. Some I’d heard of, and some I hadn’t. For example, the Luna bar was quite intriguing to me as I’d heard a lot about it on US blogs but it’s almost non-existent in the UK.

There is such a range of different products and brands, from Pulsin, Clif, 9Bar, Trek, PHD, Lucozade, Nakd, High5…etc.! As with all subscription boxes, the ease of having it delivered and the surprise of what you actually get in the end (as you know, I love that) makes it very fun and very useful. You can try different products without committing to buying a whole load of them. The box is also surprisingly small so fits through the letterbox easily! I think the value of it is quite good too considering how much you get.

In a nutshell, you either buy a one off box or subscribe to a monthly/fortnightly box and it’s delivered to you. You don’t know what you’ll get but it is tailored to your needs in terms of the details you put when you signed up.

Have you tried Fuelify before?

Have you tried any of the above products?

What do you prefer, energy chews, gels or ‘real’ food to keep you going on a run?