This week I take you through what I eat in a day as well as some quick banana pumpkin muffins! I was on the go during this day so I needed quick and easy meals!
2 1/2 overripe bananas
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
tsp baking powder
tsp sea salt
2 cups oat flour
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes
I hope you enjoy!
HM
It’s been a long week but I’m back with another full day of eating! I’ve really been enjoying filming my meals. This is what I eat when I only train once during the day. I had a bit more time to make meals and make sure I’m eating enough. When I train three times it can be a bit harder. I hope you enjoy my what I eat in a day video!
My breakfast is always the same. I use half a zucchini, 1/4 a cup of oat, either banana or blueberries and then I top it with greek yogurt. I like to keep it simple and consistent with my breakfast because I train 20min after eating it.
My post workout meal was a paleo breakfast bowl that included sweet potato, spinach, kale and some scrambled eggs.
For my afternoon meal I whipped up some pumpkin pancakes using protein powder, oats, pumpkin and half a banana. These were good but the texture was a bit different.
For dinner I made a big batch of pumpkin, ground Turkey and sausage chili. My family loved it since I normally force them to eat vegetarian food.
For some quick and healthy dessert I warmed up some apples on the stove with some granola and mixed it into some plain greek yogurt. This was so good! The apples are so sweet I didn’t need to use any sweeter.
I hope you found this video helpful!
HM
Over the past year I’ve lost about 25lbs. I’ve maintained strength and I sit around 11% body fat. This has taken some serious trial and error with my diet. I still have not mastered the art of eating enough but I’m getting better everyday. I’ve posted about what I eat in a day before and I thought I would try to film it this time. I’m obviously new to this but I hope you enjoy it!
Starting with my breakfast, I eat this every single day. I have 1/4 cup of oatmeal. I shred half a zucchini and a bit of carrot and mix it in. I top it with plain greek yogurt and a banana. This meal keeps me full through our long morning workouts.
Post workout I always inhale my egg omelette. I include one full egg and about 3 egg whites. I top it with hot sauce and pair it with two rice cakes and natural peanut butter. Shortly after this I have an apple because I always crave something sweet.
After this I’m on the move until 6:00pm. I have two pumpkin protein muffins in between classes at school and then some yogurt and berries on my way to train.
For dinner I had leftovers, which is pretty common for me during the week. I added some fresh veggies to make it a big more voluminous. I was craving a treat after dinner so I whipped up some chocolate quinoa. This dessert is so rich but relatively healthy.
I hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a VLOG!
HM
Three years ago I fell in love. I found the love of my life in the first few weeks of university. I put on a few pounds of the freshman 15 combined with the carefree honeymoon stage of my relationship. I went on the pill and my weight spiralled from there. I couldn’t control my cravings and I felt like no matter what I did I kept gaining weight. I tried to give up sugar cold turkey, it worked for a month and then I would binge on sweets and I was back where I started. I was so fed up I went off the pill and after a few months I was slimming down. I was happy.
One October morning I hurt my back. Not “I slept on it wrong” I couldn’t walk. My amazing boyfriend had to lift me into the car. I couldn’t do anything for months. Naturally my weight went up. After I was back on my feet I started training  again. I’m a full time athlete on the Canadian National team. I went to training camp and my weight started going down. All of the sudden I started to love my reflection.
Next came racing season. I was more preoccupied with going fast than I was with my weight. It was as if the moment I stopped worrying about the scale the weight started to melt off. It wasn’t until I returned home from a trip to Europe that everyone started telling me how great I looked. I didn’t realize how much leaner I was until other people said it.
This is the difference between September 2015 and July 2016. About 20lbs and 10% body fat separate these two photos.
The next photos are special to me. I love the body on the left just as much as I do the body on the right. The girl on the left worked so hard to lose 7lbs. She was just starting to feel great about herself. Her hard work was finally paying off after two years. The photo on the left I was 180lbs in April 2016 and the photo on the right is me now at 165lbs.
To the girl who couldn’t seem to lose the weight. I love you. I love how hard you’re working even though you feel as if nothing is changing. I love that you were finally able to be honest with yourself about your nutrition. I love that now your athlete persona in your mind finally matches your body. I love that your amazing boyfriend loved you when you didn’t love yourself. I love how proud you feel and I love that you aren’t finished yet.
HM
I love the lead up to the Olympics. Every time you turn on  the TV, flip through a paper or look at a Cherrio box you are bombarded with inspiring stories of Olympians from all over the world. Every story is different but they all have one thing in common, they are positive and motivating. I love reading these stories and getting goosebumps as I watch commercials. However, one story caught my eye, an article about the struggles female athletes face when it comes to body image.
I’ve written about this before and it’s one of my favourite topics to discuss. In the spotlight we see the ripped, skinny, track stars with their amazing abs, tiny shoulders and muscular legs. You think they’re confident and proud of their amazing bodies. I can bet that they don’t always love their reflection. On the other side you have weight lifters who are heavier set and walking down the street you would have no idea that they are an Olympic level athlete. Are their skills any less impressive because they don’t have a tiny waist? No, of course not.
To paint a mental picture, I’m almost six feet tall, I have a slender but muscular build which leaves me looking like an awkward and lanky amazon woman. I am powerful, strong and I can move a boat pretty fast. I also carry my weight in my stomach and my long arms look noodlish no matter how many curls I do. In the gym I love every inch of my body and what it allows me to do, it pays the bills (in the least hooker way possible) I’m paid to make my boat go fast. So why do I spend time in the mirror looking at my stomach or feel sickeningly guilty about enjoying ice cream? Maybe it’s because I spend too much time looking at fitness models on instagram, who I know I could run circles around but they have millions of adoring fans admiring their abs. Or maybe its a coping mechanism to avoid the stress of training every day. I can’t always control my idiot coach or the weather or how sluggish I am on the water but I can control how much I eat and how I feel about my body. Some athletes find comfort in running an extra mile or staying on the water a bit longer than their teammates. For me, I take refuge in the fact that I eat healthier. I will say that my body image has improved tremendously in the last year, but I’m not at my happiest yet. That leaves me with the nagging question, is this a journey without a destination?
As I watch the Olympics at home this year, yearning to be there myself I will try to find motivation not from the amazing bodies of the women on the podium but from their impressive feats as athletes. After all, comparison is the death of joy.
HM
It’s so comforting knowing you have time. Whether its you’re training for a marathon, nationals, or you’re applying for a job. Really any time you leave your comfort zone and go after a big goal. You will eventually be looking the moment between you and achieving your goal in the eye. How do you stay calm? For me it’s national team trials. In the sport of canoe you train 6 days a week all year round for a racing season that last two months and maybe consists of 10 big races if you’re lucky. I say if you’re lucky because if you miss a stroke it can be the end of your season. How do you stay calm and steady your hands in order to give yourself the best chance to succeed? Confidence in everything you’ve done to prepare.
The moment before a race or the moment before you get the call that you got the job or made the team or the band is like christmas morning. Anything can happen, the box you’re opening could contain anything. You could be world champion or you could fall and come dead last. The key for me after racing at a world class level for 4 years is doing everything for myself. If I line up knowing I did everything in my power to be the best I can be then I can enjoy a calm moment of clarity before I race. I know that no matter what happens this is my best. Even if my best isn’t good enough there is always something to learn.
If there is one piece of advice I can give whether you’re just starting to compete or you’re struggling with defeat it’s this, there is always something to learn. It’s never going to sting as much as it does in the moments after a “failure”. Think back to the moments before the start horn, think of how proud you are of the work you put in, make a plan and get ready to attack the next competition. You know more now than you did before you started.
I hope you found this helpful whatever obstacles you may be facing! Please excuse the lack of posts in the coming weeks as I will be racing at Olympic trials!
HM
They say it takes 21 days to break a habit, that’s the premise of the 21 day challenge. The idea is to give up all refined sugar and gluten and by the end you should crave it less. I have done this two times within one year. Each time I did it a bit differently and each time I learned something new about my body. On top of this I learned one big fat lesson that I will take with me on my nutritional journey I call life…IT DOES NOT WORK FOR ME!
It all began in 2014, I always ate healthy but I was prone to binge while watching netflix. I’ve talked about this before but I’m a very all or nothing type of person. Balance does not come naturally to me. I read about this 21 day fix on pinterest and I figured whats the harm in trying. There is a ton of info on pinterest about this essentially paleo diet. I was living off eggs, rice cakes, nut butters, trail mix and apples. I wasn’t doing it correctly. I was tired all the time, my training was suffering and I was so grumpy. I’m a very competitive person so I was determined to finish the 21 days despite how horrible I felt. After finishing the diet I craved sugar more than ever, and I had way less will power when it came to snacking. It was like I wore out my will power muscle. So my solution to my now even worse sugar addiction? Another 21 day fix of course! This one actually lasted well over a month until I got mono and decided I might need some more substance to my diet. An important thing to point out here is I’m not eating this way and sitting at a desk all day, I train full time at a world class level. I was starving and really messing up my metabolism as a whole.
It’s over a year after the 21 day fixes and I finally feel like I’m in a good place. It’s so funny to me to look back on the challenges compared to what I eat now. I eat overall 80/20. 80% of the time I follow the guidelines for the 21 day fix without thinking about it. As soon as I restricted I wanted sugar and put it on a pedestal. Now I have a great relationship with sugar and it doesn’t feel like the end of the world when I indulge my sweet tooth.
Looking back, it all comes down to perspective. It’s a lifestyle and a  21 day fix is not a sustainable lifestyle. Treat yo self, ladies!
HM
Happy Friday! The people close to me know the obsession with this recipe is real. I feel like it’s all I’ve talked about! I love hash browns and I was craving them so badly earlier in the week, and thus.. a new recipe was born! I originally paired these with chickpeas and avocado on a bed of mixed greens but because this recipe makes about 24 fritters I was able to experiment. They paired nicely with eggs and salsa as well as with turkey burgers! I love the versatility of this recipe and they make great leftovers.
1 medium sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 tbsp almond meal
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat your oven to 375. Start by grating the sweet potato and zucchini. You should have a surprisingly large pile of veg, add it to a large bowl. Melt your coconut oil and add it to the shredded veggies. Beat the two eggs in a separate small bowl and add them to the large bowl. Add the almond meal and spices. The mixture should stick together but still feel very wet. If it won’t stay together add some more almond meal. Place the fritters on a large greased cookie sheet. They should be about and inch thick, mine were 2 inches wide but you can make them as wide as you want. Don’t pack them overly tight, just enough to stay together. Bake them for 15 minutes at 375. After 15 minutes take the fritters out and ensure they’re still in patty form. Lower the oven temperate to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. After this 10 minutes carefully flip the fritters and bake for another 10 minutes. Let them sit on the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and give it a try! It would make a great healthy addition to a brunch or family dinner!
HM
Happy Friday! This week is a bit different… no recipe because I was feeling a little bit uninspired. It happens to the best of us! What I’m going to chat about today is what I eat in a day! A quick reminder that I’m at a training camp with up to four practices a day, each ranging from 45min-2.5 hours. My caloric goal each day is 3000, it doesn’t normally happen because thats a lot of food but I try my best! I’m a big routine person so what I eat is normally doesn’t waiver day to day.
I love breakfast so much. Recently, I’ve been adding zucchini to my oatmeal. It’s a great way to add some extra volume and some extra fibre to your already delicious oatmeal. So what’s in the bowl? 1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/3 cup zucchini, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1 tsp honey, 1 tbsp flaxseed. This meal will keep me full for hours!
Coffee.. it’s in the name! I can’t take on the day sans coffee.
I try to get this meal in as quickly as possible, its essential for recovery! This plate consists of, 2 eggs, 1 slice of ham, 1 cup of kale and 2 tbsp of salsa. This meal is full of protein and absolutely delicious!
I love these protein bars for a quick fix when I’m going to miss my window after a workout. Â They’re natural, gluten free and taste like fudge, whats better than that? Maybe real fudge..
This banana chocolate shake is up on the blog here is so yummy and so satisfying. It’s the perfect way to curb your cravings. I add chia seeds before a workout because they keep me full through a long session. I highly recommend you give this recipe a try!
This is one of my go-to meals. In the bowl we have, half a sweet potato, six asparagus, 1/2 cup of roasted chickpeas on a bed of spinach featuring my beautiful avocado rose that I’m so proud of!
Not included: I usually have two apples through the day and I’ll have a bowl of chez rice cereal before bed!
I hope you enjoy this post, sorry again for the lack of recipe!
HM
Happy Friday! I hope you’re all having a fabulous week. I’m so excited to finally have a recipe video for you this week! I made some almond, oatmeal, chocolate cookies! They’re so good and refined sugar free! You could make these gluten free as well by substituting the flour for a GF option. To make these you will need:
1 cup  instant oats
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp  baking powder
½ tsp  cinnamon
1/8 tsp  salt
2 tbsp  coconut oil
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp almond extract
½ cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tbsp coarsely chopped dark chocolate
watch below for the instructions!
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
HM
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