Episode 2
Thrive series: Protein is king!
Are you looking for a way to feel better in the mornings because you feel drowsy and you lack energy?
Have you thought about your breakfast as the possible culprit?
In this episode of the Healthy and Thriving Career Mums podcast, I reveal why protein is so important as part of everyone’s morning routine, and also what I do to make sure I have enough of it at the start of my day.
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Wendy’s pancake recipe
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Transcript
THIS TRANSCRIPT IS COMPUTER‐GENERATED. IT IS POSTED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND OR FIND CERTAIN PARTS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. ALTHOUGH THE TRANSCRIPTION IS LARGELY ACCURATE, IN SOME CASES IT IS INCOMPLETE OR INACCURATE (COULD IT BE BECAUSE OF WENDY’S SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENT?). SO, IT MIGHT GIVE YOU A LAUGH HERE AND THERE!
00:05
You're listening to the healthy and thriving career moms podcast where every week you will learn about healthier habits and how to create and support a healthy and thriving lifestyle. As a busy mom. I'm your host Wendy. And I truly believe that the best gift you can give to your family and the world is a healthy thriving you.
00:22
Let's dive in and welcome to today's episode where I'm going to be talking about routine now. This has been such a revelation in my life because going back when I think about protein I used to think about like, these bodybuilder guys like drinking these drinks in the gym and like lifting their weights and stuff, and I realized I was completely misinformed about the benefits of protein and what that was all about actually what I didn't realize at the time is that those guys were drinking like creatine drinks and things like that, which is not what I'm about. I'm not what I'm talking about today, but actually wanted to talk to you about why protein is king, especially first thing in the morning. So as a busy mum,
01:05
often what happens is, well, certainly this used to be my life I used to sort of wake up hit snooze a million times then I'd be jumping out of bed rushing around trying to get things sorted and kids sorted and then I'd be grabbing and you know, fortunately I have been looking after my well being since becoming a mum but before becoming a mum, I'd be grabbing a piece of toast whatever it is a bowl of high sugar, cereal, whatever it is because you just need to eat and run because you're busy. You've got to I had to catch a train to London I had to do all the things commute. But when you eat sugary cereals or the toasts and the high carb breakfast first thing in the day what that tends to lead to is a blood sugar spike. And then unfortunately, what follows subsequently is a crash,
01:48
which ultimately leads you to craving more high sugar foods and even possibly overeating and it's just not the great way to start the day is to be on that sugar rollercoaster where you're up. You're down Europe. You know, in Europe, you're down and if you find that you're struggling to balance your energy and you're having these either big highs and crushing lows, it could be that you need to put more protein into your diet, which is going to keep you fuller for longer. So it's going to balance your energy it's going to help you feel fuller for longer and it's just gonna give you that overall well being
02:23
an average sedentary woman now so this is a woman and as busy moms, we are far from sedentary, we're running here, we're running there, we're doing all the things and if you're someone that exercises, this is even more, but a sedentary woman should have a minimum of 46 grams of protein per day. So when you think that an egg contains approximately six grams of protein, that's a lot of protein that we need to supplement into our diets. And one thing I realized is that I wasn't getting nearly enough protein that I needed to actually so many women out there aren't getting enough protein into their diets.
02:56
And that was when I started to explore protein supplements because again, I had this preconceived idea that protein supplements were for gym bunnies, or people that were not body body building building muscle and it was like no, actually your body needs protein first thing in the day because it fires up your brain fires up your muscles, especially children. Our kids need high protein. So Jessie, my daughter, who's five, I make sure that she has an egg or porridge with a bit of protein supplement in there, making sure that she's got a very high protein input first thing not
03:30
a bowl of cereal that she gets us her weekend trades and she's always like, is it the weekend? Can I have sugary cereal? And I'm like, Yeah, because I can deal with the crash and the fallout of her but when she's going to school to learn. I want her brain to be clicked on. I want her to not be craving more food sugary foods a couple of hours later. When she has a mid morning snack. So something that I found has really helped me is using my Arbonne protein powder in my day to day everyday life. And what I love about the Arbonne protein powder is and that's just my supplement of choice I've been using it now for nearly a decade is that it's a vegan protein powder so as someone who's actually allergic to soy and not a protein powders out there will say that they don't contain way
04:14
so whey is actually a derivative of dairy now, dairy is something that's really aggravating on your gut, and can actually cause you to feel quite bloated maybe cause you to have a bit of wound so it's not always the best and unfortunately, protein powders are made equal. You can go online and you can buy cheap protein powders off the big websites and things but actually it's about looking at the absorbability of that and also does your body actively recognize it? So for me, the Arbonne protein powders vegan so it doesn't have any whey
04:43
doesn't actually have soy either. So the derivative is rice, cranberry and pea protein, which is something that my body recognizes so it doesn't cause bloating, it doesn't cause any adverse reactions in me. And I love the fact that I can use that protein powder to supplement so things that I do with it are things like my protein smoothies in the morning, so I'll use a couple of scoops which is the equivalent of 20 grams of clean vegan protein a day. So I'll use that. So when you think about that, that I shared about the 46 grams already I've got half my daily protein intake through my morning smoothie
05:20
so I'll put fruits and vegetables in there. I love that you can nowadays in the supermarket buy frozen vegetables, fruits, even little avocado chunks. So again, you don't have to get that right time between when your avocados ready or not and like goes brown. So actually I just have it all in the freezer. Again. Frozen fruit and vegetables are so nutritious for us because they frozen at near enough the source so they're not sitting on the shelf ages losing its nutrient quality, etc. So fruits and vegetables arose in the smoothie,
05:52
and I like to mix it up so I might make something like a mocker smoothie I might do a scoop of my coffee protein with a scoop of chocolate and some almond butter in there. And I'll put some berries in or I'll do like a green smoothie or I'll do a blueberry smoothie with vanilla as the bass or strawberry and the whole family gets involved. They absolutely love it and we love making a morning smoothie and it's really quick and easy. I can throw it in a protein shaker cup and I can actually be drinking that on the way to work on appointment or school run or whatever the case is.
06:23
I also love to use scoop of protein in my porridge because I find just having oats on its own. I just feel so hungry an hour later. So you can end up having a big bowl of porridge to pull you up and you feel full but then you feel quite heavy and you feel quite bloated and then you feel quite hungry again. So again, scooping in that protein really extends that meal for me and then I'm not hungry with my protein smoothie or my protein porridge right up until lunchtime. There's also smoothie bowls, I mean you see these gorgeous things on Instagram that people may like I am not in that category. But yeah, just amazing or how creative you can get with it. So yeah, you can put beautiful nuts and chia seeds and fruits and oh my goodness, I'm so inspired by my customers and clients and team and all the things that they make with their lovely protein smoothie bowls.
07:05
But the other thing I love making and if you follow me on Instagram, you will know that I am obsessed with protein pancakes. So I love this quick easy healthy recipe and I make my protein pancakes and also batch make them so I've got a really easy recipe which I'll link to in the show notes to make these and it's great because you can batch make them and then I actually keep them in the freezer. So when it comes time like Jesse wants a snack, I could just pop it in my toaster and she's got a healthy like what she thinks was like a crumpet like snack. And she thinks oh, I'm just giving me a pancake. This is great. And actually it's made literally with eggs and obviously if you're a vegan you can switch out the eggs for an alternative that
07:43
is made with a protein powder. It's got a little bit of baking powder in there and a little bit of oatmeal that I put in there so really clean really that's it that's all there is no extra sugars or anything like that. Are you ready to start or reset your healthy habits that maybe you're short on time or you're just not sure where to start? You're exactly the person I created by thrive and five mini course for reset your healthy habits and just five minutes a day so you can start to thrive in all aspects of your life and health. And the best part is it's totally free to get it go to Wendy Griffith dot code at UK forward slash thrive and five or go to the link in my show notes for more information right back to today's show.
08:32
So those are just some of the ways that I incorporate protein into my day to day life and then obviously as I go through my day, if I have a protein smoothie, I might mid afternoon have another one if I've worked out with I'm hungry or I might have my protein pancake as a little snack. You can make so many things I think protein muffins, I make protein bars, all sorts of things out protein balls as well. That is a great way it's so easy to make. You don't have to even cook them. It's just so easy to make and the thing is you see these things in the shops when you sort of starting the QC of these protein bars and these protein balls and all these things and
09:03
actually if you look at the ingredients on the back so much sugars so much added to it. So for me I much prefer to control making those things and just because it says it's healthy and vegan on the front of a pack. Sometimes you have to be discerning of what you're actually buying because it could have a lot of hidden sugar in there. But again, what I love so much about the Arbonne protein is that it's sweetened with stevia which is a plant based alternative. And so you have to use such a small amount of stevia to give that sweet because if you have to eat more protein, it will actually taste absolutely disgusting. But there's also an alternative if you want even lower sugar content within your protein. We actually have a simply one we call it protein powder, which is actually
09:44
keto friendly. So it's less than one gram of sugar less from the five grams of carbs. And if you're into keto, you'll know exactly what that means. If not to worry about it. The me I love the variety of having that and all one does bring out some cool Limited Edition flavors. I've got banana pancake protein out at the moment flavor. A famous one that everyone loved which is now sold out is mint Chuck is raspberry truffle there's all sorts of different ways that we bring out to mix it up for our client base but I just love the fact that I've discovered protein and why that's so important in my diet and it's just been such a game changer for my energy
10:15
for really setting me up for the day getting my brain thriving my muscles moving and just makes them exercising. me having so much more energy to do that helping my muscle recovery. All the good stuff. That comes with it. So I hope this has inspired you today. I just wanted to share because for me I have so many misconceptions I said at the start about what I thought protein was all about. So I really hope this has inspired you to try adding more protein into your diet and if you have been a bit wary of like protein supplements because you think maybe the connotations of like dietary things and not so good things then hopefully knowing liking and trusting me, you'll give it a bash and you will give it a try. So I'm going to link some great recipes and how to videos in my show notes which you can check out
11:01
and yeah just keep following me on Instagram to see my creations and my inspirations for you. So yes, I hope this helps today that's inspired you Let's go forth and make protein King in our lives. Speak to you soon take care. Thank you for tuning in today. I'm so grateful for you. If this episode has resonated make sure you visit Wendy perfect credit UK to discover more of my content and my fantastic free resources to support you in thriving. Or if you'd like to continue the conversation further. Drop me a DM by Instagram at Wendy Republic healthy. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep thriving.