Health, Kayla Itsines

Review of Kayla Itsines HELP Guide

March 16, 2015

Way back in June, 2014, I did a review of Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide. At the time, I had not used Kayla Itsines’ HELP guide alongside her workouts so I had not formulated much of an opinion over them. I re-did Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide and I am now on week 10 of my third round of Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide. I have to say that there was a huge difference when I used both guides in conjunction, which is why I decided to write a review of Kayla Itsines HELP guide for you all.

What is Kayla Itsines ‘HELP’ Guide?

First things first, what is the HELP guide? HELP stands for ‘Healthy Eating Lifestyle Plan’ and it’s a comprehensive guide to healthy eating that includes a two week meal plan with sample healthy recipes. 

photo 2

The HELP guide starts off by providing a 14 day meal plan, which is full of delicious and easy to make meals. The only meals that didn’t really work for me were the juices (as I do not have a juicer) but they can be easily adapted to make something else which is explained in the discussion of food groups. Apart from the juices, all the meals in the HELP guide are easy to make and use normal ingredients such as chicken, brown rice, spinach, apples and etc. No fancy or expensive ingredients 🙂

The HELP guide then discusses the five food groups and the minimum amount you should be getting per day. The amazing thing about this guide is that it advocates carbohydrates! Such a rarity in the health and fitness world and one of its key selling points, in my opinion. There is also NO calorie counting in this guide despite what some may claim. Kayla acknowledges that this is a guide and that everyone has different needs, but that the HELP guide is a fantastic guide, especially for someone who does not know how to eat in a healthy manner. The rest of the HELP guide provides a wealth of information such as information about food allergies, micronutrients (vitamins & minerals), and FAQs with questions such as ‘Should I be eating the meals at particular times?’ or ‘Don’t I have to avoid carbs in order to lose weight?’

My Thoughts

As someone who has come from a background of counting calories and macro’s in the past, the HELP guide is truly a breath of fresh air. I feel like it provides a healthy and sustainable guide to healthy eating that will keep you full and satisfied. Since using the HELP guide in conjunction with the bikini body guides, I have lost 8 pounds so far 🙂 I still have a ways to go in terms of getting more toned and etc, but I feel so much closer to my goals with the help of the HELP guide! I also found that eating more carbohydrates helped me perform better in my workouts, whereas previously if I had tried to restrict my carbohydrate intake, I felt so weak and sluggish :/ The following are some of the lovely recipes I have made using the information given in the HELP guide 🙂

Pancake edit2 (1 of 1)

 Four Ingredient Pancakes with Raspberries

  Lox (1 of 1)-2

 Lox Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dressing

IMG_2683

 Baked Zucchini Fritters with Smashed Avocado on Marble Rye Toast

Even more HELP

Kayla Itsines recently released a new recipe guide that is designed to work with the principles laid out in the HELP guide. I bought it because I was curious and love the variety of easy to make yet delicious looking recipes contained within it! It contained a whole two weeks worth of recipes. I actually made the ‘pizza’ recipe from the new recipe guide and was surprised at how well the pizza base came out. Really pleased and excited to make more of the recipes from this new guide. Plus, it is only AUD$19.97 which comes out to roughly USD$15 which is not that much money at all. photo 1

What are your thoughts?

Do you have the HELP guide and/or the new recipe guide? If so, what do you think about it? I hope this review of Kayla Itsines HELP guide and recipe guide has helped you and cleared up any questions you may have regarding them.

If you want to buy either of the above guides, simply click here and you will be redirected to Kayla Itsines’ website 🙂

Honestly yours,

Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

Although this post contains affiliate links, it is because I personally use Kayla’s guides and believe you will benefit from them 🙂

Friday Fare, Health

Lox Salad With Creamy Lemon Dressing

February 20, 2015

I am so excited to introduce you all to my wonderful lox salad dressing! I got the inspiration for this salad from Christal of Nutritionist In The Kitch, who posted a fabulous massage kale and lox nicoise salad recipe. I wanted to make a salad that would be ideal for colder winter days with plenty of warm ingredients yet still healthy and delicious.

Also, for those of you who don’t know what lox is, lox is just salmon that has been cured in a salt-sugar rub or brine. ‘Authentic’ lox is made from the belly of the salmon. I don’t know if what I bought was ‘authentic’ lox but it was delicious and more than did the trick for me 🙂

What Makes This Lox Salad Special?

I have wanted to make a salad utilizing this creamy lemon dressing for a while, so I thought ‘why not make a lox salad to go with it?’. Admittedly, I used garlic instead of shallots but the dressing definitely didn’t suffer as a result.

I had a bunch of vegetables in my fridge that I wanted to use, and a few other ingredients I had eaten in a salad at Boudin that I wanted to incorporate into this lox salad. The result was an incredibly filling and delicious salad full of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, protein and fiber. This is definitely a lower carbohydrate recipe as the main source of carbohydrates come from the roasted sweet potatoes, mmm.

How To Make My Lox Salad

Lox Winter Salad

Alice Williams
A delicious and warming winter salad with lox.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 50 g lox
  • Romaine lettuce or salad mix
  • Half a medium sweet potato
  • 5 spears asparagus
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • 1 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes
  • 5 olives
  • Optional: dried rosemary
  • Dressing makes 1 cups worth
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice approx 1 and a half small lemons
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Let's make the dressing first: in a food processor, combine together all of the ingredients and blend until smooth and then put aside for now.
  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees farenheit.
  • Get your sweet potato and chop into cube sized pieces. Put on a baking tray and drizzle some olive oil on top, add salt, pepper and some dried rosemary (optional).
  • At the same time, prepare another baking pan and put the asparagus on it and also drizzle some olive oil and add some salt and pepper.
  • Here is the tricky part: time co-ordination!
  • Let the asparagus roast for approximately 10-15 minutes.
  • Let the sweet potato bake for 12 minutes, toss it and then continue baking for another 12 minutes.
  • While that is roasting, assemble the romaine lettuce (I like to finely shred mine) or salad leaves and toss with some of the dressing. I will use around 1-2tbsp depending on the size of the salad.
  • Add the capers, sun-dried tomato, olives into the salad.
  • Once the sweet potato and asparagus are done, toss them into the salad.
  • Finally, add the lox on top and ENJOY!

Notes

If the salad is a bit too much on the salty side, omit either the olives or the capers.
Adapted from Nutritionist in the Kitch
Lox Salad With Creamy Lemon Dressing
Lox Salad With Creamy Lemon Dressing

Oh geez, my mouth is seriously watering remembering how good this lox salad was. I ran out of lox (meh) but I think I will recreate this salad with chicken for lunch tomorrow … or maybe I will just buy more lox hehehe.

Have you ever had lox before?

Don’t forget to let me know if you tried it and what you thought of this recipe! I need someone to talk to about it haha.

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

Friday Fare, Health, Healthy on the cheap, Products I love

My Favorite Carbohydrates

February 17, 2015

Contrary to what you may read or hear, carbohydrates (and especially complex carbohydrates) are good for you and essential for your well-being. A while ago, I wrote a piece about carbohydrates and why you should not cut them out of your diet. Click here to read the blog post to get up to date on why you should not go on a low-carbohydrate diet. I realize that there are many reasons people go on a low-carbohydrate diet, but they tend to have specific reasons for doing so. For the majority of people, it is not necessary to cut out carbohydrates to lose weight and fat.

Newsflash: Carbohydrates aren’t evil

I eat a variety of carbohydrates daily, which range from leafy green vegetables (yes, vegetables are a form of carbohydrates!) to delicious sourdough breads. I wanted to compile a list of my favorite carbohydrates which I think can help introduce some variety in your diet and encourage you to try new foods.

My Favorite Carbohydrates 

My Favorite Carbohydrates

 1. Marble Rye Bread

How I enjoy it: Try adding some smashed avocado on top in place of butter (like this).

2. Garbanzo beans (or chickpea’s as is said in the UK)
How I enjoy it: I make a veggie burger with them (like this)!

3. Bananas
How I enjoy it: On their own, with nut butter or in a fruit salad.

4. Sesame Rye Crackers
How I enjoy it: Usually with some smashed avocado I have to admit. I love avocado!!

5. Quinoa
How I enjoy it: Fabulous for stir-fries! Try cracking an egg over some cooked quinoa to make ‘fried rice’ 🙂

6. Brown Rice
How I enjoy it: I love having brown rice in warm salads and adding it to soup for a heartier meal.

7. Sourdough Bread
How I enjoy it: Same as the marble rye bread honestly!

[Tweet “7 Healthy and Delicious Carbohydrates”]

Another notable carbohydrate I love is oatmeal. I make overnight oats (here is a fun kombucha overnight oats recipe) or healthy pancakes with them (four ingredient recipe here).

What is your favorite carbohydrate and how do you eat it?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.