Fitness Fridays: Protein Pancake Mix

Afternoon!

I mentioned in a previous post that my brother had picked up a bag of Go Nutrition's Protein Pancake Mix. I know I've posted about other products from GN but I promise I'm on no commission! We made a huge order of products to try as they have such a wide range of protein and fitness related foods so there might be more in future too.

The protein pancake mix comes in a bag like this:

It's the typical style of GN as all of their powdered products come in bags with zip lock tops to them. This makes it a lot easier to store for longer periods and know that it will still be as fresh as it was when you first opened it.

The bag contains 1kg of product and is unflavoured. I've never tried an unflavoured protein product before so I knew this was going to be interesting! As each serving is 50g and the bag is 1kg, this will give you 20 servings. That's not bad for the £8.99 price tag. It works out at 45p per serving and you can add any kind of topping you like!

Here's the info on the back of the pack; you can see the ingredients are pretty simple.

GN say:

Protein Pancake Mix is a fantastic healthy snack suitable to support all training goals. For those that train and compete on a regular basis a diet high in protein is essential for muscle growth, repair and recovery and our Protein Pancake Mix can really help you increase your daily protein intake. Furthermore, our Protein Pancake Mix provides 10g of low GI carbohydrates from oats to slowly release energy, making them ideal any time of day. Each serving of Protein Pancake Mix also provides 2.5g of medium chain triglyceride (MCT) health fats and 1g of flax seed which is high in Omega-3 Linolenic Acid.

They recommend you use their Organic Coconut Oil to cook them in to ensure the maximum benefits from the meal.

They are super easy to make, all you need is two scoops of powder with 100ml of milk or water. Shake them together, they suggest you use a protein shaker but I've also used a jug and fork and achieved a pretty consistent batter.

This will create two pancakes, so all you need to do is add half the batter to a frying pan and bake it for 60-90 seconds each side and hey presto you're done!

I have made these a number of times and each one has been consistently good. I've added bananas and maple syrup, greek yogurt and fruit, and obviously slapped some peanut butter and nutella on them for a good old treat!

You can see my pictures of some of them below:

These were bought by my brother on a whim but I can honestly say that when they've run out I'll be buying them again, they're so easy for a nutritious, filling and fun breakfast on weekends.

You can buy this protein pancake mix in a maple syrup flavour as well as unflavoured, though I think I'd prefer to add my own separately and change it every time!

What do you think of the protein pancake mix? Would you try it?

L xxx

Fitness Friday: GoNutrition Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

Hello folks!

I missed a Fitness Friday post last week so apologies for that, I didn't get chance to write and schedule it in time before I went away to stay at a friends for the very last Six Nations rugby match....and what a win it was for Wales! If only we'd played that well against England eh? (I'm sure M wouldn't be anywhere near so smug then...!) It was all good fun though and I can't wait for the Autumn Internationals now.

Me and my brother have been checking out a lot of products from Go Nutrition over the last couple of months since their launch. We've made a few orders between us and one of our favourite products so far is this beauty: Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.

I'm sure you've all heard a lot about it recently as it seems to be a bit of a craze but it's definitely one to try. I've bought myself a cheaper non-organic coconut oil for beauty uses, i.e. slathering over my hair and face for a hydrating treat but I'd definitely prefer to go with the organic versions when it comes to using it on food.


One of the main plus points to using coconut oil is that it is extremely heat stable, meaning when you use it to cook food with it doesn't damage as easily and so you don't get such a smoky experience as you do when using other oils such as olive oil. Not only is it great for cooking but it can be added to almost anything, including smoothies, to add extra flavour and 'good for you' fats.

So what are the health benefits?
Well its free from cholesterol and those dreadful trans fatty acids and is rich in lauric acid and medium chain triglycerides (MCT's for those in the know...) meaning it will help keep your heart healthy, improve your fat loss, cognitive function and immune system and provide you with an energy boost. All this from an oil! Who'd have thought it.


With regards to the MCTs (thanks to GoNutrition website I sound like a pro!), they say that they are taken straight to the liver for immediate energy and are treated by the body more like a carb. This is great news, as it means your body doesn't store it around your middle like other fats, hurrah!


You can see from the picture above of the tub itself that Go Nutrition's product is 100% organic from palm trees in Sri Lanka and holds Soil Association and EU certification to prove it. Not only that but it has not been hydrogenated, bleached, refined or deodorised, exactly as all food products should be!

I'm not going to lie and say that I fully understand the above table of nutritional info, but I do know that I'm glad there's 100g of fat in 100g of the oil. It means there's no hidden nasties and added chemicals into the product that you don't want to be putting into your body. Also again, no cholesterol or trans fatty acids.


As for the product itself here's a pretty rubbish picture from my phone:

It looks as you would expect and is a solid white substance that goes greasy when you touch it. It does smell of coconut but isn't overpowering, I personally love the smell of it. The taste is exactly the same, so natural and although when cooking it is a subtle flavour when you eat it on its own (I had to try it!) it's a lot stronger.


My brother is a huge fan and regularly cooks his food in it, his favourite thing to do with it is slap it on a piece of toast before going to his MMA/wrestling classes as it gives a great energy boost to keep him going.

My favourite thing? When my mum makes flapjacks with it. It's a pretty simple recipe; oats, coconut oil, and whatever dried fruits, nuts and seeds you want to add to it. She melts the oil in a saucepan, adds the oats and whatever other ingredients and mixes it all together. Then you transfer it to a tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so and then leave to cool. I've honestly never tried anything so delicious! And they're the perfect 'treat' for a pre workout or just generally when you're feeling naughty and need a sweet treat, we all have those days.

You can pick up the Go Nutrition Coconut Oil for £9.99 here for 460g and this should last you a good while, probably 2 months or so but depends how much you use it.

There are a lot of things I'd like to try from their website including the nut butters, Cocopure powder and Burnmax capsules. You should definitely check out their range of protein rich foods too. They include crisps, cookies and the newly released protein pancake mix! Needless to say we grabbed that in time for pancake day and I'm sure a review will follow!


What do you think of coconut oil? Are you a recent convert?

I'm slowly changing bits of my diet now that I'm learning so much more!

L xxx