Delicious No Flour Banana Pancakes

I'm just beginning week 3 of my #NSNG challenge and I was totally craving some sweet treat, to be totally honest, I was dreaming of having butter and honey on toast with my coffee while driving back home. I think that my current craving state could be due to the lack of proper sleep last night and the fact that today it is really hot, mind you, it's one hell of a hot afternoon today. 

So coming back to the cravings, I wasn't planning to indulge them so I began searching for something sugar-free and grain-free to have with my afternoon coffee and found this recipe. To be completely honest, if I wasn't desperate for a solution I would've doubt about this one, but after trying it... it was a Godsend.

It doesn't taste exactly as your normal Sunday flour + sugar pancakes, but if you do it right texture and flavour are great. It taste a bit like bread pudding in the middle (depending on how thick you want them, I prefer mine thin, crepe-like). Keep this in mind so you won't have "hotcakes" sort of expectations.  They take only a couple of minutes to make and they only have 22 calories per pancake, so it's sugar-free, grain-free, low-carb, high-protein and taste great. 

Iced Coffee and cream with the banana pancakes
Total calories: 125

Sugar-free, Flour-free Banana Pancake Recipe

Original source unknown, tutorial by Our Best Bites

Ingredients
1 large banana (about 1/2 cup, mashed)
2 eggs (medium size)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder (optional but recommended)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon depending on how much you like cinnamon* (optional but HIGHLY recommended)

*Cinnamon helps curve down sugar cravings and also makes the pancakes taste totally like dessert.

Instructions

- Heat a frying pan or skillet on the stove to medium heat (too hot and you'll burn the pancakes).  
- While pan is heating, add the banana, the eggs, the baking powder and cinnamon into your blender or food processor and pulse a couple of times until you get a smooth batter.
- If you don't have a blender or food processor you can mash the banana with a fork making sure you get it smooth and with no  lumps, and then mix in eggs, baking powder, and cinnamon. 
- When frying pan is hot add a bit of butter or spray it with non stick spray (butter taste way better).  Pour 2 full tablespoons of batter at a time and cook until bottom appears set (30-60 seconds) flip with spatula and cook additional minute or less.

- Serve warm with butter or eat them cold with fruits on top.  

- You can get about 10 or 11 pancakes.

Why don't you give them a try and let me know what you think...

Leti~


Nutritional Info (per pancake )
Cal: 22  Protein: 1.3 g Fat: 0.9 g Carbs: 2.4 g

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Weight loss challenge: NGNS week 3

Weight Loss Wednesday Report

I have abandoned this section for a while. I have forsaken my weekly account of this challenge so basically you can say I kind of lost the challenge?... not really...  some circumstances (surgical procedures), a lot of travelling, finishing projects  and a change in my eating habits are to blame for this, but I’m back.

During this hiatus I gained a kilo or two (during the pause period due to the surgical procedure) but as soon as I began to exercise and move about again I lost them but losing weight began to be difficult even though I was exercising an average of 2 hours a day. So by my doctor’s recommendation and some research I began a challenge of not only losing weight but also a challenge to changed my eating habits and that’s how I began my “No sugar, no grains” (#NSNG) month. If you want to know more about this, read my post “No sugar? No grains?”

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How far along? 3 weeks

Weight up or down? I don’t know for sure... been in London for a week now and had no scale no check. I began this #NSNG with the same kilos I left before surgery.

Total weight loss: 3 Kg before I began #NSNG.

BMI: 26.5

Clothes: clothes are feeling better and more comfortable even though we've been kind of feasting with the new eating regime.    

Sleep: sleep pattern is better. Only change is that somehow I wake up earlier in the morning now, doesn’t matter how late I went to bet I’m up at 6 – 6:30am most days.

Skin: radiant and clear. No spots or break outs lately..

According to the professional opinion of my DH my skin is looking "radiant" :)

Exercise:

Cardio:  Only walks and more walks.

General circuit training: only 1 times this week

Walks: every day on average I’m walking about 8Km a day and on the weekend we walked about 12km each day.

  

Some of my breakfasts during this week #NSNG

  

Food

Food plan: No Sugars, No Grains... Yeap.

Food journal: logged my food journal every day in MyFitnesspal.com.

Food cravings:  none really.

Any sin? Wine and cider... several times this week.

Happy or moody most of the time?  Happy – happy. Getting better at this “London” thing. I’m still doing some decoration DIY in the apartment making it look cosy and pretty and I love doing that sort of things.

Painting the new shelves for the bathroom

Best moment this week: Our first real and complete “Tourist Day” in London. We've been to Tower Bridge, The Big Ben, The London Eye and we cruised our way from Greenwich to Westminster on a boat... beautiful day.

Our "Tourist Day" in London

I love this caption we got of The London Eye.

Worst moment this week: This morning... I’m going back to sunny Spain today so we had a great dinner with lots of wine last night so my stomach wasn't feeling very good this morning.

Great Dinner at Kew Grill

Miss anything?  My Bilbo!!!!!! and some nice Italian bread.

Looking forward to: complete my first month of #NSNG and to go back to P90X workouts.

Until next Wednesday!

Baci per tutti!

Leti~

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No Sugar? No Grains?

Back in April I was doing fine with my weight loss challenge... or so I thought. I've lost about 3 kilos on the diet and exercise but even though I was training as if I was about to compete in a marathon, the kilos (or pounds) wouldn't go away as one would expect. I got comments such as "You are gaining muscle, that's why you don't see much change in the scales" and the, oh, so typical, "Maybe you have heavy bones"... heavy bones???????

In May I also got a surgical procedure to remove a couple of lumps, so doctor said I should stop my walks and training for at least 10 days to 15 days in order for the stiches not to come loose... so I stayed away from my daily training and walks but continued with the same diet.

Nice close-up of one of the "stitches"

During the pause period, some of the weight lost came back... of course, even though I was eating healthy and according to the plan (you can check my weekly reports here and on Instagram)... After the two weeks pause I began to exercise again and got back to where I have left it but again the weight wouldn't go away with the same combination of diet + exercise, which got me thinking and as I had a doctor appointment in the beginnings of June I've decided to ask my doctor, and oh, my, was this enlightening!

I consider myself a smart, well-read, well-fed person. I'm very active, especially now that I left the "office life" to try and improve my life. I have always had a interest on health and nutrition even though sometimes what I eat does not always reflect what I know is best for me, I do know the difference between good and bad food. 

Most diets out there focus on cutting calories and the simple math of ‘calorie in, calorie out’ instead of changing the kinds of foods you eat and getting people to really exercise. That is, focusing less on calories, more food quality, and activity. 

After telling the doctor about my predicament, he suggested to try something new, he suggested me to go "No sugar, No grains" for a month (#NSNG). He said that this could help me balance my hormones and help not only with the weight loss but also with some allergies I had recently, so I went home and begin my investigation into the "NSNG" eating style.

I read a lot and came across a book called "Fitness Confidential" written by Vinnie Tortorich, trainer for the stars in Hollywood, that got me to listen to his podcasts and reading more books written by the nutritionists trainers and doctors that Vinnie interviews in his shows. His approach is to simply say, “don't eat foods with sugar or that are made from grains.”

http://vinnietortorich.com/fitness-confidential/

I've also read about the Whole30 program which estates that certain food groups (like sugar, grains, dairy and legumes) could be having a negative impact on your health and fitness without you even realizing it and challenges you to go a full 30 days stripping them from your diet. The main claim they do that caught my attention strongly is their talk about the hormonal disbalance caused by what we eat, so after listening to Vinnie and reading about Whole30 I decided to go for it and try it myself.

I didn't go for the Whole30 approach, I still have a glass or two of wine on the weekends and some dairy in my meals, thought it is full fat and if possible grass fed but I have cut out all sugar and grains for three weeks now and went into what is called a "ketogenic" type of diet.

And I'm loving it.

Yes, it is incredibly difficult to adhere to a NSNG diet, especially if you are the only one in the house doing it but once you get on track, the improvements you'll feel and see in your body and mind are incredible. After a week I could feel a significant difference in how I felt mentally and physically. I wasn't bloated anymore and after the first three days craving sugar (yeap, like a drug addict) I was just fine.

On the physical side I'm not bloated anymore, I feel lighter, my muscle tone has improved and my exercise endurance as well. My allergies are all gone (nope, I'm not having my usual cetirizin pill a day and I'm just fine), my skin is looking great, no more chin acne but a healthy radiant glow according to my DH. And I've lost weight... oh, yeah... I haven't check the scales yet (I'm not supposed to until the 30 days are over) but my clothes are fitting loose and well again and I have a lot of energy all day long.

On the mental side I don't feel sluggish, the surplus of energy is doing wonders to my productivity and also for my mood.

Just after a workout

And with a bit of production...

So far all is going well. After the 30 days are over I'll get a blood check up to make sure everything is good and if it is (which I'm pretty sure it is anyways) I can see this becoming a habit not an exception. I don't say I will never eat a muffin again in my life, of course I will, but sure as hell I will be cutting out any unnecessary processed sugars and grains whenever I can. By all means, visit Vinnie Tortorich web page and/or listen to his podcasts...

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