THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY as a whole can often be a minefield for everyone, including myself.

Having worked as a personal trainer for the last 10 years, I have seen fat loss fads and different myths leading people down the wrong path — diets, quick fixes, magic pills and crazy supplements.

Let me start by mentioning these points:

1. I am not a nutritionist
2. I am not a dietitian
3. I am a personal trainer who works with lots of clients with extremely busy lifestyles and want to get the most out of their fitness with the aim of improving their health and lifestyle
4. I won’t sell or ram supplement products down your throat
5. I will give you plenty of smart and good information on simple protein snacking ideas

In this week’s column, I am going to talk about the simple supplement protein and, in particular, whey protein.

If you want to look at the basics first and want to know what protein is, who needs it and how much you need, then go check out this article first.

My aim every day is to get at least 150g+ of protein. Each day I am generally on the go from 5am, working with clients and running the business side of things, until 9 or 10pm.

With all these hours in the day tied up it can be hard to hit my goals in relation to nutrition. Getting in the right amount of meals and hitting my macros can be a challenge at times and this is where a basic supplement like protein can come in handy.

Here are some simple ideas how you can use whey protein:

Breakfast smoothie

I start every day with a kick-start smoothie to ensure I am getting some of my nutrients in as early as possible. This is quick, easy and simple if you are an on-the-go person.

Below is a really simple breakfast smoothie recipe which takes five minutes to make and ticks all the boxes with all the right macronutrients you need.

• Handful of courgette
• Handful of blueberries
• Handful of spinach
• 1 tablespoon of nut butter
• 1 and half cup of almond milk or water
• 1 scoop of Kinetica vanilla whey protein power

Protein pancakes

A great way to start the weekend!

Generally I like to treat myself  after a long week and these protein pancakes always hit the spot. There are easy to make and taste really good.

You will need:

• 2-3 eggs
• 1 whole banana
• Nut butter
• Handful of blueberries
• Greek yogurt
• Coconut oil
• Kinetica whey protein (vanilla or chocolate flavour works best for me)

Cooking instructions:

1. Crack 2-3 eggs into blender (Nutribullet really is the king here)
2. Add 1 banana into blender along with eggs
3. Add 1-2 tea spoons of nut butter into blender
4. Add 1 scoop vanilla whey protein
5. Add coconut oil to pan, turn on low heat
6. Blend contents all together with bullet
7. Add contents into heated pan (allow it to settle slowly and you should have a great little pancake)

Once you mastered the flip allow other side to settle, 2-3 minutes is all that is needed as they can burn quite quickly.

Protein balls and bars

I always encourage my clients to try and make their own healthy snacks.

I generally make these every Sunday and a batch will do you for the week. In total, they only cost €7-10 to make and all the ingredients are readily-available.

Ingredients for bars:

• 200g mixed nuts (I use a mixed bag of walnuts, cashew nuts and hazelnuts)
• 1 bag of desiccated coconut (150-200g)
• 1 tea spoon vanilla extract
• 100-150g of dark choc (I went with 85% but anything between 70-90% works)
• 200g of coconut oil
• 2-3 spoons of meridian nut butter (cashew or almond)
• Handful of dried fruit (used raisins and mango this time)

Cooking instructions:

1. Blend mixed nuts, handful of dried fruit and desicated coconut together.
2. Add 200g of coconut oil and 2-3 spoons of nut butter to a heated pot and stir slowly on slow heat.
3. Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract to same pot and stir.
4. Add the blended mixture of nuts and coconut to the same pot, stir on low heat.
5. Heat 100-150g of 75-85% dark choc into a separate pot.
6. Apply all the ingredients from the main pot to dark choc and mix together.
7. Coat a small amount of coconut oil onto baking tray and apply the chocolaty mixture onto tray
8. Leave in fridge for two hours

Ingredients for vanilla and chocolate protein balls:

• 220/250ml can of coconut milk/cream
• 350-380g desiccated coconut
• 120g of whey vanilla protein powder (4 scoops)
• 1 tea spoon of vanilla essence
• 60g-100g of 70-85% dark chocolate

Method

1. Open can of coconut milk/cream, empty contents to bowl and whisk.
2. Add one tea spoon of vanilla essence and mix.
3. Add four scoops of vanilla protein to same bowl and whisk until smooth texture.
4. Add all the desiccated coconut to same bowl and whisk until substance becomes thick (Add more protein or coconut here if needed)
5. When mixture is solid enough form 8-12 balls leaving half of contents in bowl.
6. Put balls into fridge for an hour and allow to harden up.
7. Coat each vanilla ball with more desicated coconut then pop back into fridge to remain firm.
8. Heat dark chocolate.
9. Add remaining mixture with heated dark chocolate and allow to cool for five minutes.
10. When mixture has cooled form 8-12 dark chocolate balls then pop into fridge to cool and firm.
11. One hour later coat each chocolate ball with some more coconut flakes then pop into fridge for one hour and allow to harden up.

Enjoy!

David Last is a personal trainer based in Dublin. For more information you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or you can send him a direct message here.

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