Boswellia and Commiphora! A runners dream cream!

HEY!! Blonde’s BFF Melly here! I wanted to tell you about this awesome new product from Boswellia and Commiphora!

After being diagnosed with tilted knee caps in both knee’s approximately 10 years ago I’ve suffered badly with deep pain in my knees.

This started to ease earlier this year when I found a new love, Running! After 6 month’s of running regularly I have found that the pain only actually affects me post run, normally occurring after running for a distance of 5 and above miles.

I was excited when Blonde told me about the Boswellia and Commiphora Christmas spice joint cream, as for some time now I’ve been having to tape my knee’s with KT tape for any run above 5 miles. With a half marathon looming, it was the perfect time to really test this product and be able to give you a legit review as to whether it works or not….

I am pleased to say after using the joint cream for 2 weeks on the lead up, I completed with the Hertfordshire Half Marathon in 2 hours and 12 minutes WITHOUT any KT tape.

This morning, adrenaline officially dispersed, I woke up with minimal pain in my knee’s when bending – safe to say – THIS SH*T WORKS.

So now, I get to smell fabulous, look fabulous (so long KT Tape) and run long distance without the fear of waking up in tremendous pain the following day. Boswellia and Commiphora is my new runners go to!

Days 1-3 I applied the cream 3-4 times daily

Day 4 and onward I applied the cream 1-2 times daily

Race day – applied 3 times.

The product smell’s great, isn’t sticky like a lot of other moisturizers and didn’t grease or discolor any of my clothing!

Boswellia & Commiphora joint rub contains two traditional Christmas spices, Boswellia Serrata (Frankincense) and Commiphora Molmol (Myrrh).

The Christmas spice joint rub was found to be AS successful at reducing pain and inflammation caused by arthritis and stiff joints as conventional NSAIDs, according to a trial by a two UK doctors.

The two spices have a long medical history of relieving the inflammation associated with rheumatic and osteopathic forms of arthritis as well as other forms of joint inflammation.

The first UK trial using this unique combination was carried out by Dr Robert Jacobs, a GP from Devon, on 30 of his arthritic patients.

Dr Jacobs says: “"In my limited experience of ‘no-drug’ joint rubs, such as tiger balm that is very popular, this one appeared to be significantly more effective for the treatment of joint inflammation either from arthritis or from strain or trauma to the joint.”

In addition, a subsequent larger trial on 80 patients was carried out on Boswellia and Commiphora joint rub by GP Dr Donald Grant. He concluded that: “The spice joint rub had a statistically significant effect both on the pain and stiffness caused by arthritis. Of those on the trial, 83% stated that they felt the cream helped them with their arthritis.”

Boswellia and Commiphora Joint Rub costs £9.95 (100ml) and is available from www.skinshop.co.uk

Blonde Rambles: The Distraction Game

I think it’s amazing how quickly your life can turn around and slap you in the face the SECOND you take your eyes off the ball.

This happened to me a lot this year.

When I’m on form – slaying the shit out of each day – I AM UNSTOPPABLE.

When I am unstoppable, I am confident, happy, excited about every single aspect of every single day – when I breath those positive vibes onto you, know that I FEEL every single one of them from my heart.

I’ve noticed I am much more attractive as a person to others when I am in this state of mind too – when you feel good on the inside, it shines through – and your vibe really does attract your tribe!

It starts like this: You get distracted by a person or a situation for 5 minutes, then it turns to 10 minutes and before you know it the balls on one side of the country and you're on the other! Okay, slight exaggeration – but you get what I mean.

Then the distraction comes to a halt – like it was all just a dream and the reality of how much time you wasted hits you in the face.

Then comes the insecurities and self criticism  – have I lost my game?

Then…. comes anger. Anger at the distraction, anger at yourself for being swallowed up by some bullshit allowing you to take your eyes of YOUR GOALS in YOUR LIFE.

The final stage after this… is accepting the situation, letting go and getting back on your game.

Letting go – sounds so easy when it’s written down but acting it out when something has affected you is so much harder. I know.

I want you to know, what I wish someone would have told me – this happens to everyone. Life is a constant battle of U-turns and distractions. I also want you to know IT’S OKAY.

You will find your way back, because it’s built into you to slay -  if it wasn’t, you’d never have recognized the distraction as a distraction in the first place.

That’s all it was, a bullshit, distraction. 

Homemade Banana Bread (With Macro's)

Homemade Banana Bread! One of my favourite carby snacks and it’s so simple!!

Ingredients:

140g Wholemeal Flour

100g Self-Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Bicarb of Soda

300g Mashed Ripe Bananas

4Tbsp Runny Honey

3 eggs – beaten

1tsp Butter – melted

150ml Greek Yoghurt – 0% Fat

How we do:

Preheat your oven to 140 degree’s celcius. Grease and line a loaf tin with the melted butter and baking parchment.

Mix the flours, baking powder and bicarb in a large mixing bowl

In a separate bowl mix the banana, honey, eggs and yoghurt before quickly stirring into the ingredients to form a smooth-ish batter.

Scrape the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 75 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool your loaf on a wire rack and enjoy warm or at room temperature with a nice cuppa tea!

Macro’s per serving: 135 calories, 24g Carbs, 6g Protein, 2g Fat

Sweet Potato Protein Brownies (With Macro's)

Ingredients to make 8:

1 medium sized sweet potato (about 300g)

100g smooth peanut butter

25g melted chocolate

1 scoop unflavoured whey protein

2tsp cocoa powder

1tsp sweetener

How we do:

Wash and prick the sweet potato all over with a sharp knife and microwave on high for 5 minutes, turn and microwave for another 5 – at this point the inside should be soft and tender, but if it isn’t continue the process until it is, an extra minute at a time.

Preheat the oven to 180 celcius and line a brownie tin with baking parchment

Once the sweet potato has cooled, scoop out the flesh and mash until smooth. Mix in the peanut butter, whey protein, cocoa powder, sweetener and melted chocolate and continue mixing until it forms into a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into a brownie tin and spread out, smoothing it out and making it level.

Bake for around 20 minutes, until the top is well cooked

Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before slicing into 8 delishamous pieces!

Macro’s per brownie: 140 calories, 7g Protein, 8g Fat, 12g Carbs

Homemade Protein Snickers! (With Macro's)

Ingredients to make 6:

4 scoops vanilla whey protein

4tbsp coconut flour and a tiny bit extra for dusting later

100ml milk

6 medjool dates

60g dark chocolate

20g chopped nuts

1tsp caramel flavouring

1tbsp coconut oil

How we do:

In a large mixing bowl combine the coconut flour and vanilla whey, then gradually add the milk until you get a doughy texture

Roll the mixture into 6 equally sized balls then flatten them into bars using your hands

Put into the fridge to chill for 15 minutes – while these are chilling make the topping:

Remove the stones from the dates and blend with the salted caramel flavouring to make a paste, spoon the paste over the top of each bar and press on the chopped nuts – put back in the fridge

Using a small saucepan carefully melt the coconut and chocolate, coconut oil in first – don’t let the chocolate burn or it will become bitter.

Remove the bars from the fridge, cover in the melted chocolate mixture and return to the fridge to set, you’re looking at around 60 minutes.

Macro’s per bar: 218 calories, 17g protein, 10g fat, 16g carbs. 

No Bake Granola Protein Cookies (With Macro's)

Ingredients to make 5:

50g low sugar granola

1 scoop unflavoured whey protein

2tbsp smooth peanut butter

2tbsp milk

1tbsp organic coconut flour

How we do:

In a large mixing bowl combine the granola, whey protein, peanut butter and coconut flour

Gradually add in the milk until everything sticks together, but isn’t sloppy

Mix everything together using your hands (wash them first, please…) and separate into 5 balls.

Flatten the balls into a cookie and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Macros’ per cookie: 108 calories, 7g protein, 6g fat, 7g carbs