Things I Tried in April

Well, we’re a week into May already, can you believe it?!

April was a great, but busy month. I ran the Trowse 10k on Easter Sunday and played in 3 Roller Derby games. I wrote about Eastern Sur5al at the time as it was a public game, but the other 2 were closed door games with the Norfolk Brawds newly formed B team. We travelled all the way to Brighton to play their new B team, which we sadly lost, and played against a mixed Cambridge Rollerbillies and Suffolk Roller Derby B Team which we won.

I also tried Boxing, and immediately hurt my wrist as I am pathetic and feeble. I’ve also been trying the Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide exercise plan. Much as I have issues with the phrase “Bikini Body” (and that’s a can of worms we don’t want to open right now) the workouts themselves are really hard, and I’m definitely seeing results! I’m going to review the program in full when I finish it, but if you fancy a taster you can get a free 7 day download, which is 3 workouts.

There are also of course, some products I tried that I think are worth sharing, so here we go!

Slim Rice & Noodles

Holland and Barrett sent me a couple of packets of this stuff. It’s made from konjac and is gluten free, fat free, carb free and basically everything free. They’ve got about 6 calories for half a pack, so they’re perfect if you’ve had a big lunch and want a lighter dinner, or if you’re counting carbs and want an easy dinner accompaniment that isn’t salad.

I preferred the rice to the noodles, the noodles taste fine, but they texture is a little more chewy than regular noodles and sauce doesn’t stick as well. I think the texture is more suited to the rice, which I’ll almost certainly buy again as it’s great to stick in the cupboard for emergencies!

One note, it does stink when you take it out of the packet and you need to rinse it well before cooking!

Protein Mousse

Yep, you heard, there’s protein mousse now. Pudding can help towards your daily protein intake! I loved this stuff as it was ridiculously easy to make. Shake it up in a shaker, pour it into a little dish (I use those cheesecake ones from things like Gu at the supermarket) and put it in the fridge. I was sent white chocolate and raspberry, it did have maybe a slightly synthetic taste and was a little powdery, but not enough to stop me eating it and to be honest it might just be the flavour as I find that with a lot of white chocolate puddings! I make one serving for 2 of us and pour it into separate containers, which gives about 16 grams of protein and 90 calories.

I’ve just ordered the Chocolate Fudge flavour to try, so I’ll let you know how that goes!

G-Loves

I only really do any lifting at the gym once a week in our sessions with Norfolk Brawds fitness sponsors Style Health & Fitness, but I was starting to get calluses on my hands, probably also due to Wednesdays sessions where we do a lot of bodyweight stuff on monkey bars etc. So I started to look into some workout gloves. I preferred ones with the knuckles free, as the others felt restrictive, and I found G-Loves in AMAZING patterns in the US. They were a bit pricy to ship over, but then I found a UK stockist and decided to splash out on a fierce leopard print pair to get me round Rough Runner in May. They fit well and have a good grip on the palms, as well as looking completely kick ass!

Smart Protein Powders

I was sent a couple of sample sizes of this powder, and they were nice, no synthetic aftertaste. I also mixed some of the vanilla flavour into a chia pudding with oats for breakfast one morning which was really nice. While it doesn’t have a huge amount that makes it stand out from other protein powders I’ve tried, it tasted good, and a pretty good price as well.