Upbeat Protein Drink

The people at Upbeat got in touch with me to do a review on their protein drink and sent me some vouchers to go hunt down there protein drink.

 I am always happy to help out so here's my thoughts.

I haven't really seen Up Beat in any of the shops I normally go into and this is because I mainly shop at the super market closest to me and they don't stock Upbeat, luckily they have a handy store locator on their website, click here to see if you can get your paws on some for yourself!

The recommended retail price is £1.79 and comes in four flavours, Strawberry, Blueberry and Raspberry, Mango and Passion fruit and Chocolate and Orange.

Sadly in  two of the stores nearest to me one I could only get the Blueberry and Raspberry flavour and the third store I tried had stopped selling it all together. 

I first went to the Co op which was painless, Up beat drinks clearly on display in the dairy section.

Second up was Sainsburys which was a little harder, the Up Beat drinks that I had come in search of were hidden behind Innocent smoothies so I took it upon myself to rearrange the shelves a little so people could actually see them particularly because they were on offer.

Lastly I tried Tesco Express, the store locator said that they stocked Up Beat but the shop assistant told me they no longer sell it.

On to the actual drink.

I would say the taste and consistency is more like a yoghurt drink than anything with a strong flavour, I could really taste the raspberries and blueberries in the drink.

Upbeat make their drinks from real fruit puree, milk and not much else which is great to see, I personally hate when I don't recognise most of the ingredients on my product.

If I am honest I am not the biggest lover of raspberries and blueberries but the I quite enjoyed the Up Beat drink and am looking forward to trying the other flavours they offer.

Upbeat drinks each contain 20g of whey protein which would be like eating around 70g of chicken, which is plenty to keep your muscle fed between meals.

I hope to see Upbeat in more shops in the future even if it's just to get my the other three flavours in my belly!

If you love coffee and but still want your protein fix then check out Twist's Protein Coffee

Gillette Fusion Pro Styler

I have let me winter coat grow so now it's time to get the gardener in and spruce the place up and who better than Gillette?

 In the past I have reviewed both Veet spray and Gillette Manual Proglide in my quest to find the fastest and most cost effective way of getting rid of unwanted fuzz and thought it was I time I brought in some hardware! 

I bought the Gillette Fusion Pro Styler from Amazon for £15, which price wise is like buying just short of two bottles of veet spray so if it Gillette do everything they promise then this is a worth while investment.

The styler comes with three guards, marked with the number of the grade they provide, a razor for a clean shave, a handy holder and a Duracell battery.

On to the testing! 

The guards are easy to fit, change and the trimmer it's self is easy to clean.

 The trimmer worked great on most of the areas I tried it out on.

 I did get one cut in an intimate area but I will let you use your vivid and sordid imagination as to where that was just make sure you proceed with caution if you go south of the border!

The trimmer seems to some sort of over heat protection as it cut out after I had been using for about 15 minutes, what can I say? I am hardly Chewbacca but there is six foot of man here!

After about a minute I was ale to turn back on.

The only issue I found was that I don't like the positioning of the power button, I have almost browned my pants a few times when changing the guards because I have accidentally turned the trimmer on.

I love that the trimmer is powered by only one double A battery so if that special someone is on a mad hunt for batteries to power any other devices they will have to look a little harder to satisfy their needs.

With Veet and a manual razor I do find I get the odd spot on my chest and but after 2 days I seem to spot free so far.

There also hasn't been any irritation from regrowth.

I feel all the products I have reviewed have their merits and if I had to chose between the three I would go for the Pro Styler which is a bit of a cop out because it does include the manual attachment.

I will only use veet again to do my thighs which isn't currently on the cards!

Update on this review, well the trimmer has broken so I guess that makes the review null as I don't intend on by a new trimmer every couple of months.

I will be reviewing a body trimmer by Babalis so I will let you know if that stands the test of time better.

Flourless Pancake recipe

Pancake day might of come and gone but that doesn't mean you have to wait an entire year to enjoy them again!

I have been meaning to try out this flourless pancake recipe for ages now and finally got my life together enough to do it, if you want to check out the site I got the recipe from then click here

Ingredients

1 and a half large ripe bananas.

2 medium eggs.

Half a tsp of vanilla.

A quarter of a tsp of cinnamon.

One eighth of a tsp of baking powder.

Any toppings that you might like!

Method

Crack eggs and whisk in a bowl and in a different bowl mash up your bananas, I used a masher then finished off with a fork.

Add all your ingredients together and stir.

Pour about 2 table spoons of your batter into a pan at a time on a medium to low heat, cook until the bottom appears set, the flip and cook for another minute.

                                           Serve and enjoy!

I wasn't overly keen on these pancakes, I am not really a fan of heating banana and left me with an odd after taste.

 I won't be making this recipe again and no it's not just because my pancake mix looked like monkey sick!

If you are going gluten free then give them a go other wise just stick to the old fashioned ones.

On a side note it appears that potassium levels are unaffected so if you are trying to increase your potassium intake in a more creative way then this recipe would be ideal.

 I am just going to stick to eating bananas raw like God intended them to be enjoyed!

Coconut Meat

Everyone seems to always be raving about how wonderful coconut water and coconut oil are but what about the meat? 

Coconut meat has good levels of fibre, 80g gives you 29% of you RDA

Helps boost testosterone levels.

More than half of your RDA of Manganese which helps your body break down fats and proteins, helps your immune and nervous systems and also helps your body use other nutrients like vitamin E and iron.

13% of your RDA of potassium per 80g which is great for helping your body balance your fluid levels.

Now the really interesting thing that I came across is to do with the fat that's in coconut meat.

Coconut meat it's self has a high amount of saturated fat, however the type of fat in coconut gets broken down into energy very quickly so it does not get chance to get laid down as fat in your body.

I found that to be quite interesting but the bit that tipped me over the edge was it's potential to help people suffering from dementia.

Your brain likes to get it's energy from glucose but diseases like Alzheimer's make it harder for your brain to do this.

This is where coconut meat steps into the ring because your brain can happily get fuel from fat that has been broken down from the coconut!

For more in depth reading just google coconut and Alzheimer's.

30 Day Challenge: Squats

Squat Challenge

There are loads of Squat challenges floating about the Internet and I choose the one that I though looks the most horrendous from 30 day fitness challenges so if you think this one may be a bit much for your booty then hit google and find one that fits your level!
This site also has plenty of other challenges to under take so check them out here

If you are unsure how to squat the please check out my post here

Please make sure you warm up and drink plenty of water before giving this a bash!

I am including the Squat Challenge into my regular gym workout so when I am at the gym I will be doing dead lifts as well as that days allotted squats, this will obviously affect the results I will get vs just doing the squat challenge as my only leg exercise.

I found the squat challenge ok until I first broke 100 squats, not just the burning in my quads but the boredom of doing so many in one sitting.
I could space them out out through out the day but I want to challenge myself.

I was doing 100 squats with no gap when I reached 135.

When I got to 180 I wanted to quit.

220 my tracksuit bottoms ripped.

250 and I don't know how I managed to complete this challenge without skipping a single day!

I try and do them all within the space of an advert break while watching TV or waiting for the kettle to boil, you can always make time time if you really want to.

Day 1:  50        Day 9: 100             Day 17: 150         Day 25: 220

Day 2:  55        Day 10: 105           Day 18: 155         Day 26: 225

Day 3:  60        Day 11: 110           Day 19: 160         Day 27: 230

Day 4: Rest       Day 12: Rest         Day 20: Rest        Day 28: Rest

Day 5: 70          Day 13: 135          Day 21: 180         Day 29: 240

Day 6: 75          Day 14: 140          Day 22: 185         Day 30: 250

Day 7: 80          Day 15: 145          Day 23: 190

Day 8: Rest       Day 16: Rest          Day 24: Rest         Day 31: Admire your booty!

I unfortunately forgot to measure my legs and bum before I started this challenge and going forward with my other challenges I will be sure to include my measurements so I am afraid you will have to settle for my terrible photos.

Speaking of my photos, taking them was one of the most emasculating experiences of my entire life and my apologises for not wearing the same underwear in the before and afters!

Being someone who has being doing squats for a few years, never in this number mind, I did notice a slight difference  in the size of my derriere but nothing major, this may also be down to be gaining half a stone through my attempt to bulk up.

 The sheer numbers make it an exercise in endurance not hyper trophy.
 To get any real size added I have to squat big and heavy!

This is not to say that you will not see any results from the squat challenge, if you are not a keen squatter then you will see a difference at the end of the 30 days.

King Koby's Chop Shop

I started to look like a Sherk the sheep, you know the one that hide in a barn for 6 years and drown in his own fleece!

Luckily my Pink Gorrila app came to the rescue and let me know that King Koby's Chop Shop give away free hair cuts for the first four weeks of the year to new customers, add this to a free beer and cigar while you wait and this become an offer I couldn't refuse!

The shop yells from the top of it's lungs "Men at work" with it's rustic interior, leather couches, beers, cigars and laddish banter flying between the barbers as they create their master pieces I think a barbers shop inside a bar best describes it.

Basically if Ron Burgundy was a real life person this is where he would have his mane attended to.

If you don't know who Ron Burgundy is then you should stop reading and hang your head in shame and take a good hard look at your vagina.

King Koby's is found on the ground floor of the Corn Exchange, if you have never been then give it a gander it's a great looking building.

When I arrived it wasn't the best of starts, my booking had been lost some how, but in all honestly I completely forgive the guys, the place was packed and they were completely apologetic and managed to squeeze me in half an hour later.
 I was eternally grateful for because I needed needed a monster slash just as badly as I needed my mop sorting the funk out.

I am terrible when I go for my hair cut, I don't know what I am asking for, I just expect miracles to happen with little to no input from me!

The barber that was lumbered with me, Joseph did a great job and avoided the cliched shop talk like " been anyway nice recently". Generally my answer to this no, I have never been anywhere nice in my entire life!

I judge the quality of any hair cut I get by the amount of compliments I get and I received them in spades!

You can tell can see the level of skill all the barbers have just by having a look around, they clearly all love their work and there seems like a good level of camaraderie amongst the team.

Prices are more than competitive with the level of customer service provided, the ambiance, freebies and quality of the end result.

If your in Leeds be sure to check them out, if there are good enough for Mc Fly then they are certainly good enough for me.

Sadly my regular barber Abdul has lost a regular costumer!

Be sure to check out their Instagram to check out their work on guys that are slightly better looking than myself!