Chocolate pudding
As mentioned, I’ve been training for a half-marathon that is happening in about 10 days so my appetite has also grown — more like my stomach has become a sieve. I tend to get like that when I exercise 4 – 5 times a week.
Yesterday was a very busy day and I had to move from place to place quite quickly. Admittedly that made me slack on the food front. I just made a couple of smoothies and slapped together three nori rolls but I didn’t eat enough so by the time late afternoon came around, I just bought a konbu onigiri (kelp rice ball) to tide me over (I ran out of Larabars, too). I’m embarrassed to confess that I had two dinners yesterday! I had some brown lentil curry at 530pm and then I came home at 9pm and tucked into some somen noodles (thin Japanese rice noodles) in homemade veggie soup.
The lesson I learned is to eat more food during the day so I won’t eat so much in the evening. So this morning I had a melon-spinach smoothie and chased that with this chocolate pudding. It was so yummy and filling.
Recipe (in a high-speed blender):
3/4 soaked cashews
1/2 cup chia gel (soak 2 tbs chia seeds in 1/2 cup water)
2 soaked dates
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp raw cacao
1 tsp maca powder
1 scraped vanilla pod
I prepped the soaked ingredients the night before so I could be ready to go in the morning. You might be wondering why I used so little raw cacao because I’m very sensitive to caffeine and if I take too much of it, I actually have trouble winding down at night to sleep. Cocoa powder has a weaker effect but I generally try not to consume chocolate from noon.
I was very generous with my toppings: one chopped banana, 1 tbs bee pollen, 1/2 punnet of blueberries, and a handful of soaked pumpkin seeds. I’m trying to consume more pumpkin seeds to increase my iron levels. I don’t know if I’m deficient in iron but lately I’ve been feeling less energetic and it made me feel a mite depressed. I realized it could be a combination of psychological (I’m a bit weary of work) and physical (lacking in something) factors, so in a bid to fix what could be wrong, I’m going to try to get more iron into my body and more calories!
Pudding sounds great! Love dates as fuel for working out! Maybe I should eat more pumpkin seeds too, I have been tired lately too.
Do try that – I got this tip from a Brendan Brazier interview when he had low iron levels. He chucks them into his morning smoothie daily
I’m super caffeine sensitve too. I used to be able to drink coffee and go to sleep right away, but after i quit drinking it my caffeine sensitivity has skyrocketed! Now I prefer using carob instead of chocolate.
THis looks so good! I usually make my power puddings out of avocado, but I will have to try this one next time. Thanks!
@Mariannes: I tried carob before but it has a weird aftertaste but I think I might try a bag from The Raw Food World. Apparently it’s made in Italy and tastes exactly like chocolate.
@Jennifer: Avocado sounds like a great idea too though I tend to save mine for salads and raw soups. Avos are a little pricey in Tokyo so I tend to ration them out. More easily digestible methinks! I think some folks soak buckwheat overnight and blend them in the morning in puddings too…
First off – Much luck during the Half Marathon!
I will send you ENERGY and FOCUS in the next few days as well as lots of Energy for the ENDURANCE. Re: the fatigue and feeling a little blue – try citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruits!!! ) with some spirulina/e3live. I don’t know if what is available in tokyo but hopefully some sort of algae is available. The Aztecs used spirulina for endurance during battle.
Hi Meilinda, thanks for the encouragement!! Will take your citrus and spirulina advice and try that out. I never knew that the Aztecs used spirulina for endurance.
[...] yummy chocolate chia pudding I made before i left Toyko. It has the same base recipe as this one here, but I added two more soaked dates to make it sweeter. I topped this with chopped banana, kiwi [...]