Introducing Power of Boxing’s guest health coach, Nixie Graham of Instagram’s Naturally Nixie
In her quest for a diet to best complement boxing, the Boxing Godmother speaks to food, health and meditation coach Nixie Graham, AKA Instagram’s Naturally Nixie.
Nixie made the following recommendations to optimise the boxer’s diet:
First thing in the morning
Drink a large mug of hot water mixed with half a squeezed lemon or one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. (Nixie: “This is a great way to cleanse, neutralise acidity from the night before and rehydrate.”)
Breakfast
Nixie: “Variety and gentle pre-planning are key when it comes to breakfast.”
• Whizz up a smoothie one morning - frozen berries, orange, kiwi, coconut water, almond butter (“great protein”), flax seeds (“excellent fatty acids”) and greens - vary between spinach, celery and cucumber
• Good old porridge the next day
• Or eggs: scrambled on pumpernickel bread or any which way with avocado on pumpernickel toast
• Granola: Nixie loves Primrose’s Kitchen Granola, but shares her great homemade recipe below*
• Stew some apple - add water, cinnamon, raisins; keep in an airtight container and have with coconut yoghurt the next morning
• Hummous: try this: avocado with olive oil and lemon on hummus on top of pumpernickel bread
• Avoid sugar, including honey and maple syrup, and sprinkle whatever you can - Greek yoghurt, stewed apple, smoothie - with LSA (1/3 cup linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds mixed in a blender; keep in a container in the fridge)
Snacks
Think nuts, seeds, fruit and veg. Try to leave 3-4 hours between eating to aid digestion. Bananas, celery, rice cakes with hummous, even grass-fed biltong. Dry roast some raw cashew nuts for about five minutes and sprinkle with dried chilli flakes and sea salt. Try this: it’s amazing: half a date spread with almond butter and 85%+ cocoa dark chocolate on top. Yum!
Lunch
Seasonal veg is the aim here. Soups and salads with root veg, nuts, seeds, eggs, chicken. Try to eat organic and seasonal. Avoid toxic fish, especially salmon and tuna. Make your carbs pumpernickel bread or alternative grains like quinoa (“Pret a Manger is pretty good for this.”)
Have Greek yoghurt for pudding topped with any or all of: nuts, seeds, apple, banana and dark chocolate.
After boxing
Replenish your body with protein: almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Nixie’s date / almond butter / dark chocolate snack above.
Rehydrate with plenty of water and a herbal tea.
Dinner
Lots of veg. Organic chicken or red meat: Nixie loves Eversfield Organics’s grass-fed meat. Try not to drink anything with your food - drink half an hour before and half an hour after to avoid watering down your digestive juices. Try to leave 12 hours between dinner and breakfast to allow your body to ‘fast’. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid caffeine, try and avoid alcohol and definitely cut out sugar. Note that the top causes of inflammation in the body are sugar, gluten and dairy. Cut out these and your body will run as efficiently as possible.
Supplements
Go for Magnesium and Vitamin D.
“And as with anything,” says Nixie, ‘following the 80 / 20 rule is the secret of success.”
Nixie’s homemade granola
In a big bowl add a mixture of the following:
1 cup flaked almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup gluten-free oats
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp cacao powder
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of sea salt
Melt 1/4 cup coconut oil, add to the above mixture and stir until everything is well coated. Pour onto a baking tray, spread the mixture out evenly and pop it in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and stir every now and again. Let it cool and put it into an airtight container. Now you have the perfect breakfast either with milk, on top of yogurt or sprinkled over stewed apples.
