Will you cut your arm if someone offered you a million dollars for it? Will you trade a disease for a beach villa? 

Hell, no.

If not health, what’s the most important thing in life? Another cliché that is true is: health is wealth! 

Yet how often do we take our health for granted. We procrastinate exercising, eat mindlessly and forget that our body is our most important asset, one that we will need till our last breath.

Our minimalistic lifestyle can lend itself to our minimalistic health routine too. We often start out with a big bang; spend on that gym membership, yoga mat, exercise ball, exercise bike, or those new sports shoes. But then fizzle out soon enough in a few weeks because we set lofty goals that seem unattainable, can’t keep up with it or because we are too busy (Does this sound like you?).

You don’t necessarily need to spend money to get fit. To get healthy the minimalistic way, we just need three things:

1. A willingness and a right mind set (that’s half the battle won right there)
2. 20-30 minutes of time 4-5 times a week (not a great feat, if the busiest people in the world can find time, so can we)
3. A habit of mindful eating

Start small, for free. Set out 20-30 minutes for brisk walking. Free floor exercises, yoga, running, playing a sport you enjoy are some ways in which you can get your exercise, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

And diet doesn’t have to be expensive either. Just cut down all the sugary soda drinks, and replace them with more water, green juices, or teas. Reduce eating processed food and eat more whole foods. Be more mindful of the things you eat when you are stressed. What are you reaching for? Cakes, cookies, or that bag of chips? Replace them with healthier alternatives like whole grain slice of toast with any nut butter of your choice, whole fruits, nuts and seeds. 

But most importantly, enjoy the process and have fun with it all. Don’t be too strict on yourself either. Let yourself enjoy all the things you love once in a while. Form sustainable habits.

What are some of the long-term health benefits of minimalist health care routine?

• Less anxiety
• Less stress
• More calm and peace
• Clarity of mind
• More time to enjoy and do things at your pace
• Self-confidence
• You’ll keep your weight consistent depending on your exercise and diet
• And, more money in your bank (all that saving)

Minimalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, who have helped over 20 million people live meaningful lives with less say, “That’s the point of this entire [minimalistic lifestyle] journey [was to] to strip away the superfluous so we can focus on what’s important: our health.”

Minimalism has been the buzz word for a while now and we thought about writing a 3 part series on what it means to us and how we can introduce it into our lives. The first of the series is;

Minimalism in kitchen

Raise your hand if you are guilty of buying unnecessary kitchen appliances and ‘useful’ kitchen gadgets?

That vegetable spiralizer that you bought thinking you will make zoodles and salads every day? But used it a total of 1.5 times?

That juicer?

That panini maker? That stand mixer?

Wait…that waffle maker that you can’t be bothered to heat for 20 minutes before you make one waffle?

That bread maker you bought thinking all the bread you will make in your life time but only used twice?

Garlic press? Mandolins? Apple slicer? A dozen different kinds of peelers? Pasta maker? Ice cream maker? 

Multiple sets of glasses, cutlery, bowls, plates?

Do we really need these many items or gadgets in our kitchen? We can do with a few basics: two very good knives and a good bullet blender will do the job too. Imagine all the space you can save!

The commercials, cooking shows and advertisements may give you an impression that to be a good cook you need all those fancy things. The reality is if you suck at cooking, you suck at cooking because you haven’t practiced enough or you aren’t passionate enough. If all the fancy appliances could make us all wonderful Michelin star cooks, then all the fancy restaurants will have gone out of business by now.

The main use of having a minimalist kitchen is having a clutter-free space, freeing up counter spaces, and having more surface area to work on. Clutter can lead to stress and make cooking feel like a chore rather than an enjoyable social experience. Constantly having to juggle for space and struggling to find where things are in kitchen can add to the pressure we experience while cooking and make kitchen feel like an unwelcome space.

In a nutshell, minimalism in kitchen is reducing your clutter and managing with less number of things. It means questioning each and every item in your kitchen and understanding what purpose it is solving. 

There are simple ways in which you can get started. Don’t buy junk kitchen tools from dollar store. Don’t buy fancy gadgets that you would probably just use once. And donate and dispose things that don’t serve any purpose in your kitchen. 

Put some music on and enjoy your cooking time in kitchen!

Calcium caseinate is a protein produced from casein in skimmed milk and sometimes 1% milk. It is instantly soluble in water and because of its instant solubility it is widely used in food and beverage industry for products like coffee creamers and cream soups.

Calcium caseinate has found many other uses too. Athletes, body builders and active sportsmen use it as a dietary supplement at night, with breakfast or after work outs. It is different from whey protein in the sense that it breaks down at a slower rate than whey protein and supplies body with a sustained release of amino acid over a longer period of time, that is, up to 10 hours.

Calcium caseinate is produced by changing the pH of milk to neutral or acid. At this stage, casein is relatively insoluble in water and easily separated from other milk proteins and sugars. After separation, it is combined with calcium hydroxide at high alkaline levels and dried as protein.

What are some of the benefits of calcium caseinate?

• When regular meals are not possible, this protein provides body with a steady supply of amino acids
• It can help in increasing your metabolism
• It can be taken as supplement to add extra protein to you diet without adding extra sugar or fat to your diet, thus aiding in weight loss
• It helps in preventing snacking and over eating
• It is suitable for men and women of all ages
• It has high levels of minerals like calcium and phosphorus, which are vital for bone formation and  strength
• It provides muscle restoration
• L-Glutamine in Calcium caseinate helps in muscle building

Needless to say this has come to be known as a ‘wonder protein’ in the fitness world and has come to be used as one of the active ingredients in cooking and baking too. It has a very stable shelf-life and is hence used widely in food and confectionary industries. All our products are made up on Justine’s secret Protein Blend, however, we are glad to share that the main ingredient is Calcium Caseinate.

At Justine’s, we are all about what goes into our cookies. We are 100% kiwi-owned, and our cookies are 100% kiwi-made.

So what’s the big deal about made in New Zealand, you ask? While, there are more than one reason to feel proud. The gist is “Ko tātou enei – It’s who we are.”

According to the The New Zealand Story Group website New Zealand is a progressive nation of creative idea-makers delivering new solutions whilst always caring for people and place.

For example, New Zealand ranks 11th our of 113 countries for food security, measure through food quality, safety, availability and affordability on the Global Food Security Index. People recognise that and hence simply put, NZ made food ROCKS!

At Justine’s, we basically get it. We get it that you value your fitness so much. We get it that you are conscious about what goes in to your body. We get it that you want a sweet treat but not the guilt that comes with it.

We get it that you feel cheated when you use up most of your daily quota of calories with just one serving of a regular monster cookie, especially after hours you may have spent at the gym doing resistance training. We get it that it’s annoying when there is not a half-decent healthier cookie alternative in the market that doesn’t taste like saw dust, ya saw dust!

• By sourcing highest quality of raw materials locally and ethically, we support local                 communities and small businesses
• We care for our environment and use sustainable practices
• We do our little bit by supporting RPSO and using sustainable palm oil
• We are Celiac Australia and New Zealand trademarked
• We create local jobs
• And most importantly, with our increasing exports we are telling the story of New Zealand, one cookie at a time!

At Justine’s, we believe healthy doesn’t have to be boring. Healthy shouldn’t be a choice, it should be your default. Our cookies are not just power-packed with protein, they are extremely low on carbs and they taste seriously good too. They are batch-made with a good measure of passion and undergo the highest quality tests. So they won’t increase your waist-line or rot your teeth, when you sink your teeth into our lovingly-made cookies!

Hello there, Cookie Monsters. Instead of doing the usual blog, we thought we’d take a few moments to introduce our products to you. Instead of the usual meet and greet, we’re putting it all on show so you know exactly what you’re getting when you buy from us. Sometimes change is hard so hopefully, this blog will inspire a few of you to branch out and try something a little different. So, read on for the ever important meet and mingle, hopefully, you like what you see…

Before we get started, we’ll just say that all of our cookies unique, are made in NZ, are Celiac Certified, and are; Ultra Low Carb, High in Protein, are Wheat and Gluten Free, are High in Fibre and don’t contain any Added Sugar. You can expect this across the board with all of our products so you don’t have to worry too much there.

Chocolate Chip

We’ll kick it off with Mr Popular over here. This little number is our best seller, and for good reason. Chocolate Chip is classic, reliable and dependent. Our 64g version of this flavour has 16.8 grams of Protein, 1.6 grams of Carbohydrates, and 7.5 grams of Fibre. This makes it the perfect option for all you low carbers out there, as it has the least carbohydrates of any of our other options. If you’re a newbie to Justine’s products then this is the gateway cookie for you.

Choc Fudge

If you’re a chocolate fiend, then you'll like our Chocolate Fudge Cookie. Our 64g option is the hardest hitter when it comes to Fibre, coming in hot at 7.8 grams per cookie. Choc Fudge also has 16.3 grams of Protein, as well as 2.4 grams of Carbohydrates. It has a different texture to the other Cookies - we guess you could say that it’s a little, well, fudgier. The chocolatey-ness of this Cookie makes it a little more indulgent than the others too so if you’re a bit of a self-confessed glutton then you’ve certainly met your maker with this one. Tastes delicious heated up in the microwave with a side of yoghurt/cream.

Raspberry White Chocolate Chip

Our Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Cookie is for you fruity folk. It’s a bit lighter than our other cookies, but we can safely say that it’s no lightweight when it comes to nutrition. Raspberry White Chocolate Chip has 17.7 grams of Protein, 1.9 grams of Carbohydrates, and 7.5 grams of Fibre in each 64 gram serving. This option may look sweet but here at Justine’s, it’s what’s inside that counts! We recommend this one in the 64 gram of course, but it also makes a great snack for lunchboxes in the 25 gram option. So, get to it, the world is your oyster!

Peanut Butter Choc Chip

At Justine’s, we like to think the nuttier the better. Our Peanut Butter Choc Chip option is no exception. This one wins in the Protein department, packing in 19 grams of Protein per 64 gram serving. It also has just 2 grams of Carbohydrates and 5.8 grams of Fibre. The Peanut Butter Choc Chip is a little less sweet than the others so is perfect for those of you who don’t have too much of a sweet tooth. We are proud to say that our this option has a five star health rating. Living guilt-free has never tasted this good.

Double Choc Dream Brownie

The newest addition to our family, we like to think of the Double Choc Dream Brownie as kind of a mother figure in the others lives. The Brownie is bigger than the others, at 80 grams. Despite this, the price remains the same as the 64 gram options. The Double Choc Dream Brownie has 15 grams of Protein, 2.4 grams of Carbohydrates, and 4 grams of Fibre. This option has a four health star rating which isn’t too shabby, whatsoever.

So, there it is. We hope you feel better acquainted with our line. Hopefully, you've made a new friend today.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact support@justinescookies.com. Thanks!

Weights are no longer for the bodybuilding elite of the fitness world, they’re for your everyday guys and gals, too. Now, we know that most guys know the benefits of the gains game and women are catching onto this a little too. In this blog, we really want to emphasise how important it is for both sexes to commit to regular resistance training and try and stave away women's fears about the practice, so read on for all the physical and mental benefits of incorporating this into your workout routine.

Cardio is great, don’t get us wrong. Please do cardio. Women, in particular, do a lot more cardio than guys; it’s amazing for cardiorespiratory function and is great for burning fat. Resistance training, however, it just as important, purely for aesthetic reasons it’s good to do both to get that ‘bikini bod’ everybody loves. Doing weights regularly isn’t just good for looking good, it is an extremely efficient way of improving your health in the long term. According to betterhealth.vic.gov.au some of these benefits can include;

• improved muscle strength and tone – to protect your joints from injury
• maintaining flexibility and balance, which can help you remain independent as you age
• weight management and increased muscle-to-fat ratio – as you gain muscle, your body burns more kilojoules when at rest
• may help reduce or prevent cognitive decline in older people
• greater stamina – as you grow stronger, you won’t get tired as easily
• prevention or control of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, back pain, depression and obesity
• pain management
• improved mobility and balance
• improved posture
• decreased risk of injury
• increased bone density and strength and reduced risk of osteoporosis
• improved sense of wellbeing – resistance training may boost your self-confidence, improve your body image and your mood
• a better night’s sleep and avoidance of insomnia
• increased self-esteem
• enhanced performance of everyday tasks.

So, now that we’ve ironed all of that out, how do you get started? Well, there are a few key rules for making sure you get the most out of strength training. When weight training, it’s best to target particular muscle groups at a time as opposed to doing all over body workouts. This gives your muscles a window of recovery time before you whip them back into pain. Anyone who’s hit the gym pretty hard knows what it’s like to not be able to move in the days afterwards so this just ensures that even if your legs are a bit wobbly, at least your arms and the rest of you are all good to go. Beyond this, you need to add variety to your weight training exercises as well as with weights, this allows your muscles to adapt and strengthen, making you stronger. When using weights, they need to be at a level that is kind of comfortable, to begin with, but by the end of each set of reps, you should be struggling. This takes some trial and error and will obviously fluctuate as you become stronger.

Also, you need to warm up before you start resistance training. This is pretty simple, just do some kind of aerobic exercise for 5-10 minutes before starting your reps and you should be good to go. While you’re at it, a little bit of light stretching never hurt anybody.

We’re going to cut the blog short here, we don’t want to overload you with information but we have included some handy links at the bottom of this page for further reading, we highly recommend it. There’s extensive research done about resistance training and even incorporating two 15-20 minute workouts per week will have you feeling the burn and reaping the health benefits so check them out!

Further Reading:

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/resistance-training-health-benefits

https://examine.com/nutrition/what-are-the-benefits-of-resistance-training/

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/trainingstation1.htm

Over the weekend, my colleague Elliott and I went to our first ever Health Expo in the biggest smoke that New Zealand has to offer: Auckland. Obviously, we’ve been to Health Expos before because we’re health freaks but never as exhibitors and, I have to admit, I was nervous. Read on for a fun telling about our little adventure to the Health Food Live Expo.

We arrived on Friday, frantically zooming around in a rental car with the ever faithful Siri not-so-effectively leading the way. Being from little old Wellington, we took many a wrong turn on motorways and often ended up riding around in circles. People do not joke when they speak of Auckland traffic, it is definitely chaotic at times but that all adds to the experience, right?

Eventually, we arrived at our Airbnb on the North Shore. Pretty nice eh, right by the water too so we didn’t feel too homesick. On Saturday was when things really started to get serious. After an early morning start and copious amounts of coffee, we made our way to the North Shore Events Centre. It was 8:30 in the morning and things were already rather manic. After much fumbling around, with seasoned expo exhibitors looking on in amusement, Elliott and I managed to put together our cute little Justine’s Cookie stall.

Overhead on the loudspeakers, we hear the proclamation; “Alright exhibitors, the gates will be opening in 5 minutes”. I have, to be honest, I didn’t expect much activity in the first few hours but people were lined up and ready to rock and roll on into the expo at 10 am on the dot. We were a touch taken aback and I kept making the conversational error of saying ‘smell’ instead of ‘sell’ which was a tad uncomfortable but hey, we’re all human right?

The roof of the Expo also sounded like it might be blown away, it was a blustery, cold, and extraordinarily rainy day. It seems that you can take the girl out of Wellington but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the horrible weather isn’t going to stay in Wellington. Despite this, people kept on coming, they’ll do anything for their healthy food tasters!

It was a busy, busy day and by the end of it Elliott and I were both knackered and we hadn’t even had a chance to see any of the other stalls either!

Then Sunday came, we had a more relaxed start to the morning and were happy to see that the sun was shining. Auckland had finally delivered on its good weather promise! Sunday at the expo was a little more relaxed, not sure if it was because of the weather or what but it meant that we each got the chance to do a walk around. There was everything there that you could possibly imagine; dairy free ice creams and yoghurts, gluten free chicken nuggets, sauces, gluten free pies, a trampoline, protein powders, lunchboxes, and lastly, my favourite thing which was a hedgehog mascot. The kids liked that one too.

By the end of it all, the wafting smell of sauerkraut and kimchi from the stall next door had Elliott and I thought of nothing else. We left with three jars each.

So, overall, it was such a cool experience. I was a newbie to Auckland so it was neat to visit the City of Sails for the first time and we met so many lovely, health conscious people at the expo and it was so cool to talk to people about Justine’s Cookies. Some were avid fans and others had never heard of us, it was exciting to talk to both ends of the spectrum.

Being gluten-free is pretty on trend at the moment. We all have a friend who is on this diet yet indulges in the occasional scone at your weekly meet ups. Celiac Disease, however, is much more serious than this and those who suffer from this autoimmune disease have to be extremely careful about what they eat. In this blog, we’re going to break down what Celiac disease is and how it affects those with it.

Celiac disease is a permanent intestinal reaction to gluten. The most common symptom of this disease is diarrhoea although this can differ from person to person and some don’t experience any symptoms at all. It is an autoimmune disorder that means that gluten damages the cells lining the bowel, these are called villi. This reaction to gluten causes the finger-like villi to become flattened, thus reducing the surface area of the intestine and increasing chances of malabsorption. This means that sufferers cannot absorb minerals and vitamins such as folic acid, calcium, iron, and many others correctly. This can result in serious deficiencies such as anaemia, osteoporosis, infertility, and the like.

It is thought that Coeliac Disease is hereditary, with immediate family members having a 10-15% chance of receiving coeliac disease themselves. In saying this, both genetic and environmental factors weigh in and can influence Coeliac Disease. It is thought that 1 in 70 New Zealanders have Coeliac disease, with many reporting symptoms of the autoimmune condition while many are still unaware that they have it. Symptoms can become prevalent at any age; children with Coeliac Disease may experience stunted growth and other complications due to malabsorption.

Symptoms of celiac disease may include some, or all, of the following:

• Weight loss
• Indigestion, abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence. This may be general or associated with digestion of particular foods
• Gastrointestinal changes such as bulky fatty bowel motions, sometimes pale and bad smelling
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Nausea and vomiting
• Anaemia (usually resulting from iron deficiency)
• Folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies.
• Fatigue and generalised weakness
• Muscle cramps due to low calcium levels
• Blistering, itchy or painful rash - particularly about the knees, elbows, buttocks and back (dermatitis herpetiformis)

Treatment for Coeliac Disease involves eliminating gluten from diets completely, it’s only when this is achieved that the villi has a chance to repair itself and can start absorbing nutrients again. This does not mean, however that gluten is something that can necessarily ever be tolerated by someone with Celiac Disease, mind you.

Having Celiac Disease is tough, it involves an extremely controlled diet for some to the point where eating out at restaurants or consuming anything not prepared at home could potentially be dangerous. If reading this blog has got you thinking that you or someone you know may have Celiac Disease then please contact your medical professional.

Also, is it Coeliac or Celiac? We have no idea...

Further Reading:

http://www.coeliac.org.nz/coeliac-disease/what-is-coeliac-disease