5 Minutes With…..Aisling O’Kelly

Today Sarah Holm took time out to chat with Aisling O’Kelly a nutritional therapist and healthy living blogger about her beauty secrets, career highlights and diet advice. She has also kindly shared with us her recipe for Protein Pancakes, they are simply delish and a must try for anyone out there! Her blog is EatLoveLive.it 

1. Can you tell us a little more about yourself and what do you do?

My name is Aisling and I am a Nutritional Therapist. My main focus is to help people find the balance between living a healthy lifestyle, while also enjoying some of life’s guilty pleasures. I set up a Facebook page called EatLiveLoveIt to share my easy tips with everyone, not just my own clients! I also work in a Complementary Health Clinic in Portmarnock, Co.Dublin called Breath of Life.

 2. Career highlight to date?

My biggest highlight so far is getting up for work and loving what I do. I offer online programmes and dietary advice for clients who hail as far away as from New York to Dubai to Australia – it’s amazing! I am also the general manager of Breath of Life Clinic. I feel like that’s a pretty great achievement considering I am only 24!

 3. Favourite healthy treat?

Air popped popcorn – hands down! I am one of these people who only go to the cinema for the popcorn – so when I got a popcorn machine, my life was complete!! I use wholegrain kernels and then I sprinkle them with some pink Himalayan salt- which has amazing health benefits.

4. Any good health secrets?

I love dandelion tea! Dandelion contains natural diuretic and liver detoxing properties which means it will flush out any extra water in your body. Depending on your diet, water, salt intake and time of the month your body can carry up to 5lbs of water weight! Before a night out or if I am feeling sluggish I will guzzle back the dandelion tea. Sometimes I will throw in a peppermint tea bag or a slice of lemon too.

5. Favourite exercise?

Definitely squats! If you had of asked me a year ago I would have said running but I have recently got into weight training and I love it. I can now squat my own body weight using a bar with weights on my back- yet 6 months ago I could barely lift the bar! It’s amazing seeing your body get so much stronger and, as an added bonus, your waist get smaller!

 6. Best workout advice?

Find something you enjoy! There is such variety out there nowadays from Zumba to TRX to kettle bells to trampling. Get a workout buddy and find what you love. My love for weights started off in my room using 3kg dumbbells and copying YouTube workout videos. I used to love getting up in the mornings and working out in my PJ’s! It was only after I started seeing results that I joined the gym.

 7. What motivates you to workout on ‘off days’?

I always remind myself that, ‘You never regret a workout’… I don’t think I have ever come out of the gym and thought to myself ‘Gosh I wish I didn’t do that!’ Also, as my job is to give people health advice on a daily basis I feel a certain amount of pressure to look a certain way – you are your own advertisement after all! So keeping this in mind it definitely motivates my client in their early morning workouts!!

 8. What is your best diet advice?

Set yourself small goals. In my opinion there is nothing worse than the mind set of ‘OK its Monday- no more chocolate, carbs or alcohol and I am going to have a Kale salad every day for lunch’. For a lot of people this is completely different to what their typical day would look actually be like. These massive changes make it so hard to stick to. My advice would be to pick one thing each week and focus on that. When I started to learn about nutrition I made small changes to my diet each week… ‘This week I am going to drink 2 litres of water every day’. ‘This week I am going to switch from mayonnaise to balsamic vinegar on my salad’. This is a better way to make long term lifestyle changes

9. Who is your role model and why?

As cliché as this sounds, my Mam is my role model. She left her job as a full time nurse, with 4 young kids at home, to open up her own complementary medicine clinic. 20 years later she has a thriving business and is really making a difference in people’s lives. At 57, you will either find her glued to the latest health research book or attending lectures and weekend courses. She is constantly trying to better herself so she can provide the best advice for her clients. This drive and passion has definitely rubbed off on me. I honestly don’t think I would be a Nutritionist if I hadn’t grown up in a house where there was such a huge focus on health.

 

Recipe: Breakfast Pancakes

(Serves 7)

My fave recipe are these breakfast pancakes – they are so delicious and it’s hard to believe they are guilt free!!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 banana
• 1 Tablespoon Oats
• 1/2 cap vanilla extract
• 50mls coconut milk (or any milk of your choice)
• Chocolate protein powder (optional)

 

Whiz the ingredients in a blender such as a Nutribullet ( or you can use a fork and mix it all up) and then spoon about 4 tablespoons (gives 1 pancake) on to a pan with coconut oil. You get about 7 pancakes from this recipe.

Toppings that taste great on these pancakes: Greek yoghurt and nuts. White chocolate and peanut butter, topped with strawberries and cacao nibs!!

Check out Aisling’s Blog here for more healthy eating tips, exercises and recipes.