A Guest Blog by Katniss Everdeen:

Ok, so you want to know about the triune brain?  You really think I have time for this?  I mean really, I’m running around the woods, trapping squirrels, making sure Peeta doesn’t kill himself, and worried that Prim isn’t starving back at home.  Oh, and did I mention, I’m stuck in a love triangle?  And you want me to explain the triune brain for you?

Hhhmmpp. Fine, I’m doing this only because Sirena asked me (I owe her BIG) and she thought that it would help you since you know, she’s going to be talking about the brain, and love and all in the next several weeks.

So here it goes.

You see, the brain is made up of 3 distinct areas.  Some doctor in the 1960′s, I think his name was Dr. MacLean or something argued that our brain has 3 subdivisions: the reptilian brain, the limbic brain and the neocortex.  I’m not great with explaining things, so I had Peeta draw a picture for you, since he’s the artist:

I can’t go into too much detail because I have to meet Haymitch in a few minutes to discuss the next Reaping…the drunken bastard better show up this time…anyways, let me explain the reptilian brain first.

The Reptilain Brain

This is the part of the brain that keeps us alive.  Its our  survival brain, the earliest form of our brain that is a continuation of our spinal cord.  If this part gets damaged, we’re dead.  That’s it.  Bye bye.

The reptilian brain is only concerned with survival, so remember the part when I found Peeta hidden in the ground (how he did that is crazy) and we had to find shelter?  Well, that was our reptilian brain at work.

This part of the brain is deeply nestled in the skull so that it stays protected.  Like I said, if this part of the brain is damaged, we’re done for.  It’s called the Reptilian Brain because its the only brain a reptile has.  And if you think of a reptile, its main concerns are pure survival.

Must.  Find.  Shelter.  Must.  Eat. Food.  Oh, and running through the woods from fire?  Reptilian brain.

I think you get the picture now.

The limbic brain is next.

The limbic brain is the next section of our brain, and which follows our evolution from survival to actually having feelings.  This is the part of the brain that is responsible for our emotions… happiness, sadness, fear, joy…and yes, love.  Ugh, don’t even get me started on love.

Reptiles don’t have limbic brains. Since reptiles pretty much lay their eggs and peace out, there is no need to connect with their offspring, and hence, no need for emotions (I wish this was the case for me sometimes).  Which explains why you’ll never see an alligator cry when one of it’s eggs get eaten, but you’ll see a lioness rip out your throat if you try to get near one of it’s cubs.

This is the part of the brain that explains why I love Prim so much.

And this part of the brain is why I fell in love with Peeta…and Gale.  However, when I had to kiss Peeta in the cave, my 3 brains were fighting against each other.  I wasn’t sure yet if I loved Peeta yet, but I knew I needed to kiss him in order to survive.  So in this case, my reptilian brain directed my emotions.  The 3 brains talk to each other so when there is a conflict, and it comes down to survival, the reptilian brain takes over.

It actually was a pretty good kiss I have to say….

And finally, we have the neocortex.

This is the outermost part of our brain and the newest one in our evolution.  This is the brain that we think of when we think of a brain, you know those squiggily lines.  Its also divided into the left brain and the right brain.  This is the section of the brain that thinks of plans, and ideas, and comes up with crazy physics equations.  It’s like the computer of our brain.

Basically, all the technology that the Capital used to build the arena was built with the neocortex.

All of the planning, plotting, and strategizing by Seneca and President Snow?  Yep, neocortex.

F’ing creepster…

Even though each part of the brain has its own characteristics, all three of them communicate with each other.  As Sirena explained in a blog a couple of weeks ago, the reptilian brain is all about survival.  She thinks that I couldn’t really fall in love with Peeta or Gale fully because I was always using my reptilian brain, always trying to survive, or something like. Well hell, I’d like to see her run around the woods, sleeping in trees and fearing for her life every waking second.

Anyways, I gotta go.  Haymitch is waiting for me, and I have to make sure he hasn’t burnt his house down or anything like that.  We’re prepping for the next Reaping, and I think Sirena mentioned something about having me back at some point to talk about why we fall in love with who we fall in love with, or whatever.

May the odds be forever, in….er, hell, you know the deal.

Yesterday, Hannah and I met up at the Harvard football stadium in Cambridge, MA to hit up some stadium sprints.  Now, I will preface this by saying that Hannah and I don’t do traditional cardio.  Nope, don’t like it.  We both walk or ride our bikes EVERYWHERE around the city so for us to hop on the treadmill or eliptical on top of that would be pointless.

Plus, we are both fans of high intensity interval training, like jump roping, hill sprints, and running up and down stadiums.  It works for us, and is a nice balance to the strength training and pilates work that we both do.

For this workout, we started out with a little dynamic warm-up, and then went right into the sprints.  We originally planned on doing 10 sprints, however, after doing the first warm-up round and realizing just how high the steps were, and how taxing it was, we adjusted to 5…ha.

Here’s Hannah’s 2^nd round of sprints:

Now, what’s great about stadiums and hill sprints, is that they are explosive movements, which, the glutes respond to very very well.  If you happen to live in Boston or Cambridge, the Harvard stadium is a great place to do intervals.  If you don’t live near a stadium, or a football field, a steep hill would do the trick as well.

As a side note: for all those living in Brookline, Summit Ave is an awesome hill for sprints.  Plus, you’ll get a gorgeous view of the city at the top.

Since I believe that sprints should be sprints, I like to keep the work phase of the interval 20 seconds or under, 30 at the absolute max.  And it just so happens that each round of stadiums took us 10 – 12 seconds.  Perfect.  You can see our results in the table below:

This round of the LBC was another success, and each time that I do these online challenges, I not only meet some wonderful people from around the country, but I learn a ton about the coaching process, business, and even about myself personally.

We had 13 participants join from Boston, Minnesota, D.C., and as far out as California.  I am still in shock that I can actually help people with just a Wi-Fi connection.  (still waiting for that first international client…)

When it came down to figuring out a winner the other night, I was actually having some anxiety because the 2 finalist were neck and neck in their measurements, and they both had great essay questions.  Perhaps it was the fact that I had just come back from watching the “Hunger Games” and Katniss and Peeta both won (yeah, Team Peeta!), that I decided to pick 2, Megan from Virginia and Alisha from Minnesota.

Both of these women had significant improvements in their energy levels, their sleep patterns, and in the amount of inches they each lost.  They each were also very active on the Facebook group and had awesome essays, as you will read below.

Alisha: 

To be honest, I already have won LBC. I learned I have control over what I put in my body, and when I use that control, I feel better. I’ve taken classes on the sugar rollercoaster before, I’ve done bi-weekly sessions with a nutritionist who focused on whole grains and veggies and had cooking classes. I’ve done weight watchers. None of those things has enabled me to control what I put into my body in quite the way LBC did. I know I will continue to eat more like I did in my LBC month than before – because the way I ate before was unsustainable from a health perspective. I feel like I’ve regained control over my body and my health, and that’s priceless.

Megan:

This question made me smile. : ) Well to be honest, I have a hard time competing with others. I like to compete with myself, and I have to say that I have already won. Looking back at the person I was before I began this challenge, I see that I have overcome some obstacles. I have control of my life and the choices I make. So no matter what I’m dealing with I am better equipped to deal with it. I am truly thankful that I have beat myself in this area. There are things I doubted that I could, but this challenge I was able to do and continue to do. Even though the challenge ended yesterday I did not want to go back to eating the way I was. Nothing changed. If anything I am thinking even more about the combinations of food and when to eat that food so that I can be efficient with my body and energy. I keep moving forward so the challenge is never over. I never arrive anywhere. This is a journey that I continue to take with my head up and my heart open. Having the courage to do this makes me a winner already. I love my life! Thank you for providing the structure I needed to accomplish this task. I’m a true solider now!

I’m super excited not only for Megan and Alisha, but for all of the contestants!  And even more excited to get the next round of the Lean Body Challenge up for May 14^th, 2012.

What exactly is the Lean Body Challenge?  Click here to find out!

What I love about this dish is that its super simple and uses capers, an ingredient I’ve been a little obsessed with lately using with fish.  I have yet to use capers with chicken so this will be fun and yummy to make.

Also, I want to give a BIG shout-out to Cassia’s interior design service which you can find at Cassiadesign.com. You can also follow her on Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/CassiaWynerDesign.  Her designs are very elegant and are works of art.  Congrats lady!

CW Design was founded to help homeowners and developers face the challenges of creating kitchens, baths, and other home spaces that are both practical and beautiful. Our goal is to transform interiors—whether a busy kitchen, a quiet bathroom retreat, or a work or family space—into highly functional and beautiful work and living spaces. We strive to make the remodeling experience an enjoyable one. To that end we can help you with every aspect of design, budgeting, sourcing materials, and project management. We work with any style, from period to traditional to contemporary and everything in between. We see it as our job to realize your dream, and to help you realize your vision and take it from paper to reality.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds chicken breast
• 1 bag frozen artichoke hearts
• 1 heaping T capers
• 1 lemon, juiced and sliced
• Chicken broth
• Garlic (optional)
• Olive oil
• Chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

 Directions:

1.  Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2.  Heat olive oil, add garlic (if you want) and heat but don’t brown.
3.  Add the chicken and saute on medium until just fully cooked.
4.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.  To the pan, add chicken broth (about 1/4 cup or so), juice from 1/2 lemon, the artichoke hearts, the capers, a few slices of lemons, and cook a bit to combine flavors.
5.  If you want the sauce to be thicker you can make a roux with gluten-free flour (make a paste with water, add the sauce slowly to it while mixing so it doesn’t get lumpy, add it back into the sauce.)
6.  Season to taste.
7.  Add the previously sauteed chicken in and reheat, combining briefly so the chicken doesn’t boil in the sauce.
8.  Place in a service bowl and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.

In both cases, we are using the word “falling” to describe an action, or feeling.  The word “falling” indicates that there must be an initial release, a letting go, a sense of giving in, in order for the end result, in this case, sleep or feeling love.  Perhaps if we have a hard time falling asleep at night, or falling in love, we just have not yet “let go.”

In the case of sleeping, how often do you find it hard to fall asleep because you are thinking of the day’s activities?  Why did I say that?  What did he mean by that text?  I should have done this?  I have to do this tomorrow.  I have this deadline.  We have not yet “let go” of our thoughts and stresses that we cannot then subsequently “fall” into sleep.

I wonder about this with love.  If we are finding it difficult to “fall into love” or opening ourselves to other people, what things are we holding onto?  What things are we afraid to let go of?  If we are falling into love, why do we fear it?  I mean, it’s love for crying out loud!  What is more enjoyable than love?

This sense of holding on, not wanting to let go, can also be seen as a form on survival.  We are fearing the unknown, fearing that our lives will be endagendered if we let go.  This fear response is associated with the reptilian part of the brain, the area of the brain that is responsible for our survival.

This is the area of the brain that controls all the involuntary responses in our body, like breathing, digestion, heart rate and the stress response, and it is also responsible for making sure we have food and shelter.  The reptilian brain is also linked to sex (procreation) and the feelings of fear, anxiety, addiction, worry, greed and competition.

So perhaps the inability to fall in love or fall into sleep, is caused from a thought pattern dominated by the reptilian brain.  If we are always thinking about survival, I have to work tomorrow so I can make money so that I can pay rent (shelter) and buy food, then we cannot actually “let go”.  Perhaps this connection to our reptilian brain is what prevents us from reaching higher levels of awareness and higher states of consciousness.

It’s said that by dreaming, a product of sleeping, we can tap into the deeper areas of our mind, our sub-conscious and the Universal consciousness that we all share.  I believe that the same can be said about being in love.  When we can let go of our need for survival, and “fall” into love, we fall into a beautiful space within ourselves that we are sometimes not even aware of.

It’s like, when we fall in love, we discover parts of ourselvs, hidden corners, and closed doors that we never knew existed.  The more we can “let go”, the more we allow ourselves to love, and the more we can “fall” into love,  I feel the more growth we can achieve as individuals.

If one cannot fall, one cannot rise.  So in the sense of personal development, whether that is reaching higher levels of awareness or just just falling in love, I believe that we must “let go” first.  The trick here, and what can make personal development difficult at times, is figuing out exactly what we are holding on to…which will be the discussion of our next post.

Factors such as the weather, temperature, stress levels, amount of sleep, hormonal fluctuations, prescription medications, supplements, thought-patterns and travel can all affect our body’s ability to metabolize food. Thus, focusing on tracking calories without considering the dynamic flux of our metabolism can further create a hypometabolic state (low metabolism).

So when I get asked, “How much should I eat?”, it’s never a clear cut answer since every client is unique and presents themselves at various levels of healing. It can be frustrating at times for clients when I give them the, “Just listen to your body” schpeel. People take that and interpret it all kinds of ways.

What I’ve observed with coaching clients, is that some of us are just sooooooo out of tune with our own body that it’s difficult to decipher just how much is enough. The whole point of having a coach is to provide some guidance to get the ball rolling, and then like taking the training wheels off, get to a point where you can set the client off on their own. This is what I aim to do with the guidelines you’ll find below.

If we allow it, our body will tell us exactly how much food we need, what we need, and when we need it, if we only listen. Developing this skill does take time and patience but once we learn to listen to our body, we will begin to find this process much easier.

Each person requires different amounts of protein, fats and carbohydrates in order to maintain and create life. Part of the process is figuring out which combinations are best for you. Do you feel better on a higher ratio of protein and fat compared to carbs? Or do you function better when you have slightly more carbs than fat/protein? These are some questions to ask yourself.

The idea is not to get too caught up with the details and the amounts. Your first step is to just stick to the foods on the menu provided during your coaching, and pay attention to how you are feeling after you eat a meal. This is a more intuitive approach to eating and one that breaks you free of measuring, counting and obsessing over food. Again, this process does take time, so to get you started, here are some guidelines:

17 Tips to Intuitive Eating

1. When filling your plate fill about 80% of what you would normally fill. Our eyes are generally bigger than our stomachs, so prevent over eating before you actually eat.

2. When eating, stop when you are 80% “full”. Take a few moments to ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you are just eating to eat.

3. Always eat a protein, a carb and a fat source together. This will help balance your hormonal response to your meal, keeping you blood sugars balanced which will keep you satiated longer.

4. With protein sources, start with 4-8 oz. for meals and 2-4 oz. for snacks and build up or down from there.

5. With carbs, start with 1-2 serving per meal and then build up or down from there.  Here are some examples of 1 serving:

• 1 medium pear, apple, orange, banana, etc.
• 1 cup of berries
• 1 medium sweet potato/regular potato
• 1 cup of brocolli, asparagus, zuchinni, squash, carrots, etc
• Handful or ¼ cup of nuts (sparingly, this should not be a main source of protein)
• ½ cup cooked brown rice, oatmeal or quinoa

6. For fat sources, include 1-2 servings of fat with the meal depending on the fat content of the protein source.  The more fat on the protein source, the less fat you’ll need to include.

• 1 tbs of coconut oil
• ½ avocado
• 1 full egg
• 1 tbs. of grass-fed butter (if you can tolerate dairy)

7. When cooking, use 1 tbs. of oil to start then build up from there (coconut oil or olive oil)

8. A well-balanced meal should leave you satiatied, and in a happy mood. Watch for any negative physical, emotional, or mental changes that may indicate that the meal ratios may not have been the best for you. Some signs that the meal may not have been ideal for you include:

• Hunger or carb cravings immediately after eating
• Anxiety
• Sluggishness/tiredness
• Sadness
• Lack of focus or inability to concentrate
• Insomnia or waking up in the middle of the night (see note below about this in more detail)

9. If you are finding that you wake up in the middle of the night, chances are your blood sugar has dipped too low and your body responded with an adrenaline kick to boost your blood sugar levels, which caused you to wake up.  If this happens, try eating a smaller meal/snack right before bed time.

10. An optimal meal for your body should leave you satiated for 3-4 hours.  If you find that you are hungry before this, drink a glass of water, wait 10 minutes and ask yourself if you are really still hungry.  If your answer is yes, eat a smaller meal or snack to hold you over.

11. Keep in mind, the more active you are, the more food you’ll need.  Meaning on days you workout, you will need more food.

12. Begin with eating smaller meals more frequently, and notice how you feel throughout the day, like eating 4-5 times.  As your metabolism heals, you may find that you do better with bigger meals less frequently, or that you perform better eating smaller meals more frequently.  I find that having a starting point is the best way to gauge how you feel and then building up or down from there, which is why I recommend to start with 4-5 meals per day, spaced 3-4 hours apart.

13. Eat in peace and not on the run and without the distraction of computers, t.v. or reading which will help slow you down and bring your focus to how the food is making you feel.  The digestion process stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system, which is your calming and restful branch of your nervous system.  Watching t.v. or eating on the run will activate your sympathetic nervous system which stimulates your stress hormones thus shutting down the digestion process.

14. Chew your food thoroughly before swallowing and take your time with eating, putting your fork down between bites.

15. Be completely present when you are eating.  I find that paying attention to your breath patterns while eating helps you do this.  Try not to hold your breath while chewing, but rather, continue to breath in, and breath out, in slow and controlled breaths.  Slow and controlled breathing also stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which will aide in digestion.  While doing this, see if you can actually taste the various flavors in your food, and sense the different textures. Actually think about the food you are eating, while you are eating it.

16. Take twice as long as you normally would eat to complete your meal.  Meaning, if it generally takes you 10 minutes to eat breakfast, give yourself 20 from start to finish.

17. Begin tracking your food and your moods and sensations afterwards so that you can fine-tune your diet.  Although I do not push counting calories, I do highly suggest taking notes on how you are feeling after a meal.  This is where the art of experimentation comes into the picture.  Play around with various meal combinations and take note on how you feel in a journal or in a word document. Here are some ideas to get you started with experimentation:

• Eat a bigger breakfast, and taper your meals as the days go on.
• Eat a smaller breakfast, and bigger meals as the days go on.
• Eat your biggest meal at lunch with smaller meals at the beginning and end of the day.
• Eat more carbs at the beginning of the day.
• Eat less carbs at the beginning of the day.
• Eat the majority of your carbs in the middle of the day.

The idea of intuitive eating is a bit more abstract than what most people are used to.  We have become so accustomed to tracking points and counting calories that we often neglect the natural signs our body tells us when we’ve had enough, and if we have eaten an optimal meal.

The idea behind this process is to get you to a point where you can begin to listen to these cues so that you do not remain shackled to the compulsive nature of calorie counting.  This process does take more time and commitment on your part, but is very liberating and rewarding when you begin to tune in and know exactly what you need, when you need it, and how much you need.

Bottom line.  Regardless of what you eat, when you eat it, and how much you eat, your meals should leave you feeling like this:

And less of this:

Thank you to Hyperbole and a Half for providing art for this blog.

I love me some sweet potatoes, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes just throwing them in an oven to bake is, well, boring.  So to add a little more sexy, I’ve Sirena-fied these sweet potatoes by contrasting the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoe with the spiciness of paprika and cayenne pepper.

These are friggin’ awesome.  And you should make them.  Like now. Just sayin’.

Ingredients:

•  2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. cumin
• a few pinches of Celtic Sea Salt

Directions:

1.  Turn on oven to 375 and wash sweet potatoes
2. Cut sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch x 3 inch pieces (try to make them all uniform in size to help with even cooking)
3. In a large mixing bowl, drizzle the olive oil on the sweet potato fries and hand toss.
4. Add the seasonings and hand toss evenly to coat the entire fries
5. Place neatly on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes

Getting here did not go without a hitch as I missed my connection in Newark, because Un-united Schmairways not only changed the gate, but changed the terminal, the departure time and closed the gate door on me as I was running frantically down the terminal with my backpack jumping around my back. I was ready to pull a Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber except flex my biceps and say “It’s OK, I’m a pilates instructor!” I figured it probably wasn’t worth it tick off TSA.

I noticed 2 other gentlemen from the plane siting next to me by our gate as we waiting for our next flight, and having bitched bonded already at the customer service coutner, we got to talking. Typical small stuff, where ya from, what ya do, where ya heading, etc etc.

I always love seeing the reactions I get from people when I say I’m a trainer. The most common one being , “How do I get rid of this?”, as they grab either their love handles or jiggle the backs of their arms.

We chatted a little about the econony, (they were finance guys) and the topic came up about what to look for in a personal trainer. One of the guys had mentioned wanting to hire trainer to help with his golf swing, and was curious about what to look for. He said he didn’t want to workout with an overweight trainer (a topic for another blog) and I gave him a run down of what to look for, education, certifications, personality. However, there were 2 things that I said really mattered the most. And they were:

1. That this person was highly recommended, meaning it was a referral from a friend, colleague or someone you trust, and someone with similar goals as you.

2. This trainer had proven results.

Now, there are a lot of other factors that matter, like education, experience, personalization, and professionalism to name a few. However, if I was in the market for a new trainer, or heck, to hire anyone for any reason, these are the 2 things that I would look for.

By getting a recommendation from a friend, you are already pre-qualifing the trainer. Meaning, if you have friend whom you trust, like and respect, and who had similar goals and aspirations as you, chances are, you are going to like similar things. You will probably like similar activities, similar movies, musics, food and your choice in who to work with in a professional setting will probably be pretty similar too.

Now, since you’re paying this trainer to help you reach a certain goal, results should be a make or break quality. If you are serious about looking better, feeling better or improving your performance, then results are paramount here. If you’re at the gym, spy on what the trainer is doing with other clients, see if you notice any changes over time, or, simply ask other clients whom work with this trainer to tell you a little about their experience.

A good trainer can get results. A great trainer can maintain results, but an extraordinary trainer creates results that speak for themselves. Coming from a trainer, these are the things that I would look for, and what I would tell a friend who was in the market.

However, I’m curious to hear from you. If you are currently working with a personal trainer, what things do you look for? Let me know in the comment section below.

A couple of things to note about this workout:

We are incorporating a lot of single leg work here.  I find that single leg work is not only great for improving your balance, which actually means you have to work your nervous system a little bit too, but is also great for strengthening the glute medius and other lateral stabilitzers (meaning the musles in your hips and thighs that help you from falling over).

I am also coupling many of the exercises with an explosive plyometric to take advantage of what is known as post activation potenation which is a training technique that’s used a lot in the strength and conditioning world to help athletic performance like jumping and sprinting.  PAP as it is known, is the theory that you can increase muscle power output by combining a heavy loaded exercise with a lighter, more explosive movement.

For instance, you would do this by combining a heavy loaded squat follwed by a jump squat.  However, I should point out by saying, that this workout is based on my interpretation of PAP.  Meaning, you will not see any heavy back squating here.  Although many of the studies that I researched used heavy loaded exercises, I personally feel you can still get the benefits of PAP using lower load exercises that keep tension on the muscle for a long period, like an isometric-esque exercise.

You may notice that I have grouped the Bowler Squat and the Reverse Lunge with the plyo jump.  The Bowler Squat and the Reverse Lunge focuses on keeping tension on the muscle fibers for a longer period of time, resembling an isometric exercise.  (Isometric exercises include planks and wall sits.  Your muscles are working but you’re not moving.)

Now, do I know for sure that this really works?  Not exactly.  I’m not in a lab hooking up my clients to EMG machines and taking muscle biopsy samples.  However, I do know that my clients not only see improvement in their workout performance, but also in re-shaping and developing nicer looking butts.

And really, isn’t that all that matters?

—->>>Click here to download the PDF<<<—-

Now I’m sure we all remember the days of school cafeteria lunches.  The sloppy joes, the squared-off trays, the carton of chocolate milk and those little stapled coupon packets that we’d exchange for a tray of food I’d probably not even feed a stray dog these days.

The tray has more color than the food. Yum!

Nowadays I don’t tolerate dairy very well so I’ve had to find a creative way to still get my favorite treats.  So after doing some R&D (research and development) I’ve come up with a dairy free version that is good. Very, very, very good.  And if you notice I’ve Sirena-fied it a bit with some gelatin powder, which gives it a smooth silky consistency as well as adds some protein.

Enjoy!

Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding

3 organic avocados (I suggest to not use a really ripe avocado here, you want it ripe, but no brown whatsoever)

1 ripe organic banana

½ cup coconut milk

1/3 cup raw cacao powder

¼ cup gelatin (I highly recommend Great Lakes Gelatin)

1/3 cup organic Grade B maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of sea salt

Shredded coconut (for garnish)

Directions

1. You’ll need a food processor for this recipe.  So if you don’t have one, you’ll have to 1) Go buy one or 2) Bum one off a friend.
2. Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed and using a big spoon scoop into the food processor.  Add the banana, the coconut milk, the raw cacao powder, the gelatin, the maple syrup, the vanilla and the salt.
3. Process all the ingredients until the mixture is smooth, and free of lumps.  You may have to stop the food processor a couple of times to scrape the edges with a spatula.
4. Lick the spatula.
5. Serve immediately, and store the remaining (if there’s still some left) in a glass container in the fridge.  I’d recommend to eat the pudding within a day.