Derval O'Rourke: My healthy chocolate orange brownies have a surprise ingredient

Dark Chocolate and Orange Zest Brownies.

We all have friends that help us in different ways: the friends we turn to for parenting tips, the friends we turn to for relationship advice and the friends who make us laugh until our sides hurt! Women, in particular, pride themselves on dishing out great advice to our friends, but what about when it comes to ourselves? Let’s have a chat about being in your own corner for a change — and I have a yummy snack for you to make with your weekend coffee.

We all want to be a good friend: solid, loyal and there for each other. I’m lucky to have some incredible people in my life and they in turn can call on me. But it is how we talk to ourselves that is the most important conversation we have every day. Can you imagine if you spoke to a friend in the negative terms you sometimes use to speak to yourself?

Often the biggest barrier to leading a healthy lifestyle is not access to a gym, having a personal trainer, or buying lots of equipment, it's our inner voice.  It can convince us to quit before we even try or it can cheer us on to do incredible things. The years I spent as a professional athlete showed me the power of the voice in your head, my greatest ‘talent’ was an ability to convince myself that I was as good as I needed to be against some of the best women in the world. I worked really hard on making my internal dialogue one that worked with me and not against me.

So what is your inner voice saying? When you want to go for a walk, is it telling you 'Ah, looks like it could rain' or 'sure, you’re tired after a long day, and it’s not going to make much of a difference anyway'? Changing that talk is so important. This is where you come in! You need to be your own advocate. Ask yourself 'what would I say to my best friend right now?' Give yourself the advice you so kindly share with your friends and more importantly, take your own advice!

Derval O'Rourke: Ask yourself 'what would I say to my best friend right now?' Give yourself the advice you so kindly share with your friends and more importantly, take your own advice!

Three ways to enhance your mindset:

1. For every negative thought, take a moment and challenge the thought. Try to think of two positives. 'It’s a bit cold out, I’ll go for a walk tomorrow' becomes 'Ah, the fresh air will blow the cobwebs away and then I can have a lovely hot shower to warm up'.

2. Surround yourself with people who help you to achieve your goals and are there to tell you how it can be done. If you're feeling down, borrow some positive energy from people who always make you smile or laugh. We used to have a saying during my running days: ‘close to the radiators, careful of the drains’!

3. Music — if you’re singing along to a song, it’s a lot harder to talk negatively to yourself at the same time! I recently had a big work presentation and felt really nervous which led to a lot of self-talk, and rather than drown in my negative thoughts, I turned on an uplifting song and just focused on that for 2 minutes. It actually worked a treat, the song was Elton John's 'Still Standing’ for anyone looking for some positive music inspiration.

We can all get stuck in a rut or find ourselves lacking motivation, but if we saw a friend struggling like this, we would not hesitate to get them back on track. You can do this for yourself too and being your own champion is a huge part of positive change and healthy habits.

Wellness Tip: Every day, write down three things you are grateful for, three things you like about yourself and three things you would love to achieve.

Exercise Tip: 15 minutes every day. Whether it is going for a walk, run, swim or play with the kids. It can be anything, but for the next week set a timer and for 15 minutes you are going to move your body. Have fun and get creative, it’s all about having fun, moving and building on the habit.

Dark Chocolate and Orange Zest Brownies

recipe by:Derval O'Rourke

These healthy chocolate orange brownies have a surprise ingredient.

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 400g sweet potato, peeled and cubed

• 50g jumbo porridge oats

• 50g pecan nuts

• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

• 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder

• ½ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp salt

• zest of 1 orange

• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped

• ½ tsp coconut oil

• 3 egg whites

• 1 tsp agave syrup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Grease an 18cm (7 inch) square tin and line it with parchment paper.

2. Boil the sweet potato in salted water for 12 minutes or until tender. Drain, mash and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and set aside to cool slightly.

4. Mix the oats, pecans, cocoa powder, vanilla protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and orange zest in a bowl. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and stir well. Add the egg whites, agave and melted chocolate and stir until combined.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes, until firm in the centre and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cut the slab into slices in the tin, then carefully remove the brownies to cool on a wire rack.