Friday, February 14, 2014

Menu Planning: Fitting a Healthy Lifestyle into a Busy Schedule

I've been asked by several people to write this post, so here goes! A lot of people want to eat healthier, but they think it's going to take too much time and convenience foods are just that...convenient. However, if you can set aside a little time on Sunday (or whatever day works for you) to plan out your week and even prep your dinners ahead of time, you can take the guesswork out of eating healthy. If it's already ready to go, you won't be as tempted to drive through Jimmy John's on your way home. Here's what a typical meal plan looks like for me and I'll break down how I prep it if necessary.

Mon- Taco salad - Which means I can go ahead and brown the ground turkey/chicken/lean beef and mix in the taco seasoning (I use Trader Joe's all natural) and then put it in a container. You can go ahead and chop up the lettuce and veggies and store them in a baggie/container. I make my own dressing (1 TBS oil, 1 TBS balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp lime juice and 1 tsp taco seasoning), so I will go ahead and make the dressing and store it in an airtight container. Then all you have to do is heat up the meat and mix it together! If you want to modify it for your kids, simply heat up some tortilla shells and make them tacos. So easy.


Tues- Sauteed fish and veggies- I take frozen tilapia or salmon filets (you can use any kind of fish) and put them in a freezer bag with a little oil and some seasonings and make sure they are coated, then put them in the fridge to let them thaw. They'll be perfectly seasoned and ready to go by Tuesday evening. I cook them in a pan on the stovetop with a little olive oil spray and then add some steamed veggies. Frozen veggies are just as good as fresh, sometimes even better because frozen veggies are picked at the peak of freshness and then frozen. If I need another side dish, I will steam some brown rice (Trader Joe's and Walmart sell steam bags of brown rice) or I will heat up a sweet potato in the microwave for my husband and russet potatoes for the kids.

Wed- Crock pot chili. The most recent recipe I followed is here. So on your prep day, you could chop all of the veggies and store them in a bag and just make sure you have everything else on hand to throw in the crock pot in the morning. You could even go ahead and throw everything in the crock pot and store it in the fridge.


Thurs- Chicken dish. This can vary, but for example, I plan to make this next week. If it's a crock pot dish, just chop and prep anything that needs to be ready to go to make it easy on yourself. Invest in some Rubbermaid storage containers or even use freezer bags if you want. Even if it's not a crock pot dish, just know what you're going to need and make sure it's ready to go. Sometimes I will go ahead and get out all of the non-perishable food items I'm going to need for that night's dinner and have them out by the stove ready to go. For side dishes, if you're pressed for time just keep it simple: frozen veggies, brown rice, quinoa or brown rice pasta are all great options. Another piece of advice is to invest in some good spices and herbs. They can turn a simple piece of chicken into something amazing.



Fri- I work on Friday nights, so this is usually a simple meal. We LOVE breakfast for dinner and there's nothing better than eggs and chicken sausage! Aldi makes a great all natural chicken breakfast sausage. Add some fruit and you've got a meal. I also love to add pico de gallo to my eggs, but it's not for everyone.

Scrambled eggs are good too. I made hard boiled eggs in the oven this week, so I've been eating those. (put eggs in cupcake pan and bake at 300 degrees for 20-30 mins)

Sat- Usually on Saturdays we have to eat early, so I'll put something in the crock pot in the morning to eat before I go to work around 4. This Saturday I think it'll be chicken breast with taco seasoning, black beans and diced tomatoes. Then my husband can make soft tacos for himself and the kids if he chooses or he'll have a taco bowl like me. I use brown rice or quinoa, top it with chicken and spinach and peppers and some pico de gallo or mango salsa (Trader Joe's sells awesome salsa, but Walmart has some good salsa as well in the produce section). This is pretty simple, so there's not much to prep, except making sure you have the stuff to make it.

Sun- I usually go all out on Sundays and try out a new recipe or do something a little more involved since I have more time. I'm going to try out cabbage rolls, which I'm sure the kids will turn up their nose at. I may have to do stuffed peppers or mini-meatloafs for them instead using the same filling. I found the recipe for that here.


So that's a typical week, but it varies. The most important thing is having a plan and having everything on hand and prepping what you can to make life easier throughout the week. One of my favorite quotes is "Failing to plan is planning to fail." So true. If you have a plan, you're less likely to fail. I plan out my snacks and breakfasts for the week as well. I am planning to make 2 batches of muffins on Sunday and I have my snacks prepped and in baggies/containers. I clean and slice fruit, bag nuts in proper portion sizes, chop veggies to have with hummus, etc. Take an hour out of one day per week and focus on what you're going to eat for the whole week. I usually make my grocery list/meal plan on Friday, shop on Saturday and prep on Sunday, but do whatever works for you. It makes life so much easier and it's less stress on yourself. Of course you could make it even easier on yourself and make bigger portions and have leftovers one night too. I prefer to eat my leftovers for lunch. If you usually eat out one night, that's one less day to have to plan as well.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Why I Have Sworn Off Processed Foods

I have A LOT to cover here, but I'm going to try to keep it somewhat brief. This all started when I did the Dr. Oz 2-Week Rapid Weight Loss Diet. I almost didn't post at all about doing the diet because I HATE the word diet and dieting is not something I condone. It's all about a healthy lifestyle and making changes you can stick with forever. That being said, I did this "diet" because it's more of a cleanse and I knew it would lead me to make changes that I needed to make. 

A quote from "Hungry For Change", an awesome documentary on Netflix.

I've been doing well the past 2 years with counting calories and slowly losing weight, but I wasn't eating the most quality food. 1200 calories of processed diet food junk does not equal 1200 calories of whole nutritious foods. Sure, I lost weight but I still wasn't at a 100% healthy place physically. As someone with a family history of diabetes and heart disease, I knew I could be doing more. I've done a lot (and I do mean a lot) of research this past month and my eyes have been opened. I've learned that you can eat a normal amount of food yet your body can still feel like it's starving if you're not eating the right things. Do you know what your body does when it feels like it's starving? It holds onto fat and won't let go. Not good when you're trying to get to a healthy weight! Just by eating only whole, natural foods and not even counting calories, I have lost significant weight and inches in the past few weeks. The secret was right there all along! I knew about the "Eating Clean" movement and I knew it was something I should try. Shoot I had pinned tons of clean eating recipes on Pinterest but had yet to try them. 

So what does clean eating mean? It means eating foods in their purest form. Basically, no processed foods. For me, it means no wheat, no sugar, no dairy and no artificial sweeteners. 


I'll start with wheat. Why wheat? Well, wheat is overly processed, low in nutrients and contains phytic acid, which literally stops your body from absorbing important nutrients. Bread that is sold in stores today is so overly processed and breaks down in your system so quickly, which then turns to glucose which spikes your blood sugar. Also, wheat products contain gluten which can damage your intestinal tract and cause other problems you don't want to deal with. You do not NEED grains in your diet. Period. 
Ryan Gosling. Nuff said.

Next I'll go into sugar, the most important one in my opinion. This one is pretty simple and the more I read about it the more I was like, "Duh! Makes sense!" I'm talking about refined sugars. The white sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar you buy in the baking aisle....oh and let's not forget the worst offender of all: high fructose corn syrup. That crap is in everything! Seriously, look through your fridge and cabinets. It's in stuff you wouldn't even think of, like your bread, spaghetti sauce and in most of the stuff your kids are drinking. The bad thing about refined sugar is your body's response to it. You eat something with sugar and instantly your body has to release insulin. The more sugar you eat, the more insulin is released- whether you need it or not. Excess insulin in your system prevents your body from burning fat. That is why the quality of calories matters so much. Higher-quality calories trigger fat-burning hormones and low-quality calories trigger fat storing hormones. That's just one problem with sugar. Another is its addicting properties. Refined sugars have a similar effect on your brain as heroine and cocaine. You get a "sugar high" and once you come down from it, you're starving again and craving more sugar. It's a vicious cycle. I could go on and on about how harmful sugar is, but I'll just stick with this for now. I can speak from experience. The first 3 days of my cleanse were horrible. I was ready to kill someone for a cookie. I have kicked the habit and I feel amazing.


The biggest junkie of all, Cookie Monster! 


I'll get into dairy another time. Just like most other man-made foods, dairy is overly processed to the point that it has no redeeming health qualities. I'm sure you've heard this before, but your best bet is to stick with the perimeter of the store. 99% of the stuff in the aisles of the store are manufactured by the food companies and they can put some very deceptive things on the boxes. They care about making money, not about your health. Did you know that the FDA doesn't actually do the studies and research about the products? The food companies themselves do it and submit it to the FDA. Do you think those are slightly slanted or what?! What a joke. Read labels and if you see things that you aren't sure what they are, do your research. There's nothing more important than your health and the health of your family. I think it's time for us as a society to take some responsibility for what we put into our bodies. Maybe if we do that, the food companies will be forced to follow suit. I know it's a pipe dream, but you never know! Education is key. Read everything you can and learn about the foods you eat. There are some great documentaries out there about food. A few of my favorites are Food, Inc.; Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead; Hungry For Change; and Forks over Knives. All of them are on Netflix. I highly recommend the Jamie Oliver TED Talks (google it). He's a great source of information about feeding your children things that nourish them and help them grow. 

Sorry if I got too scientific on you, but I just felt like I had to share some of my new-found knowledge. Keeping it to myself just seemed rude. I'm passionate about this and I want to start a mini-revolution, even if it's just me and one other person (besides my sister. She's already my "clean eating cohort"). In closing, I'll post a few of my clean meals I've had lately. I'm seriously loving cooking new recipes and trying new things!
Chipotle cauliflower soup (same cauliflower soup recipe I posted last week,
 only I added chipotle lime seasoning instead of curry)

Paleo banana nut muffins

Paleo peanut butter chocolate chip muffins

Organic chicken meatballs, brown rice chips and veggies/hummus

 Taco salad with mango salsa and a homemade vinaigrette I came up with
(1 TBS oil, 1 TBS balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp lime juice and 1 tsp taco seasoning) 



Friday, February 7, 2014

14-Day Cleanse Results and Recipes


I survived! Not only did I survive, but I fell in love with this way of eating and I haven't felt this good in a long time. In 14 days, I lost 8.5 pounds and 2.5 inches from my waist and 2 inches from my hips. My energy level is high and I kicked my artificial sweetener habit. For those who didn't read my blog last week, I did the Dr. Oz 2-week Rapid Weight Loss Diet/Cleanse. It's no wheat, no sugar, no dairy and no caffeine or artificial sweeteners. It sounds like hell on earth but once you get past the first few days (the withdrawal phase), it's smooth sailing. You can read about it here. I modified it to suit me, so I skipped the detox baths and the daily broth. Instead of the smoothie for breakfast I had a hard boiled egg, a piece of chicken sausage and a few strawberries or I would eat some of the awesome muffins I made using alternatives to wheat flour and sugar (I'll share some recipes). These past 2 weeks have taught me a whole new way of cooking and I've had so much fun trying new recipes. I'll share some of them with you.

These muffins are so good. Check out the recipe here. I used almond meal/flour (Bob's Red Mill brand from Walmart) instead of coconut flour and I used 1/4 cup of natural applesauce instead of coconut oil. These came to 100 calories each and 5 grams of fat.

These apple cinnamon muffins are to die for. You can find the recipe here
I added chopped pecans and I'm glad I did. Amazing.

This butternut squash soup is really good and super healthy. 
I skipped the carrots since they're high glycemic index. Recipe here.

This soup is my favorite. I skipped the carrots and added 1 tsp. of curry powder. Yum! Recipe here.

This is something I threw together. Kind of like a ratatouille with chicken added. I sauteed the diced chicken breast in grapeseed oil and then removed it once cooked. I then sauteed onions, zucchini, eggplant and fresh garlic. Once they were cooked, I added the diced tomato, italian dressing seasoning (I used Wildtree brand) and about 2 TBS of chopped fresh basil and I put the cooked chicken back in and let it simmer covered for about 5 minutes. I had mine over 1/2 cup of brown rice and my husband had it over whole wheat pasta. 

I made this taco bowl to satisfy my craving for Mexican food. It's ground turkey, sauteed onions and peppers and rotel tomatoes, topped with green onions. I used a little Wildtree taco seasoning on the ground turkey. I had it over brown rice and my husband and kids ate it in tortillas. 

I love spicy stuff, so this is one of my go-to favorites. Sauteed zucchini, onions and eggplant over brown rice
with Frank's Red Hot. I did miss the blue cheese a little bit, but it was definitely good!

The picture says it all. YUM. Recipe here.

That's all I have for now, but I will definitely be posting new recipes as I try them. I love this way of eating and I will love sharing it with all of you!