Can you guys tell....I LOVE FOOD!! I love posting about it! and finding new recipes! Today in my travels, I was checking out a fellow coach and her tips! These food ideas are from Jenelle Summers (Chalene Johnson's bab sis!) so you KNOW they are awesome!! Plus she always gives a lot of information about WHY you should eat a certain way! I love love love it!!
Great pre-cardio snack..especially with some Energy & Endurance drink! This is my favorite HEALTHY bread - Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread! 100% sprouted whole grains. Look for it in your FREEZER section; sometimes near frozen health/organic/vegan frozen foods. It's low on the glycemic index, so it's a great little carb if you only have 30-60min before your workout (studies have shown eating something low on the glycemic index pre-workout will help you burn more fat). Shakeology of course is low glycemic index too & gives you energy, but I usually like my Shakeology in the evening. This has light Smart Balance w/Flax spread here, but i also love it with Chocolate PB2!! (i know, probably sounds like a weird combo w/Cin Raisin!) If you need more calories because you're caloric needs are higher or it's 2-3 hrs before your workout, then do 2 pieces or add natural Peanut Butter.. and/or Banana slices! Thumbs up on this one??
Chocolate Shakeology with PB2 and Banana! whipped cream for presentation purposes ;)
LUNCH!! It's ~250-300 calories depending on how much hummus, feta & sun-dried tomatoes you use. I used the new 100-calorie whole grain pita pockets they sell now (at least by us), reduced fat feta, sun dried tomatoes, Hummus, cucumbers, red & yellow pepper slices, spinach & spring mix! If you skip the sun-dried tomatoes, you could do two halves for a total of 400 calories and lots of good nutrition! But i just love ♥ sun-dried tomatoes! Easy enough, right!?!?
Packing snacks for my trip!! This will be plenty of snacks for the flights today and the next couple of days... btw, those are Wasa whole grain crackers; they look like cinnamon GRAHAM crackers in the pic (which would be heavenly compared to these, lol)! This is actually just like an EMERGENCY stash seeing how Chalene will have PLENTY of fruit, snacks, Shakeology Balls on hand when i get there! I just HATE to be hungry! What do you pack when you travel?
Grilled chicken, strawberries, blackberries & Light Raspberry Vin dressing :
Ok, this is risky to post (because some will be quick to judge).. But i'll take it because i think childhood obesity is a huge issue & i'd love to bring more AWARENESS to our responsibility as parents. Even if there's no overweight/underweight problem, healthy eating habits are ALWAYS needed..they may just be delayed as to when it affects their body, growth & ability to build muscle. They'll thank you when they're older if you approach it the right way, subtly and gradually & are NOT referring to "dieting" or looking a certain way! So this is Tyler's lunch i packed the other morning plus 2 snacks..i'm NOT saying this is the "model" school lunch. I'm not a nutritionist, I'm not perfect, & tyler's certainly a normal kid loving sweets & pizza - we just limit it. My theory is just be conscious/responsible for what & HOW MUCH/OFTEN they're eating, educate & work towards improvement..plus every kid's wants/needs are different. This is NOT a perfect lunch, but it's what he'll eat. The sandwich in foil is a PB& J and no, the bread is not WHOLE grain.. pick your battles-you win some,you lose some! Still working on that one! The PB is natural PB though:) Forcing things won't work because they'll just throw it away at school. So it's a PB&J, grapes, greek yogurt, trail mix, water, and you probably can't see the dark chocolate square. And the snacks are edamame w/salt (still hot as you can see) and Turkey jerky. He loves apples & bananas but won't eat at school for some reason ..? I am NOT that impressed with the sugar content in this greek yogurt ..but this is what we had this day. He usually will do carrots & hummus too. I try to avoid too many empty carbs -ALOT of snack foods at the grocery store for kids are just that. What are YOU packing?
I stopped buying this stuff LONG ago!!! Sure, some of it says "reduced/low fat" or "good source of whole grains" or "no trans fat" and you're thinking "how bad could it really be?".. well i'm NOT a nutritionist & i'm not perfect, but I know we don't need this. I personally go OFF TRACK when i have any of this in the house. Do you know what ONE serving looks like? For 150cal snack, you'd be SO much better off with an apple + PB2. With healthy foods, you get all the "good carbs" you need, this stuff just goes STRAIGHT to excess calories stored as FAT ..for me anyway. I admit we buy some of the pre-portioned 100-calorie pack crap to have on hand for tyler or when we have kids over, but we continue to work towards improvement for that too, finding new HEALTHIER kid-friendly foods. At the very least we can control portions & frequency, and work towards educating & developing a taste for healthier stuff. I think TRANSITIONING your family & kids in a way that they hardly notice is KEY! Can you hide, or throw it away, if you have any of this??
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| Cheez-Its = BAD SNACK OPTIONS You probably can't fully see, but this pocket is PACKED with grilled chicken (made really quickly in my Foreman grill!! Love it!), Spring Mix, reduced fat Sharp Cheddar cheese, with ~2T Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt (like sour cream to me!), and salsa on the side that I spoon in as i eat! I don't put the salsa IN the pocket b/c there's NOTHING worse than soggy bread! You could do this sandwich with a WRAP too, but again, i wouldn't put the salsa IN it ;) This was ~300 calories. I eat CONSTANTLY & i like to have something sweet after each meal, so 300 calorie meals work for me.. you have to figure YOUR nutritional & caloric needs and eat what YOU like..these are just ideas/inspiration. You like  |
Our Tropical Vegan Strawberry FINALLY arrived! This is what I put in it and it was DELISHHHH ..not gritty at all ..at least the way i made it! ~1 Cup Ice, 1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, ~1Cup Water, 1 Cup frozen Raspberries, 2 Tablespoons Chocolate PB2, and 1/2 Banana! Btw, I've always heard FROZEN fruit is actually more nutritious than fresh.. true?
Is this getting weird that you know everything i eat?? Idk, but i'm having fun with it :) This was SUPER easy, QUICK,healthy & very good! I put each salmon filet in foil that was sprayed with non-stick spray WITH the asparagus and fresh squeezed lemon on top of it all. Folded up the foil, leaving plenty of room for the asparagus to steam and put it in the oven at 450 on a cookie sheet, for 15minutes. VOILA! I'm estimating this to be ~300 calories, maybe 350. I of course will eat something else b/w now & bed.. you have to eat based on YOUR caloric/nutrition needs. p.s. Matt loved this too!
I like salads!! Can you tell? I needed a small meal/snack this afternoon and this was it.. and it was sooo good & super quick to pull together! Grilled chicken (we grill a bunch of chicken a couple times a week & put it in stuff), a little reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes, Salad seasoning sprinkled on, and Chick Peas/Garbonzo Beans! Some salads can look VERY similar but be 700+calories due to candied nuts, full-fat dressings & cheese... if at a restaurant, don't be fooled! And that's not even counting the bacon bits, croutons, side of bread and glass of wine! I don't care if it's whole grain bread and the glass of wine is good for you..you're still at 1000-calorie meal AT LEAST & most metabolisms aren't built up enough to metabolize all of that in 1 sitting. Don't make the FOOD the source of your fun. Yes of course splurge once in awhile..PLEASE, but only when it's worth it! :)
Wheat tortilla filled w/ grilled chicken, Gouda cheese (YUMM!), Avocado & tomatoes! This has LOTS of protein, naturally low in sugar & carbs and ~350 calories including the orange! VERY filling. You might want to spoon on some salsa too!
Quick snack! This is greek yogurt under the strawberries with a packet of Stevia to sweeten! It's 20g protein and DELISH. Blueberries have more nutritional benefits, but i just like Strawberries better. When i post things, please know i'm not eating these things because i think they're the HEALTHIEST.. i'm obviously not a nutritionist & their are alot of people more fit & leaner than me. I eat things i LIKE, that happen to have nutritional value and I make sure i'm getting enough calories & protein & the nutrients i need. It's the things i'm NOT eating (like fast food, crackers, chips, alcohol & restaurant food), coupled with workouts, that help SUBSTANTIALLY. So you have to LIKE what you eat, or you'll feel deprived & get "off" easily! Unless you're competing for a figure competition (where your nutrition has to be SPOT ON), don't force yourself to eat things you dread. Find what you like that is healthy & keep looking to improve everything else. Does that make sense?
You don't need to eat perfectly.. you just need to eat in a way that lines up with YOUR goals and be honest with yourself so that you're not constantly ON & OFF. If you are constantly mad at yourself for what you eat/drink on a weekend, make a decision NOW to do things differently. Just promise me you won't start skipping meals. SHORT-TERM that may work to make the scale move (due to lost water weight and lost muscle) but it will backfire on you! You NEED to keep and feed that muscle.. we all lose muscle as we age unless you're doing things to KEEP IT and build more. Ok, so back to the salad.. you like? Trying this dressing w/it!
Really felt like a sandwich but we needed to use the salmon today so I made salmon sandwiches! It was great but it needed something else, like a condiment..what works w/salmon & feta? I just love feta :)
Turkey burger w/avocado & honey mustard! The turkey burger ended up being too small so I ended up having LF cottage cheese too bc this was only roughly 250 calories by itself - not enough for me. I estimate calories to make sure I'm getting what I NEED so I don't lose muscle or slow my metabolism. I just had a big bowl of egg whites a cpl hrs ago too. Know YOUR body's needs. BUILD MUSCLE and your body will need and use more! U know that, right?
Egg whites (5 servings, shown here of 100% liquid egg whites=25g protein), spinach, feta &cherry tomatoes on a BROWN RICE tortilla - way different texture than a white flour tortilla, but it's growing on me! :) Total this small meal is ~33g protein, 0 sugar (naturally sugar free foods), & 330 calories.. but add avocado if u need more calories :) And I have nothing against eating an entire egg, yolk and all.. i just PERSONALLY prefer egg whites bc with 5servings you get 25g of protein for only 125 calories..that leaves me room to add the wrap, cheese, toast.. whatever grains or other things i want to add & still have all the nutrition and taste i want within my calorie range for a small meal.. do what works for YOU. i'm gonna go have some dark chocolate now :)
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