Fight the Feast: 11 Tips to Fighting the Holiday Bulge

1. Start strong: eat a healthy breakfast. If you don't, you will tend to overeat the rest of the day.

2. Curb your appetite.  Drink a glass of water before every meal.  It will help you to fill up faster and eat less.

3. Slow down.  Eat slower and taste your food! Give your mind time to send the message to you that you are satisfied.

4. Stay active.  Exercise.  Move more and eat less. You know it works!  Eating and exercise go hand in hand.

5.Keep your food diary.  Tracking your diet will help to point out your weaknesses.  You will then be able to focus on limiting your intake of certain foods and spot when you missed a meal, etc.  What you measure you can manage.

6.  Pick healthier foods at least 80% of the time. Eat more vegetables and fruit and other healthy choices such as whole-grains, beans and nuts.

7.  Don't go anywhere hungry.  Try to arrive at any holiday parties having already eaten something healthy.  That way you won't be too prone to indulging in high-calorie party foods.

8. Portion control.  Pay attention to how much you put on your plate.  Use smaller plates.  Moderation is one of the most important elements in weight control.

9. Water over alcohol.  Drinking water in place of alcohol will keep you hydrated and keep your energy level high.  It will also help to avoid tacking on unnecessary calories.

10. Don't eat things if you don't like them.  If you put it on your plate and it doesn't taste as good as you thought, DON'T EAT IT!  Why take in the extra calories on something that doesn't even satisfy you?

11. Bring something you like.  When attending a party, bring a healthier dish that you enjoy and eat it! This is a good way to eat less tempting foods.

Turkey Chili

Here is a delicious turkey chili recipe that I love to make.  You can freeze it if need be, or put into 1 C containers for grab and go lunches during the cold winter months!

Aubree's Turkey Chili

3# Extra lean ground turkey (99%)
1# Mushrooms
3 (15 oz) Low sodium black beans
5 zucchinis (chopped up into 1/4 in. pieces)
4 C Salsa
5 Cloves garlic
garlic powder
chili powder

Cook turkey in pan.  Sautee mushrooms and zucchini.  Combine all ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.  AND DONE!

ENJOY!!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes!

Two entries ago I posted I told you all about pumpkin.  My good friend Nadia gave me this recipe for a healthy and filling pumpkin pancake:

6 egg whites (or 1 C)

1/3 C Pure pumpkin

1/2 C Oatmeal (sugar free maple brown sugar is good or just regular oatmeal :)

1 Tbl Vanilla extract

1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice

Throw it all together in a blender and mix.  Use 3/4 C per pancake.  1 pancake should be sufficient for a small meal or snack as they are about 280 calories.

ENJOY!!!

FACTS ON FLAX

Fiber: Just two tablespoons of flaxseed provides 4 g of fiber...almost 1/5 of our recommended daily fiber intake! Studies suggest that when flaxseed is added to  the diet, harmful LDL cholesterol drops, while good LDL cholesterol remains put.  Fiber also improves our regularity ;)

Lignans: These are natural antioxidants that flaxseed contains high levels of.  The lignans in flaxseed can bind to circulating that might promote unchecked cell growth.  In two tablespoons of flaxseed you get as many lignans as eating 30 CUPS of broccoli.  

Alpha-linolenic acid: Flaxseed is a mega-source for this Omega-3. The oil in flaxseed is approximately 50% alpha-linolenic acid, most oils such as canola or walnut are only 10%.  One serving of flaxseed contains 2400 mg of omega-3.

eXcellent choice: Many doctors and nutritionists recommend adding flaxseed to your diet.  You can eat the natural untreated seeds whole, ground into meal or sprouted!  Great to add to granola, smoothies or breads.

Hey Pumpkin ;)

It's here!  Fall. The start of warm and heavy comfort foods, pumpkin-filled desserts, drinks and pastries.  Stay lean through this season with these pumpkin pointers:

1.  Choose the smaller pumpkins for cooking.  Before adding to soups, breads, purees, pies or smoothies, steam or roast them.  As for the small decorative ones, try to cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and stuff with a savory protein filling (i.e. spiced ground turkey).

2. Roast the nutrient-rich seeds and use to top a salad or munch on as their own healthy snack!

3. Pumpkin helps with blood sugar control

4. 1/2 C of pumpkin provides 3 g of filling fiber...13% of your daily value!

5. The healthy fats in pumpkin seeds ward off cravings and keep your metabolism rolling

6. You can veganize a recipe when baking by swapping one egg for 1/4 C. of pumpkin

CRUSTLESS PUMPKIN PIE
Ready in 30 minutes and makes 8 servings

15-oz can pumpkin puree
8 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp virgin coconut oil
Zest of 1 orange
2 eggs, whisked
2 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare a 9"x13" glass baking dish by placing a kitchen towel on the bottom.  Place 8 small ramekins (about 1/2 C size) on the towel.  Fill a kettle with water and bring to a boil.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.  Fill each ramekin with 1/2 C of the pumpkin mixture.  Place the baking pan in the oven.  Bring the boiling water over to the oven and fill up the baking dish with the water so that it rises about halfway up the ramekins ( a water bath).

Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 72, Total Fats: 2 g, Cholesterol: 53 mg, Sodium: 56 mg, Total Carbs: 13g, Protein: 3 g, Iron: 0.5 mg.

The Card Workout

Almost all of my clients travel with work and more often than I would like. Unfortunately, I can't go with them.  So what can you do when you have minimal equipment yet need to stay on top of your workouts?  One of my FAVORITES is the Card Workout.  Here is how you do it:

Choose one exercise per suit.  Take a deck of cards and flip one at a time and do the amount of reps as the number on the card of the exercise that suit is assigned to.

For example:

Clubs: Sit ups
Spades: Burpees
Hearts: Push Ups
Diamonds: Lunges

So, if you draw the 7 of hearts, you would do 7 push ups and then immediately flip the next card and perform that exercise.  Go through the ENTIRE deck before you are done!  An ace is a minute break...OR you could really challenge yourself and make an ace 14 reps.

If you do the minute breaks, you get 90 REPS of each exercise.  Without the minute breaks, it is 104 REPS!!!!  Best part about it?  It only takes about 20 minutes or so.  It's an efficient calorie scorcher.

No more excuses on vacation or while you are traveling for work!

Still want more? Choose 2 exercises per suit.

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

This snack is a great on-the-go preworkout snack:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
• 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 3 tbsp dark chocolate chips 

Instructions:

Mix together all ingredients. Should be the consistency of Play-Doh. Roll into 14 small balls. Refrigerate to firm them up, overnight for best results. Enjoy!

Nutrients per serving (1 ball):

Calories: 84, Total Fats: 5 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 3 mg, Sodium: 28 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 8 g, Dietary Fiber: 1 g, Sugars: 6 g, Protein: 4 g, Iron: 0 mg

Clean up your mouth!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!  Let's start with talking about our diet!

It's time to start making good choices with your diet and what you put into your body.  The Eat-Clean Diet comes from Clean Eating magazine and uses principles that everyone would benefit from.  Use these principles to start cleaning up your eating and the results will have you feeling leaner, more energized and healthier in no time!

1. Eat more!  Eat six small meals each day, spaced at intervals of 2.5-3 hours

2. Eat breakfast EVERY DAY within an hour of rising.

3. Make your last meal 3 hours before bed.

4. Eat a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal.

5. Eat sufficient healthy fats every day.

6. Drink 2-3 Liters of water each day.

7. Carry a cooler packed with clean foods.

8. Depend on fruits and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, nutrients and enzymes.

9. Adhere to proper portion sizes.

10. Eat only foods that have not been overly processed or saturated in chemicals, saturated and trans fats and/or toxins.

Start to work on one at a time and see how these can transform your habits and health.  Note: it's okay to have things in moderation, but also try to find a clean substitution for those unhealthy treats you love!