My Trainer Jill | Exercise Video

My fridge is all stocked and ready for a busy week. Boiled eggs, chicken, cottage cheese, kale and beef stir fry, individual containers of veggies and hummus, almonds, celery ready for the peanut butter, yogurt for my home made Protein Pudding,  Chocolate Nut Protein Bars, Protein Pancakes, fruit…. the list goes on! This is a HUGE “area of opportunity” for so many people I talk to who want a better physique. One hour a week can make the rest of your week soooo much easier.

Is your fridge helping your nutritional goals?

People who come to my classes often ask me “How do you do it?” “How do you have so much energy all the time?” Some people just have that endless amount of energy. All the time. Naturally. I’m not one of them.

I cheat. I admit it.

In college I was afraid to eat a poppyseed muffin because I was drug tested so much for the NCAA’s supposed “random” drug testing. (Didn’t feel so random when it was always me who got chosen. LOL!) I never even took a multi-vitamin! Of course, I also justified my entire order of breadsticks the night before each meet as “carbo loading”. This is funny mind you because my events (I was a thrower) lasted all of about 6 seconds/throw. Not exactly endurance.

I wish I’d known then about Spark and Muscle Fuel and many of the other AdvoCare products. Just the other day I was SO, NOT in the mood to workout, and I took a Muscle Fuel as I often do, and I was once again WOW’d at the workout I got. The energy just shows up about 15 minutes after I drink this stuff! Every time. I love it!

I was telling my class about that experience the other day and moments later my husband came home from his workout. He announced in amazement, “Muscle Fuel is ridiculous! I just had the BEST workout!” It was pretty funny timing.

I would just be a bad friend if I did not at least share with you my favorite things. Here is a clip below about a study they did on it a while back.

And now you know my “secret”.

Eating healthy on the go is one of the biggest stumbling blocks towards weight loss and healthy living success. We’re all busy. And we’re surrounded by convenience and advertising leading us to unhealthy options that would quickly sabotage any good workout. Think of it this way. A typical vending machine snack could easily put back in ALL the calories you worked your butt off to spend in that 4 mile run this morning! Think of how hard that run was! All 40 minutes of it! And in a moment of hunger and weakness… smack, smack, swallow. Done.

Greek yogurt recently became relatively popular as a healthy snack and so what did they do? They started offering it in individual servings, sugared it up with a bunch of “fruit” and now we’re back to 18+ grams of sugar! I agree, plain, fat free greek yogurt is not delish. And I’m all about eating YUMMY as well as healthy. So  here’s what I do.

Who says eating healthy can't be yummy too?

I flavor up plain greek yogurt with some vanilla protein powder (I use AdvoCare’s Muscle Gain), and just enough almond milk to be able to mix it. I used to add berries, but lately I’ve been adding chia, hemp or flax seeds. Sometimes walnuts! Be creative to suit you. Cinnamon? Cocoa?

I’ve been trying different recipes lately and I’ve finally tweaked one enough that it’s yummy enough to share with you all. They’re healthy, quick, yummy and you don’t even have to turn on your oven! (I hate turning on the oven in the summer.)  You know how I cook. It’s a little of this and a little of that. I don’t have the patience to measure out 5 exact tablespoons of this and a teaspoon of that. I guess. So forgive me that I don’t have EXACT measurements. But you can perfect it to suit you.

So! In a mixing bowl I combined

• 1 c oats. I used gluten free and I actually blended half of them in the magic bullet too. So I had 1/2 c regular and 1/2 c blended like flour.
• 6 slightly rounded scoops chocolate protein powder (I used AdvoCare’s Muscle Gain of course.)
• 1/4 c PB2 (it’s powdered peanut butter and I used the chocolate flavor)
• 2 Tablespoons flax seeds
• 1/3 c slivered almonds (I browned them in a little coconut oil on the stove first too. I think walnuts or pecans would be good too.)

Sounding good yet? I then added in (about) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 5 tablespoons of chunky all natural peanut butter and just enough almond milk (added a bit at a time) to be able to make it all into a doughy mixture. I then spread it in a 9×9 pan that I’d lightly greased and smashed down with the back of a wet spoon. I put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes then the fridge until they hardened enough to cut into 12 squares and individually wrap for on the go snacking.

NOTES: I like salt. And I have really low blood pressure, sweat like a crazy person, and eat nearly no processed foods so I don’t worry about getting too much. So I added salt to the above mixture and liked them even better. Another option is of course honey or other acceptable sweetener to make them a bit more sweet. Remember, you should look forward to everything you eat in my opinion. If you’re eating something simply because it’s healthy and you’re getting no joy from it, you’ll just keep eating until you find that yumminess you’re looking for so make them how YOU like them!

Eating healthy can and SHOULD be yummy too!

This made 12 “bars”. Each bar has (about)

• Calories 120
• Fat 5.5 g
• Protein 10g
• Carbohydrates 9g
• Sugars <2g
• Fiber 2g

I ate my version of a protein pancake for about 4 years straight. Nearly every morning. LOVED them. After all this time now I could hardly remember how to make them! I now incorporate chia and hemp seeds and I love them even more than I remember! I make a big batch in advance and have them in the fridge for on the go eating. You can eat them cold, toast them, put butter, almond butter, honey or whatever you want on top if you wish! I’ve even put them in the blender with spinach in them too! Awesome way to sneak veggies in if your kids eat these. Spinach doesn’t really change the taste! Try it if you don’t believe me.

This is a yummy cross between a muffin and a pancake. No guilt involved. Just easy, quick, on-the-go, clean eating.

Mix 1 egg + 2 egg whites or the equivalent in eggs, 1/4 cup cottage cheese (use pumpkin puree if you’re dairy free), 1 big scoop protein powder (I use AdvoCare’s Vanilla Muscle Gain), 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 tablespoon hemp seeds and 1/3 cup oats (I use gluten free now). You can blend if you want but I like the varying consistency. If you do add spinach, I do recommend you blend it however. Heat a little coconut oil in a pan and fry up the pancakes as big as you want them. I make each about the size of my palm. When I make these I double the recipe because they keep in the fridge just fine. Izak loves them! I add cinnamon to some too. Did you know that cinnamon is good for stabilizing blood sugar? I also sometimes add some chopped up walnuts to add some crunch too. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I suppose you could do it with chocolate protein powder as well…. maybe add some cocoa or chocolate chips? Be creative!

When bell-bottom pants made their comeback years ago I protested. I dug my rolled pant leg wearing heels in the ground and swore I would NEVER be caught in this “70′s” flashback trend.

Until I saw how much better they made my butt look.

Truth is, there’s usually a reason something or someone becomes popular.

I was talking with a nutritionist friend of mine a while back and our short conversation made me think. Lauren Simms is the Owner of Fuel For Life, LLC  and I was seeing a lot of posts from her about her gluten-free dinners, etc. So I asked her about it one day at the gym (she’s also a trainer).

“Are you gluten intolerant or just not eating gluten?” I asked.

Apparently the gluten in Europe is different. Not hybrids and GMO as much as here. This could be why I felt no difference eating all this fabulous pasta!

“I’m just not eating gluten.” She replied.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because almost every client who comes to me with some sort of illness or “itis”, and we put them on the elimination diet, then add back in gluten, we find that it is almost always the culprit. I don’t have any issues now, but I don’t want to wake up in 30 years with one and say, ‘I knew better!’”

Hmmmm. Interesting.

You may remember my husband and I were on Paleo last summer. Maybe 6-8 weeks we lasted before going to Italy in September. Mmmmmm…. Italy. We ate our way through Italy (think pasta) and I felt no worse! In fact, I was quite happy with how I felt! And I didn’t gain a pound. I can’t honestly say that I ever noticed a significant difference.

Or did I?

This might be more than you want to know but if I’m going to be honest, I may as well tell you the whole story.

About the time we were planning for Italy, our fertility doctors announced they were giving up on us. Unless of course we wanted to do IVF. Then, we’d be worth their time. Well, we didn’t. Heartbroken, of course, I shifted my focus to the coming trip and all other positive things I could think of. In doing so, I decided I could now go back on my beloved Metabolic Nutrition System (AdvoCare vitamins), since we weren’t going to be “trying” anymore. And since I planned to eat my way through Italy.  I don’t remember details, I just remember that I randomly ovulated at about the right time that next cycle! (Not normal in my world.) Was it the vitamins? Or the months prior without gluten? Or random chance!? I will likely never know, but again this month, I’ve noticed the same thing after a month or so of avoiding gluten specifically.

Truth is, gluten free is so much easier than Paleo! I think every restaurant we’ve been to (we eat out a lot) has a gluten free menu! We have enjoyed pizza, pasta, breads, chips, crackers, etc. Even crepes for goodness sakes!

I’m not ready to say I’ll live the rest of my life without gluten. I’m sure I’ll have more to share in the months to come. But none of it will matter, specifically, to you. Every person is different. The thought though is that we were never meant to consume these things. Our guts have not had time to adapt to the differences in how these things are broken down in our systems. Simply put, the process to do so releases things and produces things that effects each gut, and body, differently. Bottom line is, more and more are experiencing wonderful changes with the elimination of gluten. If you are lacking energy, get sick all the time, have inflammation of any sort, you might want to start by getting rid of all gluten. If you want help, my friend Lauren can help you.

Ever stand in front of the fridge with the door open looking for inspiration? You know you’re hungry. You want to be healthy. But you also want it to taste good! Today I was staring at all sorts of yummy options but I pulled out the smoked salmon. I diced up some onion, flaked up some of the peppered salmon and mixed in a little egg white. (I’m not opposed to the yolk, I just I figured I was getting plenty of fat in the salmon and I didn’t need a whole egg so I went with the carton.) I mixed it all up and formed it into a burger patty and fried it up in some coconut oil. I seasoned it with some lemon pepper too. While that was frying I sprinkled some lemon juice over some mixed greens and wallah! A TASTY snack was made. DEFINITELY doing this again! It was so great!

My 3 ingredient salmon burgers. YUM!

I’ve only recently started experimenting with ginger and I must say, it’s sort of empowering to be using new things in the kitchen! It’s not the hard at all to peel and does add a lot of flavor to dishes. Again, I apologize I don’t have exact measurements, but I have a new favorite soup. I had a huge bag of organic carrots that were going to go bad in the fridge if I didn’t use them. So! I sauteed a chopped onion, some garlic, and ginger in coconut oil until the onion was soft. Then I added a bunch of chopped up carrots and some coconut milk (and leftover chicken broth) and simmered until carrots were relatively soft. You could add cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, whatever you like. (Adding the juice of one orange is yummy!) I then let it cool while I fried up some chicken chunks in coconut oil. After that was cooled a bit, I put all of it in the blender. I can’t remember if I added salt and pepper. (I make it different every time since I don’t use a recipe.) I’m a big fan of leftovers and I swear this soup gets better over time. I especially like that I don’t have to turn on the oven for this meal. I like having a bowl of this after a workout as carrots are higher on the glycemic index. Paleo friendly. Palate perfect. Yumminess!

How many of you out there eat “well” during the week, only to continually BLOW IT on the weekend? I think this is common! It’s unfortunate, but common. Here are some suggestions to break this pattern!

1. Eat the same breakfast. If during the week you eat eggs and toast for breakfast, don’t start your weekend with a cinnamon roll! For a while at least, try eating the same breakfast as you eat during the week. If you start the day off the same, you’re more likely to stay in that rhythm.

2. Schedule your day. The week is busy. We go to work. We have meetings. We have things that keep us out of the kitchen. Think of stay at home moms who face all or more of the stresses of a workday AND they’re only an arm’s reach from the refrigerator all day! Get your brain and your body out of the kitchen. Schedule your day! Even if it’s to read for 2 hours. Read in your bedroom. Go to a library. Schedule your down time, but schedule it away from temptation.

3. Don’t “save up” for parties. Don’t starve yourself all day so you can “splurge” at the evening party. Eat a healthy snack before going so you don’t dive in before reason kicks in. Especially if you’re having drinks too! Resolve, dissolves, in alcohol.

Remember, resolve dissolves in alcohol. Perhaps it's the weekend drinking that's sabotaging you?

4. Be the social butterfly. Again, same as #2. Schedule your time AWAY from the buffet! Make it a point to meet and learn everything possible about the man or woman who’s standing the farthest from the food.

5. Use a plate. Snacking, while drinking, and talking, is a recipe for disaster. We really should never eat distracted. At some point in the party (preferably before too many drinks) allow yourself a plate of food and the luxury of sitting down with it to enjoy every morsel. This is your 10 -15 minutes you’re allowed to NOT be the social butterfly. Take it to the bathroom if you must! Go somewhere where you can really enjoy every bite. Look at the plate of food, decide before eating it if this is enough. (If they’re small plates, maybe you’re ok with seconds!?) But decide BEFORE you just dive in with every intention of going back for more.

6. Discover the culprit. If your goal during the week is to eat vegetables at every meal (or at least 4 times/day) keep that rule on the weekends! If you’re good at drinking water while sitting at your desk, and you forget on the weekends because you’re not at your desk, focus on carrying a water bottle with you wherever you go. If you sleep 7 hours/night during the week but consistently only get 4 hours of sleep on Friday and Saturday nights, change that! Find out what in your routine changes that you can keep consistent with a little effort and see if that helps!?

Feel free to leave any other suggestions or ideas you have below. This is a common problem! Let’s help each other out!

A study  in Health Psychology, May 16, 2011 shows how your mindset can effect your food choices and satiety. This is so interesting!

Why is the right answer so easy some times? And so difficult at others?

They  gave  46 people a milkshake (360 calories) labeled “indulgent”  and told them that is had 620 calories in it.  A week later, the exact same milkshake was offered with the label “Health Conscious” (140 calories). They measured the grehlin response (stimulates hunger) and found that when the participants drank the “indulgent” shake, they had a much sharper decline in grehlin, than when drinking the “health conscious” shake. So just thinking they had indulged, led them to be more satisfied with the exact same shake!

Think about what this means for dieters and food labeling. If the label is filled with promises appealing to a dieter, but the actual ingredients are bad for you (think artificial colors, preservatives, sugar, etc.)…. all “fat free!”, the grehlin response will likely be suppressed, and the consumer will likely continue eating long after they should have been satisfied.

Just something to think about. ENJOY your food! Healthy food TASTES GOOD! You might have to play around with recipes etc, but you can do it! Read labels. Take charge of your health.