Food For Thought

In the morning I have little to no time to spare. Every morning I pack my lunch while the waiting for my shakeology to blend and I am out the door. Although my workplace has a cafeteria, the food is overpriced. We have a salad buffet they weigh by the ounce and I am not kidding when I say that a $10 salad would leave me wanting more food in a matter of minutes. One thing I love about my job is that we have a fitness center right on campus, so oftentimes during my lunch hour I get to work out. The only downside to that is eating lunch at my desk.

Here are a few easy snack ideas and tips on how to pack a delicious and nutritious lunch in under five minutes.

Snacks: First, I make sure I always have snacks on hand. If I have snacks, I won’t be tempted to buy chips and chocolate from the vending machine, or starve myself so I overeat at my next meal. For the salty cravings, I keep nuts, beef/turkey jerky, or popcorn (no, not Butter Lovers!) in my desk drawer. Look for 94 percent fat-free microwave popcorn, like Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop!—only 240 calories for a whole bag and when your coworkers smell it, there’s your opportunity to share. Work alone or want portion control? Look for 100-calorie minis. When I am craving something sweet I go to my stash of dried fruit or applesauce (no refrigeration necessary!). Lately I have been all about the dried cranberries, but be aware of the potential added sugar, check the label. The 10 healthiest dried fruit options are apple, apricot, mango, cherry, fig, papaya, blueberry, raisin and currants. My go-to applesauce, Mott's No-Sugar-Added Healthy Harvest Applesauce- Strawberry flavor, if they have it.  

Lunch: Let’s be honest. I hate to cook. Here are some lunch ideas that get me through the week. Salad- Being the queen of lazy when it comes to food prep, I buy the prepackaged salad mix. One bag lasts me three lunches. I don’t get sick of salad when I play with my food! Each day I try to throw in something different than the day before. Today I had a salad that was lettuce topped with feta cheese and hickory smoked tuna (yup, from a packet) with Asian dressing and it was wonderful. Salad toppings to try: Lettuce, Cheese, Tomato, Egg, Bacon, Spinach, Onion, Mushroom, Cucumber, Carrot, Chicken, peppers, Feta, Avocado, Nuts, Olives, seeds, cabbage, Ham, Turkey, Chickpeas, Corn, Broccoli, Apple, Dried Cranberries, beans, Sprouts, Strawberries, Steak Celery, Carrots, Pasta, Grape, Pepperoni, Avocado, Cilantro, Basil, Mandarin Oranges, Cauliflower, Peas, Shrimp, Tuna, Fruit salad: This can be a LOT of work, so choose your fruits wisely. When I make fruit salad for lunch, I usually use smaller fruits like grapes, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Why do I choose these? They are basically “wash and go” or remove the greenery/stem. There are no pits or seeds to sort out, making them even more convenient. Yogurt or yogurt parfait: Low fat yogurt is a convenient option. If you make the fruit salad listed above, add it to your yogurt and Voila!  

Dinner: This is where I fail… almost every single day. I would love some new dinner recipes! Do you have a go to source for healthy recipes? Let me know what your favorite healthy recipe is, so I can learn to cook!

Vitality: Heath, Fitness, and a Fitbit

The company I work for has partnered with Vitality to offer their employees the Live Well Program. This innovative wellness program is designed to help us to get educated, get healthy and get rewarded for taking care of ourselves. The program takes a personalized, interactive approach, and considers your current overall health, lifestyle and health risk factors. With a wide variety of enjoyable and healthy activities, the Live Well program will help us to establish and achieve your wellness goals, and rewards us with better medical rates and incentives.

Last week I had to undergo a biometric screening which included tests for HDL/LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, glucose, body mass index (BMI) and cotinine (nicotine) testing. The results will help determine if I am at risk for chronic, preventable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension and will also help to provide me with personalized and appropriate goals to improve my health. 

Why would I agree to be subjected to these tests? First, just for taking the tests, I received a FREE Fitbit Flex. Besides the opportunity to have lower health insurance rates, I call also earn Vitality Points. These points can be converted to Vitality Bucks, which can be used at an online shopping mall. The more Vitality Points I earn, the higher my Vitality Status will be, starting at Blue, moving up to Bronze, Silver, Gold, and ultimately Platinum. The higher my status, the greater my shopping discount on the Vitality Mall. We are only a month and a half into the program and I already have enough points for a $100 Amazon giftcard!

Based on the results of my biometric tests, I need to focus on my nutrition. I know this is an area of improvement for me. I start every day off on the right foot. I drink shakeology every morning for breakfast which is a superfood loaded with vitamins and nutrients. Then for lunch I eat healthy also, because I plan ahead the night before. Once it is time for dinner, food cravings get the best of me, and I am more likely to make bad choices. I have come so far in the past 6 months making daily changes and building better habits, but I still have a ways to go.

Do you think your company should offer this program or one like it? Would you pass the test? Would this encourage you to make a lifestyle change?

Learning to Cook

It wasn't too long ago I learned how to make hard boiled eggs. After much online research, I successfully completed that task, however peeling them is a whole new challenge . I am slowly learning to cook. I have been looking for simple healthy recipes. Here is one I found and made for dinner last night. To my amazement, it was very easy, dare I say fool proof, and it turned out to be DELICIOUS! I will be making this one again.

BAKED STUFFED AVOCADOS

Preparation Time: 10 – 20 minutes depending on the amount

Cooking Time: 18 – 20 minutes depending on the amount

Cooking Temperature: 350°F

 Instructions:

•  Sauté the mushrooms in the oil until just softened and lightly browned. Remove and drain on a paper towel, then mix with the cottage cheese, chives and soy sauce.

•  Halve the avocados and remove the pit, pour a little lemon juice onto a flat plate and moisten the cut surfaces by placing avocado halves, face down, into the juice.
•  Fill the avocados with the mushroom mixture, smoothing over the entire surface, not just the hollows.

•  Sprinkle with parmesan and dust with paprika.
•  Arrange the avocados slightly apart in a baking dish. Add 3/4 inch cold water to the dish and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until just heated through.

•  Place each half on a warmed serving plate and serve immediately.

Tips to Reduce Preparation& Cooking Time:

 Buy already chopped mushrooms to decrease preparation time.

 Use bottled lemon juice instead of squeezing fresh lemons to decease preparation time.

 Buy already grated parmesan.

  

Shaking It Up!

Most of you reading this probably follow me on social media. That means you know that I live an active lifestyle. I work out daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I also run obstacle course races nearly every Saturday and have played on the same coed Sunday soccer team for 7 years. Due to this active lifestyle, I never counted calories or put much thought into what I ate. Then one day I realized that no matter how hard I worked, I never saw my body change. I have heard it 1,000 times, “Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym”. I thought if anyone could prove otherwise, it would be me…and I was wrong.

 

I was celebrating my 29^th birthday. Each year I get myself a gift. I couldn’t think of something I just had to have. At 29 I had gotten to the age where I realized “Why not me?” I decided I wanted to be in the best shape of my life and that I was ready to change my lifestyle and build the best version of myself. I had been approached previously about becoming a beachbody coach, but I wasn’t really sure if it was for me. After researching the products, talking with people who had done the programs and tried shakeology, I was ready to find out for myself. Not only that, but I was excited to share my love, motivation, and passion for health and happiness with others. I emailed my coach and said “You have yourself a coach!”

 

When I signed on as a coach, I was still skeptical, but I had to find out for myself what the hype was about. I ordered Insanity the Asylum as part of a challenge pack that included shakeology. I set up a home gym in my living room which included moving the couch and duct taping a workout mat to the floor (shhhh don’t tell my landlord). The first thing I had to do was a fitness assessment, which I felt failed horribly. After I finished the warmup of my first workout, I was near death- or so I thought, but of course I was being dramatic. I never thought I would survive an entire workout, of the toughest program, with Shawn T, but I did. Insanity the Asylum has a way of humbling even an elite athlete. Even after my completion of the program, each time I “suffered” during a race etc. I would think, if I can survive the Asylum, I can survive this. The awesome thing about the Beachbody programs is that there is something for all skill levels. If you are interested in a fitness assessment let me know, and I can match you up with program you will enjoy and that can get you results!
 

 

 

An important change I made during this time was including shakology into my daily routine. For the first time ever, I was eating breakfast. Some people consider shakeology a meal replacement, but for me, it was a meal addition. Within a month of doing Insanity and drinking shakeology, I had seen more changes to my body than I had in an entire year.  I realized that before shakeology, I was not getting the protein or other nutrients my body needed to build muscle. You know the lower belly pooch that never goes away? That was gone, and I noticed I didn’t have to suck in anymore when I was in a bathing suit or sports bra. Shakeology is what helped me get past the training standstill and took my progress to the next level.

 

This is me when my monthly shipment arrives!

 

Shakeology can help you:

·         Lose weight – especially if you replace a meal with Shakeology every day.

·         Reduce junk food cravings – drink it in the morning to enjoy this benefit throughout the day

·         Increase your energy and feel healthier.

·         Improve your digestion and regularity

There are many flavors available:

•  Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Strawberry
• Greenberry
• Vegan Chocolate

I recommend the vanilla shakeology because there are so many ways to shake it up!

My favorite recipe:

·          1 scoop of vanilla shakeology

·          4  ice cubes

·          Dark chocolate almond milk

·          A banana

·          1 Tsp of peanut butter

Put it all together, blend, and Enjoy!  That’s my kind of “cooking”.

 

For more info, go to: http://www.shakeology.com/asamples

               

30-Day-Supply Bag

Shakeology Convenience Pack

The Perfect Body

Many people begin their fitness journey searching for the “perfect” body.

 

What is perfect? Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics.The problem with this is that each person has an individualized idea of perfect.

 

In the past, I have shown up to races and envied the girls with the “perfect” bodies.  They are tall, thin, and move with a certain grace about them.  It seems like they are the ones with the nicest shoes and the most coveted workout apparel.  We stand together at the starting line, and for a moment, I wish that were me.

 

At the finish line I realize, that looks can be deceiving. I have crossed the finish line before them. Me, 5’2”, 120 lbs, snarled hair, wearing my raggedy lucky sports bra that smells like mud no matter how many times I wash it, with the shoes that are tearing at the seams between the sole and the toe, because we have been through too much to just throw them away. Suddenly, I am not envious, I am proud.

 

My legs will never be long or lanky. They are covered in scars, which remind me of good times gone slightly awry, and accomplishment that cannot be taken away. Despite running daily, my thighs still touch. Sometimes I have bags under my eyes from getting up early to get in a workout. My feet often have blisters in some stage of repair. When I have 10 toenails, it’s a rarity. One of my toes are broken, and at this point, so what.

 

The perfect body for me has become the body I built. The one that can withstand miles of running, one that can navigate obstacles, one that can work hard and never gives up, one that  is willing to withstand pain, and endure punishment, because that is what I have trained it to do. Throughout this journey of building MY perfect body, there have been sacrifices. Just as important, I had to give up the image of perfection that I once had.

 

I used to love to shop for clothes. It is now more of a chore than a hobby. Clothes don’t fit like they used to. My body has transformed to a shape that stores don’t typically cater to.

 

It is hard to shop for a bathing suit when your figure is more like that of a 12 year old boy, than a Victoria secret model. There were moments I wanted to cry, and days that I gave up. After about 15 stores and 50+ try-ons, I found a suit that I feel flatters the assets I do have. 

 

Earlier this year, I went to the Buckle and was willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for one pair of jeans that fit like a glove. The sales associate called me “tiny and petite”. What she didn’t know is that most jeans won’t fit over my calves, and if they fit around the waist, they don’t leave room for my butt. At one point, I “walked” out of the dressing room (more like limped, so I wouldn’t split the seams) in a pair and she laughed out loud and in frustration, so did I. After about 20 pairs I was labeled as “hard to fit” and left empty-handed.

 

This weekend I bought my first pair of jeans in at least a year. They were on clearance at Macy’s for $12 which makes me think they must have been faulty by design and that’s why they were on sale, and maybe that is why they fit. I was so excited; I have been tempted to post a backside selfie to show them off! Despite the difficulty in finding figure flattering clothing, I wouldn't change a thing about my body. 

 

Why do I share this story of my “perfect” body? I think it is important to know that the perfect body is the body that works for you. It is the body you were born with. It doesn’t have to be flawless or easy to clothe. The perfect body is the one that gets you though the day and lives up to the demand of what you have trained it to do. Your expectations of your body should be fair. You can only expect to get out of your body what you are willing to put in.

 

Lessons Beyond Running

Last night I arrived in Springfield, Missouri with my sister. My brother drove from Michigan to meet up with us and take us to Branson, Missouri for our grandparents 60th wedding anniversary celebration. Since I knew I would be in Springfield a day before we could check into our place in Branson, I decided to find a race, after all, it is a Saturday.

Today I ran the Habitat Home run 10k, my first 10k. It was relaxing to show up to a race knowing no one, zero expectations to live up to, and the feeling of excitement of being somewhere you have never been.

I started the race at a maintainable pace, and one by one picked off my competitors. The first mile and a half revealed where I stood with the other 10k runners because at that point, the 5k runners were instructed to turn around and head back. The woman I had been gaining on and working so hard to catch up to turned around and I realized, I was my own competition now.

The first 4 miles were tough. The hills were wearing my legs out. My breathing was labored. There weren't people within a catchable distance in front of me, and no footsteps pounding pavement behind me. Once I reached a point with 2 miles left, I took off with a fresh spirit. I was passing some of the 5k runners and encouraged every one of them. I gained strength in giving them a thumbs up or a positive reminder that they would finish.

Today I finished my first 10k in 42 minutes and some seconds. I was the first place female. I received a giftcard,  race swag and a new medal for my collection, but what I learned today was more valuable.

It wasn't too long ago that I was the person out there who needed that extra push. At superhero scramble over a year ago, I was in over my head in an 8 mile race with endless swimming areas. There were times that race I wanted to cry and moments I was ready to quit. There was one person who changed that entire race for me. He took a moment to run beside me and tell me I had what it takes to get through it. Each time the paths crossed, I would hear him shout words of encouragement. Something about knowing someone believes in you when you can't believe in yourself is invaluable. That guy, now my friend, through his actions taught me how valuable positive words and actions can be, even on our competitors. I hope today I was able to give someone else that little something extra.

Sometimes the time, even a second, that we take to say a kind word to someone can be enough to power them through an entire race. This doesn't have to pertain just to races. Take a second of your time to make someone's day, you never know how much a well timed gesture can change someone's outlook!