I tell my clients to ENJOY the holidays. A healthy lifestyle is about balance and celebrating all occasions. On the days you can eat well, eat well and stick to the plan. On the days you can't, you just can't and that's OKAY!
Read moreOvernight Oats and Sweet Potato Wedges
Happy Monday y'all! Hope everyone had a great weekend!
This weekend I learned how to throw an axe, chop wood, saw wood and the underhand chop with my good friend Heidi. One of my current nutrition clients is the owner of Project Woodchips, who's current initiative is to bring outdoor activities to the city/Brooklyn; it was so much fun! Project Woodchips is planning to continue the woodsman class once a month at Gotham Archery so if you're at all interested make sure to sign up, the next one is November 18th! Here is a short video to recap the fun Heidi and I had Friday, enjoy!
Now, to the nutrition stuff! One of my favorite and easy recipes is overnight oats. There are several ways to make them, just make sure you fit everything into your macros :) This is another great recipe for traveling (following my recent travel post here)
Another recipe I've found is Sweet Potato Wedges. Occasionally I get tired of eating the same thing, okay I admit it :( BUT it is easy to find a new way of cooking the foods you eat a lot of by looking up new recipes; this is one of them. You can use Japanese/Oriental Sweet Potatoes (the purple ones) or regular Sweet Potatoes. They're soft on the inside and crispy on the outside - so good!!
Hope you were able to get in your Sunday night meal prep! It's a new week y'all, take advantage and get your cooking on! Eat real, whole foods!
xo
T R A V E L G O - T O S
I LOVE to travel, so do a lot of friends, family members and clients - let's be honest who doesn't? I get several questions about what to eat while traveling. I will cover a few of my traveling go-tos as well as some traveling tips if a grocery store just isn't an option.
Here are a few of my go-tos for traveling if you are able to go to a grocery store. I travel with supplements including my Protein Powder (Progenex or Cellucor) and my PurePharma-3. The PurePharma-3 is really nice because it includes your fish oils, your magnesium and vitamin D in one single packet, you don't have to carry multiple pill bottles.
In all of your meals you want to make sure you get all of the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats).
B R E A K F A S T
- Protein Powder
- Combine protein powder with gluten free oatmeal
- Combine protein powder with almond milk or water
- Protein Bars
- Oatmega and Quest bars both have a good protein to carbohydrate ratio without a ton of added sugar and fat.
- Gluten Free Oatmeal (Bob's Redmill is a great brand)
- Combine oats with protein powder
- Combine oats with egg whites
- For this you do not need a microwave. Simply combine oats with egg whites and let sit for 10-15 min
- Oats with water and cinnamon or water and blueberries + protein drink
- 0% Fat Free Greek Yogurt
- You can buy these already measured out for you in 6oz. Combine with fresh blueberries. Try to stay away from the greek yogurt with fruit already mixed in, they contain a lot of sugar.
- Have a 6oz cup of yogurt with blueberries + protein drink
- Fruit
- Apples, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are all good fruits to combine with any of your meals, not just breakfast. They're lower in sugar than most fruits.
- Gluten Free Rice Cakes
- ood for any meal, great with almond butter
L U N C H / D I N N E R
- Rotisserie Chicken
- This is a great go-to because you don't have to do any of the cooking! Just don't eat the SKIN! The skin is full of fat.
- Deli Turkey/Ham/Chicken
- Try to find a deli meat that is low in sodium, most have a lot of sodium so be careful.
- Combine this with about 1-3 tbsp mustard, if desired.
- Baby Carrots
- Baby Carrots come in convenient little 4oz packs
Tips on portion sizes/control:
- Proteins: should be about a palm size, usually 4-8oz
- Carbohydrates: Make sure these are low-glycemic, try to stay away from pastas and breads. Include a lot of vegetables and some fruits. These should consume about half of your plate.
- Fats: Most food is cooked with fat (olive oil and/or butter) so you shouldn't have to add too much, but if you do, have a very small handful about 8-15 almonds.
Traveling is hard to stay on track, I'm not going to sugar coat it. Just do the best you can! If you're out on a business dinner or going out to experience the local foods, by all means do! Just try to make the other meals you had that day better. Keep your adult beverages to a minimum as well, there are a lot of empty calories within those drinks.
What I Ate Wednesday
Another week, another Wednesday. Here we are guys midway through the week!
How many of you have started cooking additional food for the week? I have! I made additional couscous and bok choy last night to finish off the week.
The past couple of weeks I have changed my food menu to include 6 meals throughout the day instead of 5. Since I wake up so early for work, when I get home I WANT TO EAT.
So here's what I have been eating the last couple of weeks. I've added Cellucor Cinnamon Roll protein powder and the White Bean Chicken Chili. I usually try to pick a protein powder that has around 5g of carbs, branch chain amino acids (bcaas) and is economical.
One thing I changed on the White Bean Chicken Chili recipe was after cooking the chicken in small cubs I put the chicken into a food processor to shred the chicken just a little bit so that in every serving of the chili I could get a good spoonful of chicken :)
What I Ate Wednesday
It's midweek y'all, how are you doing with your meals so far this week?
A recent client requested an Asian inspired meal so I incorporated baby bok choy, couscous and seared tuna steak. I had never tried cooking baby bok choy before, but I am always up for a challenge and learning something new! So I incorporated into MY meal plan this week with chicken instead of tuna steak.
I'll have to admit, I had no clue how to cut this vegetable or cook it! I found a recipe on www.foodnetwork.com that was easy, fast AND gave a video on how to cook -- what else could you ask for?! Click here for recipe.
With Memorial Day on it's way many of my clients travel and need a travel menu. Stay tuned for a list of travel foods I always suggest coming this weekend!
HAVE A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! Stay safe! xoxo
What I Ate Wednesday
Happy Thursday Y'all! It's almost Friday
How has this week been so far for everyone? Mine has been decent, it's been a slow start to say the least! I had leftovers from last week's plan so I am currently finishing up those, getting ready for more food prep tomorrow. Here's what I ate Wednesday and the rest of the week.
I incorporated a new recipe, Sweet Potato Buffalo Chicken Casserole, I changed around the ingredients a bit to fit my macros but it is a really good recipe, especially if you like buffalo chicken wings, NOT quite as good as those but it is a good healthy rendition. I tend to stick to the same food menu through most weeks, but when I find a good recipe, or just get tired of something, I'll include it!
This past weekend I had some friends over for brunch so in prep for the brunch I headed over to Pinterest for some ideas and came out with too many! I put together a Bloody Mary bar and a Mimosa bar, Pinterest is dangerous. Everyone brought a dish and we enjoyed each others company for a few hours. I indulged in EVERYTHING - did not hold back. Hey, sometimes you just have to enjoy life! I had everything from cinnamon roll waffles, to a delicious quiche with hash brown crust, to bagels, to carnitas and guacamole, to sweet potato beef casserole - it was glorious.
I personally have to enjoy the weekends, I don't beat myself up about trying to stay on top of nutrition during the weekends because I want to enjoy being out with friends and their company. So if you veer off don't sweat it, just pick up during the week, with that said get started on that meal prep!
Eat well. Live well. Be happy.
What I Ate Wednesday
Happy Wednesday Y'all! Hope everyone is having a great week!
First blog post of Efficient Macro Energy for Recovery, Gains, and Endurance (EMERGE). You might be thinking what is this? I'd like to take a moment and tell you a little bit about EMERGE. The idea behind EMERGE is to emerge your life style, in a healthy and fun way. It's a way to learn what you are putting into your body and learn how your body reacts to different foods. EMERGE is for EVERYONE; whether you're looking to gain weight, maintain weight or make personal gains. I create meal plans based off of your goals and activity levels. I'll give you a snap shot of what I prepared for myself this week.
MEAL PREP SUNDAY
I started my week with meal prep on Sunday. Before I get started I like to turn on a good playlist, usually Pandora radio station Missy Elliot, 90s R&B, 90s Pop or Dave Matthews...I'm a nineties kid what can I say? I light some candles and set out all of the food I am about to prepare - I like a little organization before I start. I think of what will need to cook the longest, get that started and then take on the rest of the courses. Make cooking fun! Meal prep is KEY -- your weeks get hectic and things ALWAYS pop up, the last thing I want to do at the end of the workday is cook, so it is nice that I get it all done Sunday. All I end up doing after work is measure out my food for the next day and set in the fridge to grab in the morning before heading to work.
WHAT I ATE WEDNESDAY
Cooked up a new recipe this week that I also gave to a couple of my clients, I always find recipes for clients but never actually try them for myself. SO this week's new recipe is Turkey Meatloaf, I edited the recipe a little to work with my macro nutrient break down.
Hope this was a little encouraging for your meal prep this coming Sunday, enjoy the rest of your week!
Eat well. Live well. Be happy.