Sunday Funday! (and Greek yogurt review)

Today is my fun-day because usually Sundays are not at all fun with Jeremy leaving before the sun comes out on Monday mornings.  This week is different because he’s working from home, which is fantastic for me.  I have help with the kids, YAY!

“Little Miss Trouble”.  I would call her Little Miss Fit & Clean, but she’ll only eat her veggies out of a can and the only fruit she will eat are banana and dehydrated apples. (Weird, huh?)  Not even a regular apple.  I can’t even bribe her with candy, LOL!

So my challenge for myself this week is to not use any Agave Nectar or Nut Butters.  I found when I purged the sugar out of my diet, that I replaced it (and the junk, so I’m not saying it’s a bad thing) with other sweeteners (agave, maple syrup and honey) and everything else with natural nut butter.  This week I’m eliminating those 2 items from my diet, and am going to see if there are any physical changes (i.e. weight) or otherwise.  This does not include my homemade trail mix:

This morning for breaky I just couldn’t decide.  I kind of get tired of oatmeal after awhile. So I switched things up and made Cream of Wheat, with blackberries and 2 tsp. of maple syrup:

Yummy.  I also had some coffee in my huge mug that I got from Pensacola when we went on vacation last summer with the family:

I guess I kind of collect mugs.  I get one from each new place that we travel to 🙂  I think it’s better than the tee-shirts at the airport!

Yesterday did turn into a snacky-snacky day, but I made an effort to not snack. (too much).

I had a Fage Yogurt with Honey:

As far as Greek Yogurt goes, I can’t find one that I like better then Fage.  It’s pronounced “Fa- Yeh”.  I’ve tried Oikos (Stoneyfield Farms), and Chobani as well.  There are several reasons that I like Fage Yogurt better:

1. Taste – YUMMY!
2. Texture – it’s not as watery or sour.  It is sooo thick.
3. The taste of the honey or fruit.  The others, I found the honey tasted funny or the fruit.  The honey in the Fage tastes like normal honey, you could eat it plain if you desired.

Greek Yogurt is better for you (albeit a bit more pricey…3 containers of the kind with honey will run you $5.00 at Publix) over regular yogurt because it is higher in protein then normal yogurt…around 20 g/8oz.  Fage also comes in a 0%, 2% and full fat. I like the 2% with honey, as you are all aware!

You can try to make your own Greek Yogurt at home (and I have done this).  All you need is some cheese cloth and a strainer.  I take Stoneyfield Farms Organic Plain Fat Free (did you get all that, LOL) and rubber band some cheesecloth to my strainer.  Place the yogurt in the cheesecloth and the strainer into a deep bowl.  Let the whey strain into a bowl overnight.  In the morning, voila! Greek Yogurt.

Yesterday I also ate some homemade trail mix, and 1 raw brownie:

Ooohhh. I love me some of Averie’s raw brownies.  Fantastic 🙂

As it was snacky-snacky day, I drank a pretty pink protein smoothie (yes, it’s very pink)

and a picture of the inside because who just wants to see the outside of the blendy?

Water, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, vanilla protein powder, agave nectar.

Then there was homemade trail mix, and then an extra handful of raisins to celebrate snacky-snacky day.  I was starving again by dinner time.  My meals have been way off because of stress…and I find that I’m not hungry (I kind of walk around feeling like I’m going to hurl a lot of the time) so I eat when I’m hungry, but when it hits, I’m off schedule, and then I’m ravenous.  So not cool, but there’s not much I can do about it.

IMPORTANT: Remember the principles behind eating clean include eating around every three hours and piaring a protein with a carb. What eating this way accomplishes:  stable insulin levels, less cravings for junk, and not being ravenous because of skipped meals, resulting in over-eating.

My husband fired up the Big Green Egg and made us some Fireman’s Chicken..not sure what the marinade recipe is, but it was really good. It reminds me of summer BBQ’s!  We had some leftover homemade scalloped potatoes, broccoli with lemon juice and real parmesan (not Kraft), and some homemade bread that I am happy to report did not turn out brick-like this time around:

No, I did not eat all the chicken, but I gave it my best shot!  I need to show you the bread machine bread, which turned out fantastic:

There were some kitty cat shinanegans during dinner:

I have no idea how Riches got herself into that little hole in the cat house.  She’s a really big cat!  I think she was trying to hide from the puppy:

Good thing that puppy is so darn cute.  She is a ton of trouble 😉

Today the plan is to hit the gym for my 2 miles and work out on the legs for a bit.  I’m concerned about running the 1/2 marathon because the muscles in my legs aren’t back to where they were, so I’m going to hit a couple of machines and do some side walking squats and weighted lunges.

Hope you all have a Sunday Funday 😀

Jessica xoxo

Monday Mahem

Good Monday Morning to y’all! One more day until the kids are back to school and then *F*R*E*E*D*O*M* !!! Two weeks off at Christmas is a LOT. Sometimes with the funky schedule in my county it seems like the kids are off more then they’re in school.

So this morning breakfast consisted of a beautiful egg white sandwhich on an Ezekial muffin with a little bit of Farmer  cheese:

Yesterday, after I started my day with the peanut butter and “no jelly” oatmeal, I discovered my tummy was still a little off and could only eat half..so unlike me! So when lunchtime hit, I decided that a mostly raw meal would be great, and had some Wheatberry Salad with a yogurt dressing:

I always seem to have this on hand, because when I make it, it makes a TON.  And it keeps really well in the fridge 🙂 So I made the yogurt dressing right in the yogurt container as it was half gone anyway (why dirty another container?)

Yogurt, rice wine vinegar, oregano, lemon juice = yummy! There was also some hummus and Mary’s Crack:

Not sure I’m a fan of the roasted garlic hummus…I think I’m more of a fan of the spicy Sabra that I ate before 🙂

I had to do some grocery shopping at Target, and do some returns, so when I got home it was late and I hadn’t had a snack yet and this hit the spot:

I am all about Fage with Honey. It is the perfect combination of tart and sweet. I’ve tried to add honey to other plain greek yogurts, and it’s just not the same 😉 So this is my yogurt splurge! And it eats like a meal, very rarely do I need something with it…protein and carbs all in one place! (Simple carbs, but still.)

As I did the grocery shopping Jeremy decided he would cook dinner which was semi-clean (bet he didn’t know! ;)) and I still felt kind of “off” so I stayed out of the kitchen:

It was fantastic! Homemade scalloped potatoes, and swedish meatballs.  I was so in need of comfort food, and this did it for me! Maybe the onions in the scalloped potatoes could be considered my vegetable? (Shame on me, but I just did not have the energy today!)

So the potatoes = clean, the swedish meatballs = not so clean. Oh well. It is all about moderation! Starting tomorrow there may be some small tweaks and changes to the eats.  I need to add in more protein, and I need to make sure that the things that I eat are not on the food sensitivity list. (I plan on posting the lists as well as the explanation of ALCAT later today, finally). I am giving myself another month with the ALCAT, to see if there are any further changes (weight, and water weight).  I have noticed changes with the water weight issue…being that it is less of an issue than it was before. I am thrilled about that, actually.

There will also be small changes to my workout routine (that have already started)…more running, more strength training).

Today’s plan:

1.  Breakfast

2.  Hitting the gym with the kids (2 mile run from yesterday) and push/pull weight routine plus abs (I plan on posting this also under the FIT workout later today!)

3.  Spending time with the kids on their last day off, having an early dinner and getting them to bed early to be ready for school!

4.  Blogging!

5.  Studying for the personal trainer certification (this might not actually happen until the kids are back in school Tuesday).

Have a great day!

Jessica xoxo

Thoughts: What changes are you making for the new year? 2010 is going to be a GREAT year. Bring it ON!

Early Bird Gets the Worm!

Hello y’all! I wasn’t on early this morning, because being the crazy person I am, I went to class for 8:15am this morning! Wanted to get a good start going to my day 😉 Then I did some stretching for my hip (it’s been quite painful recently) and came home. Now I’m doing the 100 loads of laundry that accumulated since Tuesday, and the banking (not fun).

So getting down to it, yesterday’s breakfast was not anything special, except my Peanuts cup was involved and had lots of coffee in it:

Wheatena, peaches, COFFEE!

That’s a lot of peaches, sometimes you just need a LOT 😉

For a snack I ate Ezekial bread with cashew butter, maca and raisins (This is a good snack. LOVES it!) It really fills me up and the Maca goes good with nut butters.

I’m pretty sure I ate other things too…I think I had a Fage yogurt with honey for lunch which I love. I didn’t realize it had so many calories in it (it’s not a bad thing, I was just surprised). It has 250. It’s filling, though, so it’s all good.

I actually ate that in the car waiting to pick up my daughter from pre-k. I was starving again! I also had a Starbucks Latte, but didn’t take a pic of that, since it’s just a cup 😉

Dinner I made tuna with a balsamic reduction with sides of broccoli and sweet potato. Not bad, not great. I’ve said this in the past, I’m not a fantastic cook, but this time it wasn’t me. The tuna tasted “fishy”, so I didn’t like it that much. I got it at Publix, so never again. I guess I’ll stick to Whole Foods, my favorite expensive place to shop 🙂 I did manage a picture of it though. Even the picture looks strange, because of the reduction:

Really, I don’t recommend that meal. VERY plain, and very boring. With the exception of the balsamic reduction, which was very good 🙂

I then proceeded to eat a handful of raisins, cashew butter out of the jar (not much left there) and made Averie’s  Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs and licked the spoon 🙂 These were the highlight of my day yesterday! SO divine!

Averie's Raw Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs

My workout this morning bright and early was a BodyAttack express class. I burned 364 calories at 24% fat in 43:20. Just in case you were wondering. See you tomorrow morning!

Tuesday Ramblings and Clean Food

Hello my friends 😉 Today is another busy day for me so I will make the rambling quick: I want you all to know that I CHOOSE to eat clean and to avoid preservatives in my diet. I CHOSE to have the food sensitivity test done, not because it’s a “diet”, but because my body, for ONE YEAR, has had issues with losing weight and retaining water, and my doctor thought I might have food sensitivities. I can gain up to 10 pounds of water weight after eating certain meals. 10 pounds! I think most of you will agree that anything beyond a pound or two (or even three) is not normal.  After a year of dealing with this, I am ready to try just about anything. It’s been a very frustrating year for me in this regard.  And I repeat, this is not a diet. I am not cutting or watching calories, or restricting foods (except for the ones I showed sensitivities to – and those will be added back into my diet in the future).  I am doing these things so that I can live a long, strong, life. Which is what I believe clean eating and working out will achieve.

I just wanted to make that absolutely clear, because I think there were some questions about why I eat the way I do.

Now, onto more fun topics such as food 😉

This mornings breaky was different for me, because I strayed away from my normal oatmeal routine and ate yogurt instead, and some fruit. I LOVE Fage 2% yogurt with honey. It ROCKS!!!

And some peaches. I need to go to the store today and stock up on good-eats, I’m running low.

Lunch yesterday was boooring. Sorry! And I had wanted feta, but my feta was frozen so it was really boring. But I was stuffed full when I was done 🙂 Salad, carrots, baked chicken, raisins and Cafe Geneva all natural dressing…(sugar and carb free, if you were wondering, and you can get it in the refrigerated section in the produce section in Publix). Plus, it ROCKS! YUMMY 🙂

“Boring” Salad

For a snack I had an Oatmeal Protein shake out of Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Cookbook: oatmeal, vanilla protein powder, peanut butter, skim milk, ground flax. I drank this right before I went to the gym and got my stress out in the 6:30pm Cardio Core class.  This class is taught by a kick-butt instructor who is the most motivating person I’ve met in a looong time 😀 In 52:56 I burned 426 calories at 26% fat. Not bad at all!

I was starving when I got home but I had to take care of the kids and the puppy. By the time I sat down to eat, it was around 8:30. Being that it was so late, I seared a piece of salmon in 100% maple syrup (1 Tb) and heated up my steamed veggies. My carb was Mary’s Gone Crackers.

It doesn’t look like a lot, but I had already started chowing down when I remembered to take the pic. Starving, I tell you! LOL! I also had some Kombucha Tea:

Now, for dessert, I made a “Banana Hammock”.   These are the creation of a fellow blogger, Chocolate-Covered Katie. I LOVE Katie’s creations!  My creation included a banana, unsweetened cocoa powder, raisins, natural peanut butter, and honey. Foodgasmic! I am definitely going to try to be creative with these for the next couple of days. Healthy and Yummy!

Sorry about the blurries!

I will leave you all with a picture of my NEW peanuts cup. My boys had one, and I found one at my local Publix 🙂 I LOVE the Peanuts at Christmas time! Happy Tuesday!

Tuesday Tip of the Day: Bring your snacks with you! Some versatile snacks include almonds and raisins, celery and peanut butter, or clean eating granola bars. Easy and versatile, your snacks that you have throughout the day will stop you from bingeing later when you are super-hungry, as well as keep your blood sugar levels steady, reducing “junk food” cravings.