Pre-Workout Energy

A big question for many people is "What do I eat before I workout"?  Each person is different...some people can barely stomach a sip of water before a workout and some people need a larger amount of food before a workout.  I fall into the latter category most of the time.

I have complied a list of pre-workout snacks and meals to fuel your workout.

One of my favorites is a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and sliced banana. This is a great mix of simple and complex carbs that will release steady energy to your body during your workout. The bananas and the toast are easy to digest so you don't get that sick feeling.

If I only need a small snack before a workout, I will mix greek yogurt, walnuts, berries, honey, and a few chia seeds. The yogurt is easy on your digestive system while the chia seeds and and berries give you that nice steady energy. The nuts provide essential fats and keep your blood sugar levels steady while you train.

If I'm in a big hurry, I'll blend up a quick smoothie.  My favorite: spinach, berries, almond milk, a handful of uncooked oats, and a scoop of protein powder.  This typically isn't enough for a long, hard workout, but holds me through a shorter less intense training session.

A delicious treat before workout is a small sweet potato. I microwave it until soft and mix in a bit of almond butter and cinnamon.  It's almost like a sweet potato pie.  So good!

For a more savory pre-workout meal, I will make a quick egg white scramble.  Sometimes I add veggies and a tiny bit of cheese.  Other times I will add black beans, avocado, and salsa.  You really can't mess this up.  I'll have a piece of whole wheat toast with this to be sure I get enough carbs.  This meals gets me through the days I have a longer workout or heavier lifting.

Of course, you can't go wrong with the old standards like oatmeal, apple slices with almond butter,  sliced chicken breast with rice, or a turkey sandwich.  There are so many good combinations for pre-workout fuel.

A good rule of thumb is to remember that:
1) A pre-workout meal should be eaten about 2 hours before your workout.
2) A pre-workout snack can be eaten 30-60 minutes before you train.
3)You want a 5 to 1.6 gram carb to protein ratio.  That basically means eat a tiny bit more carbs than protein.
4) Hydrate

The carb thing is always controversial ...some people think that you should avoid carbs before a workout, but I think they are essential.  I'll be back soon with post-workout nutrition tips and a give away! 

Healthy Shopping at Costco

Many people are under the impression that you cannot buy healthy foods at Costco. While there are a lot of less healthy choices there, I buy a majority of my healthy foods there. This is what my list consists of on most trips.

*For the past two years we have bought half of an organic cow, so I only buy beef at Costco if we run out. During spring and summer I have a lot of spinach and mixed lettuce (which is super easy to grow) in my garden, so those are things I depend on Costco for in the winter.  If you do not have some of these items in your Costco, ask the manager. They may be able to stock it if there is enough requests. It's couldn't hurt to ask. Hope this list helps!

Black-Bean Scramble

I find typical breakfast food BORING and I like to try to mix it up.  Many times I eat non-breakfast things for breakfast.  I recently started making this black bean scramble for breakfast.  It's quick, easy, full of protein and I love it.  It's even easier if you have your veggies pre-cut.

Now, if you have been reading this blog, you know I don't really use measurements.  honestly, I'm just too lazy.  I just eyeball everything according to my appetite or how many people are eating.

Ingredients:
black-beans
green peppers
green onions
egg-whites
salsa

First I spray a bot of cooking spray in a pan  to heat the black beans and green peppers.

When those are heated through I add my liquid egg whites and chopped green onions:

When that's cooked, I plate it and top it with salsa.  I don't even know if salsa is considered "clean", but I don't even care.  I can't quit salsa!

Like I said.  Simple. Quick. Delicious!

Grocery List

So, I know I posted something like this before, but this morning 2 friends asked if I could post a list of my groceries. No problem! might be helpful for you to just print it out and take along with you. They also asked if I could post examples of my 2 week(ish) menu. I'll do that soon too. This does not represent my entire list as it changes weekly to accommodate for spices and kid foods for school, but for the most part this is what I have in my cart each time I go to the store:

Healthy (er) Chicken and Dumplings

Oh how I LOVE me some Pioneer Woman recipes. They are so delicious, but only something we eat sometimes at our house. I have been experimenting with adapting her recipes to make them a bit healthier without sacrificing too much of the taste.  This is her recipe for Chicken and Dumplings that I adapted to fit the way we eat:

(Note: my food photography needs some help)


 Ingredients:
olive oil (just enough to coat the pan)
1/2 cup whole wheat, soy flour,  or brown rice flour
1 lb of skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite sized pieces, fat trimmed)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced green peppers (traditional calls for celery, but peppers are more nutritious and I like the flavor)
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage

6 cups low sodium chicken brith
1/2 cup cup skim milk

Dumplings:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 heaping TBS baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 and 1/12 cup skim milk

Mix the flour with salt, pepper, and herbs.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken through the flour mixture.

In a pot, add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Brown chicken on both sides. Remove and set aside.

In the same pot add the peppers, onions, and carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.  At this point I sprinkled in more herbs and chicken broth.

Add the chicken, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. At this point, it did not look promising to me and I was getting worried...but it got better.

Now make the dumpling dough. Sift together all of the dry ingredients, then add the skim milk and stir to combine. When using wheat, soy, or brown rice flour I have found that I have to let it sit a bit longer than white flour so it can soak up the liquids. Set aside for about 10 minutes.

 (this picture is not skewed, one of my children named 'not me' stepped on it while trying to use it as a step stool...I don't know what goes through that child's head)

Remove the chicken from the pot and cut into bite sized pieces. Return it back to the pot with the skim milk and stir.  At this point is is not as thick as it would be if heavy cream were added, but it got thicker after the dumplings were added in.

Drop tablespoons of the dough into the pot while it simmers. Cover pot and cook an additional 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper as you wish.  Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

It turned out to be a hit.  The kids actually liked it. Let me know if you make it and how it turns out for you.

What's the Deal with Clean Eating???? (aka The Not So Secret Secret)

For the MOST part we eat clean at my house.  Note that I said :FOR THE MOST PART...so don't call me out when you see me stuffing a juicy burger in my face.  Ha! Yes, people have called me out when they have seen me eating, gasp, junk food!  Everything in moderation is what I say. Our day to day eating is pretty much 'clean eating', but we will celebrate too. I actually celebrated from Thanksgiving until January 3rd by filling my body with anything that was offered, many trips to Starbucks, and a nightly martini.  It was fun, but my belly, intestines, skin, and mood paid for it too.
What is clean eating????  I could be totally wrong, but I will tell you what it means to me:
     To me, clean eating is eating as close to nature as possible. Fresh fruits and veggies, fresh meats, non-processed foods, very little fats, and eating as much made from scratch as possible. If I cannot pronounce an ingredient, we try our best to avoid it.  This is not to say that we NEVER eat Blue Bell Ice Cream or Taco Cabana, just not regularly.  I do not use all organic foods either, but eat organically where we can afford it. Honestly, we cannot afford the $7.99 chicken at whole foods to feed 5 very hungry people, but we do the best we can. A huge part of this is growing vegetables in my small garden and eating what I am growing each season.
     Clean eating did not happen overnight for us.  It was a process that happened naturally and took place over a few years. It started simply with just trying to cook everything from scratch. Then it was baby steps: replacing white pasta with whole wheat pasta, switching from white potatoes to sweet potatoes or mashed cauliflower, adding almond milk slowly to our diet, making air popped popcorn instead microwaved, using olive and coconut oils for cooking, slowly eliminating sugar from my morning coffee.
   I started to get to a point where I was getting very frustrated. I did strength training, cardio, and yoga regularly and I was eating what I thought was a good diet, but I was not seeing any results. How irritating it was to work SO hard and not see any changes. How frustrating it was to run a race and have stomach cramps and no energy at the end. How disappointing to try to strength train, but never see any muscle tone. 
     I was ready to give up and just go back to our old way of eating, but instead I walked up to the intimidating, strong, and beautiful fitness competitors, elite athletes,  and fitness models at the gym and asked them for advice.So picture the awkward and dorky me walking up to these fitness goddesses "Uh...Um...I noticed you are in great shape and stuff...uh...so, what are you eating?" (insert a dork-tastic voice).   I heard the same thing over and over :

1) The way you eat is 80% related to your physical performance, endurance, and they way your body looks.
2) I was not eating enough!!! (Stunned silent at this one)
3) Eat more fats (what the????)
  I took what they said to heart and made some bigger changes. I cut out all alcohol. I cut out refined sugars. I replaced anything white (flour, rice, pasta, bread) with brown and whole. I added healthy fats in the forms of avocado, almonds, walnuts, olive oil, salmon,  and soy and almond milk.  (And NO...soy milk will not give your sons BOOBS). I started cooking most of our foods using recipes from Clean Eating Mag. I also ate more! I ate MUCH more!
     I did not change my workout routine, but friends starting commenting within weeks about how more lean and toned I looked. They kept asking me what my secret was and if I was taking fat burners (NO WAY WILL THOSE EVER ENTER MY BODY).  No secrets, just clean eating, no alcohol, and avoiding refined sugars and flours.  (Except, you know, the way I ate everything over the holidays). An added bonus was what clean eating has done for my kids. They are sleeping well, eating well, and doing better in school. I have seen a huge turn around in their attention spans and the teachers have even commented on the improvement.
   I'm not going to lie to you.  This is hard and takes discipline, but I think that making it a slow process and allowing myself some "bad foods" sometimes is what worked for me. 

This is how I started our clean eating journey: Before I shop I plan a 2 week menu using Clean Eating Magazine and make my list from there. When I come home from grocery shopping, I wash, chop, and prep all of my fruits and veggies. It is a lot of work, but it is so much easier just to be able to grab a handful of veggies and throw them into my eggs in the morning or throw some chopped fruit into my kids lunchboxes.

 Although I am a photographer  , you will probably see a lot of iPhone pics on here. I had to take this one from my Instagram account:

I have gotten requests to show what I eat in a day, so I will get to that in the next blog post.
Is there any interest in seeing an example of my menu and grocery list?

Until the next post, THANK YOU so much for all of the kind words and encouragement. YOU will all motivate me and keep me in check. I hope that in return, you can take away a little something from this blog.