Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Pass the seeds, please!






What are the benefits of meal prepping?

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you prepare the food you need the night before, you know you'll have a healthy menu tomorrow. Without proper planning, it's easy to go out and buy something less healthy because you don't have any other options.

It's a good idea to have a meal replacement shake once a day because that's one less meal you have to worry about, and if gives you the protein and vitamins you need in a meal. 
I recently just started the Isagenix lifestyle diet, where I have two meal replacement shakes a day. 

Sometimes having a couple choices is smart because you never know what you'll be in the mood for the next day. Instead of only making grilled chicken salad, also make a black and kidney bean with guacamole burrito just incase you are craving that more.

Make sure to have steamed vegetables available at all times throughout the day, along with some fresh fruit. Make portion controlled snacks and meals. 

Meal prepping doesn't have to mean endless cooking. It usually requires cooking one meal, but preparing the rest. For example, you would have to cook salmon, but if you don't have time for intense stove cooking, there are easy ways to use the microwave and toaster.

Some simple breakfast choices can be oatmeal, eggs, greek yogurt, or protein pancakes. If you like cereal, make sure to drink Unsweetened Almond Milk and eat low-sugar cereal like Cheerios. Even Kashi isn't as healthy as it sets out to be.


Lunch is the perfect time to have a shake if you are low on food or limited on ideas. It's also perfect after a work-out. If you aren't big on shakes, try making quinoa with brown rice and mix in avocado and hummus. Enjoy a turkey, spinach, and avocado wrap (make sure to find a wheat-free and gluten0free wrap). Make a big salad and throw in chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flax seeds, vegetables, and protein. Have fresh fruit on the side.

Snacks can be dangerous, but they don't have to be. Fruit, nuts, Mary's Gone Crackers with hummus or guacamole, or a spoon of almond butter is a healthy choice.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Late Nite Munchies

Our WORST vice!!! Let's all kick the habit together!

Eating at night is bad for all these reasons:
1. You aren't paying attention to how much you're eating (if I'm stressed or up late studying and I get hungry, making a portion size isn't always the first thing on my mind. Instead, what I'm thinking is AHHHH I'm so stressed and hungry let me eat everything!!! Or, I'm not tired enough to go to sleep, so let me watch some TV.. I'm kinda hungry too, so let me mindlessly snack and watch TV!!)
2. You are more likely to eat unhealthy (It's midnight. You need a fix. Do you eat a container of mixed vegetables or do you eat that little pack of cookies lying around you meant to throw out... Or, you're at the diner with your friends after a night out.. wings and fries anyone?)
3. It disrupts your body's natural body clock. It may throw off your normal metabolic cycle.

NON-GMO is the way to GO!

GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment.

In the U.S., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food. Click here for a current list of GMO risk crops.

Choose food and products that are Non-GMO Project Verified! Click here to see a complete list.


Source: http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Three Things About People

Throughout my years on this planet, I have come to realize 3 things about people: their actions are unpredictable, unexplainable, or unknown.

And through this, I have learned not to take anything personally.

Expect less and you won't get hurt as easily. In fact, just don't have any expectations (to a certain degree.. Obviously you have the expectation that your best friend isn't going to throw you out of his/her car on a busy parkway). What I am talking about are things in the grayer area.

People are strange. They act in ways that you may not be able to understand. But most of the time, it has nothing to do with you. They do things for their on convenience or some reasons we will never know. Don't expect them to explain themselves or apologize. Learn to let it go (it took me years).

Instead of getting caught up in the unknown and solving puzzles of what other people are thinking (which will never get anywhere), forget about that crap and focus on yourself and positive energy.

Free yourself from mental anguish by focusing on your inner peace and less of the effect others have on you. When you are at peace with yourself, you will worry less about why people do what they do.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Life Starts Outside Your Comfort Zone

You will never solve problems using the same thinking you created them with! Listen  to Einstein on that one. We all have our issues, but it's time to put them aside and do something to better ourselves.

Saying "I'm fat" over and over again without exercising and eating healthy isn't going to get you anywhere. Some people are afraid to go to the gym because they think people will judge them. No one is there to judge - we are all there for the same reason - to get fit!

We all start somewhere and work our way up.

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Get off the couch, yes it's comfy, but it's not really your friend. Go for a walk. Find something productive to do. Paint, read, write, do something!

Don't think you aren't ready for something great. Yes sometimes "good things come to those who wait," but the matter of fact is, good things often come to those who get out there, try something new, and work their a$$ off!

Smile at someone on your way to work. Reach out to people; make new friends. Looking for a new job? Apply anywhere you can, ya never know!

Go out for a drink or a nice dinner with friends.

Alone time is nice, but it's important to network and be social and take chances.

Don't be afraid to put your needs first. You're the one who is living your own life, you can't make decisions based solely on others needs.