Eating Cleaner Diet: Week 2

 WOW... What a week

Fertility Procedures, A.C. Unit broke, $140 parking violation fine and a yellow boot put on our car until we paid the $$, Swarming ants attacking our house and possible termite infestation.

How was your week?!

To say the least, this week has not been IDEAL. A few quotes sum up my diet success this week

  

I get in a funk where I don't like PLANNING my meals. I just fly by the seat of my pants and decide what I am going to eat 5 minutes before I eat it.

NOT A GOOD IDEA WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO EAT WELL!

Also LOTS of stressful things and emotional things happened this week and I found myself resorting to FOOD as a comfort. REWARDING myself with food because "I deserved" a break.

For example:

Emotional Fertility Procedure = Going out to eat w/ my husband

AC Unit broken & 5 hours of teaching toddlers dance = Yogurtland

$140 Parking Ticket when leaving my sisters house after a nice dinner = going back inside and accepting a rootbeer float while we waited 2 hours for the company to come take the boot off.

SO!

Trying not to beat myself up over it as I did refuse homemade chocolate chip cookies brought over from my Visiting Teachers and rootbeer floats and chocolate cake at Sunday dinner at my in-laws.

GOALS for this week are:

PREPARE MEALS & SNACKS and set up a HEALTHY reward system for stressful/emotional situations. New cute gym clothes? Pedicure? Shopping Spree?

I'll let you know how it goes :) Here is what I ate this week. My breakfasts are pretty much the same every morning so I probably won't be posting these anymore unless I have something new. Lots of repeats this week as I was unprepared and just ate what I could find!

Monday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie & 1 c. dark cherries
Snack - 2 Breakfast Cookies
Lunch - Tilapia Fish Tacos
Dinner - BBQ Chicken Salad

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie & 1 c. dark cherries
Lunch - "Habit Burger" Hamburger w/ Sweet Potato Fries
Snack - Trader Joes Almond & Cashew Trailmix













Dinner - 9 Rice Thin Crackers topped w/ homemade chicken salad, side of cucumber and steamed    broccoli

 Wednesday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie & 1/2 c. blueberries
Snack - sliced cucumber, trail mix, TJ's Veggie Chips
Lunch - 3 eggs scrambled & Hashbrowns
Snack - 2 Breakfast Cookies

 










Dinner - Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas w/ Homemade Guacamole

Thursday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie
Lunch - Chicken Salad over Greens
Dinner - Roasted ranch red potatoes w/ Cauliflower Rice 

Friday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie
Lunch - Tilapia Fish Tacos 
Dinner - Costa Vida Sweet Pork Salad
Treat - YogurtLand 

Saturday:
Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie
Lunch - Homemade Cobb Salad, baby carrots w/ ranch
Dinner - Homemade Hamburgers & Fries, Side of Caesar Salad
Treat - Small Rootbeer Float

Sunday:
Breakfast - Apple Slices and 1/2 banana, 2.5 Scrambled Eggs 

Lunch - Chicken Caesar Salad
Snack - "KIND" granola bar: Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, TJ's Veggie Chips
Dinner - Ground Turkey Tacos

Hope you all have a great week! Be strong and always try to eat better today than you did yesterday!

Eating Cleaner Diet Restart: Week 1

...I love a good challenge...

 ...And I LOVE succeeding when I fear failure...

Back in October I did an 8 week diet that consisted of eating gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free. I was VERY strict on my diet and even avoided high sugar fruits and any type of sweetener besides Stevia. That diet was HARD and slightly unrealistic for a LONG TERM way of eating.

So I am now on a mission to find a more REALISTIC way of eating healthy

and an attainable Healthy Eating Lifestyle.

In order for ME to be successful in a diet change, I have to write down the

WHY'S & WHAT's

WHY do I want to change my diet, WHY am I putting in the effort

& WHAT are my goals, WHAT would my ideal diet look like?

Here are my WHY'S and WHAT's for the next 12 weeks.

WHY:

~ To help with my health issues (ezcema, PCOS)

~ To easily maintain my ideal body weight & actually SEE the results of working out

~ To break my sugar cravings

~ To try new recipes, new foods, new cooking methods

~ To be in CONTROL of my life and feel HAPPY & HEALTHY

WHAT:

~ Eliminate Gluten

~ Eliminate Refined Sugar

~ Small amounts of dairy (maybe 2x a week)

~ Small amounts of natural sugar (raw honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar)

~ Eat a low GI diet to help keep blood sugar low

~ Watch fruit consumption and stick to lower sugar fruits

~ Eat as many veggies as possible!

~ Try new foods

~ Try to follow the rules of food combining (amazing concept that WORKS)

And lastly, don't forget that when changing your diet you WILL have bad days and WILL sometimes give into cravings. FORGIVE YOURSELF and do BETTER tomorrow. No small slip is worth stressing over.

HERE IS WHAT I ATE THIS WEEK:

Monday:

Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie, 2 c. watermelon

Snack - 1 whole, peeled cucumber, a handful of almonds, cashews & sunflower seeds

Lunch - 8 Rice Thin Crackers topped w/ homemade chicken salad

Dinner - Roasted ranch red potatoes, steamed cauliflower & broccoli

Post Workout - Protein Smoothie

Tuesday:

Breakfast - 2 eggs + 1 egg white scrambled w/ onion & ham, 1 c. watermelon

Lunch - Tilapia Tostada w/ side of steamed broccoli

Snack - 1 oatmeal breakfast cookie

Dinner - 1.5 c. taco soup topped with avocado & tortilla strips

Wednesday:

Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie 10 small strawberries, 15 small grapes

Snack - 2 oatmeal breakfast cookies

Lunch - 2 c. leftover taco soup topped with avocado & tortilla strips

Snack - handful of almonds, cashews, chocolate , white cheddar popcorn 

Dinner - Homemade Sloppy Joes topped w/ lettuce eaten with tortilla chips

Snack - 4 apple slices

Thursday:

Breakfast - Homemade gluten free waffles w/ strawberries & a little 100% pure maple syrup

Lunch - Chipotle Chicken Salad

Post workout - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie

Dinner - Zucchini Pasta w/ Pesto Chicken

Snacks - Fruit, ThinkThin mixed nuts bar

Friday:

Breakfast - Protein Banana Flax Smoothie , 6 apple slices

Snack - ThinkThin mixed nuts bar

Lunch -  1.25 c. leftover taco soup topped with avocado & tortilla strips

Dinner - Texas Roadhouse w/ our friends! Can you believe I didn't eat a ROLL???!!!!! AHHH! It was SO HARD! I got: 6 oz steak, fries, house salad and had a couple bites of jess's bacon cheeseburger. I was proud of myself for not STRESSING over the small amount of gluten in the croutons and the hamburger bites. I made the choice NOT to each 4 ROLLS and that was quite the accomplishment. I'm going for a LIFESTYLE change, not a crazy strict diet with no exceptions.

Saturday:

Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs, 2 c. watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew

Lunch - Tilapia fish tacos with avocado, mango salsa, sauteed onion & zucchini , lettuce

Snacks - Fruit, Trail Mix

Dinner - Haven't had it yet and it's 9:00pm! Oops got to stop blogging :)

Please comment with any questions or let me know what healthy goals you have!

Weekly Menu 7/16 -7/21

Happy Monday Everyone!

As sad as I am that the weekend is over I have learned to love Mondays. I always feel more motivated to eat healthier, workout harder, and be more organized.  Monday's feel like a clean slate and for some reason that always makes me happy!

Before I share the menu with you I wanted to post about a fantastic product I discovered a few months ago and it has now become my FAVORITE breakfast.

In the mornings I give myself about 3.5 minutes to grab breakfast before work

(I'm pathetic and am always late everywhere) 

So making scrambled eggs with hashbrowns and a smoothie just isn't realistic for me.

I need protein in the mornings to fill me up and sustain me for atleast 2 or 3 hours but its very difficult to find a protein powder or protein bar that is healthy and not loaded with artificial sweeteners or 12 grams of sugar.

I've finally found what works best for me:

NUTRASUMMA Chocolate Flavored Pea Protein

You can buy it ONLINE or I buy it at THRIVE which is an acai bowl shop located by Fitness Works on Higley and Basline. It is $34 for a 2lb container.

Here is why I love it

The highest-quality protein for vegetarians and vegans
Nutra Summa Pea Protein

• Complete protein from 100% vegan source
• Promotes tissue repair*
• Provides 20 grams of protein per serving
• Free of soy and soy’s side effects
• Contains no gluten
• Easy to digest and absorb
• Outstanding taste with nothing artificial

** Only 3 grams of organic sugar and also sweetened with stevia

Here is what I do to make my protein smoothie:

- 1 cup crushed ice

- 1/3 of a frozen banana (slices)

- 1 scoop protein

- 2 tsp. flax oil (can't even taste it!)

- enough water to allow the smoothie to mix

Blend and enjoy a breakfast full of protein and healthy fat!

236 calories if you include the flax oil and only 163 calories if you don't!

And here is the menu!



WEEKLY MENU PLANNER

July 16^th – 21^st

DAY	LUNCH	DINNER
Monday	Jess: Eat Out	Chicken Parmesan Whole Wheat Breadsticks Olive Garden Salad
Tuesday	Jess: Leftover Chicken, Breadsticks, Salad, FRUIT	Cheesecrisps 5-Layer Mexican Dip Spanish Rice
Wednesday	Jess: Leftover Spanish Rice, Green Pork Enchiladas,FRUIT	Skinny Twice Baked Potatoes Steamed Broccoli
Thursday	Jess: Sandwich, carrots,  FRUIT	Taco Soup
Friday	Taco Soup Leftovers	Eat Out
Saturday	???	Costco All Natural Bruschetta Pizza



Weekly Menu 7/9 - 7/14

As always, I find myself spending hours upon hours each week trying to plan out my meals.  It should NOT be this difficult but somehow it gets harder and harder each week.  I have an issue with repeating meals too often and I continually strive to try new recipes and add new varieties of food into our meals.

After a week of NO PLANNING and making meals 

"on the stop" (terrible idea)

I decided to make myself a cute and colorful Menu Planner because that always helps me feel more excited about getting organized.

Here is our Menu for the week, including Jess's lunch Menu that I'm going to try and be good and pack for him :)

The things we do for love <3

WEEKLY MENU PLANNER

July 9^th – 14^th

DAY	LUNCH	DINNER
Monday	Jess: Eat Out Kim: Leftover Turkey Tacos	Smashed Potatoes Grilled Chicken House Salad
Tuesday	Jess: Leftover Chicken, Potatoes, & Salad, FRUIT	Grilled Tri-tip steak TJ’s Grain Mix Zucchini
Wednesday	Jess: Turkey & Ham Sandwich, FRUIT, Nut Trailmix	Green Pork Enchiladas Spanish Rice
Thursday	Jess: Leftover Green Pork Enchiladas Spanish Rice, FRUIT	Whole Wheat Pasta and Meat Sauce Olive Garden Salad
Friday	Sloppy Joes	Eat Out
Saturday	Sandwiches or Lentils & Rice	Easy Orange Chicken Broccoli and Rice

I'm trying out this recipe on Saturday Night

http://www.asweetpeachef.com/chicken/easy-orange-chicken/

Looks Delicious!

Enjoy your week and remember to EAT CLEANER!