Eat a Rainbow

I am busier than ever now that I'm back in the full-time college student in addition to my job, being a mommy and wife. So meal-prep and planning is more important than ever!!

This week I bought veggies and fruit in  every color of the rainbow! Partially because my son loves purple carrots, and multi-colored heirloom tomatoes, and he requested blueberries. And every mom knows that it's worth it to spend the extra $$ if your kid will eat some good healthy food!

With these, I prepped for veggie sticks for snacking, and made my go to tuna salad, this time I made the salad dressing. NO sugar, hardly any fat and calories.

Balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, water, olive oil, salt and the Italian seasoning grinder. I added more mustard than usual just to change it up!

Oh, and I made this chili, http://alidaskitchen.com/2013/10/06/sweet-potato-black-bean-chili/it's delish!

Just Plank & Run

Yesterday, I wasn't sure if I would have time for the gym so I did a plank workout. My triceps are sooooo sore, isn't that the best feeling?!

Hold plank for as long as possible, I did 60 seconds
10 push-ups
Hold forearm plank for the same time, again, I did 60 seconds
10 push-ups
Downdog, then max time plank again
10 push-ups
Downdog
Max forearm plank
10 push-ups
THEN...reverse plank, so your facing the ceiling and not the floor...again, if only I came up with this when my hubby is home to include a pic...
Hold that for your max
10 Reverse push-ups. So you are in that reverse plank, facing the ceiling, and slightly bend your elbows. Keep your arms close to your body and the bent elbows doesn't have to be much for effect. This is from my mom's pilates classes she taught. Such a great exercise for your chest and triceps!

Since I have tendinitis in my joints, that one is hard for me, so I do some abs right after to break up all of the pressure. Once I've done crunches, single-leg stretch or whatever, 
I repeat the reverse plank hold and reverse push-ups. Then back to abs of your choice!! 

I keep this going until my timer goes off at 20 minutes, or until my son wakes up! 
Luckily for me, he stayed asleep, my husband was working from home and I got to include a 15 min run on the tread!!

Yes You Can

Pack healthy lunches for you and your kid(s)

Packing healthy lunches for my son has always been a priority. Having been a preschool teacher for so many years and seeing the CRAP these little bodies are getting is so upsetting. EVEN AFTER we have more knowledge about the benefits of a nutritious, well-balanced meal not only for to prevent things like obesity and diabetes, but also the benefits on children's emotional regulation. I have seen it time and time again, the children who eat lunchables, uncrustables and any other completely processed main food, along with a gogurt and cup of peaches doused in high fructose corn syrup are by far the one's with either a social, emotional or hyper activity issue. Not to mention the inability to nap, quiet their bodies and go to the bathroom.

I am no nutritionist, but I have been a teacher for over ten years, studied nutrition and have seen the first hand benefits and side affects of a proper diet. And by the way, I teach in a highly affluent, well-educated population. They have more time, (nannies) more money and more accessibility to the best quality food. There is no excuse.

The only thing that is easier for me than perhaps others, is that I have a particular lunch eater and only one to worry about. He prefers a peanut butter sandwich, yogurt and fruit EVERYDAY. I've tried to pack him other things, but he won't eat it. So instead we give him a great variety for dinner every night, and lunch remains the same. It's filled with protein, calcium, vitamins, fiber, good carbohydrates. So why bother?!?

The lunch goes as follows: 

All natural peanut butter sandwich, TJ's yogurt (there are no additives) and fresh fruit, today it's an orange from Nana's orange tree. Oh, and I also packed him one of our 5 ingredient banana muffins. He knows that whatever he doesn't have time to eat at school, cuz he's a talker, he will have for snack afterwards. 

My lunchbox has:

Romain lettuce to go with my tuna salad, another bowl for soup I have at work, purple carrot sticks, celery for peanut butter, an orange (yep from that tree!)

Did I motivate??!?!

Proof is in the Moving

This weekend was all about driving throughout Ca to visit family. While I ate normal, I barely moved my body. 

Saturday AM: 4 hour drive 1 way...
Up at 4, lemon water & coffee
6am-nuts & half an apple
9 am- finally arrived in Nor. Cal, 1 slice of PB toast & an orange
1pm-Chopped Salad w/ fat-free Ranch
5pm-Latte from some cute little hipster cafe on our way back
8pm-We hadn't made it home yet and so we stopped in Whole Foods and I got a package of Brown Rice Spicy Tuna Roll
9pm-2 glasses of wine w/ some dubliner cheese and bed

Sunday: 2 hour drive one way...
Up at 6, lemon water & coffee
7 am-orange (we got these amazing oranges from a tree in Fresno...)
9 am-Breakfast out: scrambled eggs, country potatoes, hot tea. Note that even though this breakfast seems normal enough, no obvious extra fat, it's the fat in which they were made that kept me full forever.
2pm-veggie burger w/ sautéed squash and all the fixens, minus sauce plus avocado. 2 Coronas, that and potato chips (salt & pepper kettle) were for sure my down-fall this weekend. I'm not sure if it was the beer, the chips or both, but I felt full and gross all night, had 1/2 cup of tomato soup for bed. 


Overall, my meals were typical for me. But the fact that I didn't have nearly as much veggies as I had during the week, and that I literally barely moved my body, was a huge difference in the way I felt. Not only how my body felt, but I weighed 106 on the gym scale today.

Monday, my body is still cleansing itself and self-regulating. 
Breakfast: Lemon water & coffee, single serving non-fat plain greek yogurt 
Snack: almonds
Lunch: tomato soup & salad
Snack: Scoop of pb
GYM-circuit training plus cardio
Dinner: black bean and veggie chili

Mid-Week Yoga

Yesterday was a Yoga morning, and veggies all day. I felt great!

One day I will have my hubby video me so that you can see how simple a 20 min yoga routine is, yoga is not always for the workout, not always for practicing balance, but it is always a great stretch and a way to stop thinking. Just for a moment. 

To begin, sit criss-cross, and stretch arms up to the sky, then to one side then the other. 
Hands down in front of you, head down. Boom, already stretching! Then hands flat and ease into your down dog. Bend knees, alternate, do whatever it takes to make that feel good. Then stand up nice and tall, stretching arms to the sky. 1 Sun Salute all ready done! Hands down, feet back, down dog, then one foot in-between your hands for a low lunge, switch sides. You can make it harder by standing up with your feet in the lunge, or keep your hands down. With your hands down, put your feet back in down dog. That is always your transition pose. It's actually considered a working-resting pose. We can keep going, but I will stop here, in down dog, walk your feet to your hands, take a moment, then sit down, sitting criss cross but try to put your other leg on top. Another great way to balance, physically and mentally. Take a moment to thank yourself for being patient, stretching and dedicating just a little bit of time to yourself. Then get some coffee, wake-up your kid or kids and move on with the mad rush of school days!

Food Log:
AM: Warm water w/ lemon & honey (that was before yoga)
Coffee, oatmeal w/ apples and almonds
Snack: Almonds
Lunch: Minestrone soup! I shared it with friends at work! Some bell pepper slices and hummus
Snack: Yogurt w/ peanut butter, I didn't finish it, I couldn't believe that I was full enough from all those veggies, it's working!!!
Dinner: Tuna salad & some tortilla chips (weird I know, but I really wanted a crunchy texture and they're gluten-free and hardly any fat and no sugar!!
Snack: My feeling of not being hungry caught up with me, I had a string cheese

BTW: I am a certified Yoga Teacher for Kids, have been teaching kids yoga for more than seven years, and taking it for over 12 :)

1 Week Results are in:

1 Week of my meal planning: I now weigh 104,  had the 'accidental' glasses of wine I had on the weekend, and absolutely no other sugar. My abs have always been my struggle area, growing up I was the self-conscious one with the "soft" belly, so this is where I concentrate my improvement visually. My husband however, loves my tighter butt, which of course is always a plus!

Here's to the new week! 

AM: warm water with honey and lemon, I read a lot about how it helps boost your immune system by supporting your digestive system...black coffee, oatmeal.

GYM: cardio and weight training, cardio consisted of the same tread routine I posted last week, weights were:

15 squats with 30 lb dumbbells

15 deadlifts with 50 lb dumbbell

8 shoulder presses with 20 lb dumbbell 

5 bicep curls with 20 lb dumbbell 

My husband is a big fan of higher weight and less reps for faster results...

SNACK: chocolate protein shake w/ almond milk

LUNCH: mixed green salad w/ cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and garbanzo beans, 1 slice of cheese pizza

SNACK: almonds & cashews, hot tea

DINNER: minestrone soup w/ sparkling water!

SNACK: peanut butter and almond milk

Soup for a Rainy Week

I love soup, it's hearty, flavorful and a meal in a bowl! Except living in So Cal doesn't always allow for soup weather, so when it does I embrace it! We finally have a rainy week, so it was perfect timing to try out this crockpot minestrone soup recipe. The only thing I did differently was to sautéed my onions, garlic, carrots, celery first, oh and I also added gluten free pasta. So not only did my house smell amazing while it cooked, but boy was it delish! 

 For meal prep this week, I have my oatmeal for breakfast, that tuna I posted to go with mixed greens and spinach, and soup! Paired with snacks such as plain, non-fat greek yogurt, an apple or some nuts, I should be good to go. Today was a success, let's hope I keep it up!

OH and I did my band workout and also included some arm stuff, attach the bands to your wrists and pull outwardly, keeping arms out straight, up over your head and behind you for some tricep work. I may not have burned many calories, but then I ate low fat, low caloric foods today, and I did get my body moving, so that's always a plus!

Here's the link for the soup:

http://littlespicejar.com/homemade-minestrone-soup-slow-cooker/#

about yesterday...

it was almost a complete fail...

Of course it started out great, did a quick and effective pilates workout with this band:

Standing, balance one leg at a time, while the other lifts to the side or the back 20 times each leg. This works your core for balance and your abductors. On hands and knees, work your glutes by doing back and side leg lifts, 20 each side. For your abs and a good leg stretch, lay on your back and do leg lifts from floor to however high you can go keeping your legs straight and not arching your back. These are also great for arm resistance too!

Then I had oatmeal with some apple chunks and black coffee.

A very productive morning at work, complete with a parent tour of our school then my plain non-fat yogurt with half and apple for snack...Then lunch happened:

I met a dear friend who visited from out of town, and ordered the Nicoise Salad with tomato soup. Well, the menu did not say tomato bisque, that would have clued me in on how rich and creamy it was. The salad was a little too mayoish for moi.

Then I was disgustingly full and had a stomach ache the rest of the day at work, I could hardly eat dinner. 

But for dinner I had the kale/broccoli slaw salad and some carrot sticks with hummus. Then I met another dear friend who was also visiting in town for a...drink

I couldn't even go a whole week without a single glass of wine. That is all I had, one glass of cab, and I woke up later then norm this morning with a headache. I don't know if it is because of the sudden amount of sugar or of the actual alcohol, but that sucked...

So my breakfast this am was a veggie scramble with a gluten free waffle which had peanut butter, my snack a protein shake and lunch is my favorite way to do tuna (unless it's poke)

The beauty of this salad is you can add as little or as much of whatever of these veggies, more or less than 1 tablespoon of mustard, any other seasonings you like, perhaps red onion or shallots would work, but I just kept it clean and refreshing, note I did add salt and pepper to taste. Today I'm back on track let's see how long this lasts!! Oh and I'm going to try to make homemade minestrone soup tomorrow (insert fingers crossed emoji here)

Survived a work day!

Ok, so today was different because I finally went back to work! And successfully avoided all chocolate!

I had a quick gym session this am, thanks to Massy Arias, I learned a great treadmill workout: these are all in 2 min increments with 30 seconds of squats in between...

Incline 10.5, speed 3.5 
Incline 2.5, speed 6.5
Incline 6.5, speed 4.5
Incline 2.5, speed 7.5
with 25 squats in between transition, literally position your feet on the side bars of the tread and balance, I would suggest this only if you are confident you won't hurt yourself!!

Anyways, since I went to the gym sooo early, I only had my citrus water and 1/2 cup of coffee with 2 tsp of coconut oil

After the gym, oatmeal with some apple chunks (my son didn't want) haha

At work, I had my plain yogurt for snack, & hot tea
Lunch was my zucchini lasagna & spaghetti squash 
Dessert was celery with peanut butter
Snack, raw 1/2 cup almonds
Dinner: salmon with roasted root veggies & sparkling water
*if I listed every time I drank water that would be crazy, but I literally drink a giant water and refill multiple times a day...I swear that's an essential part of keeping your system clean and flushed of toxins

Day 3

Today was a little different, woke up feeling great, but since I went on my son's field-trip, my eating routine was slightly askew.

We went to Centennial Farms in Costa Mesa, it's large, fun, informative and free! The "tour guides" are volunteers and they explain each area of the farm, from the animals to the cotton to the produce to each of the children,, allowing time for exploration. Our guide was great with the kindergarteners! What impressed me was that all of the produce and food they make, eggs, milk, etc. are donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. You have to make reservations as many schools in the area visit this farm, but it's an amazing place where children get a hands-on experience about how important farming is!

http://www.ocfair.com/ocf/centennialfarm/index.asp

So my breakfast was the same, but then I shared lunch with my son:

2 plain rice cakes w/ peanut butter, 1/2 an apple and 1/4 cup (1 serving) of cranberries, almonds and cashews mix.

With that lunch I consumed too much sugar and not enough fiber, which is proving to have been a mistake since even though my PM snack was 3 celery sticks, 3 carrot sticks and 2 tbsp of hummus I'M HUNGRY and it's only 4pm. Even drinking sparkling water doesn't help.

Yesterday I was totally fine until about 5. 

For dinner I plan on having my salmon, spaghetti squash and roasted veggies, then my pm snack will be string cheese.

Oh, and I am also back to doing Yoga every Wednesday. When I was in college (the first time) I worked at a yoga studio and took classes all the time While I love the atmosphere of taking yoga classes and the fact that I get a better workout, I also love doing it by myself in my living room, with my eyes closed. It's a way to zone out, relax and to actually stop thinking for a second. 

All you need to know are a few basic moves and to commit at least 20 minutes, it's the perfect midweek exercise since gym workouts are tough on your body, it's great to stretch and protect those muscles you are building! And did I mention to not think?!?

Day 2

I woke up lighter, my tummy felt flatter and I drank less coffee today.

AM: Citrus water, coffee, oatmeal (same as yesterday)
Gym: 15 minute interval training on the tread, 50 kettle bell swings with 20lb, 50 deadlifts with 50 lbs, 30 push-ups, 30 burpees, and 30 leg raises (mind you this is the total, I did this in sets)
Snack: Chocolate protein shake w/ unsweetened almond milk
WATER
Lunch: Half baked salmon w/ 1 cup spaghetti squash & pesto, 1 cup of roasted carrots/sweet potatoes
drank hot tea
WATER
I ate lunch late so skipped snack
Dinner: Zucchini lasagna & TJ's Kale & Broccoli Slaw salad (minus dried fruit) and sparkling water
Snack: "Ants on a log" Celery w/ peanut butter and raisins

Side note, my hubby who is not a vegetarian, admired my zucchini lasagna and is considering trying it when he comes back from our boy's practice...let's see if I win over the carnivore...

Welcome 2017

Ok so I have the same outlook but a new approach at the beginning of every year. For about 10 years on New Years Day I begin my 6 weeks of no booze. It's hard on Friday nights and pretty much the whole weekend, but once you overcome the first weekend, it's like wow. A proud moment. I am going to a wedding this month and will allow myself that evening to enjoy, and maybe that's part of the success for being dry nearly 6 weeks, looking forward to that cheat day. 

The other part of my plan is that I give up all sugar, except for the natural form like in fruit, but even so I minimize my fruit intake and maximize my vegetable intake. And of course I workout, but this year it's different, I worked hard to get back to 105, which is a healthy weight at 5 feet tall. But I want to be leaner and stronger.  So I will record my day on here to keep myself in check.
Day 1: 
AM: Room temp water with orange and lime juice, black coffee, 1/2 cup gluten free oats, w/ unsweetened almond milk
Gym
Snack: String cheese, water
Lunch: TJ's Broccoli & Kale Slaw kit salad minus the dried fruit, 4 apple slices and raw cucumbers and 4 tbsp hummus, water
Snack: 1 avocado and unsweetened ice tea
Dinner: Hot tea before dinner, then Zucchini lasagna w/ spaghetti squash and marinated tomatoes, ad sparkling water
Snack: 2tbsp all natural peanut butter & 1/2 cup of almond milk

My new part of my approach is my fantastic meal planning and new containers

The hubby is onboard as well, we each have our own set, and prep the same veggies and starch just different protein.
This week's menu was:
Spaghetti Squash with Trader Joe's Pesto & Salmon with roasted carrots and sweet potatoes
Zucchini Lasagna (because I had left over ingredients from our NYE pizza making party :) )
Here's the link to the lasagna found on Pinterest:
http://memeinge.com/blog/zucchini-lasagna/#_a5y_p=5583309