So I finished up my 7 day eat clean challenge on Saturday and I lost almost 3 lbs in that 7 day period. I was soo happy to see I was finally back in the 130s on the scale yesterday, totally made it worth it! Yesterday I indulged in a few treats and the scale wasn't as pretty this morning ;) It definitely helps to cut out those sweets, pop, junk etc!
As I was browsing facebook today I saw that the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge starts up again today! I've seen this before and have wanted to do it. Now that it starts again today, I thought it would be the perfect time to join in! It seems pretty doable. She posts 20 minute work out videos on youtube every day (I think you get Sundays as a day of rest). You can check out Day 1 Here!
I've also started another 6 week BMI challenge last Friday with a few friends. It's SO good to have goals and accountability.
I've eaten pretty good so far today, had a big bowl of raspberries (yummy!) and one of my Healthy peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip, cranberry bars I made Saturday (recipe here!).
I'm about to head to the gym on my lunch hour, have Zumba at church tonight AND going to do the Bikini Body Mommy challenge video Day 1 today, so hopefully that's a great jump start for this week!
I'll check in later this week with how I'm eating and how the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge goes!
By the way I SOO appreciate comments to let me know you are reading, thank you!!!!!! :)
Monday, May 5, 2014
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Day 7 Clean eating - whole grain chicken spinach pizza and peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip, cranberry bars!
Today is my last day of my clean eating challenge! Although after today I may not eat clean 100% (heck, I've had a few cheats already this week) I am going to try to continue to incorporate clean foods as much as I can and try new recipes :)
Today I helped out Girls of Grace at my church (large conference for teen girls). I had to be there by 7am, which is waaay early for me. I didn't eat breakfast before I left so brought one of the cookies I made yesterday with me and a bag of grapes. Lunch was provided. It ended up being panera bread sandwiches, turkey and cheese. So somewhat healthy but the bread wasn't whole grain and I don't think the cheese was "real" either and the turkey probably loaded with preservatives ;)
For dinner I made a whole grain chicken spinach pizza!
Soft and chewy peanut butter oatmeal bars made with healthy, wholesome ingredients. The chocolate is optional. Sort of.
Yield: 12-16 bars, depending how large you cut them
Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup natural chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (can use diary, almond, coconut, etc)
1/2 cup 60% cacao chip
1/2 cup organic dried cranberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 8x8 baking dish with olive oil spray. Set aside.
In medium bowl mix together peanut butter,vanilla and brown sugar. Add in milk, then slowly flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Mix thoroughly then fold in cacao chips and cranberries.
Once dough is completely combined, press it lightly into the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 1718 minutes until the bars are lightly golden and set. Allow to cool completely and cut into squares.
Today I helped out Girls of Grace at my church (large conference for teen girls). I had to be there by 7am, which is waaay early for me. I didn't eat breakfast before I left so brought one of the cookies I made yesterday with me and a bag of grapes. Lunch was provided. It ended up being panera bread sandwiches, turkey and cheese. So somewhat healthy but the bread wasn't whole grain and I don't think the cheese was "real" either and the turkey probably loaded with preservatives ;)
For dinner I made a whole grain chicken spinach pizza!
I used this whole grain pizza crust recipe, cut it in half for a thin crust pizza and used honey instead of sugar.
I then cooked it in the oven for 5 minutes, took it back out and topped it with diced tomatoes, cut up spinach, boiled chicken with a little garlic on it and mozzarella cheese. This was SOOO yummy!
Tonight I'm going to my cousin's birthday party and won't be able to eat the cake and icecream so made a treat to bring with me! These were lightly sweet, very heavy but yummy! Definitely need a glass of milk to go with!
Here's the recipe!
Healthy peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip, cranberry bars
Soft and chewy peanut butter oatmeal bars made with healthy, wholesome ingredients. The chocolate is optional. Sort of.
Yield: 12-16 bars, depending how large you cut them
Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup natural chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk (can use diary, almond, coconut, etc)
1/2 cup 60% cacao chip
1/2 cup organic dried cranberries
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 8x8 baking dish with olive oil spray. Set aside.
In medium bowl mix together peanut butter,vanilla and brown sugar. Add in milk, then slowly flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Mix thoroughly then fold in cacao chips and cranberries.
Once dough is completely combined, press it lightly into the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 1718 minutes until the bars are lightly golden and set. Allow to cool completely and cut into squares.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Clean Eating Day 6 Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookie's and Dinner explosion
So yesterday was sooooooo busy, did not get a chance to take pics of food or blog.
I knew it was going to busy, so I made spaghetti the night before and made my own sauce, I think I put too much seasoning in it, it was awful LOL! So I did the best I could with what was available to me ;)
Today I made some yummy cookies and also exploded our dinner! Read ahead for the cookie recipe and dinner explosion details.....
For the cookies, I took a basic oatmeal cookie recipe and made some healthier alternatives and additions. They turned out really good! Here it is!
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup stevia
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups old fashioned natural oats
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup organic dried cranberries
3/4 cup 60% cacao chips (you can choose what kind and add more or less to your liking)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place melted coconut oil and light brown sugar in medium bowl and use mixer on medium-slow speed until very fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract, followed by eggs, one at a time.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the first bowl gradually. Mix in dried cranberries and cacao chips until just incorporated. Using a large spoon, place dough on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake one batch at a time in the preheated oven just until the edges are brown, 17 to 18 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling on wire racks.
Ahh what a day! Tomorrow should be interesting too. I'm volunteering at a concert all day tomorrow and they are catering lunch and then my cousin's birthday party tomorrow night, so hopefully I can still try to eat as clean as possible! :)
I knew it was going to busy, so I made spaghetti the night before and made my own sauce, I think I put too much seasoning in it, it was awful LOL! So I did the best I could with what was available to me ;)
Today I made some yummy cookies and also exploded our dinner! Read ahead for the cookie recipe and dinner explosion details.....
For the cookies, I took a basic oatmeal cookie recipe and made some healthier alternatives and additions. They turned out really good! Here it is!
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 10 large cookies1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup stevia
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups old fashioned natural oats
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup organic dried cranberries
3/4 cup 60% cacao chips (you can choose what kind and add more or less to your liking)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place melted coconut oil and light brown sugar in medium bowl and use mixer on medium-slow speed until very fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract, followed by eggs, one at a time.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour the dry ingredients into the first bowl gradually. Mix in dried cranberries and cacao chips until just incorporated. Using a large spoon, place dough on prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake one batch at a time in the preheated oven just until the edges are brown, 17 to 18 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling on wire racks.
I cooked mine around 19 minutes which was a tad too long, so they were slightly dry, but still very good for a "healthy" cookie. I may try again with some applesauce in them.
For
lunch I had a yummy spinach salad with chopped egg, low fat mozzarella
cheese, grape tomatoes with light raspberry vinaigrette and a side of
low-fat cottage cheese. Yum!
So here's what you've been probably curious about, my dinner explosion! I was so excited to make this recipe Lemon Garlic Roasted Chicken with Red Potatoes and Green Beans. It looked so pretty and delicious!
So I set the timer for 45 minutes. At about 35 minutes it was looking really good! I went downstairs to dry my hair, and then I hear the smoke alarm going off and my husband yelling for me. There was a big BOOM and then smoke pouring out of our oven. I guess maybe glass dishes can't handle being at 450* for that long, or it was just faulty. But I'm now looking to get a baking dish and going to try it again! What a bummer!
So, by that time we are starving and the stove is going to be unusable until it cooled off and we can remove everything and clean it. So looked on the fridge and saw Arby's coupons. This market fresh sandwich looked ok, probably not "clean" but not too unhealthy. It was delicious!
Ahh what a day! Tomorrow should be interesting too. I'm volunteering at a concert all day tomorrow and they are catering lunch and then my cousin's birthday party tomorrow night, so hopefully I can still try to eat as clean as possible! :)
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Clean Eating Day 4
Today was a work day for me, so make a quick breakfast.
For morning snack I had a big bowl of strawberries and blueberries, and for lunch egg salad, no bread this time. For afternoon snack I had 1/2 an apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter.
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| I've had a lot of firsts this week, I think this is the first time I've cooked real oatmeal on the stove! |
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| Add a little maple syrup, cinnamon and brown sugar - yummy! and extremely filling! |
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| For dinner, I had chicken on low in the crockpot all day, shredded it and make some home made bbq sauce (recipe here, I added more maple syrup and some truvia to make it sweeter) on a piece of whole wheat organic toast, Sweet Potato fries (just took 1/2 a small sweet potato, cut in small pieces, added a little olive oil and seasoning), and peas. SOO yummy! Will def make again! |
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Clean Eating, Day 3
Day 3 went great! I don't work Tuesdays, so its easier to be at home and plan out and make food. For breakfast, I made whole wheat blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup. I believe it's the first time I've had real maple syrup! It was kind of odd compared to the stuff I'm used to, but ok. Definitely something to get used to!
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| Whole wheat pancake (mix from Aldi) with fresh blueberries and real maple syrup. |
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| For lunch I steamed some fresh broccoli, put a little mild cheddar cheese (cut from block) and warmed it up a for 30 seconds in the mic to melt the cheese. |
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| Apples and all natural peanut butter. I got this yesterday for the first time. I mixed it but it still tasted kind of oily. I added a little hazelnut spread to it and it was better :) |
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| Dinner was my absolute favorite!! I was going to just make my 3rd and last kabob and corn like I did the last two nights, then i decided to get a little creative. I cooked the kabob on the stove with olive oil and lawry's season like i did before and cut my corn off the cob. I warmed up some whole wheat fajita tortillas, added a few thin slices of pepper jack cheese on top and a little plain greek yogurt (tastes the same as sour cream!) This was SOOO delicious, tasted like it came from a higher end mexican restuartant! Will definitely make again with my extra kabobs! |
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| Tonight I was a little brave and tried out an avacado pudding recipe I found on Allrecipes here.Not gonna lie, I was pretty skeptical about avocados in pudding, but it had good reviews, so thought I would give it a try. It was very thick, I added double the amount of coconut milk and also added 1/3 cup stevia (sugar alternative), because the cocoa powder was really intense. |
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| My 3 year old Addelyn was the first tester. She is extremely picky but fully approved! |
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| Gave a little to my 10 month old Leila as well and she liked it too! |
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| I was kind of iffy on it. It was OK, but I didn't think it was amazing. Not sure if I would make it again. Maybe for my girls! ;) |
Monday, April 28, 2014
Clean eating, Day 2
Monday, back to work today. Had to have something quick for breakfast, I usually do cereal, but didn't have any clean cereal, so opted for a piece of 100% whole grain organic toast with peanut butter. Quick, easy and yummy, that's what this whole day was about!
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| 100% whole grain organic toast with peanut butter. |
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| Lunch, homemade egg salad (chopped hard boiled eggs, mustard and real mayo with olive oil) on 100% whole wheat organic bread. I took off a piece of bread and just used one because it seemed like too much. It was super filling and yummy! I also had some strawberries and a naked juice smoothie, my new fave! |
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| For dinner, (not pictured) I had a chicken bob and corn off the cob like yesterday, I had 3 kabobs on clearance from meijer, so had to use them up before they go bad, will probably have the last one for lunch tomorrow. I was still hungry after dinner so made a piece of toast with meijer natural hazelnut spread (like nutella) SO SO yummy, especially when the toast is still warm and its all gooey.....mmmmmm!! |
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| As I'm writing this (10:30 pm) just got done baking some homemade granola bars. I used a recipe I found on pinterest here and altered it just a little. This was my first experience with coconut oil! I used coconut milk (again a first) instead of regular milk and cut down the strawberries from 1 cup to 1/2 a cup and threw in some cacao chips, yummy! |
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| The finished product! Smells delicious! Will let you know how they taste tomorrow :) |
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Journey to health, beginning to eat clean, Week 1, Day 1.
So this is my first blog post at a new blog. Nothing fancy yet, just wanted to get started! I created this blog while I explore clean eating, in hopes to make it real and inspire others. How did I get here and why am I doing this?
I've heard people talk about "clean eating" for a long time and I just thought it was absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic. I was pretty thin through high school and starting gaining weight shortly after I got married. I'm going to get out of my comfort zone here and talk numbers!
When I was pregnant with my first daughter Addelyn, I started out around 150 pounds and ended up over 190 lbs at the end of my pregnancy, 9 days overdue, so I gained over 40 lbs, too much. She was born in April of 2011.
I did get below my pre-pregnancy weight but it was in different places and I didn't feel as thin as I was before. In the fall of 2012 I became pregnant with my 2nd daughter, Leila. I was much more cautious with weight gain with this pregnancy. I lost weight in the beginning from being sick but then gained it back plus around 20 lbs, so much healthier the 2nd time around.
Since she was born last June, I have lost almost 25 lbs, so the pregnancy weight plus some. I'm currently around 140 and although I love that number on the scale, there are still areas I need to work on, especially my core, gut, but, thighs area. I'm ready to get to the next level of fitness. I joined a gym a few months ago and it is helping some. But I know to get truly healthy, I need to do more than that.
Awhile back I read Jillian Michael's book "Master Your Metabolism". I thought if I could have the metabolism like I did in high school, when I worked at Burger King and ate it practically every day and still be skinny, I could make this work. The only thing I remember from that book was this, If it doesn't have a mother and if didn't grow from the ground, don't eat it. That was not was hoping to hear from this book! I wanted some easy fix, not eating like a crazy healthy person.
The more I've read about it, it really does make sense. Real food, that food that grows from the ground and comes from animals, that's the food God created for us, and the food our bodies know how to process. Crackers, Chips, cookies, Regular and Diet pop, really anything packaged, is full of chemicals and preservatives. We like to ignore the ingredient lists that contain 50+ ingredients that we can't pronounce. But really, we are poisoning our bodies with this stuff. You want to know why cancer keeps rising? Its all this chemicals and fake food we are putting in our bodies. Its easy, convenient, and tastes pretty darn good, but it's killing us.
I just got done with a 6 week weight loss challenge with some friends, and I did ok in the beginning but then I get to that 140 mark and I get stuck, I just can't lose any more. So I decided, you know what, I'm going to try this clean eating deal for ONE week. One week won't kill me, I can do this. I need to explore this. So I did some research on eating clean, found some ideas on Pinterest (check my healthy foods board, I found tons of yummy ideas!)
I just completed my first day, and I have to say it wasn't too bad. I don't think this is as hard we make it out to be. Personally, I'm kind of picky, not nearly as bad as some, but I like to stick to basic foods, like chicken, beef, veggies, I'm not adventerous with like fish and foreign food etc.
So here's my day 1 food!
I've heard people talk about "clean eating" for a long time and I just thought it was absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic. I was pretty thin through high school and starting gaining weight shortly after I got married. I'm going to get out of my comfort zone here and talk numbers!
When I was pregnant with my first daughter Addelyn, I started out around 150 pounds and ended up over 190 lbs at the end of my pregnancy, 9 days overdue, so I gained over 40 lbs, too much. She was born in April of 2011.
I did get below my pre-pregnancy weight but it was in different places and I didn't feel as thin as I was before. In the fall of 2012 I became pregnant with my 2nd daughter, Leila. I was much more cautious with weight gain with this pregnancy. I lost weight in the beginning from being sick but then gained it back plus around 20 lbs, so much healthier the 2nd time around.
Since she was born last June, I have lost almost 25 lbs, so the pregnancy weight plus some. I'm currently around 140 and although I love that number on the scale, there are still areas I need to work on, especially my core, gut, but, thighs area. I'm ready to get to the next level of fitness. I joined a gym a few months ago and it is helping some. But I know to get truly healthy, I need to do more than that.
Awhile back I read Jillian Michael's book "Master Your Metabolism". I thought if I could have the metabolism like I did in high school, when I worked at Burger King and ate it practically every day and still be skinny, I could make this work. The only thing I remember from that book was this, If it doesn't have a mother and if didn't grow from the ground, don't eat it. That was not was hoping to hear from this book! I wanted some easy fix, not eating like a crazy healthy person.
The more I've read about it, it really does make sense. Real food, that food that grows from the ground and comes from animals, that's the food God created for us, and the food our bodies know how to process. Crackers, Chips, cookies, Regular and Diet pop, really anything packaged, is full of chemicals and preservatives. We like to ignore the ingredient lists that contain 50+ ingredients that we can't pronounce. But really, we are poisoning our bodies with this stuff. You want to know why cancer keeps rising? Its all this chemicals and fake food we are putting in our bodies. Its easy, convenient, and tastes pretty darn good, but it's killing us.
I just got done with a 6 week weight loss challenge with some friends, and I did ok in the beginning but then I get to that 140 mark and I get stuck, I just can't lose any more. So I decided, you know what, I'm going to try this clean eating deal for ONE week. One week won't kill me, I can do this. I need to explore this. So I did some research on eating clean, found some ideas on Pinterest (check my healthy foods board, I found tons of yummy ideas!)
I just completed my first day, and I have to say it wasn't too bad. I don't think this is as hard we make it out to be. Personally, I'm kind of picky, not nearly as bad as some, but I like to stick to basic foods, like chicken, beef, veggies, I'm not adventerous with like fish and foreign food etc.
So here's my day 1 food!
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| Breakfast, 1 piece of organic 100% whole grain bread, toasted with a little unsalted butter, one scrambled egg, 1/2 banana, a few blueberries and 1/2 a glass of OJ. 299 calories. |
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| Lunch - BLT! 2 pieces of organic 100% whole grain bread, toasted, bacon (I want to get some Turkey bacon, but wanted to use up what we have first, this is center cut bacon and I pulled off as much fat as I could), lettuce, tomato and real mayo with olive oil. A small salad with light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. 302 calories. |
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| I was started to get my sweet craving. Luckily I was prepared, I picked up a bag of 60% extra dark cacao chips yesterday. I melted some of those with a little bit of peanut butter, spread it on 1/2 a banana on wax paper, let it cool in the fridge and voila! SOOO delicious and exactly what I needed. 173 calories. |
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| Dinner - premade chicken kabob from Meijer deli made a quick dinner! Cooked in olive oil with a little Lawry's seasoning. |
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| Dinner - chicken kabob, corn on the cob cut off, fresh green beans. SUPER delicious. Only 252 calories total! |
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| Snacks - throughout the day, I munched on some green grapes, blueberries and cantaloupe. Tonight we made our own popcorn! With some real melted butter, salt and some white cheddar seasoning, it was delicious! 1 cup Popcorn with 1/2 tbsp butter was only 81 calories! |
I wasn't probably 100% clean, with dressing and seasoning etc, but I'm not going to go super extreme with this. But I'd say today went really great. With some planning, it really isn't too hard. I'm keeping my eyes open for easy, real food that I love. My starting weight for today was 142, I'll update at the end of week and see how big a different this clean eating makes! I hope you continue to read and follow this journey with me! :)
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