Raw Generation Protein Cleanse

A couple weeks ago I gave my first “juice cleanse” a try. Being as I had never done one before I was a little nervous so I did a lot of research before landing on this particular cleanse. I had no idea there were so many out there! Seriously, it took a while to pick the right one for me and I highly suggest you do your research to pick the right one for you if it is something you’re interested in.

Here is why I picked the Raw Generation Protein Cleanse:

PRE-MADE, ready to go, no work on my part! Sounds lazy but I am a woman on the move. I already have to schedule sleep in my planner so I didn’t want to now have to take to the cutting board and blender for hours a day. Plus this made it easy to take multiple juices with me.
Throughout the day you are getting to mix things up, there are three true juices and three that are more like protein shakes. Unlike traditional juicing I had multiple flavors throughout my day.
This cleanse actually had calories. Each day was about 950 calories. A lot of the other cleanses I looked at only had about 400-500 calories per day. I don’t know about you but that is not nearly enough for me.
I didn’t have to give up caffeine. The cleanse allows for black tea or coffee.
If you need a crunch, raw veggies are allowed.
Options! They had a 3, 5, and 7 day cleanse option. I ended up opting for the 5 day cleanse but bought shakes for 7 so I could taper off.
They can be bought through Amazon Prime (let’s be real, the deal was sealed when I found this out)

How it went:

Fantastic! My goal was 5 days but I ended up doing a 4 day cleanse and tapered day 5 and 6. I was never once hungry (except the time I left my last juice of the day at home and ended up working till almost midnight…so my fault!), ended up with a bunch more energy, lost 5.8lbs and several inches around my lower abdomen, and overall just felt much much better. I feel like it gave my gut the kick start it needed after all the junk I had been eating ((and no, I did not spend all 5 days in the bathroom 😉 )). Also, another added perk, it MADE me drink water. I hate water but with this cleanse since I wasn’t eating a bunch of snacks, I filled that snack void with water. Finally, the best part, it actually tasted good! I really really liked 4 of the 6 and the other two were still good, just not my favorites.

Overall Impression: A+!! I will definitely be doing it again in the future and would highly recommend this cleanse to anyone, but especially to someone taking on their first cleanse.

A Week in 3hours

Hello Hello! I hope y’all have had a wonderful weekend and your Monday is off to a great start! I had just the weekend I needed after some stressful days these last couple weeks. I was able to step away from the Queen City to visit some of my closest friends, Kimberly and Bre in Greensboro and Raleigh. After work Saturday, I made a quick stop in Greensboro to have lunch with Kimberly then took off to Raleigh for the rest of the weekend with Bre. I had a great time catching up with both of these ladies. It also always amazes me what a stress reliever it is when you can step away from the day to day monotony and just smile, laugh, and catch up with close friends. Anyways, enough about my weekend and on to today’s scheduled post….Creating all your meals for a week in three hours.

Meal prep to me, and I think to many, is one of those daunting ideas. The idea of making ahead of time EVERYTHING you are going to eat for an entire week (or in my case 5 days) is kind of a crazy thought. So for today’s post, I am going to break down for you how I meal prep, start to finish, in less than 3hrs…..

Step 1: Inventory what you have on hand and throw out anything that has spoiled in your pantry and refrigerator. Should only take about 5min.

Step 2: Based on what you have already plan your meals and snacks for the week. Typically I choose a theme to follow to keep grocery costs to a minimum and avoid waste. I like to make 2-3 options for the entire week to keep from getting bored at meal time. For snack I plan to have 1 salty snack, 1 sweet snack, 2 fruits, 1-2 veggies, and 1-2 dairy / protein options for the week. From this prep sheet, highlight or circle everything you need to get at the grocery store. This should take 15 – 20min.

Step 3: Write your grocery list according to how the grocery store is laid out. This means keeping your produce together, meats together, etc. Less than 5min.

Step 4: Grocery shop. Stick to your list. 20min. If it takes you longer than this you aren’t sticking to your very well organized list.

Step 5: Unpack the groceries, put the produce in the sink to wash. Less than 5min.

Step 6: Start with the meat and the starch for the week. These will be the base for your meals.

Step 7: As the bases are cooking, wash and chop your produce.

Step 8: As the bases are cooling, cook your veggies.

Step 9: As veggies are cooling, start dividing your base items into individual containers.

Step 10: Finish packaging the rest of your items. This means adding your cooked veggies to the appropriate meal, dividing up your raw produce, creating individual snack bags for your sweet and salty items, etc.

Steps 6 – 10 can vary in length but should be no more than 75 to 90min.

Step 11: Put all prepped food away in easy to grab locations and clean up the kitchen. No worries with the exception of the containers, you will have almost no clean-up to do all week! 🙂 10min

Total time: 2:15 – 2:30 and no more cooking for the week!!

What different ways do you go about meal prepping? Please comment below with any tips and or tricks you have!

Have a great day!!!

31 Day Detox

Hey y’all! I hope you have had a fantastic weekend so far. I am about to head out the door to work then am hitting the road to Greenville to see that boy. I will be sure to update you in the coming week on my weekend adventures. As for today’s post, I want to invite you to join me in a 31 day real food detox.

Similar to the Whole 30 plan that I tried about this time last year, I will be cutting out almost all processed foods, the majority of dairy products, added salt and sugar, and alcohol for the entire month of March. Unlike Whole 30, I will still have non-fat greek yogurt, skim milk, whole grain carbohydrates, real fruit juices, and legumes as a piece of my diet. I am doing this because I feel like I have slipped up big time over the last couple months and it is time to get my rear in gear especially as my training volume starts to increase and recovery is going to be extremely important.

So who else needs to get their booty in gear and wants to join me? I’ll be sure to keep you updated with my progress through the month.

Have a great weekend!

Super Bowl Yummies

Hey Y’all! How are you doing? Even though its already Wednesday night, lets back it up to Super Bowl Sunday when Alexie and I headed over to my parents house for a relaxing evening of food, drinks, laughing, and football watching. The commercials were good, the game was great, the company was awesome, and the food was fantastic! So in today’s post I want to take you through a few of the yummy highlights…. (PS just so we are clear, I can’t take credit for any of these, they were all chef mama bear and papa bear’s)

1. Barbecue Chicken Bites.

Basically healthier boneless BBQ chicken wings. We all loved the chicken but weren’t so sure about the dipping sauce. The sauce was much hotter than we had all anticipated.

4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs {They used only the white meat to further reduce the calories and fat} 18-ounce bottle barbecue sauce 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 cup panko breadcrumbs Kosher salt and ground black pepper For the dressing: 1 cup sour cream 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapenos 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder Hot sauce, to taste Kosher salt and ground black pepper. TRIM any visible fat from the chicken thighs, then cut each into 2-inch pieces. Place in a large bowl and stir in 1 cup of the barbecue sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. WHEN ready to cook, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the smoked paprika and breadcrumbs and cook until the breadcrumbs are toasted, stirring continuously, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. MAKE dressing: In a small bowl whisk together the sour cream, jalapenos, chives, garlic powder and onion powder. Season with hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside. HEAT broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and mist with cooking spray.USE a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the barbecue sauce, allowing any extra sauce to drain away. Discard the excess marinade. Arrange the chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet. BROIL chicken about 6 inches from the heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until browned and cooked through. Brush the remaining barbecue sauce over the tops of the chicken bites, then sprinkle all over with the toasted crumbs. Serve with the dressing for dipping.

2. Baked Parmesan Zucchini

This was probably my favorite of the night. I don’t know what to compare it to but I promise it was really good. And according to chef papa bear it was super easy to make.

Ingredients – 4 zucchini, quartered lengthwise, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste, 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves. Instructions – Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside. In a small bowl, combine Parmesan, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper, to taste. Place zucchini onto prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan mixture. Place into oven and bake until tender, about 15 minutes. Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the crisp and golden brown. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired. This recipe is from damndelicious.net.

3. Cilantro Lime Shrimp

If you like shrimp, lime, and cilantro, you will like this. It had me going back for seconds which is saying a lot since I am typically a plain jane, just give me boiled shrimp kind of girl so I was pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp, 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, 5 garlic cloves, crushed, 2 tablespoons lime juice (from 1 medium lime), 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro. Directions: Season the shrimp with cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil to the pan, then add half of the shrimp. Cook them undisturbed for about 2 minutes. Turn the shrimp over and cook until opaque throughout, about 1 minute. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and the remaining shrimp to the pan and cook, undisturbed, for about 2 minutes. Turn the shrimp over, add the garlic, and cook until the shrimp is opaque throughout, about 1 minute.{cooking time was a bit longer than this, maybe a total of 7-8minutes according to chef papa bear} Return the first batch of shrimp to the skillet, mix well so that the garlic is evenly incorporated and remove the pan from the heat. Squeeze the lime juice over all the shrimp. Add the cilantro, toss well, and serve. This recipe is from skinnytaste.com.

There you have it, the yummies of my Super Bowl Sunday. What were your Super Bowl favorites? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy Eating!

Yummy in my Tummy

Hey! I hope each of you had a fun filled weekend. I made it down to Atlanta for a quick 24hr trip to visit a good friend. I’m a little exhausted now but it was well worth it. I will be sure to give you a more in depth update of that in the coming days. But for now, I wanted to share a couple easy meals to help you get your week started off on the right foot.

1. For an easy, high protein breakfast:

Grab 2 frozen whole grain waffles, some almond almond butter, raisins, and a few chopped walnuts. Toast the waffles, smear on the almond butter, and sprinkle on the raisins and walnuts and you’re ready to go. I cut up an apple to go along with this. It was super filling and very delicious.

2. For a quick snack:

Grab the blender, throw in a banana, some greek yogurt, a handful of frozen strawberries, a little water and ice, hit blend and you are good to go. I like to add a few chi seeds in the mix as well, but not necessary.

3. For a complete lunch or dinner in minutes:

All you need is a sweet potato, frozen broccoli, pre-cooked chicken (I bake a couple chicken breasts at the beginning of each week to have on hand), and some low-fat shredded cheese. Stick the potato in the microwave for about 7min, steam the broccoli for about a minute in the microwave, and warm up the chicken for about 30seconds. I put it together like a loaded baked potato and finish it off with a little bit of cheese on top. This last time I added half an avocado to the mix for a little something extra.

So what are some of your easy, go to meals? Please share in the comments below.

I hope you week gets off on the right foot!

Ideas for Success on Turkey Day

Gobble Gobble Gobble!! Its about that time; time to sit around the table with plates piled high as we give thanks for our friends, family, and all our many blessings. But what if this year, we change things around a bit, still give thanks but maybe back away from the piled high plates and overly full bellies that are ready to pop?! Over the last couple weeks at Jenny Craig we have had a board out for our clients to put their “Ideas for Success on Turkey Day” on and I have to say, they came up with some great tips and tricks!

Some were pretty similar so I combined them into one but here is a good list to go by on your turkey day!

1. Don’t starve yourself before the meal, eat your typical breakfast.

2. Walk before or after the Thanksgiving meal.

3. Slow down by putting your fork down between every bite.

4. Eat lots of leafy green vegetables.

5. Take the skin off the turkey and skip the gravy.

6. Enjoy the people more than the food!

7. Plan for no leftovers or send guests home with them.

8. Sign up for a Turkey Trot, 5k or 1mile.

9. Drink a big glass of water right before the big meal.

10. Eat off a salad plate to help keep portions small.

So do you have any other tips for success? Please share in the comments below!

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!

Trick or Treat!

With Halloween just around the corner, candy is starting to float around the office, through the classroom, and soon to make its way to your home. Here are 10 of the “healthiest” choices when you give way to that little splurge during this spooky and oh so sugary season.

Bazooka Bubble gum — 20 calories per piece, no trans fat, and 5grams of sugar.
Smarties — 25 calories per fun size roll, no trans fat, and 6grams of sugar.
Chocolate Kiss — 26 calories per kiss, no trans fat, and 2.3grams of sugar.
Twizzler — 28 calories per twizzler, no trans fat, and 5.3grams of sugar.
Jelly Belly — 40 calories per 10 beans, no trans fat, and 7.7grams of sugar.
Gold Nugget — 45 calories per nugget, no trans fat, and 4grams of sugar.
Life Savers Hard Candy — 45 calories per 4 pieces, no trans fat, and 9grams of sugar.
Gummy Bears — 50 calories per fun size pack, no trans fat, and 7.3 grams of sugar.
Mike and Ike — 50 calories per fun size pack, no trans fat, and 9 grams of sugar.
Crunch — 60 calories per fun size bar, no trans fat, and 7 grams of sugar.

Happy early Halloween Y’all!!

Thirsty Thursday

It’s time to party!! Let the drinks start flowing!!

…. Jk!! Jk!! That’s not what this post is about…. This is a health in fitness blog, what’d you expect?!

As I may have mentioned before I am not a big fan of plain old water… In fact I really don’t like it and I struggle to drink enough to keep up with my active lifestyle. Today, I am not going to go over the importance of water today as you can check back to my water post from a while ago to learn more about it, but rather I’m going to give you the break down on some of the calories you are consuming when you choose something else over water. These calories add up fast since they don’t keep us full and can be a good explanation for added weight gain.

Gatorade — 50cals per 8oz

Powerade — 50cals per 8oz

Lemonade — 99cals per 8oz

Un-sweetened ice — 6-10cal per 8oz

Sweet Tea — 90cals per 8oz

Sprite — 96cals per 8oz

Coke — 95cals per 8oz

Whole Milk — 150cals per 8oz

2% Milk — 122cals per 8oz

1% Milk — 102cals per 8oz

Skim Milk — 86cals per 8oz

Orange Juice — 112cals per 8oz

Apple Juice — 117cals per 8oz

Beer — 100cals per 8oz (average)

Lite Beer — 65cals per 8oz (average)

Wine — 185cals per 8oz (on average a glass of wine is about 3-4oz)

**please keep in mind that these are not exact amounts but rather approximations.

So who thinks they may be getting a little extra pudge from these liquid calories?

Have a great “thirsty” Thursday y’all!

Getting Back on Track

Every now and again I find myself a little off track when it comes to my eating habits… Thank you baseball season!!

…Regardless of your reason for getting off track here are some suggestions for when you have the “oh crap! I’ve gained a couple pounds” or “I feel like blah…what’s going on with me!?” moment and you’re ready to put your foot down and start eating healthy.

– Start recording what you are eating. This will make you much more aware of just how much or how little you are putting in your body. I use My Fitness Pal, it’s a great free app.

– Plan meals for the week and stick to them. This means planning meals that you have time to prepare as well as the ingredients for.

– Clean out the refrigerator and pantry. Get rid of the junk. If it isn’t in the house, you can’t eat it!

– Go grocery shopping with a list. This list should be based on the meals you have planned out. Don’t forget to plan snacks as well!

– Wash and cut up produce upon returning home from the grocery store. You are more likely to eat it if it’s easy to grab when you’re hungry.

– Finally, tell those around you who influence your eating habits that you are trying to eat more healthy. If they know, they are much more likely to give you the support you may need.

I hope this helps if you’re like me and have fallen off the healthy eating train!

Happy Monday Y’all!

Eating & Traveling

Over the next couple of weeks as baseball season gets in full swing, I find myself eating in the car, at the ball field, and just about anywhere that’s not my kitchen table more frequently than I would like to admit. This can make it very difficult to eat healthy but here are a few tips to help you maintain that healthy diet while you are on the go…

1. Plan ahead. This can be as simple as purchasing healthy snacks that are already prepackaged or portioning them out on your own when you have time. Some of my go to prepackaged snacks are: carrots, apple slices, 100calorie packs of almonds, individual hummus/pretzel, Lara Bars, and individual sized dried fruit packs. Also fruits, such as apples, pears, and bananas, are great on the go options.

2. Be smart when you must eat fast food. I’m as guilty as the next person about loving some French Fries. To balance this love, when I order, I make sure to only order a small fry and try to make the bulk of my meal a better choice such as a grilled chicken sandwich or grilled chicken salad. If I am having a grilled chicken sandwich, I am always conscious to ask for it without mayo as I know I will already be getting plenty of “bad” fats from the fries and butter on the bread. To cut back a few more calories, remove one piece of bread and use the piece of lettuce in place of the missing bun. The grilled chicken salad can be quite tricky though. It’s easy to think since it’s a salad it’s automatically “healthy” … Hate to break your heart but that’s not always true. Salads can be loaded with fats and excess calories. To help keep that salad healthy, avoid using a creamy dressing and take all or atleast the majority of the cheese, croutons, and candied nuts off before you dig in.

3. Drink plenty of water!! I try to keep a case of water in my car as well as one near the door that I leave my house from. I find that although this isn’t all that environmentally friendly, I tend to drink a lot more water this way.

4. When traveling, atleast for me, it’s easy to justify having a drink or two or three with all those you are traveling with in the evening as the never ending bowl of chips or plate of cookies is passed around. This is when a healthy diet can fall to shambles. The best advice I can give here is to set a limit and be aware of what you are consuming. I set my limit on alcohol to no more than two drinks (most of the time) and I am conscious of drinking them slow. This way they last longer and people are less likely to keep offering them to you (same trick works at parties 😉 ).

5. Follow the 80/20 rule. 80 percent healthy 20 percent maybe not the perfect choice. This makes staying on track a much more feasible task. For me, since the majority of my travel is on the weekends, I try to keep my weekdays as healthy as possible and save those “treats” for the weekend when they are most readily available and/or I am going out to eat frequently.

What are some tricks that you use when you are eating on the go?

I hope you have a Fantastic Thursday!