Let's Eat... Clean!

Keywords: clean eating, healthy, fitness, nutrition, food prep, healthy recipes

There is a huge misconception out there that eating healthy is boring.

“Healthy food is gross.”

“Healthy food is so bland.”

“Healthy food is so unsatisfying.”

I’ve heard it all. With this blog post, I hope to change your mind. I’m going to share some of my favorite healthy recipes.

Below are recipes that you can prepare, store and eat throughout the week.

Hemp seed turkey bites

These are my absolute favorite! You can use turkey or chicken breast. I make it every week!

Ingredients:

• 2 pound lean turkey breast 
• ¾ cup hemp seeds
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Pepper to taste
• Mrs. Dash original seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the turkey breast into bite-size cubes.
3. Put cubed turkey in a large Ziploc bag with hemp seeds, salt, pepper and seasoning. Shake until the turkey is well coated.
4. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Spread the turkey bites out evenly on the cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Tomato soup made in the blender

Ingredients:

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 diced onion
• 1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 cans organic diced tomatoes (do not drain)
• ½ cup chopped almonds
• ½ cup almond milk
• ½ cup fresh basil (de-stemmed)
• ½ of your hemp seed turkey bites (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil, onion and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Stir frequently until the onion is soft and translucent.
2. Reduce the heat to low. Add in the tomatoes and almonds.
3. Heat for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.
4. Remove the tomato mixture from the heat and transfer it to the blender using a ladle.
5. Add the basil and almond milk. Cover and puree until you have a smooth mixture.
6. Optional step: Add your pre-baked turkey bites and pulse the blender until the turkey is shredded but not completely blended.

Daily greens salad

This is nice to have pre-prepared because you can have it with any meal.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 ounce bag of assorted mixed spring greens (I prefer just spinach leaves)
• Shredded carrots
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• ¼ cup chopped almonds
• 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Chop the cherry tomatoes into halves.
2. Toss the greens together in a large mixing bowl with carrots, tomatoes, almonds, grape seed oil and lemon juice.
3. Cover and store.

Recipes inspired by The Body Fuel System. 

HIIT The Gym!

Keywords: lean, cardio, HIIT training, HIIT, body fat, fitness, healthy, nutrition, meal plan, workout

We have all had troubles with stubborn stomach fat.

My stomach has always been my problem area. My arms are leaning out, and my legs are becoming well-defined. I want to continue to lean-out my whole body, especially my stomach.

A lot of people think endless hours of cardio will get rid of unwanted belly fat. This is not true. High-intensity cardio for a long duration of time would maximize fat loss. Well, the only problem with that is, nobody can maintain high-intensity cardio for a long duration. So then, how do we maximize fat burn?

The answer is High Intensity Interval Training. This is known as “HIIT” in the fitness world. HIIT training is where you alternate between intervals of high-intensity cardio and low-intensity cardio.

Nobody can sprint for 10 minutes without stopping, but when you mix high-intensity and low-intensity cardio, you can still maximize fat burn without becoming fatigued.

Workout of the week:

A routine cardio session for me is 10-15 minutes of HIIT followed by 10-15 minutes of low-intensity cardio.

I start on the Stairmaster for 5-10 minutes. This gets my heart rate up and a good sweat going. I follow this by interval sprints on the treadmill. I do a one minute on, one minute off routine. I sprint for one minute at speed eight and incline two. I then walk for one minute at speed four and incline two. I repeat this sequence for 10 minutes.

Following my HIIT session, I walk at speed four and incline 15 for 10 minutes. This makes my total cardio routine about 30 minutes long. After cardio, I spend about 10 minutes working on abs.

This week’s goal:

This week’s goal is fat loss and leaning out. By the end of the week I would like to be able to step up my HIIT training. I want to be doing sprints at an incline of seven and speed of 8.5. I would alternate my sprints with walking at a speed of four and incline of seven.  

Another important part of leaning out is diet! Eating clean IS the difference between success and failure. I will talk more about diet in next week’s blog. For now, here is this week’s grocery list:

• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Egg whites (lots of egg whites!)
• Spinach
• Baby tomatoes
• Feta cheese
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Quinoa
• Organic pesto sauce