Summer Finds

     Hey all, I've made a couple new finds recently and my garden is growing like it is on steroids (haha)! Some pics of my breakfasts and lunches are below. You will see the benefit of fresh produce. Absolutely delicious I might add.

     If you're looking for additional motivation or ideas, follow me on Pinterest Fitness or Pinterest Eating Clean With Slim. Pinterest has millions of pins for healthy recipes and workout regimens etc.

    Another find was from Bodybuilding.com called The Woman's Fitness Bible. The article was very on point and the famous website Bodybuilding.com is by far the most accurate regarding fitness advice that I've found.

     A cool cheat that I've found was Welch's Concord Grape Jelly with half the calories. This is amazing for when you're just wanting to cut back on calories in general. I'll be honest and say that it is just as good as the regular jelly and it has no aftertaste of artificial sweeteners (because none is added). It does not have corn syrup in the ingredients either. I'm soooo happy I found this because there are way too many products with way too much sugar added. A big example is soda, if soda had half the sugar it wouldn't be 100% evil.

     I'm open to suggestions, questions or corrections on anything that is posted.

A Healthy Drink to Curb Your Hunger or Sweet Tooth

     When I get close to that moment where I think I'm going to break down and eat something that's not on my health diet, I try my best to have a backup plan. It is important not to put it off until the verge of breaking. My weakness is most definitely sweets. I've already done my weight training and cardio for the day, I don't want to ruin my hard work by binging on something unhealthy. I must remember that I get a cheat day once a week to eat whatever I want (proportioned of course). It can be well worth the wait.
     A quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive way to curb my sweet tooth is by having a smoothy, shake, or drink of sorts. What I mean is, I have plenty jugs of protein mix to choose from. I'd personally choose the protein mix to make a shake out of over fruit, milk, and ice cream. If a cream such as milk is needed, I'll choose Silk Pure Almond Milk Unsweetened (35 calories) or fat free milk (90 calories). Oh the benefits of switching to fat free and sugar free are amazing! It took me a while to adjust to the differences in taste and texture, especially being raised on wholesome foods.
      When mixing my shakes I add a scoop of the protein power and about a cup of ice. Sometimes I want to experiment with the flavor and add a banana or Sugar Free Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. As for my liquids, I'll use the Silk Pure Almond Milk Unsweetened or fat free milk. The extremists, which are those who compete, will probably only use the protein power, ice, and water, absolutely no sugars.

For additional flavor:

 Of course you will need to purchase a blender if you don't have one, even a hand held personal mixer is a big help.

     Using the almond milk and chocolate syrup, I drank a 70 cal semi sweet drink. It completely satisfied my sweet tooth and I didn't break my health diet. For anyone who hasn't tried almond milk, I suggest you do. I didn't think I'd like it at first, but I'm glad I tried it. Not only does it have 50% more calcium than milk, it's much better for the waist line. If you know what milk taste like after eating your cereal away, it is something like that. It tastes like a honey nut milk except not as sweet. That is my best attempt to explain the taste.

     There are so many varieties of shakes to make, these are just a few that I like to mix up. If you invest in a container of protein mix (usually containing many servings), you too will have a key ingredient in making a quick sweet tooth fix.

     Just a quick note, you can order the above protein shake mixes probably just about anywhere online.  However, Complete Supplements of Maryville, IL is by far the best pricing that I've found, even when comparing to online stores and stores like, GNC or Vitamin World. Shipping to you is reasonably priced. Whether you live in the area or not, check'm out! Customers nation wide are impressed with their pricing and customer service (including myself).

Complete Supplements Website
Complete Supplements on Facebook
Directions to Complete Supplements- Maryville, IL

Spicy Baked BBQ Chicken

     Okay, once again, you do not need skills to be at master at this. Almost every clean recipe is easy to make because you're not adding ingredients left and right. This is very clean eating, obviously, these aren't always recipes that you'd eat a week before a competition. However, these recipes will definitely slim you down and prepare you for a show, or just slim you down in general.

Spicy Baked BBQ Chicken

      I'm a fan of SPICY, how about you? I lightly sprayed the bottom of a pan with extra virgin olive oil. I sprinkled cayenne pepper and paprika on a couple large chicken breasts and baked them at 350 for about 50 minutes. Now BBQ sauce is high in sugar, so I didn't use too much. I put a couple tablespoons over the top of the breasts after they were done baking and just let them sit a few minutes before cutting. Viola! So simple, right? I had steamed broccoli seasoned with Tony Chachere's Lite Creole seasoning. Like I said, spicy. When eating clean for so long you will tend to season a lot of foods in different ways. Finally, my good carb was brown rice.

Food tip: Uncle Ben's ready to eat brown rice(s) are very convenient if you don't have time to steam your own. Also, the ready to eat cup of (that you heat in the microwave) have less sodium than the ready to eat bags of rice.

Scrambled Egg Whites & Turkey

We all know that breakfast is something you can't skip. I've skipped breakfast for YEARS and it finally caught up with me while coming into my wonderful 30's. Now that I'm eating a healthy breakfast I can easily maintain my weight. Something even your kiddos (if you have any) can whip up is this EASY breakfast. Don't forget, feeding your children healthy food instead of cereal or pop tarts every morning will be extremely beneficial too.

Egg whites are high in protein, which means you'll feel full faster and longer. Whole eggs are healthy too, the egg yolk has good fats. However, if you're trying to lose body fat you should watch your fats closely. Normally, cutting fat is needed because natural fats are found in a lot of foods. Turkey is low fat/low cal. and high in protein. The smoked turkey is a GREAT substitute for greasy bacon. Remember, about 40% protein, 40% good carbs, 20% fats.

I lightly sprayed the frying pan with olive oil then diced up some sliced turkey into the egg whites. SIMPLE for those busy mornings.

3-4 egg whites
6 slices of deli fresh smoked turkey
ROUGHLY 100 CALORIES!

Food tip: Buy ready to make egg whites from your local grocer.

Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders

I bought the raw chicken tenders for this recipe. I really do not like touching raw chicken unless I have to. This was a very simple recipe like most. I placed it on a bed of rice and divided my protein (chicken) and good carbs (brown rice) for this lunch. It was sweet and tangy. The sweet glaze went great with the rice too.

This recipe is something you can make with your preferred condiments. I used the below ingredients.

Ingredients:
Raw Chicken Tenders about 1lb 
1/4 cup Honey
2 tblsp Chipolte Mustard
2 tblsp Mustard
Salt and Pepper

I sprayed bottom of pan with Crisco Olive Oil. Mixed ingredients and poured over chicken. Baked in the oven for 20-45 mins. It will depend on how much chicken you will be baking. Sometimes I'll have left over sauce and will pour it onto my serving before eating.

Oatmeal Pancakes

This recipe is from the, Jennifer Nicole Lee's Fitness Model diet book. Pancakes are high in carbs and calories, especially after you dump a cement mixer load of syrup on them. They tend to average 300-500 calories a serving after you add the syrup. The processed and bad carbs that taste so good make a huge difference in your diet. I really love the taste of these pancakes from JNL. Plus I top it with a sugar free syrup (Log Cabin Sugar Free Syrup), only 20 calories per serving, where other syrups are 100-200 calories per serving!

About 260 calories and over 20g of protein

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
4 Egg Whites
1/2 cup Fat Free Cottage Cheese
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 Cinnamon
1/4 Nutmeg

Use blender and blend all ingredients until smooth. These will have a sightly different texture because of all the egg whites. It may look like a runny batter but if you think it's too runny add more oats. I usually leave out the nutmeg as a personal preference. This makes one serving of 4 pancakes.

Thomas' Whole Wheat English Muffin Vegan Pizza

This scrumtralesant English Muffin duo, (Will Ferrell fans unite) makes an awesome breakfast for a queen or lunch for a princess! It is packed with flavor and has all the right carbs to boost your energy level. It'd be a most exceptional breakfast an hour before working out. It holds about 230 calories.

 Everyone should have these simple household ingredients to mix together.

 

Baked at a high oven temp.

On a bed of spinach.

Ingredients:

1 whole Thomas' 100% Whole Wheat English muffin

1/4 cup fat free shredded mozzarella

2 tbsp of fat free cottage cheese

2 tbsp diced tomatoes

2 tbsp diced onion

2 tbsp diced green bell pepper

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

I diced the tomato, onion, and bell pepper up and mixed in the Italian seasoning. I put most of the mozzarella on the bottom of the muffin (this keeps the bread from getting soggy), added the cottage cheese, then the diced mixture on the cottage cheese. I topped it off with the remaining mozzarella and baked for about 15 min at 425 degrees. You can also pop it in the microwave but I don't like to use the microwave, and I like mine nice and crispy. 

Open Face Egg and Baby Swiss on Toasted Whole Wheat

It may not be the most elaborate breakfast, but I had a dream of this mix last night, so I whipped it up this morning. Like I said, it is simple and there's not much to it but, the thin slice of swiss cheese made it come together. I added a dash of salt and pepper for flavor. It totals about 240 calories and includes good carbs and protein. To cut about 100 calories from this breakfast you can always exclude the cheese. I'm one of those people that never used to eat breakfast. Now that I do eat it, along with a workout routine, I still drop weight. Eating breakfast also keeps me from overeating later in the day and keeps my metabolism high.

Chicken Salad Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

I know you like chicken salad sandwiches! This one is simple and delicious. I only end up eating half of it because it is gargantuan. I pulled about 1/2 of a chicken breast from a chicken that I boiled for soup and set it aside for this sandwich.

Ingredients:
1 cup diced chicken breast
2 tbsp of Light Hellmann's Mayonnaise
3 chopped queen olives or 5 small olives
1/8 of a celery stalk diced
2 slices of whole wheat bread

This is nutritionist approved and leaves you full!

It's All about the Bawk Bawk

It is winter time, and we do like our hot foods. Soup to be more direct, and chicken soup to be even more specific. Soups are super flavorful and nutritional, this soup is absolutely delicious and has the original taste of your grandma's chicken noodle yumminess. Piping hot and right off the stove, out of the cast iron pot and into a bowl waiting to be devoured. This soup is minus the noodles and other starches like potatoes. Starches are high in carbs and holds sugar in your body much longer. Whole wheat noodles would be a good option to go with if you really like the noodles.

It's ingredients are the following:

1 whole boiled medium chicken pulled and diced large
2 tablespoons of chicken bullion
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup peas
1 stalk of diced celery
1 quart of low sodium, fat free, low calorie chicken broth
salt pepper to taste

Yes it's that simple! I boiled the chicken the night before, let it cool then put the leftover chicken broth in the fridge separately. Before I re-heated the broth (to boil my veggies in) I skimmed all the fat off the top of the cold broth. Voila! Practically fat free and packed with natural flavor! I added Fit & Active chicken broth, it was fat free, low sodium, and only 5 calories per serving. This was so delicious and it was for lunch today. It's so filling that I could barely finish my bowl. If you'd like precise recipe instruction let me know :)

Eating Clean

Did you know that you can eat up to 6+ times a day, walk away full, and still drop the unwanted weight? If you begin at a higher percentage of body fat you won't even have to begin physical training (weights) or cardio (walking), and you will still shed pounds. Being fit and healthy is 90% diet, which means you watch what you eat, not necessarily cut back so much that you feel you're starving yourself. Don't worry- you still get those cheat days (which means you'll have to view my dessert blog for those recipes)! This new blog will be all about eating clean proportioned foods and eating frequently throughout the day. No more going to bed hungry or waking up with a stomach ache because you ate too late in the evening or too close to bed time. Much of the upcoming recipes will be high in protein and low in carbs, calories, and fat. I'm not a professional but I'm learning first hand on the benefits of clean eating. Some of these recipes will be my own and some will be favorites of mine that I obtained from nutritionist and personal trainers. I've struggled on where to start and frequently asked, "What can I eat to feel full, and still feel in shape!?" Whether you want to look good, feel good, or gain your health back, it all comes down to how you respect your body. Come eat clean with me!