Archives for plant-based

The Greens Go Green | Day 3

Let me start off by saying, I went to bed an hour earlier last night, to avoid feeling hungry for an extra hour. It definitely helped, and I was very tired anyway. In addition to eating plants as a first choice during this week, I also got the bug up my butt to try intermittent fasting each night. Which is a fancy way of saying, don’t eat past a certain hour each night and then don’t eat first thing in the morning when you wake up. I have no idea what sort of benefit I personally might gain from this, but on Day 1, it kind of happened on accident so I thought why not give it a try for the rest of the week. I’ve read that for women, 14 hours of fasting is ideal. It seems like doing it overnight is the best way to go, since I’m asleep for half of the 14 hours and I’ve noticed better sleep when I don’t go to bed on a full stomach. If you want to read more about fasting and juicing, you can check out this article. As a side note, if you aren’t familiar with Ayurveda or Doshas, I highly recommend reading more here! Knowing your Dosha (or body constitution type) will tell you more about your personal body chemistry and therefore help you to play a more active role in your own health. Once I found out mine (most people have a primary and a secondary dosha) it gave me such a greater understanding to how my body works and responds to various foods, environments and climate changes even.

Today I definitely tried to EAT MORE. I’ve been very hungry all day, so I’m trying to cram in the calories and nutrients.

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BREAKFAST: Chocolate Vegan Shakeology with mixed berries, turmeric, maca powder and cinnamon. 399 Calories, 47 g carbs, 16 g fat, 19 g protein, 22 g sugar, 12 g fiber (I decided to add fiber, and remove sodium from my My Fitness Pal tracker. I’m always way under on sodium anyway.

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I also added these two supplements to my Shakeology. The flax oil is why I had so much fat in the shake. It also added 120 calories. But these are both great additions to my shake!

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Oh yeah, before I ate breakfast this morning, we both got in T25’s Speed 1.0 workout. I haven’t done it in years and wow — what a workout! I like that it looks like I have actual abs in this photo. WOOT!

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SNACK 1: 10 almonds for a quick fix — 69 calories, 2 g carbs, 6 g fat, 3 g protein, 1 g sugar, 1 g fiber

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LUNCH: Lots of watermelon, half of a huge pink lady apple and half of yesterday’s leftovers. (I had to share with Mr. ZR since he made it! :)) 291 calories, 66 g carbs, 0 fat, 10 g protein, 37 g sugar, 11 g fiber

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SNACK 2: Green juice which consisted of cucumber, celery, 1 carrot, parsley, 1/4 of a lemon and 4 cups of mixed baby greens. Blended in the Vitamix with Sambazon’s Acai supergreen frozen pack. It was pretty tasty!

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These are the Sambazon packets. Found in the freezer section at our local Sprout’s grocery store.

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SNACK 2, finished product: 195 calories, 40 g carbs, 5 g fat, 7 g protein, 25 g sugar, 4 g fiber

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LUNCH 2, since lunch was pretty small and I’ve been HUNGRY ALL DAY: Huge salad with veggies and red kidney beans, drizzled with 1 tbsp of olive oil and Cholula. 398 calories, 57 g carbs, 15 g fat, 15 g protein, 23 g sugar, 17 g fiber

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Well hello tasty little date! This was included in lunch #2 nutritional info.

Even after all this food, I was still feeling very depleted and like I needed some grounding food (something heavy, like a root veggie and also, some more protein). So we went with lentils, potato, onion, fresh garlic and mushroom topped with some fresh tomato and diced green onion. It hit the SPOT. This put me way over my calorie and carb goal for the day (according to My Fitness Pal) but if I’m hungry, I eat! And it was still, plants first.

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DINNER: 399 calories, 78 g carbs, 1 g fat, 19 g protein, 6 g sugar, 21 g fiber

Totals for today, including the macro percentages. Seems like I’m pretty consistent with those over the past 3 days!

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Do you use an app like My Fitness Pal to help you track nutrition?

The Greens Go Green | Day 2

It is amazing how quickly good nutrition seems to impact our bodies. We are only 2 days in and I’m already feeling so much lighter and balanced. Of course this was AFTER this morning’s workout. It was a bit of a struggle and I think that is because we are sweating out the heavier foods and their side effects… (it could also be the higher than normal humidity due to the monsoons, but still). When I eat foods high in processed sugar or lots of salt, I really notice how it effects my mood and energy levels. I have high hopes for tomorrow, when we have even more sleep in our own bed and more plants in our systems. Never underestimate the power of the food you eat — both positively and negatively. That’s why I like to do these check-ins often. It’s a good way to ensure we are maintaining a healthy balance of the most nutritionally dense foods.

I also want to say, we are far from perfect. Just because I have a blog and know a lot about healthy eating, doesn’t mean I always make the best choices. OR that I would ever judge anyone else for theirs. I think sometimes people forget that I’m human and will eat a donut if I feel like it; OR conversely they expect me to be 100% ON at all times and will judge ME if I’m not. (I’ve experienced it on both ends, from various people.) But that’s not real life. The point of my blog, and what I share here, is to share the HEALTHY stuff I eat, because the junk is EVERYWHERE. Nobody needs to see that HERE. I created my blog as a sanctuary AWAY from all that food. So people have a place to go when they need inspiration for healthy recipes, or to see that IT CAN BE DONE.

Lastly, (and then I’ll get on with it) this blog is as much for me as it is for others. When I thought about not renewing the blog, I thought, “I’ll have to download all my recipes and put them into a cookbook!” We use the site more than others do I’m sure! LOL It serves as my public diary on my journey of life; especially as it relates to exercise and nutrition.

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Today we started off with a short run through the neighborhood, followed by a 30 minute yoga routine. Nothing over the top, but just enough to get the blood flowing and heart pumping.

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Something I forgot to mention yesterday, I’m really trying to focus on drinking enough water and herbal tea. We both cut out our black, half-caff coffees for the week too, just for the heck of it.

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BREAKFAST: Fresh pressed juice from carrot, parsley, celery, spinach, cucumber, apple and lemon. I then added 1 tsp. maca powder, 1 tsp. turmeric powder, and 1/4 of an avocado. 255 calories, 38 g carbs, 5 g fat, 22 g sugar

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SNACK 1: Tomato, yellow pepper, green onion and avocado (delicious and super simple to make!) 159 calories, 53 g carbs, 10 g fat, 2 g protein, 9 g sugar

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LUNCH: This was out at a restaurant called Flower Child. I met my friend Kristin for lunch (we JUST SO HAPPENED to see Steven Tyler too! =) I totally had to guess on this one, since they don’t have nutrition info online or in their restaurant. But it was pretty basic, and I was hungry in 2 hours, so I think I’m pretty close with this. 241 calories, 23 g carbs, 9 g fat, 9 g protein, 8 g sugar

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SNACK 2: Shakeology with water, ice and 10 almonds. 239 calories, 25 g carbs, 9 g fat, 19 g protein, 10 g sugar

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DINNER: Broccoli, carrots, kale, red cabbage, onion, mushrooms, peppers, wild rice and white beans. 324 calories, 69 g carbs, 2 g fat, 15 g protein, 10 g sugar

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SNACK 3: Watermelon! 60 calories, 15 g carbs, 0 g fat, 1 g protein, 12 g sugar

Today was a success in terms of sticking to my ‘green foods first’ principle. But I didn’t eat quite enough, so I’m a little hungry right now, but it’s almost time for bed. I will be sure to have a BIG breakfast tomorrow, vs. just a light breakfast. Or maybe make a conscious effort to have more snacks? I’m learning as I go — it’s tricky to know how much to eat to stay full. It’s been hard to not just grab some chips when I’m hungry and force myself to stop and cup up veggies. But that’s the whole goal here!

Final numbers for today:

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What is your favorite way to avoid foods that don’t offer any nutritional value?