Eat for your goals-anywhere

I love eating out. Like. A. Lot. But sometimes the menu put in front of me doesn't have the cleanest or healthiest options. That's doesn't mean, however, that you can't make your own awesomely healthy meal from components of other meals. For instance, I was at a sports bar recently that prides itself on amazing burgers and chicken fingers and a shocking array of different fried appetizers. I was committed to staying on track so I glanced over the menu and saw that they had salmon BLT melt on the menu and one of the grilled cheese sides was a kale and quinoa salad. So I asked the waiter if I could have a piece of grilled salmon with the kale salad on the side...no problem! In all honesty, sometimes the fried green beans would have been my order...just sayin' that there is always a way to stay on track...just be creative in your ordering ...and tip well :)

A new kind of protein...chirp chirp

During my search for the cleanest protein bar that I don't have to make I came across this little gem: the EXO bar. It is gluten, soy and dairy free. And get this, the protein in it is cricket...yep...like the ones that sing you to sleep with their chirping in the summer;  WHAT?! I know, right? BUT check this out...crickets are higher in protein per 100 grams then eggs and beef. Plus, they have a smaller carbon footprint than the animals we get protein from...so eating crickets is environmentally friendly. But how does it taste? Overall, it is a fine bar. It's sweetened with dates, it has a good amount of protein and fiber and at 300 calories a bar, it could be a meal replacement. You won't find any legs or antennae in the bar since the crickets are dried and ground into "cricket flour" ...so that's a plus. I brought some for one of my classes to sample (lucky ducks) and everyone tried one....and some even had seconds. 

So if you are looking for an all natural bar, this one might be on your "try" list...enjoy :) Just food for thought...chirp chirp.

Grilling season is here!

We grilled three times in the last 4 days...spring is basically here! No matter what you are throwing on your grill, make sure you are grilling a ton of veggies. You can do just about any vegetable on the grill but my favorites are bell peppers (any color), onions and zucchini. Even if you don't have a fancy veggie basket for your grill, you can totally just skewer them to make kebabs or use some heavy duty foil to keep your stuff from falling through the grates.  

My favorite way to pull out the flavor of grilled veggies, is to toss them in a bit of olive oil and then sprinkle with a mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder....sooooo good-and good for you! 

Stop overeating and get whiter teeth

You know what you can do when you have white strips on your teeth-EAT. And all food/drink other than water tastes totally nasty after you take them off.

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you're at all like me, occasionally, I will have an episode of animalistic craving that makes me shove all food in my house into my mouth. I, personally, need something to stop be from beast-eating, so I throw some teeth whitening strips on and viola...no more eating. It doesn't matter the brand or if they even work, it just makes it so I can't eat anymore and stops the overeating. Now I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't eat if you are actually hungry, but if you know it's just a time when you are going to mindless or wildly eat just because, try some white strips or some of these other ways to stop the madness:

• Before you eat one more piece of food, drink a huge class of water (could be that you are just thirsty-sometimes our body can't tell the difference)
• Take a shot of apple cider vinegar-gross right? I do it ever single day .ACV supposedly controls your blood sugar and can balance your body in terms of acidity. (I water a tbsp down and shot it like a boss and follow up with a bit glass of water)
• Do some jumping jacks or jump squats-sometimes you may have a dip in blood pressure and just need that to come up a bit-I do this all the time.
• I also sometimes pour water on baked goods or chips or whatever is tempting me to the point of gluttony and then toss them (you know....because if they are just sitting on top of the trash, I might just dive right in and grab them...the struggle is real)
• Okay..if you do all of those things and you are still super hungry...you may actually BE hungry...so eat an apple with peanut butter or a couple cups of air popped popcorn and some almonds or a bunch of veggies and hummus.