It's a Lifestyle: 24 Day Challenge - Part I

We are about to start our 2nd Advocare 24 Day Challenge. Aboy and I are already getting into mental readiness mode. 

The challenge starts on April 6th. 

For the first 10 days, we will do the cleanse portion. It's not a violent or volatile type cleanse... it's more of a gentle scrubbing of the flora in our digestive track. This helps prepare the body for the "Max" phase which is high in nutritional intake and absorption. 

It's a lifestyle: What's for lunch?

I have been blessed with "big bones" (that's what Nan Guy used to say)... in actuality - I've been heavy my entire life. 

What you don't know is, I have invested 49 years of investigative research to provide you with the following useful information. 

Skinny people eat all day long. 

Yup, no bullshit. They just snack on shit all day long... WHAT they eat is different than what fat people eat. 

That's the difference. 

Instead of picking up a twinkie, they eat some carrots or almonds. 

Simple, right?

Understanding that has changed our grocery purchasing habits (again) and approach to eating. If it doesn't come into the house, I'm not as likely to make a bad choice when I get hungry. 

Another thing yous don't really know about me, I have an inner Libertarian that rears it's head from time to time. I don't want anyone telling me what / where / how to do shit. I definitely don't want a doctor or the government telling me what I can eat, that I have to take medicine that is going to make me sicker than the actual disease and I don't want anyone in my personal business. 

So, at this point of my life - I have decided that my health is in jeopardy, which is something I have complete control of. I choose what goes in my mouth. I choose how much time I commit to exercise. I can reverse many of the things that I have brought on myself by making better choices.

If I can do it, ANYONE can do it!

There is no willpower involved. This is about control. 

Just because I'm an adult, I don't always make adult choices about what goes in my mouth. The consequences are too great for me to continue along that path.

Besides, I have so many other aspects of my life under control - this is really one of the only pieces left for me to come full circle in my own universe. It is a journey, after all - I'm just at that point of my journey that I want to see my grandkids have grandkids. 

*****

Since Aboy and I have started Advocare it has helped us wrangle in some of the demons of bad eating and manage our sugar, fat and caffeine addictions. And believe me WE were addicted. No doubt about it! We chose Advocare because we could eat real food (that is so important to both of us), not count points and not microwave pre-packaged meals (we threw out our microwave last year). 

I did a lot of research and found that one of the key ways to help change the way we eat was through preparation. 

Every video I watched, every blog I read... everyone said that preparation was the absolute best way to guarantee success. The products just help with supplementing nutritional deficiencies, energy and hunger control. 

Whatever they do - they are really helping. I am making it to the gym almost daily, I don't crave anything and I very rarely have the urge to go off meal plan. 

So, each week - we take a few hours on the day before Aboy is set to go back out and just cook a week's worth of food. I bake yams and potatoes, make rice, bake chicken and fish... then we portion it off so it's easy to put a meal together. 

It really removes the excuses to eat crap. Since the food is pre-cooked and frozen, it's easily heated up. 

It's healthier because we control the seasoning. There are no preservatives. It's pre-portioned, so the risk of over eating is drastically reduced. 

We are eating more. THAT is huge. We eat the right things, at the right time = it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.

*****

If you read my blog the other day, you understand my frequent meal choices are influenced by Mexican Recipes. They're high in nutrition and low in calories. 

Today's lunch has become comfort food for me. I need 2 hands to eat it, it's very filling and it brings in all the things I need for a complete meal. 

Also, if you've seen some of my Instagram or Facebook picture posts... you know how much I love a snack scrap for lunch (you have to click the link to understand that joke).

Lunch for today: Chicken Wrap

What made it GREAT was the ingredients!

I used a tortilla we picked up the other day at Trader Joe's

Like I mentioned - we pre-cook the chicken and freeze it. I have a scale (to keep me honest) and I just throw the chicken into the oven for 10 minutes to warm it up.

I ALWAYS add Red Wine Vinegar. Pompeian is my fav!!! It makes me "ACK" (that's a noise I make if it hits the back of my throat with nothing coating it)... but, it has great zing and flavor!

I also add homemade guacamole and some roasted red peppers or sun dried tomatoes. Aboy puts a small garden on his (he is a big guy)...

 Like I said... you need 2 hands to eat it. It's very filling, hits all the taste buds and you won't think about eating again for a few hours!

Healthy Beverages: Watermelon, Pineapple and Ginger

I needed a snack this morning and wanted to mix it up a little bit. Aboy had left a 1/2 watermelon, we had picked up a fresh pineapple and there is always fresh ginger in the house. I also have some cucumbers, oranges, blueberries and other produce... so, I wanted to find a juice that would be my "snack" but yield some health benefits too.

Google is my friend and I typed in "Watermelon Juice"... pages of stuff came up and I was able to find something for almost every ingredient that I have available. 

This morning I chose the Watermelon, Pineapple and Ginger juice.

Health Benefits:

1. Watermelon: Among all the vitamins and health benefits - 1 cup of Watermelon only has 45 calories. 
2. Pineapple: There is a long list of health benefits but adding Pineapple also makes everything sweeter. A half cup of Pineapple has 50 calories. 
3. Ginger: I love Ginger because it has proven over and over to me to be an anti-inflammatory. Yous know I have a trick hip and I'm not getting any younger... Ginger helps reduce swelling and inflammation. 1 TBSP (about a thumb size) has 5 calories. 

I blended this up in my NutribulletRX and after putting in all the ingredients, added filtered water to the Max Line. It yielded a nice size pitcher and it is very "juicy" not "pulpy". I added some ice. It is very tasty, too!

You can find the recipes that I have tried by following me on Pinterest. I frequently update my boards because there is so much to try and only so many meals in a day!

My New Favorite Toy #2

If you read my post about my New Favorite Toy you know that idle time, a credit card and info-mercials are a deadly mix! 

In saying that - my New Favorite Toy #2 is my NutribulletRX.

It's much bigger than the regular Nutribullet and has some additional bells and whistles that "sold" me. 

1. The motor is a set it and forget it. I just plop the canister on the motor and it accelerates, then slows then re-accelerates until it's finished.
2. It makes SOUP!  No bullshit - I can put in all the ingredient and in 7 minutes I have fresh soup. It makes a great base of thick creamy soups and then I can add any extras like beans, more vegetables or a meat - for texture. 
3. It yields less pulp (well, I think it does). If I'm looking for a smoothie, I want pulp - but if I'm looking for a juice, I can add more liquid (water, almond milk, coconut water) to make it more like a "juice". It also pulverizes the fuck out of a chia seed! 

Then it does the regular things that the regular nutribullet can do - like make peanut butter and smoothies.

Clean up is a dream. I wanted to move away from my traditional juicer because of all the waste and clean up is a PITA. This, I can run it under water or just quickly run the scrub brush over it and it's clean. So. Much. Easier. I mean, life is hard enough. Clean up should be easy! 

If you're not into heavy juicing or are just starting to get your feet wet, we also have the regular Nutribullet - which works great, too. Aboy keeps his on the truck and it has really made it easy for him to have a quick healthy drink when he wants something more than water. 

Another "toy" that I am pleased with. 

I give it 2 snaps!!

My new favorite toy!

Over the holidays I took a nice long vacation. 

I had high hopes and big plans on all these things I was going to get done in the yard. Mother Nature had a different plan. If it wasn't raining, it was below freezing. Needless to say, I spent almost all of my time in the house - getting acquainted with our nice comfy sofa. 

I finished up a couple of crochet projects I had started and watched almost every movie on demand that held my interest. 

I also watched a bunch of info-mercials.

I picked up a Nutribullet RX (LOVE IT!! - Different post about that, soon!).

I also put in a request to Aboy that I wanted the One Second Slicer. It's frickin awesome! It is a BOGO deal (1 for the house, 1 for the truck). It is worth every penny!

There is a slicer piece, a dicing piece and a cubing piece. Pushing it through is so easy and clean up is running over it with a bottle brush and rinsing it out. It also has a cover to store the contents.

I love it!

If you are trying to eat healthier and don't like the time and effort it takes to prepare your food - this makes it so much easier!  I cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onions to top my salad - in less than 5 minutes - including the clean up! 

I cannot wait for summer to come with all the stuff from our garden. 

The plastic and blades are not flimsy and it stores nicely because all the pieces stack.