Merry Healthy Christmas!

I know I know.. it's been awhile since I last blogged! My apologies! We all know how busy the Christmas season is! Especially since I have been making my own gifts! I am still questioning my thought process on this one! I did not realize the amount of work behind everything! But I guess it's better then getting nothing! I will tell you what I am making AFTER Christmas because well.. I don't want to ruin the surprise for people in case they read my blog! Inheriting another family sure changes the finances for Christmas gifts! I am hoping everyone likes what I have made and that they appreciate the homemadeness and love behind it! Still have a few more things to finish tonight and then wrap it all!

Antonio and I decided to forego gift giving with each other and save our money and put it towards a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon! We have decided to go at the end of May! So since we decided this, Antonio suggested we start focusing on getting into shape for our honeymoon. I thought this meant we would wait till after Christmas to start this, seeing as it is 6 months away! We are enlisting the help of our friend Brent, aka the devil, to help train us once a week. He is also helping us with our diets. So we mentioned the idea to him, and his response, "you aren't waiting till after Christmas you are starting next week, I will have your diets ready when I see you Sunday to train." If only you could have seen the look I shot Antonio at this news. I was not a happy camper. But after thinking about things, it is probably the wiser idea to get on the bandwagon sooner then later. Who knows if we would gain weight during the holidays, and now we won't have to worry.

I would be fine just joining a gym, and changing our eating habits a little bit, but Antonio really wants to do this and said he can't without my full support. And it's not fair to watch me eat normal and make him suffer all alone. So I have decided to suffer with him! Haha! And I won't be complaining when I am seeing results! And this is something we can do together and spend time doing together. I will say it is a lot more work then I predicted, with all the food making!

We are on a no or VERY low sugar, high protein, high fiber diet. And a gallon of water a day! Yes, you heard me, a gallon! That would be 16 8oz glasses of water. Not 8. I wish! It actually isn't that bad with the water. I feel like the last 27 ounces is the hardest for me to get down. But I can attest that drinking this much water keeps you full most of the day! And my energy is way up since I am not super dehydrated. I don't feel so "blah" anymore. We are also both eating tons of small meals a day. I will talk more about it, we are still working on diet stuff. The only time we are allowed to "splurge" (hah! splurge is a joke) is after a work out. Since we burned off a ton of sugar, we are allowed to have some to get sugar back! This sugar would consist of a protein shake made of non flavored soy milk, protein powder, and a banana! WOO! Now we are talking! I know right, splurge is a joke, like I said! But let me tell you, that shake tastes fantastic when you get sugar! And if you pair the right things together to eat, you actually end up being quite full on such a small amount! It is crazy!

He is having us basically cut drastically to shock our bodies and to have us start with core foods, learn a lifestyle way of eating, and then slowly add in things as we go. But if we just have basics then it is a lot easier to stick to a diet and then adding in things will be like a treat! So we are basically only eating chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, fish, sweet potatoes, some fruit, TONS of veggies, tiny amounts of cheese, cottage cheese, or yogurt, brown rice, LOTS of egg whites, oatmeal, natural peanut butter, low carb tortillas, and anything else that's basically sugar free. No breads, or pasta. For the most part that is our diet as of now.

Things I have learned this week when he took us grocery shopping, yes our trainer is that awesome he took us shopping to show us stuff! Ketchup has tons of sugar in it! So does BBQ sauce, but mustards have little or none! Most fruit has tons of sugar in it, so you think it's good because it's fruit, but too much sugar! The fruits that are low in sugar are berries. But you still have to watch your amount. Pickles have 0 sugar, and since we are drinking so much water we can eat as many as we want! Salsa also has barely any sugar so we can use lots of that! If you turn things over and look at labels, you should really see how much sugar is in 1 serving of stuff! We are using natural peanut butter, so we can have that! Fish is good, and ground meat you want to get 90/10 or higher. Zucchini and squash actually have a lot of starch in them. Cereals even healthy ones have LOTS of sugar. Greek yogurt has LOTS of sugar! You can make your own healthy hummus and make WAY more then what you can buy in the store for about $5. Milk has tons of sugar in it. Even if it says sugar free, check the back and if it has myletol in it, it's a sugar alcohol and is basically like using sugar. You want sugar and calorie free to avoid the lie of myletol! Eat oatmeal that is old school, the oats in that giant round container. They add a lot of stuff to instant oatmeal! Protein bars are tricky, a lot of them add tons of extra sugar to it to make it taste good. So check before eating one, and if you are to have one, only before or after a work out since you are burning a lot of sugars. The "healthy drinks" like pom or V8 or Bolthouse farms, are loaded with sugar! Look for yourself! I think that is what I have learned thus far! Will let you know more if I find out more.

Our goal is to work out 5x a week. Once with Brent. Ya.. shoot me now. Basically I am going to be sore more then I am not! After investigating, we have decided to join Powerhouse Gym in Ypsi! $25 a month, and they have every kind of equipment lifetime does. Their cardio machines are newer and have tv's on them! They have kettle bells, fitness classes, tanning, and shakes available. For what they offer, this is a fantastic deal! They aren't 24 hrs, but they are 4 minutes from our house, so that takes away a lot of wasted time driving! I am going to try and share recipes as often as I can! I may not have exact measurements and it may only be for 1 person (you would just double everything for 2 people.) If it is a recipe I found I will post the actual recipe, but I am making up a lot of this stuff for the moment! Sorry for no pictures right now, just been way too busy to be concerned with that!

Ok first up we have homemade hummus!

Ingredients:
2 cans of chick peas
2 tablespoons Tahini oil
1 red pepper-diced (or any other veggies you would like to add)
cauliflower-
lemon juice
garlic powder
food processor

You can either use fresh cauliflower or frozen. I used almost a whole bag of frozen cauliflower that I steamed first.

You want to drain chick peas and add to processor. Add 2 tablespoons Tahini oil. Add diced pepper or other veggies. Add a bunch of cauliflower, not all. The more you add, the thicker it will be. Now the rest of it, is all just to your taste. If you like a lot of lemon, add a lot. I love garlic, so I made mine really garlicky. You could really experiment and add what you would like spice wise. So start blending away and if it's too liquidy, add more cauliflower till it's a thick consistency you are happy with. Once it sits in the fridge for a few hours it will thicken up as well! I didn't realize it so I was getting annoyed it wasn't thickening up as much as I wanted, but it did once being in the fridge. And there you have it! Simple and easy and you can freeze what you don't use! Makes A LOT!


Brown Rice Chicken Shawarma for 1 person
Ingredients:
1 low carb whole wheat tortilla
cooked chicken chopped
1 pickle chopped
homemade hummus
brown rice

This is simple enough, combine ingredients and put into tortilla! If it is overflowing and can't fold, then you have put it in too much! You can heat up chicken and rice or have it cold, your preference. I mixed my chicken with hummus and rice and heated it, then added it to the wrap.

Spinach and Egg White Muffins (1 dozen)
Ingredients:
12 egg whites
muffin tin/pan
cooked spinach
spices
cheese

This recipe could really be altered any way you like it. You could add other veggies, you could add meat to it as well. And you could add any kind of spice you want. I use salt, pepper, garlic, chopped onions, crushed red pepper, and cayenne pepper. You can also add as much or as little cheese as you would like. I added about a handful to mine.

Pre-heat oven to 375. Add spinach to the bottom of each muffin cup. Mix other ingredients in a bowl. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. They will rise in oven. Bake 25-30 min or until top is golden brown. I made a weeks worth and stuck them in the freezer. Then just pop one in microwave for 1:15-1:30.

Mini Turkey Quinoa Burgers for 1 person (this was portioned into 4 small meals)
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1/3 raw ground turkey
1/4 cup cooked Quinoa
1 red pepper-diced (or other veggies)
cheese
1 egg white
spices

Cook 1 serving of Quinoa as directed on box. You will only use 1/4 cup of it for this recipe. Add raw turkey, quinoa, red pepper or other veggies, I added a handful of cheese but you can add however much you want, and spices to your liking. I added garlic, pepper, onion, and crushed red pepper. Add egg white last. Mix all ingredients together. Form small patties. Mine made 9. Heat olive oil in pan. Add patties and cook to your taste of doneness. I sided this with broccoli and cauliflower. We aren't eating bread so this is why I added the Quinoa in as starch and fiber.

Ground Turkey Stir Fry for 1 (this is portioned into 4 small meals)
Ingredients:
1/3 lb raw ground turkey
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon lite soy sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
spices
half a bag of frozen stir fry veggies
olive oil

Cook frozen veggies in olive oil for about 5-10 minutes to your liking. Set aside. Cook ground turkey, while cooking add sauces, and spices to your liking. I added garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook brown rice separately. After all ingredients are cooked, combine together! Easy!

Protein shake
Ingredients:
1 frozen banana
8 oz plain soy milk
1 scoop protein powder

Add all ingredients into blender or food processor, and mix! Enjoy!

Please let me know if you have questions about anything! Hope you try some out!
So this is what I have so far! Hopefully lots more to come! But these are all low sugar or no sugar, high protein, high fiber meals!