How we eat. It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle.

So I have had a handful of people ask me how we eat. I typed this up for a friend but figured why not share it. Maybe it will be helpful for someone maybe not. But it doesn’t hurt to share right? 🙂 So this is basically how our day’s go.

We don’t do paleo or any other diet that you have to eat specific things. We like cheese, beer, wine, ice cream too much to do those. lol We try to stick to low to med glycemic foods (Mostly low but mediums are def. in the mix) and pretty much stay away from any high. There is a lot of information out there on glycemic index and I think it’s key to eating right. Here is a couple pages I found kinda fast but def look into the information. Its not a fad, or a diet its just basically eating healthy food that will help your body sustain energy. http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/glycemic-index-diet/art-20048478http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=32

I eat egg whites scrambled with spinach almost every morning. I have nothing against the whole egg we just so many eggs I don’t want to overdo it b/c they are high in cholesterol. Sometimes I throw in some feta to. (I was eating cereal but I haven’t in 3 months now at all and I think that has made a difference plus I don’t even crave it anymore) That’s been my staple breakfast oh with toast. We buy Rudi’s Bread and its great full of what you need and none of what you don’t want. And its tasty! And so far we love all of it. We have tried the English muffins, wraps and most of the breads. http://foodbabe.com/2014/02/24/healthiest-bread-on-the-market/

We also started the whole butter in coffee thing also. One cup a day of it and nothing other than butter added. (Then I drink I’m sure way to much Black coffee after that. lol) http://nextshark.com/5-reasons-why-everyone-is-putting-butter-in-their-coffee/

I also just started making steal cut oats. They are one of the least processed oats and you can make a batch in the slow cooker and have them all week! I’m on my second week of doing it my son and husband love them. I did apple and cinnamon last week and blueberry and banana this week. I added more spices to both then it called for. It makes mornings easy and they have something healthy and yummy. http://www.hungryhealthygirl.com/2013/02/19/steel-cut-oatmeal-slow-cooker/http://thealmostvegan.com/slow-cooker-apple-cinnamon-steel-cut-oats/

I eat tuna fish alot for lunch and normally with a veggie or cottage cheese (I always get 2 percent I don’t like to get lower I want that extra fat from it. Same with milk or yogurts we never have less than 2 percent) I’m still trying to come up with new lunch ideas. Anyone has any good ideas let me know! I’m always open to new ideas!!

A Chobani Greek Yogurt (We did alot of Ingredients reading b4 going with that one) A banana and some Kind granola (It’s the best for granola again we did alot of ingredients reading plus its yummy its also at the commissary for a better price but I’ve found more flavors in Super Target) is pretty much bri and I’s regular snack. We also always keep humus in the fridge and I always have pretzels, celery, or red peppers to dip in it. Raw carrots, grapes, apples to munch on to. We get LÄRABAR bars and buddy fruits for when we are on the go.

Dinner is alot of chicken, ground chicken burgers, turkey burgers (We def do more with ground chicken then turkey) Pork and sometimes beef. That’s more of a treat if we have steaks and sometimes burgers but really not too often. We eat alot of sweet potatoes we use them like we use to use regular potato’s butter sometimes some scream or a little cheese. We really use them in a lot of ways I can’t even remember the last time we got regular potatoes. We try to always do a veggie with dinner. Doesn’t always happen but we try. OH squash we cook a lot with it! I love spaghetti squash! You can sub it for spaghetti and it turns out so yummy! Oh and cauliflower Mash! I take head cut it up boil it till its soft drain it mash it (I use hand held blender) and add one small thing of cottage cheese salt and pepper and you have mash potatoes! 😀 I Love them!!!

I do a lot of searching for recipes that will not be super difficult, cost a ton of money but still yummy and healthy. Sometimes I get really frustrated with it. Lol But here’s a few that we have tried and liked. If you have any good ones send them this way please!

http://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2013/07/buffalo-chicken-burger.html

Healthy Jalapeño Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

http://www.smells-like-home.com/2013/06/cheddar-jalapeno-chicken-burgers-with-guacamole/
http://boxgrl81.com/recipes/quinoa-jambalaya/
http://boxgrl81.com/recipes/paleo-pork-chops-with-caramelized-onion-and-apple-sauce/
http://boxgrl81.com/recipes/paleo-kinda-stuffed-peppers/
http://www.smokedngrilled.com/grilled-cheesy-apple-pie-chicken-burger/
http://greenlitebites.com/2010/07/05/spinach-feta-turkey-burgers/

Okay snacks- We are like kids Bri and I both need a treat at the end of the day! We have ice cream, Or Pudding cups, or some sorta small yummy treat. It’s always small and portion controlled. With fall around the corner there will all sortsa pumpkin goodness in our house! When I do bake I try to always make lighter versions or Paleo treats. So far all the ones I have made have turned out pretty yummy!

Wine/Beer we limit to once a week sometimes depending on what’s going on 2 times a week but thats not very often. It was hard at first because I like my nightly glass of wine. But now its not a issue. It’s really weird. Even beer now I never really feel like it. I guess it was just getting over that hurdle. Sometimes its hard when other ppl don’t understand why you don’t want to drink but I’ve stuck to it and I know it was a good change. Plus I get more excited now about my wine! LOL I savor it!

I’m sure you know this but be careful of anything that says fat free or low fat. Read the ingredients because most of the time they sub the fat with something and its normally more sugar and stuff you do not want to put in your body.

We try to buy a very small amount of processed foods if possible. For tomato sauce we make our own. No Jar. Chicken Broth we make our own no box. (Both taste way better also) Seasoning for example taco seasoning we make our own that way we know what is in it. Pinterest is great for that kind of stuff also. Most of my shopping now is done in the produce area of the store or at a farmers market (Buying local is a great way to go! Support your local farms!)

We stopped drinking soda and drink a ton of water But I do crave the carbonated part and found that Dasani’s new sparkling water is really good and way cheaper than Perrier. So that’s pretty much always stocked in our fridge. Oh and chocolate milk.

Ch-ch-ch-chia!!!!

Okay what is the dish on these? To me? They looked like bird seed! I used them for the first time this morning making homemade popsicals. (Recipe coming soon as long as they turn out yummy!) Now I had no idea what health benefits that you got from them so I had to do some research and figure it out. It was pretty surprising how good these bird seed like seeds are for you! So here the information I found on them. If you haven’t used them I think it wouldn’t hurt to give them a try and if you have what are your favorite ways to use them?

Chia Seeds

Ch-ch-ch-chia! The fuzzy green novelty items may be the first thing you think of when you hear the word chia, but these tiny superfood seeds are the reason Chia Pets get their lush coating. Nowadays, chia is becoming better known as a great source of healthy omega-3 fats and fibre, and fortunately it’s an easy food to add to your diet.

Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family that’s native to Mexico and Guatemala, and history suggests it was a very important food crop for the Aztecs. It’s remained in regular use in its native countries, but was largely unknown in North America until researcher Wayne Coates began studying chia as an alternative crop for farmers in northern Argentina about 29 years ago.

Coates started his work on chia in 1991, and since then has become an advocate of the tiny seed’s health benefits. The human trials are limited —as is often the case with food research— but the anecdotal evidence of chia’s positive health effects include boosting energy, stabilizing blood sugar, aiding digestion, and lowering cholesterol.

The little seed — which comes in either white or a dark brown and black color — also has a huge nutritional profile. It contains calcium, manganese, and phosphorus, and is a great source of healthy omega-3 fats. As an added benefit, chia seeds can be eaten whole or milled, while flax seeds have to be ground before consumption in order to access their health benefits for example.

When you’re buying chia, both the white and black seeds are good choices, but Coates warns to make sure you’re getting a good quality product by avoiding either red seeds (immature chia seeds), or black seeds that are smaller than regular chia seeds (weed seeds). Coates sells the seeds himself, but they are available from many different health food stores and supermarkets.

So once you’ve got your seeds, how to you add them to your diet? “The easiest way is to add it to everything and anything,” Coates says. The seeds are tasteless so they won’t affect the flavour profile of your food, which makes them easy to integrate into your meals. They can be sprinkled whole on top of salads or toast or added milled to smoothies, and Coates says that some of his customers even add them to ice cream. (And yes, you can even sprout it and eat it that way too!)

10 reasons to add chia seeds to your diet:

Combat Diabetes
Chia is being studied as a potential natural treatment for type-2 diabetes because of its ability to slow down digestion. The gelatinous coating chia seeds develops when exposed to liquids-can also prevent blood sugar spikes.

Get More Fibre
Just a 28-gram or one-ounce serving of chia has 11 grams of dietary fibre — about a third of the recommended daily intake for adults. Adding some chia to your diet is an easy way to make sure you’re getting a good amount of fibre, which is important for digestive health.

Stock Up On Omega-3
Chia seeds are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, with nearly five grams in a one-ounce serving. These fats are important for brain health. “There’s better conversion of omega 3s into the plasma or into the food than with flax seed,” said researcher Wayne Coates.

Stronger Teeth And Bones
A serving of chia seeds has 18 per cent of the recommended daily intake for calcium, which puts your well on your way to maintaining bone and oral health, and preventing osteoporosis.

Don’t Forget Manganese
Manganese isn’t a well-known nutrient, but it’s important for our health: it’s good for your bones and helps your body use other essential nutrients like biotin and thiamin. One serving of chia seeds, or 28 grams, has 30 per cent of your recommended intake of this mineral.

Plenty Of Phosphorus
With 27 per cent of your daily value for phosphorus, chia seeds also helps you maintain healthy bones and teeth. Phosphorus is also used by the body to synthesize protein for cell and tissue growth and repair.

Pack In The Protein
Chia seeds also make a great source of protein for vegetarians and don’t have any cholesterol. One 28-gram serving of these super seeds has 4.4 grams of protein, nearly 10 per cent of the daily value.

Fight Belly Fat
Chia’s stabilizing effect on blood sugar also fights insulin resistance which can be tied to an increase in belly fat, according to Live Strong. This type of resistance can also be harmful for your overall health.

Get Full. Faster
Tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey, is also found in chia seeds. While tryptophan is responsible for that strong urge to nap after a big Thanksgiving dinner for example, it also helps regulate appetite, sleep and improve mood.

Improve Heart Health
According to the Cleveland Clinic, chia seeds have been shown to improve blood pressure in diabetics, and may also increase healthy cholesterol while lowering total, LDL, and triglyceride cholesterol. All good news for your ticker!

This information was found at http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/03/chia-seed-benefits-_n_3379831.html

Perfect Paleo Almond Butter Brownies (Easy&Amazing!)

These are hands down the best paleo brownies that I have made! I have to give a shout out to http://paleogrubs.com/ that’s where I found them! I could eat the whole pan easy by myself in one sitting. My husband has yet to try them so they are not husband approved yet but I’m 99.9% sure that he will love them also! They are also so easy to make and call for pretty normal ingredients. I didn’t have to make and special run to the store I had everything I needed already. I love that because I hate going to the store. lol I highly recommend trying these and if you do let me know how they turn out and if you love them just as much!!

Ingredients
1 cup chunky almond butter
1/3 cup pure 100% maple syrup
1 organic egg
2 tbsp butter, melted (or you can sub coconut oil melted)
1 tsp pure vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond butter, syrup, egg, butter, and vanilla. Stir in the cocoa powder and baking soda.

3. Pour the batter into a 9-inch baking pan. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the brownie is done, but still soft in the middle.

4. Attempt to not eat them all as soon as they come out of the oven! 😉

Paleo Pork Chops With Caramelized Onion and Apple Sauce

Morning everyone! This is a really good recipe that my husband and I tried last night. I don’t have alot of pictures from it because I let my husband do the cooking last night. They turned out great and I can not wait for the leftovers tonight! This was a random Pinterest find 🙂

Paleo Pork Chops With Caramelized Onion and Apple Sauce

Ingredients

4 pork chops with the bone in
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1 large sweet onion, sliced
5 apples, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons natural organic honey
1 cup sodium free chicken broth

Instructions

1. Sprinkle pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper to season, Slice Onions into skinny rings, skin apples and slice apples. Set Onions and Apples to the side for now.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

3. Cook pork chops in coconut oil and cook for 5 minutes on every side until brown.

4. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.

5. Stir in the onion, apple slices and honey.

6. Cook until the onions have caramelized and the apples turn soft. Stir in broth.
Pour the apple and onion mixture over the pork chops as topping.

We had Asparagus as our side and it paired perfectly!

Sweet Potato Paleo Breakfast Hash

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potato, chopped
2 red peppers
1/2 sweet onion chopped or 1 small one
2 large handful fresh organic spinach
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (or oil of choice)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a skillet, sauté oil and garlic over medium heat for 1 minute

Add in chopped sweet potato and stir and sauté for about 7-10 minutes

Add peppers, onion, and tomato, Let sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally

Mix in chopped bacon (I pre cooked my bacon earlier in the day and broke it up so it was ready to go) If you dont precook let cook for 7-10 minutes

Mix in fresh spinach, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until sautéed

Remove skillet from heat and serve hot

** I also added some over medium eggs on top and it made it perfect!!! **

Should You Drink Coconut Water?

My husband and I started drinking Coconut water during our last competition to stay hydrated during it. Doing 3 wod’s in one day can take alot out of you that’s for sure. My husband was unaware of the amount of sugar in Gatorade until I showed him and then showed him the coconut water. The water won hands down. lol. I found this article with some great information to help you learn about coconut water if you don’t know about it already! I’m looking forward to making some popsicals this summer with it and smoothies so stay posted for recipes in the neer future! Even tho we do like it we will never replace our normal water consumption! Staying hydrated and drinking regular water is important on a normal basis but when there are times you need some extra hydration other then just water this is a great go to. Okay on to the article! Let me know what y’all think and if you have any interesting things you do with your coconut water! 🙂

The Truth About Coconut Water

here’s been a lot of buzz about coconut water lately. Here’s a description from the website for one of the leading brands:

“For more than 4,000 years, coconut water has been revered as a natural source of nutrition, wellness, beauty and hydration. In times of famine and war, coconut water has been used as an intravenous fluid and saved many lives. It’s the only natural substance that can be safely injected into the human blood stream. Now modern science has validated its effectiveness.”

Is Coconut Water Good for You?

Now, I don’t think they’re suggesting that you inject it directly into your veins—at least I hope not. But it certainly makes coconut water sound pretty special. The site goes on to list many of the “amazing benefits” of coconut water. It’s said to help with:

Muscle performance

Energy

Weight-loss

Heart health

Stress reduction

Skin, hair & nail health

Mental acuity

Kidney cleansing

Natural hang-over cure

If your hype detector is starting to tingle, then I’ve trained you well. So, let’s take a closer look at this miraculous liquid and see what’s behind all these “amazing benefits.”

Coconut Water Is Not the Same as Coconut Milk
A lot of the health claims made for coconut water are based on its potassium content.
But first, let me quickly clarify the difference between coconut water and coconut milk. Coconut milk is made by grinding up coconut meat and pressing out the liquid. Like the coconut meat itself, coconut milk is very high in fat and, therefore, calories. One cup of coconut milk contains about 550 calories, most of them from fat.

What Is Coconut Water?
Coconut water is the fluid that’s found in the cavity of the coconut when you crack it open. It contains no fat and is very low in calories, about 50 calories for one cup, most of them from natural sugars. In addition to water and sugar, coconut water also contains some minerals such as potassium and magnesium. In fact, as the websites will all tell you, coconut water has more potassium than a banana!

Is Coconut Water Really That Healthy?

As far as I can tell, a lot of the health claims made for coconut water are based on its potassium content. And potassium is certainly a good thing. It is involved in all kinds of essential bodily functions—and I suppose you could parlay that into a list of benefits like the one above. But virtually all fruits and vegetables are good sources of potassium. And, when you think about it, that list of benefits would apply to any diet that’s high in fruits and vegetables.

People who eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables get about twice the recommended intake of potassium on average. And one of the advantages of getting your potassium from fruits and vegetables instead of coconut water is that you also get fiber and a whole range of other important nutrients. I’m not saying that coconut water is bad for you. But I am suggesting that if you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, like I’m always telling you to, I’m not sure coconut water offers anything new.

Should You Drink Coconut Water?

Basically, coconut water is like natural Gatorade. Like Gatorade, it contains water, simple carbohydrates (or, sugar), and electrolytes (or, minerals). Compared to a sports drink made with refined sugars, artificial flavoring, and blue food coloring, I’d say coconut water represents a solid upgrade. However, the benefits of sports drinks—whether natural or artificial—tend to be somewhat oversold.

Most sports drinks are consumed by people who aren’t exercising hard enough to need electrolyte replacement or benefit from additional carbohydrates. They end up consuming more calories than they’re burning. Here are my general guidelines for sports drinks: If you’re exercising very hard for more than 60 minutes, or in extremely hot conditions, a drink containing sugar and minerals can enhance your performance. Otherwise, plain water works just as well—and saves you some calories.

What are some of the other claims for coconut water?

Prevents dehydration. In third world countries where clean water is scarce and children regularly die from infections and dehydration, coconut water can indeed save lives. But the coconut water sold in developed countries is probably too pricey to be much help in that scenario. And among those who can afford to pay $2 for a bottle of coconut water, deaths from cholera and typhoid are fairly rare.

Promotes heart health. Consuming foods or beverages rich in potassium, including coconut water, may help reduce the risk of hypertension and stroke.

Promotes kidney health. Diets high in potassium, magnesium, and fluids are thought to reduce the risk of kidney stones, so it’s not surprising that coconut water is reported to help prevent or resolve kidney stones.

Fights aging. Coconut water also contains compounds that seem to protect cells against aging and cancer—in test tubes anyway. It’s exciting to think that drinking coconut water could make us immune to aging and disease. But we really should know better by now. The world is chock-a-bloc with compounds that stop aging and disease in petri dishes. And yet, we don’t seem to have solved the problem of aging and disease. I think its naïve to think that coconut water is the elixir we’ve all been waiting for.

How to Get the Benefits of Coconut Water

At the end of the day, coconut water is a reasonably nutritious, natural beverage that appears to have health benefits similar to those available from fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t replace fruits and vegetables, but if you just like the way it tastes (or the amazing testimonials have gotten to you), there’s nothing wrong with including it your diet as well. Just remember to account for the sugar and calories it provides.

– See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/healthy-eating/is-coconut-water-good-for-you#sthash.z9kseh1S.dpuf