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We did it! Final No Added Sugar/Fake Sugar Challenge Update! {DAY 30}

This is what I woke up to today:

funnyoscarHaha, good morning to you too Oscar!

Final No Added Sugar/Fake Sugar Challenge Update

We’re still going strong. Today is officially Day 30!!! We decided to extend the challenge to the day we leave for Arizona, but technically, this is the final day of the 30 day challenge and will conclude my updates for the challenge!!! (You can find the others here, here, here, here, and here)

Feelings: I feel really good. I’ve said this before, but I feel better than I have in a long time. My head is clear and I don’t feel intense hunger pangs like I used to. I’m usually pretty even keeled when it comes to hunger and I don’t need to eat being satiety.

Cravings: It’s strange, actually. I’m not necessarily craving any one thing. I look at cookies and go “meh”. Same thing with cakes, candy, etc. At the same time, I do feel like I’m missing something. Like there is something out there that I am craving, but I can’t figure out what it is. Never thought I’d say that!

Body: As you can see, I lost a lot of fluff off of my stomach through this challenge. I cut out diet soda and the minocycline I used to put in my coffee. Those were the hardest to cut out, but have made a huge impact on my body, in my opinion.

Final Thoughts

This challenge was definitely one of the most eye-opening challenges I’ve ever done. It’s amazing how much sugar is added to so many foods and sauces that you wouldn’t even imagine could have sugar. Avoiding it was tough at times, but since I eat pretty basic foods anyways, it didn’t throw me for too much of a loop. Someone that has a diet including lots of processed foods would likely have a much bigger change in what they could/couldn’t eat. The biggest change for us was that we couldn’t really go out to eat anywhere. Since we didn’t know what ingredients were in the foods, it was tough to go out. We were able to have Chipotle (certain items) and eggs/potatoes at our local breakfast joint, but other than that, we basically ate at home or brought food with us.

It was interesting to see the different stages that Charlie and I went through.

The 2nd day of the challenge, I had a huge headache. The kind of headache you get when you don’t drink caffeine for a few days. It was definitely a withdrawal from either regular sugar or fake sugars. My guess is fake sugars because of how much I was consuming.

The next weird thing happened about 2 weeks into the challenge and was something that both Charlie and I experienced: insatiable stomachs. No matter how much we ate, it always seemed that we were still hungry. There was a day that both of us ate almost constantly throughout the day and by the evening, were still not full. It was very odd. We aren’t sure exactly what that was, but likely a result of sugar cravings that weren’t being satiated.

The last week of the challenge has been the easiest. I actually don’t feel like I miss sugar all that much. The thought of sweet treats and desserts kind of hurts my teeth. I have no interest in diet soda (and am glad to rid that habit), and Splenda is a thing of the past. I’ll be sticking with stevia.

Thanksgiving will be an interesting day. I have a feeling that when we do ingest food with sugar, we’re going to feel it pretty quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got sick from it. I’ll definitely make sure to report back about that.

We both plan to stick to this as much as we can going forward. We aren’t going to completely cut sugar out of our lives, but we are going to avoid it much of the time. We definitely aren’t going to go back to our old habits. The impact this has had on both of us is much greater than we expected and they are habits that we’d like to try to keep a majority of the time.

Favorite Things We Had to Cut Out

Lizzy:

-Splenda in my coffee

-Diet Soda

-Coconut Ice Cream

-Candy

Charlie:

-Reese’s PB Cups

-Haagen Daaz Ice Cream

-Starbucks Egg Sandwiches

Both:

-La Victoria Hot Sauce

-Weekly frozen yogurt date

-Ketchup

-Most breads

Progress

progressI need to take a final photo, but I didn’t have time this morning. I’ll post that this week as well.

Question of the Day

1. If I hosted a 30 Day No Sugar Challenge, would you want to be a part of it?

2. What is your favorite dessert? Maybe this will spark my cravings a bit! LOL

Why I Train & What I Ate Yesterday

All I have to say today is….I’M SORE. Holy crap….

It’s crazy. Those who have been working out for a long time can understand. You go through time periods where you’re just REALLY on your game. Killing your workouts, pushing harder than ever, and really “digging in”. I feel like I’m in one of those phases and I’m loving it! I’m super sore and have been feeling muscles I didn’t know existed lately. That says a lot for someone who’s been training for 7 years (can’t believe it’s been that long!).

I did a back workout on Saturday that I’m STILL sore from and a leg workout last WEDNESDAY that left me sore clear through Monday. I’ll take it! I feel on, I feel good, my head’s in the game. (The results are showing, too!)

photo 1(7)

I still get people that ask me all the time “what are you training for?” I’m not entirely sure how to respond. It’s hard to explain the competitions that I compete in, in my head. (Haha, yes I’m crazy!) I try to explain it, but most people don’t get it. I train like I’m training for something, but the only something I’m training for is myself. I train to get better every day. I train to prove to myself that I can do it. I train to see progress. I also want to show the rest of the world the impact of training. Maybe MY form of training isn’t right for you, but SOME form probably is. Whether that’s hiking, biking, rock climbing, running, or whatever it might be….there’s something for everyone. It builds mental strength in ways nothing else can. I know that the reason I push so hard and am so efficient, goal-oriented, and well-rounded with my work is because of the training I do at the gym. I treat my work, like I treat my workouts: I’m there to kick ass. I’m not there to putz around. Working out is the one thing in life that nobody can do for you. You can get help with just about anything these days…..but nobody can workout for you. If you take that attitude with you to work, I think you’ll be amazed at how your productivity and success comes to fruition. I am a more confident, go-getting person than I was before I started working out and I am thankful that I fell into Lifts Studio back in 2007 and started this whole “working out” thing.

I’ll step off my soap box now. I get going and just can’t stop!

What I Ate Yesterday

People love to see what other people eat. I’m guilty too. Sweet potatoes are always sweeter on someone else’s plate, right?! 😀

Here’s what I ate:

Breakfast: Quest Bar + Coffee + Apple (had a late start and was out of eggs :-()

questbar

Lunch: 3/4 cup cooked Brown Rice + 1/2 Avocado + Ground Turkey Burger Patty (about 4 oz.)

Snack: 2 Apples + Kombucha

Jonagold-Handappel4

(I definitely had a 2nd coffee too, but I don’t remember when it was?? LOL)

Dinner: Chicken Breast w/ Wing Sauce (umm…I may or may not have eaten this for dinner every night for the last 2 weeks! OBSESSED) + Green Beans

2014-09-10 20.13.18

After-Dinner Snack: 1 Peach & some grapes!! (I LOVE GRAPES)

Kind of a weird day of eating, but then again I’m kind of a weird girl. I am super busy during the day and sometimes it catches up to me and I realize I haven’t eaten enough. I usually end up making up for it over the weekend though (frozen yogurt? YES PLEASE).

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your Wednesday! It’s Leg day for me…..wish me luck!

Questions of the Day:

1. Do you get into food ruts and eat the

#samethingeveryday?

2. When did you find your place in fitness? What is

your weapon of choice?

Healthy Breakfast Options + Workouts for the Week 9/7-9/12

Is it just me or is today going by painfully slow? It’s weird. Usually my days FLY by and before I know it, it’s 9pm and I can’t figure out where the day went. Today, the clock just isn’t moving. Maybe it’s the supermoon…;-)

How’s your Tuesday going? I forgot my breakfast this morning and ended up with a coffee and a Quest Bar for breakfast.

I love my Cookies & Cream Quest Bars and all, but that is the most lame-o breakfast. I missed my eggs for sure!

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day. My stomach is empty (making EVERYTHING taste better), and the day is fresh. I always start the day with a healthy breakfast because it sets the tone for the rest of the day. If I have a sugary or heavy breakfast, I’m less likely to make healthy choices throughout the rest of the day. Here are some of my favorite healthy breakfast options to get my day started:

Fit Lizzio’s Favorite Healthy Breakfast Options

#1

2 Scrambled Eggs (seasoned with cayenne pepper, cracked pepper, and garlic powder)

 1/3 cup oats with stevia and cinnamon

#2

1 cup Liquid Egg Whites

1  Alfresco Chicken Sausage (all flavors are good, but i love the smoked andoulle!)

1 apple

9795_af_andu_smokedandouillechickensausage_12ozdincook

#3

2 eggs over easy

1 slice of Ezekiel bread toasted w/ 1/2 TBSP coconut oil

(I think break the yolks on top of the bread and devour….so good!!!)

ezek

#4

1/3 cup oats

1/2 scoop Dymatize Iso 100 Vanilla protein powder

cinnamon & stevia to taste

Dymatize-ISO-100

I have about a million other favorite breakfast choices, but those are my current ones!

I was able to get in a great Shoulder & Chest workout earlier, and plan on boxing tonight again at Iron Boxing.

I love that class so much. I sweat more than I knew was humanly possible! Anyways, here’s what the rest of the week’s workouts look like:

Workouts Week of 9/7-9/12

Sunday: Full Body Workout DONE

Monday: 20 min. HIIT + Rollerblading! DONE

Tuesday: Shoulder & Chest Workout + Boxing Class

Wednesday: Legs!!

Thursday: Boxing

Friday: OFF (Travelling)

Saturday: Back & Plyos

Sunday: OFF

Questions of the Day:

Do you prefer sweet or savory breakfasts?

What is your favorite splurge breakfast?

What is your favorite breakfast staple?

 

The Biggest, Baddest Taco Salad On the Planet

Ohhhh my gosh you guys. I have created the BEST taco salad on the planet. And bonus? It’s healthy too!!!

For some reason the other night, I decided that I wanted a taco salad. I haven’t had one in…..years? And it sounded REALLY GOOD.

I wanted a healthy salad, but didn’t want a flavor bore, so I got be-slimmer.

I present to you, the BIGGEST (like, fo’ real), BADDEST Taco Salad On the Planet

Ingredients: I’m not putting amounts for some of these, as you can just put as much as you want!

-Romaine Lettuce (as much as ya want)

-Shredded Lettuce (as much as ya want)

-Chopped Tomatoes

-Pico De Gallo

-Chopped Bell Peppers & Onions

-3-4 oz. Lean Ground Turkey

-1 Dollop of 0% Fage Greek Yogurt

-1 Dollop of Wholly Guacamole Spicy Salsa

-Optional: 1 oz shredded Mexican Cheese

Directions: Put it all in a BIG ASS BOWL (trust me you’ll need it) and mix it up. Then take a bite of the perfectly texturized salad made from heaven.

photo 5(1)

YOU’RE WELCOME!

 

It CAN be done!!!!

Being in the fitness industry for the last 6-7 years of my life, I tend to be the go-to person at parties,get-togethers,bathrooms (for real), you name it –when it comes to questions about working out and eating right. I’m TOTALLY okay with that, because I LOVE to talk about it and helping others brings me SO much joy! Hello, I have an entire BLOG about it and LIVE it every day!

Now, what DOES get a bit frustrating is when I stand there excitedly giving people advice and options as to what they can do, and they IMMEDIATELY come back at me with why that JUST isn’t possible for them. I’m tired of hearing that you don’t have time, that you can’t do *this* because it hurts your *that* (barring serious injuries, it is usually something that can be modified very easily!), that healthy food is gross, that it’s too expensive, you don’t have a gym membership, blah blah blahdeefrickinblah! Let me fill you all in on a little secret:

You don’t need to rearrange your life in order to have a healthy one! There is this notion that in order to be healthy you have to “go to the gym a lot and eat vegetables all the time.” You don’t. You just don’t. I truly believe that ANYONE and EVERYONE can lead a healthy lifestyle.

Now to make this clear, I don’t think everyone needs to be like me. I realize that I’m not the norm. For heaven’s sake, I LIKE BURPEES. IT ISN’T NORMAL.  I crave vegetables and eat them in massive quantities for “fun”. While that is me, I realize that not everyone is that and you absolutely DO NOT have to be anything close to that. I believe everyone can live a healthy and active life by making SIMPLE and SMALL changes. You don’t have to give up your favorite foods and you don’t have to become a slave to the gym. I actually would steer you a different direction if that’s where you were headed!

Let me tell you a little story about someone very close to me: my boyfriend Charlie. I always use Charlie as the perfect example of someone who has had the effect of a changed life without actually changing their life around.

IMG_1636When I met Charlie, his habits were very typical of an American. He ate fast food for most meals (McDonalds was a go-to), M&M’s and Famous Amos cookies for a snack, and save for the random hike here and there, he was pretty sedentary. I had no intentions of trying to change him into some health nut or workout freak and I still don’t. That’s not him and that is totally okay.

Charlie knew that his lifestyle wasn’t very healthy and wanted to change it, but, like SO many others, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. In his head, you had to eat broccoli all day if you wanted to be healthy. Aside from the perceived awfulness of a healthy diet, he’s also very stubborn. To him, working out was something he just didn’t have time for. He, once again, perceived this as something that would easily take 2-3 hours out of his day, which was just not possible. He works A LOT and if being healthy meant interfering with his work and passion, it was likely going to last about .543 seconds. I remember the first time I suggested that he try brown rice instead of white rice. I’m pretty sure he considered running away from me and never speaking to me again. (Glad you didn’t, babe). I might as well have insulted Star Wars!!(FYI: You can lose limbs for that kind of talk around this house….) I knew then that this wouldn’t be easy, but I was willing to help and be patient with him since I knew, ultimately, he wanted to be a healthier person. It took me reminding myself that not everyone is like me. I LOVE the gym, LOVE the sweat, WANT to workout, LOVE eating healthy (don’t get me wrong, I love other foods that aren’t so healthy, but for the most part, I like food that makes me feel good), so it isn’t as hard for me to motivate myself to go do those things. Not everyone feels that way about it, and that is completely okay. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

I tell you this because with some small changes here and there, Charlie has become a pretty healthy person!

These days, Charlie eats brown rice, whole wheat pasta, lean meats, fruit, vegetables, and minimally processed foods (by choice and taste), snacks on Greek Yogurt (and loves it more than anyone I know!!), eats balanced meals on the regular (his former lunch of a #2 at McDonald’s has now become a chicken, brown rice, and vegetable bowl at Chipotle), checks ingredients on packages before eating anything (he’s more obsessed than I am on this!!) and he works out with me at least 1-2 times per week. His life has not been overhauled, his schedule has not been compromised, and he does this all by choice. YES, he still eats sweets and junk food. But he does it on occasion, not on the regular. I absolutely support and encourage him, but if he didn’t want to eat healthier and BE healthier, he’d still be eating a steady diet of Taco Bell Double Deckers. He now tells me that on the very rare occasions that he does eat fast food, he instantly feels like garbage and never wants to eat it again. He can’t even believe he used to live on that stuff! (Hell, I did too in high school! Not sure how I even functioned! Teenager cells, I guess.) Charlie will still eat his beloved M&M’s and Milky Ways on occasion, and he will NEVER say no to a milkshake (although, thankfully, he isn’t offered one very often ;-).) This is all just to say, you CAN have your cake and eat it too. Just not all the time. (I’ll be the first to admit that on a weekly basis, SOME type of candy will be consumed by me.)

My point in highlighting Charlie’s story is to show you that it CAN be done by anyone. Even if you’re not trying to be a “health freak” (yeah, I know what you guys say about us!!!!), you are still capable of leading a VERY healthy life. I repeat, it does NOT have to completely change your life. You can still eat the foods you love and do the things you love. It is the LITTLE changes that really add up and that is what you have to remember. Charlie and I still eat frozen yogurt (hey, maybe sometimes we I  might even maybe, kinda, sorta, eat it twice in one day like last Saturday), get burgers, share endless bowls of chips and salsa, and thoroughly enjoy our food. Deprivation is NOT in our vocabulary. Moderation is.

mechartemescal

So what are some lifestyle principles that we live by?

1. Moderation. We don’t eat frozen yogurt and burgers every day. It’s usually a once a week type of thing. (If, hypothetically, you DO get it twice in one day, it still counts as once a week since it was just one day of that week….right?!?!?!)

2. When we are craving a burger or something that is typically deemed “unhealthy”, we choose better ingredients. As I mentioned in this post, Burger Lounge is our go-to because of the ingredients they use. Charlie gets a grass-fed beef burger and I get a free-range turkey burger. No fake, fatty meat and no factory farms. Basically, we try to eat at restaurants that offer a better quality, when available. When it comes to something like chips and salsa, we buy chips that have very few ingredients and ingredients that we can actually recognize, and get salsa using the same standards.

3. We make it at home. For example, instead of eating sodium-laden Chipotle all the time, we make it at home for dinner several times per week. This allows us to control our ingredients so we know what we’re putting into our bodies. Organic Chicken, Brown Rice, Organic Bell Peppers, Half-Sodium Black Beans, Mexican Cheese (we buy any brand that doesn’t have any weird preservatives. This can be tough, so if you’re able to go to a health food store for this, I highly recommend it. The Ralph’s near us only has ONE brand that doesn’t have a bunch of fillers in it), and Hot Sauce. We both agree that it is actually BETTER than Chipotle.

4. Our workouts typically last 20-25 minutes. Sure, sometimes we do longer workouts, but I absolutely 100% guarantee that you can get a fantastic workout in with only a 15-20 minute window to work with. Sometimes they don’t even require ANY equipment at all! (In fact, I’ll be releasing an e-book in the next few months that will give you PAGES of quick, equipment-less, workouts that will have you mopping your sweat off the floor in under 30 minutes.)

As you can see, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Even deciding to make ONE small change to your health can have a huge impact. It’s the exact reason why the plethora of excuses drives me crazy. I can’t express enough that you don’t have to go Biggest Loser style and workout 5 hours a day while eating 1200 calories of fake food to lose weight or be healthy. You have to care about your health and make the attempt to make small changes.

I’m HAPPY to answer any questions you guys have. Leave me comments on here or on Facebook and tell me your biggest problems with making healthier choices. I’ll do my best to help you solve them. I believe EVERYONE can live a healthier life without sacrifice. Let me help you on your way to yours!

Simple Teriyaki Chicken

Hello friendssss! Last night’s workout was quite sluggish if you ask me. I actually had a good amount of energy, but my body was just worn out. I think the bouldering session on Monday night did me in!

Even so I was able to eke out this workout (and selfie haha):

Chest/Legs Supersets!

Chest/Legs Supersets!

 

Try it if you’d like! It moves pretty quickly! (Always check with a doctor before starting any new fitness routine.)

When I left the gym, I stopped at the store to try to figure out what to make for dinner. I didn’t want something that took a long time, but knew chicken needed to be involved. (I love chicken!)

After some back and forth texts with the boyfriend, we agreed on Teriyaki Chicken. It turned out SO well and was so easy to make that I just had to share!

Simple Teriyaki Chicken

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

-2 Chicken Breasts

-Veggies of your choice (I cheated and picked up an asian stop-diabetes-meds.com from the produce aisle)

Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce

-Brown Rice (as much as you’d like)

-Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

Kikkoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Directions: 

-Cut up the chicken breasts into cubes and marinate in Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce for about 15-20 minutes

-Spray a frying pan with your choice of oil and cook the chicken on low until it’s done (about 10 minutes). Add red pepper flakes!

-While the chicken is cooking, fill a pot with water and add brown rice (2:1 ratio). Cook until rice is soft and water has been absorbed (about 10 minutes)

-When the chicken is almost done, throw the veggies into a separate frying pan with a little bit of soy sauce and cook until they start to brown.

-Fill a bowl or plate and enjoy!

This recipe was so easy and it was really freakin’ delicious!!! Let me know if you try it out!

Do you have really simple chicken recipes? If so, send me the links!!! I’m always looking for new ways to make chicken. 🙂

Winner, Workout, & Food…

Winner

Wooo! What a weekend it was…..which means I never got to announce the winner of the Polaroid Sunglasses Giveaway!!!

Congratulations Katie L.!!! Please e-mail me at fitlizzio(at)gmail(dot)com with your full address so I can send your brand new sunglasses to you!!!

For the non-winners, until next time folks…and there will be a next time!

Website

On to a shameless plug….

My brand new website is LAUNCHED!!! I’d be delighted for you all to check it out! It was a long time in the making and I am so excited to finally be “on-line!” My Part Time Manager is OFFICIAL! 🙂

Lizzy Slider

Eats

While I’ll likely never be the type of blogger that documents everything I eat, here are a few tidbits from today!

My never fail Summer Breakfast Smoothie (made with kale, strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, greek yogurt, protein powder, and stevia). It is SO delicious and the perfect pre-workout breakfast that doesn’t make me too full and doesn’t send me to the gym on an empty stomach!!!

breakfast smoothie

After my cardio session (just a 30 minute sesh on the treadmill today) I grabbed a NuGo Protein Bar so I could shower and get ready without chewing my arm off. Real sea salt crystals on the bar. Pretzels inside. Chocolate. Yum.

nugo protein bar

On my way to job #2, I grabbed my favorite $10 salad from Beverliz Cafe in Beverly Hills. It is so fresh, summery, and delicious. The Strawberry Chicken Salad comes with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken, strawberries (durr), and feta cheese. The balsamic vinaigrette is to die for. I didn’t snap a picture today because I think I had eaten it all before I even thought of it.

Other random eats throughout the day: Plain strawberries (have I mentioned I love strawberries?), an apple, crystallized ginger (my weird obsession), and an Ezekiel, egg white, chicken sausage sandwich (yum in my tum).

And now for a doozy of a workout….I did this last night and I am feeling it today for sure….

Workout

1 minute rest between supersets…adjust weight to what you’re comfortable with! As always, always ask a doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Superset #1: 4 sets

Snatch(45lb BB) – 10 reps

Push-Up Plank (10lb DB’s) – 8 reps

Superset #2: 3 sets

DB Bench Press(25lb DB’s) – 12 reps

Step-Up Hops(bodyweight) – 12 reps per leg

Superset #3: 3 sets

Pull-Ups with a Resistance Band(green band) – 10 reps

Squat Jumps(bodyweight) – 15 reps

Superset #4: 3 sets

Windmills(15lb DB) – 8 reps per side

Good Mornings(45lb BB) – 15 reps

What is your favorite exercise? 

I love Snatches (gosh that sounds awful but seriously there is no other way to say that…). They are really tough, you have to really work for them, your form has to be spot on, your entire body is involved, and you feel so strong doing them!!! Kapow!!! Your turn!

Summer is upon us…

And it’s getting hot!! For all of you dealing with the crazy storms, my heart goes out to you! I am happy to not be dealing with that, but it is definitely getting hot here in AZ. The kind of hot where you walk outside in the morning hoping for a nice cool breeze with the sun beaming down, and instead you get hit in the face with a wall of HEAT. Imagine opening an oven, except the world is a really really big oven. Anyways, I’ll stop complaining now 😉

Workouts

This week’s workouts have been kicking my ass. First of all, my sleep pattern is really screwed up. Working sound gigs really takes the life out of me. It’s 14 hours of mostly pushing heavy gear around and in between sitting and waiting. The actual work time of sound checks and mixing is really short compared to the long day you have to put in. Again though, I’m not complaining because I LOVE working shows and it inspires me more and more each time. The moral of the story is that it makes me SO tired. In fact, after Saturday’s gig, I slept for 11 hours. And another 11 hours the night after that.

Monday: 45 minutes of incline walking + quick Leg workout (squats, quadruped hip extensions, SL deadlifts)

Tuesday: Heavy upper body workout + 20 minutes elliptical

Wednesday: 30 minutes incline walking + Conventional deads and burpees

As you can tell, I’ve been throwing some heavy lifting back in the mix. I took off some time from heavy lifting because I mostly just wasn’t into it, and I like to enjoy my workouts! Last Friday I decided to lift heavy and it made me miss it, so this week I brought it back a bit. I’m pretty sore, but my strength hasn’t gone anywhere which is refreshing. I have been doing plenty of body weight and high rep training, and I actually think my endurance has gone up a lot, which helps with the heavy lifting. I’ve always had a lot of endurance with weight lifting, but my upper body sometimes wants to crap out when the reps get high(lower body just goes forever haha) I noticed my upper body endurance has increased, so I’m pretty happy!

FOODS

I’ve been doing pretty well with keeping myself accountable and staying on track. A few mishaps here and there, but for the most part I’ve stayed pretty strong with it. It’s funny how much easier it is to stick to when you’re just ready to do it and how much of a struggle it can be when you just don’t care and want to eat like crap 😀 Don’t get me wrong, I still have a sweet tooth, but I’m managing it.

My latest obsession:

Broiled green beans with cracked pepper and sea salt, slightly burnt. (that part is an old favorite) but the NEW addiction is in the sugar-free ketchup. Yes, it’s artificial and I’m trying to eliminate most artificial things, but it is SO good. It made me realize that I actually don’t like french fries, I like ketchup. Since a green bean mimicks the texture of a french fry in some ways, it works  quite well. Try it!

What’s your latest food obsession?

The Rad-Cake

This is a healthy, fiberlicious protein pancake recipe I just made and it was so damn good, I had to share it. I call it the Rad Cake because it was so good-both taste – wise and nutritionally- that it just needed a better name than a pancake.

The Rad-Cake

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Psyllium Husk

1/4 cup Wheat Bran

1 T Chia Seeds

1 T Whole Flax Seeds

1/2 Scoop Xyience Xy-Pro Chocolate Protein Powder

4 medium egg whites

cinnamon/stevia to taste

1/2 tsp no sodium baking powder

Mix all ingredients and cook it like a pancake.

Nutrition Facts:

Makes 1 Serving

Calories: 267

Fat: 6 g

Carbohydrates: 26 g

Dietary Fiber: 21 g

Protein: 28 g

Do you see that?? 5 g of net carbs. This is a TON of fiber, so if you’re not used to fiber, you can do smaller amounts of the wheat bran/psyllium husk/flax seeds.

Yum-berrries.