Are You Up For A Challenge?

Let's do this together.  We can start October 1st!  You up for it?

Planks are so good for your core.  A strong core can help with so many things! Balance, posture, ease back pain and help you get a leaner middle.  Try it out.  If you need to modify it, put your knees down, but don't go into a table top. Don't bring your butt up. Keep your hips down.

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Maybe by November you'll be able to plank without your knees on the floor!  Let me know if you take the challenge!

An Easy Dinner

I recently made this Ratatouille recipe.  It was delicious!  I added a few shredded chicken breasts to the mix and, voila, a complete dinner!  This was super easy and everyone ate it with no complaints!  Buying clean tomato sauce is harder than you'd think!  They all have sugar or HFCS in them!  Make sure you're reading labels if you are really trying to cut out the sugars!

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Recipe Links

My friend asked me to post more recipes, so that's the plan here.  I get most of my recipes off of Pinterest. You can follow my clean eating board here.  And if you aren't on Pinterest, well, you should be.  Or I can link some of them for you, too.  
Here is the recipe for my clean eating ice cream.  It has become a staple in my diet.  I used to be such an ice cream addict!
This is the recipe I use to make my homemade Larabar balls.  I make the Chocolate ones, but add a tiny bit of organic, fair trade, chocolate chips that are very high in cacao.  Super delicious.  Super. Super.  Mmmm. So, while I haven't officially posted any recipes (sorry Anna!) I have posted some links.  'Kay?
And, I did just see something on Pinterest that said you shouldn't eat dried fruit if you are clean eating.  To that I say "bologna!"  You can definitely eat dried fruit as long as it is just the fruit.  It can't have any added sugars, coatings or preservatives.  I have been drying apples and, darn right, I am eating them.  It sure beats a handful of potato chips.

Motivation

Progress

I just realized I never posted this pic on here!  I am proud of the progress I have made with Insanity, even though I know I have more work to do!  If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook you are probably tired of seeing this picture, but I am kind of proud of it, so......
This was 27 days into Insanity plus clean eating.  I've never had results like this before.  I have never done the clean eating thing before this round of Insanity either!  The two combined make for amazingness.  
This to me is so worth the lifestyle changes I've made.  It's also enough motivation to continue.

Breakfast For Dinner

Yum!  Last night I made these Clean Eating Pancakes.  Super easy and very tasty!  They are only three ingredients.
1/2 c oats
1 egg
1 banana
1/3 c water
Make a flour out of the oats.  I used my food processor and added the ingredients right into it.  Just add all the wet ingredients and process until smooth.
Pour about 1/3 c onto heated pan or griddle.  Makes about 4 5 inch pancakes.
I added blueberries to mine.  And drizzled with a little bit of honey.

For Jeff, I made plain ones and for the kids I added a handful of Organic, Fair Trade, 42% Cacao, Chocolate Chips.  No complaints from anyone!!!  Success!

Sugar Alternatives

I mentioned in a previous post that I was still looking for a good sugar substitute.   I found one! It's coconut palm sugar.  It tastes like sugar and is used exactly the same way. So if your recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, you use 1 cup of coconut sugar.  The amazing thing about coconut palm sugar is that it is naturally nutrient rich.  It's also low glycemic so you won't get that sugar low.  It slowly absorbs into your bloodstream.   It is awesome stuff.

A lot of recipes will call for agave syrup.  

I just made a Clean Eating ice cream that called for this.  It's not my favorite,  but it works.  Of course, honey is great for sweetening plain yogurt or hot tea.  My two year old loves plain yogurt with a little bit of honey drizzled on it.  When you buy honey, always try to buy local and raw.  Raw just means that it hasn't been pasturized.  It will still have all of the great nutrients in it. 

There you have it. My opinion on sweeteners. Now go get some coconut sugar! 

Oh Good Gracious!

Remember in my last post I said I would work on getting a video up for you about proper squat form and bootstrappers???  Well I did it!
Ahhhhh!  My first official YouTube video!
I'm a total dork and at the time of filming my bathroom was the only clean-ish room in the house, so it's taped in my bathroom.  And, I am so PMSing right now, with major bloating and a zit on my forehead!  Ugh.  But, I said I would do it, so I did!
And I have a cold/allergy thing going on right now, so I actually itch my nose and sound a little stuffy!  Oh Good Gracious.  What have I done???
Here.  Just watch it.  Have a good laugh at my expense.  I don't even care!

Insanity

I want to talk about Insanity today.
A lot of people ask me about it.  I always tell them that I love it.  The results have been amazing.  I have never been so fit in my life.  Even before kids.  I know that I have more stamina, endurance, strength and muscle mass than ever before.  It has been life changing for me.  I have butt shots to prove it.  Yes, butt shots.  Avert your eyes if you don't want to see it.

The "Then" pic is from 2011.  The "Now" pic is from yesterday.  That is progress y'all.  (Don't laugh.  I know I still have a lot of work to do!) I wasn't really doing much except for running in 2011.  Now I'm killing it with Insanity, SQUATS, running and other random workouts that isolate particular areas.  Da butt (Ladies Man reference) comes from the squats and leg work that I do.  Lots of squats, lots of deadlifts, lots of bootstrappers.  I want to get a video posted of myself doing these exercises so that y'all can see the correct form and what the heck "bootstrappers" are!  I'll work on that this weekend.  

Insanity involves a lot of jumping.  A lot of squatting and it is ALL cardio!  It is insane!  But, I love it!  I really, really love it!  I haven't missed a workout since I started.  That means for the past 26 days I have been pushing play and committing to getting it in! Even on my off days I get in a run and do upper body weight training, Insanity style!  I've never sweat during weight training like I do when I do it with Shaun T.  He is no joke!  I big, fat sloppy {heart} that man.  In a totally platonic, I want to be your bff kind of way, okay?  He's gay, ladies.  It didn't really shatter my dreams too badly when I found out.  : )

So, here is a little preview of Insanity.

Sigh.  I just love it!

Clean Eating With a Family

The one thing about me eating healthier is that everyone in my family has to eat healthier, too.

{For the most part}

I do still bake goodies for them.
Jeff got a Jewish Apple Cake last week and the kids always get brownies or cookies.  I am using whole wheat flour for all of my baking.  But, sugar is the one thing that overwhelms me when I think of replacing it.  I need something that will come in mass quantity and is still inexpensive.   We are a one income family of 6.  I have a very strict grocery budget.  So, I need to research this more.
But, other than that, the kids and Jeff eat what I eat for dinner. Always.  I will not make two separate meals. That's absurd.
Last night I made this Clean Eating Pot Pie.  I did not make my own cream of mushroom soup.  That is just more work than I felt like doing.  So, I made a roux with wheat flour and used that for moisture.  So yummy!

I have also found that cooking all my chicken for the week, at once, makes dinner prep so much easier!  A lot of these clean eating meals call for chicken, so it just makes sense to buy mass quantities and cook it all up at once.  I can also take a little bit and throw it on my salad at lunch for a quick protein boost!  

Today's lunch ^.  50/50 Baby Spinach and Spring Mix, chicken breast, nuts, seeds and raisin trail mix and dried apples.  And I have this great homemade dressing that I love to use!  This lunch was a total of 354 calories.  I try to keep my meals in the 300-400 calorie range.  Www.myfitnesspal.com is a great way to track your calories.  And yes, it really does matter and make a huge difference!  I don't feel deprived at all at the end of the day.  It works!  Check it out!  

Homemade Salad Dressing 

2/3 oil (olive, coconut)

1/3 lemon juice

1 Tbsp chopped green onion (I use more!  And I've also used chives or just onion)

1/4 c sweetener of your choice (honey, stevia, agave)

1 tsp salt

Pour all of this into a jar.  Shake it up.  Keeps for about 2 weeks in the fridge.  

I'm not sure you're all on board with the whole "clean eating" thing or not.  I want you to know that abstaining from processed white flour and sugar has made a noticeable change in my body.  I used to be bloated all the time!  I always hated my belly.  It was definitely my problem area.  Since cleaning up my act in the kitchen and doing Insanity for just 25 days, I've flattened it out and I am starting to see ab muscles!  Ab muscles!!!  I haven't ever had that. Ever.  Even when I was skinny (and thought I was fat).

I encourage you all to just try it out.  Give it just 10 days and see if you notice any changes!  You can google "clean eating" for all kinds of lists that tell you what is clean and what isn't!  Pinterest is awesome for that, too!  

Good luck!

Be Warned

This is my new blog!  Which makes perfect sense given my new lifestyle.  My previous blog was full of recipes and carbs.  Not this one.  Nope.  Here I will talk about the clean eating I'm doing.  If I post recipes they will be free of any processed white flour and sugar.

I will probably talk a lot about Shaun T, Insanity, workout gear, fitness in general and maybe even my own body.  If you don't want to hear about any of that then I think you should probably just click out, right now, mkay?

Now with that off my chest, let me tell you that this makes me really nervous.  I have "friends", and I'll use that term loosely, on Facebook who would get so upset with me for posting before and after pics of my progress on this weight loss, fitness, healthy lifestyle journey.  I would get phone calls and emails about the fact that I shouldn't have said the number.  195lbs is where a lot of women are.  That's fine for them.  If they're okay with that.  I was not okay with that.  That's where I was when I delivered my fourth baby.  The heaviest I have ever been.  When I got pregnant with that baby, I was at 165lbs.  The heaviest I have ever been pre-pregnancy.  I have lost 60 ish pounds at this point.  It has taken me two years.  It has taken me a lot of sweat and changing habits.  I feel like I should be able to brag about that on Fb because it has been hard work.  It has not been easy!  And I'm not done yet!!!   I don't want this to turn into something like that. I don't want women feeling insecure about themselves after reading my blog.  I am not obsessed with the number on my scale.  I am obsessed with being healthy.  For my future, and for my kids.  I want them to have healthy habits here at home so that it is just normal for them to eat clean and take care of themselves when they are on their own.  It's NOT about NOT being fat.  It is about being HEALTHY!  And it is for ME!

So this here is a little journal I'm keeping to keep myself motivated and accountable to something.  I hope you'll follow along and maybe even be a little bit inspired to clean up your lifestyle!