Fit, Fabulous, 40's Friday

Choices & Smoothies

"I like to eat my calories" is one of my favorite sayings.

In fact, if you have ever been out with me

or give me the opportunity to eat something vs. drink something, 

I will choose to eat or chew food 99% of the time. 

Usually something along these lines..if possible.

or

 or

or

Lots of choices, but notice any similarities?

Ha, ha!

Ahem, that is just ME.

I do occasionally drink smoothies.

Again, not my favorite, 

but it is nice to change things up a little.

One of the gals I am working with on nutrition likes smoothies for breakfast and her mother asked for some recipes so I thought I would share them with you.

They are healthy, easy and there are a variety of choices!

They are also great for meal replacement or as a healthy snack.

WAAAAY better choice than eating cookies, crackers, popcorn, etc.

Start with any kind of blender:

I got one of these guys for Christmas.

 

1. Start out with a liquid.

Water, coconut water, almond milk, soy milk, etc. I usually add about 1/4-1/2 cup

I just use water, easy!

2. Add a scoop of protein, or eggs or egg whites.

1/2 of a scoop for the kids- 

we use this from GNC

 I thought I would try a new flavor- LOVE it, but very expensive!

 or you can get a less expensive one from the market

3. Add fruits

I cut up pieces of fruit and freeze them so it makes a nice cold drink, 

and it is super convenient to have it all ready.

Bananas, blackberries, strawberries,pineapple and blueberries.

You can add whichever you like!

Approx. 1/2 cup

4. Add vegetables

I use spinach 95% of the time, again, EASY!

The rule of thumb is that the veggies take up 1/2 of the cup-

also, you'll know if you need to add more next time depending on the color of the smoothie.

If it isn't green, you don't have enough!

 Found this on Pinterest: 

you can click and visit my Pinterest page under 

"Cleanish Eating"for other ideas/recipes

5. Add nuts or supplements,

chia or flax seed or even oatmeal! 

I would recommend 1/2 cup of oatmeal 

if you find yourself hungry within the hour of drinking one!

(Meagan :-))

The choices are endless!!! 

Here are some other options for you -

One from one of my favorite blogs: StuftMama

Lazy Mama Mocha Spinach Smoothie

1 frozen banana

handful fresh spinach

1 scoop protein powder (I used Designer Whey Vanilla Almond)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used my favorite cocoa powder)

1 tablespoon instant espresso

1 1/4 cup milk or non dairy alternative (I used unsweetened almond milk)

These are from BodyBuilding.com where this link will take you right to the page.

Berry Good Shake

Ingredients

• 2 scoops of raspberry yogurt and protein powder
• 4 strawberries
• 15 blueberries
• 16 ounces of nonfat milk
• 1/2 cup of ice cubes

Banana Protein Shake

Ingredients

• 30g protein powder (plain or vanilla)
• 8 oz light soy milk
• 1 tbsp linseed, soy and almond mixture
• 1 tsp golden syrup
• Few drops vanilla essence/extract
• 3-4 cubes ice
• 1 tbsp low fat natural yogurt (optional depending on diet)

I hope these recipes and tips helped!!

REMBER:

"And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change

and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 18:3 (NIV)

TRY something new, CHOOSE to make a small change and then TRUST the process!!

What NEW THING are you going to TRY today?

Love ya!

Fit, Fabulous 40's Friday!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!
(and my longest post ever-if you do just one thing, watch the video at the end)

I was going to title today's post, "Living La Vida Loca" because my life has been a little like that!

So, I am sorry to those of you who may have wondered what happened to me for the last few weeks!

I'll give you the "Cliff Notes" version-

about a month ago, I noticed a small jelly-bean shaped mass on the side of my right breast,
so I made an appointment to get it checked.

During that week before my check-up, I began thinking of the possibilities:
Cancer, being the first one, and of course, the worst.

Knowing that it could be one of two outcomes, I prayed.
Honestly, I was a little freaked out, thinking about my children, husband and all the things that I believe God has a plan for me to do, but you just never know what HIS plan is.
So I prayed some more and trusted.

Only a few people knew about it- I only shared it with a close group of women that I attend Bible Study with because we share some pretty intimate stuff and I didn't want anyone else to worry-
unless they had a reason to.
I didn't even tell my mom or sister- even though I know they both would have prayed for me.
Weird.

So I went for the Mammogram and because I had my "little Jelly-Bean Guy" there,
they also had me do an Ultrasound.

That was cool- I could actually SEE what was going on inside there.
The doctor came in and he pointed out my JBG and said he could see blood going through it and that it was part of my lymphnode.

With all the evidence,
 they believed that it was NON-cancerous.

EXHALE......whew.

So, as you can imagine,
I was and am SO grateful that everything was fine.

The next day when I woke up, I was just grateful to be home, in my bed, breathing.

I decided I would give my BEST effort every single day to do more of these things:

1. Make sure my children and husband know I love them,
through words, hugs, laughter, engagement.

2. Spend time daily thanking God for the wonderful, FULL, rich life I have!

3. Being grateful for every little thing

4. Show grace, love and forgiveness to everyone I came into contact with

5. Give compliments generously and genuinely

6. Be as engaged as possible, every moment of each day

7. Say prayers for my friends and family who don't believe in God

8. Be more flexible

9. Give people the benefit of the doubt

10.Love myself more and forgive myself more.

After that crazy week, I've been watching alot of baseball-
Go Cardinals!

Some track meets

Kiana has been sprinting and pole vaulting...

I've been substitute teaching a little here and there,

at Madison (my friend Jill's First Grade classroom)

so clean, right?

And in Kindergarten

this week for my friend Peter...

I "heart" Kindergarten,

and last week I had the opportunity to speak at Laguna Niguel Presbyterian Church

to speak on Friendship

and here yesterday to speak on Prayer

on the National Day of Prayer!

What an honor!

My mom came to watch and then she, my sister and I went out for some Japanese Food

at Fukada

SO, so good!

having some fun, 

as usual-

My sister and I-

Then, I got my baby washed, (my little red car)

picked up the boys,

picked up the girl after her practice,

took her to her voice lesson

here

and then made this for dinner:

Yes, I fry my taco shells, really, is there any other way to eat REAL tacos?

What I DID do is use EVOO, and drained the oil, see?

I also used lean, ground turkey,

non-fat Rosarita beans,

low-fat cheese,

non-fat lettuce and avocados!

I think Luke ate 5!

Then,

for a treat- gotta enjoy these kids while they are still at home,

we went here

Ok,

Luke made the one at 12 o'clock,

mochi, chocolate dips

John had the one at 2 o'clock,

strawberries, peanut-butter, 

5 o'clock is easy to guess w/all that candy- LOGAN (not me!)

mini m&m's, always a cherry,

mine was at 7 o'clock

nuts, granola and sprinkles, gotta always have sprinkles

and

Kiana's is at 10 o'clock

granola and I don't know what that big white thing is.

I have been starting my mornings off with 2 tablespoons of the nastiest tasting stuff;

because it is really good for you/me and

it helps get rid of some bloat.

No lie.

After dropping off Kiana to HS

I came home and had this:

 1/2 scoop of protein

1/2 cup of oatmeal

1/2 cup of blueberries

chia

1/2 banana

I have this every single morning

and I love it.

Life is short-

we must live each day to it's fullest 

and love like there's no tomorrow!!

There may not be one-

Have a blessed day!!

Keep on moving!

Fit, Fabulous 40's! (on a Monday!)

Ever have a week that is just all over the place?

Last week has kind of like that and I'm so glad that I'm like this guy-

FLEXIBLE!

I actually worked on a post for Friday, 

but decided it wasn't ready.

It is kind of a random, 

odd post

about Bruce Lee-

I know- totally random, right?

So, I decided to go to the gym

and while I was there,

I ran into my friend, Gina,

who I hadn't seen all week.

(excuse the grunginess of our picture)

She looks GREAT!

Her trainer said she had lost 4% body fat

and 

two inches in her waist!!!

Check her out!

WOOOT WOOOT!

I was so excited for her and 

of course, 

stopped what I was doing 

and

gave her a high-five!

Then she said,

"your blog was the catalyst".

I was shocked.

I didn't know she even followed it-

I don't know who would, really-

or who does?

(LOL- my mom does, but she's my mom, so she has to!)
(oh, then there is my blog buddy, Sharon who faithfully visits and comments :-))

Gina talked about eating better 

and 

if you have done any research or reading,
you know,

"you can never out-train a bad diet".

Sorry.

If you are eating poorly,

you will never get healthy,

let alone

FIT!

(but if you eat pretty well, you can splurge on HOT TAMALES or chocolate once in a while)

So in honor of Gina,

I am putting my favorite 

Protein Muffin Recipes on myblog.

There are quite a few recipes out there,

and variations:

A Banana Muffin HERE

An Oatmeal Muffin at Fit Foodie Finds
A Chocolate Mug Muffin at Sparks Recipe by April

and
this guy, Michael, showed me on his YouTube video-
he adds protein powder in his-



They all have some great recipes

but this one is MY favorite.

Janet's Protein Pumpkin Muffin

(the bowl on the right)

1/2 Cup of organic pumpkin (mix it up a little)

1/4 Cup of egg whites 

2 Tablespoons of Wheat Flour

2 Tablespoons of artificial sweetener (I use Stevia)

1/2 Teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon of vanilla

sprinkle some cinnamon,

or  pumpkin spice

Chocolate Muffin

(the bowl on the left)

ADD 1-1 1/2 Tablespoons of Chocolate powder (dark)

omit: cinnamon and/or pumpkin spice

Mix all together and put in a bowl or mug-

microwave for 5+ minutes

depending on your microwave.

Pop it out and enjoy!

You may notice that the pumpkin muffin may become spotted after a couple of days,
while in the refrigerator,
but don't keep it in there for much longer than that-
remember that there are NO preservatives
so eat it with a few days of making it!

I usually eat it as a snack,
either after breakfast or between lunch and dinner.
I have also been known to eat it for dinner if I have "strayed" from my eating plan during the day-
add (low-fat) greek yogurt, fruit and chia-
roughly about 230 calories plain,
250 calories w/chocolate
and approximately 7/8 grams of protein
and
approximately 12/14 grams of carbohydrates.

YUM!

Hope you enjoy your healthy treat!

Got a good recipe to share?
Let me know if you try one of the other recipes!

Remember,
you are what you eat!