Do You Deserve It: The Ugly Truth About Getting the Body You Want

Some tough love today! This blog is written by Andrew Ferreira from Showmestrength.com – let me know what you think.

Wolf urine.

I can buy that on Amazon and it can be on my doorstep in two days.

Now I’m not sure I could find some good use for some wolf urine but before you write me off like some kind of weirdo, stay with me for a second.

It’s Tuesday night and I’m sitting in a Harvard Square Starbucks.

I’m surrounded and through some weird osmosis probably inspired by the level of weirdness and hipster that only a place around my great institution could provide.

While wolf urine could be a hipster staple (I won’t judge), it is not the point of my thought experiment.

Rather, it is to illustrate just how much is available to us at the click of a button. Forget ipods, flat screen TVs, and girlfriends, I can buy fucking wolf urine on the line from the biggest on the line retailer.

Anything and everything is available to me at a moment’s notice.

It’s one of the benefits of living in the age of consumerism where we are sold something every minute every day of our lives.

The problem with the age of consumerism is that we are not just sold goods, we are sold ideas too – many of which feed our primitive brain that wants success now.

Need evidence for the short-term wiring of our brains?

Salt, sugar, fat.

Beyond tasting awesome, those are the foods our brains are programmed to seek out and devour because they provide high short-term survival value.

We’re Sold False Ideas

The effects of food are evident in the obesity epidemic and America’s growing waistline but the short-term reach extends past food. Think about the recent best sellers in business and entrepreneurship.

The 4 Hour Work Week and The Lean Startup come to mind. Selling the notion of efficiency is fine but it’s the idea framed within the title that prompts me to reflect – work less, outsource, and build systems so you can sloth around on a beach all day sipping pina coladas.

Will Durant, one of the great thinkers of our time, said, “A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.”

As a society, we’ve become obsessed with getting more out of doing less.

With the advancement of science and the rise of charlatans like Dave Asprey, bio-hacking is the next logical cultural progression.  But should it be able to displace the virtues that breath life into great achievement?

Have we not become exactly what Durant has said would destroy us?

A nation fixated on the fulfillment of pleasure, whose identity has forgotten what it means to be stoic in the face of accomplishing something meaningful – in this instance, maximizing our health.

In the attempt to satisfy our epicurean ethos, we’ve been sold an idea – the wrong one – about health and our body.

From New York Times’ Bestsellers about dropping 17 lbs in 10 days to Dr. Oz promoting raspberry ketones as the next fat loss cure, in the age of consumerism, we’ve been programmed to buy a lie.

Not Exactly War & Peace

Smart marketers have capitalized on the realization that humans are addicted to the dopamine rush that comes with being sold short-term success plans.

We feel good when we go on 10-day juice cleanses or when we type in our credit card information to buy the latest weight loss cure that’s reached the top of the bestseller charts. We see a means to a short-term reward, and we’re all in.

Our default instinct as humans is to run from pain and to pleasure.

Why do we fail in maximizing our health and getting the body you want?

Because we’ve been using a lottery approach to try and be successful.

Every time we try the latest cleanse or buy the book full of skewed science and superfluous claims, we’re taking another spin of the wheel hoping for the right combination of numbers to pop up.

We wake up everyday hoping that we came across the latest secret to solve our health quandary while not having other areas of our lives suffer.

People in our consumer driven society are more likely to buy the new turbo fat burner Starbucks sells alongside their pumpkin spice latte than they are to put in the blood, sweat, and tears necessary to make necessary changes.

We are continually offered the mirage of health at the click of a button and most of us take it every single time.

A New Approach

The age of consumerism isn’t going anywhere and lamenting upon the uphill battle that we encounter on a daily basis in order to achieve our health goals is a tireless exercise that does not need to be further expounded upon.

The cards are stacked against us, now what?

Charlie Munger, self-made billionaire whom Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have called the smartest man alive, said, “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want? The world is not enough a crazy enough place to reward undeserving people.”

Everyone wants. To want is to be human. We all want the granite abs, Schwarzenegger biceps, and the ability to fit into college skinny jeans for the ladies out there.

But do you deserve it?

To lose 100 lbs, you have to deserve to lose 100 lbs.

If you want a better body, stand naked tomorrow morning in the mirror. What do you see? This isn’t an exercise to lower your self-esteem or to guilt you to take action.

No, be objective.  Give yourself an honest assessment.

What you see doesn’t reflect failing to know the ins and outs of carb cycling, the sensationalized demonization of saturated fats, or the knowledge base to perform metabolic resistance training.

There are a million workout programs out there.  There are even more diet plans.

They all will work.

Quick aside on the nutrition front, have you attempted to master the basics first?

Have you been limiting processed foods?  Keeping the sugar overload and fried food at bay?  How often do you exercise and/or train?

This isn’t rocket science.  It’s not even about the science.  Bad science has gotten tons and tons of people ripped over the years.

Do the Work

There is a caveat of course.

The truth is if you haven’t showed up everyday and put in the work, any work, you haven’t tried yet.  You may want to look like the guy on the cover of Men’s Fitness, but you don’t deserve anything yet.

Get off TNation and bodybuilding.com.  Get off Show Me Strength.  If you’ve visited a fitness site more than half a dozen times, you know more than enough.

Wake up.  Fail.  Show up again tomorrow, fail.  Improvement isn’t linear.

If you’re not failing everyday, you’re not trying.

This isn’t about being efficient.  Our whole lives have been hacked with shortcuts; it’s time to take the circuitous route.

The one filled with pain, suffering, and failure.  The one that’ll take a lot of blood, sweat, guts, and tears to overcome.

The one that will build a process that’ll feed a lifetime of success.

Pain today or the pain of regret tomorrow.  Either way, there is no avoiding pain.

Do all of that and a year from now when you stand bare before yourself, what will you see?

Someone who has earned what they wanted.

Nerd Fitness – How Tiny Changes Transformed Me from Steve Rogers to Captain America

Here’s a great blog written By Steve from www.nerdfitness.com – I think a lot of us that have been training for awhile can relate!

Hey, I’m Steve.

I’ve been running this site, Nerd Fitness, for about seven years now. Before that, I trained in a gym for six years trying to get in the best shape possible. But I struggled. Struggled to make consistent progress. Struggled because it always seemed like three steps forward, 2.9 (or 3.1) steps backwards, month after month, year after year.

Two years ago, my mentality changed. I stopped asking “when will I arrive?” and instead realized that I will never actually get there.

With this mindset I created a new strategy, and today I stand (well, sit) before you a changed person – physically and mentally. I’m 20+ pounds (of muscle) heavier, stronger and more resilient than ever, and believe that every day is an opportunity to set a new personal best.

I did it by refusing to focus on the “end.” In other words, I stopped worrying about “before and after.” Instead I just focused finding goals and quests that excited me each day.

In fact, I hadn’t noticed just how much I had changed until I looked at a video fromNerd Fitness from three years ago that made my jaw drop (picture above). It really hit home when I went to get fitted for a tux two weeks ago and the guy taking my measurements said “well, this won’t fit right because you’re built like Captain America.”

Alarm bells went off in my brain: “HOLY CRAP. I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear somebody tell me that. And it happened after I FORGOT about this very goal.”

I don’t think that was a coincidence.

Here’s how I stopped worrying about my after and started living every day in the “during.”

There’s No “After.”

I imagine that nearly everybody who stumbles across Nerd Fitness is here because they want to change their appearance. It’s certainly why I started exercising! And I have NO problem with that.

After all, as the Rules of the Rebellion state: “We don’t care where you came from, only where you’re going.”

As a skinny, weak person for most of my life, I wanted to feel comfortable and confident in my own skin. Thanks to the BS found in magazines and other marketing tricks, I was convinced in my early years of training that I was only 30-60 days away from transforming. I thought I could “sprint” from where I was to where I wanted to be, and then I could settle back into a less crazy routine. Because I was in such a hurry to change from the “before” to the “after,” I would go ALL-IN on training and eating for a short period of time.

Unsurprisingly, this resulted in me burnt out or injured. If the changes did come, they didn’t stick for any long period of time due to “life getting in the way.”

It was only until I started of thinking of progress in “years and years” instead of “weeks and months” that my mentality finally shifted.

This was a tough pill to swallow. I had to put my “after” goals on hold, and instead just did what needed to get done every day. I had to change my mentality: there is no after, only “during.”

I initially thought “Ugh, Years!?! That’s gonna take too long.” And then I thought back to how little sustainable progress I had made in the previous 10 years and knew things needed to change. Today I look back and can’t be more relieved that I made this choice.

In two, five, or ten years, what choice do you wish you’d have made now? The one that puts you on a “30 day diet” or workout plan? Or one that instills changes for the long term?

There’s a reason why a recent study suggests we’re doomed to stay fat: temporary diet changes and temporary workout plans don’t work!

If you want to change your appearance in the long term, your normal life (how you live every day) has to change. Every day you are building a new normal: a sustainable way of eating, sleeping, and exercising that gets you a tiny bit closer to where you want to be.

Appearance is a consequence of fitness

Want to know how I was finally able to make progress and transform my appearance after 11 years of actively trying to change it?

By NOT focusing on it so damn much!

For the past two years, I have cared less about what the scale says or how I look in a mirror, and instead put my focus on one thing: am I stronger and more badass today than yesterday? Am I doing better this week than last week? Every week for the past two years, I have followed a workout plan that is incrementally more difficult in a tiny way than the previous week.

For example, here’s my last five weeks of work on overhead presses:

• Week one: 5/5/5 x 136 lbs
• Week two: 6/5/5 x 136 lbs
• Week three: 6/6/5 x 136 lbs
• Week four: 6/6/6 x 136 lbs
• Week five: 5/5/5 x 137 lbs

Look how boring that is! Each week, I’m increasing this lift by ONE total repetition. After reaching a certain level, I’m adding just ONE pound to the bar (I bought these fractional plates so I can lift just one pound more).

The same goes for my deadlifts. Every week, I’m adding just one pound to my lift, before going for a 1-rep max once per month. As someone with splondylothesis, I used to think I’d never deadlift heavy again. In fact, I’ve had to yell at myself throughout this process to be patient and be okay with this pace. I knew that when I tried it the other way, progress just didn’t stick.

So despite the seemingly snail’s pace, I’m now stronger than ever and almost at my epic quest goal of a 405 deadlift (here I am in November lifting 385 lbs).

My progress on other movements is even tougher to see, but I’m now doing some really crazy and fun things like gymnastic rings work to muscle ups to front lever practice.

You see, appearance is a consequence of fitness. I just put my focus on getting stronger, and eating in a way to accomplish that goal daily. That “stronger” might be the teeniest of tiniest increments, but when done consistently, sustainably, over a long period of time… big permanent changes can result.

Accountability, priority, routine

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention another crucial reason why I was able to make sustained progress over the past two years: I made my health a priority. I wrote about “why you need to be selfish sometimes” on Nerd Fitness before.

After years of starting and stopping, blaming it on Nerd Fitness getting too busy, or life being too hectic, I finally put my foot down. I made two crucial decisions:

1) I stopped trying to go it alone. That’s right. I found that when I had to program my own workouts, I would often skip the last few exercises that I just didn’t feel like doing. After all, who would notice! However, over the past two years I’ve been following workouts that have been created by somebody else, and I have to check in with that person! Suddenly I can’t use my old tired excuses, and I just do the work – after all, that’s why I pay for it!

If I miss a workout or take a week off “because life got busy,” I have somebody to answer to. It sucks, it’s embarrassing, and oftentimes this gets me to go to the gym when I’m tired or busy, or trying to use all these other bullshit excuses.

I think it’s why we have found so many people have found success with The Nerd Fitness Academy or Nerd Fitness Yoga – you value things differently when you invest your hard-earned money in them, and you actually DO the stuff when somebody else is telling you to do them. If you’re struggling to stay in shape, do you have somebody keeping you accountable? Do you have a workout plan to follow? Those two steps alone have change my life. Hat tip to my friendAnthony for creating my workouts for me!

2) I prioritized my health and fitness. Mostly, I stopped accepting excuses from myself, and stopped relying on motivation. Instead, I manufactured discipline in my life. I ruthlessly removed unnecessary time-wasting activities from my life and got better at managing my time. Here’s what I did:

• I schedule every workout in my calendar. Every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 10:00 AM, I go to the gym. If I’m traveling on a training day, I make it up for IMMEDIATELY, no matter what, the next day and get back on schedule.
• I have been intermittent fasting the whole time. I train in a fasted state (not eating before my workout), and eat all of my daily calories between 12pm and 8pm. This is called intermittent fasting, and has helped me slowly put on muscle without adding much fat to my frame.
• I have prioritized food. I eat a paleo-ish diet. I eat the same thing every day at Chipotle. It’s an expense that I’m willing to pay – the location is right across the street from my gym, and it’s the most efficient way to get enough quality calories, carbs, protein, and fat immediately following my workout.
• I removed distracting activities from my life. I am now way more efficient with my “work hours,” blocking Facebook and time wasting websites. I don’t play video games or watch TV unless I have done everything else that day that needs to be done. Don’t get me wrong, I still binge watch shows occasionally (Making a Murderer!) and play video games (Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate!), I just do this stuff strategically.
• Sleep has been prioritized. When I relocated to New York City, I made sure to spend money on a quality mattress and blackout curtains. As a cheapskate, this was a huge challenge for me. However, sleep is one of the most important elements of a healthy life. I don’t play games late at night, I don’t have a TV in my bedroom, and I make sure I’m sleeping as much as possible.

Where Were You, Two Years Ago?

You might be reading this and saying to yourself, “Ugh, Steve. I need to feel better now! I can’t wait two years!” Ask yourself, where were you two years ago? How different are you now compared to then?

Remember, you never really “arrive.”

If you’re hoping that getting to a certain pant size or seeing your abs will suddenly make you happy, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s the fitness equivalent of “if I just had a bigger house, I’d be happy.”

All photos in Nerd Fitness success stories are “before and during” shots. My photos here are “during” shots. I’m never going to get to a magical moment where I “made it,” so I’ve stopped worrying about that moment. Instead, I’m just focused on being stronger and fitter today than yesterday, and eating in a way that helps me make that happen.

I have no idea where I’ll be two years from now. My goals might change. My lifestyle might change. So I’m not worried about it. Instead, I’m just worried about being better and stronger today than I was yesterday.

I’d love to hear from you:

What’s a longstanding mentality you’ve had that will change to help you find permanent growth and progress with your health and fitness?

How can you remind yourself daily of this new “identity?”

-Steve

Don’t the holidays ruin your progress!

From cookies to eggnog, cream cheese-laden dips to carb-heavy stuffing, the holidays can be tough to navigate when you’re trying to eat healthy. All is not lost, though. With a little preparation and knowledge, you can survive the holidays without gaining five pounds in gingerbread cookies!

The most important aspect of any diet is preparation. During the holiday season, this may seem daunting with an already exhausting to-do list. But simple steps like prepping healthy breakfasts and lunches can prevent you from binging while on last-minute errands or at a cocktail party. Making oatmeal overnight in a slow cooker or baking egg cups early in the week covers breakfasts (and the egg cups can use up pesky ham and turkey leftovers from holiday meals!). Bake two pounds of chicken breasts on Sunday night, and eat those throughout the week in either chicken salad, on a green salad, or with a side of veggies for a thoughtless but filling lunch. With a fully belly, you’re far less likely to load your plate up with high calorie appetizers at parties.

Be sure to watch out for sneaky diet killers like sugary cocktails and side dishes packed with butter and sugar. If you’re going to drink, opt for clear liquors with low-sugar mixers, and alternate between alcohol and water to cut your calorie intake in half. When dining, keep one-third of your plate covered in veggies and/or salad, and another third full with protein. Use the remaining space to indulge in all the delicious food that makes the holiday special (but avoid getting second helpings!). If a craving for a big piece of pie hits, strike up conversation with a friend or relative you haven’t seen in awhile. The craving should disappear by the time you’ve caught up on the latest news in her life.

If you do find yourself sneaking cookies from Santa’s tray every time you walk past, stop and figure out why you’re doing this. Are you tired? Stressed? Avoiding your crazy Aunt Wendy again? If you can pinpoint the emotion that’s making you overindulge, you’ll be able to quickly course-correct without doing much damage to your waistline.

Above all, don’t forget that the holiday season is filled with lovingly prepared food and great company. Enjoy yourself and celebrate with the ones you love!

5 ways to increase your health!

Health – A person’s mental or physical condition
Synonyms: State of health, physical state, physical health, physical shape, condition, constitution, form.

Today we’re sharing 5 quick and easy tips to increase your health!

1. Are you constantly bloated?
This is very likely your body telling you somethings not bueno!
Dairy, grains, soy, corn, sweeteners like sucralose, gum – these are all products known to cause bloat and gas – don’t think you HAVE to life with a puffy stomach – see if you feel better eating a bit less of the foods mentioned above!

2. Is your urine clear and free from scent?
You know you’re drinking enough when your basically peeing water – if you find it hard to get in your water start these 2 habits.
1: start your day with a tall glass of luke warm water and lemon to get your digestion going.
2: Fill up (or buy) a 2L bottle and make sure to finish it before you go to sleep!
– Remember to drink extra when you’re working out!

3. Are you getting your 8 hours?
A lot of people have trouble sleeping these days, here’s some tips that might help you.-Turn off your phone an hour before you go to sleep, facebook will be fine without you – and you can answer those emails tomorrow!
-Go for a walk to unwind/empty your head, the air will do you good!
-Take a hot bath or shower to fully relax your body.
-Read a book instead of watching tv.
-Is your room dark enough? Think about investing in a sleeping mask and earplugs!

4. Greens! Broccoli, spinach, green beans, kale, brussel sprouts – if your not having these little beauties on the daily, make sure you start now.

5. Are you getting up your heart rate?
It doesn’t necesarily have to be in the gym. Go for a run,  play some tennis, go for a cycle – even 10 shorts sprints will make you feel better! Set yourself the goal of sweating most days of the week, i promise you’ll reap the benefits instantly!

French Women Do Get Fat

Don’t believe what everybody says. French women do get fat, unfortunately. I would know, I happen to be French (and British, actually). Is it middle age? Is it the food over here, in London? I had a huge shock on the scale a couple of months ago. Damn it. True, I had been less careful recently. You have got to live a little bit, right?

The thing is, I was not that fat. My BMI, as they say, was still in the ‘healthy’ range (well, on the upper limit, if you must know). I really felt that I wasn’t being that bad with food. In my local coffee shop, most days, there is a lady stuffing her face with two or sometimes even three ham & cheese croissants. Compared to her, I was eating very reasonably.

That said, I couldn’t continue like this. Compared to 10 years ago, I was a stone heavier. Where does it stop? I knew that I had to take action, but I was still finding myself excuses not to do anything. For instance, French guys say that, after a certain age, a woman has to choose between her bum and her face. They must be right: I chose my face. At least, that was my excuse. No injections needed, all this fat is keeping me plump, right? I was also telling myself that I am fatter because I have young kids. The thing is, my younger one is nine years old. I can’t blame my pregnancies any more, right? I just didn’t like my reflection in the mirror, and was tired all the time.

So I took the plunge: 3 workouts a week and an appointment with a nutritionist at Kensington studio. There was simply no escape. It had to work.
I started by writing down was I was eating on regular days, and quickly understood that I was addicted to sugar and bread. Being French doesn’t help, actually, because I grew up having bread, pasta or rice at every meal and every snack. What was needed wasn’t a diet, but a radical change of lifestyle.

So I changed. 10 weeks down the line, I am not craving sugary biscuits any more, which is unheard of. I cook with coconut oil, and I have protein at every meal. It makes me feel fuller. I am not out of the woods just yet, but slowly getting there: I still find it hard to resist the urge of eating bread in the middle of the afternoon. That said, I have massively cut down on carbs and sugar.  The results are there: I have lost the extra stone (YAY!). I simply didn’t think it was possible. But the biggest benefit is that my energy levels have shot up. I sleep and generally feel so much better. Even the colours around me seem brighter.



So what now? Well, I want to maintain my weight loss. It will take time, but there is no going back. Friends of mine have told me that I should have turned things around the ‘French way’ by starting to smoke and taking a lover. Well, what can I say? I am British now, and I will stick to a better diet and some exercise. Much safer, right?

Muriel is an author and a journalist. She blogs at http://www.FrenchYummyMummy.com.

Is it really worth it?

Six pack abs, a teeny tiny waist – we all like to fantasize about looking like a cover model.
Whether you prefer the look of the fitness or fashion models (this goes for both men and women) – we can all agree these people have some very impressing physiques!

We’ve posted about using the SMART method when it comes to goal setting before on the blog.
Today we want to go a little deeper into the ‘realistic’ part of goal setting.

When a client decides on hiring a personal trainer they often have a very specific goal in mind.
Lose X amounts of pounds in X amount of time have a body like Kelly Rippa or Hugh Jackman, gain X amount of strength.
As trainer it is our job to help you adjust this goal to one that it is more realistic and suited for you, your body type and your lifestyle.

I often get surprised looks when I say that for most people it’s simply not worth it to have six pack abs!

We get to see the shiny, polished pictures in the magazines, the beautiful bodies in the video and we all gawk and might even feel a hint of jealousy. Gosh, if only I looked like that!
What we don’t get to see is the level of commitment it takes to look like this – one most highly underestimate.

Looking into the life of a typical (fitness) model or fitness competitor you will find them working out 6-7 days a week. Often double sessions, one focused on lifting weights to sculpt those lean arms and then there’s the cardio to burn the fat.
Now let’s get into the diet. There are a few people out there blessed with a speedy metabolism that maintain a lean physique quite easily – that’s the lucky few though, for the rest of them life is being on a diet 365 days a year. (Ok maybe 350..)

Now I can hear you think, I could go on a diet – it would be worth it to look like that!
This is where I would have to disagree and any good trainer would tell you that although they can definitely get you to your absolute best possible physique (when you commit yourself to the plan that is) BUT that those abs are most likely not going to be something you’ll easily maintain long term.

A sample diet of a fitness model taken from simplyshredded.com:
Meal 1: Egg whites, oatmeal and blueberries
Meal 2: Chicken breast, broccoli and sweet potato
Meal 3: Tilapia, brown rice, asparagus and almonds
Meal 4: Yams, green beans and lean turkey
Meal 5: Chicken, Spinach and a salad

Now this is just a typical diet and one model isn’t the next – but you will find most of them eating a diet quite similar to this. Closer to a photo shoot or event carbs will get dropped to a near minimum to make sure to the body fat goes down even lower.

Every meal is prepped in advance to make sure there is 100% diet compliance.
Meal prep, your food scale and Tupperware will be your best friend from now one.
Spontaneously grabbing a bite with friends? Unlikely.
Skipping family gatherings to avoid good food temptation and to make sure to get in your cardio? Very likely.

My question to you: do you think a lifestyle like this is something that you enjoy?

Make sure to keep your fitness goals manageable and realistic – it’s good to be passionate and to make health a priority – it’s another thing when it restricts you from enjoying many other facets in life.

We believe that a healthy lifestyle should ADD pleasure to your life, not substract.

Waffles everyday!

I often get a surprised look when i tell my client I had waffles for breakfast, for some reason so many of us still believe that a healthy diet means a boring diet!
Let me share my favourite waffle recipe with you, personally I love my waffle a bit on the crispy side – that’s why I don’t use any eggs.
If you prefer a more ‘cake-y’ waffle i suggest replacing the chia seeds with an egg.

Recipe:
1/2 cup oats (can use glutenfree)
1 scoop whey protein
1 tbsp chia seeds
baking powder
pinch of salt
lemon extract
enough milk to thin out it out.

Simply mix all the ingredients and let the batter soak in the fridge overnight -it will be ready waiting for you in the morning!

As far as topping go, the sky is the limit!
This morning I decided on a chopped apple, tahini and some pieces of dates and pumpkinseeds.
Enjoy!

Meal prep – making your healthy lifestyle easier.

The number one key to sticking to your meal plan is definitely preparation.
If you fail to plan you plan to fail – you’ve probably heared this quote thrown around several times before but it really is as simple as that!
We plan our training sessions because waiting until ‘an opening pops up’  simply doesn’t work, why would we tackle our nutrition any different?
When you’re coming home at the end of a long work day you’ll not feel like making a big effort slaving away in the kitchen, you want a meal that fits into your healthy diet and you want it fast. Am I right?

This is where meal prep comes in.  Preparing the bulk of your meals in advance will save you a lot of time and maybe even a few pounds!
No need to grab a quick sandwich when you come prepared with your healthy lunch from home and no excuse for that microwave meal when you have an abundance of healthy alternatives stocked in your fridge.
There are several ways to start incorporating meal prep into your life – one I find most convenient is taking 2 moments per week to prepare most of your meals.

This may sounds fancy and complicated but I assure you that it’s not – it’s going to be a new habit that will make your healthy lifestyle a lot easier!

Let’s start with our protein.
A few healthy options include chicken breast, ground turkey, salmon, hardboiled eggs and tuna. Now instead of preparing this as needed for just the next meal you will make enough to last you for a few days, simply prepare as usual and store in your trusty Tupperware.

The same method applies to your carbohydrates. Rice, (sweet) potatoes, oatmeal, quinoa, squash – choose your favourite, calculate how many portions you need for the week and cook or bake to perfection!

When it comes down to vegetables it’s a personal choice of taste preference vs convenience. Personally I tend to not prep my vegetables for dinner – they only take a few minutes to stir fry.
Seeing as I have my carb and protein of choice already prepared in the fridge dinner is still ready within 10 minutes!
If you do choose to prepare them in advance: green beans, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, brussel sprouts and eggplant are a few healthy options that store well in your fridge.

But what about snacks?
Hardboiled eggs, a handful of nuts with an apple, a greek yogurt with blueberries are just a few snacks that are healthy, easy and satisfying.
All the foods mentioned above are fine to have store in your fridge for 3 to 4 days.
This is why I recommend 2 moments to meal prep every week.
All of this is subject to your personal situation, you don’t want to over-prep and waste food.
Take it week by week.
Look at your schedule – if you know you’re having a few meals out adjust portions accordingly.
If you choose to do a bigger meal prep you can store your food in the freezer for up to 4 months.

Adding in variety is quite simple by changing up your spices and condiments. Add some salsa to your lunch for the first 2 days and switch to balsamic vinegar or soy sauce for the next few.
Personally I don’t mind eating the same lunch several days in a row: I enjoy cooking up a stew, a stir-fry or a noodle dish and I’ll enjoy that for 3-4 lunches in a row – I love the convenience of not having to think about it – just grab and go!

Spiced Turkey Sliders with Caramelized Onions & Apples… (Snow Day Post)

A delicious twist on turkey burgers!

...Shower Sangin' and Culinarily Creatin'...

When Cooking With What Ya Got Gets Real. Real Tasty.

I don’t take the weather seriously here in DC therefore I was not prepared for the inclement weather we finally received 50 weather forecasts of snow later. What did that mean for me though? I had to cook with what I had in the house…which was pretty much next to nothing. Nevertheless, my tastebuds were going off for apple pie and a turkey burger or a turkey sandwich so I fused the two ideas somewhat and came up with this quick and simple yet tasty dish. I typically use five spice powder but decided on clove and cinnamon just because.

Spiced Turkey Burgers with Caramelized Onions & Apples on an Onion Roll…

• ½ pound ground turkey
• ½ tablespoon clove (I love clove but feel free to use less)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon but use whatever you like)

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Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Here’s a recipe that we love at the Kensington Studio and think you should try!

Trade-Up Your Food & Recipes

Pizza anyone? Cauliflower Crust Pizza is a healthier alternative if you’re looking to reduce the refined carbohydrates in your meal.

The following serves 4 and is adapted from a Paula Deen recipe.

Ingredients

Non-stick cooking spray

2 ½ cups grated cauliflower (about ½ a large head)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 cup shredded part skim or mozzarella or cheddar cheese

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup homemade or store-bought pesto sauce

1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella or cheddar cheese

1 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes in oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

¼ cup basil leaves, for garnish

 

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grate the cauliflower using a box grater until you have 2 cups of cauliflower crumbles.

Place in a large bowl and microwave for 7-20 minutes, or until soften.

Remove…

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