Meal Prep Mondays

Let's face it- we would all be better off if there were 36 hours in the day and most of us have a long list of things that we WISH we could get done and in a perfect world they would but instead they get put on the back burner. One of these for me is cooking and making meals everyday. In a perfect world I would wake up at 4:30am with no troubles, go to the gym, make a big breakfast, and then make and pack a healthy lunch for the day. Guess what my reality is? It's a good day if I snooze my alarm in the morning for LESS than an hour and I make it to work by 9:15 which is still LATE! I'm always on the go but getting started has always been the hardest part for me. I would love to pay someone else to go through the pain of waking up in the morning for me.

You get the point - I don't have time to cook three meals every single day which resulted in me not eating healthy enough or large enough lunches so in the last few months I have started doing Sunday or Monday Night Meal Prepping. I have seen and felt such a difference and it really doesn't take more than an hour and you're set for lunches for the whole week. I normally pick three meals and cook two portions of each which covers all of my lunches plus one dinner. My go-to's have been ground white turkey with spinach, ostrich burgers with spinach, scallops with spinach, salmon with spinach, and stirfry. If a girl who had only turned on her oven three times in the past 4 years can manage this, anyone can. Try it for two weeks and see if you feel a difference. My protein intake has probably quadrupled due to it.

 

Top 10 Healthy Cooking & Eating Tips

Here are my Top 10 Foods and/or Tips that you should add to your diet to help promote weight loss. These are the easiest and most basic things you can consume that will make a world of difference:

1) Coconut oil - is free of cholesterol and trans fats. Beyond the kitchen, coconut oil has countless uses and benefits and can be used in your hair, for your skin, canker sore remedy and even shoe polish

2) Protein powder in omega 3 eggs) - omega 3 eggs are nutritionally boosted version of regular eggs and it has to do with the types of feed that they give to the chickens so that the eggs contain a lot of omega-3 fats which are the good types of fat :) I add flavorless protein powder when I make my eggs since it doesn't change the flavor or consistency and only adds to the nutritional value

3) Chia seeds - I posted about these before. They are from Chia pets hah- 1 tablespoon of chia seeds serves as a five grams of fiber and they also help to improve your blood sugar. Chia seeds aid in reducing food cravings and they also serve as a vegetarian source of protein. I add them now to almost anything I make because they a flavorless and just add a crunch - similar to poppy seeds

4) Braggs - amazing salt substitute seasoning

5) Hot water with lemon in the AM - this aids in weight loss by improving your digestion and increasing your vitamin C intake

6) Protein Powder Recipes - whenever you're craving carbs, there are a lot of substitutes that will fulfill your craving- like the zucchini crust pizza recipe I posted, or protein brownies, cookies, or pancakes

7) Salmon - an amazing omega 3 source and great for your heart health

8) Raspberries and blueberries - I grouped these together because they are both berries but they have different benefits. Raspberries are one of the foods containing the greatest amount of antioxidants and they are also really high in fiber. Blueberries is one of the number one killer's of high blood pressure.

9) Spinach - I'm not one for veggies, which is bad but I have incorporated spinach in all of my lunches for work because it contains 18 different vitamins and minerals. I also recommend cooking this in an iron pan because then you can get added iron content in your spinach

10) Apples - serve as an amazing source of dietary fiber