Six Recipes to Make from this Spiralized Veggie Salad

Spiralize It!

Spiralized Veggies are all the craze these days! Visually, the color, beauty and creativity was the first thing to catch my eye, but the health benefits of finding an alternative to noodles was enticing as well.

I don’t suffer from celiac disease, I’m not diabetic, and I do not have a gluten intolerance. But I have noticed that when I seriously limit pastas and breads from my diet, I feel so much better! I have more energy and less bloating. The inflammation in my joints goes away to the point that I don’t feel pain in my previously sore and arthritic areas. My ‘gut’ issues disappear and I do not experience indigestion any more.

Maybe that means I do have a bit of a “gluten sensitivity” after all. At any rate, I guess that at my age, (50+) my body just doesn’t process some foods like it used to. I can eat a little bit, occasionally, and not have any problems. But if they become a regular staple in my diet, my body is going to let me know it’s not happy with me.

I’m also looking to lose a few pounds, and 2 cups of spiralized veggies has far fewer calories than 2 cups of pasta! It’s also easier on the digestive system and will aid me in my quest for weight loss instead of sabotage me. You see, I also have a serious addiction to breads and pastas. I will almost always eat more than I should at any one sitting, and I will want more and more of it the more often I eat it. In short, if I don’t control it, it will begin to control me.

Maybe this sounds a little bit familiar to you, and you can relate. Or maybe you are one of those fortunate people who just love veggies more than pasta. Either way, hopefully you will find something new in this post to please your palate.

5 Lessons Learned from Gaining Back Lost Weight

Derailed…But Beginning Again

To ‘fall off the wagon’, according to the Urban Dictionary, is to resume an addictive/compulsive behavior one is trying to control. Some synonyms are: to get derailed, to backslide, to have a relapse.

I allowed myself to get derailed. It happened while I was distracted with stress and traveling. Those aren’t excuses, just the honest situation. It didn’t ‘just happen.’ I allowed it to happen because I wasn’t careful and I got lazy. It’s not just about looks for me, although I do feel better about myself when I am thinner and can wear cute clothes! It is also about my health; how I feel. I have fewer aches and pains when I am not carrying extra pounds and I have a lot more energy as well. I enjoy life more when I am healthy. It really all comes down to that.

So, it’s frustrating and can really leave me feeling completely defeated to be almost back where I started a couple years ago. But because I really detest the word defeat, and I refuse to fail, I will get back up, brush myself off, learn from my mistakes and begin again. This train is back on track, baby!

I know what I need to do to get the weight off. Now I am learning what I need to do to maintain my new weight, so as to not waste all the hard work and effort I put into losing it. I don’t claim to have all the answers or to have achieved all my goals at this point. I only know what I am learning in my present situation, and that I am willing to work hard to put those things into practice. I know what direction I need to head and what things I need to change for me to meet my goals. Maybe someone else will find these “6 Lessons Learned” a valuable place to restart their journey as well.

Beating the Challenges of Eating Out

Enough Is Enough!

Between summer vacations, day trips, the heat and life’s unexpected interruptions I find myself seated in a restaurant far more often than I do at any other time of the year. This week I decided I had enough, and needed to clarify my boundaries once again.

So, to refresh my memory and give me a little motivating pep talk, I re-read my own class lesson that I teach at some of my Clean Eating Classes.

Yes, even those of us who preach and teach the clean eating lifestyle can fall off the wagon at times! The important thing is not that we fall, but that we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back in the wagon.

There is definitely no ‘one size fits all’ To-Do List that is going to work for everyone. I wish it were that easy! We all lead different lives, and our schedules and activities do not look the same. In the same way, there are times when our normal weekly patterns change significantly (summertime, holiday seasons, life circumstances) and we find ourselves struggling to ‘keep it clean’. The important thing is to recognize when my clean eating lifestyle is being consistently compromised, and to make the changes necessary to bring it under control.

When we stop thinking about our food and what we are ordering, we are led by our cravings.

Pure and simple.

And we all know where that gets us!

Even if you are not overweight because you happen to have a super metabolism or you’re still young, you are not nourishing your body with healthy food, and you will pay a price at some point in time, in some way. All it takes is a little pre-planning and research to make some smart choices. Below are some things I regularly practice when eating out:

Sweet & Salty Appetizers to Please Everyone

Nothing is better than an explosion of sweet and salty all together in your mouth at once.

Nothing. Is. Better.

I haven’t met many people who will turn down that experience!

I have two incredible appetizers that will be a hit at any party or gathering you host or attend: Salty Lime Cashews and Maple-Bacon Wrapped Dates.

Unless…

Someone is allergic to nuts…or doesn’t eat pork.

But chances are fairly good that at least one of these recipes should work.  😉

For any recipe, it’s always best to start with the cleanest ingredients you possibly can. By that I mean always buy organic if you can afford it, and always buy the real, whole ingredient, not some processed product that comes in a can or a box with a boatload of ingredients that you can’t pronounce and wouldn’t find in your own kitchen cupboards to cook with.

Just Eat Real Food!

Chocolate Muffin in a Mug

Breakfast is served! Chocolate Muffin in a Mug and a smoothie.

Need a quick and tasty morning meal? You can pre-make the mix ahead of time to make this even quicker! Pair it with a fruit smoothie (pre-packaged ahead of time, as well) and you are good to go!

Some things I include in my smoothies. The green cubes are my potassium power soup frozen in an ice cube tray. But you could just toss in a handful of spinach instead.

To make the smoothie packs, just put your cut up fruit of choice along with a few cubes of your favorite yogurt (that you have frozen in ice cube trays ahead of time) in single serve sizes in baggies and toss them in the freezer. When you want a smoothie, simply dump the contents of one baggie in a high-speed blender along with juice squeezed from 2-3 oranges (or other juice of your liking) and a handful of spinach.

Individual servings of smoothie ingredients. Just add 1/2 cup of juice and a handful of spinach!

To pre-make the muffin mixture ahead of time you can prepare several little baggies of all the dry ingredients ahead of time. When you want a muffin, just add the egg, coconut oil, applesauce and banana. Easy peasy!

This is how I store my pre-packaged muffin-in-a-mug mix.

Muffin in a Mug (adapted from Trim Healthy Mama)

Yields 1 muffin

1 egg
1 flat Tbsp coconut oil; can be solid or liquid
1-1/2 Tbsp golden flax meal
1-1/2 Tbsp almond flour
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder heaping
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp unsweetened organic applesauce (optional)
2 inches of a ripe banana (the banana really helps to add sweetness to the muffin)

Directions

Crack 1 egg into a coffee cup and whisk it well with a fork.
Add coconut oil and stir together briskly.
Add dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
Add applesauce and banana, mash it against side of cup and stir it vigorously.
Microwave for one minute.
Muffin will pop right out of your mug onto a plate when tipped upside down.

Slice it open and top with a small pat of grass-fed, real butter

I don’t put any other sweetener in this besides the fruit. However, my taste buds have changed a bit since I cut refined sugar from my diet. I have had people add a little stevia to start with, and eventually they weaned themselves off of it as their taste buds changed. You could also try adding a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup in place of the applesauce. If you add both, your muffin will be too ‘wet.’

If you are diabetic and cannot have fruit, add a little stevia in place of the banana or syrup.

Next Clean Eating Class is in May! Sign up now!

Join us for the next 8 week Clean Eating Class

Have you been wanting to eat better, but don’t quite know where to start or how to fit it into your busy lifestyle or tight budget? Then this class is for you! You’ll be introduced to the clean eating lifestyle, learning the benefits to your overall health and well-being, as well as how to restore yourself to a healthy weight and how to maintain it. You CAN eat clean, no matter what your circumstances are!

Never Count Calories Again! Reading Labels  > Counting Calories

Eat to Live Don’t Live to Eat

Knowledge is Everything! Arm Yourself…Learn More!

EAT REAL FOOD! Yes, chocolate pudding IS allowed!

Class Date and Location: Thursdays, May 7 – July 2, 2015 9330 Bella Vista,  Apple Valley, Ca. Contact: Kim at: 760-985-8729 Class Agenda: 1:00 – 2:00  Cooking Class This hour consists of an interactive, hands-on cooking class time. It is not a demonstration! Everybody gets involved in the cooking process of 2-3 different dishes, taste testing them and taking at least one thing home for later. 2:00 – 4:00  Lesson Time The lessons will include topics such as: ·         What is the basic principle of Clean Eating? ·         How to start incorporating it into your lifestyle. ·         What are pro-biotics. Phytonutrients, GMO’s, etc? ·         Reading and understanding ingredient labels on foods. ·         How to eat clean while eating out. …and many more! COST: The cost for the class is $100 for the full 8 weeks. This includes food for the cooking portion of the class, all recipes made at class, a class notebook, the lessons for each week, and weekly support whenever you need it. That breaks down to about the cost of eating out for one meal or two cups of specialty coffee a week. Ask me about discounts for family members.

Kim’s Potassium Power Soup

It is important to your health to make sure you are getting enough potassium in your body on a daily basis. In my research on this nutrient, I have read that you need at least 4,000 milligrams each and every day. So, how do you know if you are getting enough? When should you start looking into taking a potassium supplement?

Personally, I will never take any kind of supplement or vitamin unless I know for a fact that I continue to be deficient in it after at least 4 months of trying to correct the problem naturally.

Using Real Foods.

Whole Foods.

Clean Foods.

It is always best to get your nutritional needs met through quality, whole food choices, and it can be as dangerous to take supplements you don’t need as it is to be deficient in an area.

There are ways to find out if you are getting enough of certain needed vitamins and minerals, as well as if you are consuming too much of a bad ingredient.

3 Ingredient Homemade Almond Milk

I started drinking almond milk in place of cow’s milk when I realized I have a bit of a sensitivity to too much dairy. So when I started cutting back on dairy products, milk was one of the first things to go. I liked the taste of the almond milk, so it was an easy switch for me. I had a few different brands that liked best, and was satisfied with the change.

Until…

I heard about an ingredient called carrageenan that was in most non-dairy milks. I did some research on carrageenan, and decided I wanted to avoid it. (you can also watch a really good video about synthetic ingredients in organic foods here) I checked the ingredient panel on my almond milk box and sure enough, carrageenan was on the list. After shopping around, I found only 2 brands that didn’t include it, and they weren’t in the stores that were most convenient for me to shop at. Then I came across a video of someone making their own almond milk and it looked so easy I decided to try it.

I don’t remember what video it was, and I have since seen many other posts about making it yourself. I adapted my basic recipe from Danielle Walker’s recipe in her book Against All Grain. I was hooked from the first batch I made when I realized how easy it was and how great it tastes. It’s not necessarily about whether it’s costing me less to do it myself, it’s more about the ingredient panel.

Here is the ingredient list for a store-bought almond milk without carrageenan:

This ingredient panel has fourteen ingredients, not including water. Fourteen! Some I try to avoid completely, and some I can’t pronounce and don’t even know what they are. This breaks my “5 ingredients” rule completely! Besides filtered water, my almond milk has three ingredients, and I know exactly what each of them are!

This morning as I was making my Almond Milk, I took a few pictures and decided to write a post for anyone who is interested. So grab your 3 ingredients, and let’s get started!

Eat Clean & Live Healthy Challenge

EAT CLEAN & LIVE HEALTHY 14 Week Challenge

This 14 week challenge is a short-term commitment that will lead you to long-term healthy eating habits. Whether this is your first step towards making a change in your eating habits or simply the next step in your health journey, you will find this class encouraging and challenging!

The program is called a Challenge for a reason. Anything worth doing will be challenging. You cannot reach the mountaintop without a bit of a struggle. There is a feeling of confidence that comes with accomplishing a tough goal that brings energy and fulfillment to your being, driving you to continue on. The perseverance and discipline it takes will make you not want to backtrack, thus having to do it all over again from the starting point. This program will take you beyond your comfort zone into a place that will become your “new normal.”

Because each person is an individual with their own unique goals and differing ways of successfully accomplishing them, this program is designed for you personally. Using some basic “clean eating” guidelines, you will be given the tools to formulate your own plan to individualize it to how you best attain goals. You’ll receive instruction, encouragement, and accountability from others on the same journey you are on.

Eating Clean While Eating Out: Fast Food Edition