My Husband asked me to Help him Clean Up his Diet...

In general, my husband is a healthy eater and exercises regularly. He avoids most fast foods and sweet snacks, although he does have some weaknesses (i.e. he loves Reese’s peanut butter cups and Reese’s ice cream). We don’t eat out a lot and I prepare most of his dinners which are the standard meat/grain/vegetable plate. Although I am a vegan for health and ethical reasons, and I advocate this lifestyle to everyone, my husband’s not quite there yet on the “no meat” thing so I do not force him to eat 100% vegan like I do. Although he tends to eat fairly healthy relative to the Standard American Diet (SAD), he knows there are areas to improve and he asked me for my help with this. He gave me a list of what he eats on a regular day and asked me to adjust it to make it healthier. As with many guys, his greatest fear in life is going hungry so I made sure to keep the foods filling and satisfying for him, but much healthier than he was previously eating. With just a few tweaks, I was able to come up with a better meal plan for him, below.

The major changes I made were removing the dairy from his diet (multiple reasons why dairy is not meant for humans and it bad for our health which I will discuss in another post) and increased the amount of fruits and vegetables he is consuming. I also cut down his meat portion sizes and replaced them with more vegetables and/or beans. He is still getting adequate protein from the beans, whole grains, nut butters, etc. and plenty of calories and fiber to keep him full and not feeling hungry. I also suggested he try making more smoothies with different fruits, vegetables, hemp seeds, etc. because they will be filling and help him pack in more whole foods. This just shows you that there are many ways you can eat healthier while still eating delicious and filling foods, and without starving yourself. Start taking small steps today and I promise you will see and feel the difference in your body, your energy, and your health!

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

This is one of my favorite smoothies because its tastes like pumpkin pie! The main ingredients are persimmons which are a delicious fruit that is often mistaken for a tomato.

Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender:

3 ripe persimmons

1 frozen banana

1 cup almond milk

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Snack Smart

In between meals, we often tend to snack on things that satisfy some sort of craving, whether it’s salty or sweet. Although it is important to snack on small meals throughout the day sometimes this can lead to over-consumption of calories depending on what we choose to snack on. Some poor choices of snacks include chips, soda, candy, baked goods, etc. Here are some of my favorite snacks that satisfy my in-between-meal cravings but are healthy and won’t undo your weeks of clean eating.

Smoothie – add in your favorite fruits, greens, and almond milk to make a delicious, filling, fiber-rich snack

Handful of almonds or other nuts – provide added protein and healthy fats

½ cup of dried fruit – for those of you with a sweet tooth try snacking on dates, raisins, figs or apricots

Grapes – perfect snack at home or to go

Super Easy and Filling Dinner Recipe

I love grilled vegetables in the summer time. Here is a really easy dinner recipe with lots of grilled veggies and salsa!

1 cup of cooked couscous, quinoa, or brown rice (your preference)

Grilled veggies of your choice (I used eggplant, squash, and bell pepper)

Fresh tomato salsa with onions and cilantro

1 tsp of chili sauce (optional)

Total Ab Burner Workout

Jack Knives

Lay flat on your back with your legs straight out and your arms straight out above your head. Raise your arms and legs together over your torso until they are perpendicular to the floor. Lower slowly back to the starting position with control (make sure you don’t just drop your feet back down)

V-Hold

Sit on your butt with your hands on the floor slightly in front of your butt. Raise your legs about 1-2 feet off the floor, keeping them straight, and hold

Flutter Kicks

Lay flat on your back with your arms resting by your side. You can raise your head off the ground or keep it on the ground. Raise your legs about 6 inches off the floor and kick them in the air like your are swimming

Reverse Crunch

Lay on your back in crunch position. Raise your legs to a table-top position with knees bent and knees over hips. Using your lower abs, raise your hips off the ground, lifting straight up, then lower back down

Low Plank Hold

Place your elbows on the mat and make sure they are in line with your shoulders. Create a straight line from your head to your toes, bracing your core

Side Plank

Make sure there is a straight line from your elbow to your shoulder. Raise  your hips towards the sky

High Plank

Keep wrists, elbows and shoulders in a straight line. Make sure your hips are straight and don’t dip down or rise up

Mountain Climbers in Plank

Start in the high plank position. Bring one knee into your chest, then the other, like you are running

30-10-20 Workout

4 Races in 4 Weeks: Week 2: Review of GORUCK Challenge

The second event in my 4 week race series is the Washington, DC July 4^th GORUCK.  However, this one is not a traditional race, but an extremely challenging team event.  GORUCK is different from any mud race I have done.  Here is the best summary, pulled directly from their website:

8-10 hours

15-20 MILES
AVERAGE PASS R

ATE: 94%

A serious test of physical and mental toughness, Cadre ensure that you become a team through mission-based scenarios and lots of good livin’.  The GORUCK Challenge is a team event, never a race. Think of it as a slice of Special Operations training where - from start to finish -- a Special Operations Cadre challenges, teaches, and inspires your small team to do more than you ever thought possible. Leadership is taught and teamwork is demanded on missions spanning the best of your city. The hardest part? Signing up.

To make it even more challenging, you need to carry a ruck on your back with 4 or 6 bricks (4 if under 150 pounds and 6 if over) inside and wear it throughout the entire event.  My ruck weighed 45 pounds including the bricks, hydration pack and other gear.

The start point was 9pm at Rose Park in Georgetown, Washington DC.  95 people were at the start point.  After roll call, the “Welcome Party” commenced which lasted approximately 2 hours of calisthenics including push-ups, air squats, 8 count body builder, flutter kicks, etc. all while wearing the weighted ruck.  After the never-ending Welcome Party actually ended, we broke up into 3 teams each led by a different Cadre and was led off for the rest of the nightly adventure.  The Cadre all have Military Special Forces training and use their leadership skills to teach us how to work together as a team to complete the requirement “missions”.  During the course of event we were required to carry additional items.  Our team included carrying tree logs, rail road ties, and various weighted sand bags in addition to our individual weighted rucks.  I saw other teams carrying a concrete parking spot curb and a large granite rock.

During the course of the event we rucked, we duck walked, we crab walked, we were completed soaked when we elephant walked through a fountain around 4am, we won our team relay race in the pitch-black-dark, we box jumped, we raced up the Georgetown Exorcist stairs, and bear crawled and sprinted our way as a team to the top of the Lincoln memorial around dawn all while wearing our weighted … (well you get it).  Our last mission of the event ended with a ½ mile stretch of buddy carries.  

Every event is different and ran by different Cadre who find their own special way ‘Building Better Americans.’  12 hours later and 6 litres of water consumed, I was completed exhausted, sore, but I had a high sense of accomplishment, and a GORUCK patch to prove I did it!

The verdict:  this is unlike any event I’ve done.  It is a physically and demanding event that will bring you to your breaking point and then take you past it.  Will I do another one?  I’ll let you know once I find a muscle in my body that doesn’t ache.  I’ve looked for the past 2 days and I haven’t found one yet.

If you are thinking about doing a GORUCK, I totally encourage you too.  If you have any questions on training, gear, bricks, etc. please post your questions below.

Vegan Diets Deficient and Not Adequate for Physical Activity?

There is a misconception out there that people who don’t eat meat are malnutritioned, too thin, and incapable to building muscle. However, there are many athletes out there that have actually turned to a plant-based diet in order to improve their health and increase their performance.

Scott Jurek

Ultra-marathon runner who has competed in and won the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon, 152-mile Spartathlon, 100-mile Hardrock Run, and several other ultra-marathons.

Check out his book: Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness

Mac Danzig

UFC fighter and winner of The Ultimate Fighter 6, King of the Cage Lightweight World Championship, and Gladiator Challenge Lightweight World Championship.

 “I used to always get that, ‘Well what do you eat?’ ‘Where do you get your protein?’ I get that all the time.” –Mac Danzig ¹

Jim Morris

Vegan bodybuilder, enough said

Carl Lewis

Olympic Sprinter who won 9 gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter sprints, long jumps, and relays. Was voted World Athlete of the Decade in the 1980’s and Olympic Athlete of the Century.

Brendan Brazier

Ironman Triathlete and ultramarathon runner. Brendan has won Olympic triathlons, Half Ironman and Full Ironman. He has a line of vegan food products and supplements and has written several books includingThrive: the Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life.

After extensive research, Brazier found that about 80 percent of recovery is linked to good nutrition. “Eating more doesn’t always mean more energy. You can be overfed while being undernourished,” he says ²

¹ http://www.ufc.com/news/Mac-Danzig-Diet-The-Truth-About-Vegan

² http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/blogs/fitstop/2012/03/08/fitness/endurance-athlete-brendan-brazier-on-how-to-fuel-an-active-lifestyle-the-vegan-way/

Quality over Quantity: Why Low-Calorie Diets Don’t Work

Not sustainable in the long-run

When you eat too few calories over a period of time your body thinks it’s starving and your metabolism adjusts to burning less calories. Then, when you increase your calories, your metabolism is running much slower, and doesn’t burn as efficiently, causing even more weight gain. This pattern results in the typical yo-yo dieting you see in many people.

Involve Eating a lot of Overly Processed, Artificial Foods

Many low-calories diets advertise low-calorie frozen meals, snacks, and desserts. In order to lower the calories in these types of “diet foods” while maintaining the flavor, they must add a ton of artificial sweeteners which are toxic to the body. These artificial ingredients leave you feeling hungrier and craving more sugar. In addition, these foods have been processed to the point where they are not even real food anymore and are devoid of so many essential nutrients found in the whole foods.

Leaves you Feeling Tired and Lacking Energy

A low-calorie diet depletes your energy preserves, which can leave you feeling tired, weak and irritated. In addition, your body starts to cannibalize its own muscle tissue to preserve the last amount of stored fat tissue. As a result, you are unable to participate in physical exercise. You may lose weight initially, but you will lose all muscle tone and strength you ever had and still maintain a relatively high body fat percentage overall.

Instead, Focus on QUALITY over QUANTITY

The best diets should advocate the QUALITY of foods you eat versus the QUANTITY of food. If you focus on eating clean, whole, plant-based foods you can not only EAT WITH ABUNDANCE, but you will lose weight and become healthier on the inside and out. When I became a plant-based vegan, I realized I was eating about 1000 more calories than I had before and I still lost weight! I was never hungry and I wasn’t craving bad foods because I was getting plenty of calories, fiber, and nutrients from the foods I was eating. In addition, I had more energy and was able to exercise more, I became stronger, I got better sleep, had better digestion, and was just happier overall.

In order to reach your weight-loss and health goals, I believe you need to focus LESS ON CALORIES and more on the QUALITY of food you are consuming. Low calorie foods are NOT health foods! Whole, unprocessed, plant based foods are the healthiest foods in the world and are what humans are made to eat. So…STOP COUNTING CALORIES and START EATING HEALTHIER! I promise you, you will see and feel the benefits and you will be able to sustain this healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life.

How to Get Glowing Skin from the Inside Out

Many people disregard the warnings of eating a poor diet because they simply can’t see with their eyes the negative impact on their organs on the inside of their bodies. People are content with the whole “out of sight out of mind” mantra until it is too late and they have developed serious health issues. However, our skin is the largest organ of our bodies and when you eat a poor diet it has a visible impact on the health and look of your skin. If you want healthier, clearer, glowing skin you must get healthier from the inside out by eating a more nutritionally-dense diet.

In order to get healthier skin, there are several foods that should be avoided, including high fat foods, dairy and other processed junk foods.

Processed Foods

Processed foods are very low in nutrients and water, both of which are essential for a healthy body and healthy skin.

Dairy

In order to produce milk, dairy cows are constantly given hormones to keep them impregnated and lactating all year around. Inevitably, these hormones get into the dairy products we eat, causing excess estrogen in our bodies, which leads to many skin issues.  

High Fat Foods

Foods high in fat, such as fried foods, clog pores and lead to skin irritation and acne. In addition, clog pores prevent water from getting in and hydrating your skin.

Animal Protein

Animal proteins contain carnitine, which is a compound that hardens the blood vessel walls, causing wrinkling.

White Bread and other Simple Carbs

Simple carbs, including white bread and pasta, cause insulin spikes in the blood and inflammation in the body. Inflammation in the body causes many health issues as well as breaks down collagen and elastin resulting in less youthful-looking skin.

Caffeine and Alcohol

Both caffeine and alcohol cause dehydration, which dries out the skin and causes wrinkles.

In general, foods that are good for your skin are high in water content and nutrient-dense, which includes all fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables also neutralize free radicals, thereby preventing wrinkles and other signs of aging. It is also important to drink lots of water to keep your body and skin hydrated and help flush out toxins. Finally, omega-3 fatty acids are good for the skin because they help regulate oil production keeping your skin hydrated and protecting it from damage.

Remember, you are what you eat and the skin is a reflection of your total body health. When you adopt a healthier diet you will look better on the outside and you will feel better on the inside!