Greek Yogurt

FAGE Total 0% Yogurt in Plain

If you're a clean eater, you've undoubtedly seen Greek yogurt used in several of our recipes.

Greek yogurt is strained, so it has twice the protein and about half the sugar of regular yogurt. Fage (pronounced "fa-yeh"), made only from organic raw cow's milk and live bacteria cultures, is 100% natural and is suitable for diabetics and lacto-ovo vegetarians. Plus, it's good to go Greek when cooking because the yogurt doesn't separate in high heat.

Serving Size: 8 oz, Calories: 120, Total Fat: 0 g, Carbs: 9 g, Fiber: 0 g, Sugars: 9 g, Protein: 20 g, Sodium: 85 mg, Calcium: 25%, Vitamin A: 0

I love my protein bars! Pro Bar...

Pro Bar

Each bar brims with a minimum of 15 signature whole-food ingredients, such as oats, organic peanut butter and sunflower seeds

 

Names such as Kettle Corn, Koka-Moka and Maple Pecan may have you picturing a traditional sugary confection, but they’re actually varieties of 100 percent vegan and raw organic meal-replacement bars by Probar. Each bar brims with a minimum of 15 signature whole-food ingredients, such as oats, organic peanut butter and sunflower seeds. One to try: Award-winning Superfood Slam also packs antioxidant-rich acai berries, omega-3-filled flaxseeds and a super-greens blend of wheat, barley, alfalfa and oat grasses into the mix. $3.30 per 3 oz bar, theprobar.com

Pilaf Sidekicks

Kashi 7 Grain Pilaf Sidekicks

Ready to eat after a quick cooking on the stovetop or merely a minute in the microwave, Kashi Seven Whole Grain Pilaf sides offer a day’s worth of whole grains, real vegetables, herbs and spices, plus seven grams of fiber and eight grams of protein in just one cooked cup.

 

Ready to eat after a quick cooking on the stovetop or merely a minute in the microwave, Kashi Seven Whole Grain Pilaf sides offer a day’s worth of whole grains, real vegetables, herbs and spices, plus seven grams of fiber and eight grams of protein in just one cooked cup. $2.50, kashi.com

Butter!

Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

Those of you who can’t bear the thought of a dry multigrain roll sans butter, now have another option.

Earth Balance offers a non-hydrogenated (which means zero trans fats!) buttery spread that’s made with expeller-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, along with natural soybean and palm fruit oils. However, remember to still use the vegan and lactose-free butter alternative sparingly – olive oil translates to healthy omega-3 fatty acids and mono- and polyunsaturated fats, but the spread still offers 11 grams of total fat per tablespoon.
$4, available nationally at Whole Foods Markets

Peanut Choco’ Granola Bar with Chocolatey Drizzle

Nature's Path Organic Granola Bars, the only certified organic bar in our lineup, the wheat-free Nature’s Path bar is full of natural ingredients like rolled oats, roasted peanuts and crispy rice. While it is a tad high in calories, sugar and sodium, this bar safely puts the “nature” in nature lover. $4.29 per box, naturespath.com

Serving Size: 35 g, Calories: 150, Total Fat: 6 g, Carbs: 22 g, Fiber: 2 g, Sugars: 11 g, Protein: 3 g, Sodium: 125 mg

Kashi Honey Sunshine Cereal

Kashi Honey Sunshine Cereal

We think even Cap’n Crunch would approve of these pillow-like pieces, much like his classic puffs but devoid of preservatives and sugar

 

If you’ve had a soft spot for Cap’n Crunch since childhood, or find that your little ones have a hankering for the iconic puffs, you can all have your cereal and eat it too – with Kashi Honey Sunshine. The pillow-like, whole grain pieces, a serving of which contains 6 g of fiber and 20 g of whole grain, are devoid of preservatives and sweetened with natural wildflower honey. But, despite how healthy they are, we bet even the Cap’n would approve of the taste! 

$3.99, kashi.ca / kashi.com

Cooking Cheat Sheet

Carrie Underwood's No-Guilt Veggie Pizza

Carrie Underwood's No-Guilt Veggie Pizza

This recipe is as easy as pie. The tortilla crust and reduced-fat cheese trim calories and fat, and the more vegetables you pile on (Underwood likes spinach, olives, onions and bell peppers), the more disease-fighting antioxidants you get.

INGREDIENTS

Vegetable oil cooking spray

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray

1 Food for Life Organic Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain (or whole-grain) 9-inch tortilla

1/4 cup pizza sauce

1/4 cup low-fat shredded mozzarella

Vegetable toppings of your choice

1 cup mixed greens (optional)

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 400°. Coat a cookie sheet or pizza stone with cooking spray. Spray I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray on both sides of tortilla; place tortilla on sheet; spread with pizza sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Top with your favorite vegetable toppings. Bake until tortilla is crispy and cheese has melted, about 5 minutes. Top with mixed greens, if desired. Cut into 4 slices and enjoy.

 *From Self Magazine

Kale Chips

Kale Chips

(photo is of sea salt and vinegar version of Kale Chips that I took over the weekend... YUM YUM)

Ingredients

Oil Spray (canola or olive)

1 Large Bunch of Kale

Kosher Salt

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat two large baking sheets with oil spray. (The chips will be crispiest if baked directly on the baking sheet, without aluminum foil.)

Trim the ends off the kale and cut the leaves into 2-inch pieces. Divide the kale pieces between the two baking sheets and spread them into a single, even layer. Liberally mist the kale with oil spray and lightly sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the kale is crispy to the touch and the edges are beginning to brown.

Serving Size

Serves 2 to 4

Other Flavors

Sprinkle with Parmesan, Asiago or your seasonings of choice. Plus a sprinkle of kosher salt.

Another alternative is to buy them - they sell them at Whole Foods and I'm sure other places too!  New York Naturals below sells theirs at Whole Foods.

Simple Kitchen and Attack of the Escalator

Yesterday my girlfriends and I headed to Earth Yoga in NYC for a Hot Yoga class (felt amazing!) and then headed downtown for lunch at "The Simple Kitchen".  The Simple Kitchen is an all-natural and organic cafe in Chelsea.  They use local ingredients from their farm, The Simple Kitchen Garden, in CT.  They have a "grab and go" section and they also have a area to dine-in which is exactly what we did.  I got the vegetarian wrap with hummus and a cup of tea and we all shared "Kale Chips".  I have never had Kale Chips before but my friend Pam (Barbie Boot Camp blogger) had recently put this up on her website as a yum snack, and yummy it was!  I'll add the recipe for this in my next blog.  After lunch we walked over to TJ Maxx and Marshals.  I bought about 5 workout tops between $7 and $14.  They were great!  I didn't find any workout pants unfortunately, so that mission continues!  Of course my day wouldn't be complete without some clumsy act (always happens to me!).  My dress got stuck in the escalator!  It was quite scary for a second... it was a long dress and kept getting sucked more and more in... at one point I thought "my lord I am going to have to strip out of this and walk in my bra and undies down the rest of the escalator!".  My friends hit the emergency button on the escalator and it stopped.  I had to literally rip myself out from being stuck which ripped a huge chunk out of my dress.  It was entertaining and I'm glad I didn't get hurt and no one else did.  Always gotta be careful with those escalators!

Anyway none the less, it was a great and fulfilling day!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Who doesn’t love chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies?  But who loves all the fat, sugar, carbs and calories that usually come in one?  Not me!  Here’s a much lighter version!

Ingredients:

1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder

1 frozen banana

2 T PB2

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

ice

Directions:

Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.

Nutrition:

Calories – 317

Carbs – 31g

Fat – 10g

Protein – 29g

*Recipe from "The Get In Shape Girl" via Facebook

Eating Healthy When You're Eating Out

For me, eating out, social gatherings and so forth have always been a death sentence to my waist-line.  It's the time that I usually say, "okay this is cheat night", however, living in NYC, every night can be a cheat night because there's always somewhere to go or something to do.  Part of my Clean Plan is not making excuses why I cannot eat healthy.  I could certainly stay home and cook every meal and make every lunch, however, I enjoy going out sometimes.  We all do!  So how do we stay on track? 

Last night I was presented this question from myself.  Todd called right before I was heading to the gym and asked if I'd like to go to dinner tonight.  With the crazy lives we lead in NYC, setting aside a date night once per week is important, thus his invite to dinner was not something I was going to say no to.  Sure I had leftover grilled chicken I could eat but dinner was the experience of being with him and enjoying conversation and being together.  No doing dishes, no cleaning needed.. just dinner and relaxation.  One of the best things I did was go to the gym BEFORE I went to dinner.  In the past I would say, "Well it's a cheat night, no point in working out!"  But there is point in working out, it makes you realize you are working hard and why throw it away on an unhealthy and guilt filled meal?  So I headed to the gym and did my hour of cardio as I planned and headed home to shower and get ready for our date night!  Todd asked what I was in the mood for and I told him that I was happy if the menu had salad or a chicken dish.  I knew I'd be safe if those two items were on the list.  So he picked an Italian joint on the Upper East Side (oh lordy, Italian, my fav!).  He knows that I'm working on losing weight and changing my diet, so he is very supportive and understands the place I am in.  This helps!  On our way to dinner, the only thing I asked was that when the bread basket comes to please take a piece or two and then ask the waiter to take the rest of the bread back.  Which he did and guess what it helped!  And I didn't miss it!  I didn't obsess when I got there about the bread.  I put it past me.  That is not what I wanted to fill up on.  I think it's important NOT to obsess too much.  For me dinner is the experience of being with Todd not the experience of devowering food and being stuffed!  The menu was your typically YUMMY Italian.  I stuck to my plan and tried to skim most of the menu and go straight to salad and pollo!  I ordered a salad with lemon dressing (the rest of the salad had veggies and little avocado).  For dinner, there was sauted chicken with veggies (sauted aka fried) so I asked the waiter for it to be grilled and the veggies to be steamed.  No questions asked - they did it - and it was good!  We also enjoyed a glass of wine and dessert (blueberries and strawberries and I was able to take most of it home b/c the dessert was sooo much fruit!  Used it with breakfast this a.m.!)

Eating out doesn't have to be off limits.  It's possible with a plan.  Here's some tips to sticking to that plan without throwing your health goals out the window:

1. If you can look at the menu before you go to the restaurant and have a plan of what you are going to eat.
2. Be assertive.  Ask for changes to the menu.  If an item is fried, ask for it grilled.  If it comes with fries, as for veggies. 
3. Ask your waiter to "triple the veggies, please".  Most veggies that come on your plate from a restaurant serve more as garnish than food.  When ordering, ask for double/triple veggies.  By the end of the meal you will feel full not fat.
4. Ask how the food is prepared.  Read between the lines. Any menu description that uses the words creamy, breaded, crisp, sauced, or stuffed is likely loaded with hidden fats — much of it saturated or even trans fats. Other “beware of” words include: buttery, sautéed, pan-fried, au gratin, Thermidor, Newburg, Parmesan, cheese sauce, scalloped, and au lait, à la mode, or au fromage (with milk, ice cream, or cheese).
5. Don't restrict yourself, this is when binging comes into play.  If you feel like you want that bite of bread, ask if they have whole wheat or half of the roll if you have to and add a little oil to it, nix the butter. 
6. Ask the waiter to box half your entree before it gets to the table or split with someone else.  Hello leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
7. Often eating two appetizers are healthier than what could be on the entree menu - this is great at Asian Fushion type places especially.
8. Skip the fancy drinks. If you must order an alcoholic drink, forget the margaritas, piña coladas, and other exotic mixed drinks. They include sugary additions that only add calories. Opt instead for a glass of wine, a light beer, a vodka and club.
9. Drink water throughout the meal. It will slow you down, help you enjoy the food more, and let the message get to your brain that you’re full — before your plate is empty.
10. Remember, eating out isn't just about what you are putting in your mouth, it's also about the experience of being with your family, friends or significant other.

Good Germs

Wheat germ is the nutrient-rich embryo of the wheat kernel that is removed during the processing of whole wheat grains to white flour and only makes up about two to three percent of the entire wheat kernel . Although not technically a food, wheat germ is considered to be one of the top 10 healthiest foods to include in a balanced diet because it is such a good source of so many essential vitamins and minerals and healthy fats.

Can be added to:
Breakfast cereals
Oatmeal
Pancake and waffle mixes
Smoothies
Yogurt
Breads and muffin mixes
Cottage cheese
Homemade protein bars
Casseroles
Also replaced breading for meats!!!  Totally tricks Todd everytime!

My Version of Fast Food....

Here's my list of go-to meals, keep in mind i'm not really into fish, i'm semi-vegetarian and I do NOT eat tofu so your list will likely be a lot different than mine:

Bottle of water EVERY MEAL and EVERY WORKOUT

Protein Shakes:
Unsweetened Blue Diamond Almond Milk (protein)
Flax seed (fat)
Glutamine (if at night or after strength session)
Berry (simple carb with nutrients)

Oatmeal:
Packet of Stevia or Truvia (sweetner)
Scoop of protein powder (protein)
Oats (complex carb)
Other options for protein: almond butter

Cottage Cheese:
Low Fat Cottage Cheese (protein)
Flax (fat)
Veggies (complex carb)

Greek Yogurt:
Unsweetened Plain Greek Yogurt (complex carb)
Stevia or Truvia
Almonds (protein / fat)

Cheese:
Low fat string cheese (complex carb)
Almonds (protein / fat)

Salad:
Lettuce & Veggies
Chicken / Almonds (protein)
Oil and Vinegar/Lemon (fat)

Chicken:
Grilled Chicken (protein)
Veggies (complex carb)

English Muff:
Ez Bread (complex carb)
Almond Butter (protein)
Sliced Banana (simple carb with nutrients)
Flaxseed (oil)

Cream of Wheat:
Cream of Wheat (complex carb)
Scoop of Protein (protein)
Topped with Fruit (simple carb)
Flaxseed (oil)
Bee Pollen
Water

Granola:
Granola (protein)
Greek Yogurt (complex carb)
Flaxseed (oil)
Bee pollen
Berries
Water

Oatmeal:
Oats (complex carb)
Apples
Cinnamon
Flax seed (oil)
Wheat germ
Almonds

Hummus:
Vegetables (complex carb)
Hummus (protein)
Almond (protein / fat)

Yogurt:
Nonfat yogurt (complex carb)
Banana (carb)

Protein Bars:
Make own

Cottage Cheese:
Non fat (protein)
Berries (carb)
Flax seed (oil)

Celery:
Celery
Almond Butter (Protein)
Wrap:
Eze wrap (complex carb)
Hummus (protein)
Veggies

Grocery List

Grocery List:

Whole Grains:
Ezekiel bread/buns/wrap
Granola
Oatmeal
Wheat Germ

Produce:
Sprouts
Banana
Blueberries
Broccoli
Carrots
Celery
Corn
Grapes
Tomatoes
Lemons
Mixed Greens
Peas
Onion
Peppers
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes
Watermelon
Avocado

Dairy:
Low Fat String Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Almond Milk

Protein:
Black Beans
Chicken
Edamame
Kidney Beans
Lentils
Pinto Beans
Protein Powder

Other:
Almond Butter
Balsamic Vinegar
Bee pollen
Nuts
Flax Seed
Green Tea
Olive Oil
Protein Powder
Bee Pollen

KLEAN!

Okay so let's get into 80% of your body which is what you put in your mouth.  Have you purchased the book I talked about below?  Hopefully you have, because that is going to give you the most information in one place and set you on the right track.  Weight loss cannot be achieved with out cleaning up what you eat and this happens to be the hardest part of weight loss.  Most of us eat processed junk that contains chemicals that literally make us addicted to what we are eating!  It is possible (heck I am doing it!) to stop the addiction to food (sweets / carbs for me!) and become addicted to eating clean and feeling good. 

Eating clean is simple.  It's eating whole, natural foods like fruits, veggies, lean proteins and complex carbs.  It cuts out man-made sugar, bad fats, preservatives, white bread and any other unncessary and addicting ingrediant.  An easy way to remeber the difference between "clean" and "dirty" is "if it comes from the ground eat it" and "If man made it, don't eat it".  Clean is natural.  Dirty is man-made.

Here's what a clean eater looks like:

No refined sugar 

Cooks healthy meals (plan your meals ahead it makes it easier)

Packs healthy meals (buy a cooler if you haven't already)

Makes healthy choices when dining out (plan ahead! you can always ask for grilled chicken/fish even if its not on the menu)

Drinks a lot of water (carry around a stainless steal 27oz canteen)

Eats 5-6 small meals per day (this is VERY important and plan the on Sunday night for the week)

Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it - one glass of red wine will not kill you)

Always eats breakfast (umm this is obvious!!)

Eating clean can be a major transition for a majority of people due to addictions to sugar, white bread, and fast food. It takes discipline in order to make eating clean a habit but it is possible and has so many long-term health benefits.

Here's the tricks I did to help me make the transition:

1. I created a list of 20 meals that were "clean".  Each meal contains 1 protein, 1 complex carb, 1 fat.  This will be your go-to list and eventually you can expand on it.
2. On Sunday, I create my menu for the week (6 meals a day).  Each night while making dinner, I pack my lunch for the next day.  Leftovers, usually are a meal for the next day too (hello chicken fajitas yum!). 
3. Think of the one or two items that you get cravings for and come up with a clean version of them.
4. Track your food on http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
5. PLAN AHEAD always!

Over the course of my blogging I'll be adding recipes, shopping lists and so forth. 

Happy Eating!