What I eat Wednesday.

Breakfast (Meal 1): 6 out of 7days I start with a big green smoothie little prep, and can be consumed throughout your morning easily.

Ingredients:

• A cup of Almond milk
• 2 giant handfuls of greens. (about 2 loose cups)
• 4 bananas
• 10 Strawberries
• 1tbsp of Chia seeds
• Enough water to blend

Midmorning snack/meal:  I try to keep this meal heavy with fruit and a small salad, eating the fruit first.

• 4 Tangerines
• At the work salad bar I got the chickpea salad, edamame, and cucumber

Preworkout:  This is usually a small serving of fruit.

• A simple mini dateorade with 5dates blended with water.

Postworkout: Is typically a protein supplement and bananas (I hade no ripe ones left)

• The 22bar is one of the best vegan protein bars, its the closet to raw I have seen 

Dinner: Is usually a small salad followed by a cooked meal.

 

• Salad is simple butter lettuce with hummus
• Brown rice about a cup (I only had 1/2cup tonight)
• Veggie stew (In a mini crockpot; 3 Yukon potatoes peeled and diced, 2carrots peeled and diced, 1/2cup of kidney beans, 5white mushrooms, cover in low sodium vegetable broth cook on low all day)

Late night: sometimes I like something to munch on while I am studying usually a few cups of air popped popcorn.

 

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 So this is my report from cron-o-meter and everything in bold I didn't make 100% everything else was at or above 100%. Omega-6 was at 51%, b-12 which we all should supplement with was at 51% which is excellent in any diet and once again get checked and supplement, Vitamin D was at 50% and the sun can take care of the rest if not supplement, iron was 83% ,selenium which was at 31% and I had mushrooms which is a great source it may have not picked up on it because I put in a general veggie stew.  My protein was 130%! In general I am trying to up my calorie intake to 2,500 but I am not pushing my body when its not ready yet.

Energy: 1775 (1582 net) kcal / 1934 kcal (92%) Protein: 60.0 g / 46.0 g (130%) Carbs: 362.3 g / 130.0 g (279%) Fat: 28.1 g / 65.0 g (43%) 91% of Nutritional Targets Achieved

Protein: 11.9%

General Energy 1774.8 kcal 92% Alcohol 0.0 g No Target Caffeine 1.6 mg No Target Water 1297.3 g 48% Carbohydrates Carbs 362.3 g 279%     Fiber 52.9 g 212%     Starch 80.4 g No Target     Sugars 180.2 g No Target Lipids Fat 28.1 g 43%     Monounsaturated 7.0 g No Target     Polyunsaturated 8.6 g No Target         Omega-3 2.0 g 185%         Omega-6 6.1 g 51%     Saturated 4.9 g n/a     Trans-Fats 0.0 g 0.035 g Cholesterol 0.4 mg n/a Protein Protein 60.0 g 130%     Cystine 0.7 g 295%     Histidine 1.5 g 254%     Isoleucine 2.3 g 192%     Leucine 4.4 g 189%     Lysine 3.3 g 187%     Methionine 0.9 g 149%     Phenylalanine 2.5 g 346%     Threonine 2.1 g 233%     Tryptophan 0.7 g 281%     Tyrosine 1.8 g 242%     Valine 2.5 g 166%

Vitamins B1 (Thiamine) 1.4 mg 125% B12 (Cobalamin) 1.2 µg 50% B2 (Riboflavin) 1.3 mg 120% B3 (Niacin) 17.1 mg 122% B5 (Pantothenic Acid) 7.8 mg 156% B6 (Pyridoxine) 3.5 mg 270% Folate 766.3 µg 192% Vitamin A 18274.0 IU 783% Vitamin C 305.0 mg 407% Vitamin D 100.0 IU 50% Vitamin E 20.1 mg 134% Vitamin K 325.2 µg 361% Minerals Calcium 1156.0 mg 116% Copper 2.6 mg 284% Iron 14.9 mg 83% Magnesium 531.0 mg 171% Manganese 6.4 mg 357% Phosphorus 946.7 mg 135% Potassium 4845.7 mg 103% Selenium 17.0 µg 31% Sodium 1402.5 mg 94% Zinc 7.9 mg 98%

 

 

First homemade butternut squash soup of the fall.

Sweet Butternut Squash Soup

 

• 1 medium size butternut squash
• Almond milk
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 large sweet apple, peeled and diced
• Low sodium organic vegetable broth 
• Cinnamon   

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut squash in half gut the seeds. Fill baking pan with 2 inches of water and place squash face down. Cook for 45 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven and flip squash to cool.
3. While squash is cooling heat 2 cups of vegetable broth to a boil, when it reaches a boil add carrots and apple reduce to a simmer.
4. Scoop squash off the peel and put in a blender add enough almond milk to blend about 1/2 a cup. Blend till smooth and transfer to a bowl.
5. Remove carrots and apple from broth and blend till smooth.
6. Add blended squash and carrot/apple mix to broth top with cinnamon, heat to a boil and then reduce to a medium simmer till desired temperature is reached.
7. I topped it with fresh Italian bread and romaine hearts . 

Eating on the go and my first day of my personal training course!!

Eating on the go as a vegan

This morning I had to be in the car ready to leave at 8am all this food took me 20mins to prep all vegan, all convenient, all healthy! 

1.For breakfast in the car I had a 32 oz smoothie just about 500 calories to re-fuel :

• 4 Bananas
• 2 cups of greens
• 1 cup of frozen mango 
• and chia seeds  

2. Then I packed one box of 2 apples chopped, 5 chopped dates and a table spoon of peanut butter this is about 300 calories and some healthy protein and carbs for the midday crash. 

3. The second box is carrots and hummus super simple no prep about 100 calories. 

4. I got a 100% carrot juice from Trader Jo's, carrot juice is my current obsession.  

5. I also got a raw apple and strawberry bar from Trader Jo's not my favorite but good on the go.

6. Off course an orange because yummmy.

Today was my first day of my personal training course and it was amazing. I am taking a 6week class at a local college that concludes with  multiple choice ad practical testing and then a 30 hour internship, The class was 7 hours and went faster then any class I took in college for the first time I feel so passionate and driven about something it's wonderful. I sat there thinking this is the start of something wonderful in my life and I can not wait to see where this takes me!

Why I am transitioning to a vegan lifestyle!

Why I am transitioning to a vegan lifestyle!

Recently I have made the choice to become vegan and while this choice is recent the foundation has been built my entire life. Before I was born my mother was not a big meat eater and my father had been told to adapt a healthier lifestyle at this point they cut out all red meat. When I was born my family wasn't consuming any red meat (just chicken, turkey and fish) and they never gave it to me. Incidentally I have never consumed red-meat in my entire life. I had no desire to try it because it was completely foreign to me. At 14 years old I went away to summer camp at a farm many of the counselors there were vegan/vegetarian and I got involved with that group and learned a ton about animal rights. About 2 weeks into camp I dedicated myself to being a vegetarian and when I went back home after the summer my mom was not happy. At 14 years old it is really hard to get your family to support a major diet/lifestyle change. Me and my mothers compromise was I would still eat fish but it was still a battle. Anther challenge at 14 is money so my diet consisted of a ton of pasta and bread the best options I could get my hands on. While I was passionate about my lifestyle I was not educated enough until the past year.

For the sake of keeping my 11 year journey short and sweet, we're gonna to flash forward to January of this year (2014). My goal for 2014 was to be vegan just for one year with the ultimate hope it would last forever.  I had hopes of being vegan  since I was 14 and finally felt educated and secure enough to make this change. At the same time I found a job at a gym working at there smoothie bar, with that came a free gym membership. Through out my life I had been moderately active mostly cardio (running, swimming) and pilates. At the gym I absolutely fell in love with lifting, it made me feel strong and it was my outlet for all the bad things. In the gym environment I was constantly told I needed to up my protein to think about my marcos and my goals. By March of this year I had given up being vegan and loaded up on protein (eggs, yogurt, whey powder etc.). I was seeing results but I was not feeling 100% and I was defiantly on the yo-yo diet train. I was not happy or enjoying my lifestyle. At this time I was so close to eating meat again for the first time in 10years thinking I was failing because I couldnt get 50%protein. Before I jumped back to meat I decided to do one last round of research on a vegan life. 

At this point a good friend sent me Freelee the Banana Girl's YouTube page and something in what she was saying just clicked to me. There was this light bulb moment of just eat plants, how could I ever think eating fruit carbs was bad for me and why was I so dependent on processed harmful junk to keep me alive when plants having been doing that for hundreds of years. I sat watching Freelee and Fully Raw Kristina for hours one night and everything just clicked, I can be this strong healthy person I want while still holding on to my beliefs. While I am not currently at the point of being fully raw or 80/10/10, I can say I feel confident in my choice of being vegan and a strong women. 

I think every person has the right to make the choice of what is right for there body and there lifestyle. If you are truly passionate about being vegan then research it educate yourself and make sure you are staying healthy. Being in tune with how your body feels, track your calories and make sure you are eating enough to thrive. As someone who has never consumed red meat I have gotten  blood work done nearly yearly forever, I have been iron deficient once when I first became vegetarian and was eating no plants and never have been again. I also had a vitamin D deficiency as a direct result of my pregnancy but with supplementing I had a healthy pregnancy and child, my vitamin D deficiency went away within weeks of birth. I have never been overweight or had any health problems and I defiantly attribute this to my lifestyle.This life is possible and one I am so passionate about. I can't wait to spend my life in the fitness industry helping people in whatever there goals are.