Nutrition 101 – Fitritious Life

Benefits of a Green Drink

Whipping up a smoothie is a quick and easy way to eat your fruits and veggies, get a good amount of nutrients and fiber, not have to prepare too much for a meal, and enjoy a nice, refreshing beverage. I love to make a smoothie when summer time rolls around. There are so many different combinations; don’t be afraid to be creative. Try mixing things and make your own concoctions or, check out recipes online. Some things to remember: spinach is a great green vegetable to use in smoothies, along with celery, kale, cucumbers and parsley. Fruits that pare well with these green veggies include: bananas, blueberries, strawberries, apples, kiwis, mangos and pineapples. There are no combinations of fruits and vegetables that should be avoided, unless it’s your own personal taste that says otherwise.

So why all the hype over a drink that looks like green mud? Here are 5 top reasons to indulge with a green drink:

1- If you don’t like eating your vegetables, you can drink them instead!

2- Green smoothies are good sources of minerals and vitamins.

3- Drinking smoothies can help you stay hydrated.

4- You can have Beautiful and Radiant Skin.

5- Green smoothies give you Energy, Energy and more Energy!

I know I said 5, but you can’t forget this one:

6- They are easy to make.

There are many more benefits associated with drinking green smoothies. Ultimately, it’s a great way to incorporate some healthy foods into your lifestyle. One thing to remember, however, is that everything should be consumed in moderation. You don’t want to go overboard with fruits in your smoothie. While the sugar in a fruit is natural, it’s still sugar.

Enjoy some Green Machine Power today!

2 cups fresh spinach
2 cups water
1 cup mango
1 cup pineapple
2 bananas

Long Live, Living Long

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Kjell’s on the go snacks

Good Eats, Nutrition 101 / Amanda

No Msg, No Nitrates, high in Protein, taste amazing.

I received a comment that asked me to share some of my snacks and what I eat throughout the week. This first post will be dedicated to my out the door snacks. Here are my top 3! Jerky, Chia Squeeze, and LaraBars. All high in nutrients loads of energy!! Lots of wonderful ingredients. I prefer to get my jerky from stevespaleogoods.com, but that can get pricey, so I only do it occasionally.

Of course, I like to take fruit with me, too, like bananas, berries, oranges, as well as nuts. I also make my own trail mix that includes: shredded unsweetened coconut, pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas), mixed nuts, and some dark chocolate covered cranberries. You can get totally creative with trailmix; different kinds of nuts, raisins (I don’t like raisins too much), different seeds, etc.

I get all of these at Sprouts, a health food store here in Orem. I’m sure wherever you live, you can find them in your local health food store or something very similar.

This LaraBar has two ingredients: Dates and Cashews.
It’s one of my new faves. High in good fats and protein.

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Clean Eating!

1 Comment / Good Eats, Nutrition 101 / Amanda

I wanted to address this picture in tonight’s post. I don’t want to get into the details of calorie counting, but instead talk more about clean eating and reading labels.

The other night I put on a clean eating workshop for a bunch of ladies at my local church. It was a huge hit! I served up a bunch of DELICIOUS food (an Asian nut sauce, lettuce wraps, and a green drink), and I talked about what clean eating means to me.
This is my definition:

eating foods that are nutrient dense, but low in calories

Or

eating healthy, whole, unprocessed foods.

I went on to talk about some of my priorities with clean eating.

1. Unprocessed foods: packaged foods
If you’re going to eat packaged foods, shoot for 5 ingredients or less. Although, if you can’t read the ingredients because they’re some crazy chemical, put it back on the shelf!

In my example in the clean eating workshop, I pulled out a can of cream of chicken soup. Holy Moly! That thing is loaded with crazy ingredients: MSG, modified food starch, soy protein concentrate. Blah.

2. Choose unrefined over refined foods.
-refined carbohydrates include packaged cereals, white bread, white rice, pasta, cakes, biscuits, sweets, candy, pastries, pies, white flour, beer,
-unrefined carbohydrates include brown rice, beans, oatmeal, bran cereal, millet, barley, couscous, wheat, vegetables, lentils, herbs, lamb, poultry and other wholegrain products.

3. Include some protein, carbohydrate and healthy fats (omegas and monounsaturates) at every meal.

4. Watch out for bad fats (trans and saturated) salt, and sugar.
Clean sugars include honey and maple syrup…stevia is a great all natural sweetener (check out https://www.marksdailyapple.com/stevia/)

5. Eat five to six small meals throughout the day.
–keeps blood sugar in check

6. Don’t drink your calories.
DRINK WATER!

7. Get moving.

If what you’re eating is helping you look, feel, and perform your best, then hey, you’re doing great. If not, something needs to change…let’s talk more!

I served the Asian Nut Sauce with some carrots and celery and the ladies couldn’t stop eating. It’s that good!

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Pre and Post workout meals.

Get Your Sweat On!, Nutrition 101 / Amanda

These questions gets asked a lot: “What should I eat before I work out?” and “What should I eat after I work out?”

I was going to dive into all my thoughts on this subject matter, but then I got an email from a respected source that talks about this subject in a more scientific way.

I will share a few thoughts though:

First, it kind of depends on what time of day you’re working out.
I work out in the wee hours of the morning, but I don’t want to get up an hour before to eat a complete breakfast! My stomach wouldn’t do well on that anyway. I like to eat half a piece to a whole piece of whole wheat bread, half a banana, or even a Lara Bar. Not all of these. Just one of them. I also drink about 24 ounces of water right when I get up.

If you work out in the morning like I do, you might find that you’re either starving or not hungry at all. And depending on what kind of exercise you engage in, you may be just fine not eating anything. I like to eat something prior just to assure I have enough energy to get through my intense workouts.

I honestly feel that what you eat AFTER you work out is much more important in respect to you goals than what you eat before you work out. Although, what you eat beforehand can really alter your workout. You want to make sure you have enough energy to sustain you throughout your workout.

Your pre workout meal could be your breakfast if you work out around 9ish. Oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas. Bam. Or Scrambled eggs with sautéed veggies. Just make sure your pre workout meal isn’t going to bog you down. This might take some experimentation.

Those of you that work out later in the day, your pre workout meal could possibly be your lunch or your dinner!

In regard to post workout nutrition, I strongly believe that getting a good source of protein afterwards and a complex carb is a great way to fuel up. Your post workout nutrition should help you replenish your energy and help in protein synthesis so make sure you’re getting a good source of protein in afterwards.

For me, if I’m to eat starchy carbs, this is when I get them. I teach this to my clients as well. I teach that you have to EARN your starchy carbs by exercising. This is when you would eat your rice, pastas, breads, oatmeal, etc.

This is by far my favorite article on pre and post workout nutrition. Here’s another one that talks about pre workout and the same author talking about post workout nutrition.

What have you found works for you? What do you like to eat before you work out? What do you eat afterwards?
Kjell

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If you have it, You’ll Eat It

Nutrition 101 / Amanda

This is what my fridge looks like- how about yours? It has always been my experience that when I have junk food in the house, I will eat it. No matter how disciplined I think I am, the junk food will always win. It is always my goal (whether I am eating paleo or not) to buy healthy food, with occasional treats. I want treats to be special. I don’t want to ultimately deprive myself of them, but eating them every day causes the excitement to fade.

Our bodies run better on nutrient dense foods. Why? The nutrient dense food has better quality for the quantity. Look for foods that contain vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats. These foods have a lot of nutrients but relatively few calories. High nutrient foods usually have fiber, protein and/or water which helps us feel full faster, and we don’t have to overly consume it as we would junk food.

SO out with the Junk Food, in with the Whole Foods (Not referring to the grocery store, unless that’s how you roll).

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Homemade LARA BARS!!

2 Comments / Good Eats, Nutrition 101 / Amanda

If you haven’t tried Lara Bars, you’re totally missing out! They are bars that are gluten free, vegan free, typically less than 5 ingredients, and are mostly made out of fruits and nuts.

They’re a great mid-morning or afternoon snack.

My favorite is the coconut cream because coconut is my fffaaavvvoooorrrittteee flavor of all time.

I came across a recipe for homemade coconut Lara bars and I just HAD to make it happen.

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
8 pitted dates
1 tsp coconut oil

I doubled my recipe.

Mix all in a food processor. Lay it out on plastic wrap and put in fridge for 10 minutes to harden up.
Then shape and cut them into your bars! Enjoy!

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