Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

I LOVE crockpot dinners :) I found a recipe similar to this one on Natalie Hodson's website but changed a couple things to satisfy the flavors I enjoy. Crockpot recipes are great because they can be quick, easy, and healthy. And the best part is you don't have to stand there and cook it, which is a plus for everyone. I also really love this one because it can go with so many different things! Sometimes I will put it in a wrap, on a salad, over wild or brown rice, or use it for lettuce wraps. I am sure there are plenty of other things you can eat it with as well. Try it out and let me know what you think and how you used it. Oh and one more thing, you can also freeze it to have it ready for another day. 

Ingredients

3 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1  16 oz Container of Low Sugar Salsa (I use Kirkland Organic Salsa because it doesn't have much sugar)

1 14.5 Oz Can of no sodium diced tomatoes

1 Can low or no sodium tomato sauce

1 Tablespoon Paprika

1/2 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes

1 Tablespoon fresh or dried cilantro

1/2 Lemon, squeezed

Directions:

Trim any fat or undesired pieces off chicken breasts (thawed). Add chicken breasts and all other ingredients to crockpot. Stir so chicken is covered. Put lid on and cook on Low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. You can serve it shredded or however you like.

Feel The Burn - Arms and Abs

Hey there! Sorry I haven't posted a workout for a while, I have been pretty busy with work and school. But I wanted to post this one today because it is one that I did and I love it :) It can be difficult  for beginners to do all the reps and get through the entire thing, but just REMEMBER you can adjust the reps/time/weight for ANY of these workouts. Have fun and focus on quality over quantity.

Warm up by doing some arm circles and a few jumping jacks and push-ups

Circuit 1:
20-30 Kettlebell swings (I used a 15lb kettle bell today)
45 Seconds High Knees
10 Slow push-ups (I did 5 regular and 5 knee push-ups)
Rest for 1 minute
Complete 3 rounds

Circuit 2:
15 Triceps Extensions with kettle bell or some other weight (I used a 10lb kettle bell)
1 minute Jumping Jacks
15 Bicep Curls (I used 10lbs here as well)
Rest 1 minute
Complete 4 rounds

Circuit 3:
15-20 Burpees (shoot for 20! but adjust as needed, I took out the push-up today because I already did so many)
8 Assisted slow Pull-ups, Substitute Exercise: 10 High Pulls with kettle bell, each arm
12 One Arm Rows (I used 15lbs here)
Rest for 1 minute
Complete 3 rounds

Circuit 4: Abs :)
15 Leg and Arm Raises with kettle bell (I used 10 lbs but don't use any if it's your first time)

• Lie flat on the floor with arms and legs extended. While keeping your head on floor, simultaneously raise arms and legs toward each other, keep back flat and legs as straight as you can. Go back to starting position and repeat.

15 Pulse Ups

15 Bicycles

12 Side Lifts (each side)

15 Stability Ball Crunches

Rest 90 Seconds

Complete 3 Rounds

Photo Cred: popsugar.com
Pulse Ups

Photo Cred: blog.codyapp.com
Side Lifts

Cardio Challenge

Sometimes it is hard for me to do cardio. Especially if I don't have any equipment and/or it is cold outside. And even though I have a spin bike, I don't always want to do the same thing. So, here is a cardio workout routine that is sure to get your heart rate up. It is hard but totally worth it!

*This, like all of my exercises can be adjusted to fit personal needs and all levels. If you can't do some of the moves, replace them with something you can do that will still keep your heart going. Enjoy!

40 Jumping Jacks
30 Seconds Jump Rope (if you don't have a rope yet then jump in place but make sure you get those feet off the ground)
20 Seconds High Knees
20 Seconds Butt Kickers
30 Seconds to 1 minute rest (drink a little water)

30 Mountain climbers
5 Jump Squats
5 Burpees
30 Seconds Jump Rope
30 Seconds Rest (a little water if needed)

25 Jumping Jacks
20 Pivoting Upper Cut Punches (keep that core in tight!)
30 Seconds march in place and bring your knees high
5 Burpees
30 Seconds Rest

35 Jumping Jacks
40 Seconds Jump Rope
5 Jump Squats
30 Seconds High Knees
Rest for 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes
Repeat as many times as you can or until you reach 30 minutes (if you can do longer than great, do it!)

Butt Kickers

Modified Burpee- Without Push-up

Body Leanness Is Not Central To Your Self Worth

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are" -Marilyn Monroe

To be happy beautiful and desirable you do not first need to be thin. Beauty is so much more than what is portrayed in magazines and in the media. Self confidence and understanding your own self worth is beauty. Our society sets unrealistic ideals and devalues those who do not conform to them. I want anyone reading this blog to know that I do not think we all need to look the same and be the same. That is not how we were created.

The purpose of this blog is to promote healthy eating and physical activity. It in no way advocates dangerously low calorie diets, binge eating, or the same ideal body size for everyone. 168 pounds was heavy for my body type, but for another woman it could be completely normal and healthy. That is why it is important to focus on eating healthy balanced meals and sticking to a regular fitness program. If you are overweight, then yes it is important to work at losing a healthy amount of weight, but this is to be done the right way, not the extreme way. It is important to establish healthy weight goals fit to accomplish healthy body composition. Starving oneself will cause the reduction of lean muscle mass, therefor resulting in a lower basal metabolic rate and if not fixed, enormous amounts of damage done to the body.

I understand what it is like to want to be thin and look like the models in magazines. I understand comparing oneself to others and always thinking someone is more beautiful than you. I get. But that is not what brings happiness. I am happy when I know that what I am doing will help me be healthier today and tomorrow. It is not always easy to stop the nagging voice inside my head telling me that I am not good enough, pretty enough, fit enough, or skinny enough. But that voice doesn't know who I really am. That voice doesn't know my potential, and that voice only looks on outward appearances. There is so much more to beauty than what is see by our eyes.

So it is unrealistic for any of us to try and become someone else. It is impossible in fact. But why would you want to be someone else when you can work at being the best you that you can be? It takes diligence and it takes positivity. I don't always do my best at it, but I am sure going to try!

 Anyway, what I am trying to say is, I don't post these exercise routines, recipes, tips, and progress pictures to say that everyone needs to look and be the same. I do it because I want to inspire people to be HEALTHY and FIT. If you are skinny but don't take care of yourself, that is just as bad as being overweight and not taking care of yourself. There are plenty of risk factors associated with being underweight as there are with being overweight. Some are different and some are the same. The goal here is to take care of yourself and to love yourself. So stop judging yourself and others. Set worthy and attainable goals, and reward yourself in a healthy way when you accomplish them. And when you slip up from time to time, don't beat yourself down, pick yourself up and get going again. Ok I will stop preaching now :) but seriously you can do this, the RIGHT way. Keep HEALTH as your focus.

Now for some little things to note:

• Never restrict food intakes to below the amounts suggested for adequacy (if you are unsure what that is, there are resources on the USDA website to help and other resources, including your physician)
• Eat frequently, but not large portions. The person who eats frequently won't get so hungry as to allow hunger to dictate food choices (which is often when we do things we know we shouldn't, like eat a whole box of cookies)
• If you are not at a healthy weight, establish reasonable goals based on a healthy body composition to get there.
• Allow reasonable time to achieve goals. It is said that a reasonable rate for losing excess fat is about 1% of body weight per week. Which generally isn't more than 2 lbs a week.
• Learn to recognize lies in the media, and reject ultra thin and unrealistic and harmful standards for beauty.

Things Everyone Should Know

Healthy Foods Still Contain Calories
Crazy right? I agree, I think healthy food should be low in calorie and not make me gain weight. But the truth of the matter is, all food has some calories. Just because peanut or almond butter are good for you doesn't mean that you should sit and each a bunch of it! 1 tablespoon of almond butter contains around 100 calories. Make sure you pay attention to portion sizes, especially when it comes to whole grains, seeds, protein bars, fruits, and nuts. They can add up quickly! And obviously healthy snacks are better than junk food, but that doesn't mean you can eat as much as you want.

Walking Won't Cut it:
This is the truth. Although walking is extremely good for you, doing only it won't give you the results you are looking for. You're going to have to kick it up a few notches if you want to get toned and lose weight. This means strength training and cardio every week. My weekly workout plan consists of 4 days of weight lifting/strength training and 2 (intense) days of cardio. I highly recommend when you do cardio that it be HIIT. In order to lose inches and get toned you have to burn calories, and walking just doesn't burn enough.

I Worked Out So I Can Eat Whatever I Want Now:
Wrong. Yes, you did just burn calories and you did just do something super good for you, but that doesn't mean it will cancel out the rest of what you eat throughout the day. Set goals and guidelines for yourself, and if you find yourself bingeing and losing self control, track your progress on an app such as My Fitness Pal. Reward yourself for working out hard by treating yourself to a massage, or reading a book, don't do it by eating candy, treats, and other things. 

Tracking Your Progress Is A Big Deal:
Truth! It is really hard to see results and keep going if you are not tracking what you are doing. I recommend setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals you want to accomplish (make them feasible). Take progress pictures. And write down how many reps you were able to do with each exercise and shoot for a higher amount next time. If you don't hold yourself accountable then it will be really hard to stick with it. Remember, this is not about losing weight, it is about being fit and healthy, and the best way to track that is by accomplishing goals.

And as always, learn to LOVE yourself. Confidence and positivity is what will keep you going. I struggle often to love myself, but the more and more I work at it the better I get. And the more I love myself the less my focus becomes about weight and size and more about being healthy and taking care of the beautiful body that God has given me. We can do this!

Pre-workout Protein Smoothie

I love eating haha, no but seriously I do. So it is always fun for me to come up with new ways to make yummy and healthy recipes. This one I made this morning and I really liked it. It isn't very sweet, which is good because I can't handle too much flavor first thing in the morning.  This gave me just the right amount of fuel for my workout.

Side note: I want everyone to know that eating is not a bad thing, in fact eating at the right times and the right things for your body can truly enhance your workout experience. Making sure you are getting enough nutrients to fuel your body is so important! So please don't think food is the enemy :)

I love this protein smoothie for breakfast and also for a pre-workout pick me up. It is packed with protein and nutrients to keep your body fueled. It also contains carbs to stop your body from burning out too fast (because we all know that the body needs carbs whether we like it or not). 

Sorry these pictures aren't super high quality, all I had to take them with was my phone. Let me know what you think and how it works for you! Also, if you are working out right after this, I would recommend drinking only 1/2 to 2/3 of this recipe and saving the rest for after you workout.

Ingredients

• 1 scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder (make sure the sugar is no more than 3 grams)
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (sometimes I even use the coconut and almond milk mixture)
• 1 handful of spinach (I don't put a lot of spinach in it but a small handful is good)
• 1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
• 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon Almond Butter (once again if it has added sugar than you'll want to buy a different one next time)
• 1 Tablespoon all natural unrefined honey
• 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)
• 1/2 Banana 

Directions:

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until it is all mixed well. Add ice and blend some more if you desire.

Nutritional Facts (I got these by entering all the ingredients in MyFitnessPal, so they might not be exact).
Servings: 1
Calories: 397
Total Fat (g): 16
Saturated Fat (g): 2
Cholesterol (mg): 0
Sodium (mg): 135
Potassium (mg): 410
Carbs (g): 36.2
Fiber (g): 10.5
Sugars (g): 20.3 (this is from the banana and the honey)
Protein (g): 19.8
Vitamin A (%): 10.7
Vitamin C (%): 5
Calcium (%): 55
Iron (%): 24.7

Yummy Quinoa Avocado Salad

This is a great meal that is full of nutrients and taste!

• A Pinch of Salt (I like to use the Pink Himalayan Salt from Costco)
• 1 to 2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Cup Quinoa (I also buy this in a big bag from Costco)
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced and crushed
• 1 medium red, yellow, or green bell pepper seeded and finely diced
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons of fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Cup (about) seeded, peeled and cubed cucumber 
• 1/2 Cup chopped Cilantro
• 2 to 3 ripe Avocados, sliced or cubed depending on how you like it.
• To add a little spice to the recipe you can even add 1 small jalapeno seeded and diced.

Directions:

1. Follow cooking directions for Quinoa, drain if excess water, spread out and let cool on a baking sheet
2. Mix the garlic, peppers, salt and lime juice in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup olive oil and whisk to combine. Add more salt or lime if desired. (this makes the vinaigrette)
3. Combine quinoa, pepper, cucumber, and cilantro in a medium bowl. Drizzle vinaigrette into the bowl and stir gently to cover ingredients.
4. Place avocado slices on a plate or combine in the same bowl as quinoa mixture. Drizzle more vinaigrette and serve immediately.

The following are approximations and may be more or less depending on what you add to the recipe.

Servings Per Recipe: 5 

Calories: 467

Fat (g): 32.4

Saturated (g): 4.4

Polyunsaturated (g): 2

Monounsaturated (g): 8

Trans (g): 0

Cholesterol (mg): 0

Sodium (mg): 600

Potassium (mg): 727.2

Carbs (g): 40.2

Fiber (g): 2.6

Sugars (g): 0.7

Protein (g): 7.9