21 Day Fix Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry cheesecake has always been a favorite of mine.  So, I had to find a healthy recipe for a family favorite.  It is very delicious.  Enjoy!

Pie Crust:
1 cup whole wheat graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1 tsp. ground cinnamon


Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Place graham cracker crumbs, oil, maple syrup, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; mix well.
3. Press mixture into 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool

Filling:
2 cups low-fat or non-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 large egg
5 tablespoons sugar (I used concentration Stevia instead… check the Stevia to sugar ratio on the container to know how much to use)
3 tablespoons Almond flour (This is such a tiny amount I didn’t even count it.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9" pan.

Combine cottage cheese and yogurt in a blender and process until very smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour into pie crust and bake for 30 minutes, or until it firms up.

Let cool completely before refrigerating for several hours or overnight. **OPTIONAL** TOPPING OF CHOICE I used sliced strawberries it was delicious

Container Equivalent = 1 slice is 1 yellow container

21 Day Fix Oatmeal Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Here is a yummy treat but will still keep you on track with your program.  These are so delicious! This will make 16 cookies.  I doubled the recipe.  Baker beware...they will disappear very quickly!!

Ingredients:

1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup toasted pecans

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Combine oats, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl. Once well mixed add in the applesauce, chocolate chips and pecans and mix well. Drop tablespoon size cookies on to your baking sheet. If you like your cookies flat then give them a tiny push down. Bake for 14-16 minutes.

Container Equivalents = .5 Yellow .5 Tsp

What is the Best Time of Day to Exercise?

The time of day you work out gets a lot of attention, but is it really that important? Is there a best time of day to exercise? Let’s dig deeper and take a look at the reality of how much the time of day you work out can affect your results. I’ll also share with you the five best times of the day that you should work out!

1. When you WILL work out.

While this may seem obvious, you should not lose sight of the fact that exercise is almost always preferable to no exercise. While technical “nit-picking” can help make your fitness journey easier, it can also work against you if you get too wrapped up in it. Exercise and healthy eating will always trump all other advice. There is every excuse in the book, including “I missed my optimal window for training so I skipped today’s workout.” Don’t let this happen. Unless you’re injured, sick, or overtrained, exercising is better than not exercising. Schedule your workout when you have the best chance of getting it done.

2. When you FEEL the best.

There are times during the day when you will have a slight physiological advantage if you work out during them, but none of those trump the psychological edge you have if you feel like exercising. As simple as this sounds, effort equals results more than any other one factor. This means that if you’re a night owl, work out at night. Morning person? Work out first thing in the morning…you get my drift. Any time you’re in the mood to really Bring It will work because, by far, the biggest physiological changes happen to your body when you push yourself further than you’ve pushed yourself before. There’s a reason the Beachbody P90X mantra is “Bring It.” The closer you get to putting in 100% effort, the more you force your body into an adaptive state, which is exactly where it needs to be in order to change.

3. When your glycogen stores are full.

Now, let’s get technical. Your body can push itself anaerobically longer and harder if you begin your workout with a full tank of muscle glycogen. This will let you lift more weight, jump higher, move faster—pretty much improve every important aspect of every workout that’s not tied to recovery or aerobic efficiency.

Glycogen is mainly recharged by carbohydrates, and is extinguished very quickly with exercise, brain activity, and most other tasks. This means it fluctuates throughout the day and is always highest immediately after you digest a meal containing carbohydrates. This means—depending on your eating schedule—your body is probably primed for peak exercise in the late morning, afternoon, or early evening.

At night, your body can store glycogen, meaning that it’s possible to wake up and train in the morning before you’ve eaten and still have enough energy to get through a workout, but this is a theoretical scenario. Most of us, especially when we’re training hard and not eating a ton, will burn through glycogen recovering from the prior day’s activities. The result is that those early morning workouts can lead to something called “the bonk,” which is what happens when your body runs out of glycogen. Essentially you lose the ability to push your anaerobic realm, and you feel like you’ve hit a wall.

Bonking is not one of those “good pain” times. When your body is out of glycogen, it starts to break down muscle tissue and you quickly begin to offset the fitness gains you’ve made. It’s inevitable that it will happen to you at some point. When it does, don’t try and push though. Instead cut your losses and get on the recovery program by eating, resting, and then reevaluating your eating schedule and/or choice of workout times.

If exercising when your glycogen stores are low is the only time of day available, you can fix the situation nutritionally. If it’s first thing in the morning, eat a half or a whole banana or drink a half or a full serving of Results and Recovery Formula (depending on how long you’re training) before you start your workout. If that helps, try adding another serving of complex carbohydrates to your evening meal and then skip the banana. If that doesn’t work (you’ll know if it doesn’t—bonking isn’t subtle) it means you’re on a nutritional edge and aren’t eating enough calories to recover from your workout program. It’s time to reevaluate your daily caloric intake.

4. In the morning on an empty stomach.

In the morning, before you’ve eaten, your body is forced to utilize its fat stores for energy, and you can train your body to be efficient at doing so, which is cool. You’re also “burning fat,” which sounds even cooler (although it’s not nearly as effective as “burning glycogen” when it comes to losing body fat). While fantastic, in theory, it’s not if you force your body into a situation where you bonk.

You won’t bonk, however, unless you’re training anaerobically (in other words, hard—as in your heart rate is pegged during parts of the workout). This means easy workouts can have added benefits if done in the morning on an empty stomach. This is why during programs like P90X Doubles, the easier workout of the day is scheduled in the morning.

5. At night before bed.

This time of day is last for a reason. Unless it is really the only time you will work out or the only time you feel the best, you should probably avoid it.

Working out directly before bed can affect your sleep. Most people have a hard time getting to sleep after a workout because exercise can throw off your melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep, among other things. This isn’t ideal because sleep is very important for recovery. It’s when your body naturally produces most of its own performance-enhancing drugs in the form of hormones. Anything that hurts your ability to sleep should be eliminated if possible.

Exercise also utilizes a lot of nutrients, which are further depleted at night. If you’re on a strict diet, perhaps trying to lose weight, you run further risk by training and then not eating to recover from the workout prior to bed. If you’re on a low-calorie diet and plan to train hard at night, you should follow your workout with, at least, a nutritional recovery strategy (Beachbody Results and Recovery Formula), if not a small meal before going to sleep.

If your sleep is not impacted by your workout, there’s nothing wrong with training at night. Just follow nutritional protocols that don’t leave you depleted and starving when you wake up.  This can be so severe that you wake up in the middle of the night, a common issue with bodybuilders and fitness trainers getting ready for competition. This is not ideal as it means your body is essentially bonking during sleep. And while that’s okay if your goal is to pose in front of a crowd with absurdly low body fat, like a bodybuilder, it’s also a sign of starvation and, if done too long, will cause your body to begin to shut down its metabolic processes.

The bottom line is that everyone’s body responds differently. We all need to exercise and most of us can eat better. In between are a lot of individual variables. When it comes to getting your best possible workout, psychology often trumps physiology. Exercise when you can and pay close attention to your performance. Then choose your preferred workout time based on your results. It’s really that simple.

Conquer Five 22 Minute Hard Corps Moves

When trainer Tony Horton set out to create his newest, military-inspired workout program,22 Minute Hard Corps, he wanted to keep the exercises basic. Why? Because the less time you spend learning complicated moves, the more time you can spend building muscle and burning fat. But don’t mistake “basic” for “easy.” Every single move in 22 Minute Hard Corps will test your endurance, tax your strength and power, challenge your mobility and coordination, and require your undivided focus to perform it correctly. Proper form, after all, is the secret to building super strength.

That goes double for the following five exercises — the toughest in the program. Master them, and you’ll not only muscle up and slim faster, but you’ll also squeeze more from each and every rep. The result: A fitter, leaner body in record time.

Gorilla Crawl
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and squat as low as you can, placing your hands on the floor outside your right foot. Shift your weight to your hands and jump your feet to the right so they land outside your right hand. “Gorilla crawl” one more time to the right, and then switch directions. Continue alternating back and forth.


Frog Burpee
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and drop into a three-quarter squat with your hands raised in front of you, palms forward. This is the starting position. Place your hands on the floor, and then kick your legs back into a pushup position. Reverse the movement to return to the starting position. Pause briefly, and then repeat.


Split Lunge Thrust
Hold a pair of dumbbells in front of your shoulders (elbows tucked, palms in), and assume a staggered stance with your right foot forward. Lower your body into a lunge, and then simultaneously jump up and press the weights directly above your shoulders. Scissor-kick your legs in the air, landing with your left foot forward. Immediately drop back into a lunge and repeat. Continue alternating legs.


Mountain Squat
Stand tall with your feet should-width apart. If you have a Beachbody PT Sandbag, hold it firmly on your right shoulder with your right hand. If you don’t, hold a dumbbell firmly against the right side of your chest with your right hand. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and place your left hand on the floor behind you as you lower your body to the ground (you should now be laying completely flat, face-up). Pause, and then reverse the movement to return to the starting position.


Scissor Slicer
Sit on the floor with your legs together and your arms out to your sides. Keeping your legs straight, lean back slightly and lift your heels a few inches off the floor. This is the starting position. Without bending your knee, lift your right leg as high as you can, and reach for your toes with your left hand. As you lower your right leg and left arm, raise your left leg and reach for your toes with your right hand. Continue alternating. (Don’t let either heel touch the ground for the duration of the move.)

21 Day Fix Jamaican Jerk Chicken

It is summer so a perfect time for some Jamaican jerk chicken. It uses a spicy marinade, but don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you off, chances are you already have most of what you’ll need. Marinated chicken can be baked for a quick weeknight meal, or you can move it to the grill for a great summer barbecue.

Total Time: 8 hrs. 45 min.
Prep Time: 15 min.
Cooking Time: 30 min.
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white vinegar
½ medium red onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil, chopped
1/2 tsp. sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
2 tsp. ground black pepper
3 tsp. ground allspice
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. raw honey
1 bag raw chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Nonstick cooking spray

Preparation:
1. Place vinegar and onions in blender; cover. Blend until slightly chunky.
2. Add thyme, oil, salt, pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and honey; cover. Blend until almost smooth.
3. Pierce chicken all over with a small knife.
4. Place chicken in resealable plastic bag. Add lime juice; mix until well coated.
5. Add spice mixture; mix until well coated. Marinate, in the refrigerator, for 4 hours or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350° F.
7. Remove chicken from marinade; discard used marinade.
8. Place chicken on baking sheet lightly coated with spray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle and juices run clear.
9. Serve chicken with black beans if desired.

Confessions of a Junk-Food Junkie...Six Tips to Kick the Habit!

I will just say it, I am a junk-food junkie.  I love sugar!  I basically love anything sweet...cookies, cake, pies, candy bars, cereal, waffles, pancakes -- get the idea.  Ughh!  So, it does take effort for me to stay away from my love of sugar.

Given our nation’s exploding obesity and diabetes rates, you very well could be too. The good news is that with a few tricks and a little hard work, together we can keep those sugar monkeys on our backs under control.

Why we’re hooked on garbage...

It’s safe to say that junk-food addiction is a very real thing. The first place to look for proof is the ever-mounting pile of scientific evidence, including a study out of Sweden showing that the hormone ghrelin, which activates the brain’s reward system and increases appetite, reacts similarly to sugar and alcohol.

Then there are the increasingly decadent foods we have 24-hour access to. In his book, The End of Overeating, Dr. David Kessler theorizes that manufacturers have, over the years, engineered the balance of fat, sugar, and salt in junk food to the point of making it irresistible. He refers to our gluttonous response to this crackified food as “conditioned hypereating.”

Most of this current thinking revolves around physiological factors, such as the fact our brains are hardwired to seek out highly caloric foods as a “feast or famine” instinct left over from caveman days. Unfortunately, human beings are slightly more complex than our primitive ancestors. By adulthood, most of us are a hodgepodge of neuroses and psychoses for whom a Twinkie has become a security blanket, so this urge to splurge will never completely vanish. Sure, you can retrain your body to crave healthy food, but your psyche may never stop seeking validation, Hostess style.

How to keep that addiction under control...

Luckily, a well-trained body goes a long way toward helping a slightly off-kilter mind. For example, if you eat clean for a period of time and then go back to trying to be a junk food junkie, it would make you physically sick because your digestive system loses its ability to handle the toxic effects of sugar, not to mention the preservatives and additives. Once you have developed your healthy habit, you will be able to walk away from the cake or limit yourself to one or two bites — but it will take training.

It will not be easy but your health is worth it.  If you’re going to break a sugar habit, it’s going to take time, patience, and willpower. 

Here are six tips to help you start...

1. Clean all the junk food out of your home.
Think of the stereotypical image of the woman getting dumped by her boyfriend and climbing into bed with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s. If that tub wasn’t in the freezer to begin with, odds are that our protagonist would have instead settled for a soak in the tub.

There’s also “unconscious eating” to worry about — when you just grab a bag of fried carbs while you’re sitting in front of the tube and stuff your face for no reason. If you don’t have access to the junk, the only bag you’ll be able to grab will be filled with baby carrots. If someone brings some junk over for a dinner party, enjoy it with them and dump the rest when they leave.

2. Eat 80% clean.
Relax with that other 20%. Just because your kitchen cupboard no longer looks like a movie theater concession stand doesn’t mean you can’t live it up sometimes. If most of your diet is super tight, you’re doing great, so cut yourself some slack. When you make a big push to clean up your diet, allow yourself a Friday Cookie Day. Eat like a saint 6 days a week, but every Friday allow yourself a giant chocolate chip cookie and a latte. Knowing that you have a Cookie Day to look forward to will make all the celery on the other days much more palatable.

3. Make a comforting ritual out of eating healthy.
The fact that Cookie Day is a ritual will be quite helpful. Unhealthy eating is often ritualistic — something comfortable and constant that you can depend on. Not only can you have a Cookie Day — a conscious, controlled, weekly moment of indulgence — but you can replace unhealthy rituals with healthy ones.

For example, I used to have slices of colby cheese and crackers every day, but worked out like crazy to lose my belly bloat.  All the working out in the world was not going to shrink my belly until I ditched the cheese and sugar habit. Now, cheese and sugar are an occasional treat.  The 21-days-to-form-a-habit thing really does work.  New habits can be formed if you put in the work.  It will not be long, and you will be craving healthier eating because it just makes you feel good.  You also know you are getting somewhere with your workouts an they are not being done in vain.  You do not want your workouts to be like a hamster wheel.  They go round and round but get nowhere.  Eat and sweat it out with a purpose! :)

4. Carry healthy foods with you at all times.
If you carry a purse or a backpack, throw an apple or some raw nuts in there. In this Fast Food Nation, it’s pretty easy to find yourself in situations where you’re hungry and, shucks, you just have no choice but to buy a donut because that’s the only thing you have access to. You don’t have that excuse if there’s a snack in your pack. Here are a few to consider:
Fresh fruit (Apples, plums, pears, and stone fruit travel well!)
Dried fruit (It all travels well!)
Raw nuts
Whole-grain crackers
A Shakeology packet

5. Discover new, yummy fruits and veggies.
There’s a lot of weird, healthy food out there. Sometimes, we avoid fresh produce because we’re either bored of the same old oranges or there’s a stigma associated with particular produce. Maybe your Dad just forced you to eat asparagus one too many times. If this is a problem for you, buy fruits and veggies you don’t recognize. If you don’t know how to prepare it, do an internet search for “(produce name) + recipe.” You might stumble on a new flavor that completely blows your mind.

6. Binge on healthy foods.
Every once in the while, something emotional triggers me, and I need to eat junk. Someday I might completely conquer this urge, but not yet. When I feel this happening, I hit the fridge and “pre-binge” on healthy foods, mainly raw veggies. If you fill up on healthy snacks, you will be much less inclined to pull out the sugar or chips.

You might be one of those lucky souls who just decided to walk away from the candy counter or dark chocolate and never looked back. Good for you. I’m not one of those people. Eating right is much easier now that I have the help of my challenge groups to keep me accountable, and I am supplied with plenty of healthy meal plans and recipes to go to.  The rewards are innumerable, so why don’t you set down the pudding pop, grab a peach, and join me?  If you are in need of accountability to get yourself started or to keep yourself on track, give me a shout.  We have groups starting soon.  You will get results!

21 Day Fix Turkey Taco Bowls

If you are in the mood for Mexican, this is a delicious recipe.  It is fun for the kids and tastes great! Enjoy!

21 Day Fix Turkey Taco Bowls

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 small onion, minced
1 small bell pepper, minced
1/2 cup water

1 pkg of 10 Whole wheat tortillas

Directions:

• Brown turkey in a large skillet breaking it into smaller pieces as it cooks. When no longer pink, drain, and place back on heat. 
• Add the minced onion, pepper, dry seasonings, and water. Cook additional 10 minutes.
• If you have the tortilla bowl maker, make tortilla bowls.  These are oven baked not fried. 

Measure out a red container to count as 1 protein. You can add refried beans, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and greek yogurt to top them.