Bringing Buff Back

Craig always gets to eat vegan burgers or black bean burgers when ever we go out to eat or he will pick them up in the grocery store. Well for me, I can't eat them because they either have soy or gluten or another food item that I am allergic too. I never get to try them! I decided that I wanted to make a black bean burger and see if I actually like them. Making them is the only way I will be able to try them. So here we go! One great thing about these burgers is that they are full of protein! It is a great option to use for a meal instead of always cooking the regular meat burger. I dare you to try something new! Making a black bean burger and make it exactly how you would make your burgers at home. I bet you may enjoy it too. 8) Lately, I have been into spice and I do have a taste for spicy. I don't like the super hot where it burns off your taste buds and leaves your mouth burning for hours. Some people are into that but I am not but I do like some spice to my meals.

There is nothing like zucchini bread! I enjoy sinking my teeth into a slice with a nice hot cup of coffee. Yum Yum! But how does one enjoy zucchini bread when your on a health journey and giving up sugar amongst other things? Well, I did some research on making it from scratch and came up with my very own recipe! I can't wait to try it! The traditional bread has regular milk, eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, canola oil, and wheat flour to name a few. I took out all those ingredients and replaced it with much filling and healthier ingredient choices. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Matter of fact, I believe everyone should make this recipe and try it. Its good to get outside of your comfort zone and try something new. You may just shock yourself and find out it tastes just the same but more filling. Plus, not to mention we are bringing our buff back right? We will have to make some changes in out nutrition as we go along our journey. This recipe makes appro

This  quinoa bread is very simple to make. It is gluten-free, yeast free, and its vegan. Because you don't need to mess with yeast this makes this an easy bread to make. Only takes about 5-7 minutes to prepare, and 60 minutes to cook, and another 60 minutes to cool. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and take out your bread pan and grease it with a little bit of coconut oil. When I started this recipe I used my blender to blend the quinoa, gluten-free flour (I used gluten-free oats), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend for a few minutes until the quinoa is grinder down into a fine flour and everything is mixed.  Next, I poured everything into my food processor but you could still use the blender too. Pour the flour from the blender, and add all the liquid; Almond milk, honey, and coconut oil. Blend again for a few minutes until everything is blended.  Transfer your bread mix into the prepared bread pan, and if you would

This week was a rough one for sure. You see my father-in-law Greg died this week shorty after our vacation up north. We did not expect him to leave us so sudden. Which led me to a little bit of emotional eating instead of dealing with my pain. When I recognized what I was doing I stopped, and assessed the situation. All I needed to do was to talk about happy memories, and cry a little bit. I feel like I am  a little numb on the inside...I can't let emotional eating steer me away from my goals no matter how painful a death can be. I know one day I will see him again in heaven. Until that day comes I need to focus on a healthier lifestyle, and reaching my weight loss goal. Not to mention I am sure he would be very sad if I did not stay my course.... I know death is hard to deal with when someone so close to you passes on. I can't express how painful it is until you actually have gone through a tragedy like this. Some people quit eating, others over eat, and its easier to no

This week I completed 5 day's of working out for 25 minutes a day, and I lost -4 lbs this week! Have you ever just sat there to ponder about workout and making a healthy changes to your life? But you always come up with "I have no time". Let me share with you about my 25 minute program that you can complete in 5 days a week. It is so perfect because its only 25 minutes long. Now, I know with your busy schedule you can find 25 minutes to complete your workout. You could probably do this at lunch. Now, if you completed this at work you would probably have to go back to work all sweaty. LOL not the ideal way to return to work. But if you needed too in order to work on yourself...you could. You could probably find a coworker or two to join you.  Let's face it your health is not going to get any better with you dreaming about how you can change and never taking the steps to change. Mr. Disease does not show up and say "I see that you are busy I'll come

What is a good protein to eat? Some say hot dogs, and some may say luncheon meat. So there is no good answer. When you you pick out a nutrition program to follow each one of them have something different that you can choose for a protein.  Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, meat eater, or whatever nutrition way that you follow there should be some guidelines to what is an excellent protein to  eat. First, let's start off with why we eat protein, and why we need it in our daily diets. You see our bodies are designed to use protein to build and repair tissues such as bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and let's not forget our blood needs protein too. Our bodies also uses protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other bodily chemicals.  Let's not forget about our hair. It is important to eat protein in order to keep some hair on our heads unless you have a hair or skin disease. Protein helps keep those hairs in their place. Well definitely for me at least LOL. When I

One thing that I had to learn was meal prepping. It sounds so simple but how many of us do it? I workout 5 days a week and spinning all of my cardio wheels to find out that my success was not as great as it should be. Being frustrated while losing weight is a hard to deal with. That is when you feel like everything you are doing is just not working, and that can be very frustrating. Not to mention, how many of us decide to quit because of that emotion? When really we should not give up on ourselves so easily. I'm not going to lie. I cried in all of my frustrations.  Until I realized I was not properly measuring out my food. I was eyeballing when I made my dishes, and I did not plan what I was to eat ahead of time. Trust me I am not perfect at all. I am still learning as I continue with my journey. But the number one thing that is helping me is to make myself sit down and start meal planning. Here are my 1st steps for a weekly meal planning: Print off a blank calendar to write

One questions I get asked all the time is about what a grocery list should look like.  While I can’t tell you to go out and buy EVERYTHING on this list. However,  I am going to give you an idea of the general things that you are going to be using on a daily basis. Proteins/Red Container Eggs Fish- Salmon & Tilapia Flank Steak Fresh Chicken Breast Lean Ground Chicken Lean Ground Turkey Pork Tenderloin Protein Powder Turkey Breast Veggie Burgers Honestly I stay away from red meat, processed lunch meats, turkey bacon, ham, and any kind of pork product.  I know part of it is on the list but when it comes to clean eating and nutritional value the things I have listed above are much better options than processed meats.  Turkey bacon, lunch meat, and ham all are higher in sodium, and can cause you to retain water.   Fruits/Purple Container Apples Berries like Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries Cantaloupe Kiwi Oranges