CHALLENGE DAY #14: This week was a tough one!

Sometimes you just need a pat on the back and a "Cheer Up!" or in my case "Snap the eff out of it!" The past week was a blur. I wish I could say that I spend it partying and the blurriness was from too many drinks, but unfortunately I cannot. This is what I have learned:

• Emotions are a force to reckon with
• I am not an emotional eater until I am emotionally exhausted 
• I have some decent smoothie recipes (see below)
• The more bananas you put in a smoothie the better they taste
• My cravings for salt virtually disappear when I eat alot of vegetables
• I have not eaten many carbs and I am craving them. 
• I found a raw grain based form of protein to try in my smoothies

I started my day as usual- making a giant batch of smoothie to bring to work. Aside from being emotionally drained and I feel pretty good physically. Then off to the trainer to have the machine tell me how good or bad I did this week. Results:

Overall I lost a little over 1 lb in the past week. But what is really important is that I lost more fat than muscle, where as the week before I had lost more muscle than fat. Ideally you want to build muscle and loose fat, which I have only had the experience of happening one week a few months ago when I worked out 5 days and ate alot of protein. Last week I really made an effort to eat more protein. This week I spoke with my health coach who suggested a grain-based protein to put in my smoothies. I bought one that consists of brown rice protein- vegan, gluten free, soy free. It is a little weird tasting I'm not going to lie. I put 3 spoonfuls in with my favorite smoothie (see below) and it doesn't taste like fruit...it tastes a little gritty. I need to experiment with using a little less. We will see next week how my body reacts to more protein.

I am happy with the slow progress though. I have done binge workouts before (by that I mean 2-3 hours a day 5-6 days a week- UNSUSTAINABLE!). I would lose weight quickly but get burnt out on working out and get sick of having no life, and then digress back to my old ways and ultimately gain all of the weight back. I am more interested in making lifestyle changes that I can stick with. All in all, I am slowly loosing weight and not really trying right now. The only big change is that I am making smoothies every morning and eating alot more fruits and vegetables. Pretty good right?

Here are some good smoothies:

• handful green grapes
• 2 green apples
• 2 bananas
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 kiwi
• handful spinach
• handful kale
• water
• ice

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• 2 peaches
• 3 bananas
• handful spinach
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 green apple
• water
• ice

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• 1/2 cucumber
• handful baby carrots
• handful spinach
• handful chard
• red apple
• peach
• 3 bananas
• water
• ice

and still MY FAVORITE:

• 1/2 pineapple
• 2 bananas
• 1 peach
• 1 mango
• coconut water
• ice

Remember: toxins are stored in fat. Juicing fruits and vegetables will help your body excrete the toxins and breakdown fat. If you are concerned with the amount of protein you are eating, buy a protein powder to add to your smoothies. Just beware of soy protein isolate (toxic) and whey protein (many people are allergic because it is dairy based). There are other kinds of proteins like hemp protein. The one I bought is brown rice protein. Just read the ingredients. You should not be buying any proteins that have digestive enzymes in them. You should not be taking digestive enzymes unless prescribed by a doctor. It can seriously eff shit up by taking them unnecessarily. 


This weekend...work...cook...work. Hopefully I will have some easy and healthy bread recipes for you. Happy Friday!