Protine shakes!

I have been hitting the gym this week trying to build up muscle groups and when doing so you have to feed them and shuttle hydration to them. 

I do to understand why people put a bunch of complex ingredients in their protine shakes to supplement their muscles. When doing that you are actually making it more difficult for the protine shakes to do their job. 

So the reason I think people put other stuff in them is to make them edible! So that being said my husband uses water. Yuck! But I have found by mixing them in coconut milk and/or almond milk they still break down easy and they are drinkable. One thing I don't understand is why they have sugar substitute in them, if they are suppose to be healthy. I know when trying to train your body you want to avoid sugar but it is horrible for our bodies!

I guess the benifits out waigh the risks?

Have a Fit&Healthy Day! 

Postponed weigh in

Do to our family trip to the gym I am doing my weigh in tomorrow. We are finally on track...the whole family! Granted half of us are 8 months and 2.5 but I am happy my husband is jumping on board:) we are on track for a Fit&Healthy summer:0 I am really ecstatic! So tomorrow I will update.

Have a Fit&Healthy day!!!

Lean gumbo.

My attempts on keeping my family healthy are starting at the main source of energy (food). I rarely buy premade anything. I have been cooking and experimenting with foods for over 12 years. And during those 12 years the last 3 years I have made myself very aware about preservatives and the industrealization of food and what the effects they have on our bodies. Let's face it, our "food" and food processing techniques are detestable, I can't believe the things that happen to our food is legal. But that's a joke all in its self! Well...this will turn in to another dicuession if I proceed. 

Back to the topic lean gumbo. Well in gumbo you can add any meat you want poultry, pork, beef, fish. I never measure ingredients and you don't have to because there is no exact science it depends on what you want the flavor to be. Cooking is not a process that you just add water and vola! It is a project that you put thought and work in to and that also reflects in the flavor as well!! Proof: I have made meals that people have said I don't like that, and because I am sneaky I feed it to them and they say "OMG this is delicious what is this??" 

So this gumbo is one of my faves, because it is extremely versatile and depending on what you put in it is very healthy. Start off with tomato sauce fill the pot 1/2-3/4 full. Add your mirepoix to the sauce which is a fancy term for onion, celery and carrots 50/25/25 ratio depending on the batch size you are making. Simmer for 2-4 hrs. In a seperate pan if using raw meat cook and drain fat. Remember if using seafood add ten minuets before serving. Then you want to start your seasoning. You can always add more but you can not remove! Take that warning seariously. Be sparing with spices until you have a good idea of their flavor and/or power. These are the spices I use cayenne (very spicy) Mexican chili powder, cumin, salt, peper, paprika, file (flavor/thickener) bay leaves, Cajun seasoning Tabasco sauce adds a good flavor to this dish! I am cooking for two small children as well so I will just add some to my bowl. In my picture diagram you will notice that the Mexican chili powder is missing. I ran out and improvised with emerils bayou blast. It's not the same flavor but it worked! I also love lagumes... all of them! So I will tend to throw some in for added protine and no fat! Because I have 3 meats in this batch I am going to pass on the beans. Also, it's your meal be creative add other veggies like spinach, diced tomatoes and/or zucchini. Don't forget okra pairs great with this dish as well! If you want it to be more filling add cooked rice to each serving. Do not put the rice in the gumbo because the rice will absorbe the liquid and then the gumbo gets to dry and the rice gets mushy. 

Enjoy a healthy home cooked meal with a whole lot of protine! 

Have a Fit&Healthy day! 

What is FOOD? My passion to define!

In 2009 my eyes were opened! My eyes were opened to the industrlization of food and what that ment for me and my family! What is food? It's the products we buy from the store right? That's what I thought...but to my surprise I couldn't be more wrong. I seen a doucmentary "Food Inc" it opened my eyes to our food industry. From that day forward I tried to cut out as much processed food as possible. 

(If you asked a child whicth picture represents where food comes from which one do you think they would pick?) 

In the top is my favorite farmer Joel Salatin. 

 

Now to answer my question what is food? Or what does our body recognize as food? Nature had a plan for us and we should follow it! Say I have two ears of corn next to each other. One from a Mansanto farmer and one from a home or organic farmer. 

They are both the same right? Well judging by appearance... sure!! But what about their genetic composition? Well if we add a few components here and there to make them stronger won't hurt right? What about add pesticides to the DNA?  

This is the first engineered additive in food in 1984, classified safe by the FDA and that caused ems disorder that killed and diabled many! 

Well this is what we get...our body is suppose to consume the chemical code of vegetables! That means if we mess with its DNA is going to tell our body we are eating something other than food. And our body is not sure what it's is in it's chemical form and then attacks it, notice the spike in inflimation in America especially GI issues. 

General comparison eating plastic food for real food is just as safe! No! No it's not! So sorry for the activist crash corse but I am very passionate about the subject! 

So now I look at ingredients rather than nutrishion lables (lies, lies, lies!) if you can't recognize the ingredients neither can your body! Likely they are made with GMO corn, wheat, alpha, cotton seed or soy and those 5 are 90% GMO crops. Stay away from these in packaged foods unless labeled non gmo or organic. 

I have been making food from scratch for a while now and as time goes on it gets easier and more fun! And processed food start tasting like garbage!  

I will be posting a lot of my creations and thing I like to whip that is healthy for my family! 

Week 1

Ok here it goes...week one of my new year! I did start the day after Christmas changing my eating habits. 

This is the first weigh in and measure. Makes me sad but it is also encouraging too see me looking better and feeling better!  

My work out has been very basic! I started off by getting my heart rate up by dancing goofy with my toddler she looooooved it! Then I did some basic floor exercises and Yoga/Pilates mixed. I will begin and end each exercise with stretching to reduce soreness and avoid the chances of injury.  

Day 1: very basic. 5 min stretch, 2.5 min silly dancing, 15 crunches,15 knee to elbow crunches, 15 sec scissors, 3 sun salutations, 5 min stretch. 

Day 2: 5 min stretch, 20 jumping jacks, from www.toneitup.com (TIU) I did the abs portion w/ 3 abdominal exercises 30 reps each, 4 sun salutations, 15 cat cow (a few of them with my toddler on my back) 5 min stretch.

Day 3: 5 min stretch, 30 jumping jacks, (TIU) abs 30 reps per 3 exercises, 4 solider-3 w/side planks, 20 squats, 25 standing elbow to knee crunches 25 side bends (hands on head) 5 min stretch. 

Day 4: yoga day, tree, solider-1 extended soldier-3, side planks alternating sides, cat cow, boat 10 breaths, cycle 2xs.

Day 5: 5 min stretch, 40 side to side jumps, 20 floor raised leg to arm crunches, 20 stability ball pass off, 20 chop squats, 20 side plank crunches opp knee to elbow, 20 lunges, cow ball (balance on all for on stability ball) 30 sec 3xs. 5 min stretch. 

Day 6: strictly cardio (free play w/kids), 40 jumping jacks 3x's, 40 side to side jumps 3x's, 30 sec skipping in place 3xs, stairs run 3x's, run in place 30 sec 3 x's, do cycle 4x's, 5 min stretch.

Day 7: Free day. 

This was my routine for week 1. As weeks go on the intensity will grow. I am going to try to change it up often! To challenge my body and muscle groups so they don't get complacent. This will be something fun for the kids to be involved in too, especially older kids. Also, this will install great life habits for them too! Week 3 or 4 will be my cleanse and the exercising will be light and not as frequent. Thank you for joining me on my journey please feel free to ask about any work outs or suggest new ones! Stay happy and healthy~Angie