I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For ICE CREAM!

Ok, if you know me well, you know one solid fact about me - I LOVE ICE CREAM!  Anytime I have a cheat meal, 99% of the time it's going to be ice cream.  Yep, that was me at Cold Stone in December! :)  Love love LOVE it! 

As much as I love ice cream, I'm sad to admit that it is one of the worst foods you can possibly eat.  It's loaded with sugar AND fat.  Two of the worst culprits in the battle of the bulge!  Luckily for me, so great genius created frozen yogurt.  Still filled with sugar, but much lower in fat. 

Then behold came the trend of frozen yogurt bars. Not like the bars you eat - but the little shops that are all the rage these days.  You go in, try as much frozen yogurt as you want, serve yourself, and top it off with all the fresh fruits and toppings you can imagine.  These places are great in my opinion, and I've ditched my Cold Stone days for Tutti Melon (Fayetteville's chain).  They serve mostly fat free frozen yogurt, and some low fat, and for 1/2c you are getting in about 21g of carbs.  Not too shabby for a cheat if you ask me!  But where you have to be careful is the bowl sizes and the toppings.  Most of the yogurt bars I've been to (yes, I've been to a lot! lol.) have giant bowls, so if you fill that sucker up, you are pretty much getting half a days worth of calories - and sugar!  I try to eyeball about 1/2 to 1 cup. 

Then you get to the toppings.  This is where you make or break it.  They have on one side, fresh fruits, exotic fruit, very healthy options.  Then on the other side:  Fruity Pebbles, cookie dough, Oreos, brownies.  So beware of the toppings!  If you are watching what you eat, then obviously stick with the fruits.  If it happens to be your cheat - then knock yourself out! :)

Now onto bigger and better!  A blog/website I follow brought to light a FABULOUS ice cream substitute.  Behold: Arctic Zero!  Basically it's a protein shake that has been turned into a delicious pint of ice cream.  From the reviews I've read - it isn't the exact same as ice cream, but it's a great substitute if you're an ice cream addict like me. :)  Now are you ready for the good part?  One pint has less than 150 calories!   Woohoo!  You can get it from your local whole foods market, or get on their website to see where you can find it.  http://www.myarcticzero.com/.  I just ordered some from Amazon.com last week and it will be here within the next couple of days, so I will keep everyone posted!    While you are at it, check out the blog/website I follow that introduced me to this wonderful product:  http://www.busygirlhealthylife.com/  It was created by fitness model/competitor Lori Harder and it's jam-packed with recipes, workouts, and other great fitness related info - be sure to sign up for the newsletter.

And finally - if you can hardly wait for your Arctic Zero to arrive in the mail, then you can make your own ice cream substitute!  I got this recipe from Oxygen Magazine this month and it's actually pretty yummy!  Here is the recipe:

5 egg whites
1 scoop protein powder of your choice (I've only tried vanilla, but will try chocolate soon)
Stevia - to taste

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold in protein powder and stevia, and let freeze for 1 or more hours.  That's it!  This stuff actually has the same texture of ice cream!  If you like the taste of frozen yogurt, then add in a spoonful or two with the protein and it gives it that yogurt flavor.  You can also add sugar free chocolate syrup, fresh fruits, nuts - have fun with it!

Before putting it into the freezer - looks yummy!

Frozen and partially eaten - by me! ;)

Banana Bread!

I've have been searching high and low for a good, healthy banana bread recipe.  I made my chocolate protein banana bread, which isn't bad.  But it's hard to appreciate it unless you are on a very strict diet or competition diet, and pretty much anything that isn't chicken or a vegetable tastes good to you! 

Finding a healthy banana bread recipe is hard to do - yeah you can sub the flour for whole wheat flour, use splenda, etc...but what really makes the banana bread so good besides the bananas?  The sugar and butter!  So I had to come up with something that still had that taste, but is a lot nicer to your waistline!

Well, I dabbled around a little and finally came up with one that is quite tastey!  I checked several different recipes, and sort of merged my own. My husband told me "it was like a party in his mouth."

Here is the recipe:

BANANA BREAD
3-4 very ripe bananas
1/2c applesauce
1/2c Splenda or stevia (I used Stevia in the Raw, but Splenda is ok if you like it)
1/4c Splenda brown sugar blend - probably the least healthy ingredient, but better than regular. 
1TBSP egg whites
1/4c Greek yogurt
1/4c skim milk or almond milk (unsweetened)
1 1/2c whole wheat flour
1/2c oats or oat bran (I used oat bran because it is higher in fiber and protein)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4c ground flax seed

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl mash up bananas.  Add in sugars and mix well.  Add in applesauce, egg whites, greek yogurt, and milk and blend well.
2.  In a seperate bowl combine flour, oats, baking soda, flax, cinnamon, and nutmeg
3.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until moistened
4.  Spray 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spay and spoon mixture into pan.  Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean.  Serve warm with butter spray, light butter, or olive oil butter.

This bread is the bomb!  And it's loaded with goodies!  You can also add 1/2c of any of the following:
Walnuts
Dark chocolate chips
Almonds - slivered
Pecans
I added dark chocolate chips to mine and it turned out wonderfully!  Give it a try and let me know what you think - I think the whole family will love it!  Feels like a cheat, but it's healthy!  These would also be great as muffins for breakfast or a pre or post-workout snack.  Enjoy!

Take A Break!!!

We all get to a point sometime, whether it be with nutrition and diet, training, work, school, etc., when you just get "burned out."  Most people can't just take a break from work and school, so thankfully we have vacation time and school holidays and breaks throughout the year. Hooray!  But when it comes to your diet and training regimen, it is compeletly up to you to decide when the appropriate time is to take a break.  If you take breaks for too long or too often, then you will hinder any success you've made thus far, but if you never give yourself a break,  then you risk the effects of hitting plateaus often or even worse, overtraining. 

This is when listening to your body comes in handy.  I've recently had to deal with this myself.  I trained like a professional athlete for months, then gave myself one little week off when it was over.  After that I got right back into my training.  Well that was a stupid idea.  I didn't listen to my body and I just spent the last two months training despite the fact that my body was screaming "NO!" to me, and it's gotten to the point where I don't really even want to go to the gym right now.  Yep, me not going to the gym...gasp!  On top of that, my back and neck (which haven't bothered me for over a year) are killing me!

Now that I've decided to LISTEN to my body, I'm taking a break.  This doesn't mean I'm sitting on my sofa all day eating Doritos.  What it means is that if I wake up and don't feel like going to the gym, then that's ok.  I wake up early 5-7 days a week and get in a good solid 30+ minutes of cardio, then if I feel like dropping by the gym later for some weights, then I go for it.  But if I don't, then I don't sweat it. 

Now I don't know if you've caught onto this yet, but part of my writing this is to convince MYSELF that it's OKAY to take a break every once in awhile.  How long will this last?  I'm not sure. Probably a week, maybe two. maybe more.  But I'm listening to my body now, and I know I'll be back in the gym in no time.  I am planning to take a yoga class or two during the week because I can maintain some of my hard earned muscle, and it will be good for recovery as well.  I am an active gal, so I make sure to at least get in my 30min cardio, even if it's just a walk. :)

Here are some things to think about if you think you might be in need of a little break:

- How long has it been since you took a break besides the usual 1-2 day recovery?
   -If it's been longer than 6 months, you may consider a break.

- How are your workouts going?  Are you still sore the next day?  Is your motivation up?
   -If you are dreading the gym, lack motivation, and aren't sore, you either need to consider changing up your routine, or taking a break.

- How is your progress towards your goals?
   -If you've set goals (like you should!) but have stopped seeing any results, you be at a plateau.  If your motivation is still high, then switch things up a bit: frequency, intensity, duration, type - any can be adjusted.  And double check your diet.  If you are not motivated, then maybe it's time for a quick break.

-  How do you FEEL?
    -If you are getting sick often, are always tired, lethargic, irritable, frequent headaches, then you should consider taking a break.

There are times when you should push through and just do your training.  There have been countless times that I haven't wanted to go to the gym, but was so happy after I did the workout - those are the workouts that give you results.  But there is a very fine line between persistance, and too much.  Listen to your body!  Trust me, it's not the easiest thing to do - especially if you are even half as hard-headed as me, but give it a try.  Don't let your stubbornness keep you out longer than you'd like.  Train hard, play harder, and rest often. :)