Clean Eating

I hate the perception that if you have to eat clean, it has to be boring and nasty. Some of the best meals I've had are clean meals. Steak and potatoes, when made with the right ingredients, clean and delicious. Have you taken on clean eating? Are you discouraged and eating the same, boring meals everyday for lack of imagination or don't want to cook for hours? Well I'll help you!

When I first started eating clean, I did the meal prep thing. Cook tons of chicken, pounds of rice and veggies and just grab and go throughout the week. I would recommend it! It's easy, a one time thing every week, and great for working people or busy people. I used to do that, but not anymore. Personally, I prefer to make my food meal by meal. The food that was prepped Sunday, on Thursday it gets to be a little dry. Plus the mental note that you HAVE to eat that food is annoying to me. Instead, I like to throw random things together every night after the gym. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALWAYS tired and never feel like cooking. You just have to get into your head and remember that nothing is more important than getting your nutrients. Be mentally strong and get past that lazy barrier. Most of all, DO NOT sit down! lol You won't get back up.

I typically use the same variation of ingredients: chicken (or swai fish or shrimp), some kind of vegetable (I choose broccoli, lots of spinach, and sweet potatoes), egg whites, salsa, whole wheat tortillas, bananas, peanut butter, protein shake. I take a shake twice a day. So with these ingredients I can combine them all to make a big bowl, make tacos, add some kind of whole grain pasta and make a pasta dish, make burritos, omelette, the list goes on. It may sound lame to you, but wow it's so good! For seasoning, I use Mrs. Dash, pepper, and onion powder on everything. I rarely use salt anymore.

I use Truvia for sugar. This is a big one people have a problem in changing. "Ew sweeteners are so gross!" Okay here's how to help that. Whatever you add sugar to, whether it be your oatmeal, coffee, or anything, try it without sugar. Have one day of the food without sugar. Add Truvia (Stevia) afterwards. Your mouth will be reintroduce to a different way to taste sweet. It sounds silly, but it works!  Kind of like how I did my juicing cleanse last year. I tried it because my friend recommended it to me after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix (check it out!). It intrigued me, so I tried it. I went FIVE DAYS juicing! NO food! It was the craziest yet most rewarding week of my life. It tatight me disciple and I learned a lot about what fruits and vegetables do for you in terms of energy and nutrients. It was fun thinking of recipes! That definitely made it better! The first couple of days were the hardest, but after that it was like a new lifestyle. Anyway, after the cleanse, I didn't even want  a cheat day. I wanted clean food! I couldn't even imagine eating a burger, EW. Even to this day I am completely turned off to the thought of greasy food (except fries... I love fries!). I haven't had In and Out Burger in a year and a couple months! Since right before my cleanse. So yeah, clear your taste buds of what you're used to, then reintroduce it to better things!

Still think clean eating is boring? Check out these YUMMY pumpkin protein muffins I made! SO good. I got the recipe from DashingDish, but it's also below :)

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hashtag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking!

Pumpkin Protein Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup	Canned pumpkin
1/2 cup	Applesauce  (I took this out)
1/2 cup	Plain lowfat Greek yogurt (I like Chobani)
3	Egg whites
1 3/4 cup	Old Fashioned Oats
1/4 cup	Protein powder
1/2 cup	Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar 1
1 tsp	Baking soda
2 tsp	Baking powder
1/4 tsp	Salt
1 1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
1/2 tsp	Pumpkin pie OR Apple pie spice
Optional	Add-Ins: 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds, mini chocolate chips, raisins or dried cranberries!

1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil cupcake liners, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. ( I usually help move mixture around in my blender carefully with a spoon!)

3

Divide mixture among muffins tins, and place into pre-heated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are lightly golden brown.

*Note this batter is very moist, and a toothpick may not come out clean…Don’t worry it is baked through if the tops are golden brown! 

4

Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!!

So good! Try it out, I hope you enjoy! If this wasn't enough to motivate you, go to Instagram and search the hash tag "cleaneating". SO much motivation, ideas, inspiration, it's awesome! Or check out the website cleaneatingmag.com, so much inspiration! I love it. It never gets boring and neither should you, so spice up your healthy life and get cooking! 

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, follow, ask questions, etc. :) 

Mel

Rest Days and Tacos

Oh hey everyone! This has been a crazy, busy, tiring, ridiculous week. I've been training really hard and working hard on my nutrition and macros. I over study and analyze everything so I spend at least two hours a day studying nutrition, physiques, new workouts, and pretty much anything fitness related. I LOVE motivating people and encouraging them to feel beautiful. So I've been on Twitter and Instagram "inspiring" and empowering people. I feel like any kind of encouragement can at least boost some one's day. After all, it is great getting compliments.

This weeks forecast of workouts consisted of Tuesday: morning fasted cardio, night back and calves, Wednesday: Forced REST DAY (I was so sore, could not even move), Thursday: morning fasted cardio, night leg day, Friday: cardio and some shoulders, Today: more shoulders and triceps and HIIT. Taking a rest day on Wednesday pushed my triceps day to today so I just have to pair it with shoulders. Should be a fun time.

Last night I made some delicious chicken tacos and I'd like to share them with you. I've never used basil, but I've always ordered it at restaurants and it's always amazing whatever it's in. So I bought some while grocery shopping yesterday and decided to make some tacos.

List:
Whole Grain tortillas
Chicken breast
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped Onions
2 basil leaves
Salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash seasoning (I also used onion powder and garlic salt)

I'm a huge fan of skillet medleys, AKA chop everything up, throw it in a skillet, throw it in a bowl, and enjoy! So this recipe is quite easy and will take no longer than ten minutes. For my side vegetable, I steamed some seasoned baby carrots. AMAZING. The sweet and "salty" mix was a great contrast to the tacos, you HAVE to try it.

Cut all vegetables, sautee onions into a skillet with olive oil, once medium done, add the tomatoes (you can choose to keep tomatoes raw but I don't enjoy raw tomatoes), then add the basil. Once onions are cooked to desired (I like mine completely cooked as I hate raw onions), put vegetable mixture to the side. I used the mini fajita tortillas, I put them in the toaster to make a taco shell, put the cooked chicken in, and then the vegetables. The basil adds its own flavor so you won't need to top it with any kind of seasoning, cheese, or any other garnishes, unless you want to of course. I also had 1/4 cups of brown rice. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Mel

Competition Update

So I've been working out well of course, eating well of course, but I'm new to the whole competition thing. So I have been researching OVER-researching to be exact lol. Literally spending every extra minute watch bikini and figure shows, watching poses, studying poses, getting bikini ideas, it's crazy. I just want to smack myself and just go with the flow. For me though, I am an over planner and I think ahead for everything so I can't really help it. Plus, it's not really a horrible thing, so whatever. I got my shoes in the mail last week! I have been practicing walking everyday. I'm telling you, it is a workout itself. It's tiring, especially for my feet. The shoes aren't that comfortable and they are very ugly too. That's good though so the judges will be looking at my body instead if my fabulous shoes.

Here are my lovely legs! I'm proud of them, I'd just like to see the hamstrings a little more and I'd be ecstatic. More photos to come! Omg I'm so mad because this water is just making me bloated every single day so taking pictures is just out of the question except right in the morning when I wake up. Who wants to take pictures when they first wake up?! lol Time to break out those water pills. 

Last Wednesday I got the shading and color on my tattoo. It's all done now, yay! I love it so much. It's my favorite piece of art on me done my Joel Bones of Gold Rush Tattoo in Costa Mesa, CA. The day before the tattoo I worked out obliques/abs. Bad idea. "Yes, yes carve into my sore ab muscles, it feels SO good!" Needless to say, it was painful lying on my side with my arm up for 2.5 hours lol. Totally worth it though! 

As far as food goes, I've been doing good keeping my calories up. Hitting 1800 is like celebration time! lol Crazy, I know. I've been eating every two hours pretty much and I have had to switch some things around and add some high protein foods. I'm trying to be in the range of 120-150g of protein per day, 200+ carbs, and 50-60 fat (essential, healthy fats). It's been improving every day so that's good! My diet as a whole is completely clean and I drink 1.5-2 gallons of water a day. 

I pretty much put spinach in everything and have added egg whites to dinner or night meals as well. Any way to get up that protein! I take protein shakes (Beverly International, Chocolate 80% Whey/ 20% Casein) twice a day, one a couple of hours after breakfast with a banana and the other after my workout at night. The middle photo is a recipe I found with whole grain pasta, spinach, broccoli, plain Greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and onions. YUM! It looks gross but it's good lol try it! Inspired by this (http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/13338) recipe, I didn't have anything on the list except the yogurt and pasta so it looks nothing like that beutiful masterpiece lol. 

Alright, shower time. Thanks for reading guys! Feel free to comment, follow me on Twitter, all that great stuff!

Mel