detox vs chocolate

Hello Friends,

Hope everyone is having a great afternoon :) I ended up calling into work sick last night , I was having such a off day and just wanted to sleep and stock up on vitamin C .... or eat a piece of chocolate lol so I did!

It was the best piece of chocolate I felt like I ever had...no joke. The words out of Gs mouth were "what are you going to tell the people on your blog, that you cheated" ha ha ... I said "NOPE, I will tell them the truth :)" Everyone often thinks I am super perfect in terms of eating, and I have extreme will power towards bad foods, well I am human and even I get cravings and when I get a craving I often try to make a healthier version of it. If I want a cupcake, I will make a vegan healthier version, If I want chocolate I will have a piece of dark etc. So clearly, because of eating the chocolate the detox has ended. I hate to say it :(. Due to Gman being gimpy ( I literally have to do everything around the house, cook, clean, help him around and go to work and gym and more, I was getting burnt out. I had a semi minor breakdown yesterday and I blame half it on myself because I was trying so hard to be perfect gf, and perfect eater. I realized at this point in time, I am not one hundred percent ready to do 3 weeks of squeaky clean eating, instead of detoxing I am going to use the recipes and continue to eat the way the book is telling me to with some yoyo modifications. I am going to most likely keep dairy out - I gave it up a while ago - besides the rare yogurt, and feel much better without it, as for the wheat - I LOVE OATS, but I am going to continue with the brown rice, quinoa and other grains. For the most part I am going to use the book to introduce me to new recipes and not stress about detoxing :) I love detoxing , but right now I just wanna eat what I wanna eat... If I want a banana I am going to eat it LOL. Different strokes for different folks :) Anyone else have any shortly ended detox stories they want to share ?

So I woke up this morning and realized I was able to have my beloved oats, so I stumbled to the kitchen and made a delicious bowl of

1/4 cup of oats, 1/2 scoop of protein powder - I am out of sun warrior :( must order more asap! no other protein powder compares - , 1/2 frozen diced banana, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp of organic natural peanut butter , cinnamon and topped with a small handful of kashi cereal for crunch. Anyone else a serious cereal lover?

Well I am off to do my taxes.... :S I have been procrastinating for to long! See ya's later this afternoon xo

YoG

spring blues?

Good evening friends!

Today has been busy. I am tired. I woke up this morning , or shall I say noon and realized I had a to do list to tackle.

I stumbled to the kitchen in excitement for oats... then I realized I am still on this dam detox. I love to eat healthy and find the meals very easy, but I want chocolate!!! like no other.... and caffeine. I need a coffee... I don't no I may have to have one...seriously.

I made us this glorious smoothie though instead of oats :)

It had 1 cup of frozen organic berries, 6 strawberries, 1 scoop of hemp protein powder, 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1 tbsp of almond butter topped with coconut and walnuts. Love.

I did the remainder of laundry, cleaned and prepped more food. I accidentally boiled sesame seeds thinking they were something else... ha ha whoops!

I went to the gym and was pretty drained, I only did 30 Min's on the elliptical, I was going to run but my sports bra made my chest hurt so I didn't ( I am having the hardest time finding a good supportive bra for my new additions! Any suggestions ? I am desperate! I bought 4 bras all of which I cannot use because they don't support me enough when I try to run :( boo!

I came home after the gym kinda bum, drained and feeling off - I think I am having one of those days... I just wanna have a nap and be lazy days but there is to much to do...

I prepared us this super fast and delicious meal from the detox book

lemon dill salmon, sesame stir fry with zucchini and peppers on top of brown rice. The boy liked it, as did I ... winner winner!

Well I am off to have a 15 min power nap before I need to get ready for work... See ya's all later tonight or tomorrow morning have a great evening

xo Yo G

detox day 1

Good evening everyone!:) I had mega slow Internet today so I apologize for the late blogging ( I know I promised a few people I would post recipes from some recent eats I posted on fb :) ) Before I get to that let me recap the past few days.

• Gman had a accident and dislocated his knee and is on crutches :S


• I played nurse for my gimpy bf :)


• I ate ice cream for the first time in a long time, and enjoyed it...then felt sick lol


• We started the 3 week detox "DELICIOUS DETOX" by naturopathic Doctor Carol Morley :)


• I had my first run since my surgery! 5.5 weeks!

Gimpy but still sexci ...* swoon* note - I was laughing sooo hard as he was driving his "cart" around walmart.. poor guy love him!

So today was day one of the detox - so far so good! The night before the detox G and I decided to be bad... we bought a tub of ice cream and made giant sundaes ...first time in AGES.. we did not feel so good as we rarely have milk products...but we survived and enjoyed it ha ha!

On today's menu was a smoothie for breakfast it contained fresh mango, diced pineapple, strawberries, almond milk 1 scoop of hemp protein powder , tablespoon of flax seed oil and a small blob of almond butter - it looks nasty but tasted great! the color is due to the hemp protein

This filled me for about 3 hours. I cleaned the house, did laundry, played nurse, and prepped food. The key to eating healthy is food prep!! Take one day a week and prepare a lot of things in advance hummus , a whole chicken , tubs of rice, quinoa etc. I made a roast chicken from the detox book for dinner.

By far the best chicken I EVER made! I cannot legally post the recipe because of copyright issues, but let me tell you , day one of this detox has been the best food I have eaten in a long time! very flavorful and full of nutrients!The chicken had fennel bulbs, onions, celery,carrots, lemon and spices...YUM! I highly recommend this book even for non detox purposes! It is great to use it to try new recipes :)

We gobbled the chicken up along with a side of spicy sweet potato salad ( again from the book ) for dinner.It contained all of my favorite things - adzuki beans - great for folate and iron , sweet potatoes - great for carbs, peppers, spices and more. It only took about 25 Min's to make! I have a giant food baby as we speak!

Other recent eats from today are

Frozen blueberries and Pineapple , homemade hummus with rice cakes and sesame crackers. For the hummus I took

• 1 can of chicken peas rinse and drained


• 1-2 tablespoons of tahini


• 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice


• 1 tsp of paprika


• 1 tsp sea salt/pepper


• 1 tsp of garlic


• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil + 1 tbsp for drizzling

BLEND IN FOOD PROCESSOR TILL FULLY MIXED. Drizzle with evoo :)

Well , I am off to relax and hang out with the boy.. I am a bit tired from my 20 min run today... it was a bit hard I am not gonna lie... 5.5 weeks off sucked!

I will see ya's all tomorrow with some more delicious eats! xo

YoG

spring has arrived :)

Good afternoon bloggies :)

Hope your having a great Saturday so far , mine has been splendid so far. I woke up till at 1030 am stumbled to the kitchen and made the usual .... 1/4 cup of oats, 1/2 scoop of protein powder, 1 tsp maple syrup , 1 tbsp of nut butter, and 1/2 of a banana :)

It was Perfect.

Today started out pretty lazy, I caught up on some TV shows I pvr'd and relaxed for the morning. I finally tackled cleaning and organizing :) - my house is spic and span , just how I like it. I have to admit I am a bit OCD when it comes to cleaning, where as G is opposite. Bless his heart, he says hes a clean freak , maybe he is, I may just be overboard ha ha.. regardless I am the one who often does the full scrub downs.. not because he is incapable, but because I like things done a certain way ... also with cooking ha ha.. simply put , he has it good some days LOL. However, he always has a way of showing his appreciation :) I was surprised with a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers today *just because* swoon * Love him :)

After cleaning I decided to make us lunch as our belly's were growling... simple and yummy

Organic tomato soup , open faced chicken sandwich on a slice of steddie Eddie with earth balance and plain hummus with carrots and tomatoes :)

with some of these for dessert - -

I am catching up on emails and blogging and hanging out with the boy before the gym , then off to work for the evening :) I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday, but I did take a few pics of some eats so here they are :)

green drink,

workout shake with protein powder banana flax almond milk nut butter, rice cake with almond butter and jam , Mongolia grill stir fry while at work :)

Have a great Saturday everyone I will see you all back tomorrow xoxo

yoG

Hump Day :)

Good Afternoon Bloggies!

How is everyone today ? I slept in till noon today as per usual - I am a night hawk and often am not in bed till 3-4 am. I woke up and stumbled to the kitchen and made the usual

• 1/4 cup of oats


• 1/2 scoop of protein powder


• 1 tbsp of almond butter


• 1 tsp of maple syrup


• heaping spoonful of cinnamon


• 1/2 banana + 2 strawberries


• 1 tbsp of Greek yogurt

Twas delicious !!

Last night before work , I decided to make up a new dish I have yet to try. Sun dried tomato + Feta stuffed chicken breasts!

I added 1/4 cup of wholegrain brown rice, green beans and broccoli slaw salad ( for the salad I took a bag of broccoli slaw - you can find it at most grocery stores and stirred in 1 tbsp of

*Lemon Ginger Sesame Dressing

topped with almond slivers

For the chicken , I took 3 chicken breasts - the recipe could do 4 , but I only used 3 - and flattened them till they were thin. For the stuffing I took :

• 1/2 cup light feta cheese


• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes - soaked for 5 Min's in boiling water removed from heat ( I cut them into small pieces before soaking them in the water)


• 1 tsp of oregano


• 1 tbsp of fresh basil


• sprinkle of pepper

I combined all of this into a small bowl and mixed until well combined. I took a good spoonful of the mix and put it in the center of the flattened chicken breast and begin to roll/fold the chicken over the mix - I used toothpicks to secure the chicken in place so no filling was coming out the sides. I put the chicken on top of tinfoil on a baking sheet sprinkled with lemon juice and pepper

I cooked at 400 for about 25 Min's :) This was by far one of my favorite chicken recipes!

I cleaned my entire plate!! :)

After supper I was off to work , were I brought a green drink with me , and 2 plain rice cakes with almond butter and raspberry jam between them - its my new addiction! The green drink had

3 BIG handfuls of spinach

1 green apple

1 kiwi

lemon juice Water filled to the top of my vita mix - blend well add ice and serve :)

Green drinks for me are my life savor! I do not get all the greens I should in a day and find drinking them makes it ALOT easier. The vita mix is wonderful for liquefying everything , but I am looking into buying a juicer to try different veggies - carrots, beets etc.

I drank the green drink, had my rice cakes and had a few jelly belly's from the candy jar at work :)

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to do a post of my fave foods that I always have at home, and are VERY common staples in my meals and everyday life.

Organic spinach

Bananas tea - chai & green & other favorites black beans

chickpeas - great for hummus!

organic Fresh fruit - oranges, apples,melon etc

Organic veggies - broccoli,sweet potatoes,

green beans - etc Almond butter sliced almonds

chia seeds! - very good for you Maca powder - can be purchased at bulk barn great for smoothies, ALMOND MILK, Oats

Sucanut for baking, maple syrup for baking, unsweetened coconut for baking, dates, dark chocolate for snackage ha ha. I eat lots , but these are items I usually always have on hand :) Some days I am vegan, some days I eat meat ... some days I have eggs other times I go a week without any animal product , so it varies :) I DO NOT use sugar or bleached products of any kind. For baking I often make my own flour using grounded oats, or use spelt, W.W., or kamut flour :)

Well folks, I am off to go for a walk it is another beautiful day in Edmonton today :) I am going to dinner with a few girl friends tonight so I will keep you posted on today's events ...I am tackling my to do list bright and early

- call tax person to do my taxes ( I am very late this year :S )

- get my car registered

-gym, tanning

-hang with my Partner in crime - gman :)

Talk to you all soon xo

Yo

Oats' N favourite Things

Good Afternoon Bloggies :)

Hope everyone is having a great day so far :) I just woke up and made GLORIOUS breakfast for the beast and I , but before I get to that I will show what I devoured last night for din din. It wasn't gourmet like I intended it to be ha ha.

After getting the gym out of the way - - I biked 10 miles , I decided to venture over to wally world to pick up a few meal supplies and roam the isles :) I could spend hours in walmart! I ended up being a good girl and only picked up a shoe rack I needed, a coat rack that you screw into the wall , unsweetened coconut - for macaroons YUM - and sun dried tomatoes for tonight's dinner :) any guesses ? Its going to be delicious and easy for anyone to make :)

When I got home I intended to make dinner, but it was 10 pm and I was not feeling a big meal... sooo, I did my usual when I'm tired - breakfast for dinner :)

Protein pancakes :) This recipe is SO easy, and great for anyone, I find G loves them because he needs alot of protein because of his size, so they are perfect. They only have 3 main ingredients!!

*cottage cheese

*oats

*eggwhites + heaping spoonful of cinnamon

I don't measure usually for this I just add to the bowl. I take 1 cup of oats - (this makes 2 servings), a heafty blob of cottage cheese and usually 3 eggwhites. I stir it all together until you get a thick mixture but still moist, enough to put it into a patty and throw into a pan.

Cook them in a little bit of canola OR extra virgin olive oil on medium heat for about 3-4 mins each side till they become hard on the exterior. After cooking put them on a plate and have a bit of fun with toppings :)

I had two small pancakes and G had 3 good size ones . I used a tbsp of almond butter , berries, unsweetened coconut, half a banana and my all time fave - Greek Yogurt! Love!

The nutrition stats are AMAZING!

It has a bit more sugars than I would like but most yogurts do, this one has almost 3/4 cup per serving! with only 140 cals , 0 grams of fat a a whopping 16 grams of protein! It is creamy , sweet and delicious:) I recommend trying it - be careful with Greek yogurts however, alot of them have ALOT of fat. The only ones I have found in the grocery stores near me that are worth eating are this one ,or the plain flavor - which tastes BLAH!

After eating , we checked emails and rented the tourist :) It was great! I love Angelina Jolie!

I woke up this morning with my stomach begging for food, so I decided since I had oats for dinner and breaky yesterday I defiantly didn't want them for breaky today! I decided to change it up and make G's fave! Eggs! I took 3 eggs and 3 egg whites - (this fed us both) and scrambled them, 1/4 cup of black beans each , a piece of Steddie Eddie Toast with almond butter and raspberry jam, and a pile of fresh fruit :) I ate about 3/4 of my meal and snuck the rest of my leftovers onto his plate ha ha - I do this alot! I never eat till I am full , only until I am satisfied. I believe in moderation , not deprivation. If I want a piece of chocolate I eat it, a small piece, not a whole bar. I eat 95 percent clean and the other 5 percent is usually a treat at some point in the day. I also switch up my eating alot. Some weeks I choose to be vegan for the week if I feel groggy and need more veggies in my diet, some weeks I have more chicken than most, etc. I listen to my body and feel this is the best way to determine how you should eat. What works for one person may not work for someone else. With my activity level it varies how I eat on a daily basis. I do not calorie count as I feel it is not realistic, however, that being said I feel that those starting out in a new eating/workout plan should write down how much they are eating, and perhaps measure certain things such as oats - 1/3 or 1/4 cup is usually a serving , you would be surprised how often people mistake 3/4 of a cup for a serving. Again whatever works for you. If you eat when you are hungry and stop when you are not and are eating wholesome nutritious foods I feel your body will go to the size it should naturally be :) Remember, NEVER eat less than 1200 calories a day! anything less than that is NOT GOOD! Let me know how you eat , and if you have any questions Leave a comment and I would be happy to answer to each and everyone:)

I am off to go for a walk, make some macaroons, and do a post on my fave things ( I didn't do it last night sorry :( ) See ya's all back this afternoon!

xoxo - Yo

Better Late Than Never....

Hello Friends, It has been a LONG time since I have blogged last! Not that I didn't want to, or intend to, but I was UBER busy. Since I last posted I have moved into a new apartment with G ( that was way back in the fall), celebrated holidays, travelled to Miami TWICE, ate amazing cuisine, and had new additions added to my chest - ha ha. I am over the top excited about getting back to blogging, as healthy eating and exercise is very important to me, not only is it something I do, it is a Hobby and I am very passionate in helping others attain the goals they have set for themselves on the road to a happier, healthier and all around better YOU. I have set new goals for myself the past few months , one is looking to go back to school and get my nutrition credentials and personal training - I feel I am more self educated and do not need a 1-2 year course, so if anyone knows of any amazing courses that certify you in both the United States and Canada let me know ( G and I are looking to relocate to Florida in the next 1-2 years and I want to hopefully open my own business in the health and wellness field :) Until then, I am discovering new foods, new exercises and working hard everyday :) So I woke up today with my belly growling - this is a usual thing! I often roll out of bed and dart for the cupboard and fridge, my body is so used to eating first thing :) Good thing breakfast is the most important meal of the day! I started today off with a bowl of the usual

• * 1/4 cup of oats




• * 1/2 scoop of protein powder - I use sunwarrior but whatever you have works




• *small splash of almond milk - (if the oats get to thick after microwaving)


• 1tbsp of almond butter


• lots of cinnamon


• 1 tsp of maple syrup


• 1/2 banana


• 1 tsp of walnuts or almond slivers :)

To make this, I add oats and protein powder together add water and stir microwave for 1.5 Min's I usually add in a SMALL splash of almond milk , the oats become very thick and I do it to make them easier to stir. I add in cinnamon and the 1tbsp of almond butter, stir - it will become creamy :) I then add 1 tsp of maple syrup to sweeten , chop the 1/2 of banana and top with the 1 tbsp walnuts or almond slivers :) It is a very healthy and delicious way to start your day. I also enjoyed this with a side of - - - -- or like 2 cups ... I am addicted to Tea lately! I can't get enough :) After breaky, G and I took a lovely walk around the neighborhood - SPRING IS HERE WHOOP When we returned I cleaned my house ( even though I am technically supposed to "Take it easy" still after surgery, but I am having a VERY hard time. I have never been this lazy in my life... even though I am allowed to use the bike at the gym I still feel like I am uber lazy :( So I have been trying my best to be productive without hurting myself. G was in the office working away and I took it into my own hands to organize and clean - I am talking intense clean ... the stove, burners removed, scrubbed, swept, cleaned the cupboards I could reach .... ya not smart, my doc wouldn't be very happy.. but I figure I am not in pain so all is fair game if I'm not hurting ha ha. By the time I was finished cleaning, my belly was hungry - and Gman was hungry also..sooo I whipped up a fast and easy lunch.

I used two slices of Steady Eddie - my new all time fave bread ! - I am NOT a bread eater, but when I saw the nutrition stats in this I had to buy it ! Sometimes trying new things and switching up your eats is good

It has per slice : 110 calories, 1gram of fat, 19 grams of carbohydrate, 5grams of fiber, 1gram of sugar, and 7 grams of protein!

It is made with all grains and has NO flour! A+ and the boy liked it to .. BONUS! I used 1 tbsp of earth balance a few blobs of honey mustard and 3 slices of natural selections turkey , oh, and some lettuce :) I had some organic tomato soup and a few carrots and tomatoes and enjoyed :)

Well, It is 6:30 pm here, and I need to get the bike out of the way at the gym, so I am off for a 10-15 mile ride and I will be back later with a post of my top kitchen/food essentials I ALWAYS HAVE ON HAND, also, my dinner from tonight and perhaps a desert recipe :) I am feeling some vegan macaroons happening :) talk to you all soon and I am happy to be back

Chow for now bloggies! xo