Protein Banana Waffles

Since I've been dieting for now almost three weeks I've been very good about sticking to my meal prep and eating foods within my macros and is ohh so difficult at first. I wanted something different and something exciting for a change but still without cheating completely on my diet. I was looking for a recipe that had the least amount of ingredients and would fit my macros too. I couldn't find such thing so I created my own recipe and you may thank me later ;)


                                   



Ingredients:
1 very ripe banana
1 egg
1/4 cu. almond flour
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 scoop of whey protein
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
mashed banana and whisk eggs in mixture. Add coconut oil (melted). Fold almond flour and protein powder until mixture is well blended. Add salt and baking soda. Grease waffle iron with some coconut oil ( I used spray coconut oil ;D ). Pour half batch of batter in the waffle iron when hot, cover and let cook until brown. Once done make the next waffle. I topped mine with frozen blueberries because I forgot to throw them in the mix :/

Macros per waffle (recipe serves 2)
15.4 F
20.2 C
18.7 P

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did <3 let me know what ya think :)

Protein Balls

                              

    Protein balls

Ingredients

4 dates

2 scoops of vanilla protein

2 tbsp cacao nibs

2 tbs chia seeds

2 tbs almond butter

1 tbs honey

2 tbs almond flour

instructions

chop the dates and mix them with all the ingredients in a bowl. If mix is too dry, try adding a little almond milk or water. But! don't add too much or else it'll be too runny. Once the consistency is dough like you can roll them into about 1/2" balls or so.. It makes about 8 balls and they are super delicious.. really good to have before hitting the gym or after. ;)

nutrition facts per serving (1 ball)

132 calories

4.2 g of fat

12.9g of carbs

8.2 g of protein

Once I make a better version of these, I'll post them so the macros are on point :)

Let me know what you think! 

Meal Prep!!

                             

Ok, so heres my meal prep.

For Breakfast:

Egg muffin with salsa and 1/4 avocado

ingredients:
1cu. chopped onion
2 turkey herb sausage chopped.
3/4 cu. liquid egg whites
2 eggs
seasoning

instructions:
Pre-heat oven at 350°F. In a muffin tin, grease with coconut oil or ghee so the egg wont stick. Pour chopped sausage, onions, and whatever else you want to add, keep in mind the more ingredients you put the less egg you'll be able to use. Then, pour the egg mixture. Put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

After the muffins are done, take them out of the oven and let them cool. To serve, just pop them in the microwave for 45 seconds and top with 1/4 avocado. Boom, breakfast ready for the next 4 days in less than a minute! Great if you have to get up and go early in the morning and usually don't have time to cook breakfast.

Master Meal Prep Bonus Tip: 
If you are using a muffin tin that has 12 spaces, you can cook the muffins and hard boiled eggs at the same time!

Hard boiled eggs
 Instructions:
Place eggs in muffin tin, one on each space. cook with muffins and once cooked, transfer the eggs to ice water, this will stop the cooking process and your eggs wont be overcooked!

                                     


Meals
Ground turkey/grilled chicken thigh

I usually have my chicken marinade over night. I place the amount of chicken I'll be BBQing in 1/2qt. baggies with some marinade I buy at the store.

I get the BBQ ready and grill the chiken and some sweet potatoes while the egg muffins are in the oven. While that is happening, I get 1 cu. of chopped onion sauteed with ghee on a skillet. I add 2-3 garlic cloves and 2 chopped jalapenos for a nice kick. Then I add 1lb of ground turkey and some seasoning to taste.

At this point the egg muffins and hard boiled eggs are almost done so I start prepping some brussels sporuts. I cut medium sized brussels sprouts down the middle, place them on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper. Once the muffins are done, I increase the temperature to 425°F. Then, I throw the brussels sprouts in the oven for some nice roasting. 

                               

While the brussel sprouts are getting nice and roasted, I cut up some green beans. These I don't cook so when I reheat my meal, they wont be overcooked.

Now All the food is pretty much ready if not almost ready. I sometimes add fish to my meals to swithc up the different proteins in my meals. So in this case I grille some salmon with my chicken.

Once all the food is cooked, while I wait for it to cool down before I transfer it to containers, I prep my snacks too.

Snacks
Mixed nuts without peanuts
blueberries
canteloupe
turkey jerkey

I measure out in snack size baggies:
mixed nuts 1/4 cu. and I add 1 oz. of turkey jerkey.
1 cu. blueberries
1 cu. canteloupe

Now, I serve all the food in containers.

3oz chicken
1 1/2 cu. green beans
1/2 cu. sweet potatoes

3oz salmon
1 cu. brussel sprouts
1/2 cu. sweet potatoes

These meals with sweet potatoes usually are the ones I have in the middle of my day after working out to replenish carbs and proteins. The next meals are the ones I have through out the day.

3 oz. chicken
1 cu brussel sprouts

4oz ground turkey
1 cu brussel sprouts

Each of this meals are about 300 calories, plus snacks and protein shakes, this adds up to roughly 1200-1400 calories since I have 4-5 meals plus snacks.

I will be posting more and more of my meal prep and I will attempt to maybe add more pictures. Also, I will add later some of my supplementes I take, some tips I've learned about when to eat certain foods and the timing for best results. Also some of the snacks and treats I like to make to curve hunger and satisfy a sweet tooth :).

Let me kmow if this is helpful and if you need some help with figuring out your macros and how you can incorporate meal prepping in your life.

Pre Meal Prep Guide

So I was never good at meal prepping, true story. I started about two years ago meal prepping for three days in advanced because I was working all day for three days in a row. I always packed my food before, but never with so much time in advanced. After I realized how efficient it was, I was hooked. Just recently I have come closer and closer to mastering meal prepping. It really isn't that hard, as long as you know what your goals are so you know exactly what to eat, then you're golden. If you are not looking strictly at your macros and calories like I am right now.. then maybe this post isn't for you but you can still read along and see if any tips help out.

So here's a list of the items I used pretty much every time I meal prep that you may want to get your hands on if you're considering meal prepping.

Measuring utensils
cups
spoons
scale

storing/carrying accessories
cooler (I have an ISObag)
food containers
small plastic baggies for snacks
ice packs

prepping utensils
sharp knives (I use Cutco knives, they are the best hands down! Ask me how to get your hands on these babies ;) )
grill
frying pan
cupcake molds
baking sheet(s)
cutting board(s)
1 qt.- 1 gallon baggies
etc

Once you have all this, basically what I like to do before I go grocery shopping is make a list of the things I will be eating based on the macros I will be eating each day. So I use this app on my phone called lose it. It helps me track all the food and exercises I do..but theres others out there you may like better. Anyhow, I input all the food I will be eating to make sure it adds up to the needed grams of macros and calories per day. Then, I just buy the food I will need only for the next 4 days or so. The reason why I try to buy only the food I will be eating is so I don't get tempted to eat something that is not part of my plan. Plus, if I do end up getting things that are not on my plan, more often than not they'll end up spoiling, and I hate to waste food. Seriously.

So the following is the list of ingredients I bought to meal prep this weekend for the next 4 days.

2lbs of ground turkey
12 oz of chicken thigh (marinade over night)
12 oz of salmon (marinade at least 1 hr prior to cooking)

Brussels sprouts 352g (a little under 1lb)
sweet potatoes 532g (a bit over 1lb)
green beans 600g  (almost 1 1/2lbs)
zucchini 992 g (right over 2lbs)

for healthy fats I always have eggs, avocados, and nuts, and I throw them in on my day as I go making sure I don't go over. But I don't go strictly on measurements for this. Except for some snacks.

for snacks I have cut up watermelon, sliced strawberries, mixed nuts, hardboiled eggs, and turkey jerky. Sometimes, I have a questbar too.

So I have 1cu of fruit for each listed (only berries and melons, low in GI)
for nuts i measure 1/4cu, turkey jerky which is typically 1 oz.

So when I have everything prepped I'll list the exact servings I do per meal.. I have 4 small meals through out the day with small snacks. I drink also 1 gallon of water and take supplements to make sure I get everything I need for my nutrition. I'll talk about my supplements in some other post.

Stay tuned :)

The Science of Meal Prepping

Ok, so here's the thing. Most people would never take the time to even think about prepping food for a day, let alone 3-4 days or a weeks worth of food. Here's why I do it:

1. Time
I have no time to prep, cook and clean after every single meal. That alone takes anywhere from 20-1hr+ easily! while when meal prepping, if you learn to master it like I have (yes, I'm very proud of my meal prep skills haha). It can take you anywhere from 2-4hrs. Plus, it saves time from guessing what to eat.

2. Eating right
If you have good food, you'll eat good food. If you have bad food while having good food ready for you, it will end up spoiling and you'll think twice before eating badly again because you, for one, made probably bad choices with your food when you had a perfectly healthy meal already made and ready for you, and number two, don't waste food! there's tons of people out there in the world starving everyday, it breaks my heart when anything edible ever goes bad on me :( true story.

3. Cost efficiency
Think about this for a bit.. if you add what you spend on good quality food you get on the go in a day.. that could potentially buy you food for the entire week. No kidding! one good salad at a descent place with good ingredients is at least $4. Now, you're not just gonna have a salad all day, if you do, you're a freak of nature, consult me for some diet tips please! anyhow.. lets say you have maybe a coffe from starbucks one of their egg white veggie burritos or such that easily is about $6, salad and nuts for lunch that is proabably another $6-10 dollars, (I've spent over $15 on a good salad before and it was so goooood, but not worth $15.. I guess you have to pay the price of conveniency and lazyness.. that and being on the go.. :/) ok, now for a snack or so lets say you grab a cup of fruit and maybe a veggie juice/smoothie, that is another $6-8, for dinner lets say you have some chicken and veggies from whatever place.. that is another $10-20 dollars for sure! so in total.. im not gonna do the math for you but.. hopefully you get my point.

I don't know if I need more reasons why but ever since I've meal prep, I've loved it and I hate when I don't get to do it for what ever reason.

Most people don't do something that they want because they have no idea where to start, they are lazy or they are not motivated. I may not be able to help with laziness and I may not be able to motivate you enough but I sure can guide you through the process in very simple ways.

So, what I'll be doing from now on, and I will do my best to do this, I will log what I do as far as meal prep. For instance, what I shop from my groceries, what I do to prep prior to meal prepping and what sort of servings I use.

Now, be aware that this is to guide you and hopefully motivate you to start doign meal prep. The foods I eat may not be the ones suitable for your specific needs but you're always welcome to email me for a consult and I can assist you.

So, my next meal prep day is tomorrow and I'll be posting about it tomorrow. So, stay tuned!

Slice of Awesomeness.. Aka Nana Bread

I love when my bananas get too ripe to eat but perfect for banana bread😍. I've always used this great loaf of awesomeness  to bribe people for favors, to thank someone for doing something awesome or just because I mean, do you really need a reason to bake such perfection? Ahh.. Too bad I can't eat it all, must share it with the world 😁. The recipe is right below,  you can add your optionals, chopped nuts, dried craisins or raisins, chocolate chips or just by itself is more than wonderful 👍.

RECEIPE

INGREDIENTS:
wet ingredients
3 large over ripe bananas (or 4 small ones)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp of honey or sweetener of choice
1/4 cu melted coconut oil
dry ingredients
2 cu almond meal/flour
1/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees
Combine all wet ingredients in food processor
Add dry ingredients until smooth
Transfer the mix in a loaf baking pan
Bake for 50-55 mins
Slice it and enjoy after a workout😎.

NUTRITON INFO:
Serving size: 1 slice
Servings: 14

139 cals
9.1g fat
11.8g carbs
5.1g protein


Let me know what you think 😊

The thing called water..

I know it can be pretty boring to describe what water is and how important it is for our body to function properly. If you think about it, the human body needs air, water, and food. The human body could go a few seconds to a couple of minutes without air. Stig Steverinsen holds the record for holding his breath for exactly 22minutes. That's pretty impressive, but the body needs water to function. 65% of the human body is water. The brain uses water to manufacture hormones and neurotransmitters. Water helps the body regulate its temperature through sweating and respiration. It acts as a shock absorber for the  braind and spinal cord. Water also converts food to components needed for survival, digestion. It also delivers oxygen all over the body. It lubricates joins, flushes body waste, mainly in urine. Allows body's cells to grow, reproduce, and survive and much more! 

Water can be obtained from eating food, although the best form to consume the necessary amount of water is through drinking water. 

Water not only helps your body function properly but it ultimately helps your body feel, look, and be better. It helps skin look, feel and be healthier and clearer. Also, it is a natural hunger suppresant, for most times people eat out of thirst not hunger. The recommended water intake for adults is 8 glasses of water. Now, if you are someone that is exposed to higher temperatures, or is more active you should drink more water of couse. 

Over the last 3 days I have been drinking a gallon of water. I have noticed less bloating and I eat naturally less. I'm intending to make it into a habit by doing a June challenge. Everyday for the next month I will be drinking a gallong of water. If you will like to join me in this challenge, send me an email or add me on FB or Instagram to keep me posted and hold me and yourself accountable. 

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