Healthy Eating Archives - Page 2 of 4

Fuel Your Body Nutrition Challenge Week 2: Meal Prep: Healthy Snacks!

Last week, we started a brand new 6-week Fuel Your Body Nutrition Challenge over here. If you missed it, you can read about it here. And if you didn’t start with us last week, no worries. It’s not too late to jump into week two, where we talk all about healthy snacks.

To get the most out of this nutrition challenge, make sure to join our private Facebook group where you can share your experience and get in touch with fellow members of the 12 Minute Athlete Community.

Being a part of the community will not only help you to stay accountable with your own goals, but also see how others are doing, find support, share your successes and struggles and of course, get some great, new to you meal ideas.

Every week, we’ll be focusing on one thing that helps us to improve our diet and keeps us on a healthy eating track. The focus of the Week 1 was to eat a protein-packed breakfast. Next Monday, it’s time to bring on Challenge #2: Eat healthy snacks!

Fuel Your Body Nutrition Challenge Week 1: Eat a Protein-Packed Breakfast

We are super excited to start our 6-week Fuel Your Body Nutrition Challenge! If you haven’t heard of it yet, be sure to read this post to see what the challenge is about.

We’re sure you will love it, so instead of just sitting there and thinking that you should take part of it, just jump in. Join our private Facebook group to share your experience and get in touch with fellow members of the 12 Minute Athlete Community to get the most out of this nutrition challenge.

Being a part of the community will not only help you to stay accountable with your own goals, but also see how others are doing, find support, share your successes and struggles, and of course, get some great, new meal ideas.

Every week, we’ll focus on one thing that helps us to improve our diet and keeps us on a healthy eating track.

Nutrition Challenge Week 1: Eat a Protein-Packed Breakfast

Our first week’s focus is on eating a tasty, protein-filled breakfast. Including a good amount of protein with your breakfast will make sure that you won’t be starving again in an hour or two.

The result? Less hunger, more energy, better workouts!

How to Stop Binge Eating (And How To Start Treating Food as Fuel)

I don’t talk about it much publicly, but when I was younger, I use to binge eat—a lot.

It would happen mostly when I was lonely, or depressed, or even just bored out of my mind. Sometimes, it would happen when I was celebrating, too—but always when I was alone. I would go to the store, buy way too much junk food, and go home and eat as much of it as I could.

I’d eat until I honestly didn’t think I could eat another bite, and felt so sick I wanted to puke. Then, I’d wait a while, and when the feelings of nausea started to subside, I’d start eating again until either the food was gone or until I fell asleep in deep shameful sleep.

Without fail, I’d wake up feeling like absolute crap the next day. I’d beat myself up about it, forcing myself into an unending spiral of guilt, always wondering why I kept doing this to myself.

To make myself feel even worse, I’d look at the mirror and tell myself how terrible I looked and that I would never be good enough until I could stop liking food. That if only I could somehow turn myself into one of those people who just “forgets” to eat, then I’d finally be good enough.

But that was the wrong approach. Obviously.

7 Healthy Dessert Recipes To Curb Your Sweet Tooth

In case I somehow haven’t made it clear already, I have a huge sweet tooth.

As a kid, since we didn’t have a lot of sweets around in the house, I would sneak bowls full of sprinkles and shredded coconut when my parents weren’t looking because that was the best sugar option I could find (that was until I discovered that my dad had a secret treat stash of his own).

As I got older, my love of sugar and all things sweet didn’t go away, and would lead to me binge eating bags of jelly beans/peanut butter M&Ms/frozen yogurt/chocolate chip cookies whenever I was bored, lonely, or depressed (which was more often than I’d like to admit).

Unsurprisingly, I realized somewhere along the line that this sugar addiction of mine wasn’t good for my overall health, physique, or confidence. But rather than try to give up sweets altogether (because really, what fun is that?), I’ve actually really enjoyed learning to make healthier versions of my favorite desserts that don’t leave me in a sugar coma or make my waistline expand.

Here are 7 of my favorite healthy dessert recipes to help curb your sweet tooth:

How Much Protein Do You Really Need?

Unless you manage to somehow avoid all health-related news, you probably hear a lot about protein these days.

And the obsession is real: it seems that you can’t even walk into a convenience store without seeing a large assortment of protein bars, snacks, etc. In fact, just about every type of convenience food including cereals, pasta, and even ice cream (yes, really) have versions labeled as high protein.

Among dieters, protein is constantly being promoted as the secret to weight loss, and diets like Paleo and The Zone emphasize protein as a central part of their nutrition plan. Even Weight Watchers recently changed its point system to reflect the importance of including protein in your regular meals.

But how much protein do you really need? The truth is that there is no one definitive answer—just like total calorie intake and workout frequency, it depends on your own personal goals.

Learning to Food Prep: 6 Easy and Healthy 400 Calorie Meal Ideas

A few weeks back, I wrote about why I made an effort to stop snacking and focus on eating real meals more often instead.

I got a lot of requests for ideas for 400 calorie meals that don’t take a lot of time to make, so I thought I’d do a quick post on it to get you guys thinking of ideas for your own meals.

Below are some of my favorite super easy and healthy meals you can make in 10 minutes or less or prep ahead of time to bring healthy food with you on the go. They’re all around 400 calories, with a good balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats to keep you feeling satisfied, mentally sharp, and ready to crush your workouts.

Why I Stopped Snacking (And Started Eating Meals Instead)

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am always hungry.

I think about food constantly (I’ll admit, probably too much), and if I don’t eat every couple of hours I get grumpy, fuzzy headed, and undoubtedly not much fun to be around.

It has taken me a long time to figure out how to eat properly to best fuel my body, keep my energy up, stay lean, and of course keep myself from “turning” on the people around me when I get too hungry. I’m always experimenting with new foods and trying new methods of eating to work towards reaching my full athletic (and mental) potential.

Yet despite fully knowing that I needed to eat every couple of hours, up until recently I still basically ate only three meals a day—with many, many snacks in between.

Here’s what would happen with that approach:

7 Healthy Post-Workout Meal Ideas To Boost Recovery

What you eat immediately after your workout is one of the most important meals of the day.

Proper post-workout nutrition refuels your body so you can get fitter, faster, and stronger. Without it, your body just won’t be able to recover fast enough, which can impair performance and impact any muscle building or weight loss goals you currently have.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, when you work out really hard like we do, you need to eat after your workout! So don’t skip it.

Ideally you’ll wolf down some protein and carbs (avoid fats immediately post-workout since your body can’t absorb them quickly enough) as soon as possible after your workout, but try not to wait more than an hour. I’m always famished after my workout so I never have a problem eating right away! 🙂

Here are 7 healthy post-workout meal ideas to satisfy your hunger and boost your recovery:

A Sane Person’s Guide to Getting Through Holiday Eating

Yeah, I’m not sure how it happened either, but somehow this year has completely flown by and we’ve officially hit the holiday season.

(I’ve tried to deny it for as long as possible, but since there’s a massive Christmas tree in my city’s town square and Thanksgiving is in a week, I guess I can’t avoid it any longer…)

Every year, one of the biggest concerns people tend to have around the holidays is how they can avoid destroying all the hard work they’ve put into their fitness and nutrition all year round—yet still actually enjoy the holidays.

It’s a pretty good question to ask yourself, especially since the average American gains one to two pounds over the month of December. This isn’t a huge problem in and of itself—it’s fairly easy to lose that tiny bit of extra weight if you put your mind to it—the bigger issue is that most people never lose those extra pounds after the holiday parties and baking extravaganzas are over, which can add up significantly over time.

But all is not lost. I promise you that not only can you go to all your holiday parties, continue your family cookie baking tradition, and even indulge in some of those fun holiday drinks, you can do it all without significantly halting your progress in the short-term, and definitely not do any long-term damage.

The Best Foods to Eat Before and After Your Workout (+ This Month’s 100 Burpee Challenge!)

Knowing what to eat before and after a workout can dramatically improve your workout and may be the difference of whether or not you meet your goals, whether they’re athletic or strength-based, weight loss, or both.

If you’re not eating the right foods before your workout, not only will you not be able to perform at your best, you also may be so low on energy you have trouble even getting through your workout at all (I’ve had this happen, it’s not fun).

And if you’re not eating properly after your workout, you’re not ensuring proper muscle recovery and may be actually setting yourself up for failure, despite your best intentions.

So today, I’m excited to share some awesome workout nutrition advice by one of the top mixed martial arts coaches in the world, Funk Roberts (he’s trained today’s top MMA and UFC fighters!).