{Trying} New Things

On March 9th, I decided that I would remove sweets from my diet until my last day of T25, which was 3 weeks away. I love cookies. I love candy. I love cupcakes. I love coffee ice cream. The list could go on and on. While I'm not one to add sugar to things like my cup of coffee or my bowl of corn flakes, I do crave an Oreo or 2..or 3. I try to never over indulge, but for the most part, I have a sweet treat of some type at least once a day. Something struck in my brain and I made the rash decision to cut sweets out of my life until I finished T25. I want to see how I progress without delicious sweets in my life and would like to see how my results are with vs. without them in my life. So far, I caved and ate one Vienna Finger, but I found great motivation when I said no to all of the St. Patrick's Day goodies at my works pot luck yesterday...even denied trying any of the {professional looking} Guinness cup cakes I baked.

RIP sweets. You will be dearly missed.

People all over America, the Facebook world, and the Twitter universe, are giving things up for Lent-- even if they aren't Catholic, religious, human, etc, everyone and their dog is giving something up for Lent. So I started to think...if everyone and their dog's are suffering from giving some favorite food up, there should be some tips out there to help us! Thankfully I've made some up:

     1. Start Your Day Off Right - eating a healthy, filling breakfast could be one of the simplest ways to ensure you don't get a sweet tooth craving. Oatmeal and a fruit/veggie smoothie are my favorites to start off my workday.

     2. Pack Your Lunch - eating out can cause you to spontaneously choose unnecessary foods, such as a dessert or 0% nutrition filled snack. Be sure to include a variety of veggies, fruits, dairy, etc. that are sufficient enough for breakfast, snacks, and lunch. Even if you eat breakfast before you leave for work/school, I advise you pack some type of breakfast or early morning snack item so you aren’t starving by 11:30am.

     3. Increase Your Water Intake – when you crave things you are often times just dehydrated/thirsty, so remember to constantly drink water throughout the day. Get an insulated, reusable cup to drink out of everyday and even add a lemon for a bit of flavor. It will not only be yours and you can carry it everywhere, you are also helping the environment but not throwing away plastic bottles or cups!

     4. Still Have a Craving? Have no fear, green tea is here! Drink a hot cup of green or chamomile tea when you are getting seriously tired of water. You can even add a bit of organic honey and some lemon to it.

     5. Proper Sleep – I’m sure you hear this everywhere, but it’s true! Getting proper sleep sets you up for your entire day. Not getting proper amount of sleep is proven to cause you to over eat, and usually over eat on the sweets and fatty foods.

You can do it!

Recent Recipes

Well not 'recipes' per-say but more like foods I've kind of combined lately. Some have been paleo, some are really yummy, and some have been just a fun kind of snack. Over the past couple of weeks I'd make some food and say, 'wow, this could be pinterest worthy!' So I'd snap a quick pic and then it winds up just staying in my phone...oops :) Anyway, I've listed some of my favorites that I've created below!

Lunch: Egg, Avocado, and Pesto Sandwich

 

• Toast 2 slices of bread and put a light layer of pesto (in a jar) on one slice 
• Cook eggs over easy (or anyway you'd like to have them) using a bit of coconut oil on the pan instead of Pam 
• Slice half an avocado 
• Enjoy!

Dinner: Eggs, Sweet Potatoes, and Bacon..?

This concoction was made by my best friend's boyfriend. He gets into making some Paleo recipe's and he tried this one out. It may look odd but it is extremely delicious. Luckily those who only eat Paleo can enjoy this one as well! 

• Hard boil eggs, slice in half (I would do it long ways like a deviled egg instead of the way he did), and remove the yokes 
• Mash sweet potatoes (we used our NutriBullet) using a little bit of coconut oil and fill the eggs
• Cook bacon well done, break pieces into thirds, and place over top of eggs (you can alway opt to only have some or none with bacon) 
• Feel free to bake or grill some chicken to go along with it! 
• Enjoy!

Snack: New Twist to Apple and Peanut Butter

• 1 spoonful of organic peanut butter 
• A sprinkle of dark chocolate chips 
• 1 sliced organic Pink Lady apple 
• Enjoy!