Super Nutritious Green Smoothie

Super Nutritous Green Smoothie

Up until recently I was never one to make my own smoothies. I had no idea where to start, what to mix together or how much. Then one day I saw this recipe posted on facebook and thought I would give it a try. I'm so glad I did!!! So here it is....

2 cups kale
2 cups spinach
1 green apple
1cup frozen pineapple
8 oz water to blend

Chop up spinach, kale and apple. Mix all ingredients in blender and enjoy!!!!
It's very healthy and tastes so good! I have one at least 3 times a week. It makes a perfect and quick snack! Even my 1 year old son loves it!!! Hope you enjoy!!

Clean Eating Snack Ideas

As a mom of 2 things can get very busy! I'm always looking for quick healthy snacks for me and the kids! One of the problems I had was that the kids would always get hungry when we would be out in the car traveling from place to place or just running errands... It was so much easier just to stop at a fast food place. But.... Now I don't do that anymore!

I found a medium sized insulated bag that I fill with small containers of pre cut snacks. Watermelon, pears, oranges and yogurt is what I mostly pack in it. That has always been enough to hold over the kids and I until we get home to make a real meal!!!
So here are some ideas.....

Clean eating snacks

*1 cut apple with 1tbs of natural peanut butter
*1 cut apple and 14 raw unsaltes almonds
*1 cup baby carrots 1-2tbs hummus
*2 plain brown rice cakes with 1-2 tbs of natural peanut butter
*1 cup strawberries and a handful of raw unsalted cashews
*Shakeology
*2 cups celery with 1-2 tbs natural peanut butter
*1/2 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 cup blueberries
*1/2 cup Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup berries (drizzle of agave nectar to add sweetness)
*1/2 sliced Banana on top of whole wheat bread with 1tbs natural peanut butter-- my favorite!!!!

I hope this face you some good ideas for some quick healthy snacks! Feel free to comment with any other healthy suggestions!!!!

Ever Thought of Becoming A Beachbody Coach?

Ever thought "What is a Beachbody Coach all about?" I certainly have. I joined as a Beachbody coach back in Feb 2013 after joining a free challenge group and ending up losing 10 pounds that month!! At first, I'll be honest, I joined just for the 25% discount on Shakeology. I was involved in several more challenge groups where I basically just watched everyone else's success. I couldn't figure out why the same wasn't happening for me. So after 4 months ( I cant believe it took me that ling!) I sat down one night and took a look at what I was doing. I was working out whenever I felt like it and eating healthy only "most days" and most important I was not drinking Shakeology daily. Duh! No wonder I was not seeing results!

A day or so later I received a message from my coach. She asked how everything was going and I was honest and told her I was struggling and was way off track. She responded with something so simple... But it was exactly what I needed! She simply said "I really hope you get on track..I really think this will be great for you". That was my "Ah ha!" moment. I knew she believed in me which meant so much! Since then, I have been running small challenge groups (been actively involved in them), eating clean, working out, drinking Shakeology and doing it CONSISTENTLY!!! I'm down 22 pounds and have formed meaningful lasting relationships with others:-) I have more energy than I ever have. That's a big deal for be because I work night shift and have a 1 year old so I need to keep up with him!

My whole point for telling my story is to let you know that everyone struggles & everyone needs support. That's what Beachbody coaching is all about! Working with others and supporting one another to work towards your goals! If this sounds anything like you I would love to hear from you! We will work as a team to reach your goals! You won't be disappointed!!

My First Taste of Shakeology

I had heard about Shakeology on Facebook mainly and had been approached by my friend to try it several times. I didn't know much about it so I did what anyone else would do... Googled it! I couldn't  believe how many vitamins, nutrients and super foods were on it! Growing up, my mother always had us take vitamins as opposed to going straight for medications, so seeing how many healthy ingredients were in Shakeology....I was excited!! 

I knew right away I wanted to try it but since at the time I was still in nursing school I didn't have the extra money to spend on it. So I contacted my friend who had approached me before and she suggested that I could buy sample packs from her. At $5 each I went right ahead and did just that!

I initially bought 3 single serving packs from her. 2 chocolate and 1 greenberry.  I mixed the chocolate powder with water in a blender and did not like the taste at all! I was so disappointed! Fortunately, I talked to my friend about it and that's when she told me to mix it with fruit and almond milk. Wow! Did that make all the difference! I mixed 1cup almond milk, a banana, 1tbs of peanut butter and the Shakeology all in a blender. It seriously tasted like a milkshake!! Now, how could this be healthy and taste so good!! I was hooked. Over the next couple of days I was at clinical in the hospital for school and I could already tell a difference in my energy level!!

So I thought a little more about the price and realized that I would spend $5 each morning at the gas station for breakfast. If I would replace a shake with breakfast I would actually be saving money!! So I had made up my mind... I was ready to order! As soon as I figured out my finances... I discovered something else... I was pregnant!!! I didn't know enough about it at the time to drink it during my pregnancy and I wanted to do everything possible to make sure the baby was healthy so I took a break for awhile. Once I had my son and he was 6 months old, I and was back to work, I signed up as a "discount " Beachbody coach. That gave me a 25% discount every month on my Shakeology home direct order. I have replaced breakfast with Shakeology from that day forth... My energy has increased, I'm more regular, my my skin cleared up, I have lost 22 lbs in the last couple months and most important of all... I am all around happier!!!!!!!!

Eat Clean Support Group

So I have been eating clean for a few months now. It has taken time and patience, along with they desire to really want to learn how to eat healthier. I can truly say this, I have noticed amazing changes in my food cravings, energy and weight loss! I would love to continue learning how to eat clean and share the knowledge I already have with you! It's always more fun with a group of people exited about the same thing.

I am going to start my Facebook support group on November 4th. If you are interested please message me on facebook or shoot me a quick Email! 

Lets learn together and grow together! Lets be an example for others to look up to! Our kids, neighbors, co-workers, spouses, parents... Everyone! We all deserve to be putting the best of the best into our bodies and feel the greatest we ever have!!!!

Lets do this!!

Do "Consistency" and "Diet" Belong in the Same Sentence??

Ok so first of all.... If you call what your doing a "diet", your most likely going to think of it that way.  "Diets" only tend to last for awhile, or end up being something you decide to do when you need to drop a few pounds for a wedding, date, vacation...etc....

What I have realized is that when you finally commit to learning about eating healthy, it has to become a lifestyle change to actually work. You kind of have to look at food and how you react to it in a totally different way. Food isn't here to make us happy. Although I know a lot of times we may use it as comfort:-) Food is here to fuel our body's and give us the energy to get up every day and go out and be the best we can!!

Nowadays, everything is for convince. People tend not to like spending large amounts of time on anything... The faster the better. I think we need to slow down for a minute and look at a few things that can help us improve our healthy eating habits!

1. Develop an eating plan for the week!

I started making meal plans a few weeks ago. Let me tell you, they save me so much time!! No searching through the cupboards, wondering what I'm going to eat and when. It's all layed out for you!  I include breakfast (within 1 hour of waking), snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. If you we're counting... That's 6 small meals a day! Eating every few hours sends a signal to your metabolism to speed up. The more often you eat, the more often your metabolism increases and burns fat!!

2.Keep it Interesting!

Look up new recipes... or ask around for them! Most people love to share a new discovery of a wonderful healthy recipe!! I have to admit, I kind of like eating the same thing day after day, I know what to expect that way. But, since I started trying 1 new recipe a week, I have broadened my horizon on what I eat! Variety is always good!!

3.Designate a cheat meal!

By doing this, it is already planned out, not spur of the moment. Include it in your weekly meal plan!   That way we know its coming and we can use it as motivation to eat well until our cheat meal. For me, it keeps me from going crazy. Sometimes you have to just slip up a bit and grab something that may not be that healthy. Ya know what!?  That's completely ok!!! The important thing is that you don't let a cheat meal turn into a cheat day, then cheat weekend, then before you know it, it will be a cheat week!! If you ever feel like you messed up on your healthy eating just brush yourself off! Get up! And keep moving forward! No one was ever successful at anything with set backs.

4. Surround yourself with like minded others

Support groups were one of the main reasons that I have been able to continue to eat healthy and lose weight. Ya know why? Chances are whatever you are feeling, someone else had that same feeling at one time to. They can tell you how they got through it. We keep each other motivated about life in general and hold each other accountable. We share recipes and tips! When we set goals... We all work together to help all of us reach them! It's truly amazing!  If this sounds like something you would be interested in I would love to work with you!! You can contact me and I would absolutely love to talk to you about how we can reach your goals!!!

5. CONSISTENCY

You need to be consistent if you want to see any type of results. You wouldn't just go to work 2 out of 5 days a week and expect to get paid for 5 days would you? You get out if this what you put in. Yes, it can be difficult and I promise you will have bad days. But that is why we have support groups. You aren't alone in this. We are all working towards the same goal... Being healthy!!!

What is this whole "Clean Eating" thing??

So when I started paying attention to what I was eating, I decided to follow "clean eating". I didn't know what the heck that was. But I knew I could learn. So I researched it. It turned out to be very simple in fact. "Clean eating" is mostly about eating "real" foods. Ya know.. Things without artificial flavoring, artificial coloring and sugar substitutes. The less the ingredient list the better!


 Seemed easy enough! But I very quickly learned that changing the way I ate would be a process. I wasn't one of those people out there that could just turn my diet completely around all at one time. So I did it slowly and learned a few things along the way...

 1. Try switching one food out each week ( I started by switching to whole grain pasta, quinoa, and barley instead of white pasta and white rice) This way you get used to eating healthier and its not as much of a shock.

 2. You may not like everything you try, but don't get discouraged! Play around with new recipes. (I found very quickly that I was not a fan of quinoa... But I finally found a stir fry recipe that I loved!) Trying several new recipes a week was too overwhelming for me. Plus I didn't have all the ingredients in the cupboards. So I decided to try 1 new recipe a week.

 3.Always stock up on fresh or frozen fruits and veggies! There are so many different fruits and veggies out there! Not until I took the time to look did I realize what I was missing out on. Things as simple as blackberries, watermelon and pineapple were things I overlooked before while shopping because my cart was filled with other unhealthy food

 4.Lastly I learned to shop on the perimeters of the grocery store. Did you ever notice that most fresh foods are on the outskirts??


I didn't! Now, not all the food you will need is on the outskirts but alot of it is:-

I hope you learned something from this! I'm still continuing to learn every day and will continue to share with you on my journey!!!

My new lifestyle change

A few months ago, I was a totally different person. Unhappy, depressed, stuffing my face with whatever I could find and overweight. Today, I still am overweight, but losing the pounds fast! I'm active, happy and think carefully about what I put into my body. A friend asked me to join a Facebook "challenge" group back in March. It consisted drinking Shakeology, doing a fitness program from Beachbody, and participating in a closed facebook group. For those of you who may not be familiar with private groups (I wasn't at all), there's private groups on facebook where only certain people are involved (whoever creates the group will "add" the member), and everyone can interact and support one another there.

Now I thought that was cool. Where else could I get motivation and support while trying to lose weight! So I joined! I'm going to be honest. I kind of "watched" for the first few groups I was in. Didn't post everyday a what workout I did, how I felt or what I ate. As I think back now that's probably because I wasn't doing what I said I would. I wasn't working out  consistently, or making healthy food choices.  But after awhile of watching everyone and seeing how great everyone's results were, I decided it was time to make a change!

Now, by this time it was July... Better late than never right!! I started drinking Shakeology daily, doing my workouts and paying attention to what I ate(most of the time). I couldn't believe it! In the first 2 months I lost 15 lbs!!! I was so exited! I knew I could do better so now I'm currently learning to "eat clean". It's all a learning process, but I have a feeling it will be worth it in the end. I would love to work with you and reach your goals!!! Feel free to email Savko.christine@gmail.com with any questions!