FitFeat

where daily feats & eats can be adventures in themselves

Posts Tagged Green Smoothie

Meat Mallet Muscles

Mar 6

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 11 Comments

Happy Saturday fit friends!  I started a post Thursday night to put out here on Friday and then when Friday actually arrived the day took off like Seabiscuit and flew by so fast that I never had a chance to get back out here.

Have you been picking a few of the 10 Commandments of FitFeat to try on for size?  (not the religious ones.. see Thursday’s post!)

Commandment #2 is an easy one for me… this girl loves her greens and this smoothie was PERFECT.  Red grapes, 1/2 banana, 2 clementines, spinach, cucumber, celery, sprouts, hemp protein powder and flaxseed oil.  I could feel this silly cold dissipating as I sipped on my smoothie!

A BEET salad for lunch:

A raw and natural afternoon snack – a banana-phone!  :)

We made an old favorite for dinner this week that we “spiffed up” a bit, CINDY style.  Whole wheat and sweet potato gnocchi, that was lightly pan fried in coconut oil before serving to give it a slight crunch.  Oh Cindy, MSP and I BOTH loved this…!  The pan frying made an AMAZING difference!  Thanks for the great idea!  We also added some of our homegrown basil to the saute pan.  I served mine over sauteed mushrooms and spiralized zucchini topped with Muir Glen organic marinara and nutritional yeast.  It was delicious!

Since I’m getting back to my basics in the food area, I figured why not do the same with some of my training.  So yesterday’s workout was a more traditional weight-lifting session, as opposed to doing something like Tabata or Physique 57.   All I can say is OUCH.  But this is the “good ouch” — I really love to feel a little muscle soreness after a good strength workout.

Friday Chest, Back, Shoulder Workout

  • Upper Body warmup with arm circles, light stretching, moving light weights around
  • DB Bench Press 2 warm-up sets + 4 working sets of 12
  • DB Incline Chest Flyes 1 warm-up set + 4 working sets of 12
  • Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns 1 warm-up set + 4 working sets of 12
  • One-Arm DB Rows 4 working sets of 12
  • Seated Overhead DB Press 1 warm-up set + 4 working sets of 12
  • Side Lateral Raises 4 working sets of 12

Today, my chest muscles feel like someone took a meat mallet to them – I’m talking Tender with a capital T.  :)   The change back to my usual style of training felt good.  I wonder how long it will take me to get bored and switch it up again!

Then this morning I did a 10-mile jog, which I’ll be recapping in the next Marathon Monday post.  No hints as to how it went!  :)

Anyone have big plans for the weekend? I’d LOVE to go see the new Alice in Wonderland, in 3-D!  However, the sun is shining and it’s around 60 degrees, so I don’t want to waste any of it holed away in a movie theater so I’ll either save it for a late show or wait for the next rainy day.

I hope you are having a FIT and HAPPY weekend!

– Shari B. =)

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The 10 Commandments of FitFeat

Mar 4

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

Hi Fit Peeps!  It’s Friday-EVE!

The sun is shining and supposedly it’s going to hit 60 degrees today.  I can’t even describe how happy that makes me!  Spring is just around the corner! You all know I run on solar power, right?  ;)

I took the day off from working out yesterday.  I want to get past this mini-bug as quickly as possible, so I’m saving my body’s energy for immunity rather than for recovering from exercise.  I’ll have to take a trip to Whole Foods today and pick up some Kombucha tea and maybe some of the other cool supplement ideas you all suggested for me this week!  (Thank you for all the great ideas!)

As I mentioned in the last post, since I started training for the marathon a little over 6 weeks ago, my appetite has been a bear and I’ve also allowed more sugary items to creep back in.  Part of that is thanks to the season of Cadbury Caramel Cream Eggs which I love, love, love!  Part of it is the increased expenditure of energy from the long runs, yes, but not nearly as much as you may think.  (The rest of my week has LESS exercise in it than it used to because I spend a day or two ‘recovering’ from the long runs and then minimize leg work as I gear up for the next run.)  So my weekly calorie expenditure isn’t that much more than it was when I wasn’t training for this event.

I’ve been working at such a high heart rate in every run that I’ve been burning mostly sugar as fuel and not much fat.  This leads to a cycle of craving carbs, burning carbs, craving carbs, etc.   When our bodies feel wiped, we crave foods that will give us instant bursts of energy.  And unless you are planning to be running sprints in the next couple of hours, you know right where that sugar’s gonna go:  to your trouble spots!

I eat for weight maintenance.  Over the course of a lot of trials and many errors, I found what works best for me to feel healthy and satisfied, with the added bonus of fitting into my skinny jeans! :)   Enter an endurance sport, and my ‘natural rhythm’ gets thrown a bit off balance.

From a speed perspective I have a target weight in mind that I would like to race at on May 16.  For every 5% of weight you lose, you gain about 5% in speed.  If I want to increase my speed by 30 seconds per mile, I’ll need to get a bit lower than what my ’summer maintenance weight’ is.

Here’s what I’m NOT going to do:  be obsessive or restrictive about it.  If I make it, great.  If not, I’ll just be 14 minutes slower over the 26 miles.

Here’s what I AM going to do:  get back to the basics of what I know works for me, both from a nutrition standpoint and an exercise standpoint.

With that said I thought I’d share the basics I follow (and coach my clients on) for losing (or maintaining weight) and healthy living in general:

10 Commandments of FitFeat

1.) Eat when hungry, stop when full. Never walk away from a meal feeling stuffed.

2.) Eat a green smoothie every day.

3.) If hungry between meals, choose natural (and preferrably raw) snacks.

4.) Eat a HUGE salad every day, chock full of veggies and fun things like dulse, nutritional yeast and healthy fats.

5.) Chew every bite until it’s practically liquefied – good digestion starts in the mouth!

6.) Eliminate (or greatly reduce) foods that cause nutritional stress (primarily refined flours, refined sugars, trans-fatty acids, artificial chemical additives).

7.) Plan, plan and plan some more.  If you don’t have the right foods within your reach, it’s much to easy to grab the WRONG ones.

8.) Save and Savor: SAVE the once-in-a-blue-moon foods for special occasions (like birthday cake and wedding cake) and when you do treat yourself to these indulgences, SAVOR it. And maybe have some fun with it.  ;)   For the not-so-special occasions where you need a treat, pick those that have some nutritional value like red wine and dairy-free dark chocolate.

9.) Choose exercise that energizes you and that you enjoy doing.  Let each workout leave you wanting to come back again the next time.

10.) Love yourself and your body.  Appreciate what it does for you and treat it with respect.  When you put that thought first, the choices you make will come naturally.

***

Today’s discussion:  how many of these 10 commandments do you already ‘obey’?  If there are some you don’t, which will you implement first?

– Shari B. =)

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Give That Cold the Boom Boom Pow

Mar 2

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 12 Comments

Hi blog buds!

Thank you all for the wonderful comments to yesterday’s Marathon Monday post.  I loved reading all of your encouraging words!  I hope you know how much more enjoyable (not to mention accountable) this marathon process is, knowing that you are all cheering me on.

I already know what I’ll be doing differently on my next run.  Something that I’ve been figuring to be the issue, but that I have neglected to implement.  (Partly due to pride, I think.)  I’m treating myself as I would a client so I’m going to take my own advice.  So stay tuned for the next Marathon Monday and I’ll share my “tweaks” and let you know how it goes!

I rested the ol’ knees on Sunday by not doing any exercise.  Then on Monday when I woke up my knees were feeling bueno!  So I’m thankful that they are recovering quickly, that’s a good sign!  I treated them to some Iron Yoga in the morning before scooting off to work.

While the knees are back to normal, that weird sneezing fit seems to be a touch of a head cold.  So I’m giving it the BOOM-BOOM-POW of green smoothies, Emergen-C drinks and green tea.  Hopefully I’ll get this thing nipped in the bud!  I feel fine, but my nose deciding to keep on running well past that 14 mile mark!  ;)

Anyone else this messy while making green smoothies?

I have covered the entire island!

***

I was fortunate to start this morning with a delightful run at my favorite hilly trail with one of my clients.  Look at the moon as I pulled into the parking lot!

It was just getting light out and the moon was SO bright!  I love pretty runs like this!  While my little friend OSCAR told me it was 28 outside, we did freeze our hineys off a bit because it was WINDY!  (I’ve been going to this trail for about 9 years now – you’d think I’d learn that it’s ALWAYS windy there and dress accordingly!)  :D

I wore my VFFs for the 3.7 miles we did.  Ohhh boy do you feel every little rock on a gravel trail in them, especially when your feet are frozen!  But I loved it! They thawed out after about 15 minutes, once the blood started pumping and then it was like skipping along like a kid!  These things are a hoot!

I so wish that my calves were ready to wear these ‘unshoes’ for longer distances because the impact on my knees is almost nil.  I’m getting there!  I’ve added another mile to my longest run in them… progressing slowly but safely.

Today’s discussion:  what’s your “tried and true” remedy when you have a cold? As I mentioned, I like to try to knock it out with high nutrient foods, like what I add to my green smoothies.  This is the first I’ve had in almost a year – I didn’t even catch one when I flew to Michigan in the fall (and I was that person who would catch something every time I stepped on a plane.)  I have attributed this good immunity to all the fruits and veggies I’ve been eating since last April.  But recently I’ve let some refined carbs and sugars creep back into my diet so I know that’s partly to blame.  Time to get back to basics!  :)

Enjoy the rest of your day!

– Shari B. =)

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Hot and Cold Salad

Feb 23

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hi blog buds!

I am SO tickled that you are enjoying the Marathon Monday posts.  I can’t THANK YOU all enough for that.  When it’s icky outside or I’m facing a long run, you have no idea how much it helps to know that YOU are right there with me!  Because I pay more attention when I know I get to write about it for you each time!

Oh the healthy eats I have to share with you today… makes me hungry just thinking about it!  But FEATS first then EATS, since I owe you some recaps.  Otherwise you might start thinking that all I do is EAT and only exercise on the weekends.  :D

Sunday we had even SNOWIER weather than we’d had for the Saturday run.  So MSP and I bundled up in our snow gear and took off for a little ’snow hike’ on the hills around our house.  The view out the window:

Ultimately we only ended up with 3.75 miles, but it seemed so much longer trudging around in the snow.  We had such a good time.  It was so peaceful – no one was out.  The perfect start to our Sunday.

For Monday’s exercise I did more weight training Tabata-style.

  • 5 min warmup on TM
  • Squats with Overhead Press 4 minutes
  • Chest Flyes with tubing 4 minutes
  • Rear Lunge off Low Step PLUS Bicep Curls 4 minutes (alternating legs each set)
  • 45° Upright Row 2 minutes
  • 2-Arm Bent DB Row 2 minutes
  • Glute Bridges on Ball 4 minutes  (Can you say OUCHIE??)
  • Triceps Pressdown 4 minutes
  • Ball Crunches 4 minutes

I am crazy about my Tabata timer (the one I use is an app on my iPhone).  I LOVE working out this way. I’m NEVER bored and it ALWAYS burns!

Now about those EATS!

A tasty snack on Sunday:  baked kale chips with a small side of Buffalo chips and a few slivers of raw goat cheddar.

Sunday night snack (because I was itching to try this Artisana Coconut Butter).  Ezekial Cinnamon Raisin Toast + Coconut Butter = DREAMY.

Monday morning after my workout I had my daily green smoothie!  Mmm I love when I have avocado and pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for my smoothies – they end up SO creamy.

A mid-morning Larabar while at my desk – the awesome “Chocolate Coconut Chew” that to me tastes like a brownie with nuts in it.

Now let me just preface my lunch a bit here.  When it is cold out for days, like it has been, I find it a bit of a challenge to want to eat my usual humongous salads because COLD GREENS are refreshing and when I’m chilly ‘refreshing’ is not on the top of my list. All I want is something warm (and often full of carbs.)  Here’s what I’ve been doing lately that has really helped keep  my salad intake up. I’m topping my salads with ROASTED VEGGIES.  I took the time Sunday to pre-roast some stuff I could use during the week (kale, mixed veggies, squash) and have available to take to work.

I packed a large spinach salad in one container topped with sundried tomatoes, a few kalamata olives, nutritional yeast, dulse and balsamic vinegar with a teaspoon of olive oil for dressing.  In another container were my roasted veggies:  red pepper, zucchini and mushrooms with balsamic.  I reheated the roasted veggies and plated them next to my salad.  After I took the picture, I mixed them all up.  And it was LIP-SMACKIN’ GOOD.  The HOT veggies + the COLD spinach makes a really delicious meal.

It looks a bit small in the picture, but this was one HUGE dinner plate.

For my mid-afternoon snack I had half of a “Go Raw” pumpkin seed bar.  This was my first try with this brand and I LOVE it.  I’ll be getting this one again for sure!  I’ve already been looking for them online to order in bulk.

Dinner wanted in on the fun veggie action too.  Another find while at Sprouts:  Golden Flax “roll-ups”, made with flax flour and soy flour.  It seems to be a cross between a flatbread and a tortilla.

So I made this with it:

Lightly ‘grilled’ in a pan to give it a panini feel.  Inside was Tofutti (non-dairy cream ‘cheese’ spread), avocado, tomato, clover sprouts and a bit of romaine.  The rest of the romaine went into my side salad.  Then I poured a little Annie’s Lite Honey Mustard Vinaigrette on the side as a ‘dipping sauce’ for the wrap.

It was really a finger-lickin’ good kind of day.  Mondays can be rough, but not when I have tasty (not to mention ultra-healthy) meals like these to look forward to!

Wow writing this post made me hungry.  I think I need a snack! Do you mix your hot and cold veggies?  Any favorite combos to share?

Have a terrific day!

– Shari B. =)

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Accidental Dressing

Feb 2

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 7 Comments

Hi friends!  WOW, what a collection of RUNNERS and GOALS we have here at FitFeat!  It was so fun to read all of your comments to yesterday’s post!  Thank you all for contributing to the friendly community we have going here!

Monday turned out to be a great start to the week.  On the fitness front, the day began with a Physique 57 session.   On the food front, I had felt a definite lack of veggies in my Sunday meals so I was anxious to get back to my weekday routine.  Sometimes the weekends are so jam-packed that our eating schedules get a bit out of whack.  MSP and I end up with opposite hunger signals on the weekends:  when he’s hungry I’m not and vice versa.  As a result I think we tend to snack more and not focus on mealtimes.

My post-exercise meal was a GLORIOUS giant green smoothie.

Many of the usual ingredients went into the blender:

  • small banana
  • 3/4 leftover orange
  • 1 clemetine
  • huge handful of spinach
  • 2 scoops of hemp powder (equates to only about 7g of protein)
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 small scoop Amazing Greens
  • large stalk of celery
  • 1/2 large cucumber
  • small handful of sunflower sprouts
  • 8 oz water

Around 10:00 AM it was time for my daily Larabar:  Coconut Cream Pie.  Mmmm.  A little taste of paradise in a tiny package!

For lunch I heated up about 1/3 of a Chipotle vegetarian bowl (rice, black beans, peppers, onions, two salsas, and a small dollop of guac) and put it on top of a bed of spinach to make a southwest salad of sorts.  It was fantastic!  I’ll eat my Chipotle that way again for sure!  Unfortunately I don’t seem to have a pic – I thought I took one on my phone, but it has apparently gone into hiding.

For my afternoon snack, I have to give a shout out to Fallon.  When I posted the “favorite cracker” question last week, she said she toasts up some Ezekial Sprouted Grain Tortillas and used those as crackers.  Well this past weekend while I was making some dinner in the over, I tossed the rest of my Ezekial tortillas in there too and HOLY tasty cracker, she wasn’t kidding!  They did remind me of Mary’s Crackers but not SO hard that your teeth felt in danger – which I appreciate!  These went perfectly with hummus – so thank you Fallon for the great tip!

I’m still a hummus-holic.  LOVE..LOVE..LOVE the hummus.

For dinner, I was feeling like making some sort of stir-fry.  I was freshly stocked on veggies from the weekend grocery shopping trip.  So I hopped on to Allrecipes.com and searched for “stir-fry sauce”.  You will never guess what happened…!  A recipe came up for which I actually had EVERY ingredient on hand to make the sauce!  Light coconut milk, cilantro, one lime, agave nectar, minced ginger root and minced garlic! That NEVER happens! I’m almost always subbing something to make up for a lack of one ingredient or another!  (I better run out and get a lottery ticket today!)

I can’t reprint the recipe as it is copyrighted material, but I’ll link here to the full recipe.  I only used the Cilantro Lime Coconut Sauce portion. They had a bean and mango stir-fry, while I was just using veggies.

I whipped out the spiralizer and ribboned 3/4 zucchini, sliced up an orange bell pepper and the rest of the veggies came from a bag of broccoli slaw:

I stir-fried all the veggies in just a bit of coconut oil until they were about tender (about 10 minutes).

During that time I blended up the sauce:

When the veggies were done, I added some sauce just as I turned off the burner and served.

Here’s the thing.  This sauce was not stellar as a stir-fry.  Once you added the veggies, the flavor of the sauce seemed to get lost.  So I ended up doctoring my plate ever so slightly with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and a tsp of tahini.  NOW dinner was ready.  And tasty!

However, I have about half of the sauce left and I tried it alone.  By itself it is really, really good.   It will make a FANTASTIC salad dressing! So you can bet I’ll be pouring some on my spinach and veggies for lunch!

Have you ever started out with a recipe for one thing and realized it might work better as something else? This seems to happen to me on a regular occasion in my kitchen!

Have a TERRIFIC Tuesday!  Oh and I almost forgot:  Happy Groundhog Day!  I can handle 6 more weeks till spring – especially if they are as pretty as today!  Clear blue skies with a 50 degree forecast!

– Shari B. =)

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Miss Sissy Soles

Jan 23

Posted by Shari B. in Marathon Training | 8 Comments

Happy Saturday everyone!

I hope that you are enjoying your day and that your Friday evening was nice.  I rushed out after publishing yesterday’s post because MSP and I had an impromptu ‘date’ at a local wine bar so that we could share a budget-friendly meal during their happy hour.  I like to eat off of appetizer menus because the portions are (usually) more in line with what a normal size should be and the prices are more reasonable.  Especially during happy hour!  I had a $5 glass of pinot grigio, shared some hummus with MSP and then a delicious Mushroom Gnocchi (from which I STILL had leftovers to bring home.)

Did you get some exercise in on Friday?  I had an efficient upper body workout:

Tabata Upper Body

  • Warmup on TM followed by arm circles
  • Straight-arm Planks (4 min)
  • Tricep Dips on floor (4 min)
  • Side Raises for Shoulders (SLOW, no momentum – 4 min)
  • DB Rows top half of movement only (4 min)
  • Biceps Curls with arms out to side (4 min)
  • Rotator Cuff movements (no weight) and stretching

I woke up yesterday morning worried that I had come down with a cold.  My nose was runny, my throat a bit scratchy and I felt the stirrings of a headache.  I made sure to take a double dose of probiotics and followed that with a BUBBLY (Raw Kombucha Tea).

And a super green smoothie.

I felt good as new in NO time flat – pretty much by 10:00 AM.   YAY!  No cold after all.  Or if I had the beginning of one, I gave it a good ol’ probiotic/nutrient power punch and nipped it in the bud!

Then this morning I met up with one of my running partners for a 7.6 mile run through two of Denver’s scenic parks.  He runs faster than I do which is good because it pushes me to be better.  But man alive was my heart rate high in my attempt to keep up.  I saw 186 quite a few times and my Garmin told me that I averaged 175 through the ENTIRE run.

Back when I was running a LOT I had built up some pretty good (not to mention ugly) calluses on the balls of my feet.  Since I backed way off my distance over the past year, I have prettier feet again but no more tough skin.  About 5 miles into today’s run, I felt like the bottoms of my feet had been rubbed raw with sandpaper and now I’m hobbling around trying to keep my weight into my heels.  I have sissy soles at the moment!  A few more long runs and I’ll be well on my way to having feet that have no business being seen by eyes other than mine.  :)   That’s OK – I know those calluses are hard-won so I see them kind of like a little badge of honor.

How about you if you’re a runner?  Do you get calluses on your feet?  Blisters?  Black toenails? What’s your running ‘battle scar’? Fortunately I’ve been blister-free since having discovered the Wrightsock.  And as of yet, no black toenails.  But this could be the year!

Make it a GREAT night!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Can’t Every Day Be Sunday?

Jan 18

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Hello blog buds!  Happy Monday to you!

I hope that you all had a marvelous weekend.  Ours was absolutely LOVELY.

Saturday MSP and I met up with a friend for a run at our favorite hilly trail where we did a two-loop route for a total of 5.48 miles, which included almost 1000′ of elevation gain.  It rocked. My pre-run fuel of two pieces of Ezekial toast with a light smear of organic raw almond butter and a sprinkle of coconut completely did the trick.  I felt perfectly energized for the run.

After we got back and did some deep stretching, I made a delicious post-run green smoothie.  Something about putting my smoothie in this container makes it look like some sort of chemistry class experiment!

At lunchtime I was in the mood for some of the baby bellas I’d purchased so I lightly sauteed them and added some spinach.

Then I wrapped them up in a whole wheat tortilla with some tomato, hummus, pepitas and very light sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  And an umeboshi plum on the side with some extra spinach.  I came back for more mushrooms after I finished the wrap and polished off almost the entire batch!

On Sunday we wanted to get outside again and include the dogs, so we mapped out a route to a Starbucks and set out first thing in the morning.  We we able to access it almost directly using the bike trail, but we thought it would be a much longer route than it was.  We ended up only getting in 3.8 miles roundtrip.  But the dogs LOVED it and the trail has hills (because there is no place near us that DOESN’T have hills it seems) so we felt our calves and glutes as the day went on.

Some of the highlights from Sunday’s eats included some brown rice veggie rolls from Whole Foods:

A new vegan burrito (from the frozen section) that wasn’t too shabby for a good “lazy girl meal”…

To which I added my own salsa and avocado after heating:

And for some snackage during the football game, some homemade microwave popcorn with soy-free Earth Balance vegan spread, sea salt and nutritional yeast:

Our weekend felt like a perfect balance of exercise with healthy food, plus some relaxation and snacks.

***

How about you?  Did you have a FIT-filled weekend?

Those of you who are back at your desks today who may have missed the Saturday post, check out this reminder to Stop, Drop and Roll (Your Shoulders) while you are at your desks.

Thank you for all of your comments over the weekend – I’ll be replying to each of them as soon as I click the publish button on this post so don’t think I forgot about ya!  And coming up this week on FitFeat, I’ve got a few FitFeatures relating to prescription meds as well as tracking your exercise.

Have a magnificent Monday!

– Shari B. =)

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My How You’ve Grown!

Jan 14

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Good mornin’ FitFeat friends!  Happy Thursday!  Check out how well my little AeroGarden is growing!

I wonder how tall they’ll get!  I love having something grow, even if all I had to do was add water and a tablet.  Still makes me feel like my thumb at least has a ‘hint’ of green to it.  Probably lime green, but that’s OK by me!

I really enjoyed the comments on my earlier post about Reducing & Reusing.  Everyone had great comments and ideas.  Joan from I’m In The Garden Today talked about reusing paper from finicky printers.  Cindy from A Sparkle A Day mentioned purchasing things in bulk and then transferring to jars at home.  Which prompted me to do that with mine too!  While my leftover almond butter jars were sitting neatly next to my drinking glasses in the cabinet, my adzuki beans and quinoa where in the plastic bulk bags I’d brought them home in, complete with twist-ties!  My good are movin’ on up like George and Weezy to their new dee-luxe digs:

This is one of the things I absolutely love about having started this blog.  I LOVE that we all trade ideas and share experiences.  Thank you all for the participation in this FitFeat community.  To this day, I still get so excited when I receive an email alert that I’ve got a comment on a blog post.  LOVE getting comments, so please keep ‘em coming!  And if you’re a lurker, that’s ok too.  I still love that you are here reading!

***

Here are a few highlights from yesterday’s healthy eats.  Another jumbo green smoothie to start my day. This one contained the following:

  • 9 oz water
  • 1/2 banana
  • 2 clementines
  • medium handful of clover sprouts
  • 1/2 of a very large cucumber
  • 2 tbsp pepitas (raw pumpkin kernels)
  • 1/2 tbsp white chia seeds
  • 1 stalk celery
  • large handful of baby spinach
  • 1.5 tbsp hemp protein powder

I know a few of you are green smoothie drinkers.  If you’re not, what’s holding you back? Is it how they look?  I know they are scary LOOKING, but they do taste fantastic.  Especially if you start with more fruit than greens, and then work your way to less fruit as you go along.

Lunch was a veggie wrap at my desk (and this time I actually took my camera to work so no BLURRY iPHONE pic here!)

  • Whole wheat tortilla
  • Smear of Tofutti (the UNcheese cream cheese)
  • Shiitake mushrooms
  • Tomato slices
  • Baby spinach
  • Clover sprouts
  • Sprinkle of sea salt

It’s been a while since I’ve made a wrap – that was one of my “go to” lunches over the summer.  I think I’d forgotten how lip-smacking awesome they were, so now I’ll probably be stuck in another wrap rut again.

***

Well friends, I’m off to get my lunch packed and scoot on out the door.  Have a TOTALLY TERRIFIC THURSDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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Über Green Smoothie

Jan 13

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 7 Comments

Hi friends!

An early morning post — surprise!!  ;)   Right after I get off of work today I am meeting up with my brother for our belated xmas gift exchange and then I have dinner plans directly following.  So I’m here bright and early this morning, knowing that I won’t be back in front of the PC again until LATE tonight.  Guess where I’m going for the dinner plans??  I’ll give you a hint:  my plate will most likely have GIGANDE beans on it!!

I made the BIGGEST GREEN smoothie yesterday morning after I finished my Physique 57 workout.  I almost couldn’t fit the lid on the BlendTec.  (Do you think that’s bad for a blender??)  And as I poured this 34 ouncer into a massive cup, it occurred to me that I haven’t been posting the “parts and pieces” that I throw into my smoothies these days.  I guess I figured they might be old hat to some of you who have been reading for a while.  But for the sake of new readers (and in an effort to convince the rest of you to make a green smoothie) I should consider doing that more often.  I’ll start right now!

The Über-Green Smoothie

  • 9 oz water
  • 1 apple (cut into chunks)
  • 2 cuties/clemetines (peel removed)
  • 1/2 very large cucumber (peeled)
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1/2 avocado
  • large fistful of spinach
  • medium fistful of clover sprouts

Blend away!

Mmm avocado in a green smoothie makes it so thick and creamy!  This smoothie rocked.  It kept me full for almost 3 hours.

While we are on the subject of green smoothies, do you ever make your smoothies ahead of time to drink later? I never used to do that, but have made a few “to go smoothies” to take to work and drink later in the day while I’m there.  The idea of it used to gross me out until one of my training clients told me that she makes hers the night before, then gives it a good shake the next day when she’s ready to drink it and it still tastes great.  So I figured if she can do hers overnight, mine could sit in the fridge for a few hours.

The smoothie still TASTES fine, but I’ve learned that they don’t agree with me after they’ve been blended and held for later consumption.  Folks, I’m gonna get a little “TMI” on ya here:  I end up looking about 5 months pregnant – I’m NOT kidding!  My lower abdomen gets really distended and … uh.. ummm… well, a little gassy if you don’t mind my saying!

DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE?? I have to know if this is just me and my ridiculously sensitive ’system’ or if others experience this.

It makes me wonder if it has to do with the enzymes, natural sugars or fiber breaking down (or something along those lines.)  There are no protein powders in my to-go shakes (I nixed those early on out of the ones I take to work, in case the protein powder was the culprit).  I can make two identical smoothies, drink one immediately with no tummy trouble, but drink the other one 2 hours later and have it cause a very unhappy belly.   Hmmm, mysterious.

So do tell if you have had this happen (if you don’t want to post that kind of info in the comments section for all to see, feel free to email me directly shari@fitfeat.com)

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Product Review: LifeTime Vegan Protein Powder

Dec 29

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 4 Comments

Hi FitFeat peeps!

Thanks for all the kind comments about my hobbled bod – it’s SO much better now.  Not 100% but darn close.  Ahh, bubble baths are the best! :)

Previously I’d mentioned that I’d soon be offering up a review on a new protein powder so without further ado, here it is!

I’ve been on the hunt for new PLANT-based protein powders recently.  I am almost out of my current brand of rice protein (Nutribiotic) and want to broaden my vegan protein horizons a bit.  There’s another popular brand of brown rice protein out there that I have read about in other blogs and gets good reviews but it seemed a  pretty costly.  Upon reading reviews on Amazon of that particular protein powder I ran across someone talking about this brand, which I hadn’t heard of before:

Lifetime “Life’s Basics Plant Protein”

I was immediately interested in trying this protein because it was made from a variety of protein sources (yellow pea, hemp, rice and chia) rather than JUST from rice or JUST from hemp.  I contacted the company to see if they would be willing to provide a sample so that I may try it out and in turn review it here for you on FitFeat.  Their response was that they did not offer samples or coupons at this time, but that I could purchase a trial size at my local health food store.   Well, the only local store that I found to carry their products was Sunflower Market.  But they didn’t carry the sample size.  So I had to buy the big container.

(I include that info so that you know this is not a paid endorsement of any kind.  I do not at this time have any affiliation with Lifetime products and do not profit from this review.  Maybe someday in the future companies will send things to my doorstep to review, as I read about on other blogs, but for now I purchase the items you see reviewed and recommended on FitFeat! :) )

But I digress…

I wanted to try this protein a few different ways before giving thumbs up or down.

  1. I mixed the powder with just almond milk to gauge its mixability in a shaker cup and not in a blender
  2. I mixed the powder with almond milk and a banana in a blender to gauge its overall flavor as a smoothie component
  3. I added the powder to my oatmeal (after cooking)
  4. I mixed the powder into my chia seed pudding.

My thoughts:

I’m very impressed with this protein.  ;)   This powder will get used often in my meals and smoothies.

  • It has great ‘mixability’ in just a shaker cup so that I can easily pack it to go and not need any sort of blender.  No weird ‘chunkage’ you sometimes see with protein powders.
  • I like the macronutrient ratio (1 scoop is 129 calories, 22g protein, 5g carb, 2.67g sugar, 2g fiber, 1g fat)
  • Its flavor goes well with everything into I’ve tried it in so far
  • It made my chia pudding SO MUCH more palatable  (since I’d been struggling to LIKE chia pudding).
  • According to their website, this protein powder “does not contain yeast, corn, soy, gluten, wheat, milk, egg, whey or any artificial ingredients or preservatives.”
  • A competitive price at $24 for just over 18 oz (15 large scoops, which for me will probably end up being 30 half-size servings).  Since I’m not ‘bodybuilding’ anymore, I’m not interested in getting 20-30 grams of protein with each meal.  Half a scoop with 11 grams of protein will work just fine for my needs.

The only negative (and this is really a minor one) is that it’s almost TOO sweet.  I see that there is an unsweetened version available at Amazon but I don’t see it actually on their website.  I purchased Vanilla because that was the only flavor offered at Sunflower Market.  Luckily I like sweet flavors in my smoothies and oats so it’ll be fine.  But next time around I’d like to try the unsweetened one and compare.  The plus to the Vanilla being so sweet (for those of you watching sugar and/or fruit intake) is that you can sweeten your GREEN SMOOTHIES without adding as much (or any) fruit.

Verdict:  Definitely RECOMMENDED  :)

***

A few highlights from my Monday eats for you:
I thought I’d try combining my dried greens in my oatmeal in the morning (since I knew I wouldn’t be making a green smoothie).  Hmm, probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon.  The first few bites were icky then I got used to it and ate the rest with no trouble.

An apple and an apple pie Larabar packed for while at work…

And for dinner I made homemade Black Bean Burgers, using a cutout from an Ezekial pita as the “bun” along with a pepper jack Veggie Slice (‘cheez’), romaine, roma tomato and spicy mustard:

Fast, easy and FLAVORFUL!  Just how I like my food to be…

OK kids, make your TUESDAY tip-top!  :)   I’ll see you again very soon!

– Shari B. =)


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