FitFeat

Posts Tagged protein powder

These Boots Were Made for… Mowin’

Sep 7

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Good morning friends!

When I left you yesterday, I had just finished that great upper body workout (and a green juice!) and was heading off to get my post-workout food.   I picked a shake:  chocolate egg protein powder, 1/4 cup organic Greek yogurt, a little ground flaxseed, ice and water.

But when you add grated dark chocolate on the top, well that just does it.  :)   Mmm.  Tasty!

Now that I was suitably nourished, it was time to tackle the “yardio”.  I thought you might like to see my yardio get-up.  My neighbor loves to tease me about my choice of attire.

Yes, I wear winter boots with shorts when I mow.  One of my friends in high school wore some flip-flops to mow and now she’s missing part of a toe.  True story.  My feet are small enough already, thankyouverymuch – I don’t need them even SMALLER so I’m not taking any chances!  ;)

What can I say?  I’m a cautious individual!

It was a pretty dreary day so some color was in order at lunchtime.  Leftover agave lime cabbage slaw from Friday’s BBQ dinner alongside an omelet (3 whites and 1.5 yolks) with a miniature green pepper from my garden and big chunks of garlic.  If you haven’t put garlic in your scrambled eggs yet, DO IT.

Mid-afternoon teeccino with almond milk and some Mom’s Best Naturals oat cereal:

Baked tilapia with tomatoes for dinner:

But the tilapia wasn’t terribly filling so I ate the remainder of a veggie bowl from Chipotle too:

I haven’t yet figured out what today’s workout will be.  I have to do crazy hill intervals tomorrow morning with a client outside, so I’m thinking I might skip legs today so that I’m not sore for that session.  I’m going to take today as it comes!  Maybe a little Just Dance on the Wii later!  Or yoga.  We’ll see what the day brings!

Have a WILD Wednesday!

– Shari B. =)

 

 

 

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Perfect Ending, Perfect Beginning

Jan 2

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Hi friends!  Thank you so much for all of the congratulatory messages yesterday for our anniversary.  We had a GREAT day!

We got to eat some Chinese food for lunch:

Miso Soup

Spicy Shrimp & Veggies

We finally got the pups out for a WOG (it’s been a long time!) 

We “visited” Wii Resort for an activity-filled afternoon:  canoeing, skydiving, wakeboarding, archery, swordfighting, frisbee, ping-pong, tandem cycling and jet-skiing.  I think we played EVERY game that comes on this disc.

I was working so hard playing I needed a protein-shake break!  This one turned out SOOOO yummy!  Half a scoop of my new Life’s Basics protein, half a scoop of chocolate Vega, almond milk and carob powder.  Can’t beat a protein shake that mimics a chocolate milkshake.

We had a delicious dinner of salad and pita pizza:

This particular pita pizza turned out to be KNOCK-YER-SOX-OFF good.  I cut half of the pita off like so:

Added a light smear of olive oil, nutritional yeast, sliced romas, olives, a very LIGHT sprinkle of shredded raw goat cheddar.  Then I lightly sauteed one whole portabella, 1/3 zucchini, and a big handful of spinach to add on top.  Baked at 425 for about 10 minutes and then devoured. It was tastebud heaven.

Then we enjoyed a little anniversary treat:  MSP and I shared a piece of white cake (to give the ‘illusion’ of wedding cake ;) – but wedding cake always tastes so much better – must be all the LOVE surrounding it at receptions!)

It was the perfect day – hanging out together and having a lot of laughs.

Today is ‘back to business’ day:  get out for a run, some blog work, take down the Christmas tree and decorations, housecleaning, write thank-you notes, etc.  A “to-do list” kind of day!

But before I get busy on ‘chores’, I have to rewind a bit back to new Year’s Eve.  Talk about another fun-filled day!

I woke up at 4:00 AM as you may recall from my post that morning, worried that I would NEVER be able to make it until midnight.  I got in 45 minutes of cardio (treadmill/boogie combo) so that was good.  The work day flew by and then I came home to start getting my stuff organized to take to the dinner we were invited to that evening.

I took a huge salad, the sweet cashew cheese with crackers, hummus and baked pita chips, a big veggie tray and some marinated mushrooms:

Even MSP liked the cashew cheese (be sure to serve it with a slightly sweet cracker – I think it makes a big difference.  We used Carr’s Whole Wheat cracker which almost has a shortbread texture.)

The dinner our friends made was AMAZING.  I enjoyed two HUGE crab legs while MSP had steak (he’s the Turf to my Surf.)  We all played Wii “Band Hero” (which I must admit I am TERRIBLE at) right up until it was time to see the ball drop.  And at about 12:20, it was time for us to scoot so we could get home and to sleep.  I was awake until 1:00 (which meant by that time I’d been up for 21 hours straight).  I was out cold the minute my head hit the pillow.

The last few days have been filled with such good times, great friends, fun healthy food, games that require movement – the perfect ending to the year Thursday night and the perfect start to the new year yesterday.

Here’s to 364 more days just like it!

Have a SWELL Saturday, FitFeat friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Product Review: LifeTime Vegan Protein Powder

Dec 29

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 6 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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