Meal Preparation

There are a lot of fitness accounts on  Twitter and Instagram and a lot of them post about meal preparation. Meal preparation is when you cook all of your meals for the week at once, and store them in individual containers and portions. Meal preparation can be a helpful and a great way keep organized but as does anything, it has it’s downfalls too.
Meal preparation keeps you on track and gives you a broad plan to follow. You always know what you are going to have to eat and exactly how much. It takes a lot of guesswork out of eating. Preparing meals is also a good way to save time. There isn’t much room for error if you stick to what you have planned and only eat what you put in the containers, which helps you eat healthy.
Meal preparation is time consuming if you don’t know how to be efficient when you cook it all at once. Cooking a few foods at time is great because you don’t get overwhelmed having too many things cooking at once but it also leads to a lack of variety in your diet. Another problem with meal planning is that it takes up a lot of space in your fridge. If you don’t live alone, which you most likely don’t, then you know your family’s other foods will occupy a lot of space already and 20 containers of pre-portioned food sitting in your fridge isn’t exactly ideal as far as space goes. Also, with cooking ahead as the week goes on, the food isn’t as fresh. If Sunday is your prep day, sure Monday’s meals will taste fine but what about Friday’s lunch? The brown rice dried out, the greek yogurt got watery, and the tilapia tastes bland. This could easily be fixed if there were 2 days per week planned out as prep days. Another way that could work would to cook one day ahead. As you cook dinner, you could make twice the amount for the next night and use the side dishes as lunch to throw together a few easy meals.
Meal prep has it’s ups and downs. It’s much healthier than eating out, it’s practical, time saving and useful but can also lack variety and tie up the fridge space if it isn’t done the right way.

Quest Cravings Review

Today at lunch I went to the store to pick up some Quest Bars for the week. I usually make sure to have a few on hand every week to snack on as breakfast when I work or for Cross Country meets. The store I buy them at is running a sale that is about 20 cents cheaper per bar than normal. I realized their Quest Cravings Peanut Butter Cups were on sale too, which are normally almost a dollar more. I decided to give them a try. Before we get into the actual review, I’ll give a rundown of the macros for this. For 2 cups it’s setting you back about 240 calories, 17 grams of (healthy) fat, 20 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar, 3 grams of fiber and about 10 carbs (4 net) Not bad for a dessert item, but still a little high in calories but understandable due to the content of fats coming from peanuts and cashews.
At first bite, the chocolate tasted like the chocolate chunks they put in the cookie dough bars and chocolate chunk bars, which I love because they have a certain sweet yet salty contrast. Then I started to taste the peanut butter filling. It tasted just like a real Reese’s cup at first, but then it started to taste really thick and chalky sort of like when you don’t mix a protein shake all the way and get a glob of protein powder. It was crumbly and had a drier consistency than a real Reese’s cup. They don’t taste too bad, but I’d rather eat a Quest Bar if I wanted to eat something dessert-like.  If I were really craving something sweet, I’d buy actual Reese’s cups. They are actually lower in calories and fat than these Quest Cravings. Sure I wouldn’t exactly be “eating clean” but I’d work it into a cheat meal or something. Reese’s are about half the price of the Quest Cups too.  
As we all know, I love Quest Nutrition’s products but this time I wasn’t exactly blown away. Overall, I’d give them a 7/10 because they managed to get the crumbly peanut butter taste in the first bite but the thick chalky texture afterwards was really hard to get past.  (382)

It's All About Fall

Fall has officially begun, the other day marked the fall equinox and all you seem to see are fall foods. I LOVE fall. I love the food, the weather and especially fall fashion. Anyways,  Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice M&M’s, pumpkin donuts, candy corn, orange sugar cookies are all over the stores. My weakness is my mom’s pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I only have them once or twice a year and when I do eat them, the whole pan is gone within a day or two thanks to me. I’ve been trying to clean up my diet lately so instead of making pumpkin bars and drinking sugary “coffee” drinks, I’ve decided to take a different approach to fall eating. I have a recipe for 35 calorie pumpkin pie that I absolutely love! All it really has in it is a can of pumpkin, an egg, some almond milk, vanilla, stevia and spices. It’s super healthy because it’s packed full of vitamins, really low in carbs because there isn’t a crust and it has no added sugar because stevia is used in place of sugar. It tastes amazing with some fat free Redi Whip! Another one of my favorite recipes are pumpkin bars that are made with a thin layer of graham cracker crust and the pumpkin filling is a can of pumpkin, garbanzo beans and a few other ingredients. This is also a really delicious and healthy recipe I got from a youtuber I watch named SarahFit. (I’ll link all of my favorite recipes at the end of this post) As far as homemade recipes go, I’ve come up with pumpkin spice greek yogurt that I love to dip apple slices in. I add nonfat plain greek yogurt, pure pumkin, almond milk, stevia, vanilla, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice into a bowl and mix it all together and it’s amazing! Lastly, I’ve really been obsessed with making warm cinnamon apples. I slice up some apples and add some water to a saucepan to medium heat, coat the apples in stevia and cinnamon and cook them for about 10 minutes and top them with a bit of whipped cream. It’s so much healthier than using regular sugar and butter in the basic recipes. I love fall and of course have a pumpkin bar or orange sugar cookie here and there but I also really love to take unhealthy recipes and health-ifying them up to make them my own! (420)

Quest Bar Addicton

A little bit under a year ago I tried my very first Quest Bar. Quest Bars are my addiction. It’s like crack for fitness freaks. There. I said It. Quest Bars are premium protein bars that are high in fiber, low in net carbs and taste AMAZING. I had first heard of Quest Bars in a Jenna Marbles video on Youtube. I looked them up online but quickly closed the tab when I found out that for a box of 12, it would cost me over $25! I thought it was too much to pay. A few months passed and I had recently joined a new gym. The gym I started going to sold Quest Bars and after a few weeks of apprehension, I decided to give them a try. I paid  $2.20 for one Vanilla Almond Crunch bar. I took a bite. It tasted chewy and salty. They weren’t what I expected at all. I was a little put off but decided to go back to another flavor the next day. This time I bought Cookie Dough. It was SO GOOD! I heated it up in the microwave for about 12 seconds to soften it up. It tasted like cookie dough and the chunks of chocolate running throughout the bar was complete bliss. It was so amazing to think I could get the flavor of every decadent dessert I loved while getting in 20 grams of protein and almost 20 grams of fiber! I kept going back for more. I asked for them for Christmas and I asked for them for my birthday and I spend all of my money on them. It truly is an obsession. To this day I buy them on a regular basis and don’t mind the price of them because I know that I am buying a high quality bar with absolutely no artificial sweeteners or chemicals to sabotage my fitness level. A lot of other cheaper protein bars have a lot of artificial and unneeded ingredients like cellulose or collagen (it's a cheap way to boost the protein content of the bar but it actually doesn't even count as real protein)

 Recently Quest Nutrition (the makers of Quest Bars) have recently announced the release of Protein CHIPS. Yes, Protein chips. Also containing less than 200 calories and packed with 20 grams of protein while also remaining low carb, it seems like they are macro geniuses! I haven’t seen them in stores here but I am eager to try them to see if they live up to all of the hype. Aside from over a dozen flavors of protein bars (such as Apple Pie, White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake, Cookies and Crème and even Chocolate Brownie) and “Quest Cravings” which are mock Reese’s cups. (A review to soon come)  I am an avid buyer and lover of Quest Nutrition and I honestly can’t wait to see what else they will release in the future!

Click the link below at your own risk to see why I'm so addicted

http://www.questnutrition.com/?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=(roi+nutrition)+branded+-+search&utm_content=quest+nutrition&utm_term=quest%20nutrition

Is Gatorade Actually Beneficial?

Sports drinks seem like a common choice among athletes. I especially see football players drinking Gatorade like it’s water. My question posed for today is; Is Gatorade really necessary or worth it?
     I have formed my own personal opinion over time on Gatorade and other various sports drinks. I personally think Gatorade is a waste. It’s extremely high in sugar, carbs and salt. I’d rather save my macros for something better like frozen yogurt or bowl of cereal. I’ve read in several different places that you should never drink your calories, and I couldn’t agree more. I do understand that the point of sports drinks are to replenish electrolytes lost during INTENSE exercise. Most of the people I have seen drinking Gatorade haven’t even broken a sweat (with the exception of football players) My health teacher in middle school let us bring drinks and a snack sometimes. She always had a rule that you weren’t allowed to bring in Gatorade unless you have just come from gym class. She had a valid point. If you aren’t excessively sweating or have been exercising for more than 60-90 minutes, it really isn’t necessary at all. Allow me to explain.
As I mentioned above, Gatorade has a lot of sugar, carbs and salt. SMALL amounts of sugar after an intense workout has been shown in numerous studies to be beneficial if done right. (i.e. the whole “drinking chocolate milk after a workout is actually healthy” thing) but if you aren’t at loss for electrolytes, which means you are consuming excess sugar and excess carbs and EXCESS sodium. If you drank 2 20 ounce bottles Gatorade’s in one sitting while you were not sweating or in need of replenishing electrolytes, that’s 68 carbs, 68 grams of sugar, 540mg of sodium and 260 excess calories. Your body will most likely only store a small percentage of that in your muscles as glycogen to be used for later. But what happens to the rest? It’s stored as fat.
Also, I feel that the sodium content of Gatorade is too highly proportioned to the potassium content in one 20 ounce bottle.  According to the USDA, the average American requires 3,500mg of potassium per day and only 2,500mg (maximum) of sodium. Potassium is important for many reasons and if you don’t get enough, it could result in minor complications. If you consume too much sodium and not enough potassium, a lot can happen on a cellular level. Sodium will be absorbed by water in the cells which causes fluid retention. When you eat something salty, you often get thirsty and drink lots of water. This is now diluting your levels of potassium even more which makes things harder for your body. There are many ways to add potassium to your diet without drinking it in Gatorade and adding to the sodium levels. So just to wrap things up, Gatorade is not only a waste of macronutrients, but it also can hinder your levels of sodium and potassium if you incorrectly consume it. Not saying that I’d never drink another Gatorade in my life, I’m just saying water is always my first choice but Gatorade on special occasions. (539)

Moderation and Weekends

Most of the time you hear that people find it pretty easy to eat healthy during the week (Monday through Thursday in most cases) because they have a routine and are used to eating that way. Lots of people throw away all their potential gains and hard work with binging on junk foods on the weekends. Sure a lot of us go out during the weekend to meet a friend for pizza or going over to a relatives house and enjoying that slice of cake that grandma made specially for  you. But it doesn't stop there. A lot of people (including me) find it hard to stay on track during the weekend. I have constantly changing schedules every weekend from having cross country meets on Saturday mornings or having Saturday practice, having plans with my friends or running errands with my mom all day to laying around and watching TV all day. No weekend schedule is consistent for me. I never know where I'll be or what food is available to me. I eat at home 100% of the time. I pack snacks if I know I am going to be out for a while (Usually none other than a Quest Bar)  I've gotten good at turning down unhealthy fast food and snacks and just going hungry until I can get home. It's much easier that way and it's a good way to gain some will power. Due to many ever changing schedules, lots of people over indulge and make excuses such as "there wasn't anything healthy at the party" or "Why not? It's the weekend!" but those thing snowball into being every weekend. Once in a while turns into gorging on food Friday and Saturday nights. Of course that slice of pizza on Friday night is fine, but when you add in Grandma's cake the next night, and McDonalds after church and late night snacks the next, you've blown it for the week all in a matter of  48 hours. I find it hard to cut myself off of sugar because I love to bake on the weekends, but I bake healthier things now to avoid the unnecessary sugar and calories (Such as my 35 calorie pumpkin pie that I'll be telling you about in a later blog) It's all about moderation and finding a happy medium. It might take a while to get there, but when you do, it'll be one step in the right direction of forming good habits.

Rest Days

I currently run 6/7 days of the week. I am expected to run 7 days per week as instructed by my Cross Country Coach. I take 1 day off from all forms of exercise once a week to ensure that my muscles can repair themselves properly. At my busiest, being involved in 2 school sports at a time, lifting/conditioning outside of school AND balancing school AND a job, I am constantly on my feet. I feel that one day per week of NO exercise whatsoever (not even taking the dog for a 2 mile walk) is completely necessary for proper healing and functioning. During a workout, you are constantly breaking down your muscle fibers. Think of it as survival of the fittest, but on a cellular level. The stronger muscle fibers survive and recruit more fibers to build itself stronger. The weaker ones break and are left to be replenished and are built back stronger for the next time that they are going to be used.  If the rest time between works outs isn’t long enough, the muscles have a difficult time restoring the small fibers that break apart thus slowing recovery time and making me feel as though I am not running as optimally as I’d like to. This feeling is also recognized by sluggishness. If you’ve ever felt awful after a few days after a race day (which can be described by feeling like your legs have turned into bricks and have an extremely hard time moving them, or constantly feeling like you need to stop and walk) is a strong indication that you haven’t recovered properly. Rest days are great days to cross off things on your to do list such as run errands or do homework. I like to take rest days on Sundays so I can plan my week and recuperate. Rest days when lifting are best after one or two consecutive days in the gym rather than after a few easier days. Everyone can benefit from rest days if they are used properly and timed right, so use them to your full advantage to get the most out of your workouts (359)

Running With Music

Have you ever run or worked out while listening to music? I'm sure we all have at some point! I have a special iPod designated specifically for running. It's an old blue iPod shuffle I bought in the 5th grade. It seems so lame yet simple. I really love it because for those reasons. I don't want any extra weight or complicated settings. All I need to do is click a button to change the song and click again to pause my music. I love running with music because it makes my runs more interesting. Aside from running different routes, changing up my music also keeps me motivated. I'm not allowed to run with music in during Cross Country season but during the summer I update my playlists every week to keep things current. Music is a life saver on long runs. If I didn't have music to run to, I'd have to listen to myself breathe 10 miles. I can barely stand hearing myself breathe hard in a race only 2.5 miles long let alone on over distance runs/ recovery days!
Some people would disagree and say that running with music actually hinders their pace. The beats per minute can easily sync with your pace. If you're listening to a fast song (For example, Rap God by Eminem) you're more likely to run faster to match the beats per minute. Some people are really thrown off by the variety of beats per minute a song has and don't like the fact that it won't necessarily guarantee a consistent pace.
This leads me to my next point, if using a special playlist (or ipod in my case) only fill it with upbeat songs. I am a huge fan of Ed Sheeran but I wouldn't run to his songs.I listen to Ed Sheeran in the car or before bed to mellow out. I'm also an even bigger fan of 5 Seconds Of Summer so I  obviously have a bunch their songs on my running iPod to listen to. (I can run a solid 4 miles by listening to only 5 Seconds Of Summer before I run out of their songs and maybe 5 on a good day) Also it's pretty likely that if I'm not listening to 5 Seconds Of Summer, I'm listening to Hoodie Allen, G-Eazy or Jake Miller. I love variety. From old songs to the most recent songs, from Florida Georgia Line to Nirvana, chances are I have it all. Bottom line: I LOVE running with music. (413)

Places To Run

There are many great places to run. Some like the treadmill and prefer their view to be an episode of their favorite TV show on Netflix off of their iPad, some prefer a trail along the lining of the woods near their houses. Some prefer to run alongside the river, and some prefer to run on gravel roads. Sometimes it really just depends on the part of the country where you live or even town and neighborhood. I am fortunate enough to live near some beautiful places with a good variety of scenery no matter where I choose to run. My all time favorite fall running place is the park that we hold our Saturday morning practices at. The sharp, cool, morning air surrounds me and my favorite hoodie and running tights as the sun rises up above the colorful ripened treetops. My shoes are wet with dewy frost and the warming sunlight splashes onto my face as I run up the steep hills in the park. The colors of the deep green grass and fallen orange, yellow and red leaves are always so vibrant. I love the sound of the crunching and shuffling of the leaves. My favorite time of year is fall and I have so many great memories of running in the morning on Saturday's. My teammates seem to really enjoy Saturday runs too. As for weekdays, my view is either a track surrounded by football fields or a the paved trail that I mentioned earlier. I'm lucky to live close enough to the trail so I can run from both school or my house and get nearly the same mileage. Changing up the scenery can really help keep me from getting bored or tired of the workout. The same workouts on the track may get boring, but if you move them to the soccer field it seems completely different. It keeps me motivated and makes everything seem to go by faster. It's also a good idea to be inconsistent with routes to avoid being too predictable (also it's just a safer idea in general)

Is Working Out When Sick Actually Safe?

Since school has started, we are all exposed to a lot more bacteria than we were over the summer. Recently a lot of viruses have been going around. A few teammates and friends of mine have gotten sick, all having high fevers, runny noses and sore throats. It feels awful to be extremely busy and sick. I don’t know about you but when I get sick, I get sick at the most inconvenient times. I usually get sick in the middle of winter when I have a million obligations and things tying me down to school. I try to only miss a day or two maximum. I’m not sick at the moment (and I’m hoping I won’t be) but a lot of times I have wondered if it’s actually safe to workout as normal when I’m sick. I learned last year from my coach that running while having a fever is unsafe because of something regarding the bloodstream and the high body temperature interfering making things dangerous. I have read in a few places that it’s completely safe and un-harmful to continue with your routines as you usually would. If I’m mildly sick with maybe a small cough and stuffy nose then yes, I’d push through it and make it through my workouts at a regular pace. If I didn’t have a fever but felt extremely weak, tired and congested, I would consider taking a day off or doing something lighter such as yoga or light weight training. I don’t think it’s necessary to take every day off for the entirety of the sickness but I do think that on the worst day, it’s pretty safe to say you need a day of rest. If a fever lasts more than a day, It’s okay to take time off until the fever subsides. I personally don’t take anything for fevers because the point of a fever is to elevate the body temperature to neutralize bacteria and viruses in the body. If the body temperature is artificially lowered with medicine, then the body can’t burn up the bacteria which could potentially cause it to linger in the body even longer. It really depends on your personal symptoms and sickness. If it’s contagious and you belong to the gym, it’s obviously probably best to work out at home. (402)

Whey Protein Supplements: The Good, The Bad and The Pricey

A huge amount of teenage guys at school have been seen walking all over school before lifting or sports practice with those obnoxious blender bottles mixing a protein shake. Do you ever wonder what type of protein they use? Do they use the cheap brands like Body Fortress? Do they use higher end protein like Cellucor and BSN? Is there even a difference besides flavor? Are they over paying? You probably haven’t ever thought about it, but I have. So I’ll explain anyways. I always believe in getting the most for your money. When it comes to supplements, I also believe you should get the most macros for your money. In my mind for example, that means that when comparing a scoop of chocolate whey that is 150 calories, 20 grams of protein and 8 carbs and another of a different brand that is 140 calories, 30 protein and 4 carbs, the second option is ALWAYS better. I have tried many different brands of whey protein. Since I don’t like very many kinds of meat, I love to use protein supplements to help me get in enough protein. I’ve secretly snuck a 1/2 scoop of my brother’s chocolate peanut butter Body Fortress whey just to see how it compared with my BSN Lean Dessert Whey (An $18 product compared to a $40 product) I must say that there is an immense difference! The Body Fortress brand was chunky, gritty and hard to mix. The taste was very bland and the protein left a weird after taste. My vanilla BSN whey is smooth, easy to mix and it tastes extremely amazing! In this case, the $40 product wins. Although my BSN Lean Dessert Protein tastes amazing, the price is pretty steep for a teenage girl’s budget. I don’t have the means to replenish my supply every time I finish off a tub. I may buy a new one as a reward after finals, or when I go into a season of sports. In the mean time, I alternate supplements with my all time favorite whey protein powder. Six Star Elite Series Decadent Chocolate Whey. It’s a step up from the disastrous Body Fortress (Although I’ve heard that they’re owned by the same company?) and also about $6 more expensive but much more affordable than BSN. The taste is decent and the macros are fantastic. I love to mix in a little bit of cocoa powder for some added richness to the shake. In the end, cheaper is not always better. Sometimes it’s worth the price to get flavors like cookie dough, red velvet or cake batter (Which is my next planned splurge) and other times it’s okay to settle for less. Whatever it takes to make those gains, right?