Advocare

Feb 16 2014

Lemon basil salmon

Salmon with whole wheat spaghetti lemon and basil. I had a serving of this for lunch today and it was so delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1 clove minced garlic
3 tbs of extra virgin olive or grape seed oil
4 4 oz pieces of wild salmon
1/2 tps of salt
1/2 tps of black pepper
3 tbs of capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 lemon zested
2 tbs of lemon juice
2 cups fresh baby spinach

Directions:
1. Boil and cook spaghetti per directions and drain pasta and transfer to large bowl.
2. Add garlic, 2 tbs of oil, salt and pepper to spaghetti and toss to combine.
3. Warm remaining 1 tbs of oil in a pan on medium high heat.
4. Season salmon filets with salt and pepper and cook salmon about 2-4 min per side depending on thickness.
5. Add basil, capers, lemon zest and lemon juice to spaghetti mixture.
6. Makes 4 servings. Each plate place 1/2 cup spinach, serving of spaghetti and then top with the salmon.

Feb 12 2014

Oatmeal fruit bake

This makes a huge batch, which you can divide into servings for the week. It is a great way to get your protein, carbs and fat in one dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup sugar free syrup

¼ cup honey*

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ripe banana, peeled and thinly sliced

2 cup fresh fruit

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚ F and lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

3. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the maple syrup, honey, milk, egg and vanilla.

4. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with the sliced banana and then top with half of the berries. Pour the oat mixture over the fruit evenly and then add the liquid ingredients on top of the oats. Sprinkle the remaining berries over the top.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Feb 11 2014

My transformation story

I will be sharing transformation stories every now and then so I will start with mine. Yep I was one of those that gained 45lbs with each of my two pregnancies. After my second daughter was born, I was living unhealthy I will admit. I didn’t try hard to lose the weight and avoided the scale like the plague. I knew I was overweight but it took awhile to have that ah ha moment. What finally did it for me was going to my yearly physical and actually having to step on the dreaded scale. Ugh. I remember calling my husband doing a freak out mode. That month I committed to myself and my two daughters that I was going to make a change. I signed up for a 4 week 5:30am bootcamp and joined weight watchers. I am proud to say I did not miss one workout and ended up losing a few lbs and inches after the month was over. I was like ‘I got this, I can do this. I feel amazing’!Over the course of the next 1.5 years I got more involved in classes at the YMCA and weight training and slowly saw the body change. I loved the community there and the friends I was making that shared the same struggles and balance in their lives too. It took me almost 2 years but I lost 35lbs and a lot of inches. I was finally in a healthy range of body fat and BMI. That was when a position opened up for a fitness instructor and I was honored to be offered the position.I am the first to say I am far from perfect and I still have those days, like you know Christmas where I eat one too many cookies. What has made me stay successful has been consistency. Consistency in exercise and my diet. There is no magic anything that is going to do it for you. Even if you have a bad day, start a new day fresh and try to do better than you did yesterday. Who is ready to bring it in 2014?