Raving Recipes

Ok so you know that I like to eat.... I just need to eat properly to not mess up everything I've worked so hard for. Today I want to share a few recipes with you that I love!

First here is one for FLOURLESS SWEET POTATO MUFFINS.....

They were so good! Next time I'm going to change it up again and try it with 1/2 cup of Applesauce. Try it though and see what you think . If you don't have Shakeology use a vanilla protein powder.

Here is one from Ree Drummond. I just love her show and her personality!
It's called the "Heavenly Hummus Wrap". Now, even if you THINK you don't like hummus you must try this!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/03/heavenly-hummus-wrap/

So, just a few more recipes to add to the mix. We can't get enough of the good stuff! Have a great day!

How To Do A Cleanse....

I have had so many people ask me recently how I do my 3 day cleanse. It's super easy to follow, so I thought I would post it here for those interested. First off, if you don't own any shakeology yourself, contact me and I'll get you what you need. Either on facebook or my email is ashleycrew7@gmail.com 

Ok, so here is the layout you follow for all 3 days.

DAY 1 - DAY 3:
Breakfast: Shakeology blended with water, 1/2 banana, and ice
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Shakeology again mixed same way as breakfast
No snack
Dinner: Salad with protein (chicken, lean meat, or fish) no dressing but you can use some olive oil

DRINK DRINK DRINK .... you need to drink a lot of water to flush out the toxins in your body. You should drink at LEAST 1/2 your body weight in oz of water daily. More during this detox.

I have tried the detox and cleanse from GNC and other places. They were disgusting to drink. I had the Acai berry one and have also done the maple syrup/lemon juice concoction. Nasty! Instead of using those things, you are giving your body super foods through the Shakeology. It is completely natural with no artificial ingredients. You can't beat that!

So, if you want to try it and have any further questions please let me know. On average, I drop about 7 pounds in the 3 days and usually gain back 1-2 afterward which is normal. But, I feel so much better! Message me if you need a supply and help! Here is my website if you want to just go do it on your own. www.shakeology.com/ashleycrew

Time Is Tickin' Away

I hear the same thing time and time again. "I don't have time to exercise." With life, kids, work, church, etc.... life does get super busy. However, we are all given the same amount of time in a day. I told my husband long ago that I don't want to be so overwhelmed with life that I can't enjoy it. I don't want to stack up my calendar to the point where I feel I can't breathe! Why do we do that to ourselves? With 5 kids, you can imagine life gets hectic. Sports, practices, games.... you name it!

However, with all of "life" that happens you still have to make time for yourself! When did you decide that you weren't important enough to give yourself just 30 minutes a day!?! When you get to the point where I was when you feel so badly about how you feel, then you will finally decide enough is enough. No more excuses. No more whining, but changing the "I can't" mentality to the "I WILL" mentality.

I will tell you that when I made the change to help myself I gained my confidence back. I gained my strength back. I remembered that I needed to build up my inside first before I could show it on the outside. My time with God was vital. Still to this day, I start my day with Him first. Then, the rest of life can happen and seems to much easier when I prioritize.

So, when will you start treating yourself differently? When will you show your body a little respect? Time is not a good enough excuse. I'd rather treat my body well and possibly have more time on earth with my family rather than ignoring it for years and having a shorter life span from treating it poorly. Just something to think about today :)

All Out of Whack

Do you ever have days where you INTEND to eat really well, do your exercise and get everything done on your to do list you have made for yourself? Well, sometimes things don't go as planned and life happens right?! I am learning to build healthier habits for myself. I love that you all are following me on this journey and I hope that you are finding motivation and encouragement through my blog. I LOVE helping others succeed. I LOVE having so much accountability from others. No matter how "out of whack" my life may get, I'm able to jump back on board sooner than later if I fall off course.

Currently, I have over 75 people in different accountability groups that I run on facebook. They are all private groups so people can share freely about what they are struggling with without the entire facebook community knowing their business. :) I have a nutrition group, a fitness group, and a health coaching group full of people all striving towards common goals. What are you doing to better yourself? What are you interested in finding out more about? Do you struggle with eating? Don't know what to change or where to start? Do you have extra weight that really needs to come off or just want a push to get in better shape for the nice weather coming our way?

Whatever is "out of whack" in your life, I'd love to help! I feel like I've been given the gift of encouragement and love to put my nursing knowledge and my health coaching together for a powerful combination. So, you know what I say? When you surround yourself with uplifting individuals you can't help, but do better than you did by yourself. Join me! Feel free to follow me here or on facebook. The more the merrier! Don't wait until you feel worse to get started!

5 Minute Fix - Recipe Ideas

Ok, so we keep saying EAT HEALTHY EAT HEALTHY, but so many just don't know where to start. I will share with you today what I like to eat on a daily basis. I'm a woman of routine so I can eat similar foods all the time for better results. Keeps me on track. Otherwise, if you give me freedom I may go crazy over food! I've always struggled with breads and sugars so this gives me plenty of food where I don't want it. BREAKFAST: Normally I have this....

1/2 cup Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup Blackberries Slivered Almonds
1 t Agave Nectar

 SNACK: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Shakeology This totally fixes my sugar craving. It's all natural and made with Stevia not some artificial junk. Full of your super foods so it's like taking a major whole food supplement! Love it!

 LUNCH:

Whole wheat tortilla
Grilled chicken 4oz
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Romaine Lettuce

 SNACK: Apple or 1/2 banana Sometimes a Brown Rice Cake with PB and Banana

 DINNER: Meat and Veggies of some sort

 SNACK: Almonds or a piece of fruit

The Magic To Weight Loss

Everyone wants to find the magic to weight loss. The one thing that will work for them! That's how I was. I had been busting my tail in the gym, had a trainer, and was eating only 1400 calories per day and still only lost 3 pounds after 6 months! Talk about feeling discouraged! I had lost weight with my other kids on weight watchers, but this go round things just weren't changing. I couldn't figure out why! I've never been a big breakfast person, so my cup of coffee always lasted me until lunch. I exercised like I should and felt like for all the time I spent in the gym I should be seeing better results. I needed to try something new. Something healthy, but something out of my norm. So, I contacted a friend who was doing a program that gave you a free coach along with the healthy eating and exercise. I thought, maybe if I had someone helping me along the way I would do better. So, at first I just started with my diet changes and actually began to eat MORE!!! Yep more food and I lost 6 pounds within that first few weeks. All of this time, I had been killing myself over workouts and starving and now here I was finally seeing results. Then I added the at-home dvd workouts. At first I thought I wouldn't like it because it would get boring. After all, I liked the gym interaction I got with people. However, I quickly realized that I was more bored in the gym than I was at home. I was spending twice as long in the gym than my workouts at home and that was not even including the drive time! Here I was doing these 25-40 minute workouts in my basement and loving the fact that I didn't have to go anywhere to get it done. As a mom of 5, time is so limited! Then...... the results! After a few months I was down 20 pounds!!! I remember little by little watching each pound go away. I remember the stress and frustration before when I did all of this without results and now here I was finally seeing the payoff! This is why I am so passionate about health coaching now. Not only am I helping other people, but I am continuing to reach closer and closer towards my goals. What a positive outcome to something so stressful to me before! I can't seem to share it enough because every time one of my customers shares their results with me I think.... how many more are out there stress, discouraged, and down just like I was? So, it's time for you! Forget about everything you have done to this point. It's time to start fresh! Try something completely different and let me help you gain back the confidence you lost!

Eat This Not That

Have you ever just wanted a good old fashion potato cake, but knew that it probably wasn't the best choice? Maybe you just wanted something that was more of a comfort food, but the healthy version. Well, I saw this on a friend's page today and just HAD to share it because it looked so yummy! Cauliflower Fritters! Yep you heard me right! ;) Go check out this link today! I'm going to find some new fun recipes to make. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/cauliflower-fritters-25.html Also, I have a friend that used to make us a Zucchini bake that I LOVED! Here is the recipe to try:

Zucchini Casserole Servings: 12 servings Calories: 110.2 • Fat: 6.2 g • Carb: 10.6 g • Fiber: 1.2 g • Protein: 3.7 g 4 cups grated zucchini 1 cup bisquick (using heart smart) 1 small onion, grated 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 1 tsp salt 1 tsp parsley Preheat oven to 350°. Mix everything together in a bowl. Spray a pie dish or a casserole with Pam and pour mixture. Bake approximately 45 minutes, until golden brown. Put a toothpick in the center to test if it is done. If it comes out clean, it is ready. Divide into 12 equal parts.

Tickin' Time Bomb

It's only a matter of time before our poor habits catch up to us. So, even though we know that certain foods are bad for us.... why do we continue in the same destructive path? BECAUSE IT TASTES SOOOOO GOOOD! Right?! No really, I LOVE food! I have no problem eating. My problem has always been how much and what I eat. So that brings us to my current situation. I'm having to teach myself how much food is ok and what is not. It's not calorie counting technically because I am not sure how many calories I'm actually eating. What I am doing is eating healthy foods very frequently but using my little portion cups to help me. I'm actually surprised at how much food fits in them. They look so tiny on the outside! At first, I was like "no way is that all I am going to eat!" haha I just think my body needs more than it really does. Honestly, I have been struggling this week. I need others to hold me accountable just as much as they need it from me. I need someone to say "Sam, get out of bed when your alarm goes off for that early workout!" I need someone to say "what did you eat today?" Sometimes, it is so hard when you have a family to cook and your trying to continuously eat healthy yourself. That's why I am so determined to help others. I want to share with you today what I am eating. I like to eat more routine foods so I know I am not going to have a hard time remembering what to buy at the store or have to guess what I'm going to eat the next day. Breakfast: Coffee Greek plain yogurt with berries and sliced almonds Snack: Shakeology Lunch: Whole Wheat Tortilla Meat Hummus Some kind of veggie Snack: Apple Dinner: Meat and veggies Snack: Celery with PB I drink at around 100 oz of water a day. Sometimes I am drowning myself in it at night if I forget, but I want to drink it. I have never had such pretty skin and I owe it to the healthy eating and water. So, who out there in computer land wants to have accountability with me? I don't need you to join my program unless you want to, but just would love to have others who desire the same things to have some kind of accountability too! What do you say?

Eat To Fuel Not To Fill

Are you the type of person who eats when you are bored? Do you dream of your next meal?

OR

Maybe you are the opposite.... Maybe you see how little you can eat each day. Skipping breakfast and living off of coffee?

Either way, those are not healthy options. I have done both. I've cut out as much food as possible trying to lose weight and I have had a love for food beyond what I should. There are ways you can teach yourself to eat that is for the right reason. To fuel your body.... to give you the energy you need to make it through your day. :)

So, people ask "how can I do this" and most of the time just don't know where to begin. First things first... try to cut out as many pre-packaged foods and those with preservatives. Another great tip is to shop the grocery store in the outer parameters. Produce and meat.

I've been learning from scratch how I should be eating and you know what??? I get to eat A LOT more than I was before! I'm just eating the right foods. So, I am going to be sharing with you some helpful tips or menu items I eat and I am hoping this helps others. So for today, some of you saw this pic on my facebook page, but I'm sharing it again. This is just a day in my life and what I eat. I'm doing the 21 day fix program and need to eat every 2-3 hours.

There are specific types of foods and amounts of each that I eat. No, I don't count calories. After a while, I won't even be measuring my food because I will know my portions better. I'd love to show you how to do the same. It's all based on your weight and your goals. Here's today's picture....

 

Remember! We can all learn how to retrain our eating habits! Join me! I'd love to help you too!