Clean snack and lunch ideas that give you FUEL

Great pre-cardio snack..especially with some Energy & Endurance drink! This is my favorite HEALTHY bread - Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread! 100% sprouted whole grains. Look for it in your FREEZER section; sometimes near frozen health/organic/vegan frozen foods. It's low on the glycemic index, so it's a great little carb if you only have 30-60min before your workout (studies have shown eating something low on the glycemic index pre-workout will help you burn more fat). Shakeology of course is low glycemic index too & gives you energy, but I usually like my Shakeology in the evening. This has light Smart Balance w/Flax spread here, but i also love it with Chocolate PB2!! (i know, probably sounds like a weird combo w/Cin Raisin!) If you need more calories because you're caloric needs are higher or it's 2-3 hrs before your workout, then do 2 pieces or add natural Peanut Butter.. and/or Banana slices! Thumbs up on this one??

Peanut Butter Chocolate Shakeology with Peanut Butter and Banana! whipped cream for presentation purposes ;)

 

LUNCH!! It's ~250-300 calories depending on how much hummus, feta &  tomatoes you use. I used the new 100-calorie whole grain pita pockets they sell now (at least by us), reduced fat feta,  tomatoes, Hummus, cucumbers, red & yellow pepper slices, sprouts & spring mix! I love sun dried tomatoes in this too!! If you skip the sun-dried tomatoes, you could do two halves for a total of 400 calories and lots of good nutrition! But i just love ♥ sun-dried tomatoes! Easy enough, right!?!?

 

Packing snacks for my trip!! This will be plenty of snacks for the flights I am taking in the next couple of days... btw, those are Wasa whole grain crackers; they look like cinnamon GRAHAM crackers in the pic (which would be heavenly compared to these, lol)! Anther quick treat is my shakeology balls!! Won't leave home without them!! Dont buy prepacked yogurt with a ton of sugar when you can just add some fresh strawberries, Chia seeds, and a drizzle of Aquave nectar! What do you pack when you travel?

 

This has to be my all time favorite salad!! It reminds me of hot summer nights! Eating dinner on the deck!! This is one of my go to meals!!Grilled chicken, strawberries, blueberries, goat cheese on a bed of spinach & Light Raspberry Vin dressing :

I stopped buying this stuff LONG ago!!! Sure, some of it says "reduced/low fat" or "good source of whole grains" or "no trans fat" and you're thinking "how bad could it really be?".. well i'm NOT a nutritionist & i'm not perfect, but I know we don't need this. I personally go OFF TRACK when i have any of this in the house. Do you know what ONE serving looks like? For 150cal snack, you'd be SO much better off with an apple + PB2. With healthy foods, you get all the "good carbs" you need, this stuff just goes STRAIGHT to excess calories stored as FAT ..for me anyway. I admit we buy some of the pre-portioned 100-calorie pack crap to have on hand for my boys or when we have kids over, but we continue to work towards improvement for that too, finding new HEALTHIER kid-friendly foods. At the very least we can control portions & frequency, and work towards educating & developing a taste for healthier stuff. I think TRANSITIONING your family & kids in a way that they hardly notice is KEY! Can you hide, or throw it away, if you have any of this??

Our  Tropical Vegan Shakeology is another fabulous go to snack! This is what I put in it and it was DELISHHHH ..not gritty at all ..at least the way i made it! ~1 Cup Ice, 1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, ~1Cup Water, 1 Cup frozen Raspberries, 2 Tablespoons Chocolate PB2, and 1/2 Banana! Btw, I've always heard FROZEN fruit is actually more nutritious than fresh.. true?

 

Wheat tortilla filled w/ grilled chicken, Gouda cheese (YUMM!), Avocado & tomatoes! This has LOTS of protein, naturally low in sugar & carbs and ~350 calories! VERY filling. You might want to spoon on some salsa too!

You don't need to eat perfectly.. you just need to eat in a way that lines up with YOUR goals and be honest with yourself so that you're not constantly ON & OFF. If you are constantly mad at yourself for what you eat/drink on a weekend, make a decision NOW to do things differently. Just promise me you won't start skipping meals. SHORT-TERM that may work to make the scale move (due to lost water weight and lost muscle) but it will backfire on you! You NEED to keep and feed that muscle.. we all lose muscle as we age unless you're doing things to KEEP IT and build more.

So focus on your goals! Fuel your body and Let's get to work!!

XXOO
Alyssa