Who wants to cook dinner? It’s Friday!
The only problem is most of what you order out is filled with fat, sugar (they sneak that in to the most unlikely places) and refined carbs.
Admit it, most of the time when you’re done with a take-out meal you feel bleh.
Remember you are what you eat so don’t be fast, cheap or trashy 🙂
One of my favorite take-out meal has always been Crispy Orange Chicken. Yum! [Read more…]
We’re are smack dab in the middle of our 5th Annual Skinny Jeans Transformation Challenge and the ladies are doing great!
One of the reasons is because the food they get to eat this year is actually REALLY good! The whole family is loving this so called “diet” food.
My stick-to-it strategy this year included making sure that the food on the weekends was “fun” yet still fat burning since there is only one splurge day a week.
Well this recipe for Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins was a HUGE hit so I had to share. [Read more…]
Carbs, carbs, carbs. That’s what everyone seems to want to talk about. How do I avoid carbs?
Well, what you should be talking about instead is, "How do I get more lean Protein into my eating plan?"
Now THAT is the right question.
You see, Protein is where it’s at. Check out these two little known facts about protein:
uses more calories to digest protein than other nutrients. Pretty sneaky, huh? Good sources of Lean Protein come from foods such as:
Fish, eggs, poultry, lean beef…
But some people have trouble eating enough protein each day. Some people would like it to be more convenient for them.
If that’s the case with you then I have VERY good news. And it’s news I’ve been waiting to tell you for some time now.
My buddies over at Prograde Nutrition have finally released their pharmaceutical quality whey protein.
You see, not all Protein powders are created equal. Prograde Protein:
– Delivers unparalleled purity through low-temperature micro-filtering
– Is naturally sweetened with Stevia
– Contains 5.3 grams of branch chained amino acids per serving
– Mixes instantly with just a spoon
– Enhances absorption and digestion via lactase and Aminogen digestive enzymes
Look, I’ve been waiting patiently for Prograde Protein to come out. But as usual, Prograde just would NOT release this product until they could get it as close to perfect as possible.
The best part is they are putting it on sale this week to celebrate it’s launch. You can get it at 10% off this week ONLY. Just go to www.BootyCampNutrition.com and you’ll find all the details. Including the coupon code to use when you order to get the 10% off your order.
But you need to hurry. For one thing, the special price ends this Friday, November 13th at 11:59pm EST. The other thing is, well, I cannot begin to tell you how highly anticipated Prograde Protein has been. There’s a very good chance they’ll be out of stock well before Friday even gets here!
So get yours NOW.
Sarai D. Jones
The dream: home cooked, healthy meals – fast food, dollar menu pricing.
Ever heard of a dinner prep kitchen?
A prep kitchen is a facility where most of the prep work that goes into cooking a meal, including the shopping, is done for you. All the vegetables are sliced, diced and chopped. The meats rinsed and trimmed and all the spices and seasonings laid out. Your job is to simply log onto the website of the place you are going, and choose from an ever changing menu of dinner options. The facility I took my Elk Grove boot camp ladies to this past weekend, Dinner My Way in Elk Grove (www.dinnermyway.com)- has about 15 meals on the menu each month. Once you reserve a time to prepare your food and decide what you are going to make, all you then need to do is show up and follow the directions given at each of the meal stations to prepare healthy meals up to the point of actually cooking them.
Besides doing all the grunt work for you, another great feature of these types of facilities is that the nutrition information is usually listed right on the website so you can make healthy selections that further you along in your fat loss goals or in your resolve to eat healthier. The average at home cook time for one of these meals is about 15 minutes and the average cost per serving is a very budget friendly $3.50.
Most of the ladies in my Elk Grove Booty Boot Camp had never heard of places like this, or they had, but really didn’t understand how it worked. so I took them on a field trip to see first hand what it is all about. It was a huge hit! All of the women from my busy moms to the single 20-somethings in my boot camp saw a place in their eating plan where an option like this could fill a gap that might have before been filled with unhealthy choices that somehow got them extra burpies in boot camp each week 😉 .
Check out the video I made of our field trip, and then check out a dinner prep kitchen near you.
Stay focused
Sarai D. Jones
It’s just about impossible to gain weight just by eating veggeis. I mean seriously, you’d have to eat a LOT of ’em.
BUT…
Salads are a different story altogether. Why is it that every time people want to get rid of their belly fat they break out the salad bowls and start eating like a rabbit?
Thing is, MOST salads people eat are loaded with fat and calories. It’s as if people think bacon, cheese and ranch dressing suddenly have amazing fat burning properties when they’re on top of a couple of carrots and broccoli (see picture above). I’ve talked about this before, check out this past post: Should I Eat A Salad Or A Cheeseburger
Look, you probably don’t really want to know how much damage you did the last time you ate "healthy" and went to the salad bar for lunch.
But what’s done is done. Here are the tips you need to remember the next time you order one. They are from the Head of R & D at Prograde Nutrition, registered dietitian Jayson Hunter:
1) Ask for the dressing on the side and dip the tongs of your fork in the dressing and THEN pick up some salad. It gives you just enough flavor and keeps your calorie intake under control.
2) Choose a salad that has grilled protein in it such as chicken or fish. Remember, it should be GRILLED and not fried.
3) Sorry, leave off the cheese and bacon bits. You know why 😉
Stay focused,
Sarai D. Jones
It’s the weekend and I know that means a lot of you are going to be going out to eat. But keep your food guard up. Saturday and Sunday are the two biggest reasons people find themselves plateauing in their fat loss efforts. In fact whenever a client comes to me to tell me they are no longer making progress I ask them how’s your diet? 9 out of 10 times this is the answer: "I do great during the week, but the weekends are not that good". This causes a vicious cycle that can be very discouraging. But I’m going to give you some tips on how to stay on track even when you are eating out this, or any weekend.
The bottom line is; you must have a plan as to what you are going to eat and stick with it. If I know I am going to be eating at a chain restaurant, I will take a look at the nutritional info online before I go so I can decide what I’m going to have. Then, I don’t even bother to look at the menu when I get there. I know it will only tempt me. Eating out and losing weight can go together. You just need to be smart about your choices and have a plan.
Stay focused,
Sarai Jones
I received this from Registered Dietitian Jayson Hunter and author of the Dress Size Reduction Diet. It is a new look at an old food. Meals don’t have to be boring as Jayson describes below.
"I was in the airport last week and found something on a menu called the Fiesta Burger. It got me thinking that you could just as easily make a healthy version of this menu item and I wanted to share a few ideas with you to beat your meal time boredom.
I gave it a try and I have to say it added some great flavor to an ordinary burger.
If you are looking for some new recipe ideas then give the fiesta burger a try.
The fiesta burger is a normal hamburger topped with some salsa.
You could choose your own salsa whether it be mild, medium or hot salsa depending on your love of spicy foods.
It can also fit on a high carb, low carb or no carb day just by choosing whether or not you have a bun or not with it.
It actually doesn’t need a bun if you have the salsa with the hamburger patty.
You could also try this combination with chicken as well.
Some other suggestions I received from my subscribers was to try a burger with fat free feta cheese, garlic, a few other spices. Cook it on the grill. Then topped it with sauted onions and portabello mushrooms……no bun. Finish off the plate with a small amount of oven cooked sweet potato "french fries", roasted asparagus, and a salad."
Great ideas and I’m sure you have a few more. Just make sure to choose the extra-lean beef patties when you make your tasty burger.
You can learn more about Registered Dietitian Jayson Hunter and his fat burning techniques at Dress Size Reduction Diet.
I’m here to help!
Sarai Jones