Sweet Potato Salad

This salad is topped with hearty sweet potatoes--a superfood that is high in beta-carotene, potassium, and manganese. Pumpkin seeds add extra crunch!

Total Time: 1 hour 15 min.
Prep Time: 15 min.
Cooking Time: 30 min.
Preparation Difficulty: Medium
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. raw honey (or pure maple syrup)
1 dash Himalayan salt (or sea salt)
1 tsp. chopped fresh herbs (like basil, oregano or parsley) (to taste; optional)
1 medium baked sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes
1 medium green apple, diced
½ medium red bell pepper, diced
1 stalk green onion, finely sliced
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro
4 cups fresh arugula
2 Tbsp. pumpkin seed kernels, toasted (or chopped raw walnuts)

Preparation:
1. Combine oil, vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and herbs (if desired) in a medium bowl; whisk to blend. 
Set aside.
2. Combine sweet potato, apple, bell pepper, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl; mix well.
3. Drizzle dressing over sweet potato mixture; toss gently to blend.
4. Place even amounts of arugula on two serving plates; top each with sweet potato mixture and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
Tip: Bake fork-pierced sweet potato at 450° F for 30 to 40 minutes or until just tender. Do not over bake; cool.

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Reading Nutrition Labels

When it comes to food labels, manufacturers are very good at finding the loopholes in labeling laws and requirements, and subsequently very good at pulling the wool over YOUR eyes.  One such loophole is the manufacturer's ability to claim "zero" grams of fat, or zero grams of trans fat, or zero calories on the label, when in fact the product does indeed contain plenty of fat, trans fat, and/or calories.

Here's the law, and how food manufacturers get around it:

Zero grams of fat or zero grams of trans fat:  As long as the food item has less than .5g of fat or trans fat, respectively, the label does not need to claim their existence on the label.  In fact, the product can even legally market "Zero grams of fat!" or "0g of trans fat per serving!"

More on why this is a HUGE problem, and how food manfacturers deepen this loophole in just a minute.

Zero calories per serving:  As long as the food item has less than 5 calories per serving, it can be rounded down and labeled 0 calories.
   

Deepening the Loophole with Unrealistic Serving Sizes

While .5g of fat or 5 calories may not seem like a big deal, remember that these values are "per serving", and while an entire package, box, can, or bottle of a product may contain hundreds of calories and loads of fat, as long as they can divide that package into small enough servings to meet the calorie and gram requirements to claim zero, it's legal.

Legal AND deceptive!

We don't know about you, but we get angry when we see food manufacturers outright LYING to consumers on their labels and in the nutrition facts.  Some of these products should change the Nutrition Facts header to "Nutrition Lies" and it'd actually be a lot more accurate.

1. Cooking Sprays and Butter Sprays - Cooking sprays are labeled as fat-free but their first ingredient is oil, which is 100% fat.  How in the world can this be?  Well, the serving size is 1/5th of a second.  What?  Last time we used a cooking spray (some of the organic ones are useful) it took about 3 seconds to lightly coat the surface of the pan.  Well, according to the manufacturer, we just used 15 servings.

Bottom line, no one uses the ridiculous and absurd microscopic 1/5th of second spray suggested serving, which isn't nearly enough product to be of practical use.

Cooking sprays aren't fat-free...they are nearly 100% fat.  In my example above, a realistic serving actually contains around 5 grams of fat and 45 calories.  A far cry from the 0 number reported on their nutrition facts.

Same goes for butter sprays, which are 90%+ fat in most cases.  For example, one popular brand of butter spray contains over 800 calories and 90g of fat per bottle, yet it's labeled as a fat-free, calorie-free product!  Yeah, right!

The serving size?  One spray.  Let's get real here...no one is using one spray, or five sprays, or 10 sprays.  In fact, twenty-five sprays equals just one teaspoon, when the servings size for regular butter is 1 tablespoon.  When you balance out the serving size to be the same as a serving of butter, you're looking at 75 sprays to get the same amount.

2.  Artificial sweeteners - Not only are artificial sweeteners bad news for you health, but they're also a top violator of "calorie free" deceptive labeling practices.  Many brands of artificial sweeteners use maltodextrin and/or dextrose (which is pure sugar) as fillers in each packet, and each packet can legally contain up to a full gram of sugar and 5 calories and still be labeled as calorie free.

We've seen people put 3 - 5 packets of this stuff in their coffee or on their cereal...hardly calorie free and even worse, maltodextrin and dextrose are two of the biggest insulin-spiking carbs around -- the entire reason people choose artificial sweeteners over sugar in the first place!


3.  Any food that contains "partially hydrogenated" oils in the ingredient list, period.  Bottom line, you should have a zero-tolerance attitude toward trans fats.  They are the most health-derailing nutrient known to man, and you should be truly consuming ZERO grams per day.

If a product claims "Zero grams of trans fat per serving", especially if they speficy "per serving", they are almost always playing the serving size game and you're very likely to see partially hydrogenated oils on the list of ingredients when you flip the package over.  If so, avoid it like the plague.
 All this being said, I share this with you because I am passionate about putting healthy things in our bodies and I urge to to be an informed consumer! Watch what you are eating and learn to read labels.

Berry Green Shakeology

A lot of the people I talk with  report that they struggle with creating time to eat healthy breakfast in the morning. This often leads to them eating a pastry and a cup of coffee, a bowl of cereal or even worse, nothing at all.

Starting the day off with a sugar bomb sky-rockets the blood sugar, leading to an energy crash. Abstaining from breakfast is signaling to the body to be in conservation mode, which tends to slow the metabolism therefore making it more difficult to lose weight. 

The most common excuses for not eating a good breakfast is being too tired, that they are busy getting their kids fed and out the door, or they just aren't hungry.  Throughout the day people feel like they are dragging or experiencing the ups and downs of sugar crashes relying on candy, soda, or coffee.

Can you relate?

The solution is eating something in the morning that has protein to give you sustained energy, and is fast and easy to make and eat. Shakeology provides everything you need for your meal plus 70 superfoods!!

Here is one of hundreds of ways you can make it for breakfast . I am excited to share this with you!! It  takes less than five minutes to make and are packed with nutrients. 

Simple Berry Green Shakeology

Add to a blender or Vita Mix and blend.

1 banana (frozen or fresh)

¼ blueberries

Big handful of spinach

1 Scoop Vanilla Shakeology

1 T Chia Seeds

Unsweetened almond milk, coconut water, or milk of choice to make desired consistency.

Optional: Other berries, kale, dates, unsweetened shredded coconut, almond butter. Try different combinations of ingredients and have fun with it!

No Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans (1 can, drained and rinsed very well) 
• 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
• tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup nut butter of choice 
• up to 1/4 cup milk of choice, only if needed
• Sweetener of choice, just a touch
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 to 3 tbsp oats (Ground flax will also work)

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a good food processor , and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.
If You'd like to be part of my next healthy living support group where you can learn about eating right, fill out my form below :)

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How To Finally Have Success

Are you wondering how to FINALLY get healthy? I have a few tips that really help!

1) Grab a Coach to keep you on track. Nothin’ better than somebody there to motivate, or somebody to kick your behind when the going gets tough! We all have days we don’t want to exercise. And sometimes those days turn into 3 weeks and before you know it all your good intentions have died off.   Somebody who will help you and surround you with good things…not the friend that will say “screw it let’s hit the bar!”

2) Food journal for 3 days to pinpoint your bad habits. Just 3 days. No dieting, just 3 days to see how many calories you consume. It can be an eye opener. Then you can use something like my fitness pal to look at how many you should be having and keep track.

3) Calendar your workouts, just like you would put anything else in your calendar. They are a lot harder to skip when they are right there! As your coach I will give you one to do just that!

4) You were not meant to do this on your own! You already have 20+ jobs in the household  So grab a workout from somebody who knows. Exercise DVD's you can do on your time at home! That is a lot less research you have to do.  And it is a heck of a lot more convenient!  Perhaps it is the main reason exercise DVDs are so popular: convenient and easy to follow.

5) No more guilt and no more shame. Sure you ruined your good day of eating by1:00 with something you saw on a TV commercial or that lunch you only meant to eat half.  Or on Day 3 of your new Exercise Routine you didn’t have time. Routine is anything but routine as a mom. So drop the shame and move on.Tomorrow is a new day.  That being said, you might need to refer 1-4 if this happens to you everyday!

6) Be the Mom & Role Model you want to be.  We are not just taking care of ourselves! We take care of our families. Our kiddos are watching and need us to set them up for a healthy life. This alone can be such a great inspiration for you!!

So take some time to think about your goals and then apply here to have me as your coach on a journey we will take day by day! I would love to hear about you and be help you be your best!!

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Garlic Chicken

• 2 heads garlic, cloves separated
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons brandy (optional)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano

Preparation

Carefully smash garlic cloves lightly with the flat side of large knife to loosen skins. Remove skins from cloves.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Generously season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan and cook until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and reduce to medium heat.

Add garlic cloves and cook until garlic begins to soften and turn golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in wine and brandy (if using) and cook for 1 minute, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Return chicken and any juices to the pan. Add chicken stock, lemon juice, zest, thyme and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to a platter and spoon garlic over the top.

Chocolate Is a Health Food

Recently, more and more research has been done on dark chocolate and pure cacao powder (not cocoa). Thanks to unique antioxidants naturally found in the cacao bean, dark chocolate has been deemed a health food!! That's the best news I've heard all day!

Special flavonols can improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels, protect our blood vessels from damage and improve overall circulation.

New studies are finding it can improve brain function and memory and fight inflammation! 

This applies to cacao at 65% or more. Milk chocolate has more milk and sugar than chocolate and is not beneficial. 

Pure cacao contains essential minerals too such as magnesium, iron and copper. Interestingly, it contains a substance called theobromine that is a natural cough suppressant better than prescription drugs! You can make a cup of natural hot cacao to boost your mood and tame your cough. A few more fun facts are that it has more antioxidants than red wine or green tea and can help prevent cavities.

This is so great to hear! I eat 85% dark chocolate for a snack quite often and I know that it is doing great things for me!