Cheating...How bad can it be?

So every now and then everyone needs to cheat on their nutrition plans.  It's understandable.  You can't always be 100% on track.  It'll make you crazy!  But so many people are cheating everyday and not realizing it.  When you "sneak" a bite here and there or use the mentality, "Well I've been good all day I can have just a little bit", it all adds up.  Yes your metabolism needs a little jolt after eating clean for a week or so but you have to earn it.  You need to have that week of eating clean with no hiccups before you can have your reward.

Let's also try and change the mentality of having a "cheat meal".  It's not a cheat, it's a reward for the hard work you put in during the week.  And it's not an entire day of rewards.  You reward yourself with 1 meal.  During the week when you feel like you're going to give in just remember the reward that awaits if you can stay on track and how great it's going to be since you earned it.  Find replacements for what you're craving or go for a walk, leave the kitchen or the environment that's causing you to feel like you're going to cave in.  If you do cave in you need to give up that reward meal and wait until the following week.  It sounds difficult and hard to do but once you see the results you'll be so happy and those reward meals will taste that much better.  Plus you're tough!  You can do this!

Omeletes To Go

Hey everyone!

I know everyone has busy schedules and myself included. One of the biggest problems with staying on track for most people is having time to cook and prepare themselves for the day. This recipe totally helped me out and still totally do. It's totally an omelet on the go!

What you need:
Muffin Tin (I use a bigger muffin tin. This way I can make 6 meals with it)
Cooking Spray
Egg Whites
And...what ever you'd like in your omelet!

Pre heat your oven to 375. Spray down your muffin tin with cooking spray. Since I use the bigger tin so I can fit 3 egg whites in 1 cup. I made veggie omelets so I added in chopped mushrooms, onions, peppers, garlic and spinach.

Pop these guys in the oven for about 20-25 mins depending on your oven. I usually watch for the edges to turn brown. You cook these up and you'll have breakfast for a week : ) You can make different ones in each cup. The possibilities are endless!

Portobello Pizza

This is one of my favorite recipes Max makes for me. Since I'm a pizza lover he found a great way for me to still have pizza even when it gets close to competition. He's a lifesaver!!!!

Ingredients:

Large Portobello Caps
grape/cherry tomatoes
Sun-dried tomatos
Basil
Low-fat/Veggie Slice Cheese


Preheat your oven to 375. Start by gutting your mushroom caps. I use a spoon to make them little bowls.

Put a rack on a cookie sheet that will keep them off the cookie sheet and place them caps up.

Tomatoes:

Cut your grape/cherry tomatoes in half and slice up your sun-dried tomatoes. Place them on a separate cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Roast both the caps and tomatoes for about 7-10 minutes depending on your oven. Try to keep an eye on them to make sure you don't burn them.

Remove both cookie sheets and mix tomatoes together. Flip caps over and spoon tomato mixture into the caps. Slice up your basil and add as much as you'd like to the mini pizzas. Sprinkle your cheese over top and pop these bad boys back into the oven just to melt the cheese. This usually takes about 8 minutes for the Veggie Slice Cheese. Unfortunately, I'm unsure on the low-fat cheese so just keep an eye on them.

Enjoy everyone!

All we are saying is give fats a chance!

So many times I see people's nutrition logs or chat with them about different options for food and I hear, "But it was low fat." Eck! Low fat doesn't mean it's good for you. It's the same idea for organic foods. Just because it's made organically it doesn't mean that it's healthy or going to help you reach your weight goal. Since the hype of "Low fat" has come around obesity rates in the US have doubled. People have been taught for years now that fat is a bad thing. They have also embraced the thinking that if it's low fat I can eat more of it. We need to change this way of thinking.

Firstly, there is good fats and bad fats. Good fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. These good fats help with your heart, cholesterol and well being in general. The other great thing about these fats is they will help you stay full longer. You body processes these fats at a slower rate. Therefore, you'll take in less calories. Some examples of monounsaturated fats are avocado, canola oil, peanut oil, nuts, sesame oil. Some examples of polyunsaturated fats are pumpkin, sunflower or flax seeds, fatty fish and tofu.

Bad fats are trans fats and saturated fat. These fats usually look pretty solid at room temperate and increase disease and increase cholesterol. Saturated fat can be found in fattier cuts of red meat, whole-fat dairy product and butter. Trans fats are mostly found in processed, sugary and packaged foods. The best way to stay away from trans fats is, the closest the product is to it's natural form the better.

If I could put this in a dorkier analogy, the "bad fats" are the dark side (being that they solidify at room temperature). The "good fats" are Jedi's (being that they are more clear oils).

Some easy ways to switch from the dark side is:

-Cooking sprays while cooking or canola oil instead of butter
-Switching to lower fat dairy products
-Leaner cuts of meat or switching to chicken or fish
-Limit fast food intake
-Bake, grill or broil instead of frying foods


Now that you're armed with some more knowledge let's see how amazingly you'll do in switching over your nutrition and reaching for those healthier goals.

Go get 'em!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Power Truffles

Here is a quick and easy way to get in protein, good fats and some starch. These are great for quick on the go meals and breakfast. You can use any protein powder you'd like but I was making this batch specifically for the ladies I train and use the protein powder the studio endorses. These can be made totally Vegan by using Vega Protein Powder. I myself prefer the Vega Sport Chocolate flavor. Yum!

Ingredients:

Dymatize Elite - Whey Protein Isolate - Gourmet Vanilla, 8 scoop
Organic Quick Oats, 2 cup
Teddie - Super Chunky Old Fashioned All Natural Peanut Butter, 5 tbsp
Blue Diamond - Unsweet Vanilla Almond Milk-Net Carbs, 1 cup

Coco Dusting:
Generic - Unsweetened Coco Powder, 4 tbsp
Truvia - Nature's Calorie- Free Sweetener - 1 Packet, 3 packet

Directions:
Mix Protein with Oats in a large bowl. Add in peanut butter and almond milk. The mixure will get pretty gooey. In a small bowl mix together Truvia and Coco Powder. Using a tablespoon scoop out protein mix and roll, by hand, into ball. Drop into coco powder mixture and cover ball. Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and put in fridge. These little treats will be ready for you when ever you'd like : )

Nutritional info.... serving size is 3 truffles and this recipe makes 14 servings.
Per Serving: 148 calories,12 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fat,17 grams of protein

If you're going to Shimmer tapings Oct 1st and 2nd pre order your cookbooks and have them hand-delievered to you :)

Prices

Hard Copy $25.00 E Book $15.00 Autographed Hard Copy $35.00

Sorry for the cliff hanger!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the cliff hanger! Life gets in the way sometimes and for me it sure did. I've decided to move from my lovely home here in Manchester, NH to Framingham, MA. While making this decision I've also been training for another competition that will be in 2 weeks from today. So, I'll compete on the 25th, move out by the following Wednesday, fly out to Chicago for Shimmer weekend on the 1st, come home and attend a fairytale wedding the following weekend for Ariel and BMT. That's not busy at all! LOL! I have also received an opportunity for a new job that will start November 1st and what a great opportunity! I love the woman I'll be working for and can't wait to get started : )

So with all that being said, back to my story. The following morning I totally woke up with a hand print on my side. LOL! It looked like the Blair Witch kids came and got me! Poor Max had to re-tan the area like 5 times since most of us competitors go a little crazy before prelims. And by a little I mean waking up at 4 am if you even slept some the night before in straight panic to get everything absolutely perfect.

After I was all touched up I headed over to the hotel where the competition was to have my make up done by PBO. They did a wonderful job but now it all hurry up and wait until it was our turn to hit the stage. Lucky for me I had Kristen with me to keep me sane during all the waiting. First up is sportswear for the bikini division. This is perfect! You get to have the most fun in a costume and by the time you need to head back out to do your figure poses the stage fright is gone! I picked the Terminator and had an awesome fake shot gun. You see everything from a ninja with real swords to a cheerleader.

So we are all lined up and there is 44 girls in the tall division alone. 44! As I'm about to go out on stage I think of all the girls that have walked this stage before me. My own coach, Janelle Nicolo, Lori Harder, Annette Perry and so many other girls that are role models to me. I loved every minute of it! I heard my teammates and coaches yelling and the rush is amazing! The sad thing is it only lasts about a minute total. LOL! Luckily I was competing in another division and had 3 more opportunities to work that stage. In the end I placed 25 out of 44 girls at a national show. I'm pumped! It gave me something to work towards and didn't completely crush me.


Currently I'm working towards a show that will be at Regis College in Weston, MA on Sept 25th. If you have any interest in this new life of mine come on out and see the show. Some many men and women work their butts off and you can see it that day. Sometimes it's people's first show, some it's their 100th. I would love to hear the cheers that I miss from wrestling and you can see my new sportswear. It's gonna be amazing!

Hugs!
-Nikki : )