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The Holiday No Gain Guide

The holiday season is here!

It starts in October and goes through New Years… but all this celebrating may lead to the dreaded holiday weight gain O.o

On average, Americans gain 10 pounds from Halloween to New Years, but this doesn’t have to happen to you!

Three Ways to Avoid the Holiday Weight Gain without Giving Up your Favorite Foods

What if you had a plan? A daily action plan to keep you on track all season long so you could just avoid the holiday weight gain altogether? Wouldn’t that be awesome!

You are going to walk into your New Year’s Party in your favorite little back dress… and not have to worry about setting a New Year’s Resolution weight loss goal. You’ll be ahead of everyone else and feeling great too! read more

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers Unite!

You know when you were growing up and the BEST part of making cookies with your mom was when she let you lick the bowl? Come on… I know I wasn’t the only one!

Well, then you grew up… and people started talking about raw eggs and cookie dough and blah, blah, blah.

Not to mention all the calories and sugar in regular cookie dough…

What is a cookie dough lover supposed to do??? 

There HAS to be a better way!!!

No worries, friend! I got you boo… This is a healthy, protein packed, lower sugar recipe to help you relive your childhood without any guilt necessary ; ) read more

How To Eat Enough Protein Without Meat

I was never a huge meat eater… and it wasn’t really on purpose. I just tended to eat more carbs (even healthy ones) but I realized how important protein really was for my health and weight loss goals.

When I was pregnant, my midwife told me that I needed even more protein in my diet to help my baby grow. That’s when I started looking for ways to add protein into my diet without eating more meat.

What my video to learn how I added more protein into my diet without eating more meat:

Non Meat Protein Sources:

  • Greek Yogurt
  • Cottage Cheese
  • Quinoa
  • Beans
  • Lentils
  • Peanut Butter
  • Nuts
  • Chia Seeds
  • Hemp Seeds
  • Ezekiel Bread
  • Eggs
  • Hummus

When I was pregnant, I dealt with so many food aversions and almost ALL Meat was off the list… that’s when I really learned about using protein powders and how they can supplement your protein intake. read more

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Recipe

I don’t know about your house, but some mornings it is really hard to get in a healthy breakfast.

Over the summer, my husband and I really focused on making sure we start our mornings off the right way! That’s when we started making this smoothie every morning. We love it because it only takes about 2 minutes to throw together, the girls love it too, and it gives us lots of protein and superfoods to start our morning.

Watch this video to see how to make your Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie:

Serves about 2.

Ingredients

1 Scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder

1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder read more

Sugar Free High Protein Hot Chocolate

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

The temperature is starting to cool off outside, Christmas music is on the radio, your favorite Holiday movies are starting to show on the TV, Christmas Trees are starting to be lit…  what is the perfect drink to make everything complete? 

Hot Chocolate!!

I love a good hot chocolate… but there is one thing that I try to avoid and that’s sugar – yuck!

What if you could enjoy your favorite holiday drink without the guilt?

  read more

My Current Smoothie ADDICTION!

Yummy!!! This recipe is SO delicious!

I’m a busy mom… and there are just some days that I don’t have time to eat – I know crazy, right!?!

Plus, there are just some days I need my chocolate fix and don’t want to ruin my diet. This mama needs some help!!

Enter in my current smoothie addiction!! Haha!

Thankfully, this addiction won’t ruin my diet or my blood sugar because it uses my favorite protein powder! I love it because it is only 100 calories per scoop and less than 1 gram of sugar. I love this stuff! read more

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Gluten Free Banana Bread

by Maria Alison at Ten at the Table

 

I am so thrilled to have Maria as my guest today sharing her Gluten Free Banana Bread. I know that Banana Bread is just an all time favorite of mine and always a treat. I can’t wait to try this recipe out! I hope you all enjoy this great recipe that will be perfect for sharing. – Angela

 

I like to take the gluten free option whenever there is one. And you can hardly tell that this banana bread is gluten-free. It’s moist, insanely delicious, and has the same texture and flavor as banana bread made with wheat flour! Sometimes I like to add chocolate chips to the banana bread, like I did today, and it just takes the banana bread to another level. The chocolate chips are completely optional but I use them for the flavor and the health benefits. You could also add in some chopped nuts if you’d like. read more

5 Top Avocado Dessert Recipes

Top 5 Avocado Desserts

5 Top Avocado Dessert Recipes

This week I wanted to feature one of my favorite fruits (yes it is a fruit!)… Avocados! 

We love avocados.

Avocados were actually Aidalyn’s first food. I picked it because it was a good source of healthy fats along with some carbs (very similar to the make-up of breastmilk).

Our bodies need fat.  Along with coconut oil and butter, avocado is a good source of healthy fats. 

Have your heard the great news? Eating Fat doesn’t make you fat (cue the choir singing “Hallelujah”). read more

Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters

ditch your sugar cravings
ditch your sugar cravings

 

Homemade sugar free Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters can be easy to make at home. I started making my own sugar free candy a few month ago when I realized how much sugar was in even the dark chocolate candy bars. I love chocolate and wanted a way to enjoy it without all the sugar.

 

Why should you make homemade candy?

1) Cheaper

Good quality sugar free candy is expensive!

2) Quick and easy dessert

Dessert can be ready in less than 20 minutes!

3) Healthy

Using coconut oil and stevia, these candies are actually quite healthy for you… so no guilt if you happen to eat the whole batch in one sitting (not me of course, cough) read more

Benefits of Drinking Hot Chocolate

hot cocoa, unsweetened cocoa powder, healthy hot chocolate, sugar free, cocoa antioxidants,

Adapted from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56183874@N08/6287147411/

Benefits of Drinking Hot Chocolate

Why you don’t have to feel guilty about pouring that second cup

I love drinking hot chocolate on a cold night, snuggled up on the couch with a blanket. I knew that cocoa powder was a great source of antioxidants, but I wanted to know just how healthy this hot chocolate really was. There are plenty of benefits of drinking hot chocolate to keep you pouring a cup all winter long.

I drink my hot chocolate sweetened with stevia, so it is sugar free. This also helps keep it guilt free too.

Drink for Health

Cocoa powder is a great source of flavanoids which are high in antioxidants. 

Newswise shares that antioxidants “are natural compounds found in some foods that help neutralize free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals are substances that occur naturally in our bodies but attack the fats, protein and the DNA in our cells, which can cause different types of diseases and accelerate the aging process.”

Another study showed that antioxidants in cocoa are higher in than red wine.  So drinking hot chocolate can help you stay healthy, slow down the aging process, and help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.  (Let me go pour me a cup now while you keep reading)

Dr.Weil shares that “researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed 21 studies that involved more than 2,500 participants and found that drinking chocolate is associated with reduced blood pressure, improved blood vessel health and lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and elevating HDL (“good”) cholesterol.”

FSGate list the minerals in cocoa powder: “Just 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder contains 3 to 9 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc.”

Some people who are deficient in magnesium will show increased cravings of chocolate because their body knows that it is a source of this mineral. For other ways to increase magnesium click here. 

Research also shows that the more chocolate you eat, the less body fat you have. 

Drink for Thinking

One study showed that drinking hot cocoa may increase your brain’s thinking ability. Cocoa is high in theobromine. This is a phytochemical that improves circulation of your blood. Along with lowering blood pressure, this helps blood also increase flow to your brain which helps increase your thinking ability. Flavanoids in the cocoa also  increase blood supply to the brain and has been used for helping patients with dementia. Maybe you should think about drinking a cup of hot chocolate before your next big test to test this theory out.

Drink to make you happy

Cocoa also contains neurotransmitters that act like antidepressants. I know I’m always happier after I eat chocolate. Cocoa may also boost endophins and seratonin 

How to make an easy homemade hot chocolate:

I mix one tablespoon of unsweetened dark cocoa powder in about 1.5 cups of boiling water with a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and stevia extract to taste. I put mine in my blender and it gets all frothy on top… yummm. It is perfect for a cold night.

Sugar Free, magnesium, cocoa powder, chamomile

 

How do you like to drink your hot chocolate?

 

This post is linked up to  Weekend Wellness and Healing with Food and

Adventures in Mindful Living read more