Done and Done.

 

Workout: 17 miles, Body Pump

I did it! I woke up this morning and knocked out 17 miles. I was kind of nervous about this run and almost didn’t do it at all. I actually even went into it, thinking I wouldn’t finish. I woke up at 5:30 and hit the pavement by 6. It took a good 3 miles for me to fall into the groove. I took the miles slow, at a comfortable 9:30 pace for the first 14 miles.. I made it back to the gym at 14.56 and finished 3 miles with an 8:30 pace on the treadmill before body pump started.

Phew. Feels good to be able to run without excruciating pain. I felt surprisingly well today. I took some IBU right when I woke up with half a banana, and some almonds.. Its amazing how MENTAL running can be. It’s a constant fight sometimes especially when your playing with an injury, but I feel accomplished, even if my miles weren’t quite on target for my goal. I decided EVERY run is a major accomplishment no matter the distance or time!

Mile 6- I had 2 shot blocks, +music

Mile 13- had 2 more

Post run- I chugged BCAA drink (fit mixer) on my way into pump.

I went light on all my weights while teaching body pump and was glad to have such great members to push me to get through it. Squats and lunges were by far the hardest..which I expected but there is something about teaching and not being able to stop that gets you to the end!

I came home and made a ginormous recovery shake..

x2 and a half!

In the mix:

• 1.5 C. Almond milk
• Banana
• Ice
• 1.5 scoop Chocolate protein
• 4 frozen strawberries
• handful of spinach
• Dash of cinnamon
• Pinch of xanthan gum

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last night I had a great date night with my little bro!! I was able to snag some Jazz Tickets from a friend (Thanks Mal!!). Brent was working late so I asked my little bro to go with me! B and T got to play with GPA and GMA.

We had a blast! Although they lost (by 1!!) it was still on fun time! We even got on the jumbotron once!

I love Jazz games! Always entertaining.. especially when Jimmer was in town..(He plays for the kings but use to be a big wig for BYU basketball).

Off to jump in a ice bath…and then get ready for FAMILY PICTURES!! Which will be a marathon in itself with the my whole family.. Wish me luck! Oh, and T had to take a tumble outside on the cement this morning while playing and is sporting a fancy scrape on his face .. Perfect timing buddy.

Catch you later!

Berry Bowl Smoothie

Happy Friday!! Hope your weekend is kickin’ off to a good start!

This morning is started off bright and early! I taught body attack and got this GPP workout done, and showered and ready for the day all before 9am.

(high five.)

That has got to be the first time in months!  Feels good to get pretty every once in awhile.

I have been slacking a bit on my running/training, my hip is still bothering me. I did a short 4 miler yesterday morning to test it out and it was straight to a ice bath for me. Anything high impact, including BA just causes it to flare right up. Its been stretching, ice baths, rolling and IBU up in here. Although, it is feeling better then it did last week so is that a bonus? I’m still debating my long run tomorrow, I REALLY want to do it, and feel like I need to for endurance but its up in the air right now. I have had moments this past week that I should just bag this marathon, change to the half and register for another full. If I can’t get my goal time I want, then why do it? Then I saw this..

I’m going to do it.

Anyway, after class I came home and was craving a smoothie bowl! One thing that I have been missing since starting the whole 30 challenge is my red mango fix

. 

Ice cream for breakfast? Duh.

I actually had to change two diapers and start their breakfast before I got to sit down and enjoy it.. so it melted a bit before the camera captured its creaminess.

Pure heaven.

Berry Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 1.5 C. Coconut milk (unsweetened)
• 4 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 C. Frozen Blueberries
• 2 bananas (mine were baby-size so I used two.)
• 1 scoop Vanilla Whey Isolate by Dymnatize
• 1 tbs. Lemon juice
• Pinch of xanthan gum

Directions:

Place all ingredients in blender and combine until smooth!

Pour into LARGE bowl and enjoy!

Local Folk:

If your curious about GPP, NOW is the time to try it out! There is a amazon deal going on to come try it for a month for $35!

Now is the time to come improve your health and fitness in all aspects!

Purchase it HERE!

Q. Would you run on a nagging injury or wait till you feel 100%?

Q. Cheers to the WEEKEND!! Any fun plans?

My Paleo Shopping List

Workout: GPP, Body Pump, 2 mile run.
I have received some emails this week, asking about my staples for paleo and my grocery list for how I plan my meals. ASK and you shall receive!
I like to keep things as simple as possible. I have a few go-to meals that are quick and easy to throw together on a whim.
I agree with my trainer when he says the key to a successful diet is to eat the same thing each and every day.
I start the beginning of each week with a dinner meal plan-

From there, I make my grocery list for the week. I do most of my shopping at my local grocery store, and Costco.

I typically purchase the same thing every time, unless I have a new recipe in mind.
Here are MY staples":

Costco	Smiths
*Chicken	Almond Butter
*Tilapia	*Coconut Flour
Spinach	Apples
Red Peppers	Grapefruits
Asparagus	Bananas
Brussels Sprouts	Cauliflower
*Almonds	*Mrs. Dash
Sweet Potatoes	Almond Milk
*Pumpkin Puree	Onions
Eggs	Avocado
*Berries (frozen/fresh) *Green beans (frozen)

** Items with a last longer then the weekly shopping, and are not purchased every week.
Yesterday, I hit up Costco and gathered some items I had on my list.

Including some jeans for the hubby and some organic vanilla animal crackers for the babies.
When I make my dinner, I like to make sure I have plenty of left overs. Then I have a easy lunch or dinner the next day!!
Keys to Success:

1. Make your meal plans
   
2. Create your shopping list
   
3. Stick to your list!
   
4. Make sure to make enough for leftovers.

Give it a try! If your just getting started. Keep it simple. Then as you become more familiar with healthy eating, you can start getting a little more creative in the kitchen!
You can never go wrong with the basics!
Q. Do you meal plan?
Q. What is your favorite Veggie?

Its not always pretty..

 

Sometimes as a food blogger I feel as if I need to make everything look “pretty”. You know.. because everyone takes pictures of food..

By eating paleo this past week, (and for the next 20 days) I have discovered that it is not always pretty. I like to keep thing simple, I hate dishes, and messes so I try to limit how many I use while preparing my food. Which can actually lead to me just reheating things and eating straight from the tupperware, taking things by the handful and tossing it on a napkin to snack on, or simply eating 4oz of chicken straight from the ziploc.

Even if I take time to prepare the food it can turn out looking pretty… how do I put this? Interesting?…. It always taste fantastic though no matter what it looks like.

For Example:

Protein Shake-

Chocolate Protein+Blueberries+Spinach+Almond Milk+1tbs Unsweetened Cocoa Powder+Ice = grayish poop color. It isn’t the look that really counts, It’s the fact that it is packed with nutrients that are top notch fuel for my body. This actually ended up being very sweet and I enjoyed it to the very last slurp.

Example two: My SIL and BIL brought over spaghetti for dinner today and because I’m following the whole 30 challenge I couldn’t have the noodles so I simply zapped a spaghetti squash in the microwave for about 8 minutes and scraped half of it into a tupperware.. and topped it with the sauce! The meat in the sauce was actually venison! It was delish. Afterwards, I scraped the rest of the squash in there and tossed the lid on and popped it in the fridge for easy access tomorrow night! Simplicity at its finest. 

Example 3: Sunday, is typical brownie night in the Bement household. But because of the challenge.. I didn’t want to deprive myself of tradition.. so I figured I could make it happen still.. By checking out the guidelines of whole 30 I was reminded that I’m not even allowed to have honey, agave, stevia etc.

I think I stood staring into my pantry and fridge for a good 5 minutes, trying to figure out a way I could conjure up some tasty brownies.

Sweet potatoes + Cocoa powder + ripe banana + eggs + coconut flour + B.P+ Sea salt+ coconut oil + chocolate almond milk = BROWNIES.

Sort of. They are definitely not your typical Duncan Hines.. or betty crocker. but they were Whole 30 friendly and that’s what matters right?! They actually were quite tasty! And they disappeared FAST!

That is until I checked out the ingredients on the chocolate almond milk and it contains carrageen!! Sneaky little bugger.. 

BLAST!

Looks like I owe the Whole 30 team 100 burpees. (We made a deal, if anyone cheats you have to take the penalty of 100 burpees or 300kb swings.)

Then I got this text..

how honest are we?

At least we get to suffer together..

I never said it would be pretty.. or easy for that matter. But hey, it will be worth it.

Now, it is approximately 11:15 pm.. Way past my bedtime.. that 5:30 alarm comes fast.

Good night!

Paleo Snacker and GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Happy Hump day! Today was a little crazy, and by crazy I mean I am just sitting down to the computer for the first time. I ended up snacking A TON today. There was really no structure to any so called “meal.” Lets face it, there are going to be days like this every so often. That is why it pays off to keep some staples /leftovers in the fridge for quick meals!
For breakfast I had a microwave muffin topped with a few slices of banana and some blackberries. It’s the same muffin I made here- minus blueberries but plus flax seed!

After breakfast I headed straight to the gym for some Body Pump! It was a packed class! It seems the morning classes are getting fuller compared to night classes.. must be something to do with the 70 degree weather that was introduced today..

This afternoon I headed to GPP to do one of my favorite workouts!

It actually went by faster then I thought it would! 150 burpees later, I was a sweaty mess. This is a great workout, if your short on time at the gym and are craving a good sweat fest!
Post sweat I came home and snacked on 4 boiled egg whites and a whole red pepper.

We played outside for a little bit today to enjoy the sun and get our daily dose of vitamin D that has been lacking the past.. oh 6 months or so..

After playing outside for a little while, It was time for some LUNCH, I was hungry, and not really in the mood to put anything fancy together. So being the lady like person I am, I pulled some chicken out of the fridge and ate it straight from the bag.

Then I decided that a sweet potato would be needed for some extra carb energy for Body Attack.

You know who else likes sweet potatoes? Winnie the pooh.
I stuffed his face, then stuffed mine..

That lovely, totally edible blob is freshly ground almond butter! Its my absolute favorite.. mmmm.. chunky love.
After attack, I got home kind of late and was going to play it lazy and just have another shake but decided it would be best to pack in some more delicious veggies into my day!

Chicken, 1 mini cucumber, Roasted garlic green beans and butternut squash!
Oh that yellow thing. It’s a banana. I ate half.. for dessert. Then froze the rest for breakfast.. Frozen banana > plain banana.


The garlic beans and butternut squash took the show today. I even have leftovers that I packed for tomorrow!
Good thing about this whole Paleo business.. it doesn’t allow any fruit juice, gatorades, diet coke etc. etc. So water has been the go-to drink! I cant get enough… I think I drank 9 of these bottles today.. whoo hoo! Before I started the whole 30 challenge I know I wasn’t drinking enough of the good stuff! Feels good to be back on the H20 train!

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Congrats Callie!!
Johnny & Callie BowersMar 18, 2012 06:18 PM
Okay, can I please just tell you what an inspiration you are! I absolutely adore your blog! Now for the yummy pb! I have been wanting to try this stuff for ages...looks so delicious! I love pb in between apple slices...with some chocolate chips...like an apple/pb sandwich! So yummy!
Please email me @ candice@bodyofamother.com And Ill get your PB2 and some extra treats in the mail!
Q. Do you notice a decline in the P.M classes at the gym once the weather gets nice outside?
Q. What is one thing in your kitchen you could not live without? Food/appliance?

Just eat repeat

hey hey! Today, was day 2 of the whole 30 challenge. It was a little bit tougher then day 1. I prepared a few staples on Sunday and I am SO glad I did. Its days like today, that are just GO, GO, GO.

I used most the staples in yesterdays meals and pretty much had the leftovers for today!

Breakfast- 1/2 frozen banana with AB (unpictured), 3 egg whites, asparagus, red pepper, purple onion with half of a sweet potato and half grapefruit.

After running errands all day, and completing this workout—I LOVE strength days!!  I came home quick and had a green smoothie for recovery.

Lunch was sometime between a visit to the park and 2 loads of laundry!

I came home hungry and ready for to eat a horse.. but chicken is easier to cook.

A sweet potato and spinach salad with cucumbers and tomatoes on the side. I had another apple with about a tbsp. of almond butter while it the chicken was baking.

I baked the chicken after sprinkling some Caribbean Mrs. Dash on top at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I taught a fun kids class and went off to get a quick workout with my SIL again! Two days in a row! I love working out with her! She is one tough chick to! We worked out at her husbands gym. It was a good mish mash of some TRX, RIP and DB work. I haven’t ran at all since Saturday and missing it! It warmed up today and I was really craving a good run, but still taking it easy on my hip/foot.. all stemming from my sciatic nerve.. 800 mg of IBU should take care of it… right? oh, yes, and stretching, foam rolling and my least favorite.. REST.

Anyway.. When I got home I wanted to get some protein in my system asap. So, I warmed up some chicken, through together some salad from yesterdays lunch and munched on some blackberries.

It was definitely an eat right, by repeat kind of day.

Now, its time to go relax with the hubby and talk him into rubbing my hip/butt. TMI? I don’t care what you think.. its all about recovery.

Tomorrow is going to be a marathon day.. 3 classes, GPP and a run.. Rest? Thursday..

Q. Can you guess my staples in my fridge???

 

*PB2 giveaway ends tomorrow! Enter here!

Whole 30 Challenge Day 1

Happy Monday! We woke up to SNOW. Seriously.. it was 70 degrees last week and now the high is 35. Oh, the joy of living in Utah… and tomorrow is supposedly the first day of spring.. oomph.
I’m happy to see there are so MANY PB lovers out there! If you haven’t entered the giveaway head on down and get to it!
Today is DAY 1 of the whole 30 challenge (Paleo). I’m happy that so many of you were interested in following along! Its definitely easier with friends to hold you accountable!
For breakfast I had a egg scramble, 4 egg whites, red pepper,sweet potato, spinach, and onion with half of a grapefruit. I also had half of a frozen banana with 1tbs. almond butter that went unpictured.

Post workout I had a quick recovery shake (We decided a protein shake post workout is allowed.) I had to modify the workout due to the pain in my hip/foot. Which may be suspected to be my sciatic nerve.. oh man!! Time to go see the Doctor!  My marathon is coming up quick and I have to get some mileage under my belt!


Chocolate Protein, spinach, Almond milk and Ice. Took it on the go for a grocery run to stock up on some produce!
I had lunch around 2 and made a spinach salad with Tuna, avocado, red pepper, roasted butternut squash, and asparagus.

Drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette!

I just had a sweet tooth hit and made a quick “cake”. I usually use Agave Nectar as a sweetener for it, but since whole 30 doesn’t encourage it I left it out. (That’s going to take some getting use to.)

To make the muffin I mixed together

• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 C. pumpkin puree
• 2 tbs. Coconut flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of baking powder.

Then I stirred in a  handful of blue berries in and put it in the microwave for 5 minutes.

Although, I didn’t top it off with some agave, it was still pretty good and satisfying! 
I also just got done snacking on a small gala apple while bloggin. PS. I learned something on pinterest today..

Check out those annoying stickers on the apple! 4 numbers mean they were conventionally grown, 5 numbers starting with 8 mean they are genetically modified, and 5 numbers starting with 9 means they are organically grown!
I think I have accidently eaten the stickers.. multiple times before.. oops..
Now, its almost time to prepare dinner… mmm? Chicken?
I have a fun little date night planned with my SIL for a quick little workout. She is also doing the challenge as well and I love it!
Catch ya later!
Q. If your following along with the whole 30 challenge what have you taken out of your diet that your going to miss?
Q.Have you ever checked out the stickers on the apple??  What is your favorite apple?

Coconut Pancakes + A GIVEAWAY!

Need an idea of what to make for breakfast on this lazy Sunday morning?


Coconut Pancakes





Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
  
• 1 cup coconut milk
  
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 2 tsp. Agave Nectar
  
• 1/2 cup coconut flour- (I use Bobs Red Mill)
  
• 1 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat.
   
2. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Add in milk, vanilla, and agave nectar
   
3. In another bowl whisk together with a metal whisk-- coconut flour, baking soda, and salt.
   
4. Combine wet mixture into dry, mix well, until smooth.
   
5. Spray pan with pam/coconut oil.  Pour about 1/3 C. of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. Cook for a few minutes on each side. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
   
6. Top with favorite toppings! ENJOY!!

PB2 GIVEAWAY!


*Note: I am not affiliated with PB2 or bell plantation in anyway. I purchased this product on my own and this is my honest opinion developed through my personal experience.


PB2 has been floating around in the food blog world for awhile and I have never tried it until now!


PB2 is powder that you actually just mix with water. You can add more or less water depending on desired consistency of PB. I mixed up a thinner mix as a “PB syrup” for my pancakes.



The ingredient list includes only 3 ingredients: Roasted peanuts, sugar and salt.

The Nutrition Facts are friendly also, especially for those who can get carried away easily with nut butters!
2 tbsp. only has 45 Calories compared to an all natural PB that has 200 calories.


SAVOR THE SECRET OF PB2
“Superior quality peanuts are first slow roasted then pressed to remove the fat and oil. The result is an exquisitely natural roasted peanut butter flavor that’s deliciously rich in taste, easy to enjoy and wonderfully healthy.”


I had some “syrup” left over and mixed in just a little more powder to make it a little thicker and keep it in the fridge for quick future use.

The PB2 blends quickly and easily. I like the taste, but it doesn’t have that “stick to the top of your mouth” thing. It goes down the hatch smooth and easy. I still actually prefer the thickness and taste of natural pb better. But for a lower calorie PB it is light and perfect.

I like the fact that there is only 3 ingredients!

It goes well in shakes, mixed in your oatmeal, on sandwiches, celery. Really anything!

I purchased an extra jar of PB2 to giveaway to ONE lucky reader!

All you have to do is post a comment stating what your favorite way to eat PB! Even if its STRAIGHT from the jar.

The Giveaway will close March 21, 2012. Winner will be selected through random.org.


READY GO!!