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Getting Enough Protein On a Plant-Based Diet: One Sample Day In the Life

4/4/2019

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Let me be honest: Every time Anthony Bourdain would make fun of vegetarians, I would chuckle a little. When you study exercise and nutrition, it’s sort of branded into your brain that if you want to lean out and build muscle, you want to eat .8-1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Of course these numbers vary depending on how much you want to weight and your body type and blah blah blah. So I’d think, “Ok, vegetarians. Good luck building muscle without eating MEAT.”

Archaic and wrong. I know. And trust me when I say that I no longer think this but I DO want to recognize that it can take a little bit more planning to get adequate protein if you’re eating a mostly plant-based diet.

Now, since one of my really active clients does eat a plant-based diet*, I thought it would be fun to gather up info about non-meat sources of food that are high in protein!

Here's a list of non-meat foods I find yummy and versatile that are also high in protein**:
Edamame: 22g/cup
Hemp seeds: 6g/oz
Lentils: 18g/cup
Greek yogurt: 24g/cup
Green peas: 8g/cup
Quinoa: 8g/cooked cup
Artichoke hearts: 4g/cup
Spinach: 5g/cooked cup
Kamut: 11g/cooked cup
Mushrooms: 3g/cup white and shiitakes, 4g/cup portabella
Tempeh: 16g/3 oz
Black beans: 8g/.5 cup
Chia seeds: 6g/2 tbsp
Steel cut oats: 5g/.5 cup cooked
Brussels sprouts: 4g/cup
Broccoli: 4g/cup steamed
Sweet potato: 4g/cup
Asparagus: 4g/cup cooked
Tofu (extra firm): 9g/3oz
Plant-based protein powder like Vega Sport: 30g/scoop
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Proof a vegetarian dish is AbFab. Photo from alexandracooks.com. Click on the image for the recipe.
Here are a few things to consider if you are consuming a plant-based diet and are focusing on protein:
  • Non-meat sources of protein (except for eggs and soy products like edamame) are thought of as “incomplete” proteins because they lack all of the amino acids that complete proteins have. What this means is that it is important to have a very widely-varied food list. You know the phrase “eat the rainbow”? Do that! Eat all of the different colors of veggies, legumes and grains.
  • If you are really focusing on building lean muscle mass, consider supplementing with a protein shake here and there. Shakes can pack in about 30g of protein in a serving. Here's a hot tip, though: If you do eat eggs and/or dairy, I HIGHLY recommend using a whey or egg white-based powder and here is why.

So now let’s pretend you are a woman looking to lose fat and build muscle and are trying to eat roughly 1500 calories per day. I would want this client’s food be comprised of 30% protein. In this case it turns out to be roughly 120 grams of protein per day.

Here’s how we’d make that work:
NOTE: As a nutrition coach in Illinois I CANNOT prescribe a meal plan. I can simply help you put something together WITH you or make suggestions. I just thought it would be helpful to see what one day might look like. So here it is!

Breakfast:
1 cup Greek yogurt (with the lowest sugar content you can find!) with 1 Tbsp chia seeds and a 1/2 cup of blackberries mixed in. One of my favorite former clients Kelly loved putting in frozen berries for texture so that’s what I’ve plugged in.

Lunch:
Salade Composée (that’s French for a salad that is hearty enough for a full meal): A fine mix of greens, roasted and steamed veggies with a Green Goddess dressing, topped with crunchy pumpkin seeds. I don't write restaurant menus so use your imagination for more flavor-packed adjectives ;)

Dinner:
The yummiest recipe I’ve made in a long time, pictured above: Curried Lentils with Kale and Coconut Milk. Check out the recipe here. The serving size I used is 1/4 of the recipe plus 3 oz cubed tofu mixed in. You could ALSO cut a 3-oz portion of extra firm tofu, season it with spices, lightly brush with oil and grill it, eat it on the side.

If you know me, you know I do not usually like to plug in my food into a calorie calculator. But, for the purposes of this post, I thought I would to use as an illustration. Here is the outcome:
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My own MyFitnessPal breakdown based on the proposed Day of Plant-Based-Eating-With-Lots-Of-Protein!
As you can see, this day turned out to be just over 1500 calories, 124 grams of protein (remember our goal was 120) AND a whopping 42 grams of fiber to boot! That's a lot of fiber, guys. I'd make sure to drink plenty of water if I were you.

Whether you're a vegetarian or like to only eat meat occasionally, know that getting adequate protein from mostly plant form is absolutely doable! It just takes some planning (and possibly a B12 supplement; check with your doctor).

If you're someone who feels like they could use some help with some of their habits and skills surrounding their own diet, give me a shout! You can reach me via email, sign up for CleanSlate28 or call 312-497-8999. If you need a little extra help requiring a registered dietician, I can also help connect you!

If you are a vegetarian (or even a flexetarian or pescatarian or vegan) and have your own tactics for how to get protein in, share them in the comments below! I'd love to hear from you!

*By “plant-based” here I am also including dairy and eggs in this list.
**Grams are estimates; I've seen slightly differing numbers here and there so I picked what I saw the most frequently

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The Ultimate Post-Summer Challenge: Putting Down the Rosé*

9/6/2017

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[*I say rosé because it was SUCH a theme this summer, rosé was seemingly everywhere. But drinking might not be your thing. So treat “rosé” as a metaphor for whatever summer treat you may have chosen to thoroughly enjoy that you may, for whatever reason, want to step away from… Hope this helps!]
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I am writing this ON Labor Day, at the Soho House rooftop, sipping on my almond milk late and water while 80% of the other people up here are drinking rosé like it’s going out of style (at 11:30AM). And I mean, good grief, rosé was all the rage this summer, it was everywhere! And now, everyone’s saying goodbye in ritualistic ways as the fall settles in.
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Image from RoseAllDay.com
So of course I’m using rosé as my one example but I could just as easily use ice cream or hot dogs or whatever other summer goodies we embrace when the warm weather finally comes. But as the leaves change color, in come the Pinot Noir and Pumpkin Spice Everything and Halloween candy. And when the trees go bare we get excited for Cabernet and potatoes and bread and pasta. We replace one thing with another.

If you follow or have worked with me before, you know I’m not an elimination girl. Total elimination of a food or drink usually completely backfires (obviously we’re not talking about addiction here)! That being said, though, we do need to be honest with ourselves: We often might *think* we’re only enjoying seasonal goodies here and there because they’re “special” and “unavailable” the rest of the year. But we completely lose sight that the “here-ing and there-ing” of treats year-round can actually add to the waistline over time.
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If you’re ready to move forward with fall with a bit less of the “rosé”, here are 5 ways to start easing out the habit you’ve created:

  1. Create a new routine: First, identify WHEN you get that urge to pour yourself a glass. What time of day is it? Where are you? What usually happens right before you pour/order that glass? What day of the week is it? What time? Then, figure out how you can disrupt your trigger(s). Does it mean taking a few minutes some time during the day to do something nice for yourself so you don't get to the point of "needing" whatever it is you're craving? Does it mean taking a different route home from work? Or meeting friends at a coffee shop instead of the bar? Or eating dinner in the dining room instead of the living room? Or taking a walk in the middle of the day to take your mind off of whatever it is you’re craving? 
  2. Hit the snooze. Think you want that 1st/2nd/3rd glass of wine? Set a timer to quietly go off in 10 minutes and see if you still want it (I’m suggesting quietly so that if you don’t hear it, you may have already forgotten you wanted a drink!). Or commit to drinking a full glass of water before you make the pour and see if you still want it. Or take yourself out of the offending room and take care of a chore and see if you still remember that you even wanted it.
  3. Keep track. Use a notebook or app any time you grab a glass (AS you grab the glass, not after; you might forget after).
  4. Decrease little by little. Let’s say you've been drinking 10 glasses every week. Can you cut that down to 9 this week? And down to 7 the next? Can you find a quantity of rosé that both helps you not feel completely deprived AND that still helps you get closer to your health goals?
  5. Don’t keep it in your house. Take the treat OUT. OF. YOUR. HOUSE. It’s not an elimination since you can choose to enjoy a glass when you’re out and about. But it does take out the temptation in the place you may be spending the most time in.

The above tips are just a handful to get you started. There are so many other ways to start cutting back on those beverages and foods that are getting you further away from your health and fitness goals. Hopefully these 5 tips above help spark some ideas of your own! If you've successfully cut back/quit some bad habits, how did YOU do it? Feel free to share in the comments!

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It's CleanSlate28 time again! If you've been feeling the need for some support with your nutrition habits, check out how CleanSlate28 can help you.

Please feel free to call or email me with any questions. Signups are happening now. The Fall edition kicks off September 25 and ends October 22. Sign up here!

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How Tacos Saved My Lunch Prep (and how it can save yours, too!)

4/12/2017

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I think tacos are awesome. Nutrition coaching rockstar Josh Hillis even let me write all about my love of tacos for meal planning here. And while Winnie the Pooh may be eating all sorts of the wrong tacos, I personally think they can be a brilliant way to set yourself up for a tasty and healthy weight loss/weight management plan.
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The Taco Breakdown: What gives tacos the healthy meal potential
1. Pick a lean protein (shrimp, tilapia, ground turkey, even tofu!)
2. Pick your protein seasoning (like spice blends you can find at Penzey's, sauces you fan find at the grocery store by the one and only Rick Bayless, or make your own! Regardless of what you choose, it's the seasoning that turns the boring into the exciting).
3. Pick the veggies that will compliment your taco (pico de gallo/salsa, diced avocado, jicama or cabbage slaw, sliced or diced peppers... there are lots of options!)
4. Choose a small amount of a complex carb (like beans)

5. Choose your taco's container: Typically a corn or flour tortilla but you can also do a lettuce cup (which I'm seeing more and more out in restaurants!). OR you can get even more veggies into your meal and make your taco a SALAD! Which is what I'm showing off today.

(The cool thing about the Taco Breakdown is that, even if you don't like Mexican food, you can use these exact same steps to create a great plate of any cuisine you like!)


I've been playing around with different taco bowls that don't need to be reheated that I can take to TruFit with me for lunch. I finally found one that fits a few criteria that I need if I'm going to eat in a public place (like my Evanston gym!):
1. Easy to eat/isnt' messy
2. Isn't stinky
3. Is really easy to make ahead
4. Is really easy to put together

​HERE IS THE MEGA YUMMY OUTCOME!:
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And here's how to make this specific taco salad for the week!

INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp coconut oil or light tasting olive oil
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1.5 lbs​ ground turkey (figure about 3-5oz protein per meal, depending on how active you are; can be a mix of dark and light meat, your choice. I'm eating this fabulous taco salad M-F this week to make life easier)
1 packet of Frontera Chicken Taco Seasoning Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
2 heads of Romain lettuce, washed and chopped
1/4 cup pinto or black beans (or, if you were like me this week, refried beans)
A few Tbsp of salsa
1-2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
1/8-1/4 of an avocado

DIRECTIONS:
= Heat your oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.
= Once hot, add your chopped onions. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
= Turn heat up to high and add the turkey and brown, breaking the ground turkey into small pieces.
= Add in the seasoning sauce and cook on medium heat until the turkey is cooked through.
= Let it cool.

TO ASSEMBLE:
= Place a good 1-2 handfuls of Romain in a large Tupperware container.
= Top it with your portion of protein.
= Garnish with your beans, salsa, Greek yogurt and avocado.
= Keep the salad fresh by either placing it in the fridge or in a handy-dandy lunch bag cooler. 
= Ta-da!
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Now, if you're going to do this every day and want the salad to stay fresh, here's what I would do:
= Separate the protein into individual containers like these. Then, when you place the lettuce into your salad container you can just plop the protein on top.
= Place the washed and chopped lettuce in a Ziplock bag with 1-2 paper towels to absorb the moisture (keep some air in the bag when you close it)
= Keep the condiments separate in the fridge and scoop in whenever you assemble.
= You can either put your lunch together the night before or morning of.

And then all you have to do is thoroughly enjoy this salad, like I have every day this week! BON APPETIT! (Have a question/comment/idea? Leave it in the comments section!)
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Party Food Part 2: Beet Hummus and Green Smoothie Dessert Shooters!

7/7/2016

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Last week I posted recipes for Chilled Carrot Soup Shooters and Roasted Cauliflower Hummus (yum!). This week, I'm bringing you another kind of hummus AND something to satisfy your party guests' sweet teeth without slapping them in the face with a sugar bomb.

Now, I personally never read the whole story behind other bloggers' recipes. I just scroll straight down to the recipes SO: I'm just going to get down to business !!

Ready?

​Let's make some food!

​Beet Hummus

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Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients: 
4 medium beets (the reason I'm not telling you how many pounds here is because sometimes when you buy beets, the greens are heavier than the beets themselves)
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 roasted garlic cloves (since I'd already roasted one head of garlic for the cauliflower hummus, I used cloves from that head instead of raw; read about how to roast garlic here)
1 tbsp cumin
Zest from 2 lemons
Good pinch of kosher salt

Directions:
  • Pre-heat oven to 375. 
  • Lightly oil the beets, place on a foil-lined backing sheet and then cover with another piece of foil.
  • Roast in the oven for 60 minutes or until a knife can pierce straight through.
  • Once the beets have cooled off, peel them. I highly suggest wearing disposable gloves if you have them so your nails don't stain red. At the minimum, wear an apron. Beets stain like crazy.
  • Cube up the beets and place them in a blender. 
  • Add all of the remainder of the ingredients into a blender or Vitamin and blend until you get a hummus-y consistency. 

NOTE: This recipe is adapted from one I found at SimplyRecipes.com; I thought the original was a little too runny so I added tahini. I also found that it tasted better 24 hours after making it so don't be afraid to make ahead!

Green Smoothie Dessert Shooter

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Makes about 6 cups (so, about 16 3-oz shot pours)

Ingredients:
3 big handfuls of baby spinach
4 sprigs of cilantro
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1/2 of an avocado
2 cups of whatever kind of milk you want (I prefer cashew or flax seed milk)
Some kind of berry for garnish

Directions:
  • Place the spinach into the blender first. Then load the rest of the ingredients on top, milk going in last. You may need more milk to get the consistency you desire. 
  • Garnish each shooter with a berry of your choice.
  • If you find yourself with extra smoothie, you can freeze them in individual serving baggies or make popsicles! 
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Party Food Part 1: Chilled Carrot Soup Shooters and Roasted Cauliflower Hummus

6/27/2016

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My good friend and health industry colleague Dr. Meggie Smith of Chiropractic First in Evanston invited me to join her during the Downtown Evanston Wine Walk last week to do "something fun" in her office since she was one of the wine walk stops. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what to do and then I figured, Hey! Why don't I provide the food?

I assumed other stops might serve cheese, charcuterie or chocolate to go with their wine so I thought, "Why not serve some more non-traditional, veggie-centric appetizers?" It's so easy to fill a table of apps with the things I listed above (I do when I have people over, cheese is awesome!) but sometimes veggies get left out or treated like second-rate citizens of Appetizerlandia. 

Thanks to everyone who asked for the recipes, I am posting two here! (Two more will come next week!) Enjoy!

CHILLED CARROT SOUP SHOOTER

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Serves: Many, many, people if you serve this in small cups as a 3oz "shot" of soup (perfect if you're not doing a sit-down app course). You can freeze this soup if you have too much (or cut the quantities in half). NOTE: I got this recipe from Gourmande in the Kitchen. I've made it many times with slightly different variations but the below is the best combo in my humble opinion.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp unfiltered coconut oil
4 spring onions, white and light green parts, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger (more if you LOVE ginger)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
4 lbs carrots, sliced
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh grated turmeric root
Enough water to just cover the ingredients in the pot (about 6-8 cups)
Cilantro to garnish

Directions:
  • Melt the oil over medium-low heat.
  • Add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Sauté them for 2 minutes or so, do not let the spring onions brown at all.
  • Add in the carrots, salt, cinnamon and turmeric, and heat for a few more minutes, stirring to coat the carrots in the mixture. 
  • Add water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes. 
  • Puree the soup in a blender, Vitamix or immersion blender. 
  • ​Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

The most awesome thing about this soup is that it's amazing as a warm soup in the fall/winter and as a chilled soup in the summer! Don't be afraid to make "too much". It will be eaten :)

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER HUMMUS

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Makes: About 4 cups

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
1 head of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil to coat cauliflower for roasting, 2 tbsp for hummus-making
1/2 tsp coconut oil to roast garlic
1/3 cup tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

Directions:
  • Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Chop up cauliflower into small florets; toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and a little bit of salt and place on a foil or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet or roasting pan.
  • Slice off the tips of the head of garlic; place your 1/2 tsp of coconut oil on the sliced portion and then wrap in foil.
  • Roast the cauliflower for about 30 minutes (turning once half-way through cooking) while you roast the garlic for an hour.
  • Once cooked, place cauliflower, 4-5 cloves from the roasted garlic, the rest of the olive oil, tahini and lemon juice in a blender. Blend well until creamy and no large chunks of cauliflower are present.
  • Serve with sliced veggies/pita chips/anything you want!
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The IzzyFit Nutrition Manifesto: 5 Tips for How to Start Rewriting the Food Script

4/9/2015

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If you know me, you know that my life prior to personal trainer-hood wasn’t the picture of squeaky-clean healthy living. Throughout high school, college and into my 20s, my days were spent primarily in acting classes, hanging out at bars with friends, drinking a lot of coffee and eating a lot of Pop Tarts (cinnamon and brown sugar if you’re wondering).Thanks to youth, genetics and youth (did I say that already?), I was able to maintain my weight pretty steadily within 5 lbs.

And then I hit my 30s. I was working out consistently but it became a lot harder to maintain my weight. And then, due to life stresses giving me a mega unhappy gut in 2012 and a bit of a medical scare in 2013, I thought it best to take matters into my own hands and clean up my food because at least that was something I could control (and I firmly believe that food can be medicine). Slowly but surely, I eliminated gluten, dairy, legumes and ate very few grains to see if that could make things better. I filled in the blanks with a lot more veggies and fruits than I'd ever eaten before. I had accidentally gone Paleo (for the record, I do not believe in the “cavemen ate this way therefore so should we” manifesto). But after a few years of limiting gluten, dairy, etc. pretty consistently, I have to say that my joints do feel better without gluten, my eczema does not rear its ugly head unless I have dairy and my gut is almost back to normal after three long years. Food is medicine. Ta-da! The end! 

Just kidding.

What’s ended up happening after a few years of eliminating this stuff is that I have developed deep, dark ANXIETY when it comes to eating gluten, dairy and grains. I am FRENCH for crying out loud. Croissants and stinky cheeses are part of my DNA! I can’t be scared of these things! But there I was this past weekend, nibbling on a piece of buttered bread at Easter dinner, trying to quiet the voices in my head saying, “I thought you wanted your wrists to feel better and for your skin to clear up and you’re still 3 pounds away from your goal weight, I can’t believe you’re eating this right now, you dummy!”

So you know what? It’s been a long time since I wrote The IzzyFit Weight Loss Manifesto and I think I owe it to myself — and to you — to write The IzzyFit Nutrition Manifesto: 5 Tips for How to Start Rewriting the Food Script. 

But there I was this past weekend, nibbling on a piece of buttered bread at Easter dinner, trying to quiet the voices in my head saying, “I thought you wanted your wrists to feel better and for your skin to clear up and you’re still 3 pounds away from your goal weight, I can’t believe you’re eating this right now, you dummy!”
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IzzyFit’s Top 5 Nutrition Rules For Everyday Life
  1. There is no single right answer for ANYONE. We are our own science experiments and need to learn how to listen to our bodies so that we can understand what it likes and doesn’t like. If you’re frustrated that you’ve been doing something for a while that isn’t causing your body to change in positive ways, your current system may not be right for you. This rule frees you from beating yourself up when one diet your best friend has been doing that’s caused her to lose 10 lbs doesn’t do the same thing for you. You may just need something different!
  2. Nothing gets demonized. Not gluten, not dairy, not soy, or beef or eggs. Not even Cadbury Cream Eggs because I get to eat those 3-4 times every year. You get to choose what you eat and don’t eat and you even get to change your mind about what goes into which column (unless, of course, you have a true food allergy). Demonizing food means cultivating fear and you shouldn’t fear food. 
  3. Plan ahead. As the old adage says, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. If you want to eat healthy meals throughout the day or week, figure out how that can happen. Will you need to take a day to grocery shop and grill chicken breasts for the week? Will you want to use a healthy meal delivery system like Cooked? Does it mean checking out the menu at a restaurant you’re headed to with friends ahead of time to know what you’re in for? Yes, yes and yes. And there are a thousand more examples, you just need to figure out what tools work for you.
  4. Figure out the ratio of optimal foods:treat foods YOU need to feel whole and not deprived and that also helps you reach your goals. The trick here is to be completely honest with yourself when it comes to knowing exactly what your goals are and WHY you want to reach them. Know that when you have goals like losing weight or getting a six-pack, that will mean giving up/limiting some foods/beverages in your diet, if only for a little while until you’ve reached your goal. The FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Monster can rear its ugly head here. If you find that you shut your eyes super tight and pretend the monster is not there only to give into it completely the next day and binge, the habits you’ve adopted are too limiting and it’s time to reexamine your plan. If you’re able to look the FOMO Monster in the eye and tell it to chill out, you’re probably on the right path :)
  5. Reach out for support. Do you know when I’ve been the most successful? When I’ve told my loved ones, “Hey, I’ve got this goal I want to reach and I need you to  back me up and here’s how you can help me.” It’s awkward and can be tough to bring up but it can be a game changer. And if those surrounding you aren’t willing to help you, know that there are plenty of people out there who would be happy to be part of your support circle. (If you’re in this boat, please reach out to me.)

While food rules are usually more in the vein of “Eat this, not that”, as a nutrition coach, I am more interested in helping my clients develop a better relationship with food that allows them to have a healthy body and happy mind JUST as my ultimate goal as a personal trainer is help my clients develop a better relationship with their body so they can live a happier life. I hope these rules have helped and if you need one-on-one guidance, please reach out to me by phone (312-497-8999), email me or join CleanSlate28: Holiday Survival Edition starting October 3 (you must register by September 19, 2015!)

There is still time to sign up for CleanSlate28: Holiday Survival Edition! If you want to reclaim ownership of your body before the holidays start, please check out this 28-day program by clicking the picture below!
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What's Under That Sweater: Top 5 Tips for Shedding the Winter Sweater

3/9/2015

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I was at a networking lunch (shout-out to the Evanston Chamber's Women in Business!) a few weeks ago, chatting with someone about winter weight gain and how easily it can creep up on you. 

As spring approaches (it's coming soon, right?), I thought I'd share a few more tips for how to prepare NOW for lighter clothes that don't consist of moo moos and shirts that are two sizes too big. So let's get started:

1. Eat your veggies before your starchy carbs. I'm NOT vilifying starchy carbs, they have a  place in our lives. But have you noticed that currently restaurant menus are loaded with duck confit mac and cheese, big burgers in bigger buns, bread puddings as entrees AND desserts? Now, I'm not ordering you to take the carbs out. I am strongly encouraging you to eat your non-starchy veggies first (like broccoli, kale, chard, carrots, beets, spaghetti squash, etc). I bet you won't have as much room for those starchy carbs.

2. Watch your alcohol intake. I was talking to a client last week who said she noticed that her pants were fitting a little tighter. She was part of the Clean Slate group in January and had given up alcohol for the whole month. "What changed?" I asked. "I started drinking a glass or two of wine every night." "Or two?" I challenged. "Well, sometimes the neighbor comes over and we finish the bottle." If you don't actively set a limit for how much you're going to drink, "or two" can easily become more. If you're doing that a few times per week, it WILL make your pants tighter. Take how much you're drinking now and try to cut it by at least half. 

3. Drink. Your. Water. I don't know about you but the days I don't drink enough water, I eat more crap. I feel restless and hungry and cranky so I grab a snack. Half an hour later I grab another snack. And I never feel better. That doesn't happen on days I drink half of my weight in ounces of water. 

4. Eat on smaller plates. There was a great post by Snack Girl about changing plates to 1" less in diameter. It's quick. Watch it here.

5. Wear tighter-fitting clothes. I know, it's scary. But you know what: Stop hiding! I am a STRONG believer in practicing self love and compassion where you are RIGHT NOW. Don't wait until you are your smaller self to love your body. If you don't love yourself now, you won't believe you're ever enough, no matter what size. Now, I'm not telling you to wear a skin-tight mini skirt and tube top. I'm just suggesting that it might be time to reclaim ownership of your body again.

Got all that? Great. Now, eat your veggies.
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Spiralize This! How to Make Zucchini Pasta.

2/19/2015

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I promise I am not vilifying carbs or gluten or pasta. But lately I've been watching how many starchy carbs I eat because of my current fitness goals and I'm deciding to eat foods like pasta and breads sparingly. So while I'm craving a comforting pasta dish for dinner tonight since it's cold outside, I decided it would be wiser for me to make the alternative: Zucchini noodles!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you've been witness to my love affair with zucchini noodles (and if you're an Evanston personal training client, you even got your own spiralizer for the holidays!). 

Why do I love them so much? Let me count the ways:
  1. They take less than 10 minute to make from start to finish.
  2. When the zucchini is spiralized, the noodles are so voluminous it looks like you won't be able to finish one serving (we eat with our eyes so this is great!).
  3. You can pair the noodles with anything you'd have with pasta: Meat sauce; garlicky shrimp; chicken; black beans, avocado and tomatoes! With zucchini's mild taste, the noodles are a blank slate!

So how do you make these noodles? you ask. This way:
  1. Wash your zucchini and pat dry (1 med-large zucchini per person). You do not need to peel the zucchini.
  2. Heat some olive or coconut oil in a pan on medium heat for a few minutes.
  3. Spiralize the pasta directly into the heated pan.
  4. Toss around for a few minutes (like, 5-8), making them al dente. Be careful not to overcook otherwise you'll have soggy noodles. 
  5. Add salt/pepper to taste.

AND THAT IS IT! Just add whatever you'd like on the side (or on top!). And you've got your serving of veggies for your meal!

So, go ahead and make some noodles and let me know what you paired them with in the comments (and share your pics on Facebook)!
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The Quickest Meal I've Ever Made. It Took 9 Hours.

11/4/2014

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Let's face it: We live in a culture of "I'm too busy". Too busy to cook, to clean, to exercise, to have fun. I'm just going to tackle the "too busy to cook" part today by sharing a CrockPot recipe that I have fallen in love with. It tastes amazing and only took me 10 MINUTES TO PREPARE!!! This is altered from Good Housekeeping. Here's what you need:
1 onion, sliced.
3 peppers (the choice of color is yours), sliced
1/2 cup picked jalapeños (or more or less depending on your taste)
1 bay leaf
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt
2 lbs flank steak (grass fed if you can find it; otherwise make sure it's as lean as possible)
1 14-oz can whole tomatoes, roughly cut up

Load up and mix the onion, peppers, jalapeños, jalapeño, bay leaf, spices and salt. Then, add the beef. Finally, add the tomatoes on top. Cover and cook on low for 9 hours. When it's done, take the beef out to shred with forks. Get rid of the bay leaf. Skim off any excess fat from the pepper mix. And then... EAT! Serves 4-6. Serve with sautéed spinach and a black beans (if they're your thing).
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Spaghetti (Squash) and Meat Sauce!

3/19/2014

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Winter is almost over which makes me wish I'd thought of this earlier in the season. But, hey, as long as it's still cold, I will continue to make this awesome, super tasty, satisfying, comforting dish. Best of all, especially for my fellow food-sensitive friends, this dish is free from most allergens like eggs, nuts, etc and is gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free and paleo-friendly.

Here are your ingredients:
1 Spaghetti squash
Olive oil
Salt 
Pepper
1 lb Organic grass-fed beef (or whatever meat you prefer)
1 Large carrot, chopped
1-2 Shallots, chopped
1 Jar marinara sauce (I'm super lucky to have some of my parents' homemade sauce but you can use an 18-oz store-bought sauce. Make sure to look at the ingredients to verify there's no dumb stuff in there like sugar... Trader Joe's Traditional Marinara Sauce does the trick.)
Parsley or cilantro to garnish
Red pepper flakes to garnish

Pre-heat the oven at 400F. Slice the spaghetti squash in half length-wise and scrape out the seeds. Brush some olive oil on the flesh and salt and pepper to taste. Line a roasting pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the squash flesh side down. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Time will depend on how big your squash is.

In the meantime, heat a heavy fry pan over medium heat. Trader Joe's has 85% lean organic grass-fed ground beef so I find that I definitely do not need to oil the pan ahead of time even if the pan is not non-stick. Brown the meat in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Before it's all cooked through, stir in the chopped carrots and shallots. Cook until softened. Then, pour in the marinara sauce. Turn heat to low and let the sauce simmer very softly for 10-20 minutes to let the sauce cook down a little bit. 

When the squash is done, let it cool down. Once the temperature is cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the flesh out. 

Then, simply scoop out some spaghetti squash onto a plate and top with meat sauce. I like to sprinkle some red pepper flakes and chop up a little bit of cilantro to give the dish a little extra punch.

And that's it! Super easy and mega nourishing! If you're up for it, put some greens on the side!

Enjoy! And remember, if you make this and post a picture online, use the hashtag #IzzyFitFood!

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