7 Day Shakeology & Clean Eating Challenge

Welcome!! Congrats on joining my 7 Day Shakeology & Clean Eating Challenge! I hope you are here because you are ready to make some changes to your diet!! Figuring out what to eat is usually a challenge for people when they start their fitness journey. As a Nutritionist.. I can attest to just how overwhelming it can be.. It can be so intimidating that you might be tempted to just throw your hands in the air & quit! And that's why I'm here to HELP YOU! It doesn't have to be complicated!! So I'm going to do my best to break it down for you and get you through these next  7 days so you can start making some healthy food choices, get a daily dose of dense nutrition in your body, and start moving for 30 minutes a day. 

SO what exactly is "Clean Eating?"
The approach is clean eating is a lifestyle that focuses on eating whole foods, in their natural state. (Think about what your great, great grandparents ate. Cheetos, twinkies, poptarts, etc. were not part of their diet!) 

Here are some basic principles to follow:
The DO List:
1. Eat 5-6 small meals a day
2. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking up
3. Eat a combination of lean protein, complex carbs & healthy fats at every meal
4. Drink PLENTY of water! (Rule of thumb: Your body weight divided by 2 will give you an idea of how many ounces to drink daily.)
5. Plan and prepare your meals ahead of time
6. Stick to proper portion sizes

What to AVOID:
1. Avoid all processed foods (Especially white flour and white sugar)
2. Avoid chemically charged foods. If you can't read the ingredients on the label, eliminate it. You are not a science project! :) 
3. Avoid all preservatives and artificial sugars.
4. Avoid sugar loaded beverages. If you are addicted to soda, transition to flavored sparkling waters. Over time, your taste buds will change.. I promise! I've had SO many clients that were able to kick their soda habit with this tip!
5. Limit (or avoid) alcohol intake.
6. Avoid fast food
7. Avoid calorie dense, nutritional void foods. (Things very high in calories with little nutrition)

When making changes it can feel like... "Well heck! What CAN I eat?!"
Don't worry! You have free reign on vegetables, fruits, whole grains protein, and healthy fats (like yummy avocado and hummus!) There is such a wide variety available to you, but it might not be familiar territory yet. That's ok! We'll get you there! 

This is your change to branch out, try new recipes, and maybe you'll discover you love something! You should NOT feel hungry or deprived. If you are eating correct portions, you will feel satisfied (not full) after eating and you'll be moderately hungry before it is time for you to eat again. You might experience sugar cravings at first, but these will dissipate over a few weeks!

Remember, it's OK to treat yourself on occasion too. Just be mindful that it's a treat meal.. not an entire treat day or week. What helps me stay on track is planning my treat meals. If I know I have a date night on Friday, I will save my treat meal until then! Mentally I have something to look forward to! Make it part of your prep & keep things in moderation. If you choose to have some cake, don't eat the whole cake! :) 

Getting Started
1. Load up on fruits, veggies and lean meats. If you're looking for convenience, I love frozen foods! (And I'm not talking about Healthy Choice frozen meals! lol) What I mean is.. Costco (or BJs) sells an amazing variety of frozen chicken, veggies and fruits. Pro tip: Always check the label to make sure they aren't adding any ingredients! If you buy frozen broccoli, make sure the label only says "broccoli." Frozen fruits often have sugar added so opt out for the package without sugar.
2. Clean out your fridge and pantry. You might discover you have a lot of expired items lurking in your pantry. Purge all those and start checking labels.
3. Foods that contain ingredients that are not 'clean' or that you cannot pronounce, need to go! You can throw them out or donate them (or even take them to work to give away). 
4. Make a grocery list. I like to plan my meals ahead so I can buy in bulk for the week or month. Saves a ton! For example, pantry items like quinoa or rice can be purchased in bulk to save you time and money on your next trip.
5. Build up your spice variety as you go. Spices can be expensive but they go a LONG way so maybe just get a few each trip. Here is a great shopping list for beginners.
6. Schedule your shopping & prep day. Don't under estimate how much time it takes to prep food! Try to get your grocery shopping done early in the day and get right to prep when you get home. I like to buy lots of veggies for stir fries and do all the chopping on Sunday. If you have ever made fajitas or stir fry you know that it takes about 30 minutes just to cut up all the veggies! That's a lot of time to spend during week after a long day at work. Having meals ready to 'heat and eat' has saved me on many occasions especially when I worked a long, stressful day of work before becoming a Coach.
7. I prefer to cook my chicken in bulk. If you make a batch of it on Sunday, you can use it for salads, wraps, etc. throughout the week. (Note: To preserve freshness, I cook meat on Sundays & Wednesdays. You can also freeze foods.. even your chopped veggies.. to ensure great taste when you're ready to cook) You can also make a large batch of quinoa or rice to use throughout the week.
8. Pack your meals. If you work out of the home (or are always on the go) pack a cooler bag! It makes your food accessible and limits your (ahem.. excuses) for not eating healthy.
9. Be patient with yourself. It's a lot to take in. If you feel overwhelmed, make one new adjustment per week. Slowly eliminate foods that are on the no-no list and start adding new foods into your diet. Start with substitutions like greek yogurt in place of sour cream or mayonnaise and cut out the soda and fast food. This is your lifestyle so you need to change it at your own speed. Some people are able to do this in one fail swoop and others need to baby step their way along. Small changes are still changes so you will be on the right track! 

You've got this!!
While it might feel intimidating now, you will adjust and it will become second nature. Eating clean is a lifestyle change.. not a diet that you stick to for a couple weeks. SIDE NOTE: People who are very accustomed to processed foods have a difficult time with (or don't like the taste of) the natural flavors of real food. They will say things like "I don't like the taste of vegetables or anything that is healthy." Don't despair! Over time, your taste changes and your body will start to CRAVE the good stuff! Shakeology helps tremendously with this!! Once you get acclimated you will feel so great that you can't imagine eating processed foods that make you feel sluggish!! Figure out what works best for YOU. This is not a one size fits all. I used to hate going to the grocery store or stepping foot in the kitchen... but it's actually become enjoyable for me!! (And there is a certain pleasure in knowing you are taking care of your body!)

You'll do great!!!

Here is a shopping list to get you started! CLICK HERE

PLANNING
A BIG key to success is having a PLAN! Think about it….you wouldn’t start your day, go on vacation or show up to a job interview without a plan, right? So think of meal prep and packing your cooler as your PLAN for a HEALTHY BODY! Your biggest obstacle is going to be managing your time so that getting fit and healthy doesn’t compete with the rest of your commitments, like taking care of the kids, hubby or spending time with friends!

Believe it or not, prioritizing and planning ahead with actually make life….dun dun dun…EASIER! Not to mention, it will set you up for success in the long term! It may seem trivial but I promise that its worth it! Having everything ready and packed will be less stressful than leaving your meal choices up to chance and heading to whatever take out joint is near by at mealtime! Helllooo muffin top!

TIPS: Schedule in time on the weekends to buy and prepare your food for the week! SO WORTH IT! A little time in the store and kitchen on Sunday means for the rest of the week you can JUST GRAB AND GO! ***This took me a good 2-3 months to really get a routine down. I actually HATED it at first... I was really resistant to change but once I saw the results…I was hooked!***

If you are on the go a lot, pack Cook Free Snacks: raw almonds, Shakeology, low-fat string cheese, chopped veggies, fruit, ezekiel bread, hummus etc. You can keep little ziplock baggies of almonds in your car so you ALWAYS have something to grab.

Sometimes people will give me excuses about the cost of eating healthy. The fact of the matter is…I spend less money now than I did before when I was buying processed crap. I know it’s not just in my head because I track my finances!! But even if it DID cost more, aren’t you worth the investment?

NO EXCUSES! :)

 

 

Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping can be daunting if you are trying to eat healthy but don’t know what you should be looking for. When my clients the decision to get in shape and eat healthy, they usually wnat me to take them by the hand and show them EXACTLY what to buy, what to eat and how to make it. A lot of labels are misleading and if you aren’t careful, you could end up buying foods that are working against your goals. Hopefully, this will guide you to choose foods that help you to attain that strong and sexy body you want.


Pre-Grocery Shopping Preparation
You want to set yourself up for success. There are certain situations that dramatically increase your chances of ending up with a shopping cart full of the type of foods that end up stored in your butt and thighs.
1. Eat A Nutritious Meal Before You Go Grocery Shopping
When you go to the store on an empty stomach and hungry, you will be very likely to subconsciously grab the worst foods for you. Typically these are the foods full of sugar that spike your insulin levels fast, or the ones that are laden with fats (and/or transfats) that fill you up quickly but wreak havoc with your health. Make sure you have eaten properly before going to the store. Have low glycemic index carbs like brown rice, yams or oatmeal combined with a lean protein like chicken, turkey or lean fish, and then some vegetables.

2. Do Not Go Grocery Shopping When You Are Feeling Down 
Don’t go grocery shopping when you are sad or emotional. If you do, you will be very likely to grab “comfort foods.” Leave it to another day, when you are feeling better, or give someone else a grocery list and have them shop for you.


Beware Of Food Labels!
One of the biggest reasons people gain weight in fat when they are trying to lose weight is because they are being mislead by labels . How often do you hear that someone is trying to lose fat, but instead she gained fat and doesn’t have a clue why that happened as she was “eating healthy”?
The companies producing the foods are misleading you to think a food product is healthy, when it is really (absolutely) not. The food production companies realized people are trying harder and harder to lose that stubborn fat. Because people are trying to buy more health conscious foods, companies market their products as “healthy” to increase sales.

They use clever manipulation of words, and words only. They use words which are not lies, but that are absolutely misleading, to make their food products LOOK healthy, or healthier than before. Don’t believe me? Not a problem, I will give you a few examples:

Example #1: Fat Free, Preservative Free Cookies 
Did you see the boxes of cookies (even chocolate ones) lately? They will read: “Fat free, gluten free, no preservatives or artificial flavors”. Is this true? Yes, it is. But, if we look on the back side of the package to read the ingredients ourselves, what does it say? Most probably the first word you’ll find will be SUGAR, or high glucose-fructose corn syrup. So it’s pretty much all sugar! Is this healthy? absolutely not.

Example #2: Low Carb Cookies Or Candy Bars 
This is the reverse of the first example. Here what they do is that there are fats in the cookies, but glycerine and maltitol are used to sweeten them. Though these two ingredients do not have an impact in blood sugar levels, they do have calories! However, the FDA allows such products to claim they are “low carb”. In addition, if you look at the fats contained in these foods, they are typically partially hydrogenated oils (transfats)! This is neither healthy nor will it help you attain your fitness goals.


Tips To Making Sure That What You Are Buying Is Good
1. Look At The Ingredients!
The first ingredient on an ingredient list is the one which is most present in the food product; the last on the list is the one with the lowest percentage of all ingredients of the food products. This is the only way you can see exactly what is inside everything! Even if the package reads “Transfats free” if you read on the ingredients list that there is some “partially hydrogenated oil” then that means that each serving may have up to 0.4 grams of trans fats. By law, companies can get away with that. The unfortunate situation is that if you have more than one serving then those transfats can start adding up quickly and these fats wreak havoc on your health and your physique! A good rule is to stick to foods with only 1-5 ingredients in them- the less the better!

2. Focus On Choosing Natural Foods 
Always try to use natural foods. Canned or pre-prepared foods usually contain too much fats, sodium and sugars. For example your typical deli meats are too high in fats (as we learned in the examples above), are way too high in sodium, and even are added with sugar to sweeten them!


How To Cook Your Food
You can have chicken breast, rice and vegetable as a meal, all in the right proportion, and still have a non-nutritious, unhealthy and even fattening meal. How is this possible? If you don’t prepare foods the right way you can inadvertently add too many fats, sodium and sugars to what should be a healthy meal and this will have a counter effect on your body, instead of achieving the physique you would like to achieve for yourself.

The right way to cook your food is by grilling or steaming it, or by baking it in non-stick cooking spray.

1. Grilling Your Food
By grilling your food, you don’t need oil or butter to prevent the food from sticking to the pan, since in or on a grill, food doesn’t stick.

2. Steaming Your Food
By steaming your food (think of vegetables), you are keeping as much nutrients in the food as you can. For example, after boiling broccoli in a pan with water, have you seen how the water turns green? Those are the nutrients that got lost in the water.

3. Baking Your Food
By baking food in a pan with non-stick cooking spray, you can bake your food without the added calories and bad fats from heated oil or butter. This is also a great way to prepare your food.


How & When To Eat Which Foods & Why
It is very important, to know what kind of food is great or not good in the morning, before or after a workout or before going to bed. The time of the day does matter when it comes to eating.

Pre-Workout Meal Foods 
A pre-workout meal for example can be very different than a post-workout meal. For example, it’s ok to have good fats before a workout, but absolutely not immediately after a workout. Good fats, such as extra virgin olive oil, fish oils or flax seed oil are good as they slow down the digestion and nutrient uptake in addition to providing you with Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) that not only provide multiple health benefits but also help you lose fat and gain muscle tone.

Post-Workout Meal Foods 
However, immediately after a workout, you need to replenish your body with protein and some higher glycemic (fast released) carbs. So you don’t need good fats to slow down the uptake of the nutrients as your body needs carbohydrates and proteins as fast as possible!

Morning And Evening Time Meal Foods 
It’s good to have medium carbs and medium-high protein in the morning, while it’s better to have medium-high protein and none-very low simple carbs in the evening before going to bed. Low good fats can be ok before going to bed, but absolutely not for breakfast. This is because, at night you don’t need energy, since you’ll be going to bed soon. The energy you don’t burn gets stored as fat! Carbohydrates and good fats give you energy but because at night you don’t need them, it is best to reserve them for the morning time and the other times I just described above.