Jackie The Trainer

Helping You Reach Your Fitness Goals!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

No food ruts please!

It's been said way too many times that exercise alone isn't enough for weight-loss and good nutrition. I hate to even put a percentage on how much nutrition matters, because there isn't one. Exercise, without sound nutrition, well good for the body, kind of defeats the purpose. Kicking butt in the gym and then going and eating whatever you want because you "earned" it, isn't really focusing on that "living a healthy lifestyle." Although you are doing great things for your body by exercising, not following it up with clean eating isn't going to get you the results you want. Your body works best when you treat it right, which means, getting great workouts in and following up those workouts with good carbohydrates, lean protein, healthy fats, and vegetables galore!

I'm not saying you can't eat a brownie or enjoy a yummy dish of pasta, but good nutrition matters. I think people get so caught up in how they look or wanting to be thin, that they forget, the inside of our body matters! Yay for the 100 calorie snack pack but how much better are you going to be to your body if you fill it with 100 calories from something healthy, say peanut butter and apples or carrots and hummus instead of that oreo pack? When you want a splurge, have it and make it worth your while, but try to maintain that 90% clean eating, 10% splurge ratio to really see great results (inside and out :-)

I know sometimes you get sick of the same old chicken or boring vegetables. Which brings me to some awesome resources I have been using lately to find some great recipes. I am a regular subscriber to clean eating and eating well magazine, tons of great recipes which you can also find online-http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/ and http://www.eatingwell.com/  Don't forget about Pinterest, I'm obsessed with pinning healthy recipes right now! It's so easy to make the same things over and over, but it can feel limiting and get old really quick. It's best to have a few staples you know you can make, but I encourage you to try something new, yummy and healthy to avoid getting in a food rut. If you did the same workout for a year your body wouldn't get results anymore, think of nutrition the same way!

What I'm loving right now is adding greek yogurt as a sauce instead of cream, mayo, sour cream, it's so versatile; you can use it cold or add it to a chicken entree and bake it! Also, avocados, I can't get enough- such good healthy fat and can spice up so many things. Below I'm pasting a kale salad with avocado recipe-amazing!

Enjoy this nice weather and try a healthy new recipe!

Kale Avocado Salad
ingredients:
1/2 shallots chopped
1/2 lemon squeezed
1/4 cup toasted walnuts or really any nuts works here
1 large bunch of kale massaged and cut up
1 avocado
salt and pepper
optional add-ins: 1/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

*Combine shallots, lemon, walnuts, salt, pepper and Kale, add in avocado "massaging" kale to cover leaves.
*Top with optional add-ins-YUMMY!

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