Healthy fats, and clean eating explained! Happy Reading! :)

This week has been really productive! My workouts are in full swing and with the help of my Zumba instructor, Alli, they have been really challenging me to do my best and push me to the next fitness level.  I have been eating clean and trying new recipes. I am getting the recipes from www.powercakes.net.  I have tried from her recipes:
chocolate chia pudding
coconut chia porridge
sweet potato pie (it's really a half of a sweet potato with coconut oil, cinnamon, and cranberries...but its amazing!)
a variety of her powercakes(I have been eating these every morning, and I am obsessed)
cheesy tuna cakes
nori wrap

I have all good things to say about these recipes! I devoured them and my body has had so much energy lately and I am seeing great changes!  In fact, minimizing the grains and replacing them with healthy fats has really made me feel better! I may make this a permanent thing.  Here are some pictures of my meals I had this week:

Lunch:  Smoked Salmon Nori Wrap- Toasted Nori, Carrots, Roasted Asparagus, Smoked Salmon, and Garlic Herb Laughing Cow Cheese.  Sides- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Pie- 1/2 Cold cooked Sweet Potato with heated coconut oil (when it cools it makes a hard delicious shell), chia seeds, cinnamon, and cranberries with a couple pistachios.)  ***I actually saved the sweet potato pie for later as a snack because I was to full to finish.

Dinner:  Sorry this picture is so terrible!  Cheesy Tuna Cakes- Can of light tuna (drained) mixed with a wedge of laughing cow cheese, egg white, a hint of mustard, and seasonings of choice.  Grilled in a pan on medium heat with a little olive oil.  On the sides I had a sweet potato pie with roasted asparagus and Brussels sprouts.

Breakfast:  Lean Green Powercakes- these are by far my absolute favorite.  Frozen Spinach, Coconut Flour, Stevia, Vanilla, chia seeds, baking powder, and lots of egg whites! I topped one with Protein Frosting (protein powder mixed with coconut milk and peanut butter), and the other I topped with coconut oil and agave nectar (this is by far the best replacement for syrup, low on the glycemic index (i.e. won't make your blood sugar jump) and only 60 calories for a tbsp! AWESOME! I ate these with a side of berries.

As you all can see eating clean doesn't have to be boring! I see so many people trying to eat clean and they just eat veggies and boring chicken breast! It does not have to be that way! I cannot stress enough how important it is to include healthy fats into your meals.  Also, making your meals complete by have a mix of produce, carb, protein and fat! Just try it, I promise I have tried every kind of diet and have gone the extremes of "eating clean"... If you deprive your body of what it needs you (A) Won't be as likely to KEEP the weight off and (B) You can seriously injure your body or make your body go into survival mode where it actually depletes your muscle instead of burning fat! Watch Kasey's video on healthy fats on her website (www.powercakes.net).

I love being a good influence on my friends and other people! The other day I was out eating with some of my girls.  One of them was ordering and was making it healthy.  My other friend looked at her and said, "Are you only ordering that because Danni is sitting next to you?"  hahaha I love it! I don't think that was the case but hell if my mere presence makes people want to eat healthy, I AM ALL ABOUT IT!

So this week try changing up your meals, explore the world of healthy eating.  It doesn't have to be salads and chicken breast.  I will be posting some of my workouts next week and also be discussing different types of sweeteners (white sugar, truvia, stevia, sugar in the raw, splenda ,etc)  I have been doing a great deal of research and am excited to share my findings with you all! Love your faces!
-Danielle