The Dirty Dozen

Hi guys, I'm back!! Sorry it's been so long but I plan on being more present again.  I bit off a little more than I could chew but I'm here to spread the word on health, fitness and nutrition once again! So here goes!!

Yes, it can be expensive to buy and eat organic. It does make a difference though. The pesticides that can be found on fruits and veggies enter your body and become part of you and can make you sick. But you're in luck! You don't have to buy everything organic. Some things are dirtier than others. Making a few small changes to your grocery list and your daily eating habits can make you happier, healthier, have more energy and overall make you feel better. Here's the list for 2013 about the "Dirty Dozen" - the 12 foods that are best bought organic. So start here! The cleanest fruits and veggies are included here too.

THE DIRTY DOZEN

Nutrition

I made this for lunch today.  Packed with protein and vitamins, this is a gluten free black bean, corn and quinoa salad.

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can corn, rinsed

1.5 cups cooked quinoa (don't forget to rinse quinoa before you cook it - 1 cup quinoa into 2 cups water)

1/2 green, yellow and orange bell pepper, chopped

cilantro, chopped, to taste (I love cilantro so I put a lot into my salad)

Juice of 4 small limes

2-3 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Avocado

Directions : Mix the first five ingredients together in a bowl.  In a separate cup mix together lime juice, olive oil and spices.  Pour over salad.  Serve topped with avocado and more cilantro if you like.

Workout

Circuits, circuits and more circuits. My fave!!!!!!

3 rounds; 45 seconds each exercise; rest 60-90 seconds in between rounds

1. Alternating plank row to burpee
2. Squat jumps
3. Box jump to burpee
4. Sumo squat clean to press
5. Plank walk to push up
6. Single arm KB snatch to press
7. SL step up to reverse lunge (30 seconds each leg)
8. KB swing, catch, squat and press
9. Alternating frogger
10. Plank alternating hand and leg raise

You should be tired after this. These images are a little out of order, but there is one image for each exercise.  It will get your heart rate up, use a lot of muscles and burn a lot of calories. Good luck!

Nutrition

So I'll admit, I buy the protein bars, energy gels and gator-ade to help with athletic performance.  If I'm doing a long run or a big circuit workout I want to make sure that I have that little extra energy boost to get me to the end!  I know many of you that are reading this probably do the same thing.  Then you also know these products can cost a pretty penny.  I've been playing around with different electrolyte drinks and energy bars lately.  Making my own and saving some cash.  Here's my latest.  It's not bad, i'd definitely change a few things next time but I think the flavor is pretty good!

Brown Rice Bars

2 cups cooked brown rice

6 figs

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup cashews

1 TBSP sunflower seeds

1 TBSP chia seeds

2 TBSP sunbutter

2 TBSP honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor; smooth into pan and freeze until set. Makes about 16 bars.  I've already eaten 2 today.  You could also bake these - 350 for 20-25 minutes.  

These were made with all natural ingredients and are gluten free!

Food and Nutrition

So I am always looking for healthy dessert recipes.  I usually want a little something sweet after dinner but of course who wants all the calories and sugar that go along with most desserts?!?!  I found a recipe for peanut butter pumpkin brownies.  Only 5 ingredients, healthy, and all natural/organic if you choose.  (I actually think the batter tastes better than the baked product but both are yummy).

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Brownies
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 egg
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all the ingredients together, put in oil sprayed 8x8 or 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes!

I froze some of them and left some of them out to munch on!

Work Out

Hi all!  I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month! I'm slacking! It has been a very busy but good last month.  I passed my first nutrition school test with flying colors and I got a part time personal training job so I am very excited about that.  I have three clients already and I am super excited to help them reach their fitness dreams.  I did receive my donation page for team one step so if anyone would like to donate to this spectacular cause it would be much appreciated!!

Megan's Team One Step Page

I just did this workout the other day and I was soooooo sore afterwards.  I did one round and it took about 30 minutes.  You can get a lot of work done in 30 minutes.  Here it is!  You will need a kettle bell and a jump rope.  Do all exercises for one minute.  If you can do multiple rounds go for it!!

KB - Around the world - R hand
Jump rope
KB - Around the world - L hand
Jump Rope
KB - Swings - R hand
J.R.
KB - Swings - L Hand
J.R.
KB - High Pulls - R hand
J.R.
KB - High Pulls - L hand
J.R.
KB - Clean and Press - R hand
J.R.
KB - Clean and Press - Left hand
J.R.
KB - Snatches - R hand
J.R.
KB - Snatches - L hand
J.R.

Chicago Marathon Success!

So I'm one of the lucky ones - I successfully signed up for the Chicago Marathon!!  They had a horrible time with the registration website and it is currently down and won't be open again for registration until at least next week.  There are still 15,000 spots left and I'm not sure how they plan to fill them because I know people are very upset about this.  Time will tell I suppose.  You can sign up for emails through bank of america for updates @ chicagomarathon.com/registrationupdate.

I would also like to say that I am running for a charity and I am very excited about it.  I am running for Team One Step for Children's Oncology Services.  My goal is to raise $1000 from now until October 13th.  This amount of money will send one child with cancer to camp for a week.  The kids are aged 7 - 19.  Team One Step started in 2011 with 33 runners, in 2012 there were over 100 runners, and i'm sure this year there will be even more.  I will have my own personalized website at the beginning of March and will post if anyone would like to donate.  The girl who started Team One Step, Colleen, is an inspiration and you can read about her story on the Team One Step website.

Team One Step

Workout

So as you know, I'm a big fan of circuit training, and being in a hotel room a few times a week I usually make up my own workouts.  However, I found an app that is great for when I don't feel like getting out my trusty workout notebook and making up something new.  I have an iphone, and I know previously you couldn't get it on androids, but I think that option is available now.  It is Nike Training Club.  Their slogan is "Your personal trainer. Anytime. Anywhere." And it's very true.  You can choose if you'd rather do cardio drills to get lean, drills to get toned, drills to get strong, or specific workouts the call get focused targeted at back, arms, legs, etc.  You can also choose if you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced athlete.  The workouts are either 30 or 45 minutes in length, except for the target workouts which are 15 minutes.  After so many minutes of workout you unlock badges that give you more workouts, recipes, gear ideas, etc.  You can also pause the workout to see exactly how to do the exercise.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars.  You definitely work up a sweat!

Nike Training Club

Workout

So I was sitting in my hotel room the other night trying to think of ways to spice up my hotel room workouts. So I decided on a tabata workout.  Tabata training lasts four minutes and has eight intervals, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.  I did the same exercise for the entire four minutes, but you could also do one exercise for intervals 1,3,5,7 and a different one for 2,4,6,8.  Here's what I did:

1. Push ups
2. Burpees
3. Squat press
4. Plank Row
5. DB curls
6. Bicycles
7. Walking Lunges
8. Jump Squats

With a minute rest in between each four minutes you end up at about a 40 minute workout with 8 different exercises.  You should be very, very tired when you are done.

Shape Magazine tabata workouts

Tunes

I'm working on a new playlist right now.  It's probably going to include a lot of Alkaline Trio, Rise Against, Gaslight Anthem, Green Day, you get the picture.  Like I said before. No Justin Bieber or Katy Perry.  But the song on my playlist in progress that got me the most pumped up today as I ran my 7.25 miles was one from Awolnation called Burn it Down.  It's fast paced and makes you want to run faster.

Burn it Down Official Video

Food and Nutrition

As I've been reading these nutrition books and watching documentaries such as Vegucated, Forks over Knives, and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I've been realizing that even though I try to eat healthy, I should probably consume a little bit more of my fruits and vegetables.  Especially green, leafy veggies.  Last night I made swiss chard, and it was better than I thought it was going to be!  As a raw vegetable, chard has only 7 calories per cup, has a glycemic index of 1, has a TON of vitamin K, and also is a good source of vitamin's A and C.  Here's what you need:

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch swiss chard - stems chopped separately from leaves
1-2 tbsp olive oil and butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and butter in a large saute pan.  Add onion and garlic and cook about a minute.  Add the wine and the swiss chard stems and simmer 5 minutes.  Add the leaves and saute until wilted.  Add the lemon juice and parm and salt and pepper to taste.  Try to use sea salt.  The table salt that you buy at the store has all the minerals stripped out of it.  It's actually pretty good.  You could substitute any leafy green in this recipe too!

Food and Nutrition

Once I begin school I will probably have a lot more health tips to throw out there.  I always try to eat healthy.  I try to make sure i'm getting fruits and veggies into my diet, lean proteins and whole grains.  Last night for dinner I made fish with a bread crumb topping.  It was yummy. Fish has heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids in them.  Make sure when you pick your fish out that it does not smell.  That means it isn't fresh.

6 fillets white fish - I used tilapia, but you could use any other white fish such as cod, or even salmon
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon peel
3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine bread crumbs in a bowl with oil, lemon peel, parsley and salt and pepper and mix.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spray with cooking spray.  Lay the fish out and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Spoon bread crumb mix onto fish and press it down a little bit.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 - 12 minutes.  General rule of thumb is for every 1" of fish you need to bake it approximately 10 minutes.  The lemon that I used to grate the peel, I quartered up and used that to squeeze ove rtop of the fish after it was done baking.  I served this with brown rice and a salad.

Mayo Clinic - Benefits of fish