Cinnamon French Toast:

• 2 slices of Ezekiel Cinnamon Bread defrosted
• 3 egg whites
• Dash of Cinnamon
• Dash of Vanilla
• 1/2 a banana – sliced
• Canola oil spray

How to make it:

1. Heat both pans on medium
2. Whisk egg whites, cinnamon and vanilla in a bowl
3. Drench your Ezekiel bread in your egg mixture
4. Spray both your pans with a touch of oil.
5. In one pan: place your toast and top it off with any remaining egg. Then brown both sides!
6. In the other pan – saute your sliced banana
7. Place your banana on-top of your french toast and voila!

Here is the scoop:

*

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Cook your vegetables before you put them into your omelet!

I just think a little saute with some sweet onions will make anything taste better.

Open Faced Feta Omelet

1. Spray Olive oil in a skillet on medium and let in warm up.
   
2. Saute ONE SMALL DICED LEEK and ONE MINCED GARLIC CLOVE - soften for 5 minutes
   
3. Add DICED MUSHROOMS TO THE PAN.
4. Then add 1/2 a SHREDDED ZUCCHINI, CHOPPED BROCCOLI, SLICED CHERRY TOMATOES.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Cook until the veggies are to your liking.
7. Set aside

1. In a bowl, whip 1 EGG and TWO WHITES
   
2. Spray Olive oil in a skillet on medium and let in warm up.
3. Pour your egg mixture onto the skillet and let it cook.
4. Flip when ready.
5. Top your eggs with the vegetables.
6. Top your vegetables with 1/2 OUNCE OF FETA CHEESE.
7. ENJOY!

* Nutritional Information

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• I love it because it has 20 grams of protein in it! Most yogurts have 2 to 6 grams. This is sure to help keep you feeling full and satisfied whether you eat it as a snack or include it in a yummy breakfast.
• I also love it because low fat dairy is great for weight loss! Recent studies suggest that dairy products help eliminate fat from your body!
• Not to mention that protein takes more time and is harder for your body to digest then carbohydrates or fat! What does that mean?
• 1. You burn more calories working to digest protein then you do fat or carbohydrates.
• 2. Because it takes more time to digest, you stay full longer.
• And of course, this product has 150mg of calcium, that’s 15% of your recommended daily intake.

Liberte now makes a Greek Style Yogurt that is rich, thick and creamy and a pretty close (although not a prefect) match to my favorite Fage .

Here are the stats for 175ml (3/4 cup):

Check back in! I’m going to post one of my favorite Greek Yogurt breakfast recipes !

* Monday’s Steps – 10,197! Whoot!

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Now, I’ve got no time- at least it seems that way! So I pulled out the old pedometer to see how may steps I was getting and how hard it would be for me to reach a daily goal of 10,000.

Day One

I strapped on my pedometer as soon as I was dressed for work (even though I was walking around the house a bit more) those steps still count! ( I may just have to put it by my bedside table and strap it on as soon as the alarm goes off to help get in those steps! Seriously! )

I walk to the subway in the morning which is really a stone’s throw away from my house and then from the subway to work (again, really close).

During the day I tried to get up from my desk as much as I could to get water, go to the bathroom, talk to a co-worker (instead of calling down the hall).

I got home and was at 4352 steps. A far cry from my 10,000! Thankfully I had to go grocery shopping and thankfully it was DAY ONE of my challenge and I REALLY wanted to hit my target.

By the end of the grocery shop and walking here and there around the house I managed to squeeze out 11,234 steps! Sweet!  I don’t however think everyday will be this magical. But I can say this, just a 30 minute walk with my husband (bonding time!!!) would have for sure done the trick.

I’ll try to keep you posted with my numbers. It would help if there was anyone else out there that wanted to take on this challenge with me! Get yourself a pedometer and start sending me those numbers! It can be a fun game if you’ve got someone to compete with.

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How do I manage to get myself to a gym on those really hard days? It’s pretty simple – I pretty much force myself! The benefits outweigh anything I can come up with so it’s kinda a no brain-er. But a no brain-er that needs some serious convincing by my inner voice!

Here are a few thoughts I tell myself during my time of need:

• I don’t think about the during, I imagine the finish.
• I remind myself how good I will feel after I’m done.
• I remind myself how quick it will be (even though it may not feel that way during). *If it’s really ‘one of those days’ I only commit to 20 minutes. If I get a burst and I workout longer- Bonus for me.
• I compare how I will feel at the end of what I could be doing to how I will feel at the end of a workout. Workout (MOST OF THE TIME) wins.

The bottom line is this: EVERYONE has a hard time motivating themselves. EVEN ME! So next time you’re contemplating going to the gym versus sitting in front of your t.v don’t think of the work it takes to ‘run the race” think of how great you’ll feel at the finish line!

My advice – give yourself a pep talk. We all need a good one every now and again or we would never get anything that’s not so fun done!

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Here is how I make it healthy and delicious! Who knows, maybe even your kids will like ‘em!

Fish Sticks For Grown Ups!

Serves 4

• 16 ounces of white fish like Tilapia or Halibut
• 1 ounce ground Almond Meal
• 1/2 Cup Cornmeal
• 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tsp Onion Powder
• 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Mustard Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste (if your onion or garlic powder has salt already, no need to put more in)

1. Cut fish into 2 or 1 ounce strips. ( I did not do this in my picture)
2. Rinse fish and pat dry fish.
3. On a flat plate – combine Almond Meal, Cornmeal, W.W Flour, and Seasonings. Mix Well.
4. In a bowl, beat egg.
5. Dunk each piece of fish in the egg and then dunk both sides in flour mixture.
6. On the stove top on Medium – spray your pan with Olive oil spray and cook fish until done!
7. Serve with a slice of lemon and a side salad or green vegetable!

Breakdown for 4 ounces of fish:

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Girls like to chat and catch up – instead of doing it over dinner and wine, go for a nice long evening walk.

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Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin which means that the body can not store it. It must be replenished each day. As most of you know, the best place to get your Vitamin D is from Sunlight.

What does Vitamin D do?

• Promotes Calcium Absorption
• Helps with bone growth * Good for prevention of Osteoporosis!
• Regulates the immune system – fights the common cold!

New studies have shown the possible role Vitamin D is playing in:

• Preventing Multiple Sclerosis
• Brain function in elderly
• Maintaining a healthy body weight
• Reducing risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women

If you don’t live on the sunny side of town the best place to get Vitamin D in from a vitamin supplement or through fortified foods like whole grain breads and cereals.

How much Vitamin D do you need? This is up in the air. Some people suggest 200IU some suggest 600IU. Talk to your doctor to find out how much she/he recommends for you. My doctor recommended I get 1000IU a day.  I get mine in the form of Ddrops.

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1. Unless your eating fresh produce, almost everything you eat will come with labels. It is very important to read and follow the serving sizes on the label. Pay close attention to how much a serving size is, and how many servings are in the box. Sometimes you will buy a muffin and assume that it’s one serving. I mean, why would it be otherwise?! But chances are that muffin is 2 or even 4 servings. All the information you will need to figure this out will be on the label.

• Pour your morning bowl of cereal into a measuring cup before you pour it into your bowl. Look at your labels. They are there for a reason, I swear!

• If you want ice cream, have it. One serving of ice cream (½ cup) never hurt anyone.

Take time to learn what your portions look like on your plates and in your bowls at home.

Pasta and Grains:

For Pasta – normally you’re looking at about three-fourths of a cup or two ounces. But check the label of the brand you buy. Measure it out a couple of times so you can see how many noodles you get to eat in relation to your bowl at home. Then fill out your pasta with veggies and protein! The bowl gets pretty full, pretty quickly.

For Grains- Things like Rice, Quinoa and Barley are generally 1/2 a cup per serving.

Protein: One serving of protein is 3-4 ounces. I recommend:

• 3-4 ounces for women
• 6 ounces for men
• I measure my protein on a kitchen scale once it’s been cooked. A cheap scale at your local kitchen store should run you $10-15. It’s a worthwhile investment that you should make if you can.

Fruit: They say compare your apple to a baseball—kind of tough to do. All apples look like the size of baseballs to me! This is where your scale comes into play. But if you don’t have a scale on hand:

• Typically, round fruit is approximately 2-3 inches in diameter per serving.
• Bananas should be no more than 6 inches long or 3.5 ounces per serving.
• Grapefruit                       ½ of the fruit
• Berries                            ½ cup – 1 cup
• Dried Fruit                      ¼ cup
• Avocado                         1 ounce (3 slices)

Vegetables: I personally (although, would some would disagree) don’t think you can have too many green vegetables, especially if you’re someone who likes a big plate of food. Have as many servings of green vegetables as you like (as long as they are not covered in butter!).

When the color is not green, have a closer look at your serving size.

• Sweet Potato                          ½ cup mashed
• Squash                                    ½ cup
• Potato                                     ½ cup (normally half a potato)
• Corn                                        An ear 5-6 inches long/1/3 cup niblets

Nuts: 1 ounce

Approximately  – 23 almonds/ 18 Cashew Nuts /  7 Brazil Nuts / 7 walnuts

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*Cross & Strength means cross training(something other than running) and strength training.

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