Thursday, April 27, 2017

Creamsicle Homemade Ice Cream in 5 Minutes!



Another homemade ice cream recipe for you guys!! This one tastes just like an Orange Creamcicle and it was a hit again with the kiddos! I made it using frozen bananas, frozen cantaloupe, vanilla Shakeology and vanilla Triple Zero Oikos Greek Yogurt! Below is the recipe. It makes two servings!

Ingredients
1 medium frozen banana
1 cup frozen canteloupe
1 Triple Zero Oikos Vanilla Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons vanilla Shakeology

1.  Add all of the ingredients to a blender.

2.  Blend and serve!

3.  We didn't top it with anything but you can top it with shredded coconut or chopped nuts and it would be even more divine!

Monday, April 17, 2017

Planet Box: The Environmentally Friendly & Fully Functional Lunchbox!



So, as a mom, I'm always looking for family friendly products that make life easier for myself and my kiddos! And as a fitness and nutrition coach, I especially love finding products that help in that arena!  We must have 10+ lunch boxes and I don't know how many plates, cups, to go containers and tupperware but they're ALL plastic and none are something I considered environmentally friendly.  And that's another one of my big concerns, in addition to avoiding plastics because it's toxic, especially when you place hot food inside a plastic container!

So, with that said, it led me to seek out new options for packing and taking my kid's lunches! That's when I came across Planet Box!  Planet Box is a smart lunchbox that helps you pack well-balanced meals quickly for your kids AND yourself! I've used it and I use it for their lunches too!  AND it fits perfectly with my 21 Day Fix meal plan! The compartments are ideal for the serving size and I can keep my multiple little plastic containers at home!


PlanetBox comes in a variety of segmented stainless steel containers warrantied for 5 years. This means they can pretty much survive anything your kids will put them through and make it home in one piece.  There's a size for every type of eater and they're all non-toxic, non-leaching and free of BPA, phthalates and lead!

They're also fun to pack too! And my kids love swapping out the magnets on top. Some days we go for the jungle theme, other days they're more into marine life and sometimes we go plain!  I'm sure we'll be ordering more magnets in the future too!


Planetbox is also really easy to clean.  They're dishwasher safe and the stainless steel doesn't hold onto color or tastes left behind by foods such as pasta sauce, peanut butter, etc.  Eeeeww! Who wants that?

So, go check them out!  They have 3 different types of lunch boxes available.  I have the Rover, which has 5 smaller compartments, and there's also the Shuttle with two large deep compartments and the Launch with three large compartments.  Compare them here and see the differences side by side.




 They also have tons of other accessories you can water bottles, tons of bag choices, dipper containers, utensils and more!  They range in price from $39.95 to $59.95 and come with dipper containers too!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

What's Worse? This Kale Salad or a Big Mac

Keep Calm Caesar On Salad

McDonald’s recently stepped up their salad game, adding a kale salad to its Canadian menu. When we first got wind of the “Keep Calm, Caesar On” salad, we were curious – after all, it was only a year ago that McD’s was mocking kale in a Big Mac commercial.
The official nutritional numbers for the kale salad took us by surprise. Turns out, you might actually be better off sticking with a burger — even the four-patty Double Big Mac.
The kale-based Caesar salad with crispy chicken, clocks in at 520 calories, 31 grams of fat, and 1,140 milligrams of sodium. And that’s before you add the asiago dressing, which adds another 210 calories and 22 grams of fat. The grand total is 730 calories, 53 grams of fat, and 1,400 milligrams of sodium (about the same as Burger King’s Bacon Chicken Ranch Salad or Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad). It is also available with grilled chicken, though the website does not include the nutritional information for that option. By comparison, the Double Big Mac — which includes four beef patties — has 680 calories, 38 grams of fat, and 1,340 milligrams of sodium.
The salad is also loaded with vague-sounding ingredients like “flavor,” “color,” and “microbial enzyme.” (Yum?) And the crispy chicken alone contains more than 15 ingredients. “When you’re looking at a food product, look at the ingredients,” says Denis Faye, MS, Senior Director of Nutrition Content for Beachbody. Ideally, a salad should be made from whole ingredients — such as veggies, beans, seeds, oil, and vinegar.
So why would McDonald’s bother adding kale to its menu if they’re going to smother it with crispy chicken, cheesy croutons, and bacon? Most likely, they don’t want to lose their more health-conscious customers. “There’s a lot of pressure on fast food chains to ‘health up,’” Faye says. But even though salad might seem like a healthier option than a quadruple cheeseburger, it’s really not a game-changer. In fact, the fact that this calorie-bomb takes the form of a salad makes it almost worse. “The salad has some greens,” Faye notes, “but if you look at a burger, you have a little lettuce and tomato on there. It’s the same thing, but not in sheep’s clothing. It’s okay to occasionally eat fast food,” Faye adds. “But don’t fool yourself into thinking this is a healthy meal.”
So if you’re jonesing for a burger, you might as well order a burger, because the Caesar salad won’t satisfy your cravings or save you any calories. If you’re trying to take baby steps towards healthier eating habits, a better bet would be to order a cheeseburger with a side garden salad instead of fries, opt for balsamic vinaigrette, and only use half the dressing. That will give you a fast food splurge with a side of actual veggies, and your total caloric intake will only be 390 calories. And best of all, your diet won’t have been derailed by a cheat meal in disguise.