No gym? No time? No excuses.

Figuring out a way to eat clean while maintaining my busy schedule seemed impossible, but then I found meal prep. (click here if you need help clean eating) And finding time to exercise just seemed out of the question, but then I found out work outs don't have to take forever to be effective. Shocked? So was I, but let me walk you through a quick and effective workout to show you just what I mean. Let's begin with a warm-up, here is one of my favorites to get my workout started:

(source: fitfoodiefinds.com)

This diagram from Fit Foodie Finds suggest repeating the circuit about five times, but I found that three rounds seems to be sufficient in getting my heart rate going. It is important to warm-up before a work out to increase your body temperature and blood flow to minimize injury. It also helps to maximize your workout that will follow. This total circuit, if repeated three times, takes a total of five minutes and requires no gym or equipment. After completing my warm up, I move on to my workout. Here is one of my favorites: 

(Source: Popsugar.com)

I love the feeling after completing a workout when you're dripping in sweat with your heart pounding, and this workout will do just that. Do this workout at least four days a week (preferably five) and keep up the clean eating and I promise you'll begin to see results. Total time for this workout, including warm up is 25 minutes. That is less than one episode of Modern Family! All you have to do is trade one activity you do each day for this workout. Heck, sometimes I do it right when I get up before showering for work. 

However, if you think you can't possibly fit 25 minutes in your day to workout to a better you, here are some faster options:

(source:fitwirr.com)

This fat burning workout takes a total of 20 minutes including a five minute warm-up. Need something even faster for those days where you barely have time to take a bathroom break? 
Here's a five minute circuit from Women's Health Magazine:

50 seconds of each with 10 second breaks (if needed) between: 

1. Split Jacks

2. Reverse Lunge with Knee Drive

3. Plank Popup

4. Hand Taps

5. Skater Hops

The video demonstrating these moves can be found here. This workout can serve as a 5, 10, or 15 minute workout depending on how many rounds of the circuit you have time to complete. 

The lesson here is, there are plenty of workouts available that are effective for any kind of schedule. All the ones that I have shared with you require no gym, equipment and barely any time. This means you have NO excuse to not get a workout in five days a week. Doing a short workout is better than no workout. Just remember, you're still doing better than everyone on the couch! 

What is your favorite workout for those buys days? Comment below with any tips, opinions or ideas.

 I'd love to hear from you! 

Turning Not So Healthy Recipes, Healthy!

The most difficult part of eating clean? The lack of desserts! I have a HUGE sweet tooth! Growing up we always had dessert after dinner. This is probably because my mom loved baking, and she still does. Living at home and denying all these sweet treats was just becoming way too hard for me. Well, after about a month of clean eating without dessert, I began having withdrawals. This lead me to search the trusty Internet for some healthy alternatives. What I found was game changing. Take a look: 

(Source: Beachbody.com) 

That's right my fellow dessert lovers, tons of healthy substitutions for baking ingredients to make those not so healthy treats, healthy! Now, this doesn't mean that you can just over indulge on these baked goods now that they're healthier. You still need to practice portion control. (ugh, I know!) To show you just how easy it is, I took my mom's granola recipe and tweaked it a bit. 

Original Recipe:

2 cups old fashion oats
1 cup flour 
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

Healthy Version:

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup oat flour 
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 cup dairy/soy/gluten-free chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 egg whites

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; line a 9 x 9 baking pan with parchment paper, long enough to go up and over the sides for easy removal.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, backing powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
• In a separate bowl, mix the egg followed by honey, applesauce and vanilla extract.
• Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the additional ingredients. 
• Spoon oats onto prepared baking pan, flattening to make even. Bake for about 23-25 minutes, or until light brown at edges. They will seem soft and undercooked, but once they cool they will set completely.
• Cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, you can either cut into bars or crumble the mixture and create some loose granola (my favorite!).

The Result:

I have bolded the changes in each recipe to make it easier to see the differences. Even though the example in the chart I posted suggested to use whole wheat flour or nut flour, I improvised a little more and simply ground up some of the oats to make oat flour. Either would work fine, I just wanted to save some money and keep it simple. I decided to cut out the brown sugar all together since I didn't feel it was necessary. In its place, I used a little bit of cinnamon for flavor. If you wanted to keep your's a little sweeter, I'd just substitute more applesauce in its place. I swapped the regular chocolate chips for some dairy, soy and gluten-free ones because they have far less additives and sugar. The next change was substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil. Since the original recipe didn't call for a full cup of oil, I just did an even substituted amount. Lastly, I exchanged one egg for two egg whites. Voila! A healthy and delicious version of a granola bar with far less sugar, fat, and additives! 

These substitutions can be used on just about any recipe to make your favorite dessert a little less guilty. Eating clean doesn't have to mean you have to sacrifice your sweet tooth! Just remember, dessert is only okay in moderation.

(source: kelseybyersfitness.wix.com)

What sweet treat are you going to try it out on? 

Share your healthy recipe version below in the comments. I'd love to try them out! 

Keep going, you got this!

A Day in the Life of a Busy Clean Eater

If any of you are like me when I began my journey just a few weeks ago, you're thinking "but I don't have time to eat healthy or clean!" Well, I'm here to show you just how possible and EASY it is! Let me walk you through a day of clean eating. 

Breakfast

This is what breakfast for me normally looks like: oatmeal with peanut butter, berries and a cup of black coffee. I like to use Quaker's Old Fashion oats because I feel like they are a little more hearty than than quick oats, but any will do! I normally pop a 1/2 cup in the microwave with a cup of water for three minutes. If you're even more pressed for time you can get the quick minute oats! While it is still warm I put in one tablespoon of peanut butter and mix it all up. I find adding the peanut butter helps to keep me full and satisfied longer. Here I show Peanut Butter and Company's The Bee's Knees flavor. I love this brand because it is gluten-free, kosher and they don't use hydrogenated oils (most are vegan too!). However, any brand of peanut or nut butter will work. I'd just stay clear of those hydrogenated oils! To finish it off, I add a palm full of berries. I like to switch it up, here I show blueberries but again, any berry or fruit will do (just remember to keep the portion size reasonable). I spike this all with a hot cup of black coffee (optional)! If you can't drink your coffee black, add a little honey or agave to sweeten and a splash of milk, I like to use almond or coconut milk.  Enjoy while you get ready or on your way to work (safely!)
Total time (old fashion): 4-5 minutes; (quick oats) 2-3 minutes

I also like to take my vitamins with breakfast. I use a women's vitamin pack from GNC (pictured above). It's got a bunch of good stuff in there, like a multivitamin and one to help hair and nail growth! I like this one because I feel like it covers anything I may miss, but just a good old multivitamin is good too! 

Lunch 

I like to prep my lunches and dinners on Sundays. I normally do three days ahead to keep it fresh. However, if I lack time to prep on Wednesday nights I'll prep for all five days on Sunday. I'll stick three meals in the fridge and the rest in the freezer until mid-week. This is an example of a normal lunch for me: 

Here I have a fist sized piece of gilled chicken, a half of a sweet potato and a hand-full of snap peas. For the chicken I just marinated it in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. It is simple and tasty! I grill ten pieces of chicken (lunch and dinner) for about five minutes on each side. The sweet potato is just baked and sliced in half. I bake three at a time for about a hour. Even though they take a while to cook, you can pop them in the oven, set the timer and walk away (do homework, laundry, etc.). After everything is cooked I pop a piece of chicken into each container, a half potato and a hand full of peas. Boom! Lunch for the week! When I reheat the potato, I add about a 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil and a few dashed of cinnamon for flavor. Doing this makes it taste like a dessert... so good! The peas are just raw snap peas, I like them cold but you could steam them if you wanted. See how easy!

Prep Time (not including the hour wait for potato): 12-15 minutes

Total Time (not including prep): 2 minutes to reheat 

Snack 

For a mid-day snack I like to do something simple. My go to is normally a protein bar like this. I found this brand in my school's bookstore and became obsessed with it! When I went to find out where to buy more, I found that they could only be bought in schools, Barnes and Nobels, and online. Well... I bought a box online! Again, find what's right for you, just watch the sugar and calorie content. Another alternative could be some sliced fruit with a palm full of almonds or hard-boiled egg. 

Total Time: 0 Minutes 

Dinner

By dinner, I'm not too hungry so I like to keep it light. I did the same grilled chicken I talked about prepping earlier and a sliced medium sized tomato with a dash of sea salt. If you don't think this would fill you, add some brown rice, quinoa, or more veggies. I try to eat lighter at dinner because at the end of the day you're not burning as many calories. 

Total Time (not including Sunday's chicken prep): 2 minutes to reheat and slice!

Now that wasn't so hard was it? The key to staying on track and cutting time is prepping. Find a morning, night or afternoon that works for you each week to prep out your meals. It saves so much time, energy and money during the week. It also doesn't take that much time to do it, aside from waiting an hour for the potatoes, your chicken only takes about ten minutes and a few extra to package and slice! Who doesn't have fifteen minutes one day a week to contribute to a healthier version of you? 

If anyone has any questions on the meals or making substitutions feel feel free to ask, I'd love to help! Good luck my fellow challengers! 

Health Barr does not represent/endorse and is not compensated by any of the products or companies mentioned in this post. All mentioned are just based on personal opinion. 

The Challenge to a Better Me

This is my brother Nathan and I, and about two weeks ago a simple sibling rivalry between him and I began changing my life.

He recently stopped smoking over a month ago (YEAY!) and began training for a marathon. Being the competitive little sister that I am, I wanted to take on the challenge of a marathon too. However, with a busy lifestyle like mine, I don’t have much time to train. So like any good sibling would do, my brother changed the stakes. He bet me $100 that he would be in better shape than me by the end of September. The winner will be determined by weight-loss, muscle gain and the visibility of abs. Being a good little sister, I accepted. 

Minutes after I accepted this challenge, I realized what I was in for. I haven’t worked out in months and after the holidays my healthy eating habits went to the wayside. Not to mention, I barely have time to get my car washed let alone cook healthy meals or work out! For crying out loud, I work five days a week and go to school full-time. There was no way I was going to win this. 

However, I couldn’t surrender just yet. I decided that I was going to do what I could with the little time I had possible and hope for the best. I began eating clean (no processed foods) and working out for a half-hour, four days a week (if I can squeeze it in so can you!). Well two weeks later and very minimal changes, I’m already down five pounds!  I have about 24 more weeks left, but I’m feeling better already…. $100 here I come!

(source:Nike)

Who is going to join me on my challenge?  Or Who’s going to challenge their own sibling or friend? What else could motivate you? Maybe you can reward yourself with that new purse you’ve been dying for.

Let’s work towards a healthier us!