It's a beautiful summer day on the Coast of Maine. The perfect day to think about feeling your best. Our summer weather season is short here and I don't know about you, but I want to feel my best as I enjoy the sunshine. I have raved about Juice Plus in the past and I am always thankful for this catapult into a healthier lifestyle for myself and my family. Every month or so I work on new ideas to continue making small changes that improve our bodies. After all, you only get one, right?
The large family of health practitioners and athletes that are experts in their fields have developed a program intended to jump start your journey into health living, it is called Shred10. It has some amazing clean guidelines that you follow for 10 days. Almost everyone continues this frame for better choices well past the program closure, as they have learned many things about their bodies.
When clean eating and making a choice to put our health at the top of my priority list, I do a lot of recipe testing, prep work and research on ways to eat clean in a simple way so that we can continue our lifestyle that includes full days and many road trips.
Some of the ways to prep yourself for success are pretty easy. Cleaning, cutting and portioning out your fruits and veggies make it easy for you to grab and go. Small reusable containers or plastic bags full of healthy snacks make it an easy choice to grab a bag of grapes rather than a bag of chips. When you return home from the grocery store, take an hour or so to clean and prep your produce, boil some eggs, bake off some chicken and get yourself ready for a DELICIOUS week of self love.
Our breakfast plans are usually make ahead crust less quiche, smoothies and our favorite Complete protein shakes.
Snacks will include veggies & hummus, apples & peanut butter, nuts and unsweetened dried fruit, berries or a hard boiled egg.
Lunches are typically a delicious protein shake, a combination of the protein I prepped along side the veggies and fruits that are ready, or a salad with everything on hand.
Dinner is usually made fresh every night, but if we have a night where we are on the go, we can fall back on any of the items that are prepped. Keeping it light and clean we use lean proteins: fish, pork, chicken and turkey. Side dishes are typically roasted or steamed vegetables, salads or quinoa that I make a big batch of while prepping.
Sweet treats? How about this "ice cream"- blend together, 2 frozen bananas, a handful of frozen cherries, a tablespoon of nut butter, 1/4 C of almond milk and a scoop of chocolate Complete. YUMMM!
Whether we are strictly following a Shred guideline or not, prep is part of my routine. We waste less and make better choices, it's a win, win!
Below I am sharing some easy meals that can be made ahead and enjoyed for a few days:
If you are entertaining this summer and want to steer away from your typical heavy foods, try these:
http://www.veganricha.com/2017/01/40-vegan-party-food-recipes.html (I am here to tell you that cashew cream makes a VERY tasty substitute for cheese)
http://www.hummusapien.com/healthy-vegan-buffalo-cauliflower-dip/ (This is on my list for next weekend!)
I hope this helps get some new ideas for a summer of clean eating and a clean you!
Remember to use up all of your ingredients in creative ways and save some dimes.
Enjoy!
