Cinnamon Maple French Toast with Berries-and being the "Mean Mommy"

 "Mommy's mean." Your "Mommy doesn't allow." "What's wrong with a little ice cream?" "Don't worry, I'll give you some when she isn't here."

Yep! I hear those things, mostly from family members who are well intentioned and love Jonah and I to death.I know they are only teasing, and for the most part, our families have been very supportive of our wishes with Jonah. My Mom works extra hard to provide him with healthy options, and my Aunt even made an extra point to provide us with some healthy options at her yummy Thanksgiving dinner. I still occasionally hear these comments though, and I usually just kind of nod and brush it off, but sometimes I take a moment to explain myself. The reason I give Jonah very little sugar and processed foods is not because I'm mean, at least not in my eyes. And I do allow Jonah to have a very little bit of a treat, but it is the exception on a special occasion, not the rule.

Of course, for one thing, I want him to be healthy and I don't want him to be overly hyper. He already is his father's mini-me, and Joey is constantly on the move, tapping, drumming, climbing, etc. Today I turned around to see Jonah climbing his fence, hanging on for dear life. He truly is his father's son! But the MAIN reasons I don't give Jonah sweets very often is that I'm trying to fend off what I like to refer to as "THE BATTLE."

The Battle is that constant fight of trying to get a child to eat something other than sweets, to be interested in all kinds of food, and to be open to different tastes. Now don't get me wrong. I know that my kid is probably going to like cake and cookies, and will probably always prefer ice cream over vegetables. (I mean who doesn't???)  However, the longer I can keep some of those foods out of his little world, the fewer battles I have to fight with him about eating what I put in front of him. Maybe a few of the healthy options will even stick through those tough years where he refuses to eat much else than PB & J and chicken nuggets (most of my friends with older kids have warned me those days are coming). And then again, maybe they won't. But hey, at least I tried!

I do make an attempt to give Jonah "sweets" that come from natural sources and whole foods. Cinnamon Maple French Toast with berries is one of his favorite. So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Maple French Toast with Berries

1 slice organic whole wheat bread
1 eggs (beaten)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pure maple syrup
1/4 cup berries frozen
cooking spray

1. Spray a nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray
2. Crack and beat egg in medium bowl. Add cinnamon to egg mixture.
3. Over medium-low heat, heat griddle or skillet
4. Dip bread in egg mixtue
5. Transfer bread slice to griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is golden brown. As the French Toast is heating, drizzle 1/2 tsp of pure maple syrup on bread. Turn and brown the other side.
6. Heat frozen berries in microwave for 45 seconds
7. Pour berry mixture over french toast to serve

QUICK.SIMPLE.HEALTHY-my three favorite words when feeding my babe.

I think Jonah liked it. I don't think he thinks I'm mean either.

TIP #3 on SURVIVING the holiday season: Keep Working Out

TIP #3 on SURVIVING the holiday season:

KEEP WORKING OUT
As the holiday season approaches, I want to encourage all of us to continue our workouts. Our eating may waiver (A LITTLE), but working out should remain consistent. Our bodies need that 30 minutes a day for more than just to lose or maintain weight; we need it for our health. We have talked about exercise for weight loss, but let me give you a few other benefits.

REGULAR EXERCISE
1. Helps you sleep better
2. Causes you to continue burning calories AFTER you exercise (specifically as you build muscle)
3. Improves mood
4. Puts “the spark” back in your marriage (if you get my drift…LOL)
5. Reduces stress and anxiety
6. Improves energy and endurance
7. Helps you meet new people
8. Decreases chances of many health conditions and diseases


Over the course of the holidays, consider changing up your exercise routine. Pick up some weights. Try a hula hoop! If you’ve been walking, pick it up a little by jogging a block. Try to be as active as you can with the family. Instead of sitting on the couch watching football after your meal, invite the family outside for a backyard game of football. (I have wonderful memories of playing football in the backyard with my family).
We are all probably going to be eating more than usual over the next few months, even if we make it a priority to be careful. Remember that you can’t undo what you eat through exercise. However, if you eat more and stop exercising, you will almost certainly gain the weight back and feel sluggish, tired, bloated, and probably horrible.


Finally, try to think of simple ways to incorporate exercise into the busy holiday season. Park farther away at the mall. Dance around the living room with your kids to Christmas music. ( I actually just did this with Jonah and made a point to do squats and throw him up in the air. I was totally winded and sweaty by the time I was done!) Sign up for a Turkey Trot. (One of my best friends does a turkey trot every year as a family tradition). Go for an evening walk and look at Christmas lights.



Don't give up on your workouts this holiday season! Make it happen, Captain!!!

(Ideas from WebMD were used in this post)

Tip #2 on Surviving the Holiday Season: "Eat a Snack"

Tip #2 on SURVIVING the holiday season:

Eat a HEALTHY Snack

For so long, I tried to avoid snacking. I’d determined that my snacking problem was the “evil” that was keeping me from losing weight. Though snacking has sometimes gotten a bad rap, it’s making a huge comeback in the weightless world. Many nutritionists now encourage people to eat 5-6 times per day to get the best fitness and weight loss results.


According to a study from the University of Ottawa, eating 6 times per day, as opposed to 3 times per day, had NO effect on weight loss (Web MD). So why would I include those statistics in a post encouraging you to eat more frequently??? The secret is in how our bodies respond to hunger.

Whether you eat 6 times per day, or 3 times, or even 1 time, the number of calories you eat makes the difference. You could eat 6 healthy meals for a total of 2,000 calories, or one big meal from McDonalds at 2,000 calories. You are still getting the same number of calories (I’m NOT arguing that all calories are created equal by the way. That’s a different topic though). According to Amy Petonic, registered dietitian out of Cleveland, “After about 3 hours without food, blood sugar begins to fall. And after 4 hours, your body has already digested whatever you sent down earlier. Once you’ve crossed the 5-hour mark, your blood sugar begins to plummet, and you grab whatever you can to refuel.” Therefore, when we eat every 2-3 hours, we keep our blood sugar levels regulated, and we are more likely to avoid that hunger feeling that leads to frantic ravaging of the pantry (Hence why breakfast is so important after you have been sleeping for 7-8 hours with no food).


Now, the caveat. Eating more frequently is a tool to help avoid getting overly hungry or lowered blood sugar. But let’s think about this. If I’m going to eat 6 times per day, that doesn’t mean I can eat the same size meals I would eat if I were eating 3 times per day. The key is to eat much smaller (AND HEALTHIER) "meals," spaced closer together.


Personally, I find that I’m most successful when I plan and calculate my meals and my snacks. Here is why. I know that I need to eat six times throughout the day; breakfast, snack, lunch snack, dinner, snack. So when I get home after work, it’s time for a “snack.” But if I’m not careful, my “snack” (especially at that 3:00-5:00 time) turns into much more than a small snack. I tell myself I need to eat, (which I do), but if I don’t have planned what I will eat, that snack turns into way more calories than it was supposed to be.
Let’s apply this to the holidays since this post is about holiday survival. If you know you are going to eat a larger meal for dinner on Thanksgiving, you will need to adjust the number of times you eat and your portions. On that day, a typical meal plan might look like this:


Breakfast-veggie omelet
Snack-veggies and hummus
Lunch-chicken salad (no fries, no croutons, little or no dressing, the simpler the better)
Snack-Shakeology
Dinner-Turkey dinner (we’ll talk about planning your plate later)
Snack-SKIP


What I use to do, and what was VERY bad, was “save up,” as in, not eat all day saving up my calories for dinner. Then, I would probably just eat those 2000 calories in one huge, carb-loaded meal, later in the evening. A smarter way is to eat very small, low calories meals throughout the day leading up to the meal, and keep under control (yet still satisfied) at the meal.


To summarize, eating smaller, healthier meals/snacks more frequently doesn’t make you lose weight. Rather, it’s a management tool to help keep our bodies satisfied, blood sugar regulated, and to combat the real feeling of hunger that occurs when we go 4-5 hours without eating.

(Source:http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/6_meals_a_day)

Tip #1 on SURVIVING the holiday season- Maintain 80/20 Eating

Tip #1 on SURVIVING the holiday season:

MAINTAIN 80/20 EATING

We have mentioned 80/20 a lot in this group, but some of you may still be foggy on what it means exactly. The rule is pretty simple: 80% of the time you eat totally on track with clean healthy meals and correct servings sizes, 20% of the time you are free to indulge as you please.

I have adopted the 80/20 rule, or so I think I have. But as I thought about it, I wanted to get a little more specific as to what that looks like, so I did some math. Here is what it boils down to:

-If you eat 3 meals a day (21/ week) (which I hope no one is doing) -4 meals per week can be “cheat meals”

-If you eat 5 meals per day (35/week) -7 of your meals can be “cheat meals”

-If you eat 6 times per day (42/week)- 8 of your meals can be “cheat meals”

That breaks it down a little bit more for me. At first I was thinking, “Wow, 8 meals per week can be cheats,” however, I still have to look at myself and be honest. That only refers to if I’m eating six portion controlled, balanced meals per week. So….the handful of cereal I grab-cheat, the 5 chocolate chips I grab-cheat. I have a tendency to use this rule to mean, “I mostly eat healthy but sometimes I don’t”, and I think that way of thinking is too vague. Now that I know the actual numbers (and you do too), hopefully we have a clearer understanding of what the means.

The rationality behind this rule is that trying to eat completely healthy 100% of the time is virtually impossible and let’s be honest…BORING! It’s a good way to find yourself binge eating jars of peanut butter and Oreos in the middle of the night.   Eating healthy is a mental game. If you tell me I have to eat healthy always and I can NEVER have a treat, I’m out. BUT…if I know that I need to skip the Dunkin Donuts that pop up 3 mornings at work this week, but I can go out for my favorite ice cream Friday night, I’m all in. They key with 80/20 eating is to be honest with yourself. Are you really eating 80/20, or is it more like 60/40…or even 50/50?

Here is something else to consider. 80/20 eating probably isn’t going to make you lose. It may at first, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose, or if you weren’t really watching at all, you will lose on 80/20 for awhile. But once you get down to those last pesky pounds, you are probably going to have to go really strict for a short time to get the weight off. 80/20 is a LIFESTYLE rule and it is perfect for maintaining a
healthy weight, a healthy body, and a healthy mind knowing that you can still indulge on occasion.

On a side note, 80/20 is my goal for the holiday season. I’m not going to make myself miserable by not allowing myself any of the yummy treats that only come around a few times a year. However, if I see the scale start to creep up, or my pants starting to feel a little too snug, I know it’s time to reign it in a little and go a few days at 100% clean and portion controlled. Listen to your body and figure out how it responds to certain foods. Following the 80/20 rule is a great goal for surviving the holidays without ruining your progress!

I Have a Secret...

Hi Everyone! Time to get real and a little post from my heart tonight. I assure you I had no intentions of “going here” or posting this tonight, but God laid it on my heart so here goes.

As I was scrolling through Facebook tonight, my heart was so heavy. I’m seeing so many terrifying posts about ISIS and terror and Paris, etc. etc. I looked at my baby and all I could think was “What kind of world are we bringing you into?”

As I was thinking of this, I felt the Lord nudging me to write a post asking you all to really consider where you are in your walk with God. To be blunt, have you accepted Christ as your personal savior? If something were to happen to you today, do you know without a shadow of a doubt, 100% where you would go? I do.


When I started this group, I felt like I had a secret. After a long time of trying to lose weight without success, I finally found the FIX and it worked. I had a secret that I wanted to share (though I was scared to in some ways). How could I keep it to myself? What if my coach had never shared it with me because she was too scared of what I might think? I would probably still be trying to lose that darn baby weight. I'm so glad she told me.

I have an even more important secret. It doesn’t just lead to a healthy body in this life, but to a healthy soul and spirit in eternity. The truth is, no matter how “good” or “bad” the world is, we are all going to die someday and we have no idea when that day is. How can I not share with you all the “secret” to spending eternity in heaven?

It’s very simple actually. So many people make it too hard. You don’t have to go to church, or give a tithe, or go through a bunch of religious rituals. You can’t earn a place in heaven by being a "good person" because compared to God, none of us are "good." The Bible is very clear

Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We are all sinners. I’m a sinner for sure. But I confessed my sin to God and I know he forgives me. I confessed that I believe God came to earth as a man, Jesus Christ, and that through his death on a cross, he paid the penalty for my sin and the sin of the world. It’s that simple. You can’t do anything to earn salvation. Christ did all there was to do, except that now you have to make the choice to accept it or deny it.

I can explain this to you in more depths if you want to hear more. I can meet you for coffee (no cream and sugar of course:-), or over the phone, or in an email. But it truly is very simple. Knowing that no matter how scary the world gets, if I die today or tomorrow or 50 years from now, I’m going to spend eternity in heaven gives me the most amazing peace even when I read and hear of all the terrible things in the world.

So tomorrow morning I will go back to posting holiday survival tips. You can like, or dislike, or comment on this post, or not. But one thing I know, when God asks me to do something, I will do it. I owe that to him and I owe it to anyone he brings into my life to share the most valuable “secret” I know. After all, having a fit and healthy body lasts only in this life. We all end up 6 feet under sooner or later, no matter how healthy we are. But having a healthy spirit....now that lasts forever.
Have a good night, friends!

IT's ‪#‎MotivationMonday‬.

Those College Jeans..

For my #MotivationMonday, I have to post my “college jeans picture” THOSE JEANS...

These jeans are my all time favorite jeans. I bought them in college when I was running 40-50 miles per week on the xc and track teams. I wore them throughout college and for about 2 years after college and slowly but surely, they ended up moving towards the back of my closet as they got a little more snug each year. Finally, they didn’t fit at all. But I just couldn’t get rid of them. Getting rid of them meant defeat and I wouldn’t put up the white flag. Not yet. So…they hung in the back of my closet for F.I.V.E. Y.E.A.R.S. After having Jonah, I remember almost getting rid of them because I thought there was no way I could ever get back into them.

But then things changed. I started eating clean and exercising smarter instead of harder. I recently pulled them out and thought, just “what if?????” I nearly cried when I put them on. Not because I think I look great, (mom bod never quite looks the same:-) but because I have literally put blood, sweat, and tears into reaching my goals. I don’t post this to say , “Look at me.” I post it because if I can do it, so can you, and I want to help you get there. 30 minute workouts and clean eating. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. What is hanging in your closet that you just can’t quite get rid of? Today ask yourself, just “what if” I could put those jeans back on again.

I would love to come along side of you and help you get back into those jeans hanging in the back of your closet. I'm accepting new members to my 21 Day Challenge Group starting Oct. 26.

*30 min/day workouts
*clean eating
*recipes
*sample meal plans
*support and accountability from other people going through the trenches along with you
*daily devotions
*option to replace 1 meal per/day with Shakeology

You have one life. Why not take the step to be the person you want to be? Contact me via Facebook or sign up on my website:


www.beachbodycoach.com/LESEYLER
(Click the link, then click "join") 

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

 

 This is one of my favorite "clean eats." It's 21 Day Fix approved and can easily be adapted for my husband by using taco shells or tortillas with a little extra cheese. 

QuickEasyClean!!!



Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs raw 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 chopped red, yellow and/or green bell pepper
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 tomato sauce, no sugar added 
• 6 large lettuce leaves, washed and dried
• 1 medium tomato, chopped

Instructions:
1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add turkey; cook stirring frequently until no longer pink. 
2. Add garlic powder, cumin, salt, chili powder, paprika, and oregano; mix well.  
3. Add onion and bell pepper, stirring frequently for 5 minutes 
4. Add water and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil Reduce heat to low; cook, covered for 10 to 12 minutes.  Top each lettuce leaf evenly with turkey mixture and tomato 

 
21 DFX Containers: 1 GREEN & 1 RED


Possible Add-Ons
Plain Greek Yogurt (1/2 red)
Avocado (blue)
Cheddar Cheese (blue)
Black Beans (yellow)
Quinoa (yellow)
Corn (yellow)