Snack Prep for Success

I forget to eat. It’s not that I don’t WANT to, I just get caught up in life.

I see this with clients all of the time. The majority of private clients I work with do not eat enough and it’s the combination of a couple things:

• Life is busy, we get caught up in all the tasks of the day and we either forget OR we don’t prep food to bring with us when we’re out.

• Society, the media, things of the past have drilled into our heads that to “be skinny”, we have to starve.

Both totally screw us over.

When you workout, your body needs fuel to support that process. Going into that much of a caloric deficit (for some women) can create a hormonal response that makes your body think it’s starving and then you end up gaining weight because your body is holding on to every little thing that comes its way.

Couple that with being starving and then once you can eat, you’re going to shove every single thing you find in your face because you’re just that hungry.

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All of a sudden, cheese sticks have become your dinner. Along with your kid’s leftover Mac n cheese. The gross one from the blue box.

Looks like prepping my snacks needs to start happening again. 

Just as you are intentional with your workouts, you need to be intentional with your food as well. If you’re leaving what you’re eating, even if it’s for a snack, to chance, you won’t win. Then all that hard work you’re putting in, all that time sacrifice you’re making to workout, will be for nothing.

Snack Time

I don’t play in my snack game. 

I mean I’m Italian and I’m an athlete, food is no joke in my life. My grandpa seriously used to take those root beer barrel candies from Claim Jumper’s just to have snacks in his car. 

I love snacks. I’m a perpetual snacker. So needless to say I’m serious about the snacks in my house and the snacks that go on the road with me. 

Over time I grew to understand that being serious about my snack game meant I had to prep my snack game. Because given the opportunity to grab whatever was available, I would GRAB WHATEVER. Even if it meant making an unhealthy decision that would cause regression on my progress towards my weight loss. 

I do realize this means taking time out of your already busy schedule to prep snacks. At first thought you’re probably thinking that my idea behind prepping snacks is cute but not realistic. I’m here to tell you it was a hot mess at first. I had to play around with my schedule to figure out how I could incorporate this level of prep in my life without losing my mind. 

So I started prepping snacks when I was making dinner. I mean I was in the kitchen anyways so I might as well right? Then I made sure to make the snack easy without a lot of prep or cook time involved. 

My go to weekly snack? Hummus. It goes with just about everything, it’s easy to make, and travels well. 

Grab the recipe for yourself!

I Don't Have Time for That

I do NOT have time to make lunches 🥙 in the morning. 

I give a LOT of credit to the parents who do. Our mornings don’t allow for that luxury. Most of the time I feel like I’ve been shot out of a canon just trying to make sure everyone is handled at on time-ish to school and work. 

In fairness, it’s my own fault. I like sleep so I prioritize that over making lunches. I would rather have the extra 10 minutes of sleep. 

Generally this means prepping lunches the night before when I’m making dinner. 

My other work around? I have stuff prepped and ready to go in the fridge that’s easy to make, healthy, and will hold up in my fridge for the week. 

Here’s one of my favorites!

I Love Chocolate

I’m not doing any diet that has me cutting out wine 🍷 or chocolate 🍫. 

Hold on, imagine my sing song voice…FUCCKKKKK that. Life is too short to be lived without some of the simpler pleasures especially when we’re all adulting like it’s a professional sport. So shit, if I want to have a glass of wine at the end of a crazy day with my hubby, whist enjoying our gorgeous view and catching up on our days, I’m going to.

I know that every single fitness expert says that abs are made in the kitchen and blah blah and I am NOT at all in disagreement with that sentiment. But I do feel like what people need as a result is a healthy relationship with food 🥘 so they know they can enjoy life but in moderation.

Yes I am saying that means you don’t eat chips and salsa at the restaurant until you pass out or feel so full that someone could roll you out of the front door of said restaurant.

It’s definitely an easier said than done sort of thing though and it definitely is directly impacted by how badly you want the goals you’ve set out to get.

When you want that goal so badly you can taste it, all of a sudden some of those other things don’t seem to matter as much.

But if you need that support, that guidance or for someone to be that voice in the back of your brain asking if you really need that WHOLE bag of cookies, I got you.

Slow Cooker Recipes for the Mama Who Hates to Cook

$2.99

I Will Not Weigh My Food

Don’t ask me to weigh my food 🥘.

I’m kidding. But I will totally refuse.

I’m not a proponent of making super restrictive or insane dietary changes, unless medically necessary, when I coach someone because I know our relationship with food can be a tough one. 

We have this idea that in order to be “healthy”, we can’t have the things that we love. The occasional chips and salsa indulgence, a glass of wine with girlfriends, or some chocolate. We also think we have to calorically restrict ourselves to the point of deprivation.

The human body, and more importantly, the human mind is much more complicated than that. But the solution I want you to find is the harder one to obtain.

If you don’t have a healthy relationship with food you’re not going to get the transformation you want. All those things you restricted with your food will be for nothing because as soon as you stop, all the progress you made will totally stop.

I want to take the food you love 💕, the food your family loves and give you the transformation you want. 

Which means we have to examine your relationship with food as a whole, why you’re making the choices you’re making when it comes to what you get, and the appropriateness of those choices. It also means that at the end of it, you’ll be able to make choices about your food with  confidence, instead of beating yourself up for those choices.

Go To Dinner Recipes

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Cooking Is NOT My Favorite

I’m going to guess that if you didn’t like to cook 👩‍🍳 at home before, not a whole has changed

I realize I’m in the smaller category of people who like to cook. I really do enjoy being in my kitchen and figuring out how different flavors will come together, I enjoy learning how o cook new things. But I know not everyone is that way, nor does everyone enjoy meal prepping.

But I’m also guessing that as a result, you’re on the constant journey of finding healthy things to feed your family so you feel like you’re giving them your best in keeping them healthy. 

I also know you don’t need that extra stress in figuring out what to feed your family when shit just got exponentially more stressful.

Here’s my newest creation for all the adults who hate to cook but are currently forced into it. Grab it and take the thinking out of what you’re going to make for dinner.

Slow Cooker Recipes for the Mama Who Hates to Cook

$2.99

Makes Me Nostalgic

One of my favorite memories growing up was learning how to cook with my grandparents. I was really fortunate to have two sets of grandparents who lived relatively close to my family and were super involved with us growing up. 

I was also super fortunate that they were all amazing cooks. Like amazing. No wonder I love to cook because between the grandparents and my parents, I definitely saw the power of fresh food and creativity in the kitchen. 

Now if your family is anything like mine, you know that the special foods are all busted out near the holidays. For us, that means some serious Italian food for Christmas. Which means this cookie that my family calls Wanda (but we pronounced Wan-see) but you might know it as Frappe or Chiacchiere. Pretty much it’s fried dough with powdered sugar on top that I can eat by the bucket load. It’s that good. Simple and light but super delicious especially with coffee. 

That was always our dessert on Christmas and I LOVED it. I was obsessed with it. So I asked my grandparents how to make it. 

My grandpa had this HUGE circular cutting board and a specific pastry cutter AND rolling pin for this adventure. I’m not even kidding. Now they’re mine. 

Let’s talk about how excited he and my grandma were for this opportunity to teach a grandkid how to make really a part of our heritage. I must’ve been like 8 years old but I still can feel how excited they were to share this part of our family with me. 

Side note: my grandpa, God love him was umm let’s say particular about certain things. Especially when cooking. Like he had his way and not to say your way was wrong BUT his way was better. Oh and if all of your cookies weren’t the same size (this went for meatballs too), the whole batch got tossed and you had to start from scratch. I’m not kidding. But I loved that kind of attention to detail he had. 

Anyways, fast forward to the special trip my grandparents made just to see me and teach me how to make this cookie. 

I’m standing there in my parents kitchen, circular cutting board and all, sandwiched between them, listening to them bicker OVER my head about who made it better. It didn’t stop there. Then it was them telling me why each of them had a better method and why I shouldn’t listen to the other one. 

I loved it. I couldn’t stop laughing, they were just so serious about the whole thing and I kept thinking “it’s just a cookie”.

But it’s so much more than that and now every time I cook anything of Italian fare, I’m flooded with all those memories of times I won’t get back but I’m happy to have with me. 

This recipe is my way to do Italian without losing the simple things that make it delicious, while keeping it healthy. 

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think. 

Who Doesn't Love Waffles?

I love waffles. That’s like my favorite breakfast food. I attribute it to staying at my grandparents house and my grandma making these amazing Belgian waffles that you would smell when you woke up in the morning. All crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, covered in syrup or strawberries and whipped cream. Well shit now I’m hungry. 

Seriously my obsession with waffles is crazy. To the point where my next dog will probably be named Waffles (I mean a corgi named Waffles? Like COME ON).

Alas I’m outnumbered in my house on the waffle front for breakfast. Lame. My people are more the savory sort who love anything that involves bacon. I know what you’re thinking. Why not just have a side of bacon WITH your waffles? I KNOW. Me too. But they’re not here for it. 

So I’ve had to get creative on my breakfast front so I can feed the masses and be excited about what I’m eating as well. 

My compromise is linked below!

Cold Weather is My Jam...and So is Coffee

Back to cold af mornings and you won’t hear one complaint from me. I absolutely hate when you wake up for the day and it’s already hot and you’re already sweating. It seriously drives me nuts. So bring on all the cold weather. Well San Diego cold at least. 

You know what makes cold mornings even better for me? Well a bathrobe for sure but also caffeine. There’s nothing better to me than waking up on a chilly morning, getting cozy again and then getting fully caffeinated for my day. 

That’s why the recipe linked in this blog is my total jam. But it took a second to figure out and wrap my head around. Not only because I was like “butter in coffee? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard” but also because you have to get the right amount of all the healthy fats in bulletproof coffee to make it taste delicious. 

Holy shit though once you nail it, that frothy goodness is all you need. Especially on fasting days. I’m all about it. I could talk about how healthy fats for women promote healthy brain function, heart function and curb late afternoon sugar cravings but really who cares? We’re all adulting. Caffeine is a must. 

The other rad thing: research coming out shows that women who upload (which is the fancy pants way of saying HAVE MORE) healthy fats in the morning are totally setting themselves up for success. Why you ask? Well…the increase of healthy fats helps you to curb the energy crash that can lead to a sugar increase in the mid-afternoon AND healthy fats in the super long term help to prevent things like Alzheimer’s and dementia. I know you might not think about things like that, but I definitely think about my long term health…constantly.

My word to the wise though: if you’re new to incorporating large amounts of healthy fats into your healthy lifestyle, don’t go all crazy with it. Start with small amounts and gradually increase it over time. Otherwise you might have an adverse reaction that could act as the kind of cleanse that’ll have you spending your chilly morning in your bathroom. Just sayin. And if you need to know what to do because you’re not sure, I’m always here to help. 

Does This Mean I Have to Cook Again?

Ugh the holidays are over so I guess this means I have to cook again. 

And I love to cook. I love being in my kitchen making dinner, listening to music and hearing about my family’s day. It’s my happy place.

But it’s been nice during the holidays to have a little bit of a change, dinner with friends and ugly sweater parties. Really all that equates to for me, is not cooking dinner on a regular basis.

Now that the holidays are over and I’m having to get back into the routine of life, I have to make sure I have my healthy dinners back on point. The easiest way for me to transition back into this routine is by falling back on recipes that I know are solid, tried and true recipes.

I know you’re in the same position as me. So I wrote down some of my favorites to share with you so you won’t be totally screwed transitioning back into “real life” too!