Holidays
The holidays are among us! That means more get-togethers than usual…more food, more drinking, more late nights, etc. all of which play an important role in your health. It isn’t just the fried turkey, dressing, and pie that will get you in trouble, but in how frequently you have them. Your ability to bounce back to your usual habits is what will determine your waistline.
Yes, partake in that pie. Yes, eat the turkey and dressing. I know I will be. I will also be planning for that meal the day of. I will not starve myself to be able to gorge, but I will make smart choices and not eat a large breakfast with lots of carbohydrates that morning. I won’t punish myself the next day for indulging and eating a little more than I should. That day is gone. Those calories have already been spent, so what is the use of damaging my body today for something that I ate yesterday.
Each day is a chance to start fresh mentally and with your eating habits. If I deprive my body of the calories it needs, it will not be at its peak to perform. I can’t use calories from lunch the previous day, that have already been used by my body to complete a workout, play with my kids, decorate for Christmas, etc. I need to make sure each day I am providing myself with the right amount of food to fuel my body. If my body got a little extra fuel the day before, so be it. I refuse to starve myself because I ate the pie, but I won’t keep that cycle going. I won’t wake up the next morning and have a repeat offense.
I see a lot of posts about how it is only one meal out of the year, to dive in and eat all you want. It is only one day of the year after all…if you can keep it to one meal. It is likely that you might overdo it at all the holiday parties or you will have so many that they all seem to run together and you’re ready for the holidays to end. Then you find yourself at the point of needing a New Year’s Resolution to bring you and your waistline back to reality.
ONE meal every now and then is different than indulging at every other meal. If you can’t bounce right back into your healthy habits or feel the need to eat the whole pie instead of a large slice of pie, you might want to reevaluate how you view food/alcohol. If I bake anything (especially if it has chocolate) and don’t immediately give most of it away, I will slowly but surely eat the whole thing. I might track my cake or cookie, but that doesn’t mean I need to eat it. I can’t have double chocolate crinkle cookies in my kitchen and not eat one or two, (every day) until they are all gone. I love baked goods and dark chocolate, so I make sure to track them so I don’t get carried away.
You might think, well you workout plenty to have that every day, but that is not the point. I do work out enough to have chocolate every day (if I made sure my macros allowed it). I would be setting myself up for some very bad habits if I ate junk every single day. Not to mention, my body and skin would appreciate me more if I ate “clean-foods” and limited all the processed food and sugar.
This past Thursday I missed my snack at my normal time. I went to turn and grab one of the fun-size candy bars I keep for my students as little prizes/rewards. I stopped myself. Instead, I grabbed a turkey sandwich that I had in my mini-fridge. I really would not have minded eating that snickers, but I would not have been satisfied with just one, I would have wanted more and I have plenty more that I could shove into my mouth. So I declined to avoid that temptation.
The chocolate does taste a lot better than a turkey sandwich, but it is not the smart health choice to make. Fun-sized snickers are about one inch big and pack a big punch. That small one-inch piece of joy is 80 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 11 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of protein. That is about a quarter of a meal in less than a one-inch piece of chocolate. Insane. That is why I picked my turkey sandwich that has 115 calories, 15.5 grams of protein, 13 grams of carbohydrates, and 3.2 grams of fat.
A turkey sandwich versus a piece of chocolate certainly doesn’t taste as good but in the end, those small sacrifices will add up to me reaching my goal. Don’t go overboard to the point that you have to set resolutions to get back on track. Enjoy your one-day of indulging, but leave it there, start the next day like you would any other day, your scale won’t know the difference. It is just ONE DAY.
New Food Review:
If you’re going through a low carb phase or if you are on a cut, this dish is perfect! I added 1/2 cup of cooked rice because I needed more carbohydrates, but without the rice, it is still a good amount of food. Per serving the vegetables and juice weighed around 10-11 ounces, before adding in the chicken.
I loved this Greek chicken dish and will definitely be making it again! It was super easy, tasty, and had minimal ingredients to track. I tracked the low-fat feta, olives, and chicken separately so I could get a more accurate count on my macros.
M E N U
Slow Cooker Herbed Chicken and Rice Pilaf
BBQ Sandwich
Happy Thanksgiving
Chicken Salad Wrap (turkey)
Slow Cooker Herbed Chicken and Rice Pilaf
I am going out of town for Thanksgiving, but I still want to make sure I stay on track during the week before and after Thursday. This dish has become a staple on my menu now and pretty much now it by heart so it won’t be hard to throw it together even at someone else’s house.
I usually cook this at least once a month. It is one of the simplest dishes and turns out great every time. Throw everything into the crockpot, set it on low for 6 hours, and you are done. You are supposed to sear the chicken before putting it into the crockpot, but I have skipped this step before and it has still turned out just as good. Josh refers to this as a “modern chicken and rice” like what his Granny used to make. It is 100% a compliment.
I don’t shred my chicken into the dish. I take it out in whole pieces and add it to each bowl in the amounts that I want. This makes tracking my food a lot easier. After taking out the chicken I weigh the entire pot of rice and vegetables, mix it well, and create my servings. Then I top my bowl of rice and vegetables with chicken.
The last time I made this, without chicken factored in, per serving I had 220 calories, 8 grams of protein, 44.3 grams of carbohydrates, and 1.3 grams of fat.
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups wild rice * 1 cup 3 cups low sodium chicken broth * 2 cups juice of 1 lemon 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces * 11-12 ounces baby carrots 1 cup wild mushrooms, torn * 284 grams 2 pounds bone-in chicken breast and or thighs 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage kosher salt and pepper 4 shallots, halved 1 sprig fresh rosemary
Chicken Kabobs
Technically we aren’t going to make kabobs. Putting the chicken and vegetables on skewers sure makes for a great presentation, but can be very time-consuming. We are going to take a few short cuts and still come out with the same results. I linked a basic kabob recipe in case you don’t feel like searching for one.
We are going to grill chicken breasts and use the vegetable basket to grill the vegetables, then throw it all over rice. Simple and easy. Good food doesn’t have to be complicated.
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast * chicken breast 2 tablespoons olive oil *spray olive oil 2 tablespoons of your favorite whole 30 compliant poultry seasoning * salt, pepper, juice of lime for flavor, Tony Chacheries 1/3 of each veggie of choice per pound of meat (orange and yellow bell peppers, zucchini, and red onion) *2 green bell peppers, 1 red bell pepper, 2-3 zucchini, yellow onion
BBQ Sandwich
We just had BBQ sandwiches the other week, but it is inevitable that I will have some pulled pork when I go visit my mom over Thanksgiving break. I am not going to make my BBQ, but I have put my recipe below in case you want to make it. I am going to buy the pork and probably eat it without a bun since I likely won’t be working out. I will make sure my protein stays the same over the holidays but will lower my carbohydrates since I won’t be burning them off. My fat is always low, so I won’t need to lower it.
There is no link for this recipe because it is so simple that you don’t need anything to guide you. I love being able to get a pork butt to cook it one way and make two completely different meals. If you see BBQ sandwich on my menu, pork tacos/bowls will be on the menu as well.
I cook the meat in the crockpot for 8 hours on low. To season, I evenly coat all sides with yellow mustard, then season with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and paprika. Once the meat is cooked thoroughly, let it cool and then separate the meat from the fat. It really does defeat the purpose of healthy tacos and sandwiches if you leave the fat in there. Plus it is just gross.
Make sure you weigh out meat for tacos and the sandwiches prior to mixing in the sauce/salsa for each meal. To avoid overeating or coming up short on meat for the second meal, I weigh out the total amount of meat and then separate the meat according to how many meals I need to make.
I do not add the BBQ sauce until I am ready to eat each serving. I make sure to weigh out my sauce for every sandwich before I put on the bun. I made sure to get a low carbohydrate sauce, so I don’t over waste too many of my carbs on sauce. Simply put the bowl on the scale, weigh out the meat and the sauce in grams or ounces, depending on the nutritional label. Toast your bun, top with the meat, and pickles, and enjoy!
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 1 Boston Butt Paprika Salt Pepper Yellow Mustard Onion Powder Chili Powder Garlic Powder Brioche Bun BBQ Sauce Pickles
Happy Thanksgiving
Make sure to enjoy all the turkey, dressing, and pie…for this one day. Get back on track and feel ZERO guilt about it. Your body might actually need that shock surplus of calories to kick your metabolism into drive.
Chicken Salad Wrap (turkey)
if you have any leftover turkey, this is what I suggest you make with it. You can also throw the turkey onto a salad and it would be great too.
This chicken salad is not like your local chicken salad sandwich with mayo, pecans, and grapes. Honestly, it is boring and very healthy. You MUST season the “mayonnaise” and meat heavily. I always add some hot sauce to the wrap as well, a drizzle of sriracha once I have it wrapped up makes it so much better.
I typically boil the chicken breasts, just because it is easier when meal prepping. If you aren’t worried about macros or meal prepping, a whole rotisserie chicken would be much easier. Since my chicken is pretty bland from boiling I have to season it a lot more than if I was using a rotisserie chicken.
I love that this meal doesn’t have any actual mayo. You make your own with one egg, lemon juice, and dijon mustard. I don’t use any oil in this mayo and it makes it extra lean and cut friendly. The last time I made this I had 26.4 ounces of cooked chicken breast. It made 6 servings, each at 132 calories, 26.7 grams of protein, 0.3 grams of carbohydrates, and 2.7 grams of fat, without a tortilla.
*Changes I make to meet my macros
Ingredients: 1 whole roasted chicken or 2 pounds of chicken * chicken breast or turkey ½ cup finely chopped celery Juice from 1 lemon (about 2-3 Tablespoons) * 2 lemons ¼ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon Creole Seasoning * chili powder, cayene, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme 1 large egg, at room temperature (very important to be at room temperature) 2 teaspoons lemon juice, at room temperature * 1-2 lemons juiced 1 cup light olive oil * omit oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard, optional * 2-4 tablespoons or to taste
E N J O Y !
