Are you up for the Whole 30 Challenge?!

The Whole 30 is a 30 day challenge designed by the people over at Whole9. You can check out the full details of the challenge here http://whole9life.com/2013/08/the-whole30-program/ . Basically, all you eat is REAL, good for you food for a whole month.

You change your dietary life completely, it's easier to list what you CAN eat actually. You can eat vegetables, fruit, nuts (excluding peanuts), sweet potato, eggs and meat/seafood. Seems easy enough until you actually go for it, because the thing is you aren't allowed to even "paleo-fy" dessert. If I am craving pancakes I could just as easily whisk up 1 banana and 2 eggs to make myself some nutritious and "whole 30 approved" pancakes, correct? Wrong. You can't because the whole point of this is to not only cleanse your system from dairy, grains, legumes etc. but also teach yourself how to eat REAL food and feel great about it. One more thing about this whole plan.... YOU CAN'T WEIGH YOURSELF. No measurements of any kind may be taken on the duration of the 30 days, you may however weigh/measure yourself before and after you complete the challenge if you so wish to do so to see the changes your body has made. 

How has this affected me? I have been able to sleep a whole lot better, I wake up with ease and I feel great and light throughout the day yet I still get full with the food I eat. I have learned to LOVE vegetables! ME!! The girl who used to have nightmares of giant vegetables chasing her around the house when she was 5 (I am not kidding) has actually learned to appreciate them for what they are, nutrients. 

     *Back in February I actually started getting very brutal and intense abdominal pains that would last about 36 hours, this would occur about every 5 weeks and I visited my doctor countless times. I even got an ultrasound done to see if there were kidney stones or anything that could be causing me such immense pains. He nor the ultrasound were of any help, I decided to quit the medication he prescribed because I didn't like the idea of harming my body with drugs if I didn't feel like it was helping me. According to my 'calculations' I was supposed to get that nasty pain about 3 weeks ago, and I haven't yet felt anything. One thing the Whole 30 does show is there real life testimonials, anything from Chronic Fatigue to Nerve Damage to even Seizures have been "Cured" during their whole 30, read about that here http://whole9life.com/2011/06/the-whole30-a-z-real-life-testimonials/ . I don't know for sure but I have a strong feeling that the pain has gone away because I have been treating my body to the right nutrients.

Finally, I think this has been such an amazing experience for me, I have learned to be creative with my food and really explore different fruits and vegetables! Today marks the end of my 27th day, just 3 days left! Will i completely indulge on sugar and grains as soon as October 1st rolls around? Of course not, I will most likely stick to my eating habits now, and accept "paleo-fied" desserts, as well as add some greek yogurt and oats into my life. Not change too much though because I like the way the Whole 30 made me change my perspective and I wouldn't want to jeopardize that. I haven't even thought about the scale much, I am however excited to see if anything has changed, who knows maybe I even gained weight because it turns out my body needed the grains? Every body is different.

This was a usual meal, steamed veggies, fresh tuna and sliced up tomato with some sesame seeds on top.

Introducing 'Fitness Food Friday'

I have decided that to complete my extra blog post of the month, I might as well post something that is beneficial to the reader. Mrs.Pittman once said, and don't quote me, that we should treat our senior blog as if there was someone out there interested in our topic who stumbled upon our blog, we would want to make sure that they get something out of it. Therefore I thought sharing either a recipe, workout, and or health fad would be a fun way to show my research on my blog.


First I would like to share which blog is the crook for making me more cautious on the foods I eat. I learned about her during the summer, and basically she shares some great recipes to fulfill your sweet tooth, but get this, they are all CLEAN. She uses Quinoa or Oat Flour instead of that bleached and processed stuff you get at the market. Her name is Samantha and she gives some great ideas.

Here is an example of what she has on her blog: http://withpeanutbutterontop.blogspot.com/

Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast Pancakes

Yes, I just made these and YES they were delicious! I couldn't decide if I wanted pancakes or french toast this morning, so I made both! Why not? The cream cheese added that final much needed touch!

These are very easy to make and no different than any other pancake!

Breakdown: (pancakes only)

269 calories

7.6 g total fat

32 g carbs

19.3 g protein

What you will need:

Pancakes:
1/2 cup oat flour

1 tbsp. Tofutti Cream Cheese

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 egg white

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

sweetener, to taste ( I used Stevia)

1 tsp. baking powder

French Toast Mix:

1 egg white

1 tbsp. unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat your pan/griddle over medium-low heat. Combine all pancake ingredients, except for the cream cheese, into a mixing bowl and stir very well. Once your pan is heated, spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour four pancakes onto the pan and allow to cook. As soon as all four are on, place the cream cheese onto one of the pancakes and flip one pancake on top of it as soon as it starts to bubble. Flip the remaining two pancakes when the surface of each starts to bubble as well. Flip the cream cheese pancake after a minute. Cook until each pancake is firm in the middle. 

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Once they are cool enough to the touch, place each pancake into the french toast mix and allow to soak for 10 seconds on each side. Return each pancake to the pan long enough to cook the french toast mixture, approximately 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and top with your toppings of choice! I topped mine with blueberries, raspberries, toasted coconut, maple syrup, 1 crushed walnut, and a dollop of Greek yogurt.  (NOT calculated into the breakdown.)

Enjoy!

Enjoy! If you post to Instagram- please tag @sammybfit & hashtag #sammybfit so that I can see your creations! If your profile is set to private- I won't see it! Sorry!

Senior Topic DILEMMA !

Coming in to senior year I knew what I wanted my topic to be, Perioperative Nursing. Definition: "Nursing care provided to surgery patients before and during the procedure and in the recovery room." 
I was very excited about it because I want to get a BSN and become a Registered Nurse, this will help me focus on a specific job once I achieve my goals. Yet there was still that slight unease in the back of my mind, this past year I have been fascinated by the study of nutrition, I find myself looking for books and blogs on the topic and reading it all. I have a thirst for the knowledge and it amazes me at how much I have yet to learn. After considering the pros and cons of changing my topic, it took me quite a few weeks, I realized I could worry about my career once I actually attend college, I could then see which branch of nursing I would enjoy spending my life working in, but for now I should give Fitness Nutrition a chance. I am very excited of my final decision because I truly want to help others realize what is the healthiest way to take care of yourself.