by Rina L.

Hi! How have you been? I’ve been good, but busy. Here is a new blog post, finally.

Lately I have been really paying attention to diet and I want to share some of what I’ve found with you. I find that the better I eat the more energy and motivation I have to exercise. Something about junk food just makes me lazy and unmotivated, but healthier foods give me more energy and motivation to exercise.

It’s very hard, if not impossible to totally overhaul your diet, but you can start with a few minor changes. The easiest things to change are snacks. The first question to ask before you eat a snack is, am I hungry, or am I bored? If the answer is bored, then go do something else. Read a book, call a friend, exercise, watch a movie, or read JGU. If the answer is yes and you find yourself reaching for cookies or something else sweet, redirect those sugar craving fingers toward the fruit bowl.

The second easiest meal to change is probably breakfast. What do you usually have? Cereal? Oatmeal? Some other sweet thing that lacks protein? The problem with things like cereal for breakfast is that sugar makes you hungrier, so you are going to just keep on getting hungrier and hungrier but never filling up. Or at least you won’t stay full for long. This is the first meal of your day and it’s super important.

What I have been having lately is a piece of toast, and an avocado. I cut the piece of toast in half. Half goes with the avocado. For the record, I have been having toast with avocado spread on it for years. Now, “avocado toast” is the new craze. Just a few weeks ago there was an article in the Wall Street Journal on the new food trend: avocado toast.

As for the other half of the toast, I spread it with nut butter for my early morning protein. The prep time for this is all of 3 minutes, so it’s not even some complex time-consuming thing that you have no time to make before school. And BTW this breakfast, along with being healthy, is also really good.

If plain avocado isn’t doing it for you, and you have a little more morning energy than I do, try guacamole with your toast instead. It’s amazing. You can find other ideas for avocado toast online. There are so many recipes for it, it’s ridiculous.

Now on to lunch. If you usually get your school lunches then opt for healthier, if you can, although I’m sure that’s easier said than done. Being homeschooled, school lunch is whatever I make . If you do make your own lunch, try making salad. They take no more than 10 minutes to prepare, they are portable, and really good.

Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Smoothie:

1 cup milk (I use unsweetened almond, but cow or soy is fine too)

1 frozen banana

1 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter

1 packet stevia (Stevia is a plant based sweetener that is much healthier than sugar. I’m not exactly sure how much sugar that is equal to. I believe it’s 2 tsp according to the package but it seems like more.)

I use a Vitamix to blend it, but any blender is fine.

 

Here are some of my favorite recipes for salad:

Parev Salad:

Iceberg lettuce

Cucumber

Strawberry

 

Chicken Salad:

Iceberg lettuce

Chicken (leftovers are fine)

Avocado (yes, maybe I am a little too in love with avocado )

 

Tuna Salad:

Iceberg lettuce (you can use any kind of lettuce for these salads, but iceberg is my personal favorite)

Tuna mixed with mayonnaise

Cucumber

Tomato

 

Feta Salad:

Iceberg lettuce

Feta cheese

Chick peas

Canned beats

 

Dressing:

Part if the reason why I love salads so much is that they have DRESSING! And if you find a great dressing it makes salad so much better. I’m sharing with you my personal favorite. This is literally the only dressing we eat in my house.

1 cup Mayonnaise

¼ Apple cider vinegar*

1/8 Soy sauce*

*Adjust according to taste, more vinegar for tartness, more soy sauce for salt.

 

Pour ingredients into a ball jar, cover and shake vigorously (arm workout!!) until most of the lumps are gone, about 10 minutes. The rest of the lumps will go away if you leave the dressing in the refrigerator over night.

Add a cheese stick or two on the side of you lunch if it’s already dairy or parev, and a cookie or cupcake for good measure.

As for dinner, just eat whatever’s being served. It’s much easier that way, and after a day of healthy, it’s time for some meatballs and spaghetti.

Take it slow, you don’t want to overload yourself and end up giving up all together. You don’t need to change everything all in one day; one day at a time, one snack at a time. Be proud of yourself over your healthy snack rather than upset over your sugary breakfast. Please comment to tell me how you are doing, what you think of the recipes or if you have any questions!

Your health and fitness blogger, Rina

Good luck!!!