Monday, June 27, 2016

EAT ALL THE THINGS!

24 Diagrams to Help you Eat Better!

Helpful Visual Guide to portion sizes, calories, salad stacking and smoothie making!

Recipes for Mindi - cheap, easy, mostly seasonal, mostly vegetarian, mostly can be made-ahead!


Interesting Salads



Interesting Low-Carb Soups



Things to do with Eggs/Breakfast




Main dishes, Vegetarian



Main dishes, Omnivore



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Tips and Tricks to get started!

The Basics of Carb Cycling


Carb Cycling follows a set 3-Day pattern


Day 1 LEAN: eat as few carbs as humanly possible (so no sugar, no grain, no fruit, no starchy veggies, no nuts, no legumes, etc.....)
Day 2 MODERATE: eat very little carbs (ok to eat fruit and nuts, maybe a little bit of grain but something whole grain like brown rice or oatmeal)
Day 3 CHEAT: eat whatever the FUCK YOU WANT!  NO RULES!  WHEE!!!

The cycle is designed to keep your metabolism at peak efficiency for a prolonged period of time.  Cutting out most of the junk carbs we typically eat will lead to weight loss (essentially you're following the Atkins diet, just once every three days) but the problem is that a consistent decline in calorie intake will make your body think that calories are scarce and clamp down on metabolism AND up fat storage for survival.  Boo.
Also, any time the body adjusts to a strict and repetitive routine, progress will plateau. (This is also why I favor the Muscle Confusion approach to exercise)

Throwing in a cheat day to spike blood sugar provides sufficient signal to your body that all is well, no need to go into survival mode!

When and how long do we have to do this?


Good news!  We don't do this forever.  Carb Cycling is a tool to help re-set metabolism, I generally only do it for 4-6 weeks at a time.  It's a great way to jumpstart a new fitness program, and also revive one when progress hits a plateau.

More good news!  You'll be amazed by how much less your crave junk carbs even after the first couple of weeks.  Another huge benefit of cycling that I have found is that it really helps me break my carb addiction.

 I propose we aim to Carb Cycle from July 10 through August 20

Layering in Exercise 


Do whatever fits in your life best but this is what I aim for -

Day 1 LEAN: take the day off (and will probably feel cranky at the beginning)
Day 2 MODERATE: light exercise, try get 20 min of sweaty cardio activity in
Day 3 CHEAT: balls to the wall!  spinning, hard-core yoga or weight training all good choices (your body is pumped will fuel to burn on cheat days, don't let it go to waste!)

DRINK TONS OF WATER!  

I know you're already a pro at this, but I have to be pretty regimented about my water intake or I'll forget about it.  I aim for a gallon a day, and measure progress by counting the # of sports bottles I finish throughout the day.  I have a 160z bottle, so I try to finish 4 before noon, and 4 more between noon and bed.

Pro Tip from Anna:  Emergency Chocolate


Get a bag of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips.  Sometimes, especially at the beginning, my brain just screams at me "BITCH FEED ME SUGAR NOW!" and it's impossible to ignore it.

I find that when this happens, if I eat 3-5 chocolate chips it will make the screaming abate.  So I try to keep emergency stashes around.  
Honestly, you'll probably need Emergency Chocolate once a day for the first couple of weeks, as your break your carb addiction, just don't go shoveling a handful of chips in at a time!  3-5 chips should do it.


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Sample Menu Week 3: July 24-30

Make-Ahead Menu Items

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche (just skip the crust!)
Turkey & Feta Burgers
Lasagna Stuffed Peppers (leave out ground meat to make it vegetarian!)
Cashew Crunch Stir Fry (minus rice)

Snack Stockpile

Plain Greek yogurt, avocados, mozzarella sticks, diet coke, low glycemic fruit, low starch veggies, hummus, ranch dressing


July 24: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!

July 25: LEAN DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of quiche
  • Morning snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, turkey burger
  • Afternoon snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - lasagna stuffed peppers

July 26: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of quiche
  • AM snack - fruit 
  • Lunch - leftover lasagna stuffed peppers
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - cashew crunch stir fry (rice if desired)


July 27: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!


July 28: LEAN DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of quiche
  • AM snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, turkey burger
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - leftover cashew crunch stir fry (no rice)

July 29: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - greek yogurt with granola
  • AM snack - fruit
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, turkey burger
  • PM snack - mozzarella stick
  • Dinner - finish quiche

July 30: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!

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Sample Menu Week 2: July 17-23

Make-Ahead Menu Items

Power Packed Granola
Mushroom & Leek Frittata
Korean BBQ Tofu with Quick Kimchi Slaw (just skip the buns in this recipe)
Arabic Meatball Soup
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

Snack Stockpile

Plain Greek yogurt, avocados, mozzarella sticks, diet coke, low glycemic fruit, low starch veggies, hummus, ranch dressing

July 17: MODERATE DAY

  • Breakfast - greek yogurt + power packed granola
  • Morning snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, bowl of soup
  • Afternoon snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - slice of mushroom & leek frittata


July 18: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!



July 19: LEAN DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of frittata
  • AM snack - mozzarella stick 
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, bowl of soup
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - cauliflower steaks

July 20: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of frittata
  • AM snack - fruit
  • Lunch - leftover cauliflower steaks
  • PM snack - greek yogurt + granola
  • Dinner - bbq tofu with kimchi slaw


July 21: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!


July 22: LEAN DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of frittata
  • AM snack - mozerella stick
  • Lunch - leftover bbq tofu with kimchi slaw
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - finish soup

July 23: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - greek yogurt with granola
  • AM snack - fruit
  • Lunch - veggies with hummus
  • PM snack - mozerella stick
  • Dinner - finish frittata
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Sample Menu Week 1: July 10-16

Make-Ahead Menu Items

Spinach Egg Casserole (just leave out the ham to make it vegetarian)
Coconut Tofu Curry
Tomato Basil Soup
Loaded Zucchini Boats

Snack Stockpile

Plain Greek yogurt, avocados, mozzarella sticks, diet coke, low glycemic fruit, low starch veggies, hummus, ranch dressing

July 10: LEAN DAY

  • Breakfast - slice of egg casserole
  • Morning snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, bowl of soup
  • Afternoon snack - veggies + ranch
  • Dinner - coconut tofu curry (no rice)

July 11: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of egg casserole
  • AM snack - mozzarella stick 
  • Lunch - leftover tofu curry, with rice if desired
  • PM snack - plain greek yogurt + fruit
  • Dinner - big salad w/avocado, bowl of soup


July 12: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!


July 13: LEAN DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of egg casserole
  • AM snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, bowl of soup
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - loaded zucchini boats


July 14: MODERATE DAY


  • Breakfast - slice of egg casserole
  • AM snack - greek yogurt + fruit
  • Lunch - veggies + hummus
  • PM snack - diet coke
  • Dinner - loaded zucchini boats


July 15: CHEAT DAY!  ANYTHING GOES!


July 16: LEAN DAY

  • Breakfast - slice of egg casserole
  • AM snack - mozzarella stick
  • Lunch - big salad w/avocado, soup if there's any left
  • PM snack - veggies + ranch
  • Dinner - whatever's leftover at this point :)  (no rice, no hummus)













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